Back on November 23, 2003, our Kenmore Series 80 washing machine died mid-load...

Well, it happened again yesterday, although with different symptoms.  This time, the tub drained, but the washer would not spin.  I could hear a noise like a motor running when the spin cycle was engaged, but the basket would not spin.  I tried running the wash cycle.  The tub filled with water, but when the agitator should have started agitating... nothing.

Fortunately, the link from my previous entry to Appliance Aid still was active, so I avoided a lot of hassle, as I would have first tipped the washer onto its side to try to access the motor had I not had this entry as a reference.

Jeanie helped me get the washer onto our hand truck and move the washer into the garage.  The pile of black "dust" on the floor where the washer had been did not appear to be a good sign.

After removing the cabinet,

pump and motor, I was able to identify what appeared to be the problem: the rubber coupling between the motor and transmission was mangled, and the plastic drive pins on the motor and transmission drive plates were snapped off.

Jeanie jumped on the Internet and accessed the Sears Parts Direct web site.  I was pleasantly surprised that a search using the part number stamped on the drive plate - 62672 - actually came up with the proper replacement part# - 285753A.  I was even more surprised to learn that there was a Sears Parts Store in Jacksonville, and that they had the part in stock - although confirming that they had them in stock and finding out what their hours were was a two hour frustrating experience that involved multiple calls to the store, only to have our call answered by a fax machine, multiple calls to the Sears 800 number, and finally looking in the white pages and calling the Sears Sewing Center, which just happened to be located in the same building as the parts center.

Once we confirmed that our trip would not be for naught, Jeanie and I drove to Jacksonville and picked up the part.  Turns out they had quite a few, as this part apparently is prone to failure.  I did notice that the replacement part had a number of design features that were different than the original including a metal insert at the center of the drive plate and more robust drive pins.

Cleaning and installing the new parts was a fairly simple affair.  Fortunately, I had thought to take photographs as I disassembled the washer, so between the Appliance Aid site and the pictures, I was able to figure out what went where.

The good news is that the washer appears to be working correctly.  I much prefer the $16.57 in parts and a few hours of driving and manual labor to the thousand or so dollars that we would have spent on a new washer.

Well, that's what it seemed like at first...

Symptoms were that keystrokes were getting lost - i.e. I'd type a word, but some of the letters vanished into the ether, and the mouse pointer was erratic and not all of the clicks were recognized.

At first, thought it was just batteries getting tired.

I changed the batteries on the keyboard, which was no big deal, and on the mouse, which is a major hassle since I forgot that the batteries go in the top rather than the bottom.  Why should this matter, you wonder?  Well, the tabs on the plastic piece that keeps the mouse ball in place are broken, so I have to keep it in place with tape.  The tape has to be carefully placed so as to not block the mouse hole.  Removing the tape leaves sticky residue from the tape which must be removed or my hand sticks to the mouse and the mouse sticks to the mouse pad.  As long as I had the ball out, I cleaned the rollers that track the mouse movement and tend to get gunky after a while.  As usual, I forgot that after removing the batteries, a connection with the base must be reestablished, and this is accomplished by pressing a button on the bottom of the mouse - a button that ends up being covered by the tape that holds the mouse ball retainer in place, so I had to remove the tape and reapply it.  At least after I did this, I thought to write a note to myself on the tape on the bottom of the mouse reminding me that to replace the batteries, I need only remove the top cover - not the tape.

Anyway, after doing all that, I still had the problem.

Turns out that the culprit wasn't the batteries, but the fact that I had placed my new Blackberry next to the wireless receiver and apparently, the Blackberry was creating interference.  I have noticed this when someone sets their blackberry too close to a Polycom conference call unit - you end up with an annoying hum or buzzing.

Moving the Blackberry down one shelf on the stand solved the problem.

While it was a bit of a hassle, and I probably ended up throwing away a set of AAA batteries that weren't quite dead (I did save the AA's), at least I now have a clean mouse and fresh batteries in both the mouse and keyboard.  As long as I don't forget and end up placing the Blackberry next to the receiver again, I should have a trouble free keyboard and mouse for a while now.

I've been working quite a bite lately, thus the lack of posts...

I am working two deals.  Leading the US portion of one, helping on the other.  The former is a global deal that is lead out of Europe, which means that my work day starts early since I am six hours behind the lead country - no, it doesn't literally start at 2:00 AM, they are more considerate than that, but because there are also team members in Asia-Pacific, it does mean that I often start at 6:00 AM in deference to the fact that it is night in the AP countries.  The bulk of my help on the other deal is in the form of writing proposal material, which I have been mostly doing in the evening.  Thus, the long days.

So, even though the weather was absolutely perfect on Saturday, I spent the entire day at home resting.  About the most exertion I had all day was putting the air chairs back up in the back yard.  A good portion of the rest of the day was spent asleep, between waking up late and taking a long nap mid-day.

On Sunday, I also slept later than normal, but did manage to make it to the airport coffee by 9:00 AM.  After I returned home, Jeanie and I ran a few errands and then went to lunch at "Your Place" on the Island.  I was in the mood for a good hamburger, so we first tried Baxters, but like many restaurants on the Island, during the off season, they are only open for dinner.  "Your Place" gets bonus points because even though they were "only" serving their brunch menu, when Jeanie asked if they would be willing to make us a hamburger anyway, they were more than happy to accommodate our wishes.  The patties were hand-made, thick, juicy and tasty.  They were served on a nicely toasted bun with fresh potato chips.  Prices were reasonable for a sit-down type restaurant at $5.95 for a regular burger and $6.95 for a cheese burger.  The brunch menu items ran about $10-12 and I was almost swayed by the seafood newburg crepes.  Service was excellent, as we were the only customers in the place - a testament to why most places are only open for dinner - especially on a Sunday - at this time of year.

After lunch, we headed off to find the beach you can drive and park on that we see from Heckscher Drive when we take the scenic "back back" route to Jacksonville.  The beach in question turned out to be Huguenot Memorial Park (other links).  It is a lovely beach.  It is clean and much of the sand is the really fine, soft variety.  We were impressed at the abundance of well placed trash cans and the general layout of the place.  There were even clean public restrooms and a snack bar that served hot food.  The Durango had no trouble navigating the terrain in 4WD, although I did get a bit nervous at one point when I ventured out almost too far onto the wet sand - but I kept the Durango moving and didn't try to make any sharp turns and we ended up being just fine.  You do have to be mindful of the tides, as the majority of the drive-on portion of the beach is under water at high tide.  As an added bonus, the beach is just a stone's throw from the Mayport Naval Base, and you get get a really good look at some of the ships anchored there.  The view was even better now that we keep a pair of binoculars in the truck all the time.  And as if all of that wasn't enough?  The price of admission?  Fifty cents a head!

Andrew, Laura and Hannah came to visit a couple of weekends ago...

Saturday:

They got an early start on Saturday so they could catch the 10:24 AM Skybus flight from Greensboro to St. Augustine.

Jeanie and I drove the Durango to St. Augustine to meet them.

We arrived at the St. Augustine airport a few minutes before the scheduled arrival, so we drove around the outside of the airport.  It was cool seeing the Galaxy Aviation FBO and FlyBy Cafe from the "other side."

I had been trying to figure out what Skybus would use as a terminal.  Since this is a regular commercial airline, I figured they would have to have TSA security, etc.  The solution?  A fabric Quonset hut as a terminal - an interesting approach.  Even though at first thought, it seemed to me that a fabric structure wouldn't be such a great idea in this part of the world, Andrew told me that he had spoken with someone, and the projected life of the structure was 20-30 years, and that it was more hurricane resistant than traditional hangar type structures.

Seeing the flight arrive, other than the fact that it was a brand new 737, was like stepping back in time.  After the plane taxied up, the ground crew rolled up large stairs front and back so the passengers could disembark.  Rather than walking into the terminal, the passengers walked directly from the apron through a chain link gate and gathered at a outside covered area to await their baggage.  The bags were quickly delivered right there on the sidewalk.

The weather was cool and wet, but not horrible.

Since it was after noon by the time we all got in the Durango, we decided to go straight to St. Augustine and eat.  We decided to have lunch at The Prince of Wales English Pub.  Lunch was yummy.  Jeanie and I shared a large Cottage Pie.  The Cottage Pie (otherwise known as Shepherd's Pie) consisted of "lean ground beef, onions, peas & carrots in a rich brown gravy topped with princely mashed potatoes & sharp cheddar cheese."  We were torn between the Cottage Pie and the Beef & Guinness Pie - my guess is either would have been great.  Laura also had the Cottage Pie and Andrew had the  Large Pub Salad topped with Coronation Chicken ("a combination of [chopped] chicken breast, mayo, red wine, apricot jam, white onions, curry & tomatoes") which was really tasty.

Andrew and I toured the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, where we were recognized by the Spanish Soldier re-enactors that we had met at lunch.  After walking around, we watched the cannon firing which was pretty cool (and very loud).  The exhibits were nicer than the ones at Fort Clinch, and there was a great variety of canon, but Fort Clinch's big canons are nicer.

Cell phones make life so much easier.  Rather than having had to schedule a rendezvous time and location, we just agreed that after we had our fill of the fort, that we would call the girls.  We did so, and ended up meeting them on St. George street.  We walked down St. George street back to the car, and then drove around the city some.

We went to the Davenport Park and Hannah and Andrew rode the St. Augustine Carousel.

Then we drove to the St. Augustine Light Station.  We decided not to go up into the lighthouse, but walked around and went through the visitor center / gift shop.

By then it was starting to get dark, so we headed home.

Jeanie made a delicious salad for dinner, then we had the twelve layer chocolate cake she had bought last week at her parents for desert - oh my goodness!

Sunday:

The weather was beautiful - clear and crisp.

Andrew and I went for an aerial tour.  We spent about an hour aloft.  I got lucky and made a nice landing.  Jeanie, Laura and Hannah were at the airport as we taxied in.  Before putting the airplane back in the hangar, we put Hannah in the plane and taxied around a bit - she seemed to have a blast.  I got a kick out of Hannah getting to believe that she was "steering" the plane with the yoke, while I actually directed the plane with the rudder pedals.

After leaving the airport we went to lunch at Pablo's, then walked around downtown and the marina.

After lunch, we drove to the beach and walked and shelled.

We drove back to the house and dropped the girls off, the Andrew and I drove to JAX so Andrew could pick up a rental car so they could get back to St. Augustine for their flight home on Monday.

It took longer to get the car than Andrew or I expected, partly because Andrew had to get Avis to switch out the car after seeing that they had given him a Mustang, which, while it might have been fun to drive, wasn't suited to accommodating Laura, Hannah, and their luggage.  Eventually, we both returned home and I cooked steaks on the grill while Jeanie prepared the rest of the meal.

Monday:

I had a 7:00 AM work call.  They showered, then we visited a bit more and I helped Andrew take stuff to the rental car while Jeanie made take-out breakfast for them to eat on the drive to St. Augustine.

The Kagans left around 9:00 AM.

It was a lovely weekend and we look forward to their next visit.