> I hate putting things together. It's worse when you're like me and have no friends--it becomes really tought to put together those things that say "Requires two people." I put together my desk and my bookcase by myself, both of which insisted I'd need a friend to help me (it sure as heck would have been *easier* with two people, but with some creative uses of duct tape and chairs, I managed alone).
>
> Today I bought a new gas BBQ grill. Of course, it came in this humongous box that I could barely lift and that barely fit in my car, but truthfully, getting hit home was only about a tenth of the battle.
>
> I helped Sam put his grill together a few years ago, so I had some idea what to expect (unclear directions, hard to decipher illustrations, and much cursing). However, I wanted to grill, so I was brave and dove right in.
>
> The first three steps were reletively easy--the catch is, after each step I had to backtrack and repeat the step before it, after discovering I had in fact done the previous step incorrectly. You see, even though there might be two identical parts on the grill, they're NEVER interchangeable. One HAS to be either the "right" or "left" side, or the "front" or "back" side. If you put them on the other way around, you have to take them off and switch them, or else you won't be able to do the next step. I have no idea why this is the case, since it would be quite easy to just drill a few extra holes in the parts to make them fully interchangeable. Couple that with the fact that nothing is actually *labeled*, and you'll see my frustration. The instructions helpfully refer to "Part AA", but of course there are no labels anywhere, so you have to hunt around your pile of parts and try to match it up with the squigly line-drawing of the part.
>
> After the first few steps were over, I ran into my first missing part. I couldn't for the life of me find the little temperature gauge thing that goes in the grill cover. I hunted and hunted and hunted around, convinced it was lost, and silently cursing the manufacturer. Just as I was about to give up, I found the part lying underneath another part that I could have sworn I'd moved several times.
>
> Truthfully, I should have known better. There alwasy *is* one part missing in anything you have to assemble yourself, but it's never the *first* thing you think is missing. I was not let down by this rule. I had to search for several parts, but always found them, until my confidence grew to the point where I was certain I'd just misplaced the side-burner grill cover, which was, alas, the last part I went to put on. After turning my house upside down, I finally gave up. I don't have one. It didn't come with one. But of *course*, since I had had my confidence boosted by finding all of those *other* "missing" parts, I searched WAY longer than I should have for this stupid thing, assuming I had just misplaced it.
>
> However, I do believe, after much sweat and a few tears, and three and a half hours of work, I finally have a functioning grill. Excuse me while I go take a nap before dinner.
>
> -- Dave

Let us know if noodly glop tastes better barbecued.

-Ellmyruh