Leave "well enough" alone?

Hammer.

 MC Hammer.  

I just couldn't help myself.


Julie and I got into a discussion yesterday about our duplex and our role as tenants to ask our landlord to repair the place.  I was bitching about this and the other that didn't work properly and the health hazards attached to that and she (very wisely) said, "Tim, we are only going to be here for a couple years.  Maybe we don't need to upset our landlord."

It took me a second to compose myself.  I was thinking, "But I'm right!  This place needs to be fixed up properly!  It's... the RIGHT thing to do!"  And then I thought a little longer...  I think I ended up giving a bit of a bullshit answer about how if the roof doesn't cave in on us, what if it caves in on the next tenant's little kid and now we're to blame because we didn't have our landlord fix it...  I said that I'm made of stuff a little different than other people.  I told her that other people don't have the guts or stupidity to stand up to their landlords and ask that they do their damn job.  I successfully managed to get some sympathy from my wife.  But, if I were to get off of my soap box for a minute...  I think I missed something important.

Julie understands something that I often overlook: the relationship we have with our landlord is WAY more important than ensuring that our doorknobs turn smoothly, or the banister doesn't fall off.  He's a good man, from what I can tell, and he has been coming over once a week to fix stuff or spray poison ivy, or try to help us get rid of our cockroaches.  He gave us a tour of his fricken electron lab, for crying out loud!

Sometimes when I point to a problem I forget that I'm also pointing at a human being (God has asked that I show love to) who has feelings.  It can be embarrassing to be told, "Hey, this duplex that you own is a piece of shit."  He wants to make it good... and he also wants to save a buck or two if he can by only fixing what is absolutely necessary.  I get that.  I learned that from my dad all growing up.

Plus, I'm overlooking something extremely important.  This is where we are supposed to be, and I'm learning a hell of a lot in how to upkeep a house while we are here (which will be extremely important if we ever own a house someday).  BESIDES, I got nothing else to do today, what am I bitching about?

My next projects are: seal off 3 windows that leak, put new weather stripping on 3 doors, fix the gate so it actually closes properly, fix two old wooden chairs, and find a punching bag and weight set for the basement... those are just as related as you would think.  :)