Friday, May 24, 2013

Off and On {and this is not referring to my mental status}

I have been out of town for awhile, and being home now feels comfy and OK.

My daughter and her husband asked me to move into their house and watch my granddaughters and the BIG, constantly shedding dog for 8 days while they vacationed in Mexico.   It was my pleasure to do so as anytime with those girls is a joy for me. However, before unpacking, I had to learn their house as there are things there of which I am not familiar.

My home, which is twelve years old, has fairly new appliances, and although I find the refrigerator door (that has to be closed with precision or else it beeps at you), quite annoying, I get along very well with all the shiny stainless steel things that surround me.  Every year though (or even every week), companies improve (?) and update their models in order to compete in the market.  Sad to say, my abilities have not done the  same.  I have not been improved or updated in over a decade and really get frustrated by the constant changes that technology dictates.  Today, what should be simple appliances, now come with 50 page manuals.  Who reads manuals and why should we?

My daughter had just bought a new washer, dryer, oven, and dishwasher for her house.  They are all  attractive and according to Molly, very efficient. 

The washer has 42 options and very small print.


The drier has 39 and very small print.


The dishwasher has 15, all in very small print and inside the door (who looks there?).



And the oven, that blasted oven, with the timer that constantly beeps even though I continually pushed "cancel" (wrong option), has printing so-o-o small, anyone over 35 would have to use a magnifying glass to see all those choices The display is large enough to spread words out and in bold, but they choose to group them close together, with options that have options.  I had to get my face so close to it that one of the burners could have singed that errant hair that sometimes grows on my chin.


















Then I had to learn the pond.  It worked two days, and for some reason after my granddaughter and I cleaned out the filter, and added water, it flooded the patio and kept tripping the GFI switch. The water feature remained off for the rest of my time there.



On the last day, one of the toilets broke.  I did not take pictures of that.

Yes, I did learn to use all those new and efficient appliances, they all worked well, and the girls got hot meals and clean clothes.  I am not one to look back and say things and times were better long ago, but I have to say, they were a lot easier when it was just an On and Off type world.

33 comments:

  1. I'm with you. We could do a 'remember when' post every day for a month and still not cover everything that has changed, not necessarily for the better.
    Remember when you turned on the Tv, turned a dial for the channel you wanted, and that was all there was to it? Sheesh!

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  2. Yes, we got up and down (good exercise) and turned the TV on and off. We only had a few channels but there was more entertainment to watch.

    On the other hand, I am grateful for many things that have changed and made life easier for us. I just wish I could keep up with them, but the mind and body are not what they used to be.

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  3. You know, I believe we should recommend to the powers that be two models of everything. One is snazzy, jazzy for the generation that understands the stuff and the other model is totally identical but runs at the push of a button and a statement of our expectations. This model is exclusively sold to the '40's, '50's generation. There are as many of us a them; it's a viable market.

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    1. What a great idea, Joanne. Not only would it be easier for us to use, but also cheaper to fix when broken. When one of those sensors go on the newer ones, the cost to fix it is almost as expensive as buying a new unit.

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  4. Oh my stars! Way too many buttons and, yes, print that is far too small to read!

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    1. I think it is a conspiracy to get my generation into an old age home. We appear to have lost our eyesight and marbles and can't be trusted with simple appliances.

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  5. Oh my goodness I do know what you mean girl. sandie

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  6. Oh Arleen I am still giggling. Yes things that are suppose to make life more efficient take quite a bit more time to operate. Go figure. It sounds like you had a grand time though in spite of the appliance handicap. Have a wonderful weekend!

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    1. I did have a grand time with the girls, Bonnie, and they did enjoy teaching me about the new world.

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  7. I, too, love an ON and OFF world....after reading this funny post....if you visit your beautiful daughter again and are required to stay a while....I think you should definitely pack a magnifying glass! (O:

    xo

    Jo

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    1. You never have a magnifyiying glass when you need one, but why would you think you would need one when doing the laundry.

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  8. What a great post. I haven't encountered any of those really, really new appliances and I'm not likely to do so. I brought up some stainless steel stuff from our Los Angeles house when we moved, but they are not complicated. What I find complicated though are these phones and pads and social media and all that stuff. I and rejecting some of that outright, pleading old age. Other things I may look into later. I really like simplicity and quiet in my life now.

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  9. Ah yes, weren't those the days when you didn't need a detailed manual to show you how to operate the appliance. And after giving up on the confusing instructions, I just try and figure it out myself.

    Of course, where the heck are the on and off switches....

    Gary :)

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    1. From what I learned this week: On is "Power On", and Off is "Cancel".
      Of course, that can change next week.

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  10. Love it. I knew that something was crazy when we had a training course at work - on how to use the photocopier. And we needed it too. Too many functions and none of them intuitive.
    And it was a complete blight of a machine. It jammed (often) and you needed an engineering degree to fix it.

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    1. It's a conspiracy against anyone over 60, I tell ya. They want us to give up and go away.

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  11. A friend has just arrived here to find that BOTH of his very complicated expensive coffee machines don't work. I suggested he go for something more simple in future. My wife is still learning how to use our dishwasher, which we've had for over a year; I never touch the wretched thing!

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    1. Everyone seems to have one of those fancy-schmancy coffee makers. I am glad I don't like coffee.

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  12. Wait a minute -- I've see those things before. Aren't they from the bridge of the Enterprise? lol
    Great post, and yay for being back home in the safety of the large-print On/Off switches. :-)

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  13. God yes. I'm resigned to the idea that everything has to have a dozen options and settings these days, though I hate it. But how are we supposed to read this itsy-bitsy print they make these days? It wouldn't be so bad if everything weren't printed in Lilliputian type!

    Glad you had such a good time with the girls. Can you imagine the appliances they'll have at our age? :)

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  14. Oh Gosh! I'm not good with all that paraphernalia either. Come back good old twin tub.

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  15. Everything seems to have gone into fine print and legalese on new appliances, or indecipherable pictographs. I want a return to simple elegance, big on-off switches like in Dr. Frankenstein's laboratory.

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  16. Firstly...I love your header photo...it's a beauty!

    And, I'm glad I'm not alone...your post has just proven this to be so! :)

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  17. Boy, isn't that the truth? And repairing those new hi-tech appliances means replacing an entire circuit board, even if it's only one inexpensive component that's gone bad. Easier for the repairmen, and more expensive for us.

    But phooey on the appliances. I know you had a blast with the girls, even if the dog made your allergies go nuts.

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  18. Too many options a happy Bear do not make. On, off, and maybe one or two in between, are just fine. But 50 options? Do you have any idea of how hard it is for a Bear to master four?

    If they had a switch that would accurately read my mind and follow the appropriate directions, that would be good. But that hasn't arrived. YET.

    Blessings and Bear hugs!
    Bears Noting
    Life in the Urban Forest (poetry)

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  19. Oh but the blog topics they have provided! Just the I-phone alone garnered "I-Groan", "I-MoAN", and the "I NO LONGER OWN" and that was just in April. Hooray for you conquering the appliances. I'm still beating my laundry on a rock. Jody, The Medicare Mom

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  20. Oh, for the good old days when on and off were your only choices. When print was larger. When life was less complex. I have appliances now that do everything for you. Process. Cook. Clean. I bet I could even get them to deal cards. But I only know one part of their programming and I never venture into the unknown. Some of those buttons NEVER get pressed. Hmm . . . I wonder what they do . . .?

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  21. Well done you for successfully using all those appliances and steering your ship safely to the end of the week. I did wonder whether you might do something radicle like drying your granddaughter's clothes on a line instead of in the dryer - just for shock tactics! Any electrical gadget in our house always knows when my husband goes away - they fail or do something they shouldn't the minute he walks out of the door. I tell him that I'm happy to deal with people, he can sort out the machines!

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  22. Omg- are you kidding me??? I can't stop laughing! This would be my worst nightmare!!! I'm with you-- just give me simple on and off! I'm old and just can't process all this fancy stuff-- lol!!

    Thanks for stopping by-- you know I love you :)
    Vicki

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  23. I checked "funny" cuz I can relate to not being updated in 10 years, and to finding 39 options to be way too many. You did good, you finally figured out how to work a lot of the appliances.

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