My dad has a Phd in religion, he has read about things most of us don’t care for and has packed the house he lives in full of books. The living and family room are wall to wall full of books. When I chat with my dad about his Phd, I ask him about his research, and he points to many books. This one I learned about Soubhi ElAsha ( I am like, who? why does anyone care about this creature? ) This one I learned about this and this one about that…. And this one, with a big smile, well that is a real rare book, it was blessed by an Archbishop. Hey let me show you this book he said once, pulling out a dusty old book that was well hidden. This book is so rare, only 100 where ever written, it was hand written, take a look, and I have number 57, this book is worth a lot of money.

I will never read my fathers books, but I have my own collection and have some rare books myself, that I hunted down over the years.

There is nothing like reading a book, it has such tradition, and I don’t know, something about it that make you feel that you are about to unlock knowledge. The smell, the turn of the page, etc… Mind you I have to admit that I have seen many books recently that are not worth the paper they are written on, seems like every one is an author these days.

I never was into the digital book thing, I think its limited in its reach and dont get what the big deal is all about. I guess I was never into it for many reasons some of which are.

1. A reader is hard to cuddle up with in bed and sure will poke the heck out of you all night if you fall asleep, that is if you dont crush the screen
2. A reader may run out of power at the exact time the book is starting to draw you in
3. A reader will never let you flip around to see if there are pictures
4. A reader can never be sold for 25 cents one day at a book fair to raise money for a local charity
5. A reader can never be used to balance a table
6. You can never share your reader
7. A reader has no smell
8. A reader will never age or be rare
9. A reader will never be a point of worthy conversation about learning
10. A reader will never look cool if you read it at the beach

I don’t get the digital reader business and sure dont get why iPad warranted such buzz, its a reader that’s dressed up, so what, who cares, do you? Do you like reading digital books? why or why not?

Our washing machine broke. Called Sears, they sent us a repair man, and accurately predicted he will be at our house between 9 and 5. When he showed up, it took him 30 seconds to tell us the machine is done and collected his $90. I wish I made $90 per min.

The washer broke before Christmas, and if you have a family that is not the ideal time. I thought I’d take the closes to the laundromat, I was very hesitant, but we needed the close clean. Showed up with $40 and a frown, I don’t want to be here, I had the kids with me and I seriously was not looking forward to spending my day at the joint. BUT. when i got there, I was so happy because I got to load up all 8 loads at the same time . 22 minutes was the time needed for the wash, awesome, just enough to cross the street and get the kids an ice cream cone. By the time we came back it was time to switch of to the dryer. Boom 8 loads going at the same time, time on the clock 45 min, time to go back across the street and a quick trip to the grocery store. Hey this is pretty cool, in 1 hour and a half i did 8 loads of laundry, went with the kids for ice cream and did the grocery. Why on earth would anyone want to get a washer for the house? and it only cost $23 to get it done.

I resisted all temptation, argued with my wife over it, why would you want to spend all day Saturday locked up doing laundry, i don’t get it, the laundromat is fast, the cost is reasonable. But in the end, I had no fight left in me and we went shopping.

First we looked online for some Online shopping, then went to a few stores. If you thought buying a laundry machine is an easy task, think again. The price ranges from $300 to $4000. Why is this machine $4000? Well Sir, it spins, it steam cleans, it has cycles that no person in the world knows how to use. Its stainless steel, made in Germany, 4.7 cubic something, blah blah blah. Great! how long does it take per load? 1 hour. NEXT…..

$1500 get in into a no frills washer machine these days, and no matter what features any machine had, no matter what the price is, the one feature I wanted did not come on any washer even the $4000 machine. I would totally pay $4000 if any machine was able to do 8 loads worth of clothes in 1.2 hours, that would be worth every penny.

We bought a new washer in the end, and it will come soon, and as we ship out our old washer, we will ship out a full day of no house work. I so miss the laundromat and its only been 4 days since our last and final trip.

Don’t you wish you cant finish all your laundry in 1 hour? why bother with a washer, why?