Old Newsreels

[minx]

Was watching TCM yesterday and they had an old newsreel touting nuclear power and all the fun we'd have in the future using it.

While some of it was just stupid, others were spot-on.  The kitchen of tomorrow featured an oven that could cook a roast in 60 seconds using energy waves - ooh microwave!
The dishwasher that would clean and put the dishes back clearly is still needed, but what's needed even more are the damn adjustable countertops and cabinets.

"With the push of a button, the counter height will change to fit YOUR height - no more backaches!"
"With the simple wave of a hand, the cabinet drops down to meet you!  Housewives will no longer have to stand on tiptoes to reach the plates"

I NEED THESE IN MY LIFE!  Elon can stop fucking with Twitter and invent them since he's such a fricken genius

[Dave's Not Here Man]

They actually do make cabinets that "lower"... they are marketed for people with disabilities but certainly helpful for the vertical-reachly challenged. Never seen countertops that adjust. I'm going to be clearing out some base cabinets to customize so she can roll under at least one section of the counter and partially under the sink which is a bit more of a challenge. I'm also planning to put in a "floating" counter in her bathroom with one small section of drawers probably in the middle. She can't even get into the other bathroom because the doorway is only 24" wide. How's that for futuristic?

[k9krap]

Twilight Zone’s image of the future is quite funny at times, too.

My Mee
Maw (paternal grandmother) was 4’6”. It’s funny, because my dad was 6’2”. (He was the youngest, and tallest, of 3 children). My Pop Pop built their home and made the counters low for her. She was a masterful cook! But others assisting suffered at times. There was no dishwasher, and standing at a lowered sink washing dishes for an hour or so works on your back. Cabinets were set lower, too.

[minx]

Really - those cabinets would be so cool. And I am impressed with the floating sink - send pictures.

[Dave's Not Here Man]

It's going to take me a minute. The plumber is coming today to fix/complete (home warranty hopefully) the stuff from me moving her toilet to another wall when we moved in. That will allow me to start repairing the drywall in there. Then we're going to get some quotes on an accessible shower in there, which will be submitted to the new trust. Once that is done then I'll get going with the remodel. Probably late summer or fall by the time everything is wrapped up. I'll be starting on the kitchen soon, working with what we have for now.

[Dave's Not Here Man]

Plumber was a total fail. American Home Shield is shit. While he was not explaining everything that wasn't covered in my warranty, he was on the phone explaining to other people why their problem wasn't covered either. $100 I'll never get back and still have a non-working tub.

[k9krap]

I’m glad to hear that AHS is bogus. I have been kicking myself for not getting something like that when I moved in here.

[Dave's Not Here Man]

We tried to spend as much of the pre-approved amount of the house purchase as we could, as the balance would have had to been returned to the trust. So along with paying for 3 years of homeowners insurance and HOA dues, we also paid for 2 years of AHS... all at closing. The plan was 750 a year and you have to pay $100 for every service request before they send someone out. The plan included a FREE re-key of the locks, which went smoothly. Then they said Hey! We're running a spring special on HVAC checkups only $75 (which is about half of what most companies charge, not including ANY repairs or adding freon) so we scheduled it. They never showed. So I put a stop payment on their fee. Wow, did that ever start a shit show. Have you ever tried to solve a shit show with fucking Indian call centers? Well, guess who facilitates the whole AMERICAN home shield service?

I'm not going to cancel it because 1)it was free money to start with 2)I know getting it back would be more hassle than it's worth, and 3) if something major comes up that actually IS covered, then it basically pays for itself. 

I will not however be renewing it when it runs out. 


One of my oldest sayings is "warranties aren't worth the paper they're written on" and if Bob had not have gotten away pretty good on one he had on his car, then I'd be 100% right instead of only 99%. 

[minx]

I think I've heard of one person having a homeowner warranty pay out, but in that case it was something that couldn't be denied - it was so clear that it was under warranty.

Our house has groundwater seepage. We didn't have a warranty, but our agent told us that the warranty company would have done everything humanely possible to deny it should be covered.
And he also said that while the previous owner should have disclosed the issue, we'd be freezing in hell before we could get anything out of them either.

But I do wish I had the foresight to have started a homeowner warranty company back in the day. Cause I'd be richer than sin by now...

[Dave's Not Here Man]

It reminds me so much of health insurance companies pre-PPACA, which were even worse than homeowner and car insurance.

Anecdotal: Buck has a lot of issues that are getting expensive and my daughter has been looking into pet health insurance. But as I told her, there's no regulation on that so buyer beware.

[minx]

I worked for BC/BS back in the day before the ACA. Most heartbreaking calls were explaining to folks that no, their diabetes, cancer, pregnancies, ect aren't covered because they are considered pre-existing conditions.
Even though you had no idea the condition existed when you bought coverage. Cause stage 4 cancer doesn't develop overnight, and if you're 8 weeks pregnant and your policy started 4 weeks ago, you should have known...

Don't get me started on policy maximum limits. Too many people don't understand what things were like before the ACA.