The End of an Era

Josh helped my dad replace a light bulb in their entry way fixture today that is probably about 20 feet up. They used a ladder and neither of them are blonde so this is not about how many dad's it takes to screw in a lightbulb or anything it is just funny because my dad has a secret. He has this experiment or study or general record keeping ritual I guess of writing the date with a sharpie on his light bulbs before he puts them in. He does this not because he has OCD but because he likes to track how long certain brands last in specific fixtures. It absolutely cracks me up and I harass him every chance I get.

So when Josh pulled out the bulb today it said 5.7.05. He asked my dad if he wanted to write that down somewhere in a very sarcastic tone and my dad said no. He then asked my dad if he wanted to write anything down before he installed the new one. My dad said he's actually NOT keeping track anymore! I can't believe it! He said he just decided to have faith in the product. I for one think it is just that he's getting soft. He's lost the dedication and the drive and the commitment to his research. I was crushed. AND now that he doesn't care anymore Josh's and my favorite April fools day idea will no longer matter. We have talked about for years, but never have replaced all the bulbs in their house with new ones that have dates from the future written on them.

In any case I do think it is amazing that the one they replaced today was from 05. Now if he could just work out a system to write the date of when it actually burned out so that you could track how long you live with it before it bugs you enough to actually do something about it. (ie: me putting the wash in with my headlamp on cause I'm too lazy to unscrew the fixture in the laundry room and just replace that darn bulb, cause I swear it goes out like every 2 months!) Maybe I should start writing the dates on MY bulbs.....Maybe I should consider what brand I use... what wattage is recommended for the fixture.... I see a spreadsheet coming on... Maybe my dad was on to something.