The trend of household appliances at Casa Gerrib retiring continues. This week's retiree is my heater. The unit, built in 2008, has a bad control board, an $1100 expense. Given that we found that out after a $450 expense to replace pressure sensors and don't know what else is failing, a new heater was purchased. It's due to be delivered ( Read more... )

I Can Haz Clothes Dryer!

As reported previously, my clothes dryer went to that Great Laundry Room in the Sky. As my washing machine was well into senior citizen territory, I replaced them both with a pair of GE models. Said models are one step up from the entry-level machines, but had all the features I needed. (I do *not* need Wi-Fi on my ( Read more... )

Like the title says:

Thing One

My 18-year-old Maytag clothes dryer needs a new motor at $340. I can get a new unit for around $600. My 13-year-old Kenmore (made by Whirlpool) washing machine works, but it's 13 years old, AKA "end of life." I can also get a new one for around $600. A shopping I will go.

Thing Two

In 1981, I started high school. ( Read more... )

It seems my appliances have all decided to take retirement. Maybe somebody's offering them a buy-out? This week's retiree is my clothes dryer, which decided to stop spinning last night with the first of two loads of wet clothes in it. Thus I visited a laundromat for the first time in a decade. (More on that anon.)

Doctors YouTube and Google ( Read more... )

Two items of note (I guess) for Monday:

Item The First

My AC at the house blew up on Friday. The external compressor, which we believe was original to the house and thus 20+ years old, is beyond repair. So now I'm without AC for a week and gathering quotes for a new unit. I have two of three quotes in hand - there is an $1100 difference between ( Read more... )

In fairness to Comcast, having grumbled about my slow Internet, they did get out last night and fix it. Also as part of the fixing, I got a new TV box and a $70/month reduction in my bill. Go me!

In other news, I read and devoured Mary Robinette Kowal's latest novel, The Fated Sky. It's book 2 of her "punchcard punk" universe, in which a large ( Read more... )

My master bathroom has two sinks. On one of them, the drain was stuck closed. I finally got around to fixing it, which involved replacing the stopper at the bottom of the drain. Alas, the Home Depot "universal" stopper proved to be not universal enough for my sink ( Read more... )

I wonder how we ever functioned before Google. Last night was a case in point ( Read more... )

Two nice things happened over the weekend.

Nice Thing #1

I got my carpets at the house cleaned.  I paid for a service, and three young guys showed up and in 90 minutes did what would have taken me all day.  They also got it done better than I would have.

Nice Thing #2

One of the “perks” of being on programming for a volunteer SF con is that, if the ( Read more... )

I'm back at work after an uneventful weekend. I finished a first draft of a short story for a potential anthology. Also, I broke down and called Allied Garage Door for my defunct opener. They said Saturday that they could if I wanted to fix the opener. I said no, get a new one, which will be installed Wednesday. In the meantime, we're having ( Read more... )