andy’s place…

…that’s what we have been telling my nephew for the past few weeks.  No accidents.  Can hear it in my sleep sometimes we’ve reminded him so much.

Where does this come from?  Well, my 4 year nephew never had any trouble with “the potty”.  Then, randomly, it started…  he just wouldn’t stop playing, and he would have his accident.  The opening day of this was 3 times in one day at day care.  He’s NEVER done anything close to that, not even during training.  But, he started to, and needless to say, it was annoying.

We decided to take drastic measures…  the reward practice.  If Jamie could go a whole week with “no accidents”, he would get to go ride go-karts.  Now, I had forgotten that there was a new go-kart and mini golf place being built here.  I was thinking of the place out in the hills by the cabin.  Well, he made it a full week (and more, good job buddy!).  And tonight was reward night.

I wondered about this place as I drove over the bridge, as previous attempts in the central part of the state were not really nice.  To my relief, this place was all new.  New karts, new track, new mini golf, new arcade games, nothing secondhand.  Karts were fast, track had enough slick to let you powerslide if you want, and they let you ride a decent amount of time for 5 bucks.  Not quite 10 minutes on our first set of laps for 5 bucks for a single kart.

I went for two tickets worth, and the rest of the crew did 3.  Jamie got his reward, and I used the time left in the last run for them to walk my 17 month old nephew around the mini-golf course and see the waterfall.  He’s a fan lemme tell ya.

Oh yeah, I’m in SF this weekend…  bowling anyone?  Mini-golf?  I really have few plans.  See a few folks, buy a book or two, look at cameras, get a cannoli, and that’s about it…

This is a story of how pissed off I can get at appliances and the people that service them.

I have an Amana ARS2667AC 26 cubic foot stainless refrigerator.  It matches perfectly with the remodel of my kitchen, the other appliances, etc…  It’s a great unit.

Now, like most everything anymore, since nothing is “built to last”, the compressor unit of the fridge crapped out on me while I was in Washington DC.  I got home at midnight, went to work the next day, out to dinner, and came home to warm, spoiled food in the fridge and freezer.  Upsetting, but it does happen unfortunately.

So, I call up some of the service people around town.  The first, the kinda creepy but very good one, was unavailable due to holiday travel for the 4th.  Since I wanted to use this guy, I had just called him on a Wednesday, left a message and waited.  He did call back on Friday saying he was out.  Well, now it’s the Friday before the 4th, and I call a chain retailer/service dealership that has a store in town.  They also have stores all around the state.  They tell me they can’t look at it until after the 4th, and they would call me when they could look at it.  Great service there… just leave you hanging.

They call Monday, and show up on Monday to test and look at the unit.  They confirm what I knew, the compressor was dead.  Now, without looking anything up, the tech tells me that Amana has a 5 year warranty, and that this is out of warranty.  He takes off, leaving me with a $450 estimate and tells me they would have to take the unit from my home to repair this.  Well, I know that’s crap.  Every other dealer fixes them in house.  No scratched floors, no dinged walls, no dents in the stainless.  But nope, these guys take it out of the home.  I ask about any insurance or deals for any damage inflicted in transport.  They say “huh? well we might take something off the bill….”

At this point, I told them halt everything, don’t order a compressor, just wait.  I might buy new instead.  They did that, of course hoping to sell me a new unit.  Meanwhile, I’m hunting for a new fridge.  Sears had a 20% off and 0% deal, but of course, it ended soon.  Trying to find a decent fridge out there that I want was a pain…  spent hours on it, even looked while I was in Sioux Falls.  Nothing I wanted.  Finally, with 2 hours left in the sale, I threw a hail mary and called Amana.  Amazingly, they said “no, you are still in warranty.  Here are the authorized repair shops, just have them bill the compressor to us”.  I said AWESOME.  Until I saw the list of repair folks…  crappy chain place, and a guy I haven’t worked with, which is rare given my family business.

So I call the random other authorized repair guy…  leave a message.  He calls back from the hospital.  He’s out for a while until he can recover from some chest aliments.  So now I’m left with the crappy chain place that I don’t want to deal with.  I visit them, and of course, the only guy that can repair a fridge is on vacation that day.  Call back Monday.  So I did.  And he was out for a while…  Finally returns my call at 4:59 PM, ready to start the process, and finally admitting he didn’t check the warranty.  He just needs a proof of sale date to verify the warranty.  I tell him I have that and who it is from.  Immediately the process stops.  This “servicing dealership” will not do any warranty work if the business that I bought the appliance from is still in business.  My jaw dropped…

I ask if this is an Amana policy or their company.  Their company…  claiming it turns “their” service work into this company’s problem.  Well, aren’t you authorized to service these in order to make money?  You get the compressor/parts for nothing, and just bill me for the fix.  Guaranteed money.  Nope.  Won’t do it.

Well, I bought this thing in Sioux Falls from a place that is still open on Minnesota Ave.  They won’t be going anywhere…  and because they don’t suck, I can’t get this fixed.  So, tonight, I’m left with a question for Amana.  “Amana, you have two authorized repair shops here.  One will not fix it due to company policy, and the other is not accepting business due to personal injury.  WTF do I do here?”

I’m hoping I get an answer tomorrow…  I’ve basically been without a fridge for 15+ days minus my little office thing.  And I’m damn sick and tired of it…

Yes, I intentionally left the name of the company out of here…  but you can guess it.  “Your servicing dealer since 1956″ that shares a name with a dump taken on someone’s face…

Bottom line:  If something breaks, good luck getting it fixed anymore.

Been kind of a crazy last 30 days or so around here.  Just finally starting to somewhat settle down now, so I’ve got a little time to spare and I’ll spend a few minutes writing something that none of you will read

I don’t travel much…  in fact, after mike and sonja’s wedding, I actually went about 13 months without my car leaving the city limits.  Didn’t have a reason to travel…  or when I had a reason, the weather didn’t cooperate.  My work travel comes and goes in spurts.  So, I just get used to not going anywhere…  June, not so normal…  July doesn’t seem like it will be either.

While I started out June with plans for a SF run, that didn’t pan out for some work reasons… needed to be near base for the regular office, and nearby for the family business, and oh yeah, my air conditioner crapped out. Not exactly what I wanted to drop several grand on…  Happened about 3 days after I paid off the car.  I guess someone didn’t want me to be without a payment for a while… grr.

Then, June 12th comes around, and it’s time for a conference.  A professional organization I belong to was having their Western Region Seminar (14 states) in Deadwood this year.  Now, I was involved with a lot of the prepwork, event planning, signage, fliers, you name it.  But, I did get to attend for free.  I had to run the technical gear and do some webcasting, but there were good speakers, good topics, learned quite a bit.  I did go out a day early to the family vacation home and chill out, which was nice… absolutely nothing to do, and no way for anyone to get ahold of me if I so chose.

Get back from that, and literally the next day, the boss-of-the-boss-of-my-boss comes over and asks if I’m available to go to Washington DC for another conference.  We weren’t paying for any of it, so I had the green light to attend.  Of course, this meant the early-bird flight out, 6:05 am… and breakfast was my usual Chili’s in the MPLS airport.  Nothing like chips and salsa at 8 am I tell ya.  Made it to DC, figured out I stand out like a sore thumb (tall and white), had to translate the shuttle driver into English, and figure out the layout downtown.  Pretty hotel on the outside, but $369 a night was a stab in the eye for what you got.   I seriously wouldn’t put this place over the SF DT Holiday Inn.  For that money, I expect better.  But, again, not paying for it.  And the location was awesome.  Next to the US Mint, so lots of police presence.  Did the whole tourist thing, went to the White House, Capitol, Supreme Court, Washington Monument, National Mall…

Then, found the National Air and Space Museum…  seriously.  Go there before you die.  Plan at least 4 hours.  If you want to read stuff, 2 days.  Hell, you could spend a month in DC just visiting the Smithsonian Institutes (all 19 of them).  I only got to one of the Air and Space locations.  But, when you walk in, and there is the actual lunar command module from Apollo 11, the backup unmanned lunar lander, a Predator drone, and everything else that is all legit, not replicas, it’s so worth it.

Made it through that, attended a two day conference, had the airport time from hell in DC (not as bad as elmidgeto though), and barely made it home.  Spend the next 7 days at work on a massive amount of overtime (and yes, I get overtime when I can bill a grant), barely saw my house.  So much of not seeing my house that I missed seeing that my refrigerator compressor died and I lost all the food in there.  Fridge, freezer, all of it.  Only what was in my chest freezer made it.  Of course, this happens during the week leading up to a 3 day weekend.  All the appliance repair places are booked until next week.  Can’t even get an emergency call-out for this.  I’m told that I might get in on Tuesday or Wednesday.  That’s it.  Well, I leave for Sioux Falls Tuesday afternoon, not back until Wednesday after hours.  So, I’ll probably spend another week without that thing.  I’m living on my little office fridge, which is AWESOME.  Did all the prep work for my annual 4th of July gathering with that as my chiller.  Meant all the goodies I wanted to make were out.  Oh well, that’s over.

So, now that I have like 20-30 hours of OT, and finally have our grant application in, I can attempt to get back into the swing of things.  But of course, all the stuff that I had to put off because of the grant and the travel is being dumped on me at once.  A lot of people that just don’t get that their problem isn’t my problem, and are looking to have me be the savior.  Just another day I guess.

Anyone possibly up for dinner in SF Tuesday night?  Not sure when I’ll get in, or what my schedule will allow if anything, but I’m trying.

Damn this got long in a hurry.

After not posting anything for quite a while, and finding out one of my posts was trackbacked onto a professional site, figured I should update a few things.

The trackbacked post and attached material has been deleted.  I’m not serving content for the realms…

Been pulling a Kari of sorts… I think as of Monday, I have everything other than my house paid off now.  Quite a nice feeling.  It’ll be nicer next month when none of those little things come out of my accounts though

Spent most of the last week wrapping up various work projects.  Beginning of this week involves a trip to Aberdeen for a day.  Thankfully it’s a one day trip unless the weather goes crazy like it did.  Got some great photos of what a tornado does to a cell phone tower though…

Had some company this weekend.  The dog…

Managed to get the tops of my knees sunburnt today, even with SPF 70 on.  Obviously not enough of it though

My little nephew turned 4 and loved his new grill toy I got him.  His little brother liked it more though I think.  It’s funny to watch a 14 month old stand at a grill with tongs…

I’ll be attending a conference in Deadwood in June.  So if anyone finds themselves with leave time and a desire to hit up Deadwood on the weekend of June 11-13, swing out.  My conference is the 13th through the 16th, so plenty of room to dink around before then.

Last I heard Seth and Sharla may be running out that way the weekend before…  not sure if they’ll make it this way for steak 2.0 or not.

And congrats to El Midgeto on his finding of a girl shorter than him…  well, if she exists.  Still need pics, or it didn’t happen.

I’ve said before, I’m not a runner. But I’m still trying. Why? I’m an idiot… and I’m trying to throw new things into my workout routine to vary it and hope I can get slimmer, faster.

So with the nice weather we are having, and being tired of walks, I decided to head to the gym for a heartbeat monitored workout. All I’m doing is busting cardio and staying in the proper zone. So after 30 minutes on the bike and some time on the AMT, on the drive home, I just got a burr in me. And I turned towards the executive park in town and started running.

Now, as always, I’m fighting a head win part of the way. And I got a phone call at the end. So I didn’t finish the full 1.1-1.2 miles in the course. But it looks like I was roughly on a 9 minute mile pace, maybe 9:30. Last year, I was at about 11-12 minutes for the same distance.

I’m not in the Couch to 5k thing, but the same way that you run for a while, then walk, run, walk… I’m doing that. Not in a standardized 20 minute workout, but it’s a start.

I’m getting there… going to be a long road.

As I enter my walking/exercise season, and continue my ever ongoing diet, I’m looking to explore the world of the workout heartbeat/calories burned monitors. But, I’m pretty new to this. Or very new to it.

I’ve looked at a couple in the 30 buck range that don’t do the calories burned piece, and I was also recommended a Polar F7 model that is around 100 bucks. Not sure if any are worth that much, but if it helps keep my heart rate where it should be and my diet goes easier, it very well could be.

Anyone got experience here?

Normally, I can go years between getting sick. I don’t remember coming down with anything the entire time I was in college, nor anything in high school. But then, this happens. First a sinus infection, now whatever I got now. Looks like “stomach flu”, which would have been great to have if I was in a diet contest right now (6 lbs in 18 hours…) Finally got around to getting to a store to get some supplies to handle this, and I’m really grab my TiVo had about 50 hours of HD content to watch.

So during this bout of sick, I’ve been taking the time to fulfill my movie quota. So far today, it’s been Blazing Saddles, Batman, Wanted,  Terminator 2, and Robin Hood: Men in Tights.  Not exactly cinematic masterpieces… ok, two of them are by Mel Brooks.  But it’s still a movie.  And with my usually 1 movie a month routine, I’m covered until after International Mike Day.

Speaking of days, International Andy Day is Thursday.  Hopefully I’m not still sick…  not fun to try and play with the nephews while sick.

So, a couple days ago, I started getting my usual mid-season front headache. At least, that’s what I thought. See, I can pretty well tell if I’ll be facing a headache or not by looking at the weather forecast. No, this isn’t a “my knee is acting up, gonna be a spell o’ weather soon” thing, but the opposite. When a clipper front comes through, the change in pressure leads me to Headache City. But usually only until I take a nap or drink a couple Cokes. Not this time…

Started to get the dry nose, the congestion, etc… and it’s not allergy time. The last thing I wanted was a sinus infection, as I don’t get them… and I’m lucky. My brother had surgery to reduce the number of sinus infections he got per year (10+ down to 2, so it worked). But, sure enough, the signs are all there.  Which brings me to the point of this post, a plug for my favorite anti-sicky product. No, not Head-On, the horribly misleading product that makes high schoolers think that prom might not suck… but a NeilMed.  A lovely sinus rinse.

Lovely only in the results.  If you’ve never tried one, I seriously do recommend it.  I have no problem with doctors and pills, but when I can do something non-pharmaceutical, I will.  For the “nose douche” newbies, you mix a pre-measured amount of salt and baking soda into an 8 oz bottle of warm, distilled water, and gently… well, almost make yourself drown.  Takes an attempt or two to get the angle of your head right to avoid rinsing all the lovely junk down your throat, but once you have this down, you might start doing this daily.

I’ve gotten to the point that if I’m starting to feel under the weather at all, I do a rinse.  From chills to bad allergies to sinusitis, I’ve done it, and for the most part, it has helped.  Best 10 bucks I’ve spent in a while.  Gets me 50 uses.  Now, I’m not sick enough to stay home, and hopefully this will keep me from needing to.  But, we will see.

Ok, so this wasn’t a techy, or appetizing post, but hey, it might be helpful to someone.  And I hadn’t posted in 6 weeks.

2009′s Christmas brought me another creative remodel option from the family.  Since I live in a condo, my options are somewhat limited.  Single floor, 2 bedroom, 1.75 bath, etc…  but we have been working for a last year to bring some changes to my location.  Over the last year, I’ve added crown mold, under cabinet mold, changed the sides of the cabinets, new appliances, new cabinet hardware, new sink, and now, an “architectural piece” for my living room.

The story behind this is that, in this condo, the laundry and furnace area are in a shared area in the middle of the building structure.  There are two doors into the area, one being the bifolds to reach the laundry, and another with the vent in the door for the furnace.  This door is ugly…  it was off-center, made any wall art impossible without looking weird on that wall, and… well, it sucked.

It has been replaced…  with the following.  This covers the door, is perfectly centered on the wall, allows the newly created wall art (also shown) to look right on this wall, and, well just looks cool.  Still allows me to access the door behind it (the piece is a french door setup), so I lose nothing.  And of course, it matches the rest of the room and decor.

Sorry that the photo isn’t better. Not a lot of light in here at this hour

Yes, this is a snuggie for dogs… Whomever approved this… dies.

Midget, find them.  Hurt them.