Work Arounds

I heard the term "work arounds" a few weeks ago. Of course, I already knew the concept - things you decide to just live with, whether through lack of money to fix, laziness, or just plain apathy. But I had never heard the term.

For Jill and I, our cars are full of "work arounds." The little things that break down are small annoyances, but don't rise to a level that we can't work around them. When we started listing them, however, it was truly amazing how much does not work. My doors don't recognize my keys anymore, Jill's driver door handle is completely broken. My windshield is cracked all the way around; my engine is leaking power steering fluid (and something blue-ish); Jill's seats are ripped; my radio doesn't work; Jill has yellow streaks and dents on the side of her car (the house refused to move, time and time again, when she backed out of the driveway); my hood has some type of flesh-eating virus; Jill has a light that comes on in her dashboard involving two arrows pointing into an ellipse (no idea); my car sounds a bit louder than a go-cart and gets the violent shakes over 60 mph; every single button on Jill's radio has come off; and on and on.

Sure, we get any or all of this fixed, but we have found it easier to leave the car unlocked, listen to an i-pod, drive 59 or slower, peer through the small opening amongst the cracks, travel with a variety of potentially necessary replacement fluids in the trunk, ignore the problem with the ellipses (seriously, no idea what this is), and move to a house that doesn't move into your path when reversing.

However, after compiling the "List" and seeing the breathtaking whole that is the sum of these annoying small parts, we decided a new car may be in order. Something with a working radio (no 8-track) and more than a 61% chance of completing each trip (my current calculated trip completion odds).

Last weekend, our dryer stopped working. We turned the start button and got just an "Hnnnnnnnnnnnnn." No actual spinning. Repair guy comes out and tells us the part of the engine that overcomes the magnetic force to get the dryer spinning is going out. However, he showed us how, by opening the door, pushing the door button, and manually spinning the dryer, we can jump start it. Yes, like an old car. We are debating whether this is a fix or a work-around. I worry that three years from now we are building a fire, attaching a hair dryer, and taking turns spinning the patched up dryer.