Tag Archives: performance

A Bad Purchase and Tuckered

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I painted a lot over the past couple of days. Trim, siding, windows. I’ve been up on a ladder swinging a paint can and wielding a brush. It takes a long time to paint a house. Technically, I am staining it at this point, although I started last summer with paint. I realized this summer, after carefully looking over the rusting cans in the basement, that the house had been stained in the past, not painted as I had thought. Staining means no priming, which saves me a coat. Still, this ain’t no quick project.

I had the idea that I would us a sprayer at one point. I went to the Home Depot and browsed and found what I thought would be the perfect tool. It was a backpack sprayer, made by Ryobi, the One+. It holds a gallon and a half, carried like a backpack, with a spray gun. It is powered by a lithium battery so no cord needs to be lugged up the ladder. It was just what I needed, so I bought it. Once I brought it home I wondered just how much the battery might last, but the manual was of little use, so I looked at reviews at Amazon and other sites. Things didn’t look good at that point.

The reviews were mixed but were either raves or pans–nothing in between. Reviewers gave the tool one star or five stars. The bad reviews talked of leaking and poor spray power and globbing and spitting. I hoped I would have better luck. Maybe these folks were setting it up wrong? Or maybe there were just some good ones and some bad ones, you know, inconsistent manufacturing. I gulped and figured I would try it. But it wouldn’t turn on. The battery, it turns out, was defective, so my wife volunteered to get me a new one while I got started with a brush. The old fashioned way gets the job done again. One day down.

Finally, with the new battery, I was ready to try this beast the next day. I had a huge scrap of cardboard on which to practice. Practice was all I got. That thing is the worst tool I have ever used. It leaked like crazy and had really poor spray consistency. I took it apart and couldn’t get it to stop leaking after I put it back together. It was awful. I could not have been more disappointed. I cleaned it and returned it the next day. Seriously, I have never made a less satisfactory purchase. Not performing well is one thing. Not getting the job done at all is ridiculous.

So I started painting again with a brush. Now, after a day of painting, up and down the ladder, in hot sun and sometimes high wind, hands pooling sweat in latex gloves, I have made some real progress. But I am, as noted, tuckered. Early to bed and early to rise gets the painting done, however. I guess I’m on that.

Clap Clap Clap

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I am still thinking about this conference I attended earlier in the week.  As I often do when I attend a conference, I come home with some new knowledge and some inspiration.  I also, however, typically come home with lots of other thoughts and ideas.  This time one of the things I have been pondering is applause.  There were many speakers and many awards.  I did hear some inspiring stories.  But it seemed to me there was too much clapping.

I have, for a while now, felt a little odd about applauding every little thing where a crowd happens to gather.  Someone is introduced who will in turn introduce a speaker–that person gets applause.  They are not the speaker, so why should they get applause, especially before they even speak?  I guess I an appreciate that applause may be just a way to say thank you, but it seems we offer it too readily.  Applause to me means thank you for doing a good job at entertaining or informing or inspiring.  Otherwise, why clap?

This crowd not only liked to applaud every person who had any kind of public role, but it was standing ovation dizzy.  There were more standing ovations at that conference than I have seen anywhere else.  Maybe they are just sensitive enough to truly be moved that often.  I guess I couldn’t speak to that, but I think a standing ovation should be reserved for a speech or a performance that one will remember for a long time.  If someone has a moving story but they do a poor job telling it, they shouldn’t get a standing ovation.  If someone has a story of personal tragedy, they shouldn’t get a standing ovation just because of their circumstances.  I want to recognize those who offer something to me, but I only want to stand up and clap when the experience is to powerful to keep me in my seat.

Am I cynical?  Or emotionally numb?  I don’t think so.  I just feel that we offer out praise too readily.  It is not easy to be the one to stay seated when everyone else stands and applauds, but there were simply not that many speakers who moved me to stand.  At one point a colleague even said to me, “This is where we get our exercise, all this standing and sitting.”  That told me that she was in the game, like many others I am sure, because it was the thing everyone else was doing.  I stayed put.

I don’t mean to be a spoiler but what if every play got a standing ovation?  It would not take long before it meant nothing and only the really really bad plays did not get a standing ovation.  A standing ovation should be for something is special, not just for any old perfomance, but that is what I saw–too much standing and clapping.  I have felt happy to be one to stand and clap, but if a speaker doesn’t merit it, I will stay seated.  It is easy to follow the crowd.  It is difficult to be the one who disagrees.  Sorry, speakers, but you need to give me something good to get me on my feet.