don't put off until tomorrow...

Around chez Jimbo’s girlfriend we have a problem. We tend to put off doing things. Well, Jimbo has decided this year will be different. I have made a vow to change my ways.

Oh, you say you put off doing things, too?

I don’t want to get into a game of one-upsmanship with you. In the area of putting things off, Jimbo is a serious procrastinator, while you are just an amateur-crastinator. Let me give you an example or two.

Last year when I did my taxes, I filed on line. The Quicken software I used has a rebate. I filed my taxes in February and the rebate papers had to be mailed by October.

Oops. I didn’t get around to sending it before it expired.

We bought a pressure washer at Home Depot last spring to use to clean the deck prior to resealing it. The first time we used it, something popped inside the spray gun and water started leaking everywhere. We never got around to taking it back. After a few months, I took the wand apart, found out that an o-ring had stretched and failed under pressure. I fixed it temporarily with some TLC and some Vaseline, and we were able to pressure wash the deck with it, but it leaked water badly. I determined the o-ring they used was not thick enough to withstand the pressure. We found a package of o-rings at Wal-Mart that had some the same diameter, but thicker, and we bought them. Where are those o-rings now? Still unopened, on a shelf in the garage above the power washer.

Last winter we noticed the kitchen floor, by the sliding door to the deck, was cold under our feet on sub-freezing days.

“I’ll have to do something about that,” I said, taking another drink of coffee.

Last summer, while working under the house, wiring a duplex receptacle, I noticed there was a vent under the sliding door, which would let in cold air.

“I can fix that by stuffing a little insulation in there this fall,” I announced, and then explained in detail the reason why a vent was necessary in that spot, owing to the construction of the house, using very specific engineering formulae. I further extrapolated that during cold weather plugging the vent to prevent cold air from coming in would not defeat the purpose of having the vent there. I believe I went on from there to explain why we lose one second every year due to the inefficiency of our calendar and that it would be necessary, therefore, to have a leap day every five-hundred years to overcome that inefficiency. From there I think I went into detail about why there was a third, un-insulated wire in the Romex cable I was using and the purpose of that wire. I explained why using the insulated cable was such an improvement over the way wiring was done early last century when the norm was using what was known as “knob and tube” wiring. “Knob and tube” wiring required that single insulated wires be run, in pairs, separated by a distance of six inches or so. Ceramic knobs were attached under floors and above rafters through which to pass the wires and keep them apart and when the wires passed through studs or floor joists, a ceramic tube was inserted to keep the wire from touching wood. I believe I may have gone on to explain some other scientific or engineering principles.

Well, to make a long story short, it is cold weather and I have somehow neglected to put the insulation in the vent.

Yes, sir (or ma’am, if that is your gender), it is time for me to make a change in lifestyle and it is time for me to start doing things right away instead of putting them off. I’m going to start first thing tomorrow.

At least, that’s our plan, here in Jimbo’s world.