My beloved Whirlpool Cabrio washer decided to start acting up this weekend. For no apparent reason at all, I put a load in the washer, and 20 minutes later (while it was just starting the spin cycle), it started beeping at me and displaying and "LD" error while the whole selection area was blinking their green lights at me. I turned it off and restarted it about 5 minutes later, just doing the "rinse and spin" option. That seemed to cure it. Then another load on Sunday triggered the same error. And "rinse and spin" had the same result.
So I started doing a little research on the interwebs, and there's a lot of horror stories out there about this very error appearing and people having to spend hundreds to have their pump replaced or worse. (Yes, I want to call a repairman because I have a couple of hundred extra dollars lying around just begging to be used...) So I have been using a work-around that was suggested on one of the forums, but it's only worked about half the time.
I'm angry and frustrated and tempted to call Whirlpool directly, because the washer is 20 months old...we haven't even had it 2 years! Plus, it's just the two of us. The only time it gets used is to do about 4 loads on the weekends. It's not like I've used my washer excessively! We bought it at Best Buy, but I hate them so much I'd rather just deal with Whirlpool directly.
Help me, neighborhood...what would you do?
R.I.P. Cabrio
Credit goes to Fussy for posting this link. Click here for edible trainwrecks. I can't stop shaking my head.
I'm still kind of unfamiliar with this whole "meme" thing...didn't we used to do these survey things via email? Anyway, I was tagged to do "Six Things I've Seen". I'm assuming that this means these are things I've seen or witnessed live, so here goes:
1. Mount Rushmore...I was almost 9 and my family took a 2 week vacation "out west". This wasn't the only stop...we also saw the Crazy Horse Memorial (which was only a hole back then...nice to see they've added a face to the mountain), Devil's Tower, Yellowstone, Little Big Horn, the Grand Tetons, and the Great Salt Lake. Mount Rushmore was the monument that I remember the most, so that's why I listed it. I also remember we were in the car an awful lot, and the prairie dogs while we sat and waited for Old Faithful to erupt at Yellowstone. :-)
2. The Southern sports-lovers trifecta...a pro football game (Dallas Cowboys), a rodeo, and the Daytona 500.
3. Three Hurricanes in six weeks.
4. Presidential Homes. Can you tell my parents were history buffs? The list includes Mount Vernon and Monticello, which were 2 of my favorites. I also liked FDR's home in New York.
5. A Hummingbird Nest I still can't believe I was witness to that.
6. A sunrise in the east, and a sunset in the west. I know it's cheesy, but I love the beach. And since I just got to see my first Pacific Ocean sunset last year, it's a big deal to me.
It's been a busy day here. I've been going through several boxes that have been stored on our sunporch since, um...well...since I moved here over 2 years ago. I am determined to clear out the junk and boxes from this room so we can make it usable for something other than a large non-climate-controlled storage room.
Anyway, I found a box of college-years stuff, including paystubs, photos, ticket stubs, etc. I also found my final exam requirements for my World Lit class, which I took in the fall of my junior year. Here was the exam:
Prepare an answer for ONE of the following questions: (we were allowed to create an outline on a 3X5 notecard ahead of time and bring to the final exam)
1. The elusive nature and obscurity of truth, the inadequacies of language, and the problems of subjectivity often characterize modernist literature. Discuss the way these three things are linked in TWO of the following works: Heart of Darkness (Conrad), "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (Eliot), or The Metamorphosis (Kafka).
2. As aristocracies fell, the bourgeoisie became the ruling class in Europe and America. With this rise, money, power, and industrialization were and still are key features of our society. Some of the implications of industrialization in twentieth century modern literature and culture have been alienation, fragmentation, and disillusionment. Discuss the way in which TWO of the following works deal with these issues: Heart of Darkness (Conrad), "The Odour of Chrysanthemums" (Lawrence), or The Metamorphosis (Kafka).
I realize its been 13 years since I studied this material, but I'm so ashamed that my answer today would be so vague and basic that anyone could see that I have very little recollection of the material! I'm not sure if my memory shortage about World Lit makes me want to enroll back in school at this very second, or run screaming away to hide!
Oh...in case you were wondering, I chose question 2. Too bad I don't have the blue essay book with my answer written. I'd love to read what I wrote!
What is a childhood memory that still haunts you?
I was 4 years old. The house that we lived in had just been completed, and we had moved in about 3 months prior. We had just returned from visiting my grandparents for the weekend. I carried my stuff from the car to my bedroom, flipped on the lightswitch, and turned around to close the door. Resting about 2 inches above the switchplate on the wall was this:
I screamed bloody murder, and mom and dad came running. I was quickly ushered out of the bedroom while my dad "took care of things". I like how they have the quarter for a reference in this picture, but the one in my bedroom was much bigger, honestly. (And not just in my 4-year-old mind!) My dad had to use a yardstick to get it off my wall! If I recall correctly, most normal ones in Arkansas are about the diameter of a plum. This one was more like the diameter of an orange.
I was terrified and scarred for life. No, I don't run from spiders anymore, and as long as they are outside, I'm actually an advocate of leaving them alone and letting nature's insect repellent do its work. But I will never forget seeing that dark spider on the newly painted white wall. My mom has told me in the years since that time that the first year in their house was the worst for insects...we were infested with spiders, crickets, and roaches who were displaced when my parents decided to build on their very wooded lot. I'm glad I don't remember more!
I'm probably in the minority camp on this, but I don't understand why we have to update everything. I think it would be very fun to play with my future daughter and our collections of strawberry shortcake dolls and Barbies. I played with some of my Mom's dolls when I was younger, and I had lots of Holly Hobbie stuff that had remained unchanged. Even the Weebles/Little People collections are different now.I just don't see why everything has to be updated to be relevant. I believe that one of my neighbors did a post not long ago about the changes in the Girl Scout doll (I can't remember exactly, so please excuse the lack of details) and this is just more of the same.
Eh. Maybe I'm just getting old and becoming a fuddy-duddy like my parents used to be to me. But if they are going to be re-inventing the more lucrative brands, somebody please bring back Poochie and Monchichis!
/End Rant.
Okay, I don't post to newslinks very often, but this is too bizarre not to share.
And Mr. Whipple had to rescue her!!!
In honor of Johnny Appleseed Day, show us a tree.
My grandpa died suddenly when I was 11. I was the oldest grandchild, and therefore had the most memories of him. He was a dentist in a very small town in the Ozarks. One summer when I was visiting, we drove across the White River to a large granite clearing. In the middle of this massive slab of rock, a tiny tree was growing. The tree was about 2 feet tall at the time, but it was still managing to find enough water, soil, and other nutrients in the middle of a slab of rock to grow and prosper. We got out of the car and hiked to the tree. When we got there, he explained, "I found this tree when I took a drive after a bad day. It just kind of appeared. So now, when I'm having a rough day, and I want to throw in the towel, I drive out here and look at this tree. If the tree can manage to keep growing, day after day, while living in a slab of granite, I figure I can find the strength to keep going, too."
This isn't my grandpa's exact tree, but this picture was taken within a few miles of the real tree's location.
I promise...generally I'm a happy and easygoing person. (Right, neighbors?) I'm really not an old codger who continually rants about weather, despite recent evidence to the contrary.
When I lived in Florida, and working for the World's Largest Single Site Employer, I found it interesting that I rarely saw the commercials for Walt Disney World that my family saw. You know, the ones that evoked all the emotion about how the little kids were so excited to be going to WDW, etc. I rarely even saw the "I'm going to Disney World!" commercials after all the big sporting events...locals were obviously not the target market. The commercials that I saw were targeted toward natives...they advertised Florida resident ticket packages and special deals, and always tried to make you consider going away for a weekend on property.
However, since moving to the Cornfield, I've seen the national commercials that tug at the heartstrings...and the purse strings. I've seen Eli Manning announce that he's going to Walt Disney World a dozen times by now.
But, it is just downright mean to keep showing commercials advertising this and this. It's in the teens right now, and I'd give up M&Ms for life just to see a palm tree or sunset right now. I wouldn't even complain about a traffic jam on I-4!
Have you ever been on either end of an unrequited love?
Submitted by 怒涛の鮫.
Absolutely. Of course he's immortal, so that might pose a problem.
