What Would MacGyver Do?

I've been very proud of my MacGyver-like solutions over the past year.

First, there were the overflowing and bursting drawers. The bottom of the drawers were bulging so much that we were having trouble opening and closing them. I found a neat solution with some large pieces of cardboard we happened to have from boxes Kendrick likes to keep around. A little tape, and voila! Drawers open and close with no problems anymore.

Second, my cell phone died on Saturday, and would not charge. After quite a bit of fiddling I discovered that the battery was not connecting properly - I had to apply some pressure and shift it a bit before it would connect. A bit of stiff foil paper (from my birth control pill holder) keeps the battery nice and snug and connecting consistently again.

Today has been the biggest challenge of all. I came home after my company summer party to a faint sewage-like smell all over the apartment. A contrite note left on the kitchen table from the house cleaner explained the problem. I had asked her to clean out the trap in the shower drain, a task that Kendrick and I despise because of the guk and the smell. She went ahead and cleaned the trap, but broke it when she separated it into two pieces for easier cleaning. Up until today, I knew *nothing* about plumbing and water traps. After some googling and wikipedia searching, I discovered the following:
- Our trap doesn't seem to be used in the U.S. or Canada. It's a simple stopper with a flange (tube), connected to a cup surrounding most of the tube. Water flows in the tube and overflows out the sides of the cup. So guess what, there is always water in the trap (I'll get to that in a bit)
- Traps are usually used to catch large objects before the water flows onward through the piping system. For example kitchen sinks have traps that could easily trap a lost ring. Our trap was designed somewhat differently, I think, it seems to be designed to catch soap scum and hair
- Traps are also used to create a water seal to prevent noxious fumes from coming up the pipes into your bathroom or kitchen. This is why I came home to the smell of mild sewage.

I looked at the two pieces of our trap, now both very clean. I found the original connection point but there was nothing I could salvage from it... maybe a soldering job would do it but I left my solder gun and solder back in Canada. Who am I kidding, I never had a solder gun... although my Dad does...

Ok, so I fire an email to our landlord at 2am (remember I just came home from a party!!) and I ponder the sewer smell problem due to the lack of a water seal. I really wanted that water seal, but without solder, there was no solution I could immediately see for putting those two pieces back together. Upon inspection, I noticed that the cup had curled lip, making me think that maybe I could just make some hooks to hold it in place, fill it with water and put the stopper on top. The stopper would not make a perfect seal, but I could pad it with paper towels and tada! Sealed! I quickly got a pair of pliers and some bobby pins, made four neat little hooks and hooked them on the lip of the cup. I held down each bobby pin with a ceramic french onion soup bowl, each filled with water for more weight. I put the water in the cup, placed the stopped and flange in the cup, and stoppered the holes with paper towels. I looked at my handywork, all proud of myself. Then I realized I could have just covered the hole with a big fat book. I'm not the type to get attached to my hacks - so I disassembled the whole thing and slapped a tome on the floor. I've opened some windows and now I'm going to get some shut eye. Very cool to know what traps do, very fun to feel like MacGyver, very foolish for missing the obvious solution. Good night, sweet prince, good night.