ramble...

so the washer wasn't broken. at least i don't think it was. nor was it under warranty, as it turns out.

the warranty ran out march 16. no as-promised notification to say the warranty was up and offer renewal, and they wanted $200 to restart a lapsed policy.

after a visit to the laundromat to finish my interrupted load of laundry, we went to lowe's and found a similar washer for around $300... which led to a hell no to $200 for repairs. i convinced dave to try some simple stuff before getting the new washing machine. so we go home, unplug machine, put it in the other electrical socket, watch it go. yeah.

we're starting to suspect we have electrical problems.

angie and john came up to visit and save the day. and got me all contacted up with lu, who's lived here for a while. it felt so good to laugh and talk a million-miles-a-minute and have old stories in common...

i haven't really thought of myself being as lonely here as that last sentence sounded... i know it takes time to find a nitch and good friends and so on anyplace -- at least i have a common language with most folks here. no need to resign myself to the life of a hermit, but i get so impatient sometimes. poor dave, being the numero uno target for anything and everything i have to say in a typical day. often much more than i have to say... my current lackadaisical lifestyle generates few tales of wonder, yet the talking impulse goes on and on and leads to rambling and repetition...

like here. but anyway...

count on cookeville...

angie was telling me about this last night... last friday, someone found a woman's burning body in a field near baxter. turns out it was a physicist from oak ridge; her son's being charged. (the news story indicates he's probably a fellow TTU grad... wonder if this'll make the year's alumni newsletter...) sad, yet i can't help thinking...

really, cookeville's a very nice, very safe little college town in tennessee. i never heard of much run-of-the-mill murder or violence, rarely even a mugging.

but if it's bizarre and/or grisly, it could happen there... politicians killing their opponents, drug-crazed kids knocking off an old woman to steal a one-dollar bill, a husband slaying his wife, himself, and their child in her divorce lawyer's office... even the story about the dog getting killed when cops mistakenly chased down its owner's car had a cookeville connection...

i always used to walk home at night, safe in the knowledge that the sorts of criminals who prey on single women walking through poorly lit parking lots just wouldn't fit in.