We have an oven again, yay!

[altivo]

It's been out for a week. Fortunately the range was under an extended warranty. The cost of the repair would have been $350. Something shorted out in the control center, with flying sparks and all. We were left with no oven power, though the cooktop still worked. It took a week to get the replacement part in. (I'm definitely not impressed with "just in time" inventory management practices.)

I had a really cynical thought about it. The letter asking if I wanted to renew the service contract arrived the day after the failure took place. Could they really time things to fail just at that time? Probably not, I keep telling myself.

Sooo, guess what we had for dinner? Leftovers warmed in the microwave. Oh well.

Spring is here, I hope. The mud is even drying out. Though I woke up at 2 am this morning hearing what I was sure was sleet hitting the bedroom windows. You know, that ticky sound. It turned out to be just rain and a stiff wind.

If I'm brave in the morning, I'll trigger the update for the library firewall. I cued it all up this afternoon, but didn't want to risk losing connectivity at that time of day. At the very least, the unit has to reboot itself which takes a couple of minutes during with there is no internet access. If it goes really wrong, things could be down longer as I figure out how to back down to the previous level. This fix is supposed to make VPN work, but I'm not counting on it.

Comments

[zenicurean.livejournal.com]

Sooo, guess what we had for dinner? Leftovers warmed in the microwave. Oh well.

Sounds like my average dinner these days, actually. (Where the leftovers keep coming from, then, is a bit of a mystery, but I'm on to it.)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I turn leftovers into an entirely new dish of which there are then leftovers...

We have a whole freezer full of such things. It's metaphysically very confusing to think about.

[lobowolf.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I think there's a timer built into the microprocessor that toasts the thing right after the regular warranty runs out. You just confused things by having an extended warranty. I'm sure when the service tech repaired it, he reset the doomsday clock to just after your extended warranty runs out.

Seriously, though, I bet there are whole departments devoted to figuring cost of components vs. lifespan, and how to use the cheapest possible components to make the thing last just long enough.

(Granted, though, all my Sears appliances have been going for 2 years with nary a hint of a problem (other than the bail popped out of the icemaker, but I just put it back in).

The car, though, I'm dumping that before the warranty is up. Not impressed with that :(

[zenicurean.livejournal.com]

Seriously, though, I bet there are whole departments devoted to figuring cost of components vs. lifespan, and how to use the cheapest possible components to make the thing last just long enough.

Some companies do have products that basically self-destruct after the warranty expires, basically due to penny-pinching and low grade components. Contrary to what one might think, this does not boost sales in the long run.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes, I've noticed that. It seems to be especially true in the area of computers. We have a whole flock of the same model Dell computer in the library. These machines are getting old now, but they're still fine for simple tasks like running a web browser pointed at the catalog server.

They were all under a three year extended warranty when the hard disks began failing, sometimes two or three at once. Dell must have replaced at least eight of those (and by then the original 10 GB size wasn't even available any more, so they had to replace them with 40 GB drives.) I've since replaced another four at our expense. The 40 GB drives are now "obsolete" too and can be purchased for about $75 apiece. I find this rather amazing to contemplate, thinking back to the days when a 5 MB drive was $500 or so. It's true, the price of storage has dropped precipitously. (And we waste it by filling it up with garbage, but that's a separate rant.)

Anyway, had those machines not been under the extended warranty, all of them would have cleverly failed shortly after the warranty expired. Deliberate or not, that's nasty. Given that most computer users, especially corporate ones, "fix" such a problem by buying a new machine and junking the old one, this does start to look like a conspiracy.

[calydor.livejournal.com]

*cough* Printer cartridges *cough*

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

*does the firewall fixing dance*

[altivo.livejournal.com]

There's a dance for that? Oh dear, now I suppose I'll really have to do it.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

There's a dance for everything....though they kind of all look alike.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Well, if you could do that firewall one again just for a few seconds, it would help. Today's big upgrade went on fine, all the license keys took, and even the VPN is working. [YAY!]

But I have one more small patch to go on tomorrow night. That will be Thursday morning for you I think. It's for this stupid daylight saving time nonsense. Then I'm through.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

*does his firewall dance a strange sight indeed*

[altivo.livejournal.com]

*grins* Thanks, I'll let you know how it works out.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Well, the update installed and the firewall still operates, so I guess your dance worked. :)

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Hooray :)

Congrats on havin an oven again!

[bladehorse.livejournal.com]

I really hate to be without one. Ours is gas, and has little problems now, with the exception of forgetting to get the propane bottle filled :p(someday ittl be piped in with at least a 250 gal tank:)
And I totally agree with you on the just in time inventory. its really stupid. One thing that REALLY bugs me about new job, is that there are no spare parts for certain items that if fail, they litterally Shut down production, untill it arrives. Like a 50$ air solinoid that if failed. Thats the end of work. No more money comin in untill one is able to order, and hopefully supply has one in stock. I see it as Lame. I took stupid 'customer service' test when applyin for this job, and hardly any one there knows what that even means.

Re: Congrats on havin an oven again!

[altivo.livejournal.com]

When we bought this place I was rather pleased that it had no gas appliances at all. After a particularly bad experience with incompetence on the part of the gas utility in Chicago, I was just as happy not to have gas.

I also remembered my grandmother and the propane tanks, which is a huge, amusing, and appalling story. Not to mention her oven, which used to explode regularly, blowing its doors across the kitchen.

Now that Commonwealth Edison (an utterly incompetent private corporation) has been abruptly deregulated in Illinois, we are getting huge electric rate hikes. I'm almost having second thoughts about the gas, but why trade one incompetent supplier for two? I wish we could afford our own wind generator.

Re: Congrats on havin an oven again!

[shadow-stallion.livejournal.com]

The electricity was deregulated here several years ago and all it has done is given us some of the highest rates in the nation. We range from around $0.12 to $0.17 per kilowatt hour. The current legislature is contemplating doing away with some of the deregulation but they said it was like trying to get toothpaste back in the tube.

Re: Congrats on havin an oven again!

[altivo.livejournal.com]

The disgusting thing about that is that most of the increase is just being pocketed as profit by wealthy fat cats who don't need it anyway. CommEd here has engaged in a series of grand stupidities beginning 25 years ago, including overinvesting in nuclear power, underinvesting in their infrastructure, selling off their conventional power plants, and other idiocies that were designed to maximize income in the short term with no long term plan whatsoever. Now the crows are coming home to roost on the wires and smokestacks they have allowed to rot and they want the end user to pay for it all. The legislature, its members elected with the help of campaign contributions from the industry, declined to renew the price controls. How convenient for CommEd...

Re: Congrats on havin an oven again!

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Sounds like Energex here, however the consumer watchdog is keeping an eye on them now.

Re: Congrats on havin an oven again!

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Oh, we have a watchdog here too. Unfortunately the dog has no teeth.

[octatonic.livejournal.com]

Be brave, enjoy your oven and whats wrong with
leftovers if they were good in the first place?

XD

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Nothing's wrong with good leftovers. I just thought we really ought to celebrate a working oven by using it. That's done now, though. Gary baked oatmeal cookies early this morning. :)

[octatonic.livejournal.com]

Go Gary!

*sneaks around like a fox by your house
and after you've both left he nibbles on
your cookies.*

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Watch out for Sarah the Polish Elkhound. She'll give you quite a battle if she catches you, unless you make friends and play with her first...

I suspect Gary took all the cookies away to his rehearsal, though.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Awww no coookies *cries*

[altivo.livejournal.com]

If there are any left, he'll bring them back. Check later tonight.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

*goes and hides in your fridge to await any goodies that come*

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Some cookies did come back. *gives you a double pawful* Oatmeal with raisins and cinnamon. They're quite good.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Hooray :D, Thankyou Pony :)