I’m kind of a gadget guy, so I marvel at all the technology available these days. I’m also a lazy guy, so I appreciate technology even more.<\/p>\n
Case in point: We own one of those automatic opening kitchen garbage cans. It’s a modern-day version of one of those step cans where you step on a pedal and the lid opens. On this one you kick a little panel and the lid opens electronically. When we first bought it, it worked great for the first 100,000 openings. I mean, a kitchen garbage can gets a lot of use, rivaled only by the one next to our bathroom vanity where my wife and daughter apply makeup.<\/p>\n
Anyway, one day a couple months ago it failed to open and I decided to fix it.<\/p>\n
I took the mechanism completely apart against the fears of my wife, whose experience is that I’ll do more harm than good. I found that the shaft to the opening gear was broken, so I replaced it by jury-rigging something with parts from my garage toolbox. The fix worked, and so I celebrated my victory vigorously and in the face of my wife.<\/p>\n
The other day, my wife told me that the kitchen garbage can wasn’t working again. Remembering my obnoxious victory dance, I think she was rubbing my nose in it. I told her that I would effect another miracle repair immediately and I broke out my tools and got to work. After disassembling everything, I found that the mechanism appeared to be OK.<\/p>\n
I meticulously put everything back together while my wife watched, but it still wouldn’t work. As she walked out of the kitchen, she joked, “OK, Mr. Fix-it, why don’t you go out and get us a conventional garbage can?”<\/p>\n
Somewhat defeated, I sat there, when my mom walked into the kitchen. She questioned, “Did you change the batteries?”<\/p>\n
Feeling like an idiot because I didn’t, I lied, “Of course I did!” I then surreptitiously replaced the batteries and yelled for my wife to come in. The can worked beautifully, and I took full credit for fixing it once again, as no one knew any better.<\/p>\n
But I should know my wife better, as she replied, “Your mom told you to change the batteries, didn’t she?”<\/p>\n
I hate it when she does that.<\/p>\n
rnagasawa@midweek.com<\/B><\/I><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’m kind of a gadget guy, so I marvel at all the technology available these days. I’m also a lazy..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5907,50,65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-app","category-hawaii-lifestyle-news-opinions","category-whats-next"],"yoast_head":"\n