Thursday, September 16, 2010

NPR - Third Time a Charm

I wrote in August about the ills with my apartment, first the shower and then the kitchen sink, see essay. Well, as luck would have it, the late 1980's refrigerator in the apartment finally bit the dust, or really dying a very slow death.

It's had a leak in the freezer for years, a small bowl under it works. Then it developed another leak down the back wall. Ok, put another small bowl and cool on. Then this summer during a heat wave (above 90 degrees for 4 days), the freezer couldn't keep anything frozen, just cold and mushy. Not great for ice cream. When the heat wave passed, it returned to normal.

Anyway, it's the old adage about the third time is a charm. Only Murphy's version. I bought a compact refrigerator for the film (where the water leaked into ) so now I can get another refrigerator when I schedule it with the maintenance staff. They want 2-3 days to measure the space and go buy one. But then I'm a great procrastinator with these things.

Anyway, that's the whole thought. Nothing earth shaking, just a small univeral constant, all things break, some more slowly than others. And the old adage is still alive. And I'll keep you posted when the refrigerator is replaced. All that is left is a 1980's dishwasher I don't use except to store dishes and run it once a month to clean it, and a late 1960's stove.

The stove still works although it's been repaired a few time and I've taken it apart twice before to clean it. This summer I bought a convection oven which now does 90% of the cooking instead of the oven. I cleaned the oven recently so now it's a shiny, used stove again. I like the old adage about if it's not broke, keep using it.

2 comments:

  1. Entropy is the second law of thermodynamics - it would be bigger news if your 1980's refrigerator worked better for some reason.

    And you're talking about an appliance built when Ronald Reagan was president...and he doesn't work too well these days either, so maybe it's time to give it a state funeral and move on. :)

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  2. So true, but I'm a die-hard for old things. I like to keep them working until it's obvious they're beyond repair, like this refrigerator which I took it apart to find the problem but couldn't fix. I get comfortable with old stuff. I just think it's news it lasted nearly 30 years without much attention. But now I get a new generation, green technology and energy efficient refrigerator.

    I thought it was interesting the problems came in a threesome like the old adage. But then maybe there's another shoe waiting to drop?

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