Created by Bunk Beds.net
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Monday, December 1, 2008
Living in the house Mickey Mouse built.
Rewind to January 2008. Green tag sale at Home Depot, over the range microwave with all the bells and whistles for way cheap. Look it over, in good shape plus I realize it is also a convection oven, SCORE!
I check finances and I can make the purchase easily. I head up to the Pro-Desk and ask the guys what all is involved in installing this. Everyone says it will be very simple and give me the brief lowdown on it, toss a frame that comes with it on the wall, put microwave up and then install two screws through cabient.
I make the purchase and take it home. Anjie and I are both estatic with this, we can't believe we're going to regain some much coveted counter space. I remove the awesome avacodo exhaust hood from the cabinet and fish out the frame for the microwave. I put it up on the wall and start looking it it. It is nothing like the microwave we have in our kitchen. I test fit and it doesn't fit. I check all of the goodies that came with this open box purchase and there is nothing.
Then next day when I get to work I head back to appliances and talk with one of the guys that helped talk me into the purchase. He said he'd make sure I got all of the stuff needed to get it installed and if needed get someone out to help install it. Nothing ever came of this, no matter how much I asked him about it, it always seemed to have been brushed to the side.
I started looking at the cabinets and how everything would install and came to the realization that the weight of the microwave would probably rip our shoddy press board cabinets off the wall. Couple that with the fact our cabinet over the stove is 18" and not 12" as you need with a microwave. Also our vent went straight out, the microwave is an upward exhaust.
Between the purcahse and now the microwave has been sitting on one end in our kitchen, being used as an end table. We had our countertop microwave... Then it stopped shutting off when done. One night I was nuking a corn dog for Aleister. I popped it in and then came and sat down in the living room for a sec while I waited for it to cook and then cool a little before serving it. Next thing I know I'm smelling smoke and can't figure out from where it is coming. I sniff around and realize it is in the kitchen, next thing I know there is a billowing cloud of smoke pouring from there. I realize the microwave is still going! This is easily a good 5 minutes past the initial 90 seconds I set it.
I scrubbed the microwave as best I could, but the acrid smell of smoke was stuck in it. Within a week while I was melting some butter in it it started flashing making horrible sounds and then just stopped.
As soon as I started my welding class I had hoped we'd have "free play" that we could use our metal to weld whatever our hearts desired so that I could make a frame to mount the microwave. This never really happened until 2 weeks ago or so. Our teacher was out for the night and had the teacher from the other class subbing. So I grabbed some pieces of metal and welded up a frame. Everyone in class decided they needed to tell me how to weld it, despite none of them having any idea what I was doing.
The frames turned out pretty well, but not what I needed, they were a good start for sure. I measured everything on the microwave and the area it was going. It was then I saw there was going to be a problem keeping the 18" cabinet and the microwave, I'd have next to no clearance over the stove. Not a problem, we can scrap the cabinet, cut it down or move it up.
The next class Darrin brought in some angle iron for me, we cut it up and made the frame off measurements and not eyeballed guesses from memory like the first frame. Once completed it sat in the kitchen along with the microwave. I had zero ambition to put it up.
This weekend after eating our Thanksgiving dinner and wanting some reheated leftovers I decided it was time to get the micro wave up and in use before the 1 year mark rolled around. I climbed up and tore down the cabinet over the counter and the one to the right of it, realizing that since the frame is larger then the microwave it would have to be bumped down an inch or so.
Once the cabinets were down I grabbed the frame and drilled mounting holes, then ran to Home Depot and picked up a handful of toggle bolts, a 3/4" masonry bit and other odds and ends I'd need. instead of starting off with a 3/4" hole into the block wall I decided to start with a much tamer hole and go from there. That is when I found out our outside walls are not block, but just sheet rock. The wall studs are 16" apart, my frame is 30" wide. There was no way to get it installed on the studs and I wasn't going to use the toggle bolts on the sheet rock.
I grabbed some old 1X4 and cut it 30 1/2" and secured it to the studs then popped the toggle bolts through the 1Xs. Frame went up without a hitch, microwave up shortly after that... Mostly without a problem. Turns out it wasn't totally plum. A couple quick shims and it is fine. Managed to get the cabinets back up too.
Almost a year later we now have our over the range microwave and convection oven and I am in love! I made cinnmon rolls in my bread maker and cooked them in the convection oven. Damn fine, damn fine.
Monday, November 17, 2008
The continuing saga of The Kendalls Vs. Comcast
Well the 'net crippling lag seems to have subsided sometime very late Friday night or early Saturday morning. If this was for some upgrade as they said I sure haven't noticed anything.
Heard from a few other Comcast 'net customers (slaves?) who have said they've been having the same problem but not as extreme as I have had, one guy said it was nearing three weeks for him.
Heard from a few other Comcast 'net customers (slaves?) who have said they've been having the same problem but not as extreme as I have had, one guy said it was nearing three weeks for him.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Reason #42 why I hate Comcast
Beyond the astronomical bill and horrible customer service and lack of bills arriving every month and the double and triple billing from the Adelphia switch over we now have limited internet to with which to deal.
On Halloween Eve my phone was ringing quite a bit, caller ID said Comcast. Well there are only ever two times Comcast calls me, 1: bill is late 2: to sell me something. And since I knew we were paid up the only thing they could be calling for was telemarketing which I have already told them to stop. They called I think 3 times before I gave in an answered. It was a recorded message saying they were going to be working on the internet. It is now a week that we spend a good portion of the day with no net.
I've yet to be able to find anything on their webpage that lets customers know if and when there are problems with their network.
Last year we spent over 2 weeks with no network, no TV, Comcast kept insisting it was our fault. Finally we were able to get a tech sent out who also insisted it was our fault. Finally I convinced him to check the box at the end of our block. Sure enough a careless linesman cut service to the wrong house. But he would not admit it was Comcast's fault. After many rude customer service reps (one unexcuseably so) were spoken with, my wife finally got us a $20 credit (not much on a $100 bill). We never received an apology. In fact the linesman who fixed the problem tried to get me to sign the paperwork that we'd pay for the service call.
We are right now looking at other internet options. We were hoping for FIoS but it is no go. So for now it looks like we'll be switching to Verizon DSL or Xecunet drydock DSL. Verizon is $19.99 a month for 12 months with 1 month free. I am awaiting a quote back from Xecunet. Verizon also offers a free modem, something Comcast charges us $3 a month.
Now if only we could get rid of Comcast's cable for TV. Cable in Hagerstown is <$40 even with the extended basic to get all the channels we have here it is right around $40.
On Halloween Eve my phone was ringing quite a bit, caller ID said Comcast. Well there are only ever two times Comcast calls me, 1: bill is late 2: to sell me something. And since I knew we were paid up the only thing they could be calling for was telemarketing which I have already told them to stop. They called I think 3 times before I gave in an answered. It was a recorded message saying they were going to be working on the internet. It is now a week that we spend a good portion of the day with no net.
I've yet to be able to find anything on their webpage that lets customers know if and when there are problems with their network.
Last year we spent over 2 weeks with no network, no TV, Comcast kept insisting it was our fault. Finally we were able to get a tech sent out who also insisted it was our fault. Finally I convinced him to check the box at the end of our block. Sure enough a careless linesman cut service to the wrong house. But he would not admit it was Comcast's fault. After many rude customer service reps (one unexcuseably so) were spoken with, my wife finally got us a $20 credit (not much on a $100 bill). We never received an apology. In fact the linesman who fixed the problem tried to get me to sign the paperwork that we'd pay for the service call.
We are right now looking at other internet options. We were hoping for FIoS but it is no go. So for now it looks like we'll be switching to Verizon DSL or Xecunet drydock DSL. Verizon is $19.99 a month for 12 months with 1 month free. I am awaiting a quote back from Xecunet. Verizon also offers a free modem, something Comcast charges us $3 a month.
Now if only we could get rid of Comcast's cable for TV. Cable in Hagerstown is <$40 even with the extended basic to get all the channels we have here it is right around $40.
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