Mike Waugh, Novice Plumber

The new fridge has an ice maker with a filtered water dispenser on the door and I cannot wait to tell those Kentwood people to take their 40 pound water bottles and water cooler and to go take a hike.

But there's this copper tube sticking out of the floor behind our fridge, and no water came from it. When I learned that plumbers are charging about $100 an hour these days, the Jack Benny in me decided in might be a good idea to check out the mysteries of this copper tubing by going underneath my house.

I put on an old pair of jeans, and an old goofy looking long-sleeved sweater, which I tucked into my pants. Just then, my friend Jeffrey showed up at my house. He probably thought I dress like that all the time.

Anyway, I braved the dark nether regions of my house and found that the copper tubing connected to a simple valve. I had a water source. That would have been embarrassing had I called a plumber. That would have been like calling a computer technician to fix your computer only for them to tell you that you just needed to plug in the computer.

Then I bought a simple pipe cutter for $5 and a compression nut for another buck. Somewhow, I didn't screw it all up. Now the water flows like a gentle fountain.

And the ice maker drops its fresh ice in the middle of the night, nudging me awake, but just for a moment, as I smile and curl up in my thick blanket, thinking of the money I saved.