Open sesame

Indian food dominated my diet while i lived near a small restaurant staffed by its owner and at most one assistant. the leftover food was featured in at least two meals after my weekly visit. my habit of dining at this restaurant influenced my vacation schedule.

at first, the menu included rarities like fish smothered by a very spicy green curry and house-made lemon achar. (the curry was thicker than Hilda's.) after a while, various shortcuts were taken. house-made achar was replaced by store-bought and several favorites became historic, but i remained faithful. i ate there about 700 times before moving away.

Pickle jar

one evening, the assistant accosted me with a jar of achar and indicated that i should open it for him. so i did.

working on bicycles taught me that it's much easier to loosen a fastener when one's arms move toward each other. shortly afterward, a coach taught me to avoid moving unnecessarily while running, because that wastes energy. thus, i became aware of how we should use our muscle groups. at some point, this awareness helped me improve my jar opening technique.

in theory, holding the lid tightly can make it harder to rotate. after all, deforming the lid is unlikely to make it easier to rotate. wearing gloves that grip well seems to help, but the effect might be more imaginary than real.

because of the way our muscle groups work, most people will find it easier to grip the lid with their left hand, making a C with that thumb and one or two fingers.

begin with your palms parallel to your chest, holding the jar close to your body. try to rotate the lid while simultaneously rotating the jar in the other direction. visualize success!

Anode rod

needless to say, positive thinking isn't always enough. for example, you know your cheater bar is long enough when it moves your water heater when you try to loosen the heater's anode rod.

a forum contributor claimed that this rod is hard to remove because it was installed before the pressure test. in any case, removing an anode rod requires sudden force, i.e. impact. thankfully, cheap impact wrenches are powerful enough for this task, and a breaker bar should be sufficient after the rod is reinstalled/replaced. i own too many batteries, so i bought a corded impact wrench even though its torque rating was lower. it came with a hard case :-)

last time i looked, the online instructions were all off the mark in one way or another. first, a 27mm impact socket often costs less than its English equivalent. (9.5mm drill bits are also desirable for this reason.)

after disconnecting various things, the next step is ensuring that water doesn't flow out of the top of the tank while removing the rod. anode rod inspection/replacement should be part of annual sediment flushing/inspection, so try to drain some water in the usual way. to do this, we usually open a faucet. if the heat trap (check valve) prevents draining, turn off the faucet and leave the drain open.

to facilitate seeing if/when my 27mm socket is rotating, i applied a few stickers. marking sockets with colored segments is better than using colored bands, but no manufacturer does this.