Kitchen Faucet Repair

So I return from my business trip to Kronberg and London to a leaky kitchen faucet.  The leak was a slow leak that only drips when the faucet is in use.  Fortunately Linda noticed the damp rag in the cabinet -- otherwise, the cabinet could have been ruined which would result in some serious $$$ to repair.    The faucet is a Grohe Ladylux Plus which was brand new with the house (installed ~2005) and has a lifetime warranty.  Since the leak only happens when in use, I figure it had to be something in the mixer.  I took the handle off and then removed the housing that covers the cartridge.  The mixer plating flaked off resulting in a poor seal with the o-rings on the ceramic mixer cartridge.   I called Grohe customer and tech support and they refused to send a replacement.  In fact the guy in tech support was a jerk about the whole thing.  I argued with him that since the faucet has a lifetime warranty, why do i need a proof of purchase since having the faucet should be proof.  He did not agree.  It got to the point where Linda and I decided to go buy a different faucet brand.

Fortunately, Linda and I went shopping for a new faucet at Ferguson who is also a Grohe dealer.  After explaining the situation(that it is not good to be drinking and cooking with water from a faucet that has flaking internal plumbing parts) to a saleslady, I sent pictures of the defective mixer to her, and she worked it with Grohe to replace the entire faucet.  This saved us $700+ !

So I highly recommend Ferguson for your next kitchen or bath remodel.  They have really nice stuff and their salespeople are top notch.

Since I spent a big chunk of Monday taking the old faucet apart and removing it from the sink, installing the new faucet was a snap (completed in under 30 minutes !).

The return of cheap gas

cheap gas !

Side storage bins

Very handy storage for the window seat.

On Northwest 25 to Tokyo

First time on the upper deck of the airplane.

Added some new shelves in the Kitchen

John W. cut these metal shelves to the length we needed. Linda and I put them up on saturday. Turned out really nice and does a good job of adding some "spice" to that wall.

Grilled Pork Chops with peach glaze and peach/mango salsa

I recently got a Williams Sonoma grilling cookbook from Joseph Beth (on clearance for $15 !). This is the first meal from the book. It turned out really yummy.

Saturday's dinner

Grilling bacon-wrapped scallops. another recipe from Mark Jarvis.

Meet Joe M part 2 (more saab brakes work)

More pictures from the Saab brake job.

Meet Joe M.

Joe is now the biggest car guy I know (sorry Gerry). Joe has a lift in one of his garage bays since he does so much work on his cars. In the first picture, Joe stands with the flat-6 engine (from his 911 turbo) that he is rebuilding.

My Saab 9-3 needed new rear pads so Joe said get the parts and bring it over. I ended up getting new pads and new rotors (Brembo rotors !) on his reco. We completed the work in about 2.5 hours and that included a run to the auto store for some high temp lubricant. "We" was generous since Joe spent a big chunk of time showing me how to do stuff. Oh, the brake fluid was flushed and replaced too.

Wednesday watch shot

Oris F1 chrono for wednesday

Wearing the Chronoris today.

Chronoris for Tuesday.

7,1 Surround Sound for the Home Theater

With free standing speakers, it was not possible to do 7.1 surround (due to the open back). I decided to do in-ceiling speakers for the entire rear array (4 total speakers) to get 7.1. I choose the Polk Audio LC-60i speakers because they use the same Vifa Ring Radiator tweeters as the Onix Reference 3's and Reference 100 speakers that are in the front array.

The in-ceiling set-up makes the space looks cleaner and more "finsihed".

Articulating Arm for the LCD TV

My office/lounge upgrade continues. Next up is hanging the LCD TV on the wall. Since we now have a DWR twilight sofa in the room, we wanted an articulating arm so the TV can move/swivel to accomodate various watching positions.

I got the peer arm from Costco.com for $112 shipped with tax. It is a nice and solid aluminum arm that can hold up to 80 pounds. Two big wood screws mounts it to a stud. It was kinda scary to think that only two screws can hold up the 50+ pound tv, but so far it is still on the wall :-)

I have to clean up the wiring to "neat it up" - just like those fancy Homerama homes.
enjoy the pictures...

New Grill

Linda treated me to a new grill to replace the old grill (that she got me 10 years ago). That old grill was getting old and busted. I had replaced the burners and the grates once and they were starting to rust through again.

For the new grill, I finally stepped up to a Weber. I feel like a grown up now! It feels like a very well made grill with a few neat features like the spring loaded propane gauge. The burners are stainless steel so they should last. The grates are porcelein cover steel. I immediately noticed that this grill gets a lot hotter (and gets hot faster) than the old one. The first meal on the Weber was grilled chicken (cajun and lemom garlic). Yum.

Goal Line Blitz

I am playing a bit of goal line blitz with some guys from college. It is a football online RPG where you roll up characters and get them to play on virtual football teams. Kinda neat game. My two characters are Big Mass Attack (a DE) and Roy "before he got fat and slow" williams.

Google Sketchup

Sketchup is a very cool (and free) drawing program from Google. Linda and I want to furnish our living room so i used Sketchup to model the space. Since it is a 3D drawing program, I can add the pieces we are considering and moving them around in the 3D space. Here is what I have so far...

Sweet Porsche Posters

Porsche sent me 3 posters featuring the RS60 special edition of the Boxster (for free !).  I got some Posterhangers, busted out the laser leveler and got them hung in the basement yesterday.

fallen tree part 3

After an hour of cutting, I can see the subaru on the other side.

fallen tree part 2

Gotta bust out the chain saw.

Fallen tree part 1

This huge section of a tree fell and was blocking our driveway. It was about 50 to 60 feet long.

Drive like an old man ...

and save gas. I am doing an experiment where I deliberately slow down my rate of acceleration from stops and on highway on-ramp entrance. This was spurred by linda's obsevation that the subaru gets worse mpg when I drive, and I read an article about tips on how to save gas. I knew most of the tips (proper tire pressure, well maintain car), but the article states that accelerating quickly from stops uses more gas. I really enjoying quick acceleration from a stop light and when entering the highway. With the window down on the Saab, you can hear the turbo spool and it is addictive (whooooosh !).

So, one week into the experiment and I am averaging a 2.5 mpg improvement (from 25.4 mpg to about 28 mpg) with my old man driving. This works out to be about 50 gallons savings a year (about 1 month's worth of gas for me). Net, sounds like a good plan to help reduce my consumption of oil.

There are some downsides: first, in the week of this experiment, I have this crazy need to eat dinner at 4:30, second, the hit to the ego is bad since I am getting passed by minivans, Corollas and everything in between. Since I am trying to be more enviromentally responsibile, i will keep it going.