The Past Weekend Wrap-up

Yes, I know it's already Wednesday but it's only my second day back at work since I had Monday off.

This weekend I finally said yes to Steve about getting a basketball hoop for our backyard. We had one about a year ago and putting that damn thing together was more than I could handle. None of the pre-drilled holes lined up, it was missing parts and the directions were so ridiculously vague they may as well have been written in Swahili. Needless to say it wasn't very sturdy, the rim moved when the ball hit it and the wind blew it over two weeks later. So I kept telling Steve we are NOT getting another one.

Well, I caved. :) I thought we would give it another shot (no pun intended) and go with a different brand.

We bought it and then realized it may not fit in my Focus. While trying to figure out how to lay the back seat down I think I may have pulled a muscle in my shoulder. I was tugging and Steve was pushing. I cut my hand on some metal under the seat while running my hand around it to find the latch. Then I think to myself, "Maybe it unlatches from the trunk." So I'm pulling and tugging for close to 15 minutes when Steve goes, "Hey, what does this lever do?" and easy as pie, the seats fall forward. Wow, I feel really smart right now.

So we get it home and unpack it. Doesn't look too hard, right? We start laying out the pieces and I'm glancing through the directions. Have you ever assemlbed something with more than 5 pieces that go together? Well, if you haven't, let me tell you how the directions usually go:

Step One: Take pieces A & B and attach them to base 5 with five #26 bolts, 3 #6 washers and 1 #98 nut. Make sure holes match up. Tighten nut until your hand falls off.

Step Two: Try to hold the rim, backboard, support rail and hoop pole (that all weigh about 70 pounds together) exactly steady and even while you jam a #75 bolt through a hole and screw it in with the octopus hands you'll need to accomplish this.

Step Three: Throw directions and a #82 bolt at husband and go inside for a drink.

Step Four and Five: Go to Home Depot (twice) to find spare bolt since it was dropped and the garage apparently swallowed it. Go to Home Depot again to find spare nut since it was dropped and the garage apparently swallowed it.

Step Six: Once it's all put together (still have NO idea how we accomplished it) step back and stare because you'll be WAY too tired to actually play with it.

Step Five: Drink heavily.

All in all, it was much easier and is much sturdier than the first one. We keep it in the garage so the famous Ft. Collins wind doesn't knock it over and we've actually played with it a few times.

So next time you're in FoCo, stop on by. Look for the serial killer van in front!