Chattanooga Pulse

Written by Chuck Crowder
Wednesday, 05 November 2008 13:51

I’m pretty damn proud of myself at the moment. I just completed the seemingly simple task of hanging a new light fixture in my dining “area”. That may not sound like much, but after about five beers watching Sunday afternoon NFL with my buddies, the fact that I completed the task in less than 30 minutes without major problems or a future trip to Ace Hardware constitutes a modern miracle.

You see, I am a male homeowner, and nothing puts the “yourself” in “do it yourself” quite like that. But more importantly, I am an older male homeowner, this being my third house, which means my tolerance for quasi “simple” tasks is by now at a cuss-wrenching minimum. Hence my pride has me gleefully enjoying my sixth beer of the day while writing this.
As a homeowner, I have run the gamut of home improvement, from the simple coat of fresh paint and “hire it done” of my first home, to the “why am I paying someone to do that” of my second. My third home is a brand-new townhouse with minimal tasks at hand. Mainly it’s replacing stuff that the contractor cheaped-out on, like the dining area fixture, which was nothing more than a $9 IKEA Chinese lantern.