Went on a jaunt to Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, NY. Stopped in Glenns Falls, NY on the way to visit the Hyde Collection. In Saratoga Springs, Enjoyed the ambience, watched a couple of races, wagered nothing (couldn’t figure out how it works….trifecta, perfectas, etc???). Also stopped at other spots: Congress Park, Saratoga Springs History Museum, Saratoga Spa State Park, and other.
I received an email today, five days after my initial attempt to communicate with Cuisinart and two days after my second attempt. The initial posting on this toaster meltdown is here
So far Cuisinart has expressed no interest in the fire, only the fact that our toaster is apparently out of warranty.
Valued Customer,
Thank you for your inquiry. We apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced. Based on the information you have provided, your CPT-120/90416 is out of warranty. If you have a proof of purchase that states you have had the unit for less than 3 years, please let us know. We will be able to provide you instructions on how to obtain a warranty replacement under that circumstance.
The only other option that we can offer to you is another unit, at the cost of $29.95 plus shipping and any applicable tax.
If you have any further questions please reply, with history, to this email. We welcome you to call our Customer Service Department at 1-800-726-0190, if you prefer. The hours of operation are 7 AM -11 PM EST Monday through Friday and 9 AM – 5:30 PM on Saturdays and Sundays, excluding major holidays.
Sincerely,
Laney
Cuisinart Customer Service Representative
I will follow-up with Laney about any interest they have in investigating this fire. Maybe this is part of corporate liability avoidance. If we act as though nothing happened beyond “inconvenience”, nothing happened. I wonder, has the Consumer Product Safety Commission survived our age of little or no government (excepting, of course, the burgeoning allotments for domestic and international “security”)? Will have to Google for that.
Fortunately we had not wandered too far from the kitchen and realized that the crackling sounds were not those of burning toast. Even more fortunate was the fire extinguisher at hand to douse the flames that had already burned a good portion of the plastic housing along one side of the toaster adjacent to the electronics inside. But, the bread was barely warm!
You may be thinking that this fire was caused by sloppy housekeeping here. But, in fact the crumb tray had been cleaned within the last month and this picture of the crumb tray clearly shows no evidence of fire. It didn’t get started there. From the location of the fire right where all of the electrical components are, the obvious conclusion is bad design and/or manufacturing by Cuisinart.
I sent off an email with a picture to Cuisinart last Friday. Still no reply from them.
Saturday morning we went shopping for a replacement toaster. This time we bought a model by Hamilton Beach that has an all metal housing instead of the obviously flammable plastic housing.
By the way, if you want to replicate this experience at your house, the very same Cuisinart toaster is for sale at Lowe’s where we bought ours.
One lesson is clear – the value of having a fire extinguisher in the kitchen ready to go. make sure it is one designed for the kitchen environment.
See this project by the same name here >>>>.
We are planning to implement a retirement funds management system based on John C. Bogle’s The Little Book of Common Sense Investing. At this point in our lives we are focused on achieving the lowest possible investment costs and market average returns.
To kick this off, and provide annual advice, we are seeking an independent financial advisor. This person must have the expected financial planner certifications, work on a fee only basis, and understand that we will not buy any financial products from them nor retain them to manage assets. We only want to pay for their expert advice. The advisor does not have to be local to Hudson, NY. We are happy with videoconferencing.
Though the Bogle strategy is straight forward, visits to companies like Vanguard and Fidelity reveal a surprising number of choices. These need to be sorted out. In addition, we need to understand better the mechanics of withdrawing money from funds, tax issues, and probably other matters not currently visible to us. Based on our current investment strategy we have a good starting point for the distribution of funds between equities and bonds.
If you meet the minimum requirements set forth in the second paragraph, contact me at mark@markorton.com
Raised $1 million at investor meeting with UThisMe LLC.
35th wedding anniversary. Tennis lesson in the morning. Went to movie in Millerton. Best Marigold Hotel. Then dinner at Escoffier Restaraunt at CIA in Hyde Park. Excellent and extravagant.
Temperature reached 96 by 1pm. Retreated to bedroom at 4pm. Spent most of the day catching up on bills and other personal admin. Sent letter to Jesse returned by HK post office for inadequate address to their new address.
Talked with Harvey Meyerson. Spent evening in AC’d tv room.
Jefferson stand up desk from monticello.org
A week ago, Karen, always finding ways to improve my life, sent me a link to a New York Times article “Don’t Just Sit There” criticising our sedentary lifestyles. Turns out that our ritual of 2 3/4 mile walks are insufficient. All of the time spent shifting from one gluteus maximus to the other in front of the computer and on the phone has such negative effects that I might as well forgo the walks and have another donut. Continue reading
Last week we went to NYC for a Nyla event at Trinity. Along the way we went to the Guggenheim largely to see the Francesca Woodman show. We had to walk up the ramp quite a way to get to that show and I found myself enthralled by the sculpture of John Chamberlain.
John Chamberlain – untitled 1962
John Chamberain – Miss Remember Ford – 1964
Kiss #12-1979 (30 x 31 x 27 inches) by John Chamberlain-from Guggenheim show catalog
Though he is apparently usually noted for his wide use of car parts in his sculpture, he noted, in an audio clip, how annoying this is to him, “Do you ask a painter what brand of paint do you use?” Any connections to Pop Art or other commentaries passing as art was clearly not his intent or desire. The car parts were just material to him.
As I moved up the ramp it dawned on me that his use of painted/colored metals introduced, for me, color as a major element of sculpture. Although there is obviously color present in every sculpture, for the most part, I have been most focused on the 3-dimensional form not its color or even surface textures. Looking at Chamberlain’s work I started to see the color not as a surface element but in an entirely new dimension.
As I moved around the sculptures, the fields of color shifted into new juxtapositions of color. Because my mind does not process 2-dimensional forms with much interest I have always been left mostly uninterested in abstract expressionism and other non-figurative 2-dimensional art. Chamberlain’s work has given me new access to these forms of abstraction.
As we were leaving the Guggenheim I purchased the catalog. A bit later I opened it to a few of the photos of works that I had liked the most. I was immediately struck by how unsatisfactory these photos turned out to be. Though the photos were of high quality and the reproduction on the pages very good. They lay flat. It was not possible to get any of the experience of moving around the sculpture.
This reminded me that for years I have taken multiple images of sculpture with the intent of providing a weak simulation of this experience. With this in mind I went back to my photo collection and created a little slide show of a work Karen and I saw earlier in the winter on a walk through the field sof Omi International Arts Center in Ghent NY.
My earlier posting, “New Sidewalk, Short on Common Sense and Oversight, a Disaster for Pedestrians“, about the new sidewalk in front of Wunderbar brought a number of comments and some interesting dialogue about what is really going on with sidewalks in Hudson. As wunderbar commented about that posting, “Stay your gavel and break out your ruler”. In fact, this sidewalk was built to the city’s code requirements.
With Carole Osterink pointing me the way to the applicable city codes (Chapter A330. CURB, SIDEWALK AND STREET REQUIREMENTS and Chapter 266. STREETS AND SIDEWALKS) where the requirements are spelled out in considerable detail, I now see a bit deeper into this problem.
BTW – Carole has a different take on sidewalks in a recent posting, “Where the Sidewalk Ends”. Her words speak one story, the photos seem uniformly to support the assertion that our sidewalks are a hazardous mess.
The city has ordinances that are not being enforced. And, based on the evidence of a new sidewalk just up the block from the Wunderbar sidewalk as you turn the corner onto Prospect Ave., not being administered with consistency. The code calls for the width of a sidewalk to be 5 feet. 44 inches is a bit shy.
It seems that perhaps the deeper issue revolves around a reluctance by the city to enforce its own codes to get property owners to rebuild sidewalks. In some places, like lower Allen St. near Front St., the sidewalk has simply disappeared. We need an injection of pride of place. Hudson is such a compact walkable place, with many charms. But, one hesitates to walk almost anywhere without gazing fixedly downward for fear of treachery by sidewalk.
Clearly this problem cannot be solved without some action by the elected officialsThis might include developing a multi-year city wide project and perhaps the city asking for bids from contractors for large volume sidewalk construction so that the cost of the construction can be driven down. This could also facilitate whole blocks being rebuilt at once so that the finished product is a flat, safe surface for pedestrians.
Another area of enforcement that would appear to be flagging is the attention to the details spelled out in the ordinances for the materials and tamping of subsoils before concrete is poured. Everywhere in the city there are examples of subsidence of the sidewalk relative to the curbing of one and more inches. This can only be the result of poor construction techniques.
Finally, wheelchair ramps. Laws, regulations, and general social consent that disabled people should have fair access to social spaces have been in place for decades. Somehow, our sidewalks are exempt. There are innumerable intersections where there are no curb ramps. As part of a rebuilding of sidewalks we should put these ramps into place.
I do still stand by my comments that the sidewalk constructed in front of Wunderbar defies common sense. Practical people solve problems in a way that is workable and durable. This abrupt transition between the two sidewalks is not workable nor safe. The city code enforcement and the contractor should have come up with a solution that resolved this. Lacking some vigorous action by city officials or the shame of the owner of the building adjacent, this sidewalk mess will be with us for years (decades?).
Mid-Hudson Cable continues to provide substandard internet services here. I have written of this earlier. Last summer I suckered up for the “up to 10 MB/sec” service for an extra $5 per month. Recently I updated my test results over this time span. The average download speed (all results based on 130 tests from August 2011 through today) is 5.9 MB/sec; the average upload speed is .43 MB/sec. The ping time average is 160 milliseconds.
So, in the strange world of Mid-Hudson Cable 5.9 equals “up to 10 MB/sec”. One does not need a calculator to see that there is a 40% shortfall here.
You can download the spreadsheet here to check out the data
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