This dryer is not named right....

Bought the silly thing in September 2011. It stopped heating about 3 weeks later. Got it fixed - broke again around Christmas. Fixed again, broke again today!

In the automotive industry, that's called a 'lemon.' Maytag better replace this machine. That's all I'm sayin'......

Finished - this time

The semester is over! Grades submitted last Friday! Bring on the whining - not to mention the weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth - I have cheese and quarters. Christmas break starts on Thursday. I can probably get one or two syllabi for next semester done before then (knock on wood).

No more laundromat

Liz is so happy to finally have her washer and dryer. They arrived this afternoon and are all hooked up and ready to go. She's like a little kid - oooooh - new toys.

And we got some more money off the already discounted price due to some minor (almost unnoticeable) scratches on the dryer in transit.

And the local energy company is offering rebates on all new energy efficient appliances - refrigerator, washer, and dryer. That's another small chunk of change to get us through to payday.

I love getting free money!

God grant me the patience to endure to the end...

of the semester.

I'm pretty sure I wrote my syllabi in English, yet none of my students seem to be able to comprehend them.
I know I speak in English, yet none of my students seem to be able to understand me.

I wonder if this is how it was after God confounded the people after the building of the Tower of Babel....

Unplanned Hiatus

We closed on the house on Aug 26th and moved in on Aug 27th. Our new refrigerator/freezer arrived on the afternoon of the 26th, but it took a few days to get water piped to it. Now we have ice and water on demand at the door (it's the little things that make life worth living).

It was three or four more days before I got the computer set up. Arranged with Qwest before we moved to have the service switched over. What neither they nor I knew was that the service line to the house was missing. I plugged in my modem and saw that nothing was happening, so I started poking around the basement and found the wire from the outside hanging down, not connected to anything. Then I went outside and found the wire to the junction box in a coil laying on top of the box.

Why is it that people at customer service assume the customer doesn't know what they're talking about? I told them that 1) there are phone jacks all over the house and 2) the house wasn't connected to the grid. So what do they put on the service ticket? That I need a phone jack installed in the house! And this was a native speaker of English in Salt Lake City, not a farmed out phone jockey in India!

If I knew anything (more than enough to be dangerous) about the wiring of data lines, I would have had it done before today (the earliest Qwest CenturyLink could make it out).

Our washer and dryer were scheduled to be delivered on Sept 1st, but the washer is on back order until the 8th 15th (maybe). I don't want to cancel the order because we're saving over $700 on the pair over retail pricing (and still getting brand new factory fresh machines).

Got garage cleaned out yesterday and have room for the car. Now to get a garage door opener (other than my arms).

Next project for Liz - find a place to put our clothes. One of our dressers absorbed moisture and grew mold in storage. Once particle board is infiltrated with mold, there's nothing to do with it except throw it away. The trash man carted it off this morning.

Honey-do list:

1. Dresser for our clothes.
2. Shelves for food storage.
3. Shelves for books
4. Get stuff stored in MT shipped to IA.
5. Doggy door for the pooch.

Me-wanna-do list

1. Solar hot water for house
2. Solar heating for garage
3. Build basement workshop
4. Organize tools in basement workshop
5. Garage door opener
6. Backyard grill
7. Extend front porch
8. Build back yard deck
9. Invisible fence for not-so invisible Bassett Hound.

Two down, two to go, three days, six days...

Syllabi for two classes, done. Two more to go, and three days in which to do them. Lesson plans - that's another story... You'd think I would have more done, considering I've been preparing for classes for two months. I doesn't seem to matter how much (or little) time I have in which to do something, I'm always doing it at the last minute.

On a happier note - six days and counting until we have our OWN HOME!!!!! Already have some experiments improvements in the planning stages.

Last week of 'freedom'....

I have one more week of vacation to enjoy, followed by new employee orientation (4 days) and faculty retreat (1 day - but we don't actually 'retreat' - it's on campus). Classes start on August 23rd. I have an office AND furniture. Just need a few more touches (decorating a la Liz) and a few file cabinets for all my paper files. House closing still scheduled for 26th. Keep fingers crossed.