Finally moving forward, Et tu Matt

by Duf Anything and Everything, Home Improvements

So yesterday I finally started moving forward with hurricane repairs after being in a circling pattern for two and a half months trying to get a check in my hand from my homeowner’s insurance.  I contacted the roofing company and officially booked the work which likely won’t happen until June. I now have the joy of sending them a $5000 deposit for the work.

I also had a back and forth email discussion/argument with the contractor that gave me the estimate for pool cage work.  I asked if the quote he gave included replacing the pool fasteners since an article on his website said the job normally would be about $3400, including the fasteners.  He said the $4600 quote did not include that, to do the fasteners would be an additional $2400.  I lol’d at my screen when I saw that.  The guys argument is their costs have escalated dramatically since the storm for materials and labor hence the dramatic price increases.

I do realize the costs of screening has gone up just based on what I have seen in my efforts to temporarily fix our screen.  But to expect me to pay double the going rate 8 months ago just doesn’t fly with me.  I told the guy thanks but no thanks.  The bottom line is I have the lanai area more or less sealed in from my efforts.  I am going to try to find a replacement screen door on my own.  As far as the screen repair/replacement goes I have several ideas.

I can simply wait it out so the prices can eventually normalize.  I can have some less established outfit rescreen the cage for less money or I can replace just the damaged panels myself.  The majority of the four year old screen is ok albeit a bit stretched.  I could just repair the 10 or less sections that were gone/damaged and let the rest ride as is.  I’m not sure what route I will wind up taking but I don’t feel any time crunch to get it done asap.

So as much of the country, I was shocked to see the firing of Matt Lauer yesterday, an iconic figurehead in NBC’s morning news team.  Like most people, to me Matt always had a pretty squeaky clean persona.  It is becoming clear that that was more of a facade.  Off camera he apparently was a horny, aggressive, and inappropriate hound with women.

This phenomenon of EVERYONE stepping forward to out inappropriate/unwanted sexual behavior has a little too much “me too-ism” in it.  There is a part of me that can’t help but wonder why this behavior was not flagged when it happened if it was truly seen as offensive by the accuser.  Only stepping out under this umbrella of literally dozens of high profile accusations that in some cases points back to something decades ago just strikes me as more opportunistic than oppression in some examples.

Don’t misunderstand my skepticism regarding the intention of certain accusers as condoning anything these men have been accused of.  It’s never acceptable for “locker room talk” to be carried out in execution nor is it cool for a person in a position of power to use it to coerce the opposite sex into sexual situations or assuming they will tolerate sexual  advances/statements.

It will be interesting to see who is next on the hit list.  I bet Bill Cosby is smiling ear to ear nowadays.