Face Swap: Kyrie Irving’s latest Foot Locker Commercial (Video)
August 4, 2016Under the C: Miller Genuine, Lucroy Lies
August 5, 2016Good sports Friday to you all. The Browns are in camp. The Indians are struggling with Minnesota. The Cleveland Cavaliers are still champions. Just last week I watched the Chagrin Falls varsity football team do 15 sets of sprints up Grove Hill in downtown Chagrin Falls. It’s that time of year. We’re getting our final vacations in for this summer, and the kids are headed back to school in no time. So let’s talk about laundry.
My revelations about buying laundry appliances…
As I get closer and closer to the age of 40, I think I’ve learned some things about being an adult in this world. I know much more about home improvement and choosing contractors. I know about utilities and bills. I know how a mortgage, home equity line, and the refinancing process go. I’ve both bought cars, leased cars, and dealt with new and used cars. In the last six months, however, I added one more nugget of knowledge to the pile. I know quite a bit more about appliances, and I think you will find this compelling. You can justify spending extra money on some appliances, but you should never bother to chase the bells and whistles on your clothes washer and dryer. I’ve been there and I’m never going back.
This revelation might not sound exciting, but to me, it feels revolutionary. I’ve long been a proponent of “you get what you pay for” when it comes to appliances, and sometimes it’s worked out well. I’ve spent extra money on a gas range cooktop and loved it. Same with the ventilation hood. Spending extra dollars for an oven? Wasn’t worth it. As long as the oven heats and broils, is big enough for your use, and the thermostat is reasonably accurate, that’s all you need it to do, right? Same with the refrigerator. You want it to keep things cool, and probably make ice without breaking. I’ve seen water dispensers that tell you how much water is now in your cup, and that’s a novelty, but it’s just an unnecessary point of failure.
About no appliances have I learned this more starkly than in the laundry room. I’ve tried fancy LG washers and dryers, equipped with modern computers and sensors to aid in the washing and drying of clothing. The maintenance and repairs were so complex and frequent that we punted them only three years after we purchased them because they threatened to cost more in service than they did out the door at the store. Next, we took the advice of a local appliance company who recommended Fisher and Paykel top-loaders, again with some fancy features and functions. We paid extra to have that beautiful set and the extended warranty to try to keep from repeating the LG fiasco. No dice.
There’s something about appliances that are mechanical, and sometimes violently so, that just doesn’t mix well with computers. A washing machine is a mixture of violent shaking with water, and I have no actual evidence to back this up other than the circumstantial kind, but I think adding computers to that equation is a problem.
The current state in my house is that my wife and I are on our third marital set of washers and dryers, and we’re due to celebrate our tenth anniversary this October. Maybe I’m spoiled or have an unrealistic view of the world, but this seems like too many laundry sets for a decade of marital bliss.
As a result, we’ve decided to attack this issue head on by going backward. When we replaced our dryer last fall, we got a super-special discounted dryer with no frills from Sears. It’s a store brand, I believe. This month when we replaced the leaky, broken washer, we did so the same way. Maybe the result won’t be much different, but I’m hoping. I don’t remember my parents ever having to replace their older, less technologically advanced appliances in such short cycles.
And maybe we’ve stepped back not having a super dryer that will occasionally tumble to keep sitting clothes from wrinkling. Maybe we’ll be tortured without a red light indicating whether the clothes in the dryer are still damp or not. Maybe we’ll miss the electronic beep from hitting buttons rather than the mechanical clicks of spinning the dial, but I doubt it. And if we do have to replace these things in just four years like their more expensive counterparts, at least we will have spent only about two-thirds of the cash for the privilege.
Your weekly moment of soccer zen…
The way he beats the last defender is incredible.
Music Documentary: Artifact with 30 Seconds to Mars
I’m not a giant fan of 30 Seconds to Mars, but they have a fascinating documentary on Netflix. It’s a few years old now, but the story is great for anyone who is interested in the music industry and how it works. While the band, led by brilliant actor Jared Leto, was working on their third album, This is War, they were also being sued by their record label for $30 million. How does a band get sued by their own label for $30 million? It’s just a part of the historically brutal way that the music industry has been run.
It’s not the greatest film of all time. It’s a little bit long, and it’s pretty self-reverential in a lot of ways. I mean, Jared Leto made a film that casts him and his bandmates as artists, crusaders, victims, heroes, and ultimately victors. While some of that isn’t far-fetched, it’s quite an ego that lets you make that film about yourself. In the end, however, we learn a lot about just how screwed up the anachronistic label system is and just how litigious it can be as common business practice.
Even if you don’t like Leto or his band, it is well worth the watch for fans of music and the music industry. Here’s the trailer.
29 Comments
Nothing is more American than a BIG, badass set of laundry equipment. I can’t tell you how nice it is to be able to wash more than one pair of jeans at a time, pull them out of the dryer and they are actually dry, and don’t look like they have been slept in for a week straight. Oh and Bounce is awesome. If anyone ever tries to sell you a condenser dryer, don’t walk, run to the next nearest appliance store.
Ding and dent stores. 25-50% off and often just overstocked or the mark is on the back or side where you will have it on a wall.
Could not agree with you more on the appliances. I’ve been seeing those commercials for the Samsung refrigerator that has a built in camera so you can see if you have any soda left before getting off the couch or you can log in remotely from the grocery store and see what you need.
Seriously? WTF.
So, you can see inside the fridge by using your phone now. Hey is that a pokemon in there?
I refuse to join the masses and craft my life around a phone.
I will never give up my dumb phone, and I refuse to stop standing in front of an open fridge staring at the same stuff that was there an hour ago, and my friends are made of flesh and blood.
Now…GET OFF MY LAWN!
“Hi Samsung? I’ve been waiting on hold for 37 minutes now, and I can’t get my fridge connected to my wi-fi and I already talked to Apple about my router and they say there’s nothing wrong with that. I talked to Time Warner and their system is all fine, so this puts the ball back in your court. You either get my fridge connected to the wi-fi so I can manage milk inventory with my phone, or I’m returning this $4700 refrigerator.”
Bounce, eh? Been using store brand.
Let me add, the best stain remover hands down is 303 Convertible Top Cleaner. It’s expensive, but it gets out everything.
Classic example of solving for a problem that no one really had.
I love my Samsung refrigerator, but it definitely does not have networking capabilities. Just ice, water and a drawer for beers and stuff.
Have you seen WALL-E?
That’s what people are turning into.
I too have a Samsung and its only features are thru the door ice and really nice, bright inside lights.
I have a 3-year old Whirlpool dishwasher. The little spring latch that holds the detergent cup closed broke off yesterday. It got me thinking about something I have never really contemplated before – how does the latch know to open during the wash cycle??? I called Whirlpool and thankfully the lady I spoke with gave me a third option to go with the two “pay us a chunk of money to fix it” options – she said if I use the detergent pods, I can just throw it on the bottom of the machine and it will work the same, no need to fix the latch. Something about that feels like it shouldn’t be right – isn’t there a rinse cycle first before the soap enters the water? – but we tested it last night and it appears to have worked fine.
The ironic thing is – I think the pods are the reason the latch broke. The pods are just slightly fatter than the cup is deep, so locking the door shut was putting a lot of strain on the latch.
Putting the detergent pod at the bottom of the machine works 125% better than in the stupid closed cup. Learned that secret a few years back from a home builder and it’s amazing the difference on the dishes.
*cracks knuckles*
Side-by-Side Frigidaire built-in here (well, I built them in with a trim kit). No features needed because separate icemaker and reverse osmosis for drinking. Also, commercial grade water softener system because it’ll last 30+ years.
Hello Mr. Lyndall, we at Samsung will be happy to assist you today.
First, I must ask if you are using a 802.11b, 802.11g, and 802.11n router? If you do not know, then please call Apple and call back so that we may continue.
—three hours later—
Ah, good. So you are using a 802.11n router, which means you have a system that can adapt to single or dual bands. Very good.
Now, are you using WEP, WPA, or WPA2 on that router? If you do not know, then please call Apple and call back so that we may continue.
—three hours later—
Ah, WPA2. Very good sir. Now, single WAN or dual WAN? If you do not know, then please call Apple and call back so that we may continue.
—three hours later—
dual WAN. Very good sir. Ah, well I see here that we are not compatible with Apple routers. Please switch to a compatible device such as CISCO as can be seen here on our website: ………
Wow. We ran it last night and now I am legitimately interested to see how they came out when I get home tonight.
Also, it’s Friday, so I am legitimately interested in getting home tonight.
Guys…I missed this…I missed you…
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As my fam’s laundry guy (the result of a lost argument a decade ago) this discussion has a lot of relevance. Dryers are my bane, and brand performance is so inconsistent as they add bells and whistles that there’s only one thing I think I’ve learned: if the repair is more extensive than a belt, move on. When a good machine blew a few years ago I kept the replacement search so simple: march in, buy the identical machine, don’t overthink, don’t nerdily scour reviews that place weight on irrelevant factors, march out. Total purchase time (commute included): 85 minutes.
And the freaking machine doesn’t properly sense dryness, and is about 50% louder than its forebearer, with a hum audible 2 floors up. Also. it doesn’t have the courtesy to break so as to justify a kick to the curb.
This is the extent of my knowledge.
Belts are easy.
For gas dryers solenoids are easy.
Everything else is a new dryer.
Side note: I wish I had two dryers. That is always the bottleneck on doing laundry, with two dryers I legit think I could cut laundry time down by 40%.
As a person who will shortly be venturing into the world of major appliance purchases, I found that bit incredibly interesting.
We recently upgraded our crappy loud dishwasher for a fancy new one that is super quiet. It’s so quiet, that I’ve probably opened it mid cycle about a half dozen times (ignoring the little red light projected on the ground showing it’s running). Such are the downsides of nice new shiny things, I guess.
With my revelation you can afford two dryers with what it would have cost for the one with all the bells and whistles. (BTW I just cracked myself up in my own mind by pronouncing the H in whistles. Yep.)
Well done sir!
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You need to amend your opening: “Hello Mr. Lyndall. This is Bob from Indiana….”
I just bought a house about 2 months ago (Woo adulting!) that has a steam dryer. It’s my first venture into the steam drying sector and I totally get the appeal. Everything is so crisp and dry. So obviously my geeky side had to dive head first into research.
Two hours later, I was either an expert or really confused.
Seriously? I am trying that tonight. What the crap.
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Well?
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I won’t put a % on it like Bode, but it would appear to have worked. Not bothering to fix that door anytime soon.