Life

2 years ago the team leader from FPC Macon told the team "hey, if anyone gets too hot or too tired and needs some help, I got straws in the med-kit...just grab one and suck it up" and i thought, wow, that is a great line! I proceeded to use it regularly. I still do. I've taught it to some of my students and Deaf friends, and we've made a sign for it. The meaning is understood. Well, I've done this so much that I actually get straws sent to me. Like real ones. And this hasn't just happened once. But multiple times, from multiple people. Ok, so that's all background info.
Today I was informed the ice machine wasn't working. Not good news with a work team coming. So I set out to  troubleshoot...i think my dad would be proud. I took off the front panel and found some diagnostic instructions on the back on the panel. I followed them to see the problem, and found that it needed to be reset. After that was successful, I decided it really ought to be cleaned. I found the reservoir pan to have quite a bit of sediment, and it was difficult to scoop it out with all the water still in there. So I decided I'd try to siphon it out...insert straws. I went to my stock and used one "flex-straw" and added a regular straw to extend the length. This made it easier to defeat gravity. Here goes, I thought, gave myself a mental straw, and literally sucked it up (dirty water and all)....and it worked! whooohooo! as the water level decreased i realized I had a problem, my straw would not reach to the bottom of the pan. So I added a couple inches to it and restarted the process. Had some air in the line and took a few tries, but got it going again. By this time Alex and Daphawn and some of the other boys were watching and trying to help. Turned out to be a lot of fun. Got the machine cleaned and ready to go, now we just need a new in-line filter :)