This time of year, at least for my wife Margie, is a time of basketball bliss.
Yep, March Madness.
Margie and her side of the family are THE sports fanatics. Especially where college sports are concerned. Having to often write sports stories for the radio station where I work, I've been able to brush-up on my ability to relate to things going on in the world of sports.
With this being one of the most mild winters in western Pennsylvania history, this weekend marked the first in years where not only could you watch the NCAA Championships on TV, you could go outside and enjoy a half-court pickup game in our driveway.
Even I couldn't believe what I was seeing in the weather forecasts I was poring through while at the radio station.
Highs in the 80s...lows in the 50s. Enough to turn the furnace off and open the windows.
This past week's weather in particular made me wonder if I should scrap our vacation plans to Hilton Head this fall and stay closer to home, with gas prices now hovering at $4 a gallon with predictions of price hikes so great that Americans will be crossing the border to Canada to buy our gas, thus reciprocating the situation there.
Uh, no. Not gonna happen. I'll take a second job to pay for my gas first.
I had made an hour-long drive from Butler to Hermitage (near the Ohio state line) to cover a board of trustees meeting at a branch campus of our local community college.
After the meeting, I walked outside to what felt like near 90. Three female students were impromptu sunbathing on the sidewalk, all wearing tank tops, shorts and flip-flops. Outside of Wal-Mart, that attire is unheard of this time of year in western Pennsylvania.
On my way back to the radio station, I decided to stop and pick up lunch at one of the few remaining Arthur Treacher's franchises nearby. Enroute, I saw a convertible and a Jeep Wrangler with their tops down.
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
Even I gave in to the urge and fired up the station van's air conditioner.
NEXT WEEK: Winning at Wining
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Washer Whoas...Part III
Two blissful loads of laundry in our new washer/dryer stack.
Then "IT" happened.
Even I couldn't believe it.
Putting the third load in the dryer was what I expected to be rather uneventful.
A loud squeal, and then suddenly it made more noise than a busted chainsaw.
It still dried clothes, and it still did what it was supposed to do. Except to do it quietly...and without vibrating the house apart.
Much like losing your muffler...the car still works fine, but eventually the noise is going to drive you bonkers or further damage is going to occur.
Fortunately, it was still under warranty, and we did buy the extended coverage.
I called the customer service number to Concord, North Carolina. A deep-drawled Southern belle came on the line to assist me.
"What's it doing, sir?" she asked.
I had the dryer going at the time, so I simply brought the phone up to it.
"Hear that?" I inquired.
"Dang...sounds like a lawn mower!"
That's a bit of a stretch. My 1975 Gravely 812 doesn't sound that loud, though my two-year-old daughter would disagree as she holds her hands up to her ears.
She sets up the appointment for the tech to come out. He takes off a couple panels, turns it on and takes a look.
"I can't find anything mechanically wrong with it. So we're going to order all new parts for it and just go through it one at a time. They'll ship them here, and then you call us back and set up the time for me to come back out."
Not something I have to waste an entire day for. I called my dad, and he agreed to come out and let the guy in.
Then the day came...and the repairman said the part he needed wasn't included with what he had shipped to us. He'd have to order another one.
Uh...no. We called Lowe's and got them to exchange it for another dryer.
Lowe's came out and delivered the new unit. It tested fine.
We've done two loads now without any problems.
But I'm still going to wait awhile before I write my online review.
Just in case.
NEXT WEEK: March Mildness
Then "IT" happened.
Even I couldn't believe it.
Putting the third load in the dryer was what I expected to be rather uneventful.
A loud squeal, and then suddenly it made more noise than a busted chainsaw.
It still dried clothes, and it still did what it was supposed to do. Except to do it quietly...and without vibrating the house apart.
Much like losing your muffler...the car still works fine, but eventually the noise is going to drive you bonkers or further damage is going to occur.
Fortunately, it was still under warranty, and we did buy the extended coverage.
I called the customer service number to Concord, North Carolina. A deep-drawled Southern belle came on the line to assist me.
"What's it doing, sir?" she asked.
I had the dryer going at the time, so I simply brought the phone up to it.
"Hear that?" I inquired.
"Dang...sounds like a lawn mower!"
That's a bit of a stretch. My 1975 Gravely 812 doesn't sound that loud, though my two-year-old daughter would disagree as she holds her hands up to her ears.
She sets up the appointment for the tech to come out. He takes off a couple panels, turns it on and takes a look.
"I can't find anything mechanically wrong with it. So we're going to order all new parts for it and just go through it one at a time. They'll ship them here, and then you call us back and set up the time for me to come back out."
Not something I have to waste an entire day for. I called my dad, and he agreed to come out and let the guy in.
Then the day came...and the repairman said the part he needed wasn't included with what he had shipped to us. He'd have to order another one.
Uh...no. We called Lowe's and got them to exchange it for another dryer.
Lowe's came out and delivered the new unit. It tested fine.
We've done two loads now without any problems.
But I'm still going to wait awhile before I write my online review.
Just in case.
NEXT WEEK: March Mildness
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Washer Whoas...Part II
You read the first part last week, how our $2000 washer/dryer stack suddenly went south on us.
Once we got the news about the repair costs, I began to wonder about just how much this machine was really worth.
I believed that finding a comparable replacement would probably run maybe $2500 based on general inflation. But I also believe in spending as little money as possible without sacrificing quality.
I went to my handyman father and cried on his shoulder.
"Just get a side by side," he said.
It got me thinking. I had been looking only at replacement stack units, believing them to be my only option, due to space restrictions in the laundry room.
I measured the distance between the gas valve about a couple inches from one wall and the other in the small alcove we have the foyer, which is where the previous homeowners moved the laundry once steps became a problem in their sunset years.
56 inches to work with. A very tight fit.
We could fit a side-by-side in there, but it would call for removing the door to the laundry closet, and restricting our use of it to the two top shelves, plus removal of the moulding around the door.
Doable. But frustrating.
We could have returned the washer and dryer to the basement. But we didn't want to give up that convenience of a ground-floor laundry room.
Especially with my "forty-something" knees that are going to surely turn on me one of these days without warning.
After a 'day date' on President's Day, we decided to go washer/dryer shopping. A few stores were offering sales in honor of the holiday.
Sears first. Then Home Depot. Then finally Lowe's.
We hadn't had much luck with the first two. But then we got to Lowe's. And there it was.
A laundry stack, but much better designed than our Neptune.
Stackable separates, they were called.
Separate controls for each unit. They did not need each other to exist. If one died, the other didn't need to die with it.
I like that. So did my short-statured spouse of five feet, two and a half inches, despite having to stand on her toes slightly to reach the dryer controls.
And it was within our budget. $899. Add in the stack kit, a new gas connection line, a three-year extended warranty, and tax, it came out to about $1300.
Sold.
But then the man who sold it to us had some bad news...they had the washer in stock, but not a gas dryer. They did have an electric one.
This would have meant getting my dad out to do an emergency 220 volt install so we could have our own laundry capabilities back.
Margie decided against that and decided it was worth the wait.
They put us in their computer for a delivery date of ten days after the sale. Fortunately, we didn't have to wait that long.
In fact, the phone call came four days later...after I had spent six hours at my in-laws condo doing about six loads of laundry.
The dryer was in, according to the message on my voice mail.
I immediately called them back.
"Can you bring it tomorrow?"
"We can do that, but we're not sure of what time."
"Fine."
The next morning, they called.
"We have you down from nine to eleven, sir. We'll try to make it as close to nine as possible."
They arrived at 9:30. They were on their way within an hour, after uncrating them, taking away the Neptune (but not before I harvested it to try and get money back through selling parts on eBay!), connecting the hoses and testing it, and explaining its operation.
Then the moment of truth.
We brought down a small load of clothes.
Washed and dried, then folded and put away. All within an hour.
And the world makes sense again.
It's amazing what we sometimes take for granted.
NEXT WEEK: Part III (oh yes, there IS a part 3!)
Once we got the news about the repair costs, I began to wonder about just how much this machine was really worth.
I believed that finding a comparable replacement would probably run maybe $2500 based on general inflation. But I also believe in spending as little money as possible without sacrificing quality.
I went to my handyman father and cried on his shoulder.
"Just get a side by side," he said.
It got me thinking. I had been looking only at replacement stack units, believing them to be my only option, due to space restrictions in the laundry room.
I measured the distance between the gas valve about a couple inches from one wall and the other in the small alcove we have the foyer, which is where the previous homeowners moved the laundry once steps became a problem in their sunset years.
56 inches to work with. A very tight fit.
We could fit a side-by-side in there, but it would call for removing the door to the laundry closet, and restricting our use of it to the two top shelves, plus removal of the moulding around the door.
Doable. But frustrating.
We could have returned the washer and dryer to the basement. But we didn't want to give up that convenience of a ground-floor laundry room.
Especially with my "forty-something" knees that are going to surely turn on me one of these days without warning.
After a 'day date' on President's Day, we decided to go washer/dryer shopping. A few stores were offering sales in honor of the holiday.
Sears first. Then Home Depot. Then finally Lowe's.
We hadn't had much luck with the first two. But then we got to Lowe's. And there it was.
A laundry stack, but much better designed than our Neptune.
Stackable separates, they were called.
Separate controls for each unit. They did not need each other to exist. If one died, the other didn't need to die with it.
I like that. So did my short-statured spouse of five feet, two and a half inches, despite having to stand on her toes slightly to reach the dryer controls.
And it was within our budget. $899. Add in the stack kit, a new gas connection line, a three-year extended warranty, and tax, it came out to about $1300.
Sold.
But then the man who sold it to us had some bad news...they had the washer in stock, but not a gas dryer. They did have an electric one.
This would have meant getting my dad out to do an emergency 220 volt install so we could have our own laundry capabilities back.
Margie decided against that and decided it was worth the wait.
They put us in their computer for a delivery date of ten days after the sale. Fortunately, we didn't have to wait that long.
In fact, the phone call came four days later...after I had spent six hours at my in-laws condo doing about six loads of laundry.
The dryer was in, according to the message on my voice mail.
I immediately called them back.
"Can you bring it tomorrow?"
"We can do that, but we're not sure of what time."
"Fine."
The next morning, they called.
"We have you down from nine to eleven, sir. We'll try to make it as close to nine as possible."
They arrived at 9:30. They were on their way within an hour, after uncrating them, taking away the Neptune (but not before I harvested it to try and get money back through selling parts on eBay!), connecting the hoses and testing it, and explaining its operation.
Then the moment of truth.
We brought down a small load of clothes.
Washed and dried, then folded and put away. All within an hour.
And the world makes sense again.
It's amazing what we sometimes take for granted.
NEXT WEEK: Part III (oh yes, there IS a part 3!)
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Washer Whoas
No, that's not a typo.
That's my reaction to what I was told when two different repair services quoted me a price of almost a thousand dollars to replace the rear bearing in our aging Maytag Neptune washer/dryer stack.
When we bought our home in 2009, all of the major appliances had been replaced within the past decade by our home's previous owners. Maytag stove, washer/dryer, and a Jenn Air refrigerator, dishwasher and microwave. All top-of-the-line stuff and just in time for the 21st Century.
I wrote previously about how the 'brain' went on the fritz for the dishwasher, at what couldn't have been a worse time...when our then-infant daughter was nursing and keeping her bottles clean and sterilized with this life-saving device was the most necessary of necessities.
Knock on wood here...we haven't had any problems with it since, once it was fixed, and it turned out to be fairly inexpensive.
Then went the washer.
We had grown accustomed to the washer sounding like a 747 taking off from JFK in a blizzard during the spin cycle. Then one day, it decided to stop spinning in the spin cycle altogether, leaving our clothes soaked.
The tech came out and said we should invest in a new washer and dryer. The motor control unit was responsible for the spin cycle failing, and the noise was caused by a faulty bearing in the washer drum that could fail at any given moment.
I dug out the papers on the stack (the previous owner saved all the paperwork), and found that he had paid close to $2000 for it brand-new. Uh...NOOOOO!!!!
I'll fix the dadburn thing myself.
I found a motor control unit on eBay. Changed it out, and put it all back together.
Then the moment of truth.
The bearing that could fail at any given moment did.
"*BLEEP*BLEEP*BLEEP*BLEEP*!!!"
Yes, the bleeps are expletives.
So I called two repair shops, one being the dealer that sold it to us. Balking, I called another.
Same result.
Almost $1,000 for the part...NOT including labor.
Ralph Nader probably had a field day with this thing. It was the subject of a class-action lawsuit in 2002...five years after it was introduced to the market, I would later find out.
"*BLEEP*BLEEP*BLEEP*BLEEP*BLEEP*BLEEP*BLEEP*BLEEP*BLEEP*BLEEP*!!!!"
Time to go shopping.
NEXT WEEK: Part II
That's my reaction to what I was told when two different repair services quoted me a price of almost a thousand dollars to replace the rear bearing in our aging Maytag Neptune washer/dryer stack.
When we bought our home in 2009, all of the major appliances had been replaced within the past decade by our home's previous owners. Maytag stove, washer/dryer, and a Jenn Air refrigerator, dishwasher and microwave. All top-of-the-line stuff and just in time for the 21st Century.
I wrote previously about how the 'brain' went on the fritz for the dishwasher, at what couldn't have been a worse time...when our then-infant daughter was nursing and keeping her bottles clean and sterilized with this life-saving device was the most necessary of necessities.
Knock on wood here...we haven't had any problems with it since, once it was fixed, and it turned out to be fairly inexpensive.
Then went the washer.
We had grown accustomed to the washer sounding like a 747 taking off from JFK in a blizzard during the spin cycle. Then one day, it decided to stop spinning in the spin cycle altogether, leaving our clothes soaked.
The tech came out and said we should invest in a new washer and dryer. The motor control unit was responsible for the spin cycle failing, and the noise was caused by a faulty bearing in the washer drum that could fail at any given moment.
I dug out the papers on the stack (the previous owner saved all the paperwork), and found that he had paid close to $2000 for it brand-new. Uh...NOOOOO!!!!
I'll fix the dadburn thing myself.
I found a motor control unit on eBay. Changed it out, and put it all back together.
Then the moment of truth.
The bearing that could fail at any given moment did.
"*BLEEP*BLEEP*BLEEP*BLEEP*!!!"
Yes, the bleeps are expletives.
So I called two repair shops, one being the dealer that sold it to us. Balking, I called another.
Same result.
Almost $1,000 for the part...NOT including labor.
Ralph Nader probably had a field day with this thing. It was the subject of a class-action lawsuit in 2002...five years after it was introduced to the market, I would later find out.
"*BLEEP*BLEEP*BLEEP*BLEEP*BLEEP*BLEEP*BLEEP*BLEEP*BLEEP*BLEEP*!!!!"
Time to go shopping.
NEXT WEEK: Part II
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