Thursday, June 21, 2007

Son of a...


Well, the gas line is installed, but still has to be inspected; will probably be sometime next week before I can get an inspector out. But, it looks like the guys did a good job. It's a flexible hose that runs from the gasline outside the house, through the basement, then outside again.



So, since I couldn't use the new grill tonight, it was flank steak on the old Genesis. And as it was doing its 8 minutes, a huge thunderstorm barrelled in, and man did it pour. I was getting something in another room when my wife said that something on the patio fell. I thought it was a chair or something, and went to the door. Sure enough, I hadn't locked the wheels on the new grill, and the wind actually blew it about 4-5 yards, across the patio, and off into the grass. And it of course did not just glide smoothly onto the lawn. It had tipped over, forwardly, spilling out everything. A friend over for dinner helped me right it, and I pushed it back to where it was supposed to go before I moved it so the HVAC guys could install the line.

After the storm ended maybe only 15 minutes later, I went out to put all the grates and bars and such back into place. I inspected the panels to see if there were any major dents, but it held up really well. Only the left door had any signs of denting, and it looks worse in the picture than it does in person. Or at least my state of denial is telling me so.

Still, it's another one of those "of course this would happen to me" moments. I haven't even used the grill yet. It's been on the patio for 3 weeks, and I can't even turn it on to make sure everything works. I'm a little peeved about the dent, what with it being a brand new grill and all; but it is sorta like that first scratch on a new car. You know it's going to happen, you just don't want it to. I made a promise to myself that I would take care of this like I didn't the older one, but I know within a few months the inside will be carbonized, the grates not as shiny, and the drip pan gunked up. But it would have been nice for it to have taken a little bit longer to get to that point.

Maybe it's karma's punishment for me getting a great deal on a free cover from Weber today, by re-registering the grill with a promo code I got from the BBQ-source forums. I probably should have waited for Amazon to fill the month-long backorder and kept the universe from tilting against me.

Or I should have just locked the brakes on the cart's wheels.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Holy cow...what are the odds of that? It is amazing how easily those wheels allow the grill to move...even when wind is doing the pushing.

Trust me, in a few weeks, your grill will look used. I am still in denial about that myself!

Unknown said...

Mike! Looks like you finally made it home. What, Newark isn't the shining example of what people should expect when visiting my homestate of NJ?