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12/03/2004: "headache"

The kitchen faucet was busted last night, after less than three years of use. I ran to the plumbing supply store in Chinatown in the morning, and showed the man behind the counter the corroded part. "No, you can't replace this. You have to buy the whole thing." He said. "American, $60, or $20 for import." I assumed the American was better quality. "Yes. With American, this won't happen." He pointed the worn nut. So I decided on the shiny American faucet from Central Brass co. of Cleveland Ohio. No cheap imports! I asked him if he can recommend a plumber to install it. My day won't start without a faucet. He called someone and said, "he's coming off the bridge right now. Can you wait for a few minutes?" Then two minutes later, there was the little Chinese plumber who speaks no English. He agreed to do it for me. I ran back to the store, and 10 minutes later, he showed up accompanied by his 'interpreter' he picked up on the way. The faucet was installed in just 15 minutes, and is working wonderfully. The Chinese plumber spoke two words in English, 'garbage' and 'thank you.' I was grateful with his prompt service.

That was only a part of my headache last night. Besides the monthly bleeding problem that's common to healthy women of my age, my hemorrhoids had made mild comeback. Is that because of spicy Korean food I had last sunday? (That's what my doctor said. No spicy food!) Then there was this early Christmas present for my kitty, the self-cleaning litter box. Although I don't think anyone who won't clean after their cats or dogs should be allowed to have any pets, I thought this would be a treat for both of us, always clean littler box! After 80 hours of work week, it's nice to have one less thing to forget. (I have a 'to forget' list rather than 'to do' list.) However, after setting up this monster last night, she won't go near it. She immediately chose to jump onto the new scratching post, but not on this monstrous device. Really, its enormous body holds tiny area to hold the litter. What's cute at least is it comes with a carpeted paw cleaning ramp. But my cat didn't make use of this invention all night. All morning. I was getting worried. Early afternoon, finally there was a trace- a clump was stuck in the cleaning rake. I congratulated my cat on her potty work.