Our Dishwasher is taking a break

Almost a month ago our dishwasher started leaving a lot of water in the bottom at the end of each cycle. After a few days it was apparent that there was something wrong so we called to get some service. It took the company a week before they came and then they were only here a few minutes - they claimed a large amount of rice was the problem but they also reset the electronics at the same time. The way I see dishwasher usage is that there are two types of users; those who just place the dishes in without any pre-wash or rinsing and those who practically pre-wash everything and use the dishwasher as a sterilizer for the dishes. We lean heavily to the latter so the rice claim was not convincing and I had already cleaned the filters. We had been steadily increasing our usage of paper and plastic goods to lighten the hand washing experience and so with the dishwasher repaired that trend could now stop. But no such luck the problem came back again after 10 days and this time it was worse so of course I called the same company to come back and make the repairs they forgot to do the first time. I called them Wednesday...I called them Thursday...I called them Friday and they still have not called to schedule another appointment. So officially the dishes, bowls, glasses and utensils we use are all disposable and today we had several family members and close friends over for a large dinner. We needed to make some signage to remind everyone that if they use anything other the designated "picnic-ware" they have joined the dish-duty team and the signage worked very well. We even ate Kenny's Key Lime pie [see December 2007 post] with plastic forks on plastic plates - sorry Kenny I am sure that is an insult but finding people that know how to repair appliances seems to be a real challenge.

Quick little hands

Yesterday I am working from home and Lisa comes over to pick something up and brought Ryan with her. Now that Ryan can open doors he will come in to visit me but since I am usually busy on a computer he does not stay long. I suddenly hear the shredder going and turn around to see Ryan with his hands high in the air like he just won a sporting event by successfully shredding something from my desk. I knew he shredded something I printed earlier in the day so it could be replaced but I needed to find out how he did it so quickly and why his actions indicated that he thought he was a real hero. Also worried about little fingers I turned off the shredder and unplugged it. Lisa told me that he is the official shredder in their home and their shredder even though it is safe for his little hands remains unplugged most of the time as he knows how to turn it on and shred anything he can get his hand on.

Nathan received his mission call

We all thought Nathan might be the first person from our immediate family to break the tradition and go outside of the USA on his mission. I went to San Diego, CA; Aaron went to Sacramento, CA ; Michael went to Las Vegas, NV- so where is Nathan going?. With both Aaron and Michael we were contacted by Salt Lake about our status in the US and were told beforehand they would be staying in the US. Nathan updated his passport so he would not have any issues where ever he was called to go. Nathan informed us that he had received his call and scheduled a date and time to inform the family and his friends. There were 24 participates on a conference call with Nathan after he had walked up to the "Y" in a small blizzard in late March with his best friend from BYU. Once they arrived he opened the paperwork and slowly read the letter as we all listened "Las Vegas" was the location which is different then Michael's mission which was the Las Vegas - West mission. That ensures that we all went to locations in the US, English speaking, in the Pacific time zone, and they all touch on each other. So we sure know where we are needed. Nathan loves the dry heat ;-) or he soon will. We are very happy for Nathan and Loraine is relieved his is not going somewhere considered not safe.

PDT

What is (a) PDT? Well it could be Pacific Daylight Time or Product Development Team but this PDT is PhotoDynamic Therapy. If you know what it is you probably have had one or know someone close who has had one. The purpose is to remove precancerous spots and other blemishes from ones face. It is popular with some people because it can make you look younger by removing fine lines and wrinkles and shrinking the pores. Because my face is loaded with scary looking blemishes I recently had a PDT. I am going to give you my description on what happens and what it feels like.
The night before you wash the face thoroughly and then clean it further with acetone and cotton balls removing all protective oil. The next thing is to take a little tube that looks like cardboard but actually it has a glass cylinder inside that needs to be broken by crushing the cardboard with your fingers. As it is being crushed the glass breaking can be heard and felt with the fingers. Then the little cover is removed and the Levulan is to be applied over the face but NOT on the lips or in the eyes. Levulan is some sort of acid and it releases some fumes that slightly bother my eyes. The levulan makes skin very sensitive to light so when traveling to the doctors office a hat must be worn and sunglasses and anything else to shield the face - so basically you are driving and look like you on the way to rob a bank or have just done so and apparently are not in a rush. I somehow did not do it right (not me) and ended up getting too much in some areas and none in others and so I called Lisa in a panic and travelled all the way to her house so she could apply the contents of a spare tube that was at her home - the right way.
After arriving at the doctors office and removing the face coverings one can opt for the numbing cream but I got straight in the chair and prepared for the laser. After both the patient and the laser operator put on protective eye wear the fun can begin. The first laser feels like a person has a rubber band rapped around their index and middle finger and they are pulling it back about 5 inches and letting it hit your face. At first you first just grimace and bear it but eventually after about 30 times biting down down hard on your teeth and clenching your fists will get you through to the second laser. Now the second laser feels like a small sparkler is being held close to your face and it is a good break before the third laser. The third laser feels like a 100 watt light bulb being held 1 mm from the face and it is passed over the entire face. I was sure I could feel and smell flesh burning - mine. A cold ice pack that is used to follows it takes away much of the pain and then the whole procedure is complete.

So in a day your face will look like you are a careless sun tanner with some puffiness, some loose skin and much redness. In three or four days the new you will emerge and you will look 10 years younger or at least that is what I have heard but have not experienced that part.

Friday the 13th

We received a phone call on Friday the 13th from the local grocery store (Kroger) and the message was " This message is for Loraine Salmon and we are calling to tell you we have your purse and you can pick it up at Kroger customer service". Loraine went to pick up the stolen purse and learned that it was left in a shopping cart in the back of the store. ( I immediately thought lets check the camera's but since the police were on to bigger and more exciting crimes I knew we had to move on)- so much for CSI when we needed it) When she brought it home we checked to see what was missing and what was left in the purse. Remember this is a large purse and it still contained a lot of stuff. The first thing of note was all the glass pieces that we were able to dump out the purse ( I wonder if they cut their hands as they rummaged quickly through the purse) Dozens of other business cards and several plastic cards were still left in the large purse. Some things of note was the Safeway card, the Co-op card and a Smith's Foods card - two of which are from Canada (9 years old) and the third does not exist in the state of Georgia. An old Alberta drivers license for Michael was another odd item. A huge bag of paperwork and bank statements filled one compartment of the purse. Credit Card, debit cards and cash seemed to be the only things missing - 4 tanks of gas (which we did not fund) and less then 20 dollars was all they got and 10 of those dollars was a Canadian ten. Certainly a hassle for us but truly "Crime does not pay."

If "Life begins at 40" what happens at 50?

Sorry another dated post but since it was started it now posted...

First off in December I opened a letter from the AARP folks. I thought "they have the wrong guy! - This is junk mail! - I am not an old person! - how did they get my name?". As I read it and realized they accept members when they reach the overripe age of 50 and I set it aside in frustration since I would be joining the over the hill (OTH) club in about a month. I stil have done nothing with it as I do not really want to feel I fit in with AARP folks (cause their old) and besides I think one of those letters stands for Retirement and the way my retirement savings are dwindling I will be the Wal-Mart greeter when I am 80 (in one of those stylish motorized wheelchairs). Hey - since my middle name does not start with an "L" they really do not have the right person :-)

Next when turning 50 lets see - oh yes the infamous colonoscopy which is not scheduled or completed yet. I actually had a Endoscopy last summer for a suspected ulcer and I ended up having twins (two ulcers) but they were both small and I am working to make them go away. So when I was leaving the doctor told me he hoped to see me for the colonoscopy after I hit the big 5-OH. Well I cannot say I am excited but I am intrigued (a high curiosity or interest in something unusual, new, or strange) okay maybe intrigued is a little strong, lets just say I am willing to do it and I am not scared. I might even go for the "stay-awake-during-colonoscopy" experience but since I tried that with the endoscopy and somehow do not remember a thing it likely will be something I will not have much to say about.

Also now that I am 50 I need those glasses that I have been putting off for quite some time. I think that most of my siblings had glasses before they left high school and so for years I have been really lucky to not need any extra help. Just in the last two years I have had real challenges reading fine print. Instruction manuals, prescription containers, some phone keypads and normal size scriptures all give me real problems. I was in a Church book store last summer in Utah and checked out the large-size scriptures that are so huge they really should come with a Sherpa to help you carry them to and from church but I am sure and investment in glasses would be an lesser investment and a better option - Sherpa’s need to eat..but he could sleep the yard and protect the home - see last post. For a while now I have been pulling out a makeshift monocle that is nothing more then a salvaged lens from an old slide projector that has helped me read serial numbers on a computer, instructions on a few prescription containers and several more tasks. I suppose I could just keep using the monocle but everything must be done with one hand and I keep forgetting where I have placed it…hmm maybe my memory is going too as I am fifty. Now those old librarian ladies that walk around telling everybody to shh…wearing glasses on a string around their neck so they are not lost don’t look so funny anymore…wow I am really getting old.

So life begins at 40 and at 50 it carries on for a while – hopefully.

CSI: At the Salmon home

So I was sitting down in Columbia, SC on the morning of January 30th having breakfast in a hotel and Loraine gives me a call. She tells me that she was just letting me know that my debit card and all my credit cards have been cancelled along with our bank accounts. Also Sara's and Nathans debit cards and bank accounts as well. Obviously I am very concerned about what actually happened and Loraine tells me somebody hurled a rock through the drivers side window of her van in the night and took her purse that was between the seats. I knew it was a huge purse that can hold a lot of stuff but did not know that it did have everything. When I asked for more details she simply said " Oh I gotta go as the police are here". I was to find out more when I arrive home...

So I arrive home midday on Friday and the car is already repaired and the only evidence of the crime is the large rock, still in the car and the shop vac full of glass pieces. Nothing worth taking a picture of except maybe the rock. I also learn the police did not want to do any finger prints on the van or on the rock and figure they have no leads and expect to not solve the crime hmm...television makes CSI seem so exciting, sophisticated and always able to find the person in about 40 minutes or less. Now I know more details...

About midnight on January 29th somebody saw Loraines' purse in her van while it was parked in our driveway and decided they wanted it real bad. One or more persons (probably just one as it was not that big) threw a large rock through the driver side window shattering the glass all over the front seats, dashboard and every little compartment a small piece of glass could travel. Loraine thought she heard a noise around midnight and woke up but heard nothing further so she went back to sleep. When she went out to get in the van to go to work it was apparent that we had uninvited visitors that didn't clean up after themselves. She just walked into the house and started calling our banks and credit card companies canceling all the cards and accounts. She then called 911 and the p0lice arrived in 15 minutes to investigate the crime. The police told Loraine that desperate times call for desperate measures and they have seen a lot more crime recently with higher unemployment rates. He figured it was someone in our own neighborhood that did the crime and since we have a fence-less yard that is a pass-through between streets he suggested we put up a high secure fence. We now need to get approval for a fence from the Home Owners Assoc and I am not sure they will approve the foot high razor-wire I want along the top. The real hassle was canceling all the accounts and cards and those direct withdrawal items that need attention. When we went to the bank we learned that Loraines card was used 4 times in 15 minutes at two gas stations for gas purchases..hmm.. that is a lot of gas or gas for 4 buddies which if they were on foot are also running around with large gas cans but they likely have vehicles and need gas for their next crimes. I know they did not get much for cash except a purple $10 Canadian bill and a few US ones. We did a little of our own CSI and visited both gas stations and looked for the purse in the garbage and asked the attendants about their cameras (which they both do not have) and the actual transactions. The case has already gone cold. I know if I was home I would have woken up since leaves falling to the ground wake me up (ya that is a little extreme on the exaggeration but I am very light sleeper) but Loraine pointed out I might have gotten mugged as I chased them down the road - now that I know it was 4 tanks of gas the chances of a one on one confrontation was not likely. I also have been looking at cameras for the exterior of the house and if I get something it has to be better then those terrible low resolution b/w ones you see on television news where you can barely tell the escaping criminal is something running on its hind legs and they expect you to call CrimeStoppers if you know anything.

I asked Loraine why the rock is still in the car and she told me that it is a reminder for her to remove her purse from the car when she parks it.