Holiday Repairs

Technology is wonderful and makes life easier. But it can also be frustrating when something stops working and requires attention. This year, the end of year holiday period has required many repairs.

My husband and I went to Florida in November for a five-day trip to visit my ailing sister. The first night in our condo I realized it was too warm. I also noticed some light brown spots on the bathroom walls. What is that? The thermostat said the internal temperature was 80 even though it was set at 70. Calling on our contractual home repair service the next morning, we made an appointment for two days later. We learned that the AC compressor had burned out and we would need to get a new AC. Thankfully this could be done the following day. We then got someone to come to check the brown spots for that fearful enemy of all homeowners, mold.  We learned this was only surface mold related to the AC problem; it could be fixed by washing the walls and painting them.  

We inherited this condo from my husband’s mother about 20 years ago and have kept it for short vacations and a place to stay when we visit my sister. We decided to purchase a new AC, to be installed the next day, and arranged to have the mold washed down and walls painted after we left to return to our home in NYC.

This holiday repair was a costly surprise and took up a significant part of our brief trip, but was manageable. We were glad that the problem was identified soon after the AC broke down; otherwise there would have been more damage to the walls.

It was nice to be back in the comfort of our NYC apartment. About a week after returning I was making broiled salmon, and found that something was wrong with the oven broiler. Lying on the floor to get a better view, I saw that the flame was smaller than usual (I also noticed some pills and other miscellanea under the oven and cleaned that out quickly). Fearful about a gas leak problem as well as an inadequate flame for cooking, I called the building repair service the next morning. By the afternoon someone was there and changed the igniter for the broiler. Easily fixed, it’s fine now.

About a week later, my husband had a problem with his computer, and couldn’t access the internet. We have a contract with the Geek Squad at Best Buy for electronic repairs, so we called and a home visit was set for three days later. After almost two hours it was fixed. What was the problem? My husband’s computer had a virus that he had allowed in through an email. The Geek warned him against opening emails from strangers. He also noted that my husband’s computer was a bit old, about four years, and a new one would be needed soon. Given the recent AC expense, we will hold off for a little while on that purchase.

Satisfied that the computer issue was resolved, we sat down on our sofa to watch TV, but there was no picture! What? This had never happened – there was sound, and we could change the stations with the remote control, but the screen was black, nothing, nada.

I started wondering if my devices had conspired to stop working together, perhaps taking an end-of-year break (pun unintended). But even if this were so, I needed to get things fixed.

A call to our cable provider, Spectrum, led to the usual steps: they sent a signal to the cable box, and when that didn’t work, they rebooted it, but that didn’t work either.  A cable repair person came the next day and said the cable box was fine, but the problem was the TV. He offered to do some trouble-shooting and proceeded to pull out the plug from the TV, waited a few minutes, and plugged it back in. Amazing- the picture was back. He noted that the aging TV was probably declining in function and we would soon need to buy another, but not right now. Wow- the fix was simple and we could postpone a new purchase.

So why is all this worth writing about? Technology is great until something doesn’t work. When this happens I feel frustrated and irritated, especially with so many things not working in such a short period of time. But I know that having patience, a service contract, service repairmen in my building, and funds to cover replacement needs can take care of most problems. Appreciating that I am fortunate to own lots of devices, some of which will at times need repair, is also helpful. So is having a sense of humor.

But these experiences, especially coming around holiday time, got me thinking about other repairs that are needed, especially with some people I care about.  Some of these involve connections that have needed repair for a long time. Family schisms, lost contact with old friends, the needs of a family member with compromised health or one at risk of losing her job because of the economic fallout of COVID- all of these need some repair or assistance I can provide. For all these there are no quick fixes, no repair services to be called or new purchases to be made. Other resources that I have must be called upon. Some things will likely be easier to fix than I expect, others may have unexpected damages and be more difficult to mend. But this COVID holiday time has made me realize that some repairs shouldn’t be postponed.