Laundry washer installation

Laundry washer installation

We moved the current house the end of September this year, 2013.   Since the previous owner took laundry washer and dryer, we bought new one from Sears.

This moving was a lot of problems for appointments for delivery / installations.  This laundry stuff delivery installation was one of them.

Delivery:

Originally, we expected to have the washer and dryer before we moved in.  We bought them about 2 weeks before the actual moving in date and arrange their delivery.  We supposed to get a phone call to get 2 hours time window for the delivery a day before the delivery day, however, we did not get it.

We called Sears customer service number, it was busy day and we had to wait close to 30 minutes to get an operator.   It seemed the arrangement was really messed up and the call drops in the middle of the conversation and started over again a couple times.  Then, the first delivery was only washer and we needed to wait for the dryer another several days.

That was a story for the delivery.

Problems:

Anyway, we got the washer and dryer a few days after we moved in.   However, my wife found that a thing that closes after washing is always hot even if we set "cold".  We tried to check the water line connection, but it was too close to wall and it was not easy to read the characters on the back of the washer.  So that we just using the user's manual to check the hot / cold water location and we thought they were all right.

After a couple weeks, some of closes for my wife were sensitive and we tried to check the water line connection again.  This time, I used a digital camera to take some shot to read the characters on the back.  Finally we found that the water line connections were reversed.

Correction

I tried to loose the water connection just by hand, but it was too tight and I could not disconnect the water lines.  I did not want to damage the washer and tried to Sears to correct the installation.
So that I called the customer service again.

This time was really worse.   First of all, the call was transfer to the other department again and again more than a several times.  Also, the call dropped a couple times and started over again.  The problem is they did not have any record what we talked in my account.  Therefore, I had to explain the same thing again and again.  Finally one operator helped to arrange a service but it was about 2 weeks away.  I said we could not wait such long for the simple correction and I tried to push him to get it done earlier.  The person really helped to get a person who was actually scheduling the service, then she would give us a better day, but she needed to call me back after the arrangement.  She told me I would get a call with detail time slot within 48 hours and the call was hung up.  But I did not any thing.

I called the customer service again and it was the same the call was transferred again and again.  But it seemed there was no record for the arrangement.  But the last person arranged it a Friday in the same week.   A day before, I supposed to get  a phone call for the 2 hours time slot.  But I did not get it again.  The person gave me a phone number, I called that number, but the operator told me there was no record for the service.  Then asking to call a local store.  I called the local store but it was before the business hour and the call was transferred back to the central customer service again and actually no body helped me to arrange the correction service.

I was really frustrated and I did not want to go through such long customer call process again.  It took really long time and it does not help anything.  It is really wasting my time.  I decided to correct by myself.  I used a tool to loose the connection and swap the hot / cold water line.  It was done within 10 minutes.

That is the story for this installation.  I could not really believe what happened to us.  The professional people who deliver the washer and dryer could not install them correctly.  It was really simple mistake.  Then, the customer service is really bad.  They told me that there is no reference number or case number to check the record later.   They just gave us not right phone number for the service.  The call was always transferred to the other department.  Then, the call could drop in the middle.  Even I asked a number in case the call was dropped did not work.

This time, it was not really complicated thing and I could take care of it by myself.  But if I could not handle the case, I am not sure what I need to do.......

This is not only thing, but also I had a very bad experience with Comcast as well........

A good thing is everything fixed now and I do not have to worry about anything for now.....  But I do not want to go through such things again.   

Little Lakes Valley Hiking

Little Lakes Valley Hiking

Long Lake

Last weekend, August 17, 2013, we went hiking to Little Lakes Valley.  This is really nice area for family hiking.

Little Lakes Valley is located a little northern part of Bishop CA near CA395.  It is about 250mils away, 5~6 hours drive from San Francisco Bay area.  We drove Yosemite National park along CA120.  Yosemite itself is really beautiful nice area.  But it was really crowed in summer time.

In June this year, one of my friend visited Little Lakes Valley and she posted really beautiful photos to Facebook.   That is why I really wanted to visit there as well.  This year our family had been very busy for house hunting.  Due to very crazy housing market, we needed to look at open houses almost all weekend since April.  We did not have no time to go hiking this early summer.

Finally,  our offer was accepted mid July and we were getting some time to go camping and hiking.



Location

About 25 miles before Bishop from north side of CA395, Little Lakes Valley is located along Rock Creek Rd from CA395.  The end of the road is called Mosquito Flat where is the trail head of this hiking trail.  The first day we arrived there around 11am.  The parking lot was full and no space to park at the end of the load.
People need to be back a few miles to park their car.  No street parking is allowed due to narrow road.

 Trail head

So that, we gave up to go hiking on the first day and went back to Rock Creek Lake to spend the rest of the day.  Rock Creek Lake is really nice place for kids.  There is a nice creek near parking lot.  Also, nice camp sites near creek and the lake.  Many people were fishing and caught some fish.  Probably reserving a camp site earlier and stay that camp site would be really nice!

 Beautiful sky from Rock Creek Lake

The next morning, we got up earlier and went to the trail head around 8am.  We could park a nice spots at the end of the road.  The trail head elevation is about 3000m from sea level.  (about 9,000FT).  The trail is slowly getting elevation to about 3400m at Morgan Pass.  Due to a little high altitude, we probably need to pay attention for high altitude sickness, especially kids.

 Nice view near trail head!

First Lake, Mack Lake

Marsh Lake

Heart Lake

Long Lake

Around tree line

 

West side from Morgan Pass

East side from Morgan Pass

Along the trail, there are many small lakes and we really enjoyed nice view almost everywhere on the trail.  We have some little kids and they looked they had high altitude sickness, therefore we decided to turn back from Morgan Pass.  The trail is continue to the east side and some of people continue hiking there.

Round trip to Morgan Pass is about 7.5 miles (12km), about 5 hours hiking with kids.  

This is really nice trail, I strongly recommend to the other people!

(End)

Very good mover in San Francisco Bay area!!

  We moved from our previous house to an apartment this Monday.

  We asked a Japanese mover when we moved into the previous house 9 years ago.  Since our son just got 1 year old and it was hard to do the moving by ourselves.  At that time, we looked for movers including local agent.   Most of them are lower cost, but according to my friends, they are cheap, but some of them had experience to damage some stuff, not to start / finish on-time.  Due to those some negative experience and we were picky since we had infant baby.  So that we picked a Japanese mover and it was really good.

  They took their shoes off when they get into inside of the house.  They put some protection into the doors, stares and floors.   Also, they were really speedy and efficient to get it done within a reasonable time.  We were so happy with the agent.

  Based on that good experience, we also looked for the same mover this time, but we could not find.  After some internet search, we found out the person who helped us 9 years ago started own moving company.  Since we had a very good experience with the person, we contacted the company.

   Their service is pretty good.  They came to our previous house to estimate the moving effort / cost and gave us a quote within a few days.  Also, our moving plan had not been finalized at the last minutes and changing address for the new location / date a couple times.  Even though, they could adjust the plan for us.
   Also, when they came to our place for the quote, they gave us a good advice for efficient moving to save some money, such as how / what we can do by ourselves and what would be a point not to disturb their work.  They were very useful and helped us to understand what we could do by ourselves.

  In the moving day, they came to our place on time and very organized what to do.  Their moving process is very efficient and really careful.   Their handling / process to protect house and stuff are very systematic and careful.  I think they are really professional for moving.  We did not have to do anything to moving out.  We just watched and relax.  For moving in, they give us packed box in very good order.  It was very smooth to open them during the moving in.   Majority of stuff had been opened and placed in the right place when they finished.   I felt it was really efficient and we finished it much earlier than we expected.

  This time, we spent a lot of time a day before the moving.  But the next time, we probably will ask more to the mover.  It may be a little more cost, but overall, it will save a lot of our time.

  This Japanese style mover is a bit expensive than typical moving agent local here.  But the end result, it is really worthy.  I really recommend the agent if people look for a good mover.

 Here is the mover information:

 http://www.cn-express.net/
 Cross Nations, Inc.
533 Airport Blvd. Suite 400
Burlingame, CA 94010
Phne 650-373-2112
Fax  650-373-2001
info@cn-express.net
 
If you are looking for a good mover, I strongly recommend this agent!

Mt. Whitney Trail

Mt. Whitney from Lone Pine, California

   Mt. Whitney Trail is the easiest way to reach the top of Mt. Whitney.  Majority of people are going through this trail.  To enter Mt. Whitney area, people needs to get permission.

How to get permission:

Mt. Whitney Lottery
   People who wants to climb Mt. Whitney needs to plan well in advance.  It is better to file an application  for Mt.Whitney Lottery  in February through mid March.  This might be maximize a chance to get the permission.  The application can be filed through on-line.  In the application, people can put multiple dates.  The result will be notified through E-mail in the end of March or early April.

After Mt. Whitney Lottery
   Once Mt. Whitney Lottery is closed.  People can reserved left over dates through on-line or phone.  Usually, it can start on April 1st.   Then people who wins the Mt.Whitney lottery needs to confirm its reservation.  If the people have not confirmed by the deadline, the reservation won't be valid and back to the pool.   After May 1st, those space will be available on-line as well (This is a schedule in 2013).

  Also, people can go to the visitor center in Lone Pine to check if there is any available space or not.  If there is any available space, it might have a chance to get it.

Pick-up the permission
   To pick up the permission, people need to go to the visitor center in Lone Pine.  People can pick it up a week in advance.  But if the schedule is very tight, people can picked up from a night box.  People need to make a phone call to the visitor center for this arrangement before.  The night box is located close to the entrance of the visitor center.  This is a good option, people who just arrive that area and start climbing right away.  Otherwise, people need to wait for business hour to pick up the permission.

Trail

Mt. Whitney trail is the most popular trail to climb Mt. Whitney.  Many people are doing a day trip to Mt. Whitney.  Some people really start almost mid night.  The trail is very long.

I personally, have never tried a day  trip.  I think I can do it.  For my first try in 2011, I started around 6AM with camping stuff.  I reached "Trail Camp" around 10am with heavy camping stuff and then reached the summit around 2pm.  I could be back to Trail Camp before 5pm.   I could be back to the trail head before Sun set.  But I think camping on the trail is very good idea.   Since just reaching summit is not only purpose of the  trip, but also enjoy a night on the trail.  People can see different view time by time, especially night time is really nice view on the sky.  There are so many starts on the sky.

If you have a chance, I really recommend to have camping on a trail.

[End]

Hiking in San Francisco Bay Area

  There is no picture today.....
  I have been living this area more than 10 years.  I often go hiking in this area including trail running.  I also went hiking / climbing when I was in Japan.  A big difference between here in the US and Japan, I think people enjoy hiking more easy with very casual style.

   When I went hiking / climbing, I always carried a backpack with some food / snack and drink like water, some time many beers.  It was very rarely not to carry the back pack except very short walk.  However, there are many people just walk with a single bottle water on their hand on many trails.  Some people does not have anything, just walk and talking with friends.  I was a kind of surprised in the beginning.   But nowadays, I am one of them.

   Majority of trails in this area is not really mountain, I would say they are trails on hills.  Basically, the trails are not very long, most of them are just a few hours round trip and no very steep portion on trails.  Most of the time, if anything happening, it is very easy to going back to a car.  People does not have to worry about too much.  Weather in summer time or other than winter, it is very stable and it is very rarely raining in summer time.

   Many trails are short and probably a few hours walk is good enough.  Depending on how much time people have, people can choose many options to enjoy nice view on a hiking.  People can do hiking a sort of a daily life if people live in this area.  For visitors, I think it is a good option as a part of sight seeing.  It is different from a really nice view on a trail in a national park, but people can enjoy to see cites in the bay area and very easy access from cities.

  If people really look for a mountain that is something like in Japan, people probably need to go to Serra Nevada, Tahoe, Yosemite and etc.  There are many nice mountains in California.  But they are little far away from our town.... For typical weekend, just enjoying hills near our house  is very nice!  So that I really enjoy hiking nowadays!  Climbing mountain could be a few times a year nowadays.....

Mission Peak (Fremont CA)

Mission Peak (Fremont CA)

Mission Peak

  Mission Peak is located east side of San Francisco Bay.  It looks like a symbol of Silicon Valley!
  There are a several trails to reach its peak.   The most popular trail would be from the west side of the peak in Fremont.  People can reach the peak around 1 ~ 2 hours.  This trail is really nice view, people can see a whole San Francisco Bay Area.  In a good weather, people can see down town San Francisco and Golden Gate Bridge from the top!!

  I think the best season to hike Mission Peak would be in spring.  There are many wild flowers on green hills.  The climate is not too hot and not too cold.  In summer time, due to less rain in this area in summer, hills are getting brown and it is getting hot.  In winter, it is rainy season and some time cold wind.

  Mission peak is very easy access from Silicon Valley, like Fremont / San Jose area.  Also, it can provide really nice view.   I think you should visit at least once if you have a chance!

Let's go camping (3) ~ Sleeping bag

Let's go camping (3) ~ Sleeping bag

Cheap sleeping bag v.s. down sleeping bag

Today, I am talking about sleeping bags.  A sleeping bag is one of essential camp gars.  The price range is vary, some of inexpensive one could start around USD$20 in many discount stores, such as Walmart, Target and etc. in the US.  On the other hand, people can find much expensive one in many outdoor stores.  Some sleeping bags that are designed for very extreme use is some time more than USD$1,000!!  I guess many people who are looking for a sleeping bag for the first time might wonder what would be difference between them.

General guide line

There are a couple factors to select a sleeping bag depending on usage.

·         Packed size

·         Insulation (heat retention)

·         Insulation material (synthetic fill / down / etc.)

A major factor that impacts to the cost / price is insulation material.   Most of insulation material for sleeping bags for backpacking / climbing uses a special material that can pack smaller.  That is one of reason those sleeping bag is more expensive.  Down is one of the best insulation materials for sleeping bags.  Sleeping bag with down can pack very small and heat retention is very well.  There are different type of down and price is vary, especially one for very extreme condition like special winter climbing.  Those special purpose, people know what they need very well.  Since down is very good material for sleeping bags, people develop many synthetic material like down.  Nowadays, synthetic materials are getting improved and work very well.  However, the packed size is relatively a little bigger than one with down.  Typically, if heat retention performance is a similar, one with synthetic is less expensive than one with down.  However, the price for one that is typically used for a regular camping seasons, spring to fall, is getting very similar.  If people can spend around USD$150 ~ 200, then people can find a good sleeping bag. 

One of disadvantage on sleeping bags with down is heat retention in wet condition.  As long as down is dry, it is very good heat retention.  However, once it gets wet, the heat retention is getting worse significantly.  People who use a sleeping bag with down needs to have a good care to avoid it is getting wet.  Some of outer shell is using GoreTex that can breath, some people using a cover with GoreTex.  GoreTex or other breathable material helps to block moisture from the outside and take away moisture in side.

On the other hand synthetic material is much better heat retention performance even if it gets wet.  Also it is much easy to maintain after use.  Most of synthetic materials are washable.  Disadvantage for synthetic material is relatively heavier and packed size is a little bigger.

People need to know what environment they plan to use a sleeping bag.  Then they can narrow down which would be a good selection for them.

Here is some guide line to select a sleeping bag

Family Camper

This is a group that typically does camping next a car.  The packing size is usually not a concern.  Most of case, family camping is around summer season; therefore, one that is sold in a discount store is typically good enough.   If people want to save some packed space, people always can buy nice sleeping bag from outdoor store with some extra money.

 They are from a discount store (40F and 50F)

Backpack camper

Since people need to carry all gear with a backpack, the packing size and weight are one of key factors to select one.   People usually do not want to buy really cheap sleeping bag from discount stores.  They are usually really big packed size and heavy.  Most of cases people want to spend some extra money to buy a better sleeping bag.

Depending on a place, the heat retention can be various.  Especially, hikers / climbers who typically have camping in higher altitude, they probably need one that is capable around 0 degree C for summer camping.   People who need to sleep in snow; they probably need a really good sleeping bag.  However they must know what they need, therefore, I do not discuss / explain in this article.

 Down Sleeping bags

The left one is (30F/-1C, 300g down, total wait is about 800g)

Summary

I think most of back packers / hikers / climbers are usually experience people for camping.  They usually know what they need.   People who really need advice which sleeping bag they need to buy are really beginners.  The easiest way is probably just buying low cost sleeping bag from discount stores and try some easy camping first.  If people do not see any problem, that would be a good one for them.   If people feel cold, then those people may need a better sleeping bag.  If people think the packed size is too big, then those people need to look for a good sleeping bag from outdoor stores.   I think most of cases for family style camping; low cost sleeping bag is usually enough.  If people have a concern for temperature, just bring extra blanket or closes.