Wrong Handle

As someone who works in Quality Assurance, it really annoys me when I am on the receiving end of some poor quality.  This is what happened a couple of days ago. 

The handle on our back storm door had been “loose” for quite some time.  And when I say loose, I mean on the verge of breaking.  It has broken before after a couple of years and I had to call Larson Doors to get a replacement handle as the door was still under warranty (I don’t know if the door is still under warranty now, but it has been more than 10 years, so I am guessing not).  But because of the crappy design of what I call the “hook handle”, the handles that look like levers that you push down (or up, although in this case it is only down) and pull.  I recall the whole door industry having to go to this type of handle years ago due to the Americans with Disabilities Act because if someone didn’t have “working hands” (or hands at all) they would still be able to work the mechanism to open the door.  The result though, is that you push the handle down, then pull, which will put a stress on the pivot point, the shaft of the handle that inserts into the door.  Over time, it is going to break, there is no avoiding it.

So now fast forward to last week when, as I was opening the door coming home from work, the handle snapped off in my hand.  I managed to rig it so you could still use it, but I had to get a replacement quickly.  I decided to go to the Larson Door website so I could be certain I got the exact replacement I needed.  On the website, I was instructed to look up the door code which was on a label stuck to the inside of the door jamb.  Which I did.  The description of the handle was brass finish for XXXX model door, blah, blah, blah, and it showed a photo.  Yep, that’s the one.  Click order.  Since it was coming from Rochester, MN, I didn’t pay for expedited shipping since it should have taken 2 days anyway, and I wasn’t about to pay $30 extra to have it here next day.

This is what I got:

Doesn’t look like brass does it?  And, it isn’t even the correct model for the door, so I couldn’t use it even if I did want a white handle.  I have no idea how you pull the wrong part number.  There is a number associated with the handle I need.  It should be stocked in an area for just that number.  It should be checked when being pulled, and then again as someone is packing it.  This is unacceptable.  Not wanting to order another and wait two more days for a replacement, I decided to run over to Menards (where we purchased the door about 13 years ago).  After searching the shelves for a couple of minutes I found the exact handle I needed.  I guess I should have checked the store first but who would have figured going directly to the manufacturer would have resulted in a screw up?  At least Larson credited me back the cost, and didn’t have me ship it back.  Maybe I’ll sell it on eBay and see if I can make a few bucks.

Powderpuff 2018

This week is Homecoming Week in Menomonee Falls and Wednesday night was the annual Powderpuff football game. For those who are unaware of what this is, it is the junior vs. senior girls flag football game. This year was Alison’s first foray into it, and she has been looking forward to playing since she was in 7th grade when Sarah was a junior. Also to note, every year, it is “tradition” that the seniors win... EXCEPT for Sarah’s class, who is the only junior class to EVER beat the seniors in the history of the game.

Alison got put at tight end on the #1 offense. They basically had (2) different teams of offense, and (2) teams of defense, and they rotate them out by quarter. Unfortunately, because they had no one who knew how to throw a football, or at least with any sort of accuracy or consistency. What that means is that tight end essentially becomes another lineman and all she did was block.

It was pretty uneventful except for a couple of injuries on the juniors team. One girl was thrown (slammed) to the ground, and another hurt her knee. No one was really sure how bad the knee injury was, but she had to be carted off the field/sidelines when the game was over. Hopefully she doesn’t have any serious damage to her knee. And the playbook was really pretty basic. Although, what would you expect with only a week to practice. But every play was a toss to one or two girls and everyone run right, or run left, and every now and then there would be a reverse thrown in.

I take it back, there was some excitement for the juniors. Both touchdowns were on long runs by one of the girls who is a sprinter on the track team. The first was a 94 yard run. She started going in one direction, then stopped, and cut right up the middle of the formation, broke loose to the outside and was off to the races. The second came as time was expiring. The seniors held a 15-7 lead after going for a two point conversion early. There was about 30 seconds left, and the same girl broke out on a sweep to the left and was off to the races for about a 70 yard run with 14 seconds left in the game. They had to go for two to tie, and got it. So the game ultimately ended with a 15-15 tie.

I wasn’t sure if they were just going to leave the game a tie, or if they would play an overtime from the 20 yard lines. It looked like the teachers who were running (coaching and refereeing) the game huddled up and decided they would have the game decided by kicking field goals. Each team kicked a field goal, and the first one to miss lost. I don’t know if the plan was to have the ball moved back 5 yards each time, or just keep kicking from the same pot. We didn’t need to worry about though because the seniors made their first kick, and the juniors missed theirs. Final score: Seniors 18, Juniors 15. A tough loss. 

So Sarah’s class is still the only junior class to win.

#TPWars

It is homecoming week and the shenanigans started first thing Sunday night. It may have actually started Saturday night. I went to bed a little after 11:00 and Alison was out with some friends late at Applebees. When I got up in the morning, I had a message from Alison saying the house got TP’d and she tried to clean it up before she went to bed, but because it was raining it was tough. She said that it was for homecoming week, Juniors vs. Seniors, and they got a particular number of “points” for toilet papering someone’s house and not getting caught, and posting a photo online proving the job.

So I guess all in all I get it. But it still doesn’t make me happy. I know we did it in high school, and I am pretty sure it occurred when Kris was in HS. What I do find funny is what they consider a good job of toilet papering a house. The couple of times over the last few months that Ali’s friends TP’d the house, it was pretty weak. When we did it, we tossed the rolls high in the trees. You basically HAD to wait for the rain to wash the stuff out of the trees. Even in the one tree in front of the house, they didn’t toss the rolls high enough. I guess I should be happy because it made things easier to clean up. Would it be bad form to teach Alison the good/right way to do it? There is a girl who is a senior and was on the cheer team last year who lives in the neighborhood who had her house done in August. They have tall, old growth trees in their yard, and it was GOOOOOOD. A week later, there was still TP blowing in the wind. That is how you TP a house.