It Was a Little Embarrassing

A couple of years ago my garage door just would not close.  There didn’t seem to be any obstruction and the sensors that detect an object in the way were not malfunctioning.  So I called up the local garage door company.  I have a phone in the garage so as I talked to the service guy I ran the door.  He immediately asked if I had a Craftsman door opener.  They are so distinctively noisy that he could identify it over the phone.  That was embarrassing.

I solved the problem by shaving off some of the trim around the door.  The weather had gotten humid enough to swell the wood to the point of interference.   But I still had that Craftsman door opener that vibrated half the house when ever I used it.

Last summer I helped out a friend of mine with the purchase of a couple of laptop computers.  I had been on him for years to get a PC, high speed Internet, and email so we could communicate more easily.  Finally with his new job he was going to get a laptop for himself and his boss.  I worked out a configuration as well as a discount for them. 

They were absolutely delighted with the ThinkPads.  His boss thanked me with a new garage door opener since they were the local Overhead Door franchise.   I brought it home and disconnected the old opener.   In a couple of hours I had removed the old opener and installed the new one.  The difference was incredible.  The new one was so quiet that I could actually hear the wheels squeak as they rolled along the tracks.

I couldn’t believe that I had put up with the Craftman for so long.  I felt like I had a new garage.  What to do next?