Window Pain!

One of the front doors to our house has been missing a pane of glass for at least 3 years. It isn't a big pane, just 6.25" x 11.5", but it is big enough that it causes an insane draft to get through the inside door throughout the winter. In fact during the Christmas holidays we store pop and beer next to the door to keep cold and have, on occassion, found bottles of beer that had become frozen solid (THIS IS INSIDE THE HOUSE!).

About a week and a half ago I decided that now was the time to finally get this job taken care of. I grabbed Number Three and together we headed out to get us some glass. After researching the glass market in town I found that had a grand total of one place that cuts custom sized pieces. So we headed on over. Of course it turned out that this particular business is only open on weekdays and I was out on a Saturday. We looked around town for a couple of hours to no avail. This job was going to have to wait. Not a great start.

Fast forward to the next Friday. I'm at work thinking, 'Alright, this is the weekend! I'm finally going to fix that damned window!' I called the glass store first thing in the morning and placed my order. I asked what time I would be able to pick up the glass and was told. "Not until Monday. Our glass cutter is off for the weekend." GRRRRRR! What do you mean off for the weekend it's Friday morning and, wait a second isn't he off every weekend anyway???

Tuesday I finally went to pick up my glass. While I was at the glass store I needed to get some of those little tacks that hold the glass in place and some window putty. They had both of these items but only in the lifetime supply size (50 tacks and a huge lump of putty). I took them and laughed to the lady about how I could now feel free to break some more windows.

After I got home from work I started on my window repair immediately. I was so excited I just couldn't wait! I popped the glass into the frame. It fit like a glove. Now to tack it in. Just put the tack on the end of a flat-headed screwdriver and push. Simple. I loaded the tack onto my screwdriver placed the tack against the frame and pushed. Then I watched in frustration as the tack shot off to the left at 100mph (I'm lucky I didn't lose an eye). I loaded another tack onto my screwdriver and pushed it into the frame. About halfway into the frame the tack bent. I figure for every 6-7 attempts I got one tack inserted. I was starting to wonder if 50 tacks were going to be enough. This went on for close to an hour. How many tacks was I putting in? 100? 200? Nope, I was putting in 10. An hour later I was sweating like a pig and losing patience rapidly. Everything was looking good but I thought I could use one more tack at the top, just to be sure. I loaded up the screwdriver one last time. I pushed the tack partway into the frame. One last push and I could move on to the putty portion of the repair. I applied pressure and just as the tack became seated I heard a devastating sound. TINK.

The glass cracked neatly down the center.

Hmmmmm! Most unfortunate. "FUCK!!!" I screamed. I can't even describe the feeling. Was that the glass cracking or my mind? Suddely I felt like Ironman. I wanted to strap on some heavy boots of lead and stomp the shit out of everything I saw. The window, the door, the screwdriver, the old lady walking by on the sidewalk, the BBQ, basically if I saw it I wanted it smashed. Something was going to have to pay for me breaking that glass. I was angry at the world and I wasn't going to let it get away with pulling that kind of shit on me! So I stomped around the house and slammed some doors until I felt that I'd gotten my point across to the world.

"Take that world!! That's what you get! Yeah! You want some of this? C'mon! Get Some!! Get Some!! Bitch! Think about THAT next time you make me break a $3 piece of glass."

I then put away all of my tools and supplies.

Today I called the glass place and ordered another pane. For the sake of the world let's hope it goes well this time.