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.
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.
I am waiting for the electrician or someone like him. He should be here this afternoon. The plan is to make the hole in the floor large enough to drop the junction box, then run the cable up to the new dishwasher.
Note the water damage on the floor in the second picture. I came home from one of my numerous Phoenix trips and saw water streaks on the wall downstairs in the finished basement. The Bosch dishwasher had sprung a leak, and it was replaced with the Kitchenaid that is now itself being replaced.
There’s a problem that will delay the dishwasher installation. It has a sealed bottom with no space for this electrical junction box that’s under the old unit. I’ve sent this picture to the plumber with a voice message. After he calls me in the morning I’ll call an electrician.
The dishwasher died yesterday. It’s a Kitchenaid that’s only six years old. The Bosch that preceded it lasted eight years, and so did the Bosch before it. According to Consumer Reports, Bosch is the most reliable brand. My definition of reliability is fifteen years, which happens to be age of the Maytag washer and dryer pair I bought for $700 on a no sales tax weekend in 2008.
Samsung is supposed to be one of the less reliable brands, but that’s what I bought today for $399 at Lowes. CA says it cleans and dries very well, and I like the handle. I’m less enamored of the door’s pulley mechanism as seen in the photo. Here comes the fourth dishwasher since starting this weblog!
AKG K240 Studio headphones, made in Austria Some days, like yesterday, there is some ringing in my ears, and it’s best that I not aggravate it by wearing headphones. On certain other days, like today, there is only the usual sort of “head noise” that I suppose everybody has. I take advantage of that for listening to music, along with noticing the sonic characteristics of recordings and whatever gear I’m using. (If I haven’t mentioned it before, after turning 60 I had my hearing tested in an anechoic chamber by a PhD audiologist. I was able to correctly identify sounds that were just above the threshold of audibility.*)
My retirement activities are being determined in part by what my sinuses are doing to my ears on any given day. For all the countless hours I spent on airplanes traveling for work over many years, and then in the loud data centers at my destinations, I’m amazed I don’t have a much worse chronic case of tinnitus.
Adjusting to aging is something that those of us who last this long must do. I sit here rubbing my weak ankle that is also determining my retirement activities. It would otherwise be fine, if not for an elderly Russian man slamming into the back of my stopped car 22 years ago.
While sitting, rubbing and listening, I am worrying about someone near and dear to me who will undergo open heart surgery. We’re counting on world-class Boston heart surgeons to be as successful as a world-class Boston retina surgeon was in restoring the sight in my left eye.
* You are of course wondering what headphones were used in the test. The Beyerdynamic DT-150, that has been a standard at Abbey Road Studios for many years.
