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by James Robertson.
Original Post: Real vs. Virtual
Feed Title: Cincom Smalltalk Blog - Smalltalk with Rants
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Feed Description: James Robertson comments on Cincom Smalltalk, the Smalltalk development community, and IT trends and issues in general.
I've never been a big fan of manual labor (meaning, I've never liked it when it was my hands that had to the actual labor). I never cared for it as a kid, when I got drafted into the varrious home improvement projects my Dad undertook, and I still don't like them. On the other hand, I like crafting software - it's been a lot of fun building this blog and BottomFeeder.
So the sense of satisfaction I get after finishing a home project always comes as something of a surprise to me. Recently, we had to address a drainage issue. We put in a patio, steps, and a sidewalk (garage back to the patio) 2 years ago. That was a huge job, and involved a lot of moving of earth - nearly 10 tons of gravel and sand, plus all the dirt and sod we dug up. I still stand back and admire that work. Unfortunately, we caused a water problem when we put the sidewalk in - it was too high, and dammed the water coming from the sump pump outlet next to the foundation - after every rain storm, the pump would run for days, and we ended up getting a minor leak into the basement
Clearly, we had to fix that. We got to it this summer. We had to tear up most of the sidewalk, and about a fourth of the patio. We then dug over 100 feet of drainage trench. Into those trenches went four inch perforated pipe. That's hard work on two levels:
First, you have to dig the blasted trench
Second, you have to make darn sure that the trenches run downhill - otherwise, the whole project is a waste.
Every time it rained (which has happened a lot this summer), the trenches had to be re-leveled. We finally got the pipe in, and the trenches filled back in. Then there was rebuilding the sidewalk and patio - and let me tell you, the briicks never want to fit back in the way they should. Still, we got that done, and waited for the first rainstorm (which perversely now that we were done held off for days). It worked - the water drained down and away from the house. No more lake on the patio, no more leak in the basement, no more constant ruunning of the sump pump. Success!
There's still some cleanup to do - we don't have all the blocks near the steps back in yet, for instance. The major work is done though, and in looking at it, I find that I have a higher level of satisfaction than I ever get from software. Which amazes me. Perhaps it's the sense of "permanence" - those bricks and pipe will be there, long after I've moved from this house (which itself is 20+ years away, at least). BottomFeeder likely won't last as long as those bricks, which is probably why I take more satisfaction away from that job. Doesn't mean I want to go to work as a bricklayer though :)
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