Monday, February 17, 2014

Project Optimist

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Chris labeled me a "project optimist" yesterday.  Which is funny, because in almost every other situation, I would not be described as an optimist.  The true optimists would call me a pessimist - and in turn I would consider them short-sighted and describe myself as a realist.  The age old struggle.  Regardless, I do not usually evaluate situations and immediately assume that I can master them.   Unless it has to do with a project.  I just figure I can do it.  Plus, lots of smart people have published information about how to diagnose and correct issues.  I just read them.

Recently, our microwave stopped working.  It was making a horrid noise, and not heating anything.  I learned to work around it, and for the most part didn't think it would be needed.  Chris vetoed my philosophical ideas of life without a microwave immediately!  ha!  So the choices were to replace it or fix it.  GE no longer manufactures this particular model, and I soon learned that it averaged about 1 out of 5 star ratings on almost every review I read, most indicating that it broke soon and was expensive to get repaired.  So then we researched buying a new model, but I would have had to cut new holes in the cabinets and install a new mounting bracket (this monster is above our stove top) which sounded like more frustration than it was worth.

So, repair it ourselves won.  Chris helped me - I thought I was going to do it alone, but I suspect he thought I would electrocute myself (not to worry, I did everything safely).  It was good to have him help, because that machine is HEAVY!  So we fixed it within a few hours, and only ended up with one leftover screw when we were done, which isn't great but I wasn't about to take it apart again and figure out where it belongs.  One new magnetron and diode later, it works like brand new!


On to the sump pump - which has the potential to be even more frustrating and gross than the microwave!