On Second Thought, And A "Lifeboat"

The previous entry noted if I could choose to be one person for one day I elect to walk in Tim Cook's shoes.  

Most days.  

Actually, just about all days.  

But not the day after I wrote that post.  

Yes, the Apple earnings report conference call done on April 26 certainly wasn't something Mr. Cook was looking forward to.  

However this illustrates a truth plus a good lesson about wanting to be someone else.  

Everyone, everyone, has difficult days.  Doesn't matter what you do, how much you're worth, how physically attractive you are, or your athletic ability.  Everyone has their down periods.  

And in the meantime I think I had a just fine day on Tuesday April 26, 2016.  

So, dear reader, appreciate yourself and those that are close to you.  Don't waste time trying to be someone else or vying to be something you are not.   

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It's no secret one of my favorite movies is Apollo 13.  

That flick, plus The Right Stuff, is currently banned from in-house or in-vehicle viewing by Geogal due to her being sick and tired of my and Geoana's obsession with these celluloid dramatizations of the U.S. space program.  

Still, can't deny Apollo 13 is one cool movie.  

Remember (of course you do) the moment in which Mission Command decides to use the lunar module as a "lifeboat."  

Not anywhere near the same scale as trying to save the lives of three astronauts millions of miles from home, but the Geohouse had it's own lifeboat moment last week.  

Regular readers of this blog know I own a camper. Not anything large or fancy, rather it's a modest rig that well meets the needs of our family of three.  

I maintain it well and make sure the battery keeps a good charge.  (That's what you do when the side of your house lacks a 30-amp outlet.)  I also wrote here in a previous entry that I de-winterized the system once freezing temps went bye-bye.  

Turns out this was good timing.  As part of the de-winterization process I added water to the fresh-water tank and ran it through the system (getting rid of the pink antifreeze in the process).  As such, there was a certain amount of good, potable wet stuff available.  

Last Tuesday morning the authorities issued an alert to our town that the water chlorinator failed and that residents needed to boil any water they intended to consume.  

Now, this typically doesn't affect one's ability to take a shower but our teenager decided she didn't want to chance it.  

Solution?  I remembered the camper and according to the electronic indicators there was about somewhere between a third and a half of a tank of good pure fresh water just sitting there, waiting to be used.  I suggested, offhandedly, that Geoana take her shower in the camper.  Was no problem for me to plug in an extension cord and click the electric element to the "on" position, thus heating the water.  

Surprise!  She went for it.  Even though in a camper you take Navy showers instead of the usual teenager-length drenching.  

It all worked out well.  She got clean, I was happy to have the water moving through the system instead of just sitting in the tank getting old, and Geogal was content to have some peace in the house.  

I always thought the camper would come in handy at some point but I always prognosticated it to be due to electric grid failure instead of a boil advisory.  Goes to show you never know what might happen.  

But the Boy Scouts would be proud.  I was prepared!