the tale of two light-bulbs
Don't laugh, but it took me like, several hours to replace two (count 'em -- two) light-bulbs today. Uggnnnggghhhh...
See, the lights in my apartment are all ceiling fan things (each using 4 light-bulbs), and my ceilings are at least half a gajillion feet high [okay, this was bothering me, so I just tried measuring from floor to ceiling; unfortunately, my tape measure is only 12 feet long, and that wasn't long enough; so let's guess 12-13 feet ceilings], so, since I haven't a ladder of any kind, I have to use this extend-o reach thingie to change the light-bulbs. Last semester, sometime in November, perhaps, several of my light-bulbs all blew at once, so I went on a changing spree. In so doing, I discovered that not only did several of the light-bulbs blow out, but a few of them broke completely. Like, the glass part and the metal part were no longer joined.
I did my best with the extend-o thing, but ultimately, the fixture in the living room ended up being the problem child of the bunch. Two of the lights replaced perfectly. One of them broke so cleanly that all that was left in the fixture was the metal part that screws into place. The other one...well, when I unscrewed the light-bulb, the metal part that you screw the bulb into stayed on the bulb. So...unless I grow eight feet taller any time soon, I can't screw the metal screwy-thingie back into place, and so I can't screw any light-bulbs into that part of the lamp.
How the bulb broke:
How the light broke:
A couple days ago, I turned on the light in my bedroom, which had been such a good child and never needed any bulbs to be replaced, and pop! One of the bulbs exploded.
So I refrained from using that light until today, when I was home during enough daylight hours to see by to replace the light. I pulled out the bulb and behold! It had done precisely what the other bulb had done; that is, the bottom part of the bulb that screws into place was still in the light.
So I got my extend-o thingie, which has a rubber tip on it (first I mention "screw" about 40,000 times; now I'm mentioning rubber tips? O___O For shame, Anna!) for removing broken bulbs. The problem is, all that happened when I tried using this attachment on the light in the living room was the rubber bit turned around and around, and the metal part that was supposed to turn with it...didn't. However, the light in the bedroom is directly above the bed, so I was able to get closer to the light fixture by standing on the bed, thus I could see what I was doing better, and had more control over the extend-o thingie.
After about 10-15 minutes of trying to get the stupid thing out, victory! I knew I had another light-bulb in the kitchen, so I gathered it and used the extend-o thingie to replace it with no problems, turned on the light and...nothing. The bulb didn't light. So I thought, "perhaps I screwed it in crooked" and I used the extend-o thingie to remove the bulb and...
it was broken. In the same manner that the other bulb had been broken. At least this time the feelers of the bulb stayed in place up in the fixture and all I was holding was the glass part of the bulb. So the rubber tip thingie went up and over (it has a hole in it so that the feelers can fit into it) and I had to spend another 15 minutes doing what I had just spent so much time doing.
I had no other replacement bulbs. So, feeling ambitious and oddly confident, I set to work on the light fixture in the living room. I stood on the chair this time and, though it was far more difficult than the fixture in the bedroom (in part due to the awkward placement of the metal bar running across the ceiling; I refer you to the second picture under the lj-cut), I was eventually able to remove the broken bulb from that fixture as well.
I walked to town, bought some light-bulbs, and then replaced those two. I turned them on and behold! There was light!
And...nobody's going to stop me from feeling like I just achieved the impossible. So there! Nyahhhh!
EDIT Oh yeah. So Jokes came in the mail today. I am now listening to it. It is great. :D
See, the lights in my apartment are all ceiling fan things (each using 4 light-bulbs), and my ceilings are at least half a gajillion feet high [okay, this was bothering me, so I just tried measuring from floor to ceiling; unfortunately, my tape measure is only 12 feet long, and that wasn't long enough; so let's guess 12-13 feet ceilings], so, since I haven't a ladder of any kind, I have to use this extend-o reach thingie to change the light-bulbs. Last semester, sometime in November, perhaps, several of my light-bulbs all blew at once, so I went on a changing spree. In so doing, I discovered that not only did several of the light-bulbs blow out, but a few of them broke completely. Like, the glass part and the metal part were no longer joined.
I did my best with the extend-o thing, but ultimately, the fixture in the living room ended up being the problem child of the bunch. Two of the lights replaced perfectly. One of them broke so cleanly that all that was left in the fixture was the metal part that screws into place. The other one...well, when I unscrewed the light-bulb, the metal part that you screw the bulb into stayed on the bulb. So...unless I grow eight feet taller any time soon, I can't screw the metal screwy-thingie back into place, and so I can't screw any light-bulbs into that part of the lamp.
How the bulb broke:
How the light broke:
A couple days ago, I turned on the light in my bedroom, which had been such a good child and never needed any bulbs to be replaced, and pop! One of the bulbs exploded.
So I refrained from using that light until today, when I was home during enough daylight hours to see by to replace the light. I pulled out the bulb and behold! It had done precisely what the other bulb had done; that is, the bottom part of the bulb that screws into place was still in the light.
So I got my extend-o thingie, which has a rubber tip on it (first I mention "screw" about 40,000 times; now I'm mentioning rubber tips? O___O For shame, Anna!) for removing broken bulbs. The problem is, all that happened when I tried using this attachment on the light in the living room was the rubber bit turned around and around, and the metal part that was supposed to turn with it...didn't. However, the light in the bedroom is directly above the bed, so I was able to get closer to the light fixture by standing on the bed, thus I could see what I was doing better, and had more control over the extend-o thingie.
After about 10-15 minutes of trying to get the stupid thing out, victory! I knew I had another light-bulb in the kitchen, so I gathered it and used the extend-o thingie to replace it with no problems, turned on the light and...nothing. The bulb didn't light. So I thought, "perhaps I screwed it in crooked" and I used the extend-o thingie to remove the bulb and...
it was broken. In the same manner that the other bulb had been broken. At least this time the feelers of the bulb stayed in place up in the fixture and all I was holding was the glass part of the bulb. So the rubber tip thingie went up and over (it has a hole in it so that the feelers can fit into it) and I had to spend another 15 minutes doing what I had just spent so much time doing.
I had no other replacement bulbs. So, feeling ambitious and oddly confident, I set to work on the light fixture in the living room. I stood on the chair this time and, though it was far more difficult than the fixture in the bedroom (in part due to the awkward placement of the metal bar running across the ceiling; I refer you to the second picture under the lj-cut), I was eventually able to remove the broken bulb from that fixture as well.
I walked to town, bought some light-bulbs, and then replaced those two. I turned them on and behold! There was light!
And...nobody's going to stop me from feeling like I just achieved the impossible. So there! Nyahhhh!
EDIT Oh yeah. So Jokes came in the mail today. I am now listening to it. It is great. :D