My first Girl on Wire column discussed the art of troubleshooting, but you will not find a similar story on how to fix or install anything here, because that’s something I don’t think I will ever come close to mastering… I am trying!
Last Christmas, I received a very thoughtful gift from my brother and his family; it was a set of pink and yellow tools in a matching pink and yellow bag. I was now the proud owner of a hammer, screwdriver, level…all sorts of gadgets in vibrant designer colors 🙂 When I moved to Baltimore City a year and a half ago, I knew I would have a lot to learn about how to take care of a few things around the house myself.
Recently, I bought my first drill. Why did I buy a drill? Here’s the story. My landlord left her giant red couch in the house I was renting since she didn’t want to move it, which was fine with me. A year later, I decided to replace the couch with a brown leather L-shaped sectional – this took up much more space than the couch and forced out an end table and lamp. I was left with a great new piece of furniture that had a black hole immediately above it.
I decided to hang paper star lanterns from the ceiling to disperse the sinister shadow zone. There’s a great web site that sells these in a wide variety of colors and patterns: www.starlanterns.net. So, the lanterns arrived and I figured that the best way to hang them would be from a hook in the ceiling. I had hooks with screw backs and attempted to install one by banging it into my ceiling with my new hot pink hammer. Well…I ended up with plaster dust in my eye, a hole too big for the hook and a hook on the floor behind my new couch…sigh.
Off to the hardware store! The basic drill I purchased seemed fairly user friendly, until I tried to insert the bit. I was unsuccessful, so I packed my drill into its matching bag (basic black, but you can’t have everything) and took it into work to ask my boss, Chris Nicoli, for help. He showed me that I had to turn the drill on to open the chuck and then insert the bit.
Back at home, while carefully balanced on the back of my new couch, I proudly drilled a hole into my ceiling (wearing safety goggles this time) and screwed in the hook. I’m very happy with the new brightness in my living room! See photo below.
So, what did I learn here? A couple of things. First, make sure you have the right tool to do the job correctly. Second, if you don’t know how to use the right tool, ask someone who’s qualified for help. One of our specialties at Teltek is being a trusted and reliable authority in telecom and technology. We encourage our customers to call us for technical assistance before trying to fix something themselves. Allowing an expert to address the problem early will save you much money and aggravation. It’s better to get it done right the first time, so you’re not drilling unnecessary holes in your ceiling.
Do you have a “tried to fix it myself” story that went wrong? Let’s hear it!