On science and volunteering
My Mother-in-law recently purchased a new home. It's a nice little beach house in RI, but it needs a little work.
My wife and I went over on Sunday to see her new place, and we knew that she had to pull up some old carpet and paint some walls. One thing led to the next, and I sold my Mother-in-law on a project that I volunteered to work on. It involves what will be her bedroom. We're raising the ceiling by a foot or two and gutting out the walls too so that we can redo the entire room. No problem I thought to myself. Oi.
Yesterday my Brother-in-law and I tore out the ceiling and with it fell hundreds of pounds of blown-in insulation. It's itchy, filthy, and nasty. However, we he made a fantastic scientific discovery. Apparently when you use a shop vac to suck up that insulation, it builds fantastic amounts of static electricity. He got zapped hard. I've never in my life heard a snap of static so loud. And it happened more than once. ZAP! ZAP!
Later he convinced me that I had to try it. Perhaps I was never convinced. I know that it's a terrible idea. I'm not one to witness a less than pleasurable experience and then run to be next to try it, but in the spirit of camaraderie, I agreed to operate the vacuum for a bit. I did get a little zap once, but I think my boots provided me with greater safety than his sandals.
Happily, we've finished with the insulation (I think) so there will be no more zapping, but there's still a lot of work ahead. I took a few before pictures with my new phone, but I don't know how to get them off yet. I think I have to pay my cellular provider to send them to myself. But that's another rant for another time.
- under:
- Life in General
- Posted on
- 2005-05-31
Comments:
I love John Pennypacker!
This article is closed to further commentary. But you can always contact me directly.