Enter the Appliantologist

Maytag Control Board

I wanted to share the empowering experience I had of fixing my own washing machine. Our 10 year old Maytag Neptune washer started acting up a few weeks ago. Initially it started with soapy water leaking out the door. As I do now with everything that breaks around the house, I did the old college try of troubleshooting it myself. This ended in failure and wisps of smoke emitting from the back of the washer - not good!

So the Appliance Service Center was called, and their guy came out to do his thing. I got home from work that day and looked at the estimate of $550 to replace the timer and the rubber "boot" and quietly freaked out. That seemed like half the price of buying a new washer to repair a 10 year old machine.

At this point I did what I should have done before calling the repair guy, and Googled it. I found a wealth of resources online, especially this one, which I can't say too much about. I found the entire service manual online, as well as much information about specific design flaws and their fixes.

I won't go in to the whole sordid details, other than to say that last week I opened up the front of the machine, replaced the wax motor (have not idea why it's called that), then opened up the top console and replaced the control board (about $225). I put it all back together and summoned my lovely wife. And ... it worked! And has been working for over a week now. And for much less than the $550 quoted by the wankers at Appliance Service Center, even after paying $109 for the privilege of having them mis-diagnose.

Alright, that's my story and it has a happy ending :-)

CSS at Bimbo's

Hey, it's been a long time since I posted and I wanted to tell you all about seeing one of my new fave bands CSS at Bimbo's last weekend. CSS is a brilliant Brazilian dance punk band with great songs and attitude. Dawn and I actually got to go into San Francisco for a real night on the town -- which never happens -- and see an awesome show at a fun venue. Yay!



It was our first time at Bimbo's and we both really liked the club -- elegant, just the right size, and plenty of bars (Manhattan for me and Teqmapolitan for honey).

Natalie Portman's Shaved Head was the opening act, and they were pretty fun. I kind of liked their concept better than most of their songs - however they really got going for the last few numbers. Worth checking out if you're into that sort of techno dance pop snarky queer sort of thing.

After NPSH finished we refreshed our drinks and found our places on the right side of the dance floor with a decent view of the action. Before long Lovefoxxx and the rest of the band took the stage and a fabulous time resulted. They were totally as fun as I imagined them to be. They all seemed to be having a really good time -- Lovefoxx bounced around the stage while everybody kicked ass on guitars, keyboards and drums.

They played most everything I could have hoped for, including most of the new album and most of my faves from their first including Paris Hilton, Music is My Hot Hot Sex and Let's Make Love and Listen to Death from above. (I found this photo of the set list.) The one song I was really hoping to hear but didn't was Patins of the first album, but no biggy. By all means, check them out on Youtube and you can become a fan like me.

Here are some more fuzzy shots, including my special signed vinyl. Yay!

A Monumental Talent

I wanted to share this video of Throwing Muses performing Shimmer on the Jon Stewart show circa 1995. It really rocks.



I've been listening to a lot of Kristin Hersh lately, and developing a growing appreciation of how amazing she truly is as a musician and human being. I couldn't sum it all up in a blog post, without sounding like drooling fanboy, which I am.

She is one of those artists who is so cool because she is so real. She makes music because she has to - otherwise she would end up dead or a junkie. She formed Throwing Muses as a teenager, and is still rocking harder than ever at 42 with the Muses, as a solo artist, and with her newish punk band 50 foot wave.

She is publishing her own music online after withdrawing from the music industry, she is blogging, releasing her tunes on a pay-what-you can subscription model, and exploring spoken word performances. Download her latest awesome tunes (and make a contribution!), or check out her amazing diaries which she's been releasing via email.

Let me know what you think!

Jackie Rocks!

So my son brought home a cd he bought at elementary school by a local band called Jackie Rocks. Apparently they played at an assembly or something. Anyway we listened to it in the car and I really liked it. So Jackie Rocks is now on heavy rotation on my Ipod. Check these 14-year old kids rocking the KingsHead pub!



I'm planning to catch their show this Friday (7/25/2008) at Cafe Pergolesi in Santa Cruz. 8pm - be there or be square!

Computer History Museum

The Computer History Museum in Redwood City is worth the trip for any dyed-in-the-wool geek. Jonah (my 11 year-old son) and I made the trek on Saturday, and we both had a good time.

If you've heard anything about CHM, you've probably heard that they have one of only two reproductions of Charles Babbage's famous Difference Engine - a mechanical computer which was designed in the 19th century, but never built. Not, that is, until some genius at the British Science Museum dug out Babbage's original plans and decided to have a go at it.

It's one of those pieces of technology which is as beautiful to behold as it is amazing - it could generate tables of "differences" to 30 digits, and and had a built in printing capability with two fonts and word-wrap! Here is a picture of it, but if you're interested follow the links for the CHM and see the videos of it in action, which came out better than mine.


Another must see (for me, at least) was the PDP-1. The PDP-9 was the first minicomputer I played with, when I was in high-school. My Dad was a Dartmouth prof, and we hung around the Kiewit computer center. We would somewhat surreptitiously avail ourselves of this piece of technology, upon which we played Spacewar! for hours. Here are two of the chaps who demonstrated the PDP-1 Saturday (the one with the ponytail is Lyle Bickley - I didn't get the name of the smiling chap at the console).



Jonah and I even got to play Spacewar! on this beauty, which is some kind of amazing time warp! One last note -- if you do go, check the schedule, as the tours/demos of the Difference Engine and PDP-1 are only available on certain Saturdays.

Rat is Dead!

Hey fans, I wanted to make a brief post about one of my new favorite bands - Cansei der Ser Sexy, or CSS for short. They are a punk/techno/rock band out of Brazil. I discovered them on Pitchfork which is a good place for a geezer like myself to keep up with the latest. Check out this long interview with CSS's singer Lovefoxxx.

Anyway, here is the video from their forthcoming cd Donkey-



Let me know what you think!

Thanks to a Hero of the Peace Movement

I was very moved by Cindy Sheehan's statement that she was calling it quits as the public face of the peace movement. Although my own activism has been minimal lately, it's easy to see that she is a woman of enormous passion, integrity, heart and determination, who truly sacrificed everything for a cause, for a nation, and is burned out.

I was lucky enough to catch Cindy's interview on Democracy Now Wednesday morning, which just increased my admiration for her. It is so appalling to hear the comments that these right wing commentators, and even mainstream Democrats have used against her. I guess twas ever thus - the cowards and apologists viciously attacking the very people with the most courage and integrity.

Anyway, I just wanted to write something about what a hero Cindy Sheehan, and people like her, are to me. I hope to find the inspiration to be more active. I am putting some links to truly progressive antiwar groups up. And I will be rethinking my membership in MoveOn, which I learned is sort of a mainstream Democratic tool. Long live Cindy!!!