Cleaning and buying

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Cleaning and buying was Originally Posted on December 13, 2003 by

I am taking early occupancy of my farm in Captain Cook and, I and a friend, have already been there 2 days cleaning.

I got the electric and water turned on, but then found both bathrooms upstairs leaked. I had a minor flood which I cleaned up.

The two days I was there, there was little breeze and I am hoping that is not the norm. I seem to remember a breeze the days I looked at the place. If there is not enough airflow, I’ll certainly be getting a large box fan, until I can get acclimated. It still is better than spening hundreds of dollars a month for heat back in Atlanta.

I don’t know what I’ll do with the furniture there. It looks ok, but really needs cleaning and I may opt to just buy new. I am not expecting to get a lot, since it will be just me and an occasional guest. The matresses will be the first to be replaced though :) I will be using an air matress in the meantine.

I was hoping to get the TV special they had for a vacujum and shampooer at Home Depot, but it looks like it is a HomeDepot.Com online special and they don’t ship to Hawaii. I’ll have to visit my local store and see what they hav e. I waill also visit K-Mart, Wal-Mart and COSTCO, etc. I really want to shampoo the carpets next.

My next step will be to get internet. I met a neighbor outside the Big Island Grill the other night and he told me I can get RoadRunner. I’ll check the price. If I can get DSL speed, I’ll have my internet (Packet8.Net) phone hooked up in a second. I then may also just get a cell phone, rather than a local phone. I really feel I need a cell and the local phones come with so many extra charges and fees that it is not a viable choice anymore.

As an aside, there are three things that irk me. Years ago the phone company came up with touchtone. It was touted as more reliable and easier than dialing. Although they didn’t mention it, it also would save the telephone company a lot of money. They could get away from the old relays and mechanical switches and go with computers. For the convenience of this, you paid to upgrade to the premium service by paying a “touchtone fee”. So why then, what? 30 years later, are we STILL paying a touchtone fee??? The majority of people are using touchtone and I would think the phone companies whould want to charge people who wanted to use rotary dial, because they must still support that translation for those people.

Also, decades ago, people had to RENT their phone from the phone company for a couple dollars a month. Then, there was a law suit (I think it was the Carterphone decision, if memory serves me), that allowed companies to sell you a phone and the phone company was required to allow you to connect it. Well, some people never bought a phone. If you know of an elderly couple who has lived in their same house for decades, do them a favor and look at their bill. Some people have been found to have paid thousands of dollars since then to rent a telephone worth a few dollars! If you find such charges, holler and scream. Call the Public Service Commission, etc.

Finally, many people pay an “inside wiring maintenence” fee, which I think is a horrible charge. Most families got 50 years and never have telephone wiring problem inside their house. Why not save the money and then, if you have a problem, pay somebody to fix the wires? Unless you have a wall fall down or take a chain saw to the place, why would the wires come apart inside the walls? The normal telephone circuit is either 2 or 4 wires, but the phone only uses 2 wires (exception is the old Princess phone with 2 wires powering the light in the dial). Hook the two wires up backwards and touchtones won’t work. That pesky rotary dial would work with the wires correct or reversed.

Just a few thoughts for you to save a buck or two.