Monday Morning Coffee:

On Friday the washing machine stopped working.  While not the end of the world and certainly less important than what happened in Colorado, it was a "spot of bother".  After mopping up the water on the floor- along with some paint that was loose - called the repair folks.   Good people, they appeared within the hour!  Now that's service.  After removing the front cover and checking the inside, the response was, cost more to repair than to replace.

So- replace was the next step.  Spoke - on the phone - with the head repair person and after some suggestions ordered a replacement to be delivered on Saturday.  A good reason to deal with local folks and not the big box stores.  In the short/long run it's service that counts.

Now this machine was new in 2003.  This means that it lasted about nine years.  This got me to thinking about the working life of other items - in particular camera bodies.

Now the oldest film camera body - Minolta CLE - dates from 1980.  That makes it over 30 years and still working as when new.  Works for me!

The oldest digital camera bodies would be a tie.  The Nikon D2X and the Epson DR-1 date from 2004.  Only 8 years, however electronic objects usually have a shorter lifespan.  They usually are outdated in something like 18 months.  While both continue to perform as they did when new, they are dated.  They work just fine for my subject matter and way of working and see no need to replace/update them.

The cameras that I have lately been using most often - Panasonic DMC G3 - were introduced in 2011 and have been replaced by a newer udated version - Panasonic DMC G5.  The G3's didn't last but a year before being retired by the manufacturer.  Again - the G3's work for me.  See no need to replace them.

Will stop there.  Don't want to think about TV's, computers, printers and scanners.  All electronic tools that are still performing well for my purposes.  The all have lasted longer than the usual 18 months, may they continue so.

Enough repair/replace/update conversation.  Will leave with a preview of comming attractions.

                        Kenton, Ohio.