Cascading failures - Part Two

It's been a while and you need an update.

There it is. It's People's Exhibit Number One. "It has my mark on it" as Lt. Tragg used to say on Perry Mason.

What you have here is a GE Washer motor and my wonderful wife not only got GE to send us a new one for half price, but also install it for free. Never mess with a former customer service person!

Bobbie called GE after their traveling ambassador of service (harumph!) left us stunned after he implied we were to blame for a washer that broke after only four and a half years of service. "The instructions under the lid tell ya not to open the lid while the washer is running." Huh?

After some reflection and thought, Bobbie came to the conclusion that he described a design flaw in the product. She quoted his very words to the GE call center person. We had done everything GE asked us to do, so it was time for her to ask in return. Negotiations ensued and soon Bobbie had a deal.

The motor arrived a few days later, and a new repairman a few days after that on July fifth. But don't think it was as good as new. The next week, the washer started make dreadful noises during a large load of towels. The problem abated once we took some towels out, but it now has us cautious. NOT AGAIN! Updates as they occur.

All Hail the Fluidmaster!

...or the latest thing to break around here.

The toilet in the kid's bathroom started running yesterday afternoon. After we caught it (insert groan here), I determined that the fill valve was broken and would not shut off. So I just turned off the water feed, turning it back on occasionally to flush and fill.

I delayed the project to this afternoon so we could all have dinner before everyone else left for the Harry Potter movie last night. This morning I needed to get some work done.

Thankfully I found the broken fill valve was the ubiquitous Fluidmaster 400A. The web is replete with how-to videos detailed everything about it, except what you need to know. After a lunchtime trip to Home Depot and $7.50, I was ready to plumb.

Naturally not everything works out neatly. I had to replace the feed tube. Our old plumber liked to custom cut, fit and flare his feed tubes. It was a craftsman's touch in a place where no one could see it. This piece of Y2K era customization was just a bit too long for the new Fluidmaster 400A. So I checked my box of old plumbing parts and voila! there was an old flex tube. But I don't like the way it fits, so it will be back to Home Depot this weekend for a new one. In the meantime, the fluids have been mastered.

Final Installment

Tonight is the end of an era...the final Harry Potter movie starts at midnight. Here's Sarah as Beatrix LeStrange and Janine as Luna Lovegood.

Earlier today I heard a piece on NPR about tonight's premiere. The twenty-somethings they interviewed said tonight will be sad because it is the end of the Harry Potter movies. But they quickly added that we all know how it will end. The movie is a visualization. The real ending was four years ago when the last book came out. Only at that time did we learn how Harry defeats Voldemort with a little help from his friends.

While all the magic world is great, but the real impact of the novels was getting kids to read. Let's hope that continues. It made a difference for Sarah, click here.

Brotherhood of Man

Janine did the musical theater section this past week. Here she is centering The Brotherhood of Man from How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying.

It was a pretty good dance number. Getting the shot was a bit of a challenge. The entire back wall of the set were window facing west, so the afternoon sun was intense and made everything backlite.

On the set

No, make that IN the set.

Here's Sarah spying out from under the set during last week's Saltworks rehearsals.

This year's summer session was in the student union at a college just a few miles from our house. It was a new venue, but everyone did very well getting up on time, fixing their lunches and getting out the door.