My wonderful Alma Mater offers a degree in Technical Communications which basically helps you learn how to take technical things and explain them to the common person. For instance, want to explain how to operate a chainsaw? A Technical Communications major probably helped write the instruction manual.

Dark SetWhy is that information important? Because the person (or people) who wrote the manual on how to assemble the playset obviously did not hire a TCO major. Not to mention that the thing was written in French. Apparently there were 2 manuals. One was written in English and one in French. Perhaps this was stated at the beginning of the instructions, but since I couldn’t read French, I didn’t know. By the time I found the other manual, it was too late. I’d assembled the wrong language playset. Now my child has to play in French.

Things got so bad that we had to recruit Butterfly to come and help out. You can see her in the picture to the left adjusting some of my work. She immediately noticed that I had used Item EE with a 1.25″ screw in step 22 instead of Item EG with a 1.27″ screw. Also in the picture, Dr. Dave is trying to figure out how in the world I installed a railing where the slide is supposed to go. (I blame public education.)

At any rate, by the end of Day 2, we had a ladder which lead up to the platforms. On the downside, there weren’t any railings or walls on the platform. So, the desire to play on the playset had increased while the safety factor had managed to decrease. Apparently sharp, pointy objects aren’t supposed to poke you in the skin. Just another fact they should have included in the manual.