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The part for the water heater arrived after I got home from work. From what we were told, DHL couldn't find our house. I was up in the garden when I saw the yellow and red truck drive away. The driver left the box out front -- didn't knock, didn't make any effort to let us know the part had arrived.
I assembled the unit (had to reuse the orifice from the old one; it was the only part they didn't replace), installed it, and turned the heater back on. Hot water. We take it for granted. It is a true mark of an advanced society.
I think I'll go take a hot shower.
Today is day ten with no hot water. The 4th of Julius I took a cold shower, but that is not recommended using water coming from 120 feet down in the ground. Contrary to fiction, there is not enough friction to warm it as it travels through the pipes. My frozen fannie disputes the notion of geothermal heating.
The infamous Whirlpool gas-fired water heater with its cheap stamped steel burner quit functioning on the 3rd. The gas bill for June was higher than normal (well, we did have a June that was colder than normal, Mr. Gore, but that is beside the point). There is no rust on the unit. Jesse's analysis is that the stress of heating and cooling produced metal fatigue in the stamping, and the spreader that was supposed to direct the flame upward broke loose and directed the flame in directions it was not meant to go. This probably kept the heater going long after it was supposed to shut off, and, I suspect, destroyed the thermocouple, since the igniter works and the pilot ignites but will not stay lit.
The heater was Matt's present to us just before Jim & Maria arrived from Loosie-anner in November 2006. As can be seen from the label, it has a 6 year parts warranty. So Matt called the 1-877 number the night of the 3rd and was told a replacement would arrive here in about 5 business days. He is not happy that we are still heating water on the stove to take our baths.
Coming a week after Mike had to replace the drive coupler on his Whirlpool washer -- the same part we replaced on ours about a year ago -- it just does not look good for the Whirlpool brand name around here.
Way back on March 28th I let slip a little blurb about Tyvek sleeves for credit cards. Gather 'round kiddies, and Grandpa Jim will lead you in crafts class. Since this is an outgrowth of Cheapology, we will start with the scrounge movement. Ever get a nice envelope (from some company trying to sell you something) that has a sort of "woven" feel to it? That was probably Tyvek. Here is an example:
We cut a strip out of it just about the width of the card
(HA! and you thought I was going to post something with credit card numbers? HA! Its my genuine Old Geezer Membership Card!) and long enough to wrap around generously.
Then we fold a flap up at the bottom
and around back we mark it
for cutting.
Then we fold it backwards and mark the glue limit line, which we will stay back from about 1/16" so as not to glue the sleeve to the card...
We apply rubber cement to the outside of the short flap and the inside of the long flap, and when it has dried we set the card on the Tyvek and fold the short flap up
and the long flap down
and rub hard to seal the two glued pieces together.
The sleeve is just a bit longer than the card (by design, friend, by design)
and we trim to fit, cutting convexly so as to provide a grip wherewith to draw the card forth.
We have now protected our card from the nameless dangers that lurk in a wallet stowed perilously close to the human rear. There is also a utilitarian benefit. Protected by the Tyvek, the magnetic strip will not be damaged, and anything printed on, like photos or bar codes, will be safe from scuffing.
Cheap, huh?
The system is down here at work, so I'm grabbing a quick opportunity to post.
What if gummint workers were required to pay into Social Security. "Whazzat?", you say. Yep. Congresscritters and all other forms of gummint life pay into separate gummint pension plans. What if they had to live like the peasants, and pay into Social Security? Maybe Social Security would be more viable? Maybe the Congresscritters would be more serious about how they treat it?
It IS a tax, you know -- FICA. Why should gummint people be exempt from a tax?
Of course, I'm not running for Congress, and even if I got there, there would be nothing I could do about the situation except make speeches for C-SPAN.
