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It's About Me

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Blog

Sorry to have been away.

Posted by: tony on 11/25/2009 06:57 PM (Read: )
The Good ShepherdI apologize for what appeared to be abandoning ship without explanation. One of the reasons that I stopped for a while was that I came to the conclusion that my writing was very much self-serving. I was taking the Catholic and political news and putting my unique (and what I considered valuable and read-worthy) commentary on it.

Blah! What ego!

There are many people in the blogosphere who can write much better than I. Original thoughts that touch people's hearts. The blogosphere doesn't need my symbals clashing and horn tooting.

But on a more personal and important note...

One of the things my former pastor did was institute weekly holy hour for vocations. We would have exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, benediction, rosary, divine mercy chaplet and usually a small homily by our pastor about the saint of the day. We also would pray prayers for vocations from St. Therese and our former Bishop.

It was during one of those holy hours, when I was kneeling before my Lord and Savior, praying for an increase in vocations for our diocese, that I heard a single word:

Well?

So here I am, praying for vocations and imagining that God would send holy men and women to save us. How dare I pray for vocations if I would not entertain one for myself.

So I believe this is why I have been stalked by Jesus' most Sacred Heart. My wife and I have gone to Syracuse to meet with the Director of Deacon formation. I have met with my new pastor and we have made plans to discuss this. My wife and I have been set upon a path that we believe God wants us to travel.

During the course of this process, we may come to the realization that this is not where we're being called. The diocese may come to that conclusion for us. But either way, we will be able to approach our God with a clean conscience (at least regarding this one thing) that we followed the call we heard and responded to it as best we could with an open mind, a servant's heart and a deep and abiding faith that whatever the path, Jesus is with us, and where you see one pair of footprints, you can imagine Jesus carrying us like that lamb in the picture of the Good Shepherd.

I don't know where my parish will need me in the future. I'm leaving that open for now with regards to what training track I'll select. It may very well be something that I'm not trained in or drawn to. But God doesn't call the equipped, he equips the called.
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A Grateful Nation Gives Her Thanks

Posted by: tony on 10/12/2008 12:07 AM (Read: )
I buried my dad today.

It was a bittersweet event for me. Bitter, because I don't think I had enough time to get to know this remarkable man sufficiently. Sweet, because he had been under hospice care for the last 18 months of his life, and he fought valiantly. He showed the patience of Job, taking every new condition to develop as his 86 year old body shut down, with grace, prayer and gratitude for another day of life in this vale of tears with his wife.

My dad was a veteran of World War II. He was team leader of a heavy artillery team stationed in the European theater. His discharge papers I read for the first time Tuesday as my mom and we children were making funeral arrangements. He was the recipient of multiple medals and citations.

As I was growing up, my dad was a hard man to get to know. He never discussed the crucible of war that hardened and refined him like gold tested in fire. He was very quiet about himself and would not, under any circumstances discuss the war. Part of it, I'm sure, was to shield us from the horror, but he also shielded us from the duty, honor and sacrifice of war.

The Mass was beautiful. Not a cloud in the sky. The music was lovely. Not an "Eagle's Wing" to be seen. The pastor from my church brought tears to my eyes by having shown up without telling us in advance to con celebrate (my immediate family goes to a different church than my parents, which is where I was baptized).

My dad, with his wife, my mom, showed us by example what a sacramental marriage was. Oh, it wasn't perfect all the time, there were some rough spots usually caused by my dad's Irish temper which he admirably kept in check 99 44/100% of the time. But they were together at home, with an army of wonderful hospice volunteers at their beck and call. My mom took care of all my dad's needs. She cooked his favorite foods, lovingly cleaned him up when he was messy, made sure that he could reach his remote to watch Gomer Pyle, USMC. He enjoyed watching the old, clean comedies. No "Sex in the City", or "Lipstick Jungle" for him. He loved M*A*S*H, partly I'm sure, because it brought to mind his relationship with his buddies during the war who he loved like brothers.

Only recently, within the last 5 years, did he begin to open up regarding his time in the "Big One". He showed us a small scrapbook, filled with black and white pictures of him and his buddies. He pointed them out to us and told a little anecdote regarding each one. His memory never failed, and he never slipped into dementia as so many older people sadly do. He was sharp and lucid to the very end as he drew his last breath and rocketed off to his final judgment. I hope he got a lenient judge, filled with divine mercy toward this soul he lovingly created.

I learned many things watching my dad. I learned how to do plumbing, how to hammer a nail in straight, and other skills around the house which have saved me tens maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years. But the most important silent lesson I learned from his example was:

Deal with it.

Don't complain, bitch or cry. Take what life deals you, roll up your sleeves and deal with it. If your hot water heater breaks, fix or replace it. If your plumbing leaks, clean it up and fix it. If your body starts to fail, accept it with the grace that only Jesus bestows on those who ask for it.

My dad was a man of strong, simple faith. He didn't intellectualize like me, he simply knew. He knew our Lord Jesus and his Mom like the friends with which he and my mom surrounded themselves. Even in his sick bed he was a frequent penitent and communicant. His priest visited often, and the sister associated with the church was there a few times a week. She brought her keyboard, and they would sing Irish songs, his favorite being "Lady of Knock". I think the singing helped keep his lungs clear which were riddled with emphysema (which ultimately caused his demise).

At the grave site was a surprise honor guard of veterans. Young and old, from every branch of the service, probably spanning wars from World War II to the present day. He received a 21 gun salute, as the piper played Amazing Grace on his Great Highland bagpipes.

Two young soldiers folded the flag that draped his casket. They carefully folded it, one of the young soldiers got on one knee before my mom, and presented her with the flag while saying: "Condolences for your loss, a grateful nation gives her thanks for his service..."

A grateful nation gives her thanks.

This is why they were called the greatest generation. They bequeathed their legacy to a country rife with spoiled brats who take every blessing this nation has to offer as some sort of entitled birthright. They do not understand that the liberties that they take for granted were secured with the blood of men and women like my dad. Men and women who went to war, fought, were sometimes injured and sometimes died.

They dealt with it.

They identified evil when they saw it, and they dealt with it.

To those who have made it this far in this somewhat rambling missive, I offer my thanks. I ask only one thing of you.

When you enter the voting booth in November, think of my dad.

The fate of the country that he loved rests in your hands.
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Kudos to Amazon.com

Posted by: tony on 03/01/2008 03:44 AM (Read: )
I am a Supernatural junkie.

For those of you that don't know, Supernatural is a television show depicting two brothers who are following in their dead father's footsteps hunting evil supernatural monsters and sending them back where they belong.

I was never much of a television watcher. Part of the reason is that I really don't want to be a slave to the time slots in which the shows are broadcast. I began watching more television when I bought a television tuner card and installed MythTV on my Linux box. This turned my trusty computer into a full featured TiVo-like DVR (digital video recorder). The Reader's Digest™ condensed edition is that I can record television shows onto my hard drive and watch them at a later date skipping over the commercials.

When I began watching Supernatural, I realized that I had missed two seasons not even knowing it was being broadcast. So I decided to purchase the boxed DVD sets for seasons one and two on Amazon.com.

I began watching season two and when I got to the fifth DVD, the second episode would not play. There were no scratches on the disc, and it wasn't player specific (it behaved exactly the same on all of my DVD players (including the MythTV internal one).

So I went to Amazon.com to see about returning it. When I tried, there was no return button because I had owned the set for more than 30 days. This had happened because I liked to sit down when I had free time to get comfortable, make some food, and thoroughly enjoy the show (backing up and fast forwarding a few time when a monster gets killed in a particularly nasty manner).

I was hot, and I was expecting a fight. I e-mailed Amazon, and within 4 hours a replacement set is on it's way. No questions asked. No demand for a return of the damaged set.

When a company hoses me, I usually like to complain, so it's only fair that when a company goes above and beyond, they ought to be complimented.

Back to the show... After reading all of the trials an tribulations that screen writer Karen Hall has had with the writer's strike, I have come to a new understanding of the talent that goes into each episode of the show. Maintaining the story line, developing the characters, and researching carefully into the mythology of these monsters to determine the means of trapping and dispatching them. This particular show is written by writer/executive producer Eric Kripke ("Boogeyman"), Robert Singer ("Midnight Caller"), and John Shiban ("The X-Files").

These guys have my gratitude for the hours of enjoyment they have given me. I will be watching these shows over and over again.
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Thanks Dawn and Mark!

Posted by: tony on 12/23/2007 04:34 AM (Read: )
That's Dawn Eden and Mark Judge.

Mark is the fellow shaving his mug with a double edged razor and foam on a brush.

So by watching his video, it pointed me to another video, and that pointed me to a forum which opened up a whole new world of wet shaving to me.

I have shaving both my head and face in the shower for going on 6 years (I shaved my head for Lent, 2002). I was just using normal soap and the latest "shaving system" that with the Gilette "Fusion" has gone up to five (count them, five blades). These "systems" have an assortment of buzzing, flashing, pivoting features. The ones marketed to women are worse. They are rounded, in all the obligatory girl colors, like they'll shave better if they are pink.

I recently bought a boar's hair shaving brush (badger hair is better, I'm saving up) for around $7 at CVS, and a cake of Williams shaving soap ($1.57 at CVS).

After watching the Filed in :: It's About Me | Discuss (0) | Permalink

The Virtue of Bending

Posted by: tony on 04/16/2007 08:59 PM (Read: )
Last night we were hit by the winter storm (in mid-April?) which has been blanketing the north-eastern portion of the United States.

This afternoon, my wife called me and said: "I think our tree is a goner!". The "tree" is the tree pictured, that has probably been growing in our front yard since the house was built in 1966. It has shaded the front of our house in the summer and the yard, where I liked to park my lawn rocker with a beer and a cigar. It also blocked the bitter cold wind in mid winter helping to keep our home warm. In the spring it would bloom with beautiful red flowers that were perfect for probably one day before the wind carried the petals away to cover everything.

I didn't know what to expect when I came home, but I understood that neither of the cars were damaged, the house wasn't hit, and none of my family or the dog were hurt, so all in all it couldn't be too bed. If I had to cut down the tree, well... The tree would come down, and another would be planted in it's place.

When I got home I discovered that the weight of the snow had broken off two of the huge branches and split another right down the middle. I was assessing the damage, and I figure when the weather gets a little better, I'll rent a chain saw, and take those branches off. If the tree still looks reasonable and healthy, I'll just leave it. Otherwise it'll come completely down.

I was looking at the tree, and my eyes traveled to the forsythia bush right behind and to the left of it. I noticed that the forsythia was bowed down, but none of the branches were broken.

This was because the bush was flexible, and bent with the pressure of the snow. When the snow melts, it will bounce right back. The tree broke because it was too rigid and would not bend.

I used to be like that.

I had plans. There were things I wanted. When I didn't get those things, I got angry and my peace was damaged. I really wasn't understanding that God had a plan for me, and I would just have to figure out what it was. When I fought God's plans for me, my "branches broke".

Now I try to conform myself to God's will. I bend when he presses me, and I try and mold into the final product he has in mind for me. I count my blessings. I have everything I need and most of the things I want. I have a wonderful wife and two beautiful children. I have been blessed, partially, I feel, because I now am able to bend.

So think about your life. Are you a proud tree? Or are you a forsythia bending your will to conform to God's?
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The Evil Empire™ Strikes Again!

Posted by: tony on 02/15/2007 07:57 PM (Read: )
iRiver T30As an unapologetic geek, I'm a fan of neat technology and one of the neatest technologies I've found is the iRiver brand of ultra compact music players. One of the things that drew me to them was the fact that:

  1. They support OGG Vorbis encoded music1
  2. Their units are upgradable, meaning that if new technology comes out, they can (and do) support it without forcing you to buy the next generation of player.
  3. They support UMS (make the unit look like a little hard drive to the computer).
  4. They are really reasonably priced.

I have owned an iRiver FP-170 for a while, this is a unit not much bigger than a thumb drive that has 128M of memory on board, and can play MP3s and WMAs. When DRM music was developed, iRiver made an upgrade available that I could install in my unit to allow me to play it. I bought that one for about $42 shipped.

I recently wanted to upgrade, so I found an iRiver T30 on eBay which I bought for $26 shipped. This one has 512M on it, and no FM player, but that's ok. I had done some research, and discovered that this unit also supported UMS. When I received the unit (with the original packaging, though opened) I saw that there was a requirement for software distributed by the Evil Empire™ (in other words, Micro$oft), namely Media Player 10.

Hmm... I said. If I have UMS capability, I can drag and drop music onto the unit from any operating system that supports UMS. My operating system of choice is Linux, namely Fedora Core 5.

Now the fun started. I went to the iRiverAmerica website to download the upgrade program. That having been done, I ran it. It sent me through a few steps, and on the last step, I'm supposed to unhook the USB cable, and the .HEX file that was placed on my unit will automatically upgrade it.

Silly me.

I waited and waited and waited for the upgrade to start. I then plugged it into the USB port again, and saw the device appear. It was recognized (not as USB), but not upgraded. The .HEX file was still on the unit (it is supposed to be deleted automatically after a successful upgrade).

So on to tech support. I call the long distance iRiver support number, and after waiting on hold for about 45 minutes, I get connected to a really nice and competent tech support guy named Chris T. Chris explained to me that the problem was with Windows Media Player version 11. It seems that this evil aberration makes my device look like it's formatted FAT 16, and the upgrade program doesn't place the right upgrade code on the unit.

He recommended that I roll back Media Player to version 10, upgrade the device, then upgrade Media Player again. Sounded like a lot of work to me, so I asked him if he could simply send me the appropriate upgrade file, I could move it to the unit and then when I pulled out the USB cable, voila, it would upgrade. He said that would appear to work, so he sent me links to both the "pure" software (that requires Media Player or some other supported Windows player to work) and the UMS software (that is interoperable with any supprted Operating System, which is probably all of them).

I pulled down both files, and when I went to open the UMS zip file, it was empty or corrupted or something. I asked Chris about it and he said that it was a problem with engineering. He said keep on the lookout, or he would notify me when it was available.

Meanwhile, when I was searching for how to solve the problem, I ran across a particular conspiracy theory that postulated that iRiver had made a deal with the Evil Empire™ to not distribute the UMS software in the United States. This would keep the money funneling through Darth Gates. I am usually not a fan of conspiracy theories, but I didn't notice UMS support on the packaging that I read, and when I got the idea to simply go to the European iRiver site and download the software for the UK, it worked just fine. I now have a music player that supports UMS.

So I plugged it into my Linux machine, and have been moving music back and forth ever since, enjoying my new purchase. A neat side effect is if I go on my Wintendo2, Windows Media Player recognizes my UMS music device, and treats it just like it did before the upgrade. The only thing is doesn't support in UMS mode is subscription music, but since I'm not a subscriber, and I purchase all of my DRM-"protected" music, it doesn't affect me much.

So when people tell you that Microsoft is just a successful company, tell them so is the Mafia.

--
[1] Ogg Vorbis is a music encoding which is better than MP3. Not only that, it is Open Source which means that pretty much anyone can use it without having to pay royalties. MP3 is patented, and someone owns the patent. It does not seem to be enforced yet, but who knows in the future?
[2] A "Wintendo" is a Windows box that is kept around specifically to play games and run programs to control those "Windows only" devices like my Digital Voice Recorder.
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Of Science Fiction and Cuban Cigars

Posted by: tony on 01/02/2007 08:42 PM (Read: )
Julie at Happy Catholic points me to an article by Joseph Bottom in which he writes:

But smart ain't the same as intellectual. As I say, there is an intellectual defense of some genre writing. But-believing, as I did, that lawyers tend toward being natural intellectuals-I would have preferred to see the discussion begin with the acknowledgement that Homer, Virgil, Dante, Shakespeare, and Goethe produced literature. Now, does any science fiction stand near them?

Quite a few years ago, I became a premium cigar smoker. I don't call myself an afficionado, because my interest in cigars is as a hobby rather than an avocation. I actually have a fairly successful cigar website called The Cigar Diary which I designed, to learn how to do online database programming.

In my travels, I have rubbed elbows (in cyberspace) with some real afficionados. These are people who are able to aquire Cuban cigars legally and have seen fit to gift me with some. Some of these cigars, stars in the cigar firmament, have left me cold. I really don't like them. They are too overpowering for me. I like my cigars a bit milder, nicotine-wise.

I made the mistake of mentioning it once that I believed that Cuban cigars were a bit overrated. I got hit with the standard "sour grapes" argument because I lived in the United States and could not easily aquire legal cuban cigars. The next argument was that my palete was not developed enough to appreciate the subtlties of a cuban cigar, and after I'd gained more experience, I would appreciate them more.

The undertone was that I was a phillistine who could not appreciate the finer things in life.

I'd imagine a lot of it has to do with what I like to term as "the emperor's new clothes" phenomenon. What I mean by this is that you could probably roll donkey dung in a factory third leaf, and if you slipped a cuban label on it, many of these people would declare it "fabulous, complex and earthy with an interesing finish". All because they would not want to be seen as a phillistine like me.

Back to science fiction. I love science fiction. I love horror a-la Stephen King. I do not like most "literature" (though there are exceptions). I started to read "Inferno" by Dante. I put the darned thing down after about 30 pages. It bored me to tears. I have read Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle's "Inferno" about a dozen times. It's the story about a science fiction writer who dies in a stupid accident at a fan convention and ends up in hell. It's a rollicking good read.

I'm also sure a lot of "intellectuals" have Keats on the coffee table and Asimov on the nightstand.

I think a lot of the "intellectual" crowd who can appreciate "literature" is a lot like the clique of "popular kids" in high school whose group you wanted to be in because it was the "in" group, but in your heart of hearts you really didn't like the people in it.

Give me a La Finca corona and an ice cold glass of Yeungling beer while I read "The Stand" by King for the 10th time.
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I Finally Did It

Posted by: tony on 12/08/2006 11:33 PM (Read: )
Italian foilI have been wanting to take fencing lessons, and I went to my first one tonight. It was fun even the first night. They do all kinds of sword fighting, only for an old guy like me, I think I'm going to stick to the Italian foil.

The main reason I wanted to do it was for fitness purposes. I thought it would be a neat way to get exercise, and it looks like it will be. The competition is going to be fun too, testing my mettle against people who are younger and faster than me.

I'm going to try and lose 30 pounds, and get in better cardiovascular shape. Wish me luck.
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The Plumbing Job From Hell

Posted by: tony on 10/27/2006 01:46 PM (Read: )
Sure, you can do it yourself.And it seemed so simple...

I think those are the famous last words of most projects that go terribly wrong.

I fancy myself somewhat of a handyman. I wasn't that way growing up, possibly because I was in a family with a supremely qualified dad.

When I got married, I began to do things around the house. This was before the internet, so I purchased a set of Time-Life books on home repair. I have to say, these were pretty good, and they taught me a lot.

Now I do everything from carpentry to electrical work to plumbing to major appliance repair. If I can do it myself, I like to do it myself.

Which brings us to the subject of this post. A diabolical situation that started out as a tiny leak.

Our water comes into our house through the foundation from the street. It goes through the main shut-off, through the meter, and from there, all throughout the house. Whenever I need to do any plumbing wotk around the house, like toilet repair (I'm becoming an expert) to sink replacement, I need to shut off the main, if only to install local shut offs to make things more convenient in the future.

I live about 200 feet from my town's pumping station, so my water service comes into my house at about 130 psi. I reduce that to about 62-65 psi. So when my main shut-off starts to leak, I take it seriously.

It started when I was turning off the water to make a repair. When I turned it on, it would leak from around the stem of the "faucet handle". I asked someone about this, and they said: "Oh, you just tighten down the handle nut until the leak stops". I immediatly got this vision in my head of me blissfully tightening down the nut when Crrrrrack!!! the nut breaks, the handle flies off, and my basement becomes an indoor pool.

Needless to say, I listen to those kind of "internal warnings". I feel it's my guardian angel whispering into my ear. I figured a new shut-off couldn't be that expensive (it's just like a specialized faucet), and besides how hard could it be. (Those words are in italics, because I'm sure the devil has his ears tuned for the uttering of those words so he can mess with you). So I called up the town to send someone down to shut off my water at the street.

"Hello, this is Tony. I'd like someone to come down and shut off my water so I can replace my main meter valve"

"No problem. We'll turn it off any time you want. We won't turn it back on, however, until you install a double back flow preventer and an expansion tank."

"Oh, ok."

I hang up. Hmmm... Well it's always a good idea to get your house up to code, if for no other reason than to keep the town off your back. So I called a plumber and asked how much it would cost to have a double back flow preventer and an expansion tank installed. He said: "$550".

Ack!!!

Well, my $10 part and a half day of labor is turning into a bit of a project. So I go about looking into doing it myself. The town was nice enough to have a drawing of a common configuration, so I went to Lowe's and priced the parts. All told with all the little adapters I needed the parts were $100. So I bought them and got to work. I shut off the water with my defective shut-off valve, and went to work. About two hours later I was up to code. I made an appointment to have my water shut off.

So they come down and inspect my installation of the mandated parts, and shut off the water at 9:00am. I quickly remove the defective valve and go to Lowes. They don't have it. They don't have anything with 3/4" flare male 90 degrees to 3/4" female pipe.

So I go to the local plumbing supply house. They don't have anything like that, but theu can supply me with a compression valve that will do the same job. (This is K-type pipe containing 135 psi of water pressure constantly. If a compression fitting vibrates loose, it will fly off, probably embedding in the first floor floorboards, dumping quantities of water into my basement not seen since Noah said: "Do you think it looks like rain?"). So I said: "Thanks but no thanks, is there someone else locally who might handle something like this?" He recommended a local place that supplied parts for municipal water systems.

(If I might backtrack for a second, this is a municipal valve. I was under the impression that the town owned from the meter out, but they don't. They own from the shut-off box at the curb, out.)

So I go to the municipal supply house, and the guy says: "We don't have anything like this, we might be able to order it, though." So he takes a picture of it with his cell phone, takes my name, and I never hear from him again.

So at this point it's 3:00pm. The town guys go off duty at 5:00pm and if I don't have that fixed by then, I'm paying their overtime to the tune of about $300. So I run to Lowe's and grab repair parts to fix it, new washer, new stem packing, and I run home and put it together just in time for the town to turn it back on.

It still leaks.

Now it's dripping from the compression nut because I broke it out. So I get a great idea. I hang a bucket over a horizontal pipe, take a little piece of wire, rip off a strip of rag, tie it around the leak, and run it over the wire and into the bucket. Problem solved. Well, not really, I still don't trust the valve.

So I go on the internet. I find a company that makes these valves, and I notice they sell them in boxes of 10. At this point, I'm ready to buy 10 of them and sell 9 on eBay, but I contact their sales e-mail and ask them if they can turn me on to a local supplier. They do, and I call the place. I ask them if they can order from the manufacturer for me, and the guy talks with his manager who suggests a plumbing supply house in town that I never heard of. I go there and they have the part I'm looking for. They sell it to me for about $20 and change.

Now I have to get my hands on a flaring tool that can handle 3/4" pipe. I call local tool rental companies, and I get lucky with the third. "Of course I have it.", he says. Woo hoo! I run down and he hands me an internal flaring tool. You put it into the end of the pipe and tap it with a hammer until you get the flare you want. So I take it home, and get ready for my nice, uneventful day off after about a half hour doing the installation of the valve.

So the town comes down at 9:02am to shut off the water. I take off the valve, I take my tubing cutter and cut the flare off so I can get the old flare nut off. I put the new flare nut on, and I stick the flaring tool into the pipe and it doesn't fit!

So here I am. I have a cut off pipe, the old flare end in my hand and no way to properly flare the pipe. Seems that it is K-type pipe and very thick. So I grab the tool I rented, go back to the rental place with the flared end in my hand, and ask him if there's anything else he has that might work.

He pulls down a conventional flaring tool, only it's 7/8th. Well, interesting thing is, the flaring tools are measured for the outside diameter of the pipe, not the inside diameter, so this fits my old pipe and flare perfectly.

I take it home, and carefully flare the pipe. I install the new valve. I then have to assemble (sweat) a new, inch longer compression section to complete my installation (since I cut off the flare, the pipe had to go up higher to reconnect to the old compression nut).

I snapped off a quick prayer to St. Vincent Ferrer (the patron saint of plumbers; it was a toss up between him and the parton saint of idiots) and called the town to turn the water back on.

Water's on. New valve's installed. The assembly is perfectly dry.

All's well that ends well. I have a one-finger comment for Satan. :)
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