Have I mentioned before that I’ve had trouble with gadgets and all electronic things since moving into this house in November 2002? Yes, I have mentioned it. My iBook is fritzed; some other computers have gone glitchy; and my oh-so-ecologically-correct (water & energy saving) Bosch dishwasher is a piece of shit that’s leaked on me so often that the service guy might as well know the code for the house alarm…. (I thank my lucky stars that we had the foresight to buy an extended service plan, which expires in September, however…) The heating system cracked its boiler (and needed replacing); the phones are always …peculiar; the lights above and below the kitchen cabinets mysteriously burn out before their time (we’ve now decided to let them die vs. replacing the bulbs, hoping to be able to replace them with another kind of energy-saving lighting system eventually); the alarm system (mentioned above) has “spells” (naturally never when we’re home, only when we’re away); the automatic outside lights set their own schedule; and and and … Grrr! The list goes on. Yesterday, the also-oh-so-ecologically-correct energy and water saving front-loading washing machine decided that spinning is …so 2004. It just won’t spin no more. The load of “darks” I finally managed to extract from the machine, once it released its iron grip on the “door lock,” has sat outside on a wooden drying rack. Except it’s not drying, since we did get a return of the cooler and wetter weather, and in the interim, the ants decided to take up residence in the laundry’s crowded and deliciously damp folds. Hmmm, maybe we could turn this into a homeschooler’s science fair project?

Laundry. Who cares, right? But it was one of those small things I pursued — to get it done on specific days, to make me feel in control and efficient — and now the baskets with their dirty piles are littering the hallway while the sock- and underwear-drawers mimic anorexia.

As for the repair guy? He was supposed to call tonight to tell me that he can come tomorrow before noon. Since I haven’t heard from him, however, I guess he’ll call tomorrow before noon to say that he’ll arrive sometime before 7 pm. Mr. Maytag may be lonely, but Mr. Kenmore is too busy by half. Waiting for service calls is like a pin in a balloon: disappointing, disruptive, deflating. If we didn’t all have a million other things to do, attending to technology and its service wouldn’t be a big deal. Real people don’t live like that, though.

It seems that technology, too, is not without its dirty underpants.

Posted: 05|31|05 at 9:32 pm. Filed under: yulelogStories.

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