Things I learned this Week

Been an interesting week as we get ready for vacation. I've learned 3 things I didn't know before.

1. When your refrigerator gets noisy, it's not necessary to go buy a new one. Sunday night our fan in the freezer got very loud, then stopped, and was then noisy again Monday morning. Then it stopped altogether, and the food in the freezer started to get warm. Called GE, scheduled an appointment for Thursday, and prepared for the worst. Had a brainstorm--called my friend Bret in Portland, who works with refrigeration for a living, and told him the symptoms. He said it was likely the seal on the door was compromised, the fan was drawing in moisture from the outside, and that was freezing. The noise results from ice encroaching on the fan. The coil then goes into defrost mode--thus the warming--until it frees itself of ice, then refreezes everything. Upon checking, I discovered a refrigerator magnet lodged into the rubber seal. Used hair dryer to melt some ice, noise stopped and I figured we were good. Noise returned next morning. Upon lifting some things, discovered inch-thick ice around the coil and fan. Thought maybe ice maker was leaking as well. Emptied freezer, used knife and blow dryer to get rid of all the ice, and she's been purring like a kitten ever since. Cancelled appointment, probably saving myself hundreds of dollars.

2. Malfunctioning toilet fill doesn't mean buying a new one. I probably would have just gone out and bought a new one, since it's about 5 years old and keeps leaking into the tank. Discovered this was different type than I was used to, so did some in-tank research. Discovered rubber seal had come loose, reset the seal, no problems since. Probably saved about 12 bucks.

3. If you plan to get fingerprinted in HB, don't do it on a weekend. Thought my clearance to e-file with IRS was done, but filed an extended return that got rejected this week. Spent a couple of hours online and on the phone, discovered there's an EFIN number I have to get from IRS, and to get that I need to be fingerprinted. So I moseyed down to HBPD today. Learned they only do fingerprints on Tue-Thur, by appointment only. My first though was, "So if I get arrested on a Friday, you keep me until Tuesday just to do my fingerprints?" Then I had a more rational thought--from Friday thru Monday they are probably too busy doing involuntary fingerprints to have time for law-abiding citizens such as I. They did have a list of places, and I found a place on Beach that did walk-ins on Friday--for $20 each. Went there, discovered he only does electronic fingerprints. He gave me the name of a place about a mile away--and she was out for the morning. I'm thinking now of just waiting until we have a few days in Brian Head, or even until we get back. Can't wait until I have to go through it all again to substitute teach. At least I learned what my options are.

So, for someone who has the goal of being a lifelong learner, it's been a pretty productive week!