On 28 Feb 2007 06:20:43 -0800, "DonkeyHody"
wrote:

Snip of humorous (to the rest of us) tale of woe common to do-it-
yourselfers around the world . . . .

There's a wonderful old poem about a fellow who got tired of the
different parts on his buggy always breaking down. So he did his
research and he built a "Wonderful One-Hoss Shay" using only the
finest parts available anywhere. What's more, he carefully designed
it so that each part was exactly as strong as every other part. It
was Wonderful, because it never broke down. The buggy was passed down
from generation to generation until 100 years later his grandson, a
preacher, was riding the buggy on his way to church. All of the parts
broke down at exactly the same moment, and the preacher was left
sitting in a pile of dust.

Well it looks like the folks that design washers and dryers are almost
there. When they get to the end of their design life, they get there
all at once. I swear the next time either of mine break down, I'm
going to cut my losses and toss 'em both out to the curb. It seems
like they are designed to run great for quite a few years, then after
that, it's patch, patch, patch.

What amazes me is the quality control on Japanese light bulbs. After
35,000 miles or so of driving, all four headlights on my old Toyota
burned out within three hours of each other, thus putting an end to m
plan to get through the NYC/DC corridor between midnight and 6 AM
(ever try to find a headlight for a Toyota in Joisey at 3 AM?)