a sure-fire investment

We recently moved to a new place (new to us anyway) in an older part of Des Moines. We like it so much better than our old place. All except for one thing: the shower. Before deciding to signing the new lease, Heather and I closely examined everything we thought was important. We opened cupboards, checked outlets, turned the oven on & off, examined closets, and tried out the faucets. The one thing we never thought to try was the shower. It looked to be a new shower head, and seemed like it would be fine. That was until I took a shower the evening of Moving Day. I stood in the shower dirty and sweaty from a long day of moving, longing for a refreshing stream of water to clean me off and renew my energy. Instead, to my horror, all I got was a trickle barely strong enough to clean the dirt off an insect. With every dribble of water that came out, I sunk deeper into the depths of despair. I began to think I never should have rented the place. I envisioned going through the next year of life always feeling a little dirty. My sanctuary that was my shower was gone, and I had voluntarily given it up.

After the shower, my dismay slowly turned to problem-solving. How could I make this shower work better? I first thought about replacing the showerhead, but figured that the previous occupants had surely come up against the same problem and picked an optimum showerhead for the situation. After all, it looked nice and new. I also assumed that, being an old house, there must be a water pressure issue that nothing could be done about short of replumbing the house. As a last resort, I tinkered with the shower knobs and improved the situation slightly. I found out that if I turned the hot water knob on as hard as it would go and then balanced it with the cold water I got a little more pressure than before, making a shower at least tolerable. That has been the state of things the past two weeks.

Thursday night, things changed. I was headed out to Costco to get gas for the car, and decided to thumb through the Costco coupon book we had recently received in the mail. I noticed a $10 off coupon for a Waterpik Linea 12-mode showerhead. I decided to at least take a look at it. It was $37.99, but the coupon made it $27.99. I was skeptical about it working on our shower, but decided to give it a try and return it if it didn't work. It was the best $27.99 I have ever spent in my life! The showehead had a removable flow regulator for houses with low water pressure; I rememoved that and then installed it. It only took about 5 minutes, then I gave it a try. The water blasted out so hard I thought it might bore a hole in the tub. I was so elated I took a 30 minute shower that night, and again yesterday morning, and again last night. As soon as I'm finished writing this blog, I am going to take another shower.

For the cost of a GAP swearshirt, or a dinner for two at Olive Garden, I got something that greatly improves my happiness, productivity, and overall outlook on life every day and night. Pastor Jim recently talked about how consumer products always over promise and under deliver. This is one exception to that rule. The package could have said, "Your're new Waterpik showerhead will fill your life with a renewed sense of joy, fulfillment, and happiness regardless of your life circumstances," and it still would not have over promised. I can't understand why anyone would pay money for a big screen TV, or finish their basement, or buy a new set of golf clubs, and still have a rinky-dink showerhead. If we ever run into a boat load of money and build our own custom house, this is the showerhead I think I'll get.