Flashing is a type of adhesive, waterproof tape that will protect the door frame and lower edges of the sliding glass door from water damage. Flashing will also prevent water from entering around the edges. Apply a layer of flashing along the bottom sill of the doorframe. Let the tape hang over the outer edge of the doorframe, so you can bend the tape over and press it down on the external side.  Also apply a single layer of flashing about 6 inches (15 cm) up the doorjamb on both sides. You can purchase flashing at any hardware store or home-supply store. Have a friend help you lift and carry the door frame inside the house, and push it into position in the large opening. Be sure not to install the door backwards. The side with the small track for the sliding screen should face outwards. Some inexpensive vinyl sliding door models may need to be assembled. Use the same screws that you removed from the sides, top, and bottom of the old door frame. Screw these through the material of the new door frame, and tighten until they’re securely embedded in the door frame. Use of a level is essential to ensure the frame is perfectly straight on all sides as you screw it in and if you are working on an older home have door shims handy to correct if necessary. Otherwise, the doors may not fit properly.  If there are sizeable gaps above and on the sides of the door frame, stuff a sheet or two of fiberglass insulation into these spaces. This will prevent your house from losing heat around the frame. First, carefully clean all debris from the rails to get a good fit. Then, have a friend help you lift the first section of the sliding door. Set the bottom in place on the track in the door frame, and then press the top portion of the door in place too. Repeat with the second section of the sliding door.  At this point, you can also attach the metal handles that came with the sliding glass door. These handles should come with screws provided, which you’ll screw into indicated holes on the front and back of the glass door. You can attach the lock clasp at this point as well. This is the small plastic bit that allows the lock on the door to hold it in place against the frame. Now that the door is securely in place, you can nail the interior and exterior trim back in place as well. Attach these to the same locations from which you removed them at the beginning of the process. Once the trim is hung, you won’t be able to see the sides of the door frame or the studs to which you screwed the door. As the final step in installing your glass door, put in the screen. Snap it into place on both the top and bottom running tracks. Make sure that the screen slides open and shut without difficulty. At this point, your door is installed and ready for use.

Summary: Apply flashing to the door frame. Set the door frame in place. Screw the frame in place and add insulation. Install the sliding glass panels and handle. Re-attach the interior and exterior trim. Put up the screen.


Look back over your essay and make sure one last time that your thesis makes sense and is arguable, and that your writing supports it.   Editing at the end is a critically important step. While it can be tempting to consider yourself done once you have a draft, you can greatly improve your essay (and eventual grade) if you take some time to review it and make any necessary changes. Review your essay's structure, organization, and style. Make sure your paragraphs proceed in a logical way; move them around if they don't. Now is also the time to go back and edit any of your sentences for word choice, clarity, and grammar. If you're really pressed for time, then probably the most beneficial things you can do to improve your essay are to make a reverse outline and to revise your introduction.  A reverse outline is a great, quick strategy to check the logic of your essay's structure. To do this, you create an outline from your finished draft, jotting down the main ideas of your essay paragraph by paragraph. The result will look much like an outline you would create before writing an essay, but you can use it to double-check your finished product. Editing your introduction can clarify your thesis and make your essay stronger. While you made your outline and began writing your essay with a certain idea of what your thesis or "point" was, that idea probably changed at least slightly as you wrote the essay itself. Go back to the intro after you have finished a draft of the essay and make any changes to the wording of your thesis based on what the rest of the essay says (the reverse outline will help figure this out). At the final stage of writing, do a quick check of your essay for any remaining spelling and grammatical errors.  Electronic spelling and grammar checkers can help you out, but don't rely on them to do all the work. Always do a read-through before submitting your work. The most efficient technique for catching mistakes is to read your work out loud.  Get someone you know and trust to proofread your work, if you can. A pair of fresh eyes can catch mistakes you might have overlooked. Print the essay if you need to. If you are submitting electronically, do everything you can to make sure the file type is correct and the file was received.

Summary: Reevaluate your essay's thesis and argument. Focus your editing if you are running out of time. Proofread your work. Submit your work on time.


You want your characters to be full and rich, since this makes your players more engaged and invested in the game. This means giving characters complex personalities and faults. If you need help imagining and writing complex personalities, try some character development exercises, by plotting your character on the Myers-Briggs personality chart or the character alignment chart. Your characters should change as people over the course of the game. This makes them more interesting. This means that they should generally start off with some major flaws or a generally worse personality than how they end up. It's really easy when writing characters to make them do what we would do instead of what they would do. But this kind of lazy writing is often visible to players because it comes across as so unnatural. Focus on what your characters would do and you'll make your game much better. Games tend to lack diversity, with characters being vastly more similar than in real life. This can make games feel similar and boring. By including diversity in your game, you can not only make it more interesting, but also increase the hype for your game by setting it apart from others.

Summary: Fully develop your characters. Leave room for character development. Get in your character's head. Consider some diversity.


It doesn’t matter what kind of stakes you use. Drive the stakes into the ground using a mallet or a hammer. This will help make sure you create sloped drain pipes so your tanks can empty out. Use your hammer or mallet to drive the stake down until it’s the same height as the first. Pound the second stake down until the level is balanced. The second stake is now 1 inch (2.5 cm) lower than the first, or 1⁄4 inch (0.64 cm) lower per 1 foot (30 cm). Continue adding stakes down the rest of the trench every 3 7⁄8 feet (1.2 m) from the last one so the stakes slope away from the drums. The gravel will now slope away from the drums at 1⁄4 inch (0.64 cm) per 1 foot (30 cm) of horizontal distance. Slide the ends of the drain pipes into the 45-degree bends on the lower drum. Make sure the holes in the pipes face down so liquids can soak back into the ground. Adjust the slope by adding or removing gravel under the pipe. Use a 2-part epoxy or silicone caulk for the best seal on your drain pipes. Try using flex pipe for this, so that if the ground shifts it will give a little. Bury the trench to the top of the bottom drum with the remaining gravel. This will prevent the soil from seeping into the gravel and ensure that you maintain good drainage on your tanks. Make sure the ground is level when you finish filling in the area with your soil. Leave the top pipe from the first tank exposed so you can easily access the tanks if you need to drain them later. Pour the water directly down the exposed pipes from the top drum. Continue filling the drum until it’s full and place a cap on top to seal it.
Summary: Pound a stake into the ground so that the top of the stake is level with the bottoms of the 45-degree bends. Tape a 1 in (2.5 cm) wide block to the end of a 4 ft (1.2 m) level. Place another stake about 3 7⁄8 ft (1.2 m) down the trench from the first one. Lay the end of the level without the block on the first stake and the block on the second. Repeat this process until you have stakes the length of the trench. Place gravel in the trench until the top of the gravel is level with the top of the stakes. Place 20 ft (6.1 m) of perforated drain pipe onto each hole on the second drum. Check the pipes with the level to see if the 1⁄4 in (0.64 cm) grade is consistent along the length of the pipe. Seal the 45-degree and 90-degree bends to the lower and upper drums, respectively. Fill the lower drum with water to prevent it from collapsing under the weight of the gravel. Lay landscape fabric over the gravel. Fill the remaining trench area with soil, compacting well to the original grade. Fill the upper drum with water.