How do you know if you can trust an expert?

While this seems to be about home repairs, it's actually about trusting experts so bear with me while I set the ground work.

We're in the process of getting a new furnace or at least see if we can find a way to stop replacing the igniter every 9 months. We had a fantastic system that worked really well for the first 14 years or so of home ownership. It was a new type of boiler system that provided practically endless supplies of hot water and fairly cheap heat.

Having a garage that we couldn't use unless we bought mini-Coopers or motorcycles, I converted the first garage bay into an office. The contractor insisted that the wall he was installing would provide adequate room to service the furnace and hot water heater/boiler. When I questioned this, the head of the company came out, made a few tweaks to the plan, and said that he was sure it would be sufficient. I call this "Contractor Lie #1". There may have been adequate room before drywall, but after drywall, I can barely get the filter out to clean it ,and I think even Twiggy would have difficulty actually looking at any of the furnace parts, much less repairing them. The hot water heater/boiler access isn't too bad but it is far from sufficient.

When the boiler part died, the company that had originally installed it no longer supported the system and I could find nobody else who had a clue. This being a boiler, I opted to try calling plumbers instead of heating contractors. Maybe this was my first mistake.

A plumber came out and replaced the unit. He didn't bother to tell us that we were getting a hot water heater (max temp. 160 degrees F) rather than a boiler (max temp. 200 degrees F). I consider this "Contractor Lie #2.  It became quite clear that the job was well beyond the scope of this guy's experience so after his company's third attempt to fix everything, I called a different company. They fixed the pipes and everything was great.

For a year or so.

Then temperatures went unseasonably cold for Seattle, and the igniter died. Unusual? yes. Out of warranty? Of course. I researched the water heater on the Internet and couldn't find any indication that there was a history of igniter problems so we replaced the igniter.  Everything worked great.

For about 9 months.

Once again, cold temperatures brought a dead igniter. Still nothing on the Internet that the igniters were bad or that the hot water heater had problems but it was clear that something was wrong. Once again, the company ordered an igniter and after 3 very cold days, it was installed. They called the manufacturer to confirm there were no service bulletins. It was suggested to look at airflow which we did. At this point, we discovered that the intake and outflow air were backwards on the roof. The intake should be higher so it doesn't draw in air from the outflow. We debated methods to fix it but the manufacturer said that they doubted it was an issue. This may have been Contractor Lie #3. Most likely, our first igniter was simply a bad one. Once again, out of warranty but the plumbing company gave us a discount on installation because even they decided this was unacceptable. Once again, everything seem to be just great.

Until about 9 months later.

I am once again listening as this poor hot water heater attempts to heat the water enough to warm the house.  I've now turned off the recirculating pump that makes hot water appear in only 10-15 seconds from most sinks. I've turned the furnace down to a perky 60 degrees to minimize the amount of work it needs to do.  I've done what I can to help it limp along so we have time to figure out what to do.

The question is: do we replace the whole thing or do we fix it once again. How can we make such a decision when I can't necessarily trust the expert I've hired?

This has made me think about all the various experts I depend on. I have various experts digest the congressional bills so that I don't have to read all 1500+ pages. I rely on an expert to tell me what programs have viruses on my computer. Car repairs. Horse trainers. Vets. Doctors. Dentists. Meteorologists. Medications and supplements. The list goes on.

Contractor Lie #1: Are they knowledgeable or giving me a snow job?
If I raise a concern, how can I trust that these experts actually know what they are talking about? My son is an amazing student who really does know a lot of different things. However, he is the most amazing bulls*#&ter that you'd ever have the pleasure of knowing. Unless you yourself are knowledgeable about a topic, you have no way of knowing that you've veered off into BS-land. I'm not sure I could trust him in a study group where everyone is responsible for reporting on their part of the assignment. While I know that he would take the responsibility very seriously, I wouldn't have the skills to know what part of his report he was BSing and what was actually in the assignment. He is a classic case of the better someone's speaking and social skills, the more they create an innate sense of trustworthiness.

In my experience, some of the best blue collar experts couldn't spell like a first grader and couldn't speak very well either but those are also the hallmarks of some of the worst blue collar contractors. As our experts get more educated to perform their job, their speaking skills somewhat naturally improve which means their ability snow me becomes higher.  How much do you know about the real reasons your doctor wants you to take some medication or have some test done?

In short, how do I know that my hired expert is actually an expert in what I need?

Contractor Lie #2: The super-secret lingo
If I ask for a boiler, how do I know that I'm getting a boiler and not a hot water heater? I did research and the only items listed as "boilers" were units designed for huge office buildings or apartment complexes rather than a single family home. I thought I was doing the right thing and researching my options before I made a large expenditure. How was I supposed to know the difference between a hot water heater and a boiler if the experts (in this case the contractor and the manufacturer websites) don't agree on the lingo?

This is especially problematic in computers, and it's not just the difference between PCs and Macs. Think of all the different ways people refer to the button on the bottom left corner of  your Windows machine. Some people call it the "pearl", some call it the "start button", and some people call it the "round flag". There are probably other names for it that I don't know. Some people use their term because that's what it was called when they learned about it. Some people use their term because it's the current one. Some people use their term because it's just what they use. None of this is bad until you have a problem and you are off trying to find a solution. If you've been told that that thing is called the "pearl", you'll be in great shape searching on Microsoft's site but it won't work on too many other help sites. Worse, if you don't know that people use different terms for it, you don't know how to search for it or, when you do find help, you spend an hour trying to find the "round flag".

If I don't speak the same language as my expert, it is much easier for me to view them as an expert. Heck, isn't that a big part of what the reformation was all about? People getting tired of viewing their Latin-speaking parish priest as the expert on God and decided that if God was all-powerful, he could understand their local language.

Doctors use this all the time. A patient doesn't want to hear "I don't know what it is" so doctors call it something so that you'll have faith in whatever treatment the doctor proscribes. Since your faith that a treatment will work is apparently a huge component in the treatment actually working, this sounds like a great idea. It probably is a good idea most of the time but how do I, as a patient, know when it isn't a good idea? I've now known enough people with cancer to know that doctors don't agree on what best treatment is but for many types of cancer are just going with whatever they've tried in the past or was in the latest magazine.

We treat some experts as gods and don't ever seem to question their thinking or their conclusions. Think about talk radio or newspapers. How often do you go off and research what they say? There's an expectation for some experts that they are factual and unbiased but more and more we seem to be discovering that even people like doctors are quite biased.

Contractor Lie #3: Good advice or avoiding a lawsuit? Good advice or money?
How do I know that the advice I'm getting is what the expert feels is the right answer rather than the answer with the least likelihood of getting him in trouble? Similarly, how do I know my hired expert is telling be the best practice rather than getting money for the next vacation?

For the most part, people got a long just fine without all the technology. When a doctor suggests that I need a test, I can followup with something like "how would the outcome of the test change the treatment?" Not only does this help me understand the purpose of the test, but it keeps me from getting tests that won't change the outcome because sometimes the treatment is for the symptoms not necessarily their cause. That's not saying that all tests are bad but I do think we do many things out of a fear that something will go horribly wrong and we won't be able to say "I did everything I could think of!" Certainly malpractice insurance sells the fear of that to doctors and our attitudes towards medicine often reinforce that "do everything you need" to confirm what you already believe.

Doctors aren't the only ones. Another one is the "get your septic pumped every 3-5 years otherwise your drain fields will be worthless" ploy. Not only do many people get their systems pumped regularly but some companies make a bang up business selling bacteria for your septic. Maybe some day, someone can explain to me why the septic guy insists that I need some different filter every time he comes?

Personally, I think that falls into the corollary of this lie which is "how do I know that what's being recommended is the best for my situation and not for the expert's wallet?" This is one of many reasons Car Talk is so loved. Tom and Ray tell what they think the car needs so that the callers can walk into a mechanic's business with some degree of control over excess repairs.

My daughter's computer died after barely 18 months of use. Having many computers in the household, some over 15 years old, this was abnormal. In calling tech support and spending many hours on the phone with some lovely Indian woman, we determined that the motherboard was fried. I'd said that about 20 minutes into the conversation but the scripts required that I dink around another few hours before the tech could agree. So pay $400 for a new motherboard or $600 for a new computer? I suspect that there is some very small part on the motherboard that isn't working but by pricing the motherboard so high, the company is strongly encouraging people to buy a new computer.

Clearly we can't trust all mortgage brokers or banks but those used to be some of the most trustworthy professions. How about your will? How do you know that what your lawyer has done will accomplish what you want? As people get older and need power of attorneys, death with dignity documents or living wills, how do you trust that the experts you've hired will do what you want? What happens when your expert doctors conflict with your expert lawyers over your care? With all the information coming at us and the increased specialization many of us are making in our day-to-day knowledge, reliance on experts is important but how do you know whom to trust?

Teaching Cats

I think I'm glad I only had two kids in the group today. They were tired, couldn't focus, and struggled to figure out what times 8 equals 8. I finally gave in and granted them time for a 10 minute nap followed by 15 pushups to get the blood going again. We managed to make it through another few problems, but it just seemed like torture to be asking these kids about fractions when they were struggling so much to put two coherent thoughts together.

It didn't help that I had run out of cereal the day before so there was no food for them to nibble on while we worked. Neither child tends to eat breakfast and their abilty to think is seriously compromised when they haven't had food. We did have a discussion about "healthy" cereal when one of them volunteered to bring in cereal. Every cereal he wanted to bring in was a real-life equivilent to Frosted Sugar Bombs.

We also had a discussion about "no excuses" regarding homework. One of the two routinely doesn't do homework and so I had to give the "school is your job" lecture. I explained that when he didn't even have his name written on the paper, it was an indication he hadn't even attempted to do the homework. If you choose to do karate and other fun activities, you have to make choices that allow you to complete the homework, too. One choice I pointed out was the 10 minutes I had given them in class yesterday to start the homework when  he opted to play with the unit shapes instead of doing the homework. He had forgotten to hand in his homework packet from a previous unit. In looking through it, he had done less than half of one page out of the 20 or so in the packet.

I'm sure I wasn't exactly helping the situation since I hadn't had nearly enough sleep but this being the day before their spring break, the entire school was squirrelly. It was one of those days where I was very happy not to be a full-time teacher and probably the first time this year that I've been happy to leave the kids behind.  On the plus side, one of them said that this is the first time she's ever enjoyed math and that she felt like she was starting to understand it. That's always a good feeling and a huge part of what brings me back each day.

Quartet rehearsal last night was good. I'd forgotten to go over a potential new song with Nikki so I couldn't sing along very well but we ran through most of our other repertoire. I gave them a copy of the new bass solo song I'd like to add. We'll see if this one makes the cut. I'm trying very hard to find a bunch of easy but interesting songs to add to our repertoire. Nikki has something like a 3-rehearsal rule but I don't think we're ready for anything that strict. Perhaps we'll choose a "if it's not reasonably solid in 6 rehearsals, we should drop it" rule. We have both a Mother's Day and a Father's Day gig coming up so we need some non-love songs to broaden our range a bit. With so many soldiers still overseas, "Bring Him Home" seems like it might work for both. It never ceases to amaze me how many songs there are about a mother's love but ones about a father's love are virtually impossible outside of country songs. Hmmm, maybe I'll see if there's  a barbershop arrangement of "A Love Without End, Amen".

I had a great lunch with Nikki the other day. Lots of great conversation about jury duty, singing, competition and the challenges of finding a mentor director. Sweet Adelines had a mentor director program where both parties filled out an extensive questionaire then SAI would match up-and-coming directors with established directors as mentors. They've cut the program due to budget cuts so the question has now become one of  how does Nikki shop for a mentor director. Does the mentor need to be someone that will work with AJoy or could it just be someone that works well with Nikki? AJoy's grown and changed so much over the last few years that it's a little challenging to figure out what coaches might work for us and Nikki. Donny and Amy are a formidible team and have really helped both AJoy and Nikki but looking down the road, we'll need another coach to bring us a long. It's kind of like thinking about what to put on your internet dating profile. What kinds of things can you say that will attract the "right" person and how do you know that you are focusing on the "right" and "important" things. We don't want to spend half our coaching budget bringing in someone to have it be an unmitigated disaster but if we're going to try someone, this summer is a great time to do it.

Oh well, nothing going on this weekend so I can clear off the to-do list: taxes, bills for both home and AJoy, cleaning and repairing costume stuff for competition, buying timed cat feeders for next weekend and, most importantly, sleeping. I'm going to need a lot of energy next weekend!

Let's Twist Again, Like We Did Last Summer

Actually, I'd rather not. The performance went OK but during the choreo for "Codfish", I twisted my ankle slightly then almost fell when I had to support myself on that foot later. I'm jumping the gun though so let's get back to basics.

Champagne, my quartet, had a fabulous time coaching with Lea yesterday. The two hours just flew by! Lea managed to help us tweak our two contest songs just a bit without overwhelming us with details. She's such a supportive person to start with but she has an innate sense of how much to push without being overwhelming. She did suggest that the lead and bari exchange notes on the last note of our ballad. The note is the one crack note our bari has and the chord wasn't balancing. The lead and bari are great musicians and were able to make that change easily and perform it later flawlessly.

The Pacific Sound Chorus' Friends and Family concert was packed well past overflowing. People had to stand in the hallway to hear quartets. It's a good problem to have but I kinda hope that AJoy, PSC and Jet Cities can coordinate into one Friends and Family night next year. Yes, it would mean fewer opportunities for the quartet to practice, but we could perhaps get a real stage so that it would be more like contest. PSC was sounding the best I've heard them. They had a relaxed energy about them which made being a guest a pleasant experience. In the past, they've often  had a frantic or fearful feeling about them and it was nice to see what they could do when they were relaxed. They also had more character and engaged faces that made them so nice to watch.

I am majorly bummed that I didn't get to hear much of Sunbreak. They're a new quartet filled with superb singers and but they are mostly all new to barbershop. They've come a long way since they started and I like listening to their progress. Airwave was one of the other quartets that is largely a reconfiguration of two previous quartets. I think I like the sound of Airwave better than either of the two previous quartets so here's hoping they score better at competition. I think that would put them in the top 5 of the region  (out of 22).

Frenzy was down having a rehearsal weekend and they came to see the PSC show. I'm sure they were ready for a break after all their hard work, and it was really nice of them to come watch. I'm glad I'll get a chance to hear them on Monday night at AJoy's F&F night. It's interesting to me that there are some quartets I could listen to hour after hour and others that I find challenging to listen through an entire song. Their level has nothing to do with it; I'm talking about the top fifty quartets here. I find it fascinating that quartets can have such a wildly different sound from song to song, too. I don't hear that inconsistency at the world-class quartets so I'm thinking that is one of the hallmarks of an international-ready quartet. In any event, Frenzy is one of those quartets whose sound I find very cozy and warm.

Kay, their tenor, sent me a really sweet note after the PSC show telling me I have a voice similar to Shannon Harris. Nope, I didn't have a clue who Shannon Harris was but I discovered she was the bass of Brava!, Sandy Marron's quartet that won international. It was an inspiring comment that I have to live up to but not yet :-) I have a lot still to learn and another child to fledge, but I think I'd like the experience of winning regional and having the opportunity to attend international as a participant. I have a long way to go and so much to learn but I'm  a sponge.

We're off to see "Iron Curtain" at Village Theatre today. It's billed as a communist comedy and since Village has a history of doing fantastic shows, I'm excited for an opportunity to turn off my brain and enjoy  a good show. I won't be able to see much of it. I tried a new mascara last night and my eyes are not happy with me today. Good thing I'm a touch typist else my daily blog would have died in under a week :-)

SingSpiration

Yes, I know it's the name of a quartet but after listening to all the Div2 quartets tonight, I feel inspired. It was a way-too-long drive complicated by a lot of "you can't get there from here" at the Green River College Campus, but it was worthwhile.

None of the quartets were clinkers, some were very good, and most had people I have seen/heard before. It was lovely seeing how much some of the quartets and individuals have improved since I saw them last in Portland. The whining of the air system was incredibly annoying but wasn't nearly as bad as the smell from the oil the maintenance guy used to "fix" the problem. It didn't alter the sound or the frequency but did give the room a slightly nauseous feeling. The quartets muscled through and did their best to ignore the distractions. I wish I could go to the chorus competition tomorrow and then to the quartet finals and show of champions but my quartet is singing on the Pacific Sound Chorus Friends and Family show so I get to miss it.

Another highlight of the evening was having a (way too late!) dinner with Jen. We tried to find a Mexican restaurant that my GPS said was only 1.8 miles away. More than six miles later, we had driven round the hill and through CasinoLand but the restaurant was closed up tight. We found our way back to highways and a Denny's where good conversation was punctuated with OK food. I so rarely take the time to talk to people in the chorus. I'm moderately anti-social but usually there is just too much going on or it is getting much too late. Jen's a neat lady and I've always enjoyed by heretofore brief conversations with her. It was nice having some uninterrupted time to just chat.

Speaking of which, more later. I have a coaching later today and a show in full competition makeup and costume. Well, almost. I don't have to use the formal stage base so that'll save me 3 hours: 2 hours getting it on me down to the clothing line and another hour trying futilely to remove it at the end of the evening.

Yet another chorus fail

Last night was the Pathways concert at my daughter's high school. This is the concert where they start with the elementary school choirs which feeds into the junior high choirs which feeds into the high school choir. It's designed to show parents and the community how the choir programs integrate and to generate interest in choir. It's really not bad since every choir just sings 3 or so songs. We were done listening to 5 choirs in just over an hour's time. By the end of it, my daughter was in tears of anger and frustration but more on that later.

My kid's elementary school started a new choir program in January of this year. They've never had a choir of any type before but now they have two choirs. The Junior Choir is for 1st-3rd graders and the Senior Choir is for 3rd-6th graders. They did a bang-up job and even did a semi-complicated round. When the teacher said at the end that they'd only been rehearsing one day a week since their creation in January, I was even more impressed. They even managed to do "It's a Small World" alternating in English and Spanish.

Next up was another local elementary school where they have a long history of having choir. The kids rehearse twice a week during lunch recess and last year, they blew me away with how good they were. They were still good this year but their music was too complicated for them to execute very well. I could get glimmers of their good sound but this was a clear case where the music did not fit the choir very well.

There are several other elementary schools in the feeding pattern, but these are the only two of the eight elementary schools who have choir programs. For the most part, both of these choirs feed into one of the two junior highs. The junior high where my daughter attended gets very few students from either school with choirs. Their junior high school performance was pretty good. It was nice to see so many returning faces and having 5 guys in the choir of 25ish this year is a big improvement over last year's single male. Their choir program is also not helped by having a part-time instructor but more on him later.

The other junior high benefits from having all of the experienced kids from the established elementary choir program attend it's school, and it shows. Their director is a fantastic man who is clearly loved by his 35+ students but who also has discipline with them. They sang some very hard pieces and had a good time with the whole experience. There are enough students to merit a full-time choir director but budgets being what they are, their director also teaches other classes albeit at the same school. This allows for the good bond between the choir members and their director that we see demonstrated on stage.

The last performance was by the high school choir. They sang some hard pieces and actually did a decent job. The reason I hedge this is that I'd heard so much from my daughter about how unprepared they were, how so few members choose to rehearse, and generally about the lousy work ethic that exists. I should have learned with my son, but apparently I didn't: my kids are perfectionists who eagerly notice the icky stuff but tend to ignore the good stuff.

The high school choir was about the same size as the better of the two junior high choirs but may have been a little smaller. They didn't have quite the sound and togetherness of the junior high choir either. I suspect that a large part of this is that the director of the high school choir is also the director of the smaller junior high choir. The director is very talented but he is struggling to save the chorus program at the high school. Choir interest has been waning over the last few years so this year, this director is teaching the high school choir, two english classes at the HS and is the choir director of the smaller junior high school choir.

It's no wonder my daughter complains about the lousy work ethic of the choir: the director is being pulled in too many directions and he can't afford to alienate any of the students in the class else the choir program will cease to be. It's not a good situation for him or the students, and thus was born the Pathways concert. It's no surprise that the high school is having a challenging time getting students involved in chorus since there has been only one elementary school (of 8) who has had a choir program before this year.  Since the high school has a musical theatre program that routinely gets awards, the choir program should be filled with good voices and hard workers but most of them don't join the choir. I suspect they have more important things to do than to spend time in a group where many choose not to work and where there are few consequences for making that choice.

Needless to say, my daughter has opted not to do choir next year. This saddens me because she is not one of those kids who thrives on academics and homework, and she needs daily music in her life to help balance her. She wants to join my chorus after competitition and that's wonderful but a once-a-week rehearsal is not the same thing as a daily class. It also saddens me because someone who does have  decent work-ethic will not be in the chorus supporting it. I'm hoping against hope that the choir director can find enough students to join choir next year so it won't be cut, and he won't be teaching still more academic classes. While I'm sure he is a competent teacher, teaching English is not where his heart lies.

So why was my daughter in tears last night? In the junior high choir, she was praised for emoting and enjoying the songs they sang. She was a joy to watch but as you can imagine, one of the very few who was animated at all and definitely one of the two who seemed to enjoy the music. That said, since the rest of the choir was fairly static and petrified, my daughter's movements caught the attention of virtually everyone watching the choir and that's not always a good thing. She's tried to mellow her movements a bit this year in the high school choir, but she's still one of the 3 kids who looks anything but petrified and is really the only one to move.

In the middle of the first song last night, the director asked my daughter to tone it down to nothing: no movement. Having been rebuked in public, she did the only thing she could think of and became totally disengaged. No one except the other chorus members could hear the rebuke but that anyone heard it at all was enough to have her completely withdraw. When the song was finished, she turned to her neighbor during the performance and tried to get clarification on the movement allowed. When the next song started, she had a smile on her face and a bit of sway in her body but because she was the only one moving, she was once again asked to tone it down. She spent the rest of the performance completely disengaged and robotic but completely still.

Let me be very clear: because no one in the choir was moving or emoting, my daughter's movements and expression stood out very clearly. I do understand why he asked her to stop. That said, he's had her in choir for almost two years. If he'd asked her to be still just before she went on stage or any other semi-private place, she'd have been annoyed but complied. By doing it in public, she felt publicly humiliated and is now certain that she won't do chorus next year.

And yes, I'm not even going to press the point that when singers aren't smiling, their sound is  flat and dead which makes it virtually impossible to match notes or make a chord. I did kind of hint at it when I described the really good junior high chorus though...

Nothing to it but to do it

No, this is not an inspirational blog but rather a place to put my general musings down in a place to encourage discussion. I have opinions but I realize they aren't always right. I encourage civil discourse in an effort to enlighten me about your point of view. You may, or may not, convert me but you will educate me and I appreciate those efforts.

I'm a person who believes that when you stop learning you start to die. I'm far from ready to put a foot into the grave so help keep me young.

As with many things, this blog has been started by the desperation exhibited by one of my kids. The eldest fledged off to college last September. We gave him the choice of a weekly phone call or a (mostly) daily blog post. He chose the blog post without realizing that this meant communication would mostly be one-way. For a while, I think he was ok with this. College was daunting and somewhat overwhelming, and I believe he longed for the simplicity of home. Now he's got a girlfriend and is ready to hear more from home.

Here you go, kid. :-)