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Sewing machine headdesk
Jun. 29th, 2013 03:32 pmToday, I took my sewing machine out of its cabinet to start figuring out how to replace the motor belt. After a bit of hunting around, I determined that it was a Kenmore 158.445. Then I called a sew-vac place in CS to see if they could tell me whether or not they had the belt in stock if I just gave them the machine product number. Nope, the guy on the line said, I'd need to haul it down there.
So I loaded it up in the bike trailer, took a detour to the lab to care for crickets, and then rode over to the grocery store and sew-vac place. It isn't an arduous distance, just about six miles from home, but that isn't trivial, either, particularly in the middle of a warm day (but it's only 104 degrees, so who's really counting?). I haul the machine into the shop, and find out that nope, they don't have the right belt size for it. From what I observed, it looked like the guy took the machine, looked at the product number, and looked it up on a computer. He suggested I go visit their other shop in Bryan, but he said they weren't open today, and are only open weekdays from 8:30 to 5:30.
Sigh. They're a chain store anyway, so it's not even like I'd be supporting a small business. I guess I'll just be ordering it online after all. The icing on the cake was discovering that the machine had punched through some of the flooring fabric on the big bike trailer, edging it closer to its eventual demise.
Yesterday, I read a New York Times article about spending habits, which noted that people are generally happier with their purchases when there's some anticipation involved in the acquisition of the item. I suppose that explains Amazon's raging success. I think the conclusion I'm going to draw from the present experience is that I'm unlikely to find what I'm looking for in a store in this town whenever I have to search for a part to repair something.
And on that note, it's time to spend a bit of time contemplating my List of Things to Acquire, my List of Things to Make (and give), and the general state of the rest of my possessions.
So I loaded it up in the bike trailer, took a detour to the lab to care for crickets, and then rode over to the grocery store and sew-vac place. It isn't an arduous distance, just about six miles from home, but that isn't trivial, either, particularly in the middle of a warm day (but it's only 104 degrees, so who's really counting?). I haul the machine into the shop, and find out that nope, they don't have the right belt size for it. From what I observed, it looked like the guy took the machine, looked at the product number, and looked it up on a computer. He suggested I go visit their other shop in Bryan, but he said they weren't open today, and are only open weekdays from 8:30 to 5:30.
Sigh. They're a chain store anyway, so it's not even like I'd be supporting a small business. I guess I'll just be ordering it online after all. The icing on the cake was discovering that the machine had punched through some of the flooring fabric on the big bike trailer, edging it closer to its eventual demise.
Yesterday, I read a New York Times article about spending habits, which noted that people are generally happier with their purchases when there's some anticipation involved in the acquisition of the item. I suppose that explains Amazon's raging success. I think the conclusion I'm going to draw from the present experience is that I'm unlikely to find what I'm looking for in a store in this town whenever I have to search for a part to repair something.
And on that note, it's time to spend a bit of time contemplating my List of Things to Acquire, my List of Things to Make (and give), and the general state of the rest of my possessions.
