Okay, this isn't politics, but it's going to be a rant.

Kat and I are trying to do some fairly extensive remodeling to our house. We can do it because we do most of it ourselves, reducing costs down to the cost of materials. None of this is rocket science after all.

But some of the plumbing is tricky. I want to make sure it's done right, so I've been trying to hire a professional to help with the trickiest parts and to make sure I'm going to do it right.

None of them want the business. They all tell me (in one way or another), "All or nothing."

I'm sorry, but what a bunch of jerks!

I got one of them to explain it all to me on the phone today, but all he did was piss me off and make sure I never call his business again. Basically his argument was, "We went to school to learn this stuff, and we spent money on tools, and we like acting like a bunch of elitist jerks and maintain a monopoly on our services."

Well, screw you, too!

I went to college for 4 years. I started studying computer programming in high school. They have tools, but I have tools, too. And where their tools are saws and wrenches and other simple pieces requiring about 20 words to learn to use, I need a 2-inch-thick book just to learn the basics of the tools I use. And I have book cases full of those books in an industry that changes by the hour.

And if a client asks me to show them how to set up a web page, I say, "Okay" and then figure out how much help they really need. I'll show them how to create a template and make their own changes.

And I can bet that same plumber that won't help me make sure I'm doing my work correctly is MORE than happy to ask the neighborhood computer programmer "How do I hook up my computer network?"

None of you people are getting my business. I'm doing it myself, and you can kiss goodbye the hundreds of dollars I was going to give you on the first job and the thousands you would have gotten on the remaining jobs.