Where’s Rod Serling when you need him?

I think I’d much prefer to live in the Twilight Zone than the Hell of a Thousand Malfunctions that is my living space.

In the last few months, the following items have failed:

• garbage disposal
• bathroom wall tile
• dryer
• computer

I can sort of understand three of the failures. The condo is over 20 years old and I suspect that the appliances date back to its origins.

The computer, though old by computer standards at seven years, was not that old. I wouldn’t want it to run photoshop, but it was an adequate web server for a low traffic site like mine.

Actually, it was almost worse. Though the dryer hadn’t totally failed it was taking a long time to actually dry anything of any bulk. I decided that it was best to replace both the washer and dryer even though the washer showed no symptoms of having problems. When the old washer was removed, there was black sludge on the floor underneath it. It had been silently leaking oil and was probably very close to a major breakdown.

When the guy from Sears came to install the new garbage disposal, he first, of course, removed the old one. It broke off in his hands and also appeared to have been on the brink of a catastrophic failure.

My refrigerator and dishwasher are the same age and I can’t help wondering what they have in store for me. The good news is that it’s nice to have a working garbage disposal and a single load of laundry no longer takes an entire evening.

I just hope nothing else breaks before I get to it…

Here’s a basic, good old fashioned rant for you.

I had an eye doctor appointment today and it was in an office building in Tysons Corner. As I pulled into the lot for the building, I was immediately met with signs saying that visitors had to park in the garage. The garage is, of course, pay parking. I didn’t think to ask the receptionist in the office whether they had a parking stamp or some other way to validate it. And, the parking was only $2 (which brings visions of a parking attendant chasing my car yelling, “I want my $2!”).

But it strikes me as wrong to put up an office building and then demand that anyone who comes to visit your building pay for the privilege of parking there. After all, if you have to visit the building then you have to park there. Forcing visitors into pay parking strikes me as a distinct lack of ethics.

Compared to the ethical judgment of a president who starts wars based on lies and fabrications it may not be too big, but it still bugs me.