Author: DOuG pRATt

Bring Back Avocado Green!

The kitchen’s inevitable first appliance with a stainless finish, rather than white.

The installation went all right, but not entirely. One of the guys, let’s call him the “assistant,” did something wrong, and they tried to BS me about it. Not a good idea. The other guy, let’s call him the “installer,” made it right, after I kept insisting I knew that something was wrong, which it was. That’s all I have to say about that.

Update: Actually, that isn’t all I have to say. I see they dinged the door. That’s what happens when you don’t unbox inside the house, but do it in the truck, then have one guy haul it inside — in the rain — by himself. That’s after tearing off the factory-installed insulation cover, because you think it’s packing material. I’ve requested an exchange. They’ll likely offer a credit on the installation cost. Always — always — unbox on premises. How can they not know this?

Out With the New, Out With the Old, In With the New

Oh, such fun. At least a dishwasher is an appliance you can live without for a while. When the Samsung was dropped off, the delivery guy admonished me to save the packing materials, “in case it has to go back.” Which I did, because it did.

The return was arranged and the refund came through (thank you, Lowe’s). The dead KitchenAid was picked up by the local trash service for $60.

So what will replace the dead Kitchenaid? A new KitchenAid, with the exact same controls. Express Wash is a favorite button. Purchased online from Best Buy, it should be delivered and installed tomorrow before noon.

KitchenAid KDFE204KPS

Pondering Numbers

1. As a young comic book kid, I looked forward to seeing the circulation figures in the October issues. Total Paid Circulation was the number that mattered. The New Yorker is the last magazine I subscribe to by mail, and the total paid distribution of the print edition is down to only about 650,000 copies.

2. I have a digital-only subscription to The New York Times. It recently had a feature on physical fitness, and I did a double-take on the percentiles by age and time to run one mile. When I was 17-21 years old I could run a mile in 6:15. I was never good enough a runner to qualify being on a track team. It’s laughable that I was in the top 1% of males. How many people run at all after high school, anyway?

3. You know how I go on about the dominance of Epic Systems in the electronic medical records market? Here’s a chart showing how Epic has performed since I retired, relative to the other two prime vendors.

Foot Don’t Fail Me Now

Snoopy accurately captured my present situation in yesterday’s Peanuts reprint (presented here with permission, for a nominal fee).

PEANUTS © 1977 Peanuts Worldwide LLC. Dist. By ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

I’m in physical therapy for the collapsed arch in my right foot. I’ve been good about doing the exercises at home, and the results are promising.

Yesterday, the foot felt good enough to go running, but I don’t dare risk undoing the progress I’m making. As I told the podiatrist and the therapist, my goal is to avoid surgery. If that means no longer being able to go running, then so be it.

Feeling Loanly?

I put myself through college, which was something a person could do while attending a small state school fifty years ago. Today, attending that same state college costs $20,000/year. No student could possibly earn enough to put a dent in that cost.

John Oliver once again connects the relevant dots and provides a clear explanation of a topic. This time it’s student loans.