Jess is compelling me to post

Well, since she alluded to the story and since she basically started this blog for us to do together, I will oblige and tell you about my ill-fated Sunday...

I work in the construction/industrial supply industry, not that I am overwhelmingly handy with tools, but I sell them and have access to pretty cool stuff. One of the products that I ordered for myself is a Rust-Oleum anti-slip floor coating. I have a basketball halfcourt in the backyard replete with a key and a Seattle Supersonics logo painted on it (under the logo I used spray paint, also Rust-oleum, to write R.I.P. for our dearly departed Oklahoma Thunder). I am hosting a two-on-two Basketball tournament/BBQ in a couple weeks and wanted to paint the court with new surface for the following reasons:
1) It will keep you from slipping when it is wet and we do live in Seattle
2) it will look nice for the tournament
3) I wanted experience in applying one of the products that I sell (to make me a better salesman, but mainly #1 and #2)

This anti-slip paint is a heavy duty Industrial epoxy paint which means that I had to mix an Epoxy resin with the paint which has some grit in it. The mixing needed to be done with a Jiffler blade for 3 to 5 minutes (a mixing blade that attached to a 3 chuck drill). So I purchased the blade from "the Depot" and got ready to paint my court. I used Intertape PT14 masking tape (a line of tape that I represent) to mask off the key so I would not paint over the lines. and charged up the battery on my Bosch Cordless Drill/Driver (also a line I rep) to get ready to mix and apply the Epoxy paint. I am feeling good about getting experience with the products I sell and doing something I have never done before (painting with epoxy).

There was one problem, the Mixing blade has a three foot shaft on it and at the end of the shaft was a rubber tip used to hang on a display at Home Depot. Now this blade had probably sat on the shelf for a year and the rubber tip had basically fused to the end. I needed to get it off to put the blade into the drill. It would come off by hand, so I sprayed some WD-40 Blueworks Penetrant (another line that... I represent!) around the shaft to loosen it up. After a couple minutes of letting the Penetrant marinate on there, I tried again... the rubber tip didn't budge. So I got a pair of my LockJaw clapping Pliers (I don't need to say it do I) and clamped onto the rubber tip to pry it off.

I was sitting in a chair in my backyard, blade between my feet, and applied pressure to pull the rubber tip off. The penetrant I had applied before, caused the pliers to slip off the rubber tip and fly up smacking me right in the mouth. Here is the payoff to this longwinded tail (be warned, it ain't pretty):







I will tell you that I have Veneers on my front 6 teeth, so the damage is not as bad as it looks, but I did break my actual tooth under the veneers and needed a crown to be built. Thank you to Dr. Stacy Pacheco for doing the emergency dental work after coming home from eastern Washington on a week that she is on Vacation. Its going to be a long process to get my teeth fixed, I currently have temporary fake teeth on (they look like the real thing thanks to Dr. Pacheco). I have to wait for my gums to heal before we can take impressions for my new veneers. I have a presentation in front of 50 people on Thursday. I just hope my lips heals before then.

I am proud to report that after I did this, I picked up the same pair of pliers and finally got the rubber tip off . I mixed the epoxy and painted my basketball court with a mouth full of broken teeth. If you want to play in my tournament, it is at 1PM on August 14th. I will be the guy wearing a mouthguard just to play some backyard basketball.