I've have skied there 4 times.
My favorite ski resort.
Will not being going close to there in 2010 because of the Olympics.
However, pondering a trip there this summer as a family vacation.
Any readers out there who I can correspond with to discuss what to do there (family stuff)?
I probably won't recognize half that place without snow on top of things!
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
Cast off
Let's talk about layoffs, shall we?
As mentioned before, the Mega-lo-corp seems to go through layoffs every two years. And this year, I've been seeing a flurry of last minute "retirement" notices being sent out. Heck, my last manager (at the last job I slept-walked through) got laid off! He was a nice guy, but not a great manager. He was a very, very nice and friendly guy. As a manager to me? I had to fend for myself. Career-wise it was like I was put in a 3 year time capsule.
Obviously, there's no "list" of people who have been let go. You basically learn it by word of mouth, with people who trust you with the details. And it's accumulated, with each conversation. You give your list of names, a (very) few of those names shocks the person you're telling. They give you their list of names and a (very) few of those names surprise you. Mostly, I nod my head. And then every once-in-while, with a certain name, I blurt out, "Yeah...what the hell did he DO around here?"
And that actually confirms something to me. The "Man" didn't take a big hatchet and slice away 200 people. They took the people who were the bottom of the rung and gave them a "package" and showed them the door.
With all these people, some I've worked with over 15 years, I've always thought back to "Wayne". When I first showed up at the Mega-lo-corp, there was this gentleman who loved to talk. If you read Dilbert, he was almost like Wally. He literally would have his morning mug of coffee and go around to EACH person's office in the department and "visit" with them. Sometimes these visits might last 45 minutes as he talked about anything and everything.
I finally learned the only way to make him go away was to talk minimally (mostly mumbling), look straight ahead at my screen, try to continue typing and he would eventually get bored and wander to the next victim.
He had told me that he had worked on the Apollo space program as a programmer for the Mega-lo-corp many, many moons ago. It was sad; it seemed to me that was highlight of his career. Our department was the place where he was just marking time until his retirement.
I became good friends with our manager, and stayed in touch over the years even after she left the Mega-lo-corp to be a full time Mom. At lunch once, I asked her why she never fired Wayne for pure incompetence (he actually did no work). She was a softie, and she hemmed-and-hawed. But she brought up the fact that he had kids in college or about to enter college, he had very little in savings, and she just couldn't toss him out onto the street. Also back in "those days", it was pretty rare at the Mega-lo-corp to dismiss for poor ratings. We just shuffled them off to another department after a while. You know that phrase: "deadwood".
The thing is, the Mega-lo-corp had a policy (waaaaay back then) of being deadset against layoffs of any kind. But people griped about "deadwood" - as in, "Argh! Why don't we get rid of some of this deadwood! I got no pay raise this year and we're still supporting Wayne wandering around each morning bothering us in our offices!"
And then when we started layoffs for the first time ever, people were running around with their hair on fire screaming, "This isn't what I signed up for! We've lost the soul of this company if we start kicking people to the street!"
I think when layoffs start, you start worrying that while you're pointing at "Wayne" over in the corner and calling him "deadwood", there's someone else in a completely different corner pointing at you and mumbling. I certainly experienced that a few years ago when I was asked to find a new job in 90 days.
Must. Pedal. Faster.
As mentioned before, the Mega-lo-corp seems to go through layoffs every two years. And this year, I've been seeing a flurry of last minute "retirement" notices being sent out. Heck, my last manager (at the last job I slept-walked through) got laid off! He was a nice guy, but not a great manager. He was a very, very nice and friendly guy. As a manager to me? I had to fend for myself. Career-wise it was like I was put in a 3 year time capsule.
Obviously, there's no "list" of people who have been let go. You basically learn it by word of mouth, with people who trust you with the details. And it's accumulated, with each conversation. You give your list of names, a (very) few of those names shocks the person you're telling. They give you their list of names and a (very) few of those names surprise you. Mostly, I nod my head. And then every once-in-while, with a certain name, I blurt out, "Yeah...what the hell did he DO around here?"
And that actually confirms something to me. The "Man" didn't take a big hatchet and slice away 200 people. They took the people who were the bottom of the rung and gave them a "package" and showed them the door.
With all these people, some I've worked with over 15 years, I've always thought back to "Wayne". When I first showed up at the Mega-lo-corp, there was this gentleman who loved to talk. If you read Dilbert, he was almost like Wally. He literally would have his morning mug of coffee and go around to EACH person's office in the department and "visit" with them. Sometimes these visits might last 45 minutes as he talked about anything and everything.
I finally learned the only way to make him go away was to talk minimally (mostly mumbling), look straight ahead at my screen, try to continue typing and he would eventually get bored and wander to the next victim.
He had told me that he had worked on the Apollo space program as a programmer for the Mega-lo-corp many, many moons ago. It was sad; it seemed to me that was highlight of his career. Our department was the place where he was just marking time until his retirement.
I became good friends with our manager, and stayed in touch over the years even after she left the Mega-lo-corp to be a full time Mom. At lunch once, I asked her why she never fired Wayne for pure incompetence (he actually did no work). She was a softie, and she hemmed-and-hawed. But she brought up the fact that he had kids in college or about to enter college, he had very little in savings, and she just couldn't toss him out onto the street. Also back in "those days", it was pretty rare at the Mega-lo-corp to dismiss for poor ratings. We just shuffled them off to another department after a while. You know that phrase: "deadwood".
The thing is, the Mega-lo-corp had a policy (waaaaay back then) of being deadset against layoffs of any kind. But people griped about "deadwood" - as in, "Argh! Why don't we get rid of some of this deadwood! I got no pay raise this year and we're still supporting Wayne wandering around each morning bothering us in our offices!"
And then when we started layoffs for the first time ever, people were running around with their hair on fire screaming, "This isn't what I signed up for! We've lost the soul of this company if we start kicking people to the street!"
I think when layoffs start, you start worrying that while you're pointing at "Wayne" over in the corner and calling him "deadwood", there's someone else in a completely different corner pointing at you and mumbling. I certainly experienced that a few years ago when I was asked to find a new job in 90 days.
Must. Pedal. Faster.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Straps
[Comments turned off]
And......this is a not so cherry post. However, it's been tumbling in my head for the last couple of weeks. It must be written.
Do you know when I get sad about the Boy and his circumstances? It's when he shows his sweet, sweet side. As mentioned in past postings, he is a very easygoing, happy child. The coolest thing is when he used to (currently does) come up to me and say, "Teessth me. Teessth me." It took me a while to understand what he was saying.....he was saying, "Chase me. Chase me." He LOVES to be chased around the kitchen and living room [of course his old Dad gets wheezy after a few rounds of this] He loves to be tickled when he gets "caught".
The Girl never asks for this unless it's a direct response to us paying attention to the Boy. Essentially, jealousy.
Why does the Boy's playful nature get me sad?
I think back to the abandonment report, typed up in one paragraph of one sheet of paper that essentially describes his whole life. I'll have to fuzz out the details, as Wifey wants to keep some stuff private. Essentially, it describes where he was left, what he was wearing and his estimated age.
As I've alluded to, he was not a newborn when he was left. This always confuses people because you can see people starting to think (when they see our kids), "Oh she must be adopted from China...errrr...wait, that's a boy. Only girls are adopted from China. Oh wait, that's their Dad. Ooops! Almost put my foot in my mouth!"
And then when we do confirm that he was adopted from China, sometimes people are so surprised and blurt out: "I thought it was only girls!"
The thing is, the boy has no SN. He was given up after birth, but not the week of his birth.
Why? Why? Why?
You can drive yourself with distraction asking yourself questions you know you will never have the answers to. We assume that his parents made the decision that they could no longer afford to keep him. He wasn't malnourished, but he had some simple vitamin deficiencies that were easily solved. I just wondered if they took a look at their circumstances and decided he needed a better chance at life?
In the abandonment paragraph, right at the end of the description of his finding circumstances, they note that baby carrying straps were laid on top of him.
And no. We never received his original clothes or the straps. Those have been thrown away or re-used by others.
Somehow, when I read that, I immediately had a picture in my mind's eye of what those carrying straps would be. I imagined it looked something like one of those women's "backpack purses". Thin straps around the arms, but instead of a purse, a kid would be on the back. But as I said, I never saw a picture of the straps the Boy was found with.
But while we were cruising around Chongqing* in our air conditioned tour bus with our kids, we were going up a curvy hill. Around one of the bends was a young couple. I would say they were in the mid-20's. And on the back of one of the parents was a young child, in a leather strap carrier (there are no nice fluffy fabrics to soften the experience for the kids - just bare leather and buckles).
As I said, they were paused on the curve of the road, as they were trudging upward the hill. They were a bit tired, but had that look that told me they still had a ways to go. And, they had small pieces of luggage with them, dragging them up the hill. Something from their look told me that they were from out of town. Were they walking from the bus stop to someone's house? Were they from the country and too poor to pay for public transportation?
This couple and their strapped-on kid, made me think immediately of the Boy and how he must have been with his parents. Of course, I made the leap for about 5 seconds and imagined that young couple, with our son on their backs, rather than their child I saw before me.
The straps make me ponder how one particular morning, one of the parents loaded him up on their back and carried him to his finding place. How they said goodbye to him, then placed our deep sleeping son in his box, with a covering for the chill and laid the straps on top of him.
Sometimes I think: Well, these carrying straps were "his" and they were sending it off with him.
But lately I've been thinking: They didn't want a reminder of what they had, a son. Having these straps around their home would be a reminder they once had a child; A child they abandoned.
And sometimes I think: Maybe it's both. A reminder for them and a talisman for him.
And of course, none of that was sent along with him on our Family Day.
And of course, we'll never know.
My sadness?
I think of the easy going laugh that he has. I think of how ticklish he is and how he ASKS to be tickled sometimes because he enjoys laughing to the point where he can't make a sound.
I think of his birth parents who must have experienced this happy-go-lucky kid and that those are memories that are never going to forget. They may dim, but to have known the kid I know now...it's heartbreaking sometimes.
So I think this to his birth family: I'll do my best to give him the chance you didn't think he had back in China.
Thank you, and I'm sorry for your loss.
*Chongqing is one of the few cities in China without massive amounts of bikes because it is too hilly for most bike transportation to be practical.
And......this is a not so cherry post. However, it's been tumbling in my head for the last couple of weeks. It must be written.
Do you know when I get sad about the Boy and his circumstances? It's when he shows his sweet, sweet side. As mentioned in past postings, he is a very easygoing, happy child. The coolest thing is when he used to (currently does) come up to me and say, "Teessth me. Teessth me." It took me a while to understand what he was saying.....he was saying, "Chase me. Chase me." He LOVES to be chased around the kitchen and living room [of course his old Dad gets wheezy after a few rounds of this] He loves to be tickled when he gets "caught".
The Girl never asks for this unless it's a direct response to us paying attention to the Boy. Essentially, jealousy.
Why does the Boy's playful nature get me sad?
I think back to the abandonment report, typed up in one paragraph of one sheet of paper that essentially describes his whole life. I'll have to fuzz out the details, as Wifey wants to keep some stuff private. Essentially, it describes where he was left, what he was wearing and his estimated age.
As I've alluded to, he was not a newborn when he was left. This always confuses people because you can see people starting to think (when they see our kids), "Oh she must be adopted from China...errrr...wait, that's a boy. Only girls are adopted from China. Oh wait, that's their Dad. Ooops! Almost put my foot in my mouth!"
And then when we do confirm that he was adopted from China, sometimes people are so surprised and blurt out: "I thought it was only girls!"
The thing is, the boy has no SN. He was given up after birth, but not the week of his birth.
Why? Why? Why?
You can drive yourself with distraction asking yourself questions you know you will never have the answers to. We assume that his parents made the decision that they could no longer afford to keep him. He wasn't malnourished, but he had some simple vitamin deficiencies that were easily solved. I just wondered if they took a look at their circumstances and decided he needed a better chance at life?
In the abandonment paragraph, right at the end of the description of his finding circumstances, they note that baby carrying straps were laid on top of him.
And no. We never received his original clothes or the straps. Those have been thrown away or re-used by others.
Somehow, when I read that, I immediately had a picture in my mind's eye of what those carrying straps would be. I imagined it looked something like one of those women's "backpack purses". Thin straps around the arms, but instead of a purse, a kid would be on the back. But as I said, I never saw a picture of the straps the Boy was found with.
But while we were cruising around Chongqing* in our air conditioned tour bus with our kids, we were going up a curvy hill. Around one of the bends was a young couple. I would say they were in the mid-20's. And on the back of one of the parents was a young child, in a leather strap carrier (there are no nice fluffy fabrics to soften the experience for the kids - just bare leather and buckles).
As I said, they were paused on the curve of the road, as they were trudging upward the hill. They were a bit tired, but had that look that told me they still had a ways to go. And, they had small pieces of luggage with them, dragging them up the hill. Something from their look told me that they were from out of town. Were they walking from the bus stop to someone's house? Were they from the country and too poor to pay for public transportation?
This couple and their strapped-on kid, made me think immediately of the Boy and how he must have been with his parents. Of course, I made the leap for about 5 seconds and imagined that young couple, with our son on their backs, rather than their child I saw before me.
The straps make me ponder how one particular morning, one of the parents loaded him up on their back and carried him to his finding place. How they said goodbye to him, then placed our deep sleeping son in his box, with a covering for the chill and laid the straps on top of him.
Sometimes I think: Well, these carrying straps were "his" and they were sending it off with him.
But lately I've been thinking: They didn't want a reminder of what they had, a son. Having these straps around their home would be a reminder they once had a child; A child they abandoned.
And sometimes I think: Maybe it's both. A reminder for them and a talisman for him.
And of course, none of that was sent along with him on our Family Day.
And of course, we'll never know.
My sadness?
I think of the easy going laugh that he has. I think of how ticklish he is and how he ASKS to be tickled sometimes because he enjoys laughing to the point where he can't make a sound.
I think of his birth parents who must have experienced this happy-go-lucky kid and that those are memories that are never going to forget. They may dim, but to have known the kid I know now...it's heartbreaking sometimes.
So I think this to his birth family: I'll do my best to give him the chance you didn't think he had back in China.
Thank you, and I'm sorry for your loss.
*Chongqing is one of the few cities in China without massive amounts of bikes because it is too hilly for most bike transportation to be practical.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
pre-Steakfest 2009
And now, Steakfest 2009 is coming up Friday.
The schedule for each year's Steakfest comes down to when I can get a T-shirt designed and ordered. I think this year's design, I asked some of my blogsphere pals if they could help out. It turns out....not really. Many of them are into design, but not the actual implementation of design. In other words, just like me, they can describe what something should look like, they just don't have the software or software skills to implement it.
This year's shirt looks like:
This is actually an idea I started right after I finished last year's design.
The initial idea was to have a big giant brand that said "Steakfest 2009" that look like it just finished branding a cow. And within the brand itself, on the metal part of the letters, would be etched the name of the Steakfest participants. So on the letter "S", my name and Wifey's name would be etched into the body of the letter "S".
Well, that was the theory, but the reality was that I didn't want to hire a graphic artist to do it - as I needed to spend the money on the t-shirts. I actually thought about printing out giant letters and then taking an exacto knife and carving our names into the giant letters. And then, I would scan in the letters or take a photograph of the letters and then.....and then....
It started getting too hairy.
So, I came up with a simpler design. Steakfest is branded into the side of a "cow" (yes, I know that it looks like a dairy cow - everyone is a critic!). And then, each of the participants' names were also "branded" into the cow. I know you're going to click on the picture and look at it in detail, so I fuzzed out the name of Wifey and one of our participants who has a very unique and rare name (and thus would make it easier to Google them). Included, is our friend "JC" who passed away last summer and won't be with us this year. I should have used the letter "J" because everyone (okay Wifey) who sees that says, "Jesus Christ? Hunh?"
And being a true plan-ahead freak, I've already been designing, in my head, the art for Steakfest 2010. I don't know if you guys know much about "ranch art", but ranches used to have some simply rendered art at the entrance of a "spread". Typically, it was one continuous bar of metal that was heated and bent into letters and/or shapes. My idea would be to have some fake "bar art" that represented each couple that attends Steakfest with their names underneath.
I could try to guess my way through Adobe Illustrator.
Or....or..... I could take Play-doh and start forming these shapes. Yeah, and then I could take a picture of the Play-doh and then.....
The schedule for each year's Steakfest comes down to when I can get a T-shirt designed and ordered. I think this year's design, I asked some of my blogsphere pals if they could help out. It turns out....not really. Many of them are into design, but not the actual implementation of design. In other words, just like me, they can describe what something should look like, they just don't have the software or software skills to implement it.
This year's shirt looks like:
This is actually an idea I started right after I finished last year's design.The initial idea was to have a big giant brand that said "Steakfest 2009" that look like it just finished branding a cow. And within the brand itself, on the metal part of the letters, would be etched the name of the Steakfest participants. So on the letter "S", my name and Wifey's name would be etched into the body of the letter "S".
Well, that was the theory, but the reality was that I didn't want to hire a graphic artist to do it - as I needed to spend the money on the t-shirts. I actually thought about printing out giant letters and then taking an exacto knife and carving our names into the giant letters. And then, I would scan in the letters or take a photograph of the letters and then.....and then....
It started getting too hairy.
So, I came up with a simpler design. Steakfest is branded into the side of a "cow" (yes, I know that it looks like a dairy cow - everyone is a critic!). And then, each of the participants' names were also "branded" into the cow. I know you're going to click on the picture and look at it in detail, so I fuzzed out the name of Wifey and one of our participants who has a very unique and rare name (and thus would make it easier to Google them). Included, is our friend "JC" who passed away last summer and won't be with us this year. I should have used the letter "J" because everyone (okay Wifey) who sees that says, "Jesus Christ? Hunh?"
And being a true plan-ahead freak, I've already been designing, in my head, the art for Steakfest 2010. I don't know if you guys know much about "ranch art", but ranches used to have some simply rendered art at the entrance of a "spread". Typically, it was one continuous bar of metal that was heated and bent into letters and/or shapes. My idea would be to have some fake "bar art" that represented each couple that attends Steakfest with their names underneath.
I could try to guess my way through Adobe Illustrator.
Or....or..... I could take Play-doh and start forming these shapes. Yeah, and then I could take a picture of the Play-doh and then.....
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Washer & Dryer, pt 5
Okay, so now, CompA has somehow pissed off Samsung to the point that they've frozen their order account.
I call my private service advisor. Hmmm, he's not there. I leave a long detailed message. I call again several times that day, same answering machine.
The next day, I try the advisor. Nothing. I then go ahead and call the general 1-800 number and try to explain the story all over again. After a few polite, "Excuse me sir, can I put you on hold" (as they ran over to their supervisor to ask what to do next), I was finally connected to another gentleman.
I had to go over the story with him twice. He was a little slow. I had to spell my name and my street address to him three times as he was entering the information onto his computer.
He also told me that my problem tracking ticket had been canceled, with no explanation given! Maybe CompB, while cancelling the part order had caused the problem ticket to get closed.
The gentleman was about to give me a new problem ticket when a (very dim) lightbulb came on over his head.....why not just re-open the problem ticket and fax the work authorization to CompB?
At this time, still nothing from CompA. I wrote them off. All those local reviews were correct - they were hopeless.
So, I call CompB and once again try to schedule a visit - somewhat skeptical because the last time they didn't bother to come and started ordering a part based on the Samsung fax description of my problem. But on the appointed day, a young man (also in his mid-20's) showed up.
We went through the whole description, and he started running the system through wash cycles and saw what I saw. The hot water was cutting off after 30 seconds of running. Then he said, "You know....on these metal braided water hoses,
I always like to take off these internal washers. Do you mind if I do that?" Some more expensive braided hoses have these small internal screens and...I'm not sure if you can them "valves"? I told him to go for it. He then took out some needle-nosed pliers and pulled out a few pieces of plastic,
reattached the hoses to the connections, and then we tried running the tests.
Now, no water was coming from the hot and cold spigots!
He got on the phone with the Samsung tech support. He was frustrated after being routed through various contacts. And then, the guy at the end was basically reading from a script:
We then had to go back to the drawing board and verify that water was even coming through the hose. We disconnected the hose from the washer and then placed the end of the hose in the wash sink next to the washer.
We turned on the hot water supply from the spigot. Nothing.
Awww, crap.
Then the tech turned to me and said, "Ohhh. Mmmm. It looks like you'll be needing to call a plumber."
Whoa. Hold on hoss. This isn't the end of the story.
I have a very old water supply hose that I have connected to the sink's spigot (not the W/D water supply spigot) and I turned that on for hot. It was working fine. I said, "No way. I can't be getting hot water on this sink's spigot and nothing from the connection (to the washer) a few inches away." The tech was pondering this without saying anything.
So I then took the old hose (that I'd cut up to shorten years ago) and connected it to the wall water supply. I turned on the hot water handle - and water is flowing out perfectly fine.
We then reconnected the flex hose back to the hot water supply and then turned it on. The water ran for about 20 seconds, "jerked" as if locking up, and then the water stopped running.
Crap. Crap. Crap.
I have a theory of what is going on , but I didn't want to go into that just then. I told him we should wrap it up. I was going to go to a big-box hardware store and buy the old "el cheapo" rubber water hose and see if that fixed the problem. I would call him one way the or the other and let him know what happened.
I went to the store, bought the black hoses they say need to be replaced every few years, and connected it to my washer. Hot and Cold water restored!
Stupid hoses, stupid customer!
Me and CompB, we considered the issue wrapped up.
And then, 2 weeks later......a box from Samsung shows up. In it are two replacement pieces of washer connection hardware (in that hardware are small bits of electronics so that the washer can sense how much water has passed through and cut off the water supply). The shipping bill said, "Bill to CompA".
Crap!
So, we tossed the box into a closet and decided to just wait a while.
About 3 days later, a message is left on my answering machine, "Hi, this is CompA. You should have gotten a box of parts from Samsung. We're coming tomorrow at 10:00 to install it, unless this time doesn't work for you."
Great.
Finally, I called them back. We leave the box of new parts on our porch, someone came to pick them up....and I hope to never hear from CompA again.
I call my private service advisor. Hmmm, he's not there. I leave a long detailed message. I call again several times that day, same answering machine.
The next day, I try the advisor. Nothing. I then go ahead and call the general 1-800 number and try to explain the story all over again. After a few polite, "Excuse me sir, can I put you on hold" (as they ran over to their supervisor to ask what to do next), I was finally connected to another gentleman.
I had to go over the story with him twice. He was a little slow. I had to spell my name and my street address to him three times as he was entering the information onto his computer.
He also told me that my problem tracking ticket had been canceled, with no explanation given! Maybe CompB, while cancelling the part order had caused the problem ticket to get closed.
The gentleman was about to give me a new problem ticket when a (very dim) lightbulb came on over his head.....why not just re-open the problem ticket and fax the work authorization to CompB?
At this time, still nothing from CompA. I wrote them off. All those local reviews were correct - they were hopeless.
So, I call CompB and once again try to schedule a visit - somewhat skeptical because the last time they didn't bother to come and started ordering a part based on the Samsung fax description of my problem. But on the appointed day, a young man (also in his mid-20's) showed up.
We went through the whole description, and he started running the system through wash cycles and saw what I saw. The hot water was cutting off after 30 seconds of running. Then he said, "You know....on these metal braided water hoses,
I always like to take off these internal washers. Do you mind if I do that?" Some more expensive braided hoses have these small internal screens and...I'm not sure if you can them "valves"? I told him to go for it. He then took out some needle-nosed pliers and pulled out a few pieces of plastic,
reattached the hoses to the connections, and then we tried running the tests.
Now, no water was coming from the hot and cold spigots!
He got on the phone with the Samsung tech support. He was frustrated after being routed through various contacts. And then, the guy at the end was basically reading from a script:
- Is the water source "on"?
- Do the hoses have a blockage in them?
- Are you sure the water source is "on"?
- Do the washer connections have blockages?
- An so on....
We then had to go back to the drawing board and verify that water was even coming through the hose. We disconnected the hose from the washer and then placed the end of the hose in the wash sink next to the washer.
We turned on the hot water supply from the spigot. Nothing.
Awww, crap.
Then the tech turned to me and said, "Ohhh. Mmmm. It looks like you'll be needing to call a plumber."
Whoa. Hold on hoss. This isn't the end of the story.
I have a very old water supply hose that I have connected to the sink's spigot (not the W/D water supply spigot) and I turned that on for hot. It was working fine. I said, "No way. I can't be getting hot water on this sink's spigot and nothing from the connection (to the washer) a few inches away." The tech was pondering this without saying anything.
So I then took the old hose (that I'd cut up to shorten years ago) and connected it to the wall water supply. I turned on the hot water handle - and water is flowing out perfectly fine.
We then reconnected the flex hose back to the hot water supply and then turned it on. The water ran for about 20 seconds, "jerked" as if locking up, and then the water stopped running.
Crap. Crap. Crap.
I have a theory of what is going on , but I didn't want to go into that just then. I told him we should wrap it up. I was going to go to a big-box hardware store and buy the old "el cheapo" rubber water hose and see if that fixed the problem. I would call him one way the or the other and let him know what happened.
I went to the store, bought the black hoses they say need to be replaced every few years, and connected it to my washer. Hot and Cold water restored!
Stupid hoses, stupid customer!
Me and CompB, we considered the issue wrapped up.
And then, 2 weeks later......a box from Samsung shows up. In it are two replacement pieces of washer connection hardware (in that hardware are small bits of electronics so that the washer can sense how much water has passed through and cut off the water supply). The shipping bill said, "Bill to CompA".
Crap!
So, we tossed the box into a closet and decided to just wait a while.
About 3 days later, a message is left on my answering machine, "Hi, this is CompA. You should have gotten a box of parts from Samsung. We're coming tomorrow at 10:00 to install it, unless this time doesn't work for you."
Great.
Finally, I called them back. We leave the box of new parts on our porch, someone came to pick them up....and I hope to never hear from CompA again.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Washer & Dryer, pt 4
Now that I know I've been assigned a poorly-reviewed service company, I contemplate my options:
a) cross my fingers and go with CompA.
b) call Samsung and ask for another company.
In my younger days, when I held the view that everyone should be given a fair shake, I would have gone with (a). As I get older, my time is more finite and my reservoir of patience and understanding is much, much lower.
During the first call to Samsung, I was assigned a personal service advisor - with a secret direct connection to this person. So I called them, and I discussed my concern with the advisor. He understood my concern and then assigned me another service company. The thing is, the list of approved companies for my town was just TWO. And, they were both out of our actual city limits. I did mention this to him that it was very odd to have only two possible factory-approved service companies for our large town and they both weren't even in our city limits.
His response? Well, that's the list they have to work off of. It is odd, but if this second one doesn't work out, there's a different group he could transfer this work order to.
Okay.
So, I call the second company at the end of the day. Let's call them CompB. But first, I did a google search on them and came up with absolute zilch on them.
Wow, completely under the radar.
I call CompB, speak to the woman answering the phone, try to arrange a time for them to come by and look at the washer. She asks if 12:00 - 4:00 would be okay. I say no, because I have a meeting at 3:30. I then agree to a 10:00 - 2:00 "window". Wifey was confused why I didn't agree to the 12:00 - 4:00 slot since she works from home. I told her that I don't like her to be alone when workmen come to the house. I may be paranoid, but it's just something that bothers me having my wife alone with strangers in a private setting.
Thus, I worked from home that day. I laid down to take a nap and woke up just before I was supposed to host a conference call at 1:00. Wifey told me that 5 minutes before I woke, the service company called and asked if we were there for them to come over and look at the washer.
I stumble upright, call into the conference call number....and just then I hear a truck pull up. I open the door, mention the service guy (a young guy about 23 or 24) to come in and start looking at the washer. While doing this, I'm very awkwardly trying to run a conference call (it turned into a disaster as I couldn't concentrate on trying to explain to the repairman what was going on and trying to extract answers from people on the phone).
I hurridly finished up a very confusing conference call and talk to the repairman. He noted no water going into the hot water connect. Then, he unscrewed the hoses and looked at them. Then, he said that he would call in a part replacement that might take 1 or 2 days. He then had me sign his service call sheet.
And this is where it gets confusing.
On the service order, it stated that he was from CompA, the company I didn't call because they had a bad reputation. I didn't call them, so I (incorrectly) assumed they wouldn't move until I did contact them. They had just worked through their faxed-in service list and just happen to call the house during the time slot where CompB was supposed to come.
My head is swimming, and I'm confused. I had to ask several times for this guy from CompA to verify that he was indeed from CompA. I then explained (minus the comment about by google return hits) that I'd switched to CompB and that he happened to come during CompB's time slot. He just shrugged his shoulders, but then told me to watch out for CompB as he's heard stories about how they get their customers screwed up with Samsung service and billing charges.
Okay?
Then where is CompB?
Later that evening, around 5:30 I get a call on my cell phone. If you call me on my cell and I don't recognize you, I won't answer. So, they left a message. The message was from CompB telling me from the problem description I left the woman (who turned out to be his Mom), he was going to order me a cetain part. This part was going to take 3 or 4 days to show up, so he would contact me when it did show up.
Ooops. I don't like jerking people around. Since the first guy already showed up, I figured I had to do the right thing and call the second guy and tell him to undo the order. I did call him; he never explained why he didn't show up between 10:00 and 2:00, and explained that CompA came in his place and I had to let them take lead on this. He said, "Uhhhh, okay" and thanked me for telling him to cancel in time. And that was that.
On Friday, I didn't hear from CompA.
On Saturday and the next Monday, I didn't hear from CompA.
On Tuesday I called CompA. The woman answering the line said that.....well.....Samsung service had frozen their service order capabilities in a dispute. And they ordered my part, but she didn't think they were going to get it any time soon. However, she would call Samsung and check and then call me back.
Of course, she never called me back.
a) cross my fingers and go with CompA.
b) call Samsung and ask for another company.
In my younger days, when I held the view that everyone should be given a fair shake, I would have gone with (a). As I get older, my time is more finite and my reservoir of patience and understanding is much, much lower.
During the first call to Samsung, I was assigned a personal service advisor - with a secret direct connection to this person. So I called them, and I discussed my concern with the advisor. He understood my concern and then assigned me another service company. The thing is, the list of approved companies for my town was just TWO. And, they were both out of our actual city limits. I did mention this to him that it was very odd to have only two possible factory-approved service companies for our large town and they both weren't even in our city limits.
His response? Well, that's the list they have to work off of. It is odd, but if this second one doesn't work out, there's a different group he could transfer this work order to.
Okay.
So, I call the second company at the end of the day. Let's call them CompB. But first, I did a google search on them and came up with absolute zilch on them.
Wow, completely under the radar.
I call CompB, speak to the woman answering the phone, try to arrange a time for them to come by and look at the washer. She asks if 12:00 - 4:00 would be okay. I say no, because I have a meeting at 3:30. I then agree to a 10:00 - 2:00 "window". Wifey was confused why I didn't agree to the 12:00 - 4:00 slot since she works from home. I told her that I don't like her to be alone when workmen come to the house. I may be paranoid, but it's just something that bothers me having my wife alone with strangers in a private setting.
Thus, I worked from home that day. I laid down to take a nap and woke up just before I was supposed to host a conference call at 1:00. Wifey told me that 5 minutes before I woke, the service company called and asked if we were there for them to come over and look at the washer.
I stumble upright, call into the conference call number....and just then I hear a truck pull up. I open the door, mention the service guy (a young guy about 23 or 24) to come in and start looking at the washer. While doing this, I'm very awkwardly trying to run a conference call (it turned into a disaster as I couldn't concentrate on trying to explain to the repairman what was going on and trying to extract answers from people on the phone).
I hurridly finished up a very confusing conference call and talk to the repairman. He noted no water going into the hot water connect. Then, he unscrewed the hoses and looked at them. Then, he said that he would call in a part replacement that might take 1 or 2 days. He then had me sign his service call sheet.
And this is where it gets confusing.
On the service order, it stated that he was from CompA, the company I didn't call because they had a bad reputation. I didn't call them, so I (incorrectly) assumed they wouldn't move until I did contact them. They had just worked through their faxed-in service list and just happen to call the house during the time slot where CompB was supposed to come.
My head is swimming, and I'm confused. I had to ask several times for this guy from CompA to verify that he was indeed from CompA. I then explained (minus the comment about by google return hits) that I'd switched to CompB and that he happened to come during CompB's time slot. He just shrugged his shoulders, but then told me to watch out for CompB as he's heard stories about how they get their customers screwed up with Samsung service and billing charges.
Okay?
Then where is CompB?
Later that evening, around 5:30 I get a call on my cell phone. If you call me on my cell and I don't recognize you, I won't answer. So, they left a message. The message was from CompB telling me from the problem description I left the woman (who turned out to be his Mom), he was going to order me a cetain part. This part was going to take 3 or 4 days to show up, so he would contact me when it did show up.
Ooops. I don't like jerking people around. Since the first guy already showed up, I figured I had to do the right thing and call the second guy and tell him to undo the order. I did call him; he never explained why he didn't show up between 10:00 and 2:00, and explained that CompA came in his place and I had to let them take lead on this. He said, "Uhhhh, okay" and thanked me for telling him to cancel in time. And that was that.
On Friday, I didn't hear from CompA.
On Saturday and the next Monday, I didn't hear from CompA.
On Tuesday I called CompA. The woman answering the line said that.....well.....Samsung service had frozen their service order capabilities in a dispute. And they ordered my part, but she didn't think they were going to get it any time soon. However, she would call Samsung and check and then call me back.
Of course, she never called me back.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Washer & Dryer, pt 3
Aha, thought I was done with the washer and dryer talk didn't ya?
Getting the new washer was one thing, getting to work correctly was another.
I went shopping at the Big-Box hardware store. I jotted down models, prices, and their capacities. I went home and built a spreadsheet with the information and the final prices. I think "final price" is always the key. This includes tax and delivery charges. When you walk into another store looking for a better deal, having this sheet helps in determining if the deal they are offering you is really better than what the Box-Box was offering.
I went to another Big-Box store, and they didn't even carry the same model of washer as the first Big-Box. And then, I stopped at a medium sized appliance store. They were having a sale on some Samsung units. The final price was about $40 cheaper than the Big-Box store. Was that enough to swing the deal? They couldn't budge any lower. But what they could do was deliver the very next day, whereas Box-Box would probably take 1-2 weeks to schedule a delivery.
Sold!
And then the next day, they showed up on time, and they installed the units. As they were about to hook up the water connections, I saw they were going to use the cheapo rubber hoses.
Almost two years ago, when we bought the upstairs W/D units, I went to the Big-Box store and bought a set of nice, expensive flex cable, the ones that are supposed to last a long time. When Big-Box delivered and installed our LG W/D units, they already came with their own flex hoses. Thus, I never used the new hoses I bought and had them sitting in the trunk of my car for almost 2 years (yes, I can sometimes procrastinate in returning things!)
So when the installers of the Samsung were about to hook up the cheapo rubber hoses, I told them, "Hey, I have some nice flex hoses!" We got them out of the trunk of my car, hooked them up, and he ran a short test run showing the washer being responsive and water filling the drum. Then, he stopped the test and emptied the water with a dry cycle.
We used the washer later that day and for the next two weeks probably ran the W/D about 3 more times.
And then, in the third week, I decided to wash some clothes in warm water (by default the Normal setting of the washer goes to cold water). The washer ran and then about 20 minutes into the wash, I heard chiming.
Hmmmm, I look at the washer and the LED shows an "NF" code. NF stands for No-Flow.
Hmmmm, okay. I power off, power on, run a dry cycle to drain the water. I try it again. And about 20 minutes later another NF.
Okay. I'll debug this later. I need to get this laundry done. I power off, power on and dry. I then restart the load with Cold/Cold (wash and rinse) setting. The washer runs to completion.
Hmmmm. So, I'm in the computer biz where you fix bugs by using logic. Plus, I spent 2 years in software customer support. I know how to ask the basic, stupid questions. You start trying to figure out that: A & B don't work. B & C don't work. A & C work. Hmmmm, let's look at "B" some more.
So, what I did then was:
I go online, I enter my purchase information, and my reward is that my 12 month warranty gets extended to 14 months. Yay for small bonuses.
So about 15 minutes after registering (on a Sunday afternoon), I call the 1-800 number and get a young man who talks me through the whole problem report. He goes offline and then comes back and gives me a service tracking number, the name of a service company that is authorized to service for Samsung (and bill back to them), and their phone number. After he gets off the phone with me, he will fax them the authorization to work on my washer and it is up to me to contact them and set up an appointment.
It gets a bit hairy after this, so let's call this company "CompA".
Okay, so it's Sunday and I figure CompA isn't open. But as a curiosity I decide to google their name and see what's going on.
Carumba!
I see so many negative comments on the net for CompA on local opinion services or web sites. One person noted that they contacted the Better Business Bureau and filed a complaint to get resolution. Other commenters noted that CompA took 3 or 4 calls before they would actually show up. Many times, they just didn't bother to show up or call to say they wouldn't show up. One web site allowed disgruntled employees to rate their employers and this site said that CompA was just awful.
And then I saw one positive review for this company and one positive employee review as well (me-thinks the owners of the company got on to try to perform a bit of spin control).
Ack!
Getting the new washer was one thing, getting to work correctly was another.
I went shopping at the Big-Box hardware store. I jotted down models, prices, and their capacities. I went home and built a spreadsheet with the information and the final prices. I think "final price" is always the key. This includes tax and delivery charges. When you walk into another store looking for a better deal, having this sheet helps in determining if the deal they are offering you is really better than what the Box-Box was offering.
I went to another Big-Box store, and they didn't even carry the same model of washer as the first Big-Box. And then, I stopped at a medium sized appliance store. They were having a sale on some Samsung units. The final price was about $40 cheaper than the Big-Box store. Was that enough to swing the deal? They couldn't budge any lower. But what they could do was deliver the very next day, whereas Box-Box would probably take 1-2 weeks to schedule a delivery.
Sold!
And then the next day, they showed up on time, and they installed the units. As they were about to hook up the water connections, I saw they were going to use the cheapo rubber hoses.
Almost two years ago, when we bought the upstairs W/D units, I went to the Big-Box store and bought a set of nice, expensive flex cable, the ones that are supposed to last a long time. When Big-Box delivered and installed our LG W/D units, they already came with their own flex hoses. Thus, I never used the new hoses I bought and had them sitting in the trunk of my car for almost 2 years (yes, I can sometimes procrastinate in returning things!)
So when the installers of the Samsung were about to hook up the cheapo rubber hoses, I told them, "Hey, I have some nice flex hoses!" We got them out of the trunk of my car, hooked them up, and he ran a short test run showing the washer being responsive and water filling the drum. Then, he stopped the test and emptied the water with a dry cycle.
We used the washer later that day and for the next two weeks probably ran the W/D about 3 more times.
And then, in the third week, I decided to wash some clothes in warm water (by default the Normal setting of the washer goes to cold water). The washer ran and then about 20 minutes into the wash, I heard chiming.
Hmmmm, I look at the washer and the LED shows an "NF" code. NF stands for No-Flow.
Hmmmm, okay. I power off, power on, run a dry cycle to drain the water. I try it again. And about 20 minutes later another NF.
Okay. I'll debug this later. I need to get this laundry done. I power off, power on and dry. I then restart the load with Cold/Cold (wash and rinse) setting. The washer runs to completion.
Hmmmm. So, I'm in the computer biz where you fix bugs by using logic. Plus, I spent 2 years in software customer support. I know how to ask the basic, stupid questions. You start trying to figure out that: A & B don't work. B & C don't work. A & C work. Hmmmm, let's look at "B" some more.
So, what I did then was:
- Run a load in HOT. 20 minutes into the load, NF appears.
- Re-run the load in COLD. It completes.
- Unscrew the HOT connection to the washer and the washer connection. Look at both ends to see if there is some foreign object embeded. Nope.
- Connect one end of the hose to the hot water connection to the plumbing. Open up the valve and make sure hot water is running. It runs for about 1 minute into the sink next to the washer unit. I stop the water.
- I then take the hot and cold water hose lines and swap them with each other. I try running a WARM water wash. NF in 20 minutes.
- Take the load, wash it in COLD and it completes (using the old HOT flex cable).
- I then look at a secondary pamphlet and run advanced diagnostics. I do a fill test and it halts about 20 minutes into the test with OE for Overflow Error.
- Okay, time to call in Samsung service.
I go online, I enter my purchase information, and my reward is that my 12 month warranty gets extended to 14 months. Yay for small bonuses.
So about 15 minutes after registering (on a Sunday afternoon), I call the 1-800 number and get a young man who talks me through the whole problem report. He goes offline and then comes back and gives me a service tracking number, the name of a service company that is authorized to service for Samsung (and bill back to them), and their phone number. After he gets off the phone with me, he will fax them the authorization to work on my washer and it is up to me to contact them and set up an appointment.
It gets a bit hairy after this, so let's call this company "CompA".
Okay, so it's Sunday and I figure CompA isn't open. But as a curiosity I decide to google their name and see what's going on.
Carumba!
I see so many negative comments on the net for CompA on local opinion services or web sites. One person noted that they contacted the Better Business Bureau and filed a complaint to get resolution. Other commenters noted that CompA took 3 or 4 calls before they would actually show up. Many times, they just didn't bother to show up or call to say they wouldn't show up. One web site allowed disgruntled employees to rate their employers and this site said that CompA was just awful.
And then I saw one positive review for this company and one positive employee review as well (me-thinks the owners of the company got on to try to perform a bit of spin control).
Ack!
Thursday, February 19, 2009
One Good Frisk Deserves Another
Hey, looked who we visited!
Dudes, she's so very tiny, yet walking! She's the age of the Girl when we got her, but our girl was still on hands-and-knees for a few more months. It's amazing to see her toddling around.
Of course, there was this little furball (dog) that was trying to get our attention - so I decided he needed to be frisked.
But while frisking him, Preacher Man put the rubber gloves on and...well you know...if you can't take the frisk*, you shouldn't give the frisk:
Dude, watch it! I've got your dog in my hands.
(notice the little girl looking up...asking what the Heck?)
But seriously.....
Dude...seriously.....
Did you have to frisk my boobs?
*No actual programmers were hurt or pimp-slapped during this process.
Dudes, she's so very tiny, yet walking! She's the age of the Girl when we got her, but our girl was still on hands-and-knees for a few more months. It's amazing to see her toddling around.Of course, there was this little furball (dog) that was trying to get our attention - so I decided he needed to be frisked.
But while frisking him, Preacher Man put the rubber gloves on and...well you know...if you can't take the frisk*, you shouldn't give the frisk:
Dude, watch it! I've got your dog in my hands.
(notice the little girl looking up...asking what the Heck?)But seriously.....
Dude...seriously.....
Did you have to frisk my boobs?*No actual programmers were hurt or pimp-slapped during this process.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Washer & Dryer, pt 2. - *Clarification
So during our remodel of the house 2 years ago, Wifey and I drew up a list of things we wanted to do for the house. One of the "maybe" items was an upstairs laundry room. I asked Wifey what was wrong with taking our (dirty) clothes and dumping it over the railing downstairs as a "mode of transport".
Wifey looked at me as if she'd just realized she was married to a caveman. (what, now you realize it?)
Anyway, an upstairs laundry room was going to happen if the builder gave us a reasonable quote. We were going to sacrifice an existing (small) closet and add plumbing and electric. If the cost was outrageous, then forget it. But in the "overall" scheme of things, it was an extra $1200 to convert a closet to a laundry room (including the EXHAUST!); we added an upstairs laundry room.
And then a few months after the completion of the remodel, we bought a front loading washer/dryer set. Personally, as a technology geek, I was really anxious to get it. However, I do want to note that some people have told me of their absolute burning hatred of their frontloaders.
Me, from a technology point of view, I love them.
I think part of the reason is that sometimes I would overstuff the old downstairs washer (ex-Maytag). And then when I happen to open the top of the washer, I would notice a few corners of clothing or bedsheets that were stuck up above the waterline of the fully filled tub. It always bothered me. I always thought, "So if I hadn't happened to have opened the lid, I would have never realized that one third of this pillowcase never got wet and never got washed."
Always bothered me.
From an engineering point of view, I thought it over. A standard (old) method is to fill the drum of the washer. Clothes, as they get wet, sag into the water thus get covered with water; except in cases where a bad "user" like myself over-stuffs the washer. And then, the washer is supposed to agitate the clothing.
I've thought about that a lot.
I'm not a washing machine expert. I'm a curious novice who likes to read curious and random articles. I've read that clean clothes depend on two things: chemical removal of the proteins from the clothing and abrasion to help that process along.
First, you have to have the right detergent that chemically helps the stains "unlock" themselves from the fibers. This is why certain pre-treat sprays are good on tough spots. You are adding additional chemicals to help loosen the bond those food proteins have on the threads. Second, you need one part of the fabric or cloth to rub up against another fabric.
And really, that's where the front loaders have come in. They realized that if you get the clothes "wet enough" where the laundry detergent can get onto the stain, there is no need to soak the clothes. And then, you just simply tumble them in their wet state and that's the "rubbing" needed to have cloth-on-cloth abrasion needed to assist in removing the biologicals.
In the standard top loaders, you can have a case where there is no abrasion: suppose you dropped in two handkerchiefs into a washer and made the wash level FULL? What are the chances of those two handkerchiefs finding each other and rubbing against each other in the drum? Or, like me you've overstuffed the wash tub and things are so jammed tight int here that nothing moves. You basically got the laundry wet and then dry.
But hasn't front loading technology been around forever? If so, then why is it suddenly chic?
The reason is that the commercial washers from the years past have been too rough. They've tumbled the clothes so roughly that they accelerate the wear and tear on your clothes. That's why when you see the new washers in action, it looks like they're tumbling in slow motion. That is to achieve the agitation, but still not to too much rubbing (and damage) on the cloth.
Our city, in order to help encourage more green behavior, offers rebates for buying the new type washer and dryer. In fact, if the dryer is gas and our house is natural gas (which it is), the gas company will offer their own rebate. The city offers a rebate because we are using much less water in the new way (as I look through the glass of the drum, my old thinking still has me wondering if the clothes are really getting clean with such little water). And because of the very, very high spin dry rate, the clothes come out of the drum much drier. And if the items are much drier, then it takes less gas to dry the clothing in the gas dryer, hence the rebate from the gas company.
We win!
I lurve the font loaders because I can stuff even more stuff in there! Before, I couldn't do a mattress pad (two kids!!) into the old washer because there was an annoying spindle in the middle of the tub. But now with a big, unobstructed tub (the new one is 4.0 cubic feet), I could even get (barely) our king sized "puffy" mattress pad into the new washer.
Yay laundry!
But...I have to admit that "in general" my experience with the front loader is that it doesn't match the soak-and-clean capabilities of the old top loaders. I would say that front loaders are about 90%-95% as good at cleaning as the old top loaders.
I threw in "old Elmo" into the new ruby washer the other day. And he came out smelling clean. But....somehow his fur was not completely soaked and there were just a few spots were it didn't seem absolutely fresh and clean.
Or...it could be that he's just old and hard to clean.
Anyhoo, we're now all front loaders and that's that.
*Clarification: We have two laundry rooms. Upstairs, white frontloaders. Downstairs, new ruby Samsungs.
Wifey looked at me as if she'd just realized she was married to a caveman. (what, now you realize it?)
Anyway, an upstairs laundry room was going to happen if the builder gave us a reasonable quote. We were going to sacrifice an existing (small) closet and add plumbing and electric. If the cost was outrageous, then forget it. But in the "overall" scheme of things, it was an extra $1200 to convert a closet to a laundry room (including the EXHAUST!); we added an upstairs laundry room.
And then a few months after the completion of the remodel, we bought a front loading washer/dryer set. Personally, as a technology geek, I was really anxious to get it. However, I do want to note that some people have told me of their absolute burning hatred of their frontloaders.
Me, from a technology point of view, I love them.
I think part of the reason is that sometimes I would overstuff the old downstairs washer (ex-Maytag). And then when I happen to open the top of the washer, I would notice a few corners of clothing or bedsheets that were stuck up above the waterline of the fully filled tub. It always bothered me. I always thought, "So if I hadn't happened to have opened the lid, I would have never realized that one third of this pillowcase never got wet and never got washed."
Always bothered me.
From an engineering point of view, I thought it over. A standard (old) method is to fill the drum of the washer. Clothes, as they get wet, sag into the water thus get covered with water; except in cases where a bad "user" like myself over-stuffs the washer. And then, the washer is supposed to agitate the clothing.
I've thought about that a lot.
I'm not a washing machine expert. I'm a curious novice who likes to read curious and random articles. I've read that clean clothes depend on two things: chemical removal of the proteins from the clothing and abrasion to help that process along.
First, you have to have the right detergent that chemically helps the stains "unlock" themselves from the fibers. This is why certain pre-treat sprays are good on tough spots. You are adding additional chemicals to help loosen the bond those food proteins have on the threads. Second, you need one part of the fabric or cloth to rub up against another fabric.
And really, that's where the front loaders have come in. They realized that if you get the clothes "wet enough" where the laundry detergent can get onto the stain, there is no need to soak the clothes. And then, you just simply tumble them in their wet state and that's the "rubbing" needed to have cloth-on-cloth abrasion needed to assist in removing the biologicals.
In the standard top loaders, you can have a case where there is no abrasion: suppose you dropped in two handkerchiefs into a washer and made the wash level FULL? What are the chances of those two handkerchiefs finding each other and rubbing against each other in the drum? Or, like me you've overstuffed the wash tub and things are so jammed tight int here that nothing moves. You basically got the laundry wet and then dry.
But hasn't front loading technology been around forever? If so, then why is it suddenly chic?
The reason is that the commercial washers from the years past have been too rough. They've tumbled the clothes so roughly that they accelerate the wear and tear on your clothes. That's why when you see the new washers in action, it looks like they're tumbling in slow motion. That is to achieve the agitation, but still not to too much rubbing (and damage) on the cloth.
Our city, in order to help encourage more green behavior, offers rebates for buying the new type washer and dryer. In fact, if the dryer is gas and our house is natural gas (which it is), the gas company will offer their own rebate. The city offers a rebate because we are using much less water in the new way (as I look through the glass of the drum, my old thinking still has me wondering if the clothes are really getting clean with such little water). And because of the very, very high spin dry rate, the clothes come out of the drum much drier. And if the items are much drier, then it takes less gas to dry the clothing in the gas dryer, hence the rebate from the gas company.
We win!
I lurve the font loaders because I can stuff even more stuff in there! Before, I couldn't do a mattress pad (two kids!!) into the old washer because there was an annoying spindle in the middle of the tub. But now with a big, unobstructed tub (the new one is 4.0 cubic feet), I could even get (barely) our king sized "puffy" mattress pad into the new washer.
Yay laundry!
But...I have to admit that "in general" my experience with the front loader is that it doesn't match the soak-and-clean capabilities of the old top loaders. I would say that front loaders are about 90%-95% as good at cleaning as the old top loaders.
I threw in "old Elmo" into the new ruby washer the other day. And he came out smelling clean. But....somehow his fur was not completely soaked and there were just a few spots were it didn't seem absolutely fresh and clean.
Or...it could be that he's just old and hard to clean.
Anyhoo, we're now all front loaders and that's that.
*Clarification: We have two laundry rooms. Upstairs, white frontloaders. Downstairs, new ruby Samsungs.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Washer & Dryer, pt 1.
Can I really write a decent post about washers and dryers?
Jacquie asked for it, so here goes.
Here is a picture of my 19 year old Maytags. They're sitting in the garage, waiting to be taken away.
To be replaced by these ruby colored "hussies"
Let's go way, way, way back in the wayback machine. Growing up, my parents bought their first house in the US in 1974. We bought a pair of avocado green Maytags. Those suckers lasted almost 25 years. Never a problem with them.
So, when I was building my first house (and it was all of 1500 sq feet), I confidently walked into the showroom of a family owned business and said, "Give me a Maytag set. Basic vanilla. Nothing fancy, just dependable."
Basically, I bought something off of a childhood memory without doing my homework.
And when the sets were installed, I realized, "Hey, the dryer doesn't have a dryness sensor. Hey, don't all of them come with a dryness sensor? My parents did."
Stupid boy.
And then, I was so puzzled why it took so long to dry my clothes, especially in the summer. I large load would take 2 passes in the dryer. The first pass would time out at 70 minutes. And then, I had to clean the lint trap and run it again for another 20 minutes.
Man, what is going on here?
I mentioned to this ex-BF. He was a Mechanical Engineer. If you don't know ME's, a large majority of them specialize in heating and cooling. i.e. mechanical devices generate heat. It's odd thing in majors - like Electrical Engineers (moi) are usually the ones designing computers (because the ones and zeroes use electricity!)
I said, "Man, why is it taking me an hour and a half to dry a big load of clothes?"
And for brevity's sake, this is almost how the conversation went:
Another brilliant move by me, not checking the details. However, who was supposed to know? My parents 25 year Maytags were connected to the outside wall. The heater vented 2 feet away from the dryer.
Idiot.
But, I probably would have bought the house anyway. I probably would have found some excuse or logic that said buying a house like that was fine.
Jacquie asked for it, so here goes.
Here is a picture of my 19 year old Maytags. They're sitting in the garage, waiting to be taken away.
To be replaced by these ruby colored "hussies"
Let's go way, way, way back in the wayback machine. Growing up, my parents bought their first house in the US in 1974. We bought a pair of avocado green Maytags. Those suckers lasted almost 25 years. Never a problem with them.So, when I was building my first house (and it was all of 1500 sq feet), I confidently walked into the showroom of a family owned business and said, "Give me a Maytag set. Basic vanilla. Nothing fancy, just dependable."
Basically, I bought something off of a childhood memory without doing my homework.
And when the sets were installed, I realized, "Hey, the dryer doesn't have a dryness sensor. Hey, don't all of them come with a dryness sensor? My parents did."
Stupid boy.
And then, I was so puzzled why it took so long to dry my clothes, especially in the summer. I large load would take 2 passes in the dryer. The first pass would time out at 70 minutes. And then, I had to clean the lint trap and run it again for another 20 minutes.
Man, what is going on here?
I mentioned to this ex-BF. He was a Mechanical Engineer. If you don't know ME's, a large majority of them specialize in heating and cooling. i.e. mechanical devices generate heat. It's odd thing in majors - like Electrical Engineers (moi) are usually the ones designing computers (because the ones and zeroes use electricity!)
I said, "Man, why is it taking me an hour and a half to dry a big load of clothes?"
And for brevity's sake, this is almost how the conversation went:
ex-BF: Hmmm, well, let's see. Your dryer is hooked up to this vent. And this vent......(as he's looking up to the ceiling) is in a center wall of the house. Hmmm, most likely if it's not vented through the roof, it's probably venting into the attic."
Me: Whaaaaa?
ex-BF: Yeah, this isn't optimal for a dryer, but it's the way the house was drawn up by the architect.
Me: What ARE you talking about?
ex-BF: Okay, when your dryer is running, it needs to get the humid air out of the drum.
Me: Yeah, and it's going out the exhaust.
ex-BF: Not necessarily. First, this hose is kinked up in a few places, so all those twists and turns you have cause the dryer to run inefficiently. Second, this dryer vent may vent directly into the attic if they were cheap or into a pipe that runs all the way to your roof and then vents out.
(can you guess which cheaper version I have?)
Me: You mean, it just literally dumps the lint and the wet air into the attic?
ex-BF: Yeah, so thermodynamically, your dryer is fighting with the hot temperatures in your attic. You've got hot humid air being pumped into your hot humid attic. Of course the dryer is going to work harder.
Me: Is that okay? Is that legal?
ex-BF: Yeah, not the best way to do it. I mean, you could have a lint fire, but that's really, really unusual and rare.
Me: What the frick?
ex-BF: You're blowing lint up into the attic and sometimes...well, it's not going to happen, the lint ignites because of the heat and you could possibly start a fire in your attic.
Me: GAH!
ex-BF: Like I said, almost never happens. You should probably see better drying time in the winter when it's cold and dry. However, the air still struggles as it's got to be pushed UP into probably a PVC pipe that just exits in your attic (and there it was!)
Me: Sucks!
Another brilliant move by me, not checking the details. However, who was supposed to know? My parents 25 year Maytags were connected to the outside wall. The heater vented 2 feet away from the dryer.
Idiot.
But, I probably would have bought the house anyway. I probably would have found some excuse or logic that said buying a house like that was fine.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Sausage Eggs Benedict
I always like ordering Eggs Benedict when eating out. I decided to see how hard it would be to make them, a while ago. I finally got good at it, but it is a bit time consuming as a breakfast, so I don't make it very often. Only during the holidays, do I have the time to make it (and enjoy it!)
I asked Wifey to buy me some slices of ham. She didn't realize that it was going to be part of an EB dish, so she bought thin slices that are more appropriate for lunch sandwiches. Thus, I went to my alternate meat type: spicy breakfast sausage. Yummmmm.
You are then supposed to poach the eggs. Take a shallow pan of water and add just a bit of white vinegar to it. I'm not exactly what the white vinegar does, but it helps poach the eggs somehow. Recently, I decided adding these baking rings (that Wifey gave me a long time ago for some unknown reason) would help in preventing the eggs from straying off whilst in the pan.
Added the eggs.
Take 3 egg yolks, add salt, lemon juice, and tabasco sauce.
Then drip in butter while mixing the ingredients in a food processor. I'm supposed to put in "clarified butter". Puleaze, I don't have time for that fancy-pants extra work.
And in the end, it ends up as a creamy Hollandaise sauce.
Split an English muffin, and toast. On top of each slice, add the cooked sausage.
Add the poached egg on top of that.
Then, cover with the Hollandaise sauce. On my plate, I think sprinkled cayenne on top of the sauce.
I asked Wifey to buy me some slices of ham. She didn't realize that it was going to be part of an EB dish, so she bought thin slices that are more appropriate for lunch sandwiches. Thus, I went to my alternate meat type: spicy breakfast sausage. Yummmmm.
You are then supposed to poach the eggs. Take a shallow pan of water and add just a bit of white vinegar to it. I'm not exactly what the white vinegar does, but it helps poach the eggs somehow. Recently, I decided adding these baking rings (that Wifey gave me a long time ago for some unknown reason) would help in preventing the eggs from straying off whilst in the pan.
Added the eggs.
Take 3 egg yolks, add salt, lemon juice, and tabasco sauce.
Then drip in butter while mixing the ingredients in a food processor. I'm supposed to put in "clarified butter". Puleaze, I don't have time for that fancy-pants extra work.
And in the end, it ends up as a creamy Hollandaise sauce.
Split an English muffin, and toast. On top of each slice, add the cooked sausage.
Add the poached egg on top of that.
Then, cover with the Hollandaise sauce. On my plate, I think sprinkled cayenne on top of the sauce.
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