People are slobs.  I should know because both my roommate and I are both bachelors.  We.  Are.  Guys.  Do the math.

I prefer, however to view the situation at home as “having my priorities in order.”   After all, when the great tally at the end of life is done and folks are standing around with little cups of punch balancing small plates of snacks, I don’t think that “He kept a clean house” will be an epitaph by which I’d care to be remembered.

So, what does this have to do with the tea in China?  Actually it does have to do with tea.  As in the Green Tea that I’ve switched to now that I’ve mostly given up Diet Coke.  I’ve only had two (maybe three?–can’t remember for sure) glasses of Diet Coke over the past 2-3 weeks.  Yay Me!  Go Team Tony!  Uh-huh Uh-huh Uh-huh!

So.. I’ve been working on getting everything in place so  that can drink Green Tea at work instead of Diet Coke:

• Buy four jugs of Organic Green Unsweetened Tea from Whole Foods —  Check!
• Take half of my supply of Stevia from home to work.  — Check!
• Snag a handful of individual packets of lemon juice from QT.  — Check!
• Feel ever so slightly guilty at snagging the aforementioned lemon juice then getting over it quickly.  — Totally Check!
• Remember to buy an extra “souvenir” spill proof container from Disney World while I was on vacation to use as my “Tea Glass” for work with lots of fun Disney Characters on it to make me smile when drinking tea.  — Check!
• Take all those items to work.  — Check!

Awesome!  I so rock!  Woo Hoo!  You *can* tell this is going too easy right?

Ok, ok, so it took me almost two weeks to get all this together and all to work.  But at long last, it was all there.

And…  [cue the foreboding music ] I grab my cute Disney mug and go to the new fancy frig in the staff break-room with  the through the door ice dispenser and push the button.

And… nothing.

As in “no ice”

Nada.

Zip.

Zero.

Nary a cube!

The ice dispenser had frozen solid.  *sigh*  Nobody at work had ever defrosted the fridge ice dispenser thingie.  Not. One. Time.  Ever!!   And since no one had been using any ice it was now a huge mass of ice.

I had hit the proverbial iceberg and the good ship “Healthy Me” was down at the bow and listing to port.  Oh, forsooth, if only a hunky sailor would show up to save the day!  😉 [using my best Southern accent and placing hand against my forehead ]

Now, let me explain.  I don’t know anything about fancy fridges.  I come from a background where having a fancy fridge puts you in to the “rich folks” category and “rich folks” were something that my family definitely was not.   The 1% in other words.  So, there I stand with an empty mug and a frozen ice dispenser and nary a clue as to how to make the thing work.

Second, I do not like housework.  As in cleaning.  As in chores.  Like defrosting ice dispensers, for example.  The closest my “inner domestic diva” wants to come to ice is when it is tinkling against the sides of a a glass of gin.  But, since my journey down the path to goodness and healthy living was now in jeopardy, I would simply have to defrost the silly machine.

Hey, I’m a college graduate, I say to myself.  Surely I can figure this out.  And seeing as how no hunky sailors had yet dashed to my rescue, I decided to try to “fix” the ice dispenser by detaching the ice bucket and emptying it.  How hard could it be?   Ten minutes later I give up and send out an email to the staff asking if anyone knows how to (1) defrost the silly thing and/or (2) detach the ice bucket from the door so that you can defrost it.

It turns out that if the ice freezes in place it locks the bucket in place.  You have to melt the ice before it will detach.  But I didn’t know that then.  I know it now but not then.

I finally get one adventurous soul who comes to my rescue and we, get this, pour hot water down the bucket and let it gush out of the ice chute onto the floor making this huge mess on the floor but that, friends and neighbors is how to defrost a through-the-door-dispenser that has ice frozen in its innards.  Innards is a good Texan word for those folks who speak English and haven’t ever been exposed to Texan.  It means “insides”, “guts” “interior” etc.

So, twenty minutes, and several rolls of paper towels later, we have an unstuck defrosted ice dispenser.  With no ice.

Which of course filled up with ice overnight.  But now that I’m getting ice from it on a daily basis, hopefully it won’t freeze up again.

Whew!  Success!

I’ve had green tea at work for the past week.  Yay me!  Go Team Tony!

See ya on the Dance Floor!

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• It’s NOT “just” a Diet Coke! (txcowboydancer.com)