It's Better to Have Loved and Lost

Or at least it's a lot less likely to lead to a lifetime of buying other people's cast off furniture. That's all I'm going to say about that, at least until I think of something else.
Last week I was writing about my pump. I can report that those of you who believed in me and thought there were two pieces to the pump, were vindicated as were those of you that thought I was a dork. I took the entire pump into REI and showed them that the piece they sold me didn't fit into the opening. The REI guy showed me, how if you took out the "missing" piece that was jammed in incorrectly it would all fit just fine. He took the pump in back to consult with the technicians how it should go together. That's what he said, anyway. Leah (who works in retail) explained that he took it in back so all the technicians could have a laugh at my expense. No charge for that actually; he gave me back my dollar.