Dark Clouds. Silver Lining.

What a week that was.  It seems as if everything crashed.  I was having car trouble, and my car was seemingly irretrievably in the shop.  My dehumidifier crashed.  It started turning itself off, declaring the water tank full, when there was little or no water in the tank.  My computer crashed.  In retrospect, I think it was already giving up the ghost, but it finally quit.  The TV went belly up.  It, too, like the dehumidifier, kept turning itself off.  I would turn it back on, and it would immediately turn itself back off.  One day, Thursday, I couldn't go anywhere (no car), I couldn't work (no computer), and I couldn't even watch a movie (no TV).

So I managed to replace the car, which took about three days, given all the mishaps.  I had never driven, much less owned, a diesel car before, and my neighbor, Jose Subias, swears by them.  Other people speak very highly of them, too.  I read up and thought I'd take a chance, while I wait for a more reliable electric car that has enough range and doesn't cost too much.  The VW Golf Diesel was my favorite, but the Jetta was cheaper.  I like the Jetta, and I've found two nearby gas stations that sell relatively low-priced diesel fuel.

I went to Home Depot, where I got the dehumidifier a couple of years ago.  They couldn't help, even to sell me a new one.  For who knows what reason, the day before I went was dehumidifier purchase day, and their inventory was gone.  I called the customer service number for LG, and they said I was welcome to go to their authorized service center in Broward and pay for a repair.  When I got home, frustrated at least, I tried the dehumidifier one last desperate time, and suddenly it worked.  I'm not asking any questions.

Last night, I went to Best Buy to get a new TV.  I got the cheapest one they had.  What's that about getting what you pay for?  I'll return it one day this week.  The correction will remain unaccomplished for now.

I called my go-to computer guy, Chuck Ross, to see if there was anything I could do about a non-functional 4-5 year old computer.  Not in Chuck's hands, there wasn't.  So he put me onto the best news of the week: Richie Strassberg.  Richie lives in the Park, on about 120th St somewhere between 7th and 8th Avenue, I think.  I'm not sure if Chuck said something like "if it can be fixed, Richie can fix it," but he might have.  I know Richie from around, and he actually did a car job for me some years back.  I doubt he remembers.  Richie fixes cars, and computers.

So Richie came promptly to my house, breezed in with a placid and knowing smile (he's like John Elway in that he always looks like he's smiling), and whisked my computer away.  He sort of said it could be this, or it could be that, but whatever it was, he'd fix it.  He told me the good news, and the slightly less good news, which somehow sounded like this repair was not going to cost me too much.  He didn't say that, but I was either reading between the lines, or just being hopeful.

Two days and a couple of confirming phone calls later, Richie delivered my computer.  It now has a new hard drive, and the new one has three times the capacity of the old one.  It works perfectly.  Richie installed everything I needed, in some cases without needing to ask.  I won't say the repair was embarrassingly inexpensive.  It wasn't.  But it was very reasonable, and the service (calls) was more than I could have asked.

Richie tells me he mostly fixes PCs.  He has a neighbor who fixes Macs.  I have no reason not to recommend Richie with complete enthusiasm.  I asked his permission, and he said he didn't mind.  Sometimes, he advertises in the newsletter.  I hope you don't have computer problems, but if you do, you can call Richie at 305-891-1927.  He calls himself Richie's Computer Garage.  Cute, huh?  If you have Mac problems, you can call Richie and ask him how to reach his neighbor.