Day: October 16, 2012

@ Every new engineer that came into Edison’s organization was given the “impossible” task of frosting the inside of the glass light bulb, in order to diffuse the harsh light coming from the filament. This was the teasing joke on the apprentice engineer until the next guy would come on board. When Marvin Pipkin was hired he did not get the joke. Along with his other work he took the teasing seriously and came up with a way to etch the inside of the glass bulbs that actually added to the globe’s strength.

* As the new owner of an older home, my friend Jim tried to become an instant handyman. When his kitchen water line froze, he decided to correct the problem himself by drilling through the wall between the kitchen and living room to reroute the pipe. Jim called to ask me if I knew why there would be heavy insulation on an inside wall. The more he drilled, more insulation came through the hole.     I went to his house to inspect the site and found that what was coming through the hole was not insulation but upholstery stuffing. He drilled through the wall, right into the back of the living room couch.

* As newlyweds, my husband and I rented a townhouse in a large complex. Concerned about a leak in the upstairs bathroom I called the manager several times but to no avail. Finally, my husband reached him and explaining the seriousness of the problem said, “My wife is afraid the bathtub will fall through to the kitchen.”  “Oh, no,” the manager quickly replied. “The bathtub falls into the living room.”