Yak Shaving

No need to blush or tell the kids to leave the room.

It's the "stuff" you do between the beggining and the end of a task. No, not the actual task itself. The other tasks that you have to do to get your original task completed. Stuff that - to mere mortals - would appear to have absolutely no rational connection.

Take for example, a $1500 oil change. Say what?!?!?

Now before you offer to change the oil in my minivan for the bargain price of just $1000, here's what went down (with a little lot of yak shaving) as I started changing the oil:

• Turns out tires are worn bald and must be changed
  
• Turns out tires are actually worn funny due to worn out ball joints
  
• Turns out changing the lower control-arm bushing is "easy" - once you've taken the van apart enough to change the ball joints
  
• Turns out changing struts is "easy" - once you've taken the van apart far enough to change the lower control-arm bushings
  
• Turns out changing tie-rod links is "easy" - you guessed it - once you've taken the van apart far enough to change the struts
  

I know what you must be thinking. "Why didn't that fool change the tie rod ends too? What was he thinking? He was already in there - with everything already disassembled even..."

I admit it. I really should have had that foresight, but I didn't. You see, I honestly was too busy with the task at hand (changing the oil) to get distracted.

PS: Lest you think "yak shaving" is some whimsical term I invented to soften the blow to my ego, please see this reference. I (for one) am ecstatic to have a term to describe what went down on this oil change.