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When I came home for lunch, my wife told me that the downstairs “potty” was not working right.  Every time it was flushed, water would shoot out from where the pipe goes into it.  See…we have this real fancy commercial-style toilet.  You know, no tank…just a lovely silver pipe routed into the back…like you see in the airport (minus the automatic flusher).

Anyway, the repair man tells us they’ll have to replace it because it is craked where the pipe enters the back of the toilet.  Of course, they can’t replace it anytime soon.  They have to order one because they don’t have a new one in stock.  I just think it’s funny that I have to get a new toilet because this one has a crack in it.  Get it…?  You’ll laugh later…

When the repair man shut off the water to investigate the cause of our problem, this did strange things to the water level in one of the upstairs toilet.  So, early this evening, my wife flushed it to “restore it to normal.”  As if on cue, we were treated to a continuous 30-minute flush.  I’m guessing 30 minutes, but I had to get the kids out of the house due to a previously scheduled Stamp Party, so I don’t really know how long it took for the repair man to come back and fix the new problem.  All I know is that it didn’t stop until he came and fixed it.  Apparently, this sort of thing is normal when the water was shut off and you have a lame commercial toilet in your home.   Anyway, we’re back to normal, with  the exception of the toilet w/the crack in it (still funny by the way).

 J

This Monday was Presidents’ Day, marking a nation-wide outburst of white sales and furniture discounts.  It also marked my second running of the Great Aloha Run.  It’s an 8.15 mile run from Aloha Tower to Aloha Stadium.  Heading into the day, my goal was to finish the run in 1 hour and 10 minutes.  We started out really strong, running the first mile in about 7 minutes.  We slowed down a little and passed the 4-mile mark at 33 minutes. 

Everything was looking good until about 6 miles, which was the first of 3 hills.  I made it over the first hill pretty well.  I made it over the second hill in decent shape too, but by the time I got to hill 3/mile 7, things were starting to slow down.  All the pacing and “lead” on my goal was quickly fading.  I finally crossed the finish line in the official time of 1:14:01.  That put my pace at 9:05/mile for the race.  I was disappointed to miss the goal, especially after such a good 6-mile start.  However, when I checked my time from last year, I realized that I had shaved over 1 minute/mile off last year’s pace, beating that time by 9 minutes and 19 seconds.  So, overall, I am happy w/this year’s performance.  My legs are still sore, but I was able to get out and run today.  Next stop, the Ford Island Bridge Run in April.

 J

Washing machine update:

I found the drive coupler at the Sears Parts store.  Even more amazing, I got the washer back together and it works!  Clean towels for all my friends!

J

Our washing machine stopped working the other day.  I can’t say I didn’t expect it…it’s been making weird noises lately, especially during the spin cycle.  It kind of goes, “six hundred dollars…six hundred dollars…six hundred dollars.”  Well, it finally stopped spinning completely.  I thought the transmission/gear case had gone out because I had moved it out about a month ago when the drain tube was leaking and found some sort of “shavings” underneath it.  That, coupled w/my wife complaining of “spots on her shirts” led me to brilliantly deduce that the seal to the transmission had blown, leaked oil into the water and water into the transmission…and now it was all over.

A new transmission costs around $170.  This washer is like 14 years old.  Any money sunk into fixing the old beast would be better spent on a new washer.  We could pick up a new top loader for less than $500, but I immediately had visions of the fancy new front load washer.  That would also mean a new matching dryer.  That would set us back close to $1800 and would totally blow the cash the George Bush is about to give me.  My wife asked me to “investigate the cause” before going off the deep end.

You see, we had this microwave a while back that just went out in an instant.  We immediately went to Best Buy and bought a new one.  I had to finish defrosting dinner and after all, that was an old microwave.  They don’t last forever.  Turns out, a 39 cent fuse had blown.  Of course I discovered that AFTER buying the new microwave.

Back to the broken washer…I spent a good day searching for the perfect washer and dryer.  I finally found it and was reminded that I needed to “investigate the cause” of the trouble w/the old one.  I was also reminded of “the microwave incident.”  I’m pretty handy around the house, but come on…this is a washing machine.  I don’t know anything about fixing them.

I did a quick Yahoo search for problematic spin cycles.  A couple of search results pointed to this thing called a “drive coupler” that connects the motor to the transmission.  After a few hours of dismantling, I finally pull out the motor to find the drive coupler completely torn up.  Guess how much they cost?  They’re only about $14.  Sweet…it’s the microwave all over again. 

My wife was gracious and only gave a small cup of “I told you so.”  Of course, I don’t know if there’s a store on the island that stocks the part.  If I have to order it online, it may be a few weeks before I can wash clothes.

All told, I saved $1786 and can now look forward to buying a Wii.  I’ll let you know if I find the part and get the washer fixed.

 J