(sorry about the links, folks - I haven't quite figured out how a mac pastes links into blogger. Yes, laugh ye mac users. Laugh at the PC-user with the borrowed macbook. Now, come on over and show me how, okay?)
Hat tip to Zina (http://zinababies.livejournal.com/) for having the energy to find the site, read, enjoy and oh yes, pop out a wee baby person. And did she mention something about someone passing a dairy food challenge? Yee-haw!
My thanks to the brave lenders of laptops, especially to the one who finally just shoved a laptop into my arms. The Mike virus is not to be taken lightly, and ours is still rampaging. The repaired washing machine began pouring water on Monday, the dryer is still banging and leaking water, and Saturday night I was audible up and down the Charles River, when the laptop grunted, sizzled and gasped "systems error" before expiring.
So:
- the Mike came back and told me that they'd forgotten to hit the reset switch on the dryer. Sorry, lady, that's why it wasn't working. Oh. So why is it still banging? (shrug) Who knows. Something loose? He then reattached the hoses to the washing machine, this time connecting the hot and cold hoses to the hot and cold spots. No more hot laundry, after being washed on 'cold,' fewer pink undershirts for the Man. After they left, I found a loose screw on the floor.
- the dryer continued to bang and leak. I requested alternate Mikes, and two came: Oh, the condenser hose was kinked. That's why it's leaking. Ah. And the banging, which began right before the dryer's motor died? Hmm. Looks like a loose belt, lady. Gonna have to replace it. That will mean taking the motor out - going to be a big job. (inhale, exhale, dig fingernails into wooden chair) But you guys just replaced the motor. Yep. Guess we missed seeing the loose belt. Ah. And do you need this screw? Oh, hey! Lookit that. We were just wondering if we'd lost one. Right. I watched the Mike slip behind the re-assembled and re-stacked washer/dryer, and pop the screw into place
- Brand new Mikes! Turns out, the old Mikes come from a company with an F rating on Angie's List. We'd used the company for over four years without realizing, and hoo boy, do I feel like a ripe idiot. The company rates an F on the BBB, too. Caveat homeowner. The new Mikes were polite, patient with the unmechanically minded me, and passed muster (I think) with a friend who can install her own washer/dryer - and shrug. Yes, the belt is loose on the dryer, and it's probably what did the motor in. We'll need to replace it, along with some mated parts. And the new Mikes think it's unlikely that the old Mikes did all that we paid them to do. We shall see when the new parts go in, but for now the washer is back in gear! The new Mikes have come just in time, because...
- the tenants downstairs (aka people who are very patient with lots of small running feet and who pay a crucial hunk of our mortgage) called: their dishwasher is making a grumbling growling screechy sound. Of course it is. Can we get a repairman in?
- or, as the screener of Mikes friend pointed out, a Jesuit. For an exorcism. Her dishwasher is rumbling as well, making the
- loan of a laptop an especially brave move. But thank you, thank you to those who offered and to the slightly risk-oriented friends who pushed one into my arms. My editor is unimpressed by our Mikes, and demands that I keep my deadline regardless. She suggests typewriters, as requiring fewer Mikes. Persevere, saith she.
Which I will. Somehow. Possibly by using alarming quantities of No-Doz.
Blog posts are piling up here, on rheumatologist Mikes, on allergy statistics, on Purim, and on adventures in cloth. And if I don't get some of them out, my brain will begin leaking - and I will not have another Mike in my life, no matter how unnerving it is to watch steam gently sifting out of my ears.
3 comments:
I'm glad we're coming next month. We're terribly useful at fixing various things, including macs. That all said, I dearly hope your adventures in Mikedom are finished before we get there for your sanity's sake.
If for any terrible reason further Mikes should be called, keep a list of things for us to do. We like lists and to be helpful. After all, every time we go to see Ian's family, we end up tearing some bit of the house out to fix/remodel it. Common Xmas morning scene is someone with a putty knife and bucket of plaster, still wearing pjs and up on a chair putzing with something. It's how we roll. Or at least how we holiday.
I have been following the story of the Mikes for some time now. I haven't commented till now because it seemed like an ongoing affair and I wanted to see how it would end up. Glad you got a new company of Mikes.
And thanks for the H/T. Does typing out HTML work out on the Mac? Like "a href=www.yaddayaddayadda.com" and then doing the "/a" thing at the end of the URL? Instead of " you use the < and > characters. That should work, right?
And yes, we have a household where everyone can enjoy dairy :-)
Boston College has a good supply of Jesuits, but exorcists are a special category and very few are trained to do that sort of thing. They would probably suggest a few more Mikes before going the Holy Water route anyway. However, if your appliances start spewing perversions of the Hail Mary and start flying across the room I might be able to hook you up with the necessary priest.
Not that you don't have enough on your plate, but I read the post at http://mamadeus.blogspot.com/2009/03/happy-meals.html and thought that you'd be someone who might have information that could help.
I hope things are busy-good, not busy-worsening.
Post a Comment