sandk’s blog

Are there any people you would not tell if they had food in their teeth or if their zipper were down? Why or why not?
Submitted by Charms.

Yes, indeed -   the smug co-worker who thinks he would be better at running the country and wants to invade Iran.  The smarmy boss who needs to be notched down a few pegs. 

Other than that, not really.

What is the worst date you've ever been on?

the guy who answered my ill-placed personals ad many moons ago...  let's just start by saying he had a dreadful porkchop sideburns and end by saying he drove a red porsche, which of course was the best thing about the date. 

What makes a good President of the United States?

Intelligence, integrity, acknowledgement of your own weaknesses to advisors in order to create an effective cabinet, good listener, passionate but not to the point of being irrelevant.  Must be able to think clearly with very little sleep  =)

What was your reaction to the results of the Iowa caucuses?  

Excellent for the Dems - am glad that Obama finally won something.  Let's see what shakes out in NH.  Am finding myself tiring of Hillary, am not sure why.  I was leaning to her in the beginning, and have listened to all of them, watched debates and speeches.  Have a soft spot for Edwards too, he seems earnest but I don't see him negotiating peace with Middle Eastern leaders, probably an unfair assessment on my part?  I feel more confident that Obama will not cower, goodness he's got plenty of folks behind the wings tugging at his ear I'm sure.  I sense an administration of intelligence and reason with Obama, more so that the other candidates. 

Re: the Republicans?  Well, I don't know what to make of Huckabee.  He's an odd one.  Romney is just too smarmy, and McCain remains too trigger happy.  Rudy is self-imploding and will be out soon. 

What are your rituals or traditions for starting off a new year?  

 

In no particular order:  start exercising again, clean my closet, vow to work less, try to view snow as my friend, read those books that are on my nightstand.

So far I've done two: clean my closet --> a big bag of items to donate is ready to be picked up tomorrow.  The second one was to join a gym (done).  Now I actually have to go  ;)

When did you really get to make a difference for someone else? 
Submitted by bodhibound.

every day I hope, it's called parenting

What video game is your personal Game of the Year? 
Submitted by SimpleNate.

Do not ever play video games, you'd have to ask a younger member of the household.  Would suspect it's some kind of baseball game or possibly that dance dance thing, but am guessing that doesn't really qualify as a video "game".

OK. So here goes a mild rant.  Beware.  Our wall oven went "out" a few weeks ago, and by that I mean that it routinely just "shut off" in the middle of baking something.  It's the original wall oven (+15 years old), so we expected it to die soon.  Nonetheless, we had no original manual for troubleshooting.   

Upon searching the web after the 3rd or 4th "quitting episode" I was able to track down the meaning of the ridiculous error messages that were in some ridiculous code on the display.  Turns out it was like heating to 700 degrees or something, and then turning off.  Lordy, good thing we did not burn the entire house down. 

So...fast forward to a week ago.  We purchased a nice new double oven, on sale, mind you - and had an electrician come to the house to wire it all up. (Good thing as it's my turn to cook the bird this year - fine time for the oven to go OUT).   

As the homeowner, I was, however, resonsible for installing the trim pieces that cover up all of the yucky metal and make it look all "built-in and new".   OK, I'm pretty handy and know my way around a few power tools, etc.  Well, needless to say the NEW install guide is actually printed for 5 models, one of which was mine - so the pictures and some of the instructions were, let's say "not applicable".  Called 1-800-Whirlpool to talk to my friendly customer service rep.  I could not figure out how to get the damn oven doors off, which was needed to install the trim pieces.

Once I got an actual live person on the phone, here's how the conversation went:

rep:  Hi, can I help you?

me:  I certainly hope so.  I've just purchased a brand new Whirlpool built in oven, and I cannot seem to get the doors off to install the needed trim pieces.  I was wondering if you had  additional information besides what is contained in the installation guide that came with the oven.  I have purchased model number xxxx, and it's serial number is xxxx.

rep:  What is it that you need to know?

me:  Um, I need to know how to get the doors off and the install guide has some pictures that do not match my particular unit.  Can you confirm that I actually have the door hinges that are depicted in the diagram on page xx.

rep:  do you have an installation guide?

me:  (getting somewhat agitated now) Ah, yeah.  I just said that the diagrams on the installation guide do not match my actual oven.  Do you have any additional information specific to my oven model.  The model number and serial number are xxxx, and xxxx.

rep:  Do you have an installation and user guide for this oven?

me:  YES, I am looking at it right now, on page xx.  I just bought this oven.  It is brand new.  Do you have additional installation information for model number xxxx, and serial number xxxx.

rep:  All I have is the same information you have ma'am.

me: (it's the "ma'am" that got me).  OK, listen.  You are the 1-800 Whirlpool guy, right?  You are the help line, right?  Are you telling me that all the information you have is contained in the same install guide and user guide that I already have sitting on my kitchen counter right now?

rep:  that's correct.

me:  OK, so I could basically do your job then.  How much do you get paid to not answer questions?

rep:  Was there something else I could help you with?

Have you ever won anything at a carnival, arcade or midway game?

Nope, but each of my kids have won those goldfish...my daughter's died a few months after she won it and we created a nice gravestone of rocks for hers in the backyard. We all said nice things about the fish as it moved on to the next stage of the afterlife.   Miraculously, the other carnival fish still swims happily in my son's fishbowl atop his dresser - going on 2 years now.  Doesn't seem to be growing either, just kind of hangs around looking for fish food most of the time.

Who has been the most surprising player so far in the 2007 NFL season?

Hester (Chicago Bears...) along with Green Bay QB, ah yeah, what's his name (wink, wink)?   Gosh, can't remember, except that we beat them.