Tales from a Move

Our move a couple of weeks back went well, but we are still dealing with a few things.

First, we are cramped for space so we purchased a metal shed from Lowes. I spent my Saturday putting up said metal shed from Lowes. It was a pain. From the looks of one that is already set up, it seems like it would not take that long to set up the sheets of metal, put in a few screws, and presto – a standing shed. Oh, no. When the professionals at Lowes tell you to set aside 8 hours, they aren’t joking. I don’t know how many screws I put in or how many nuts and bolts I tightened. It is not a simple matter. Sure, I am enjoying the fruits of my labor – a place to store my lawnmower – but man was it more than I bargained for.

Secondly, our clothes dryer was damaged in transit. Something fell down on the timer knob and broke the knob as well as shearing off a metal pin. We went to Sears for a replacement and I made it clear the pieces I needed. The man ordered it and a few days later the knob arrived – devoid of the pin that was sheared. I went back and he said, “That’s strange – it was supposed to come with it.” No kidding. So he ordered what he thought was the right part. Unfortunately it was the casing around the pin. So I investigated some more and realized that the pin was not a separate piece but was integrated into a cylindrical piece that does the work. So I sent Carrie back because I was too pissed to do it and she got them to order another piece. Of course, Carrie mentioned that it was not cylindrical at all, but more like a cube. All of this for the low price of $130 - $50 for the plastic knob and $80 for this cylindrical piece.

In the meantime I have connected the contacts with wood clothes pins so that we can do some laundry. After all, it has been 2 weeks. Now, if this new piece is the wrong one, we are going to return the pieces and put that money towards a new dryer since we are almost half of the way there. Of course this brings up the moral quandary of wastefulness, destroying natural resources, etc. We hate to do it, but the cost of bringing out a repair man or spending any more money on it makes it not very cost effective. Herein lies the root of the problem of our disposable society. It is cheaper and easier to replace things rather than fix them. Who cares if the repercussions affect others? We sure don’t. It is a sad state of affairs. If you have any solutions I am all ears.