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: Adventures in a Strange and Distant Land

The Fridge That Represents America

Last week I said that I would not talk about our fridge. This week, though, I will. Not because I have nothing else to talk about, but because I have discovered deeper meaning in the story. Deeper meaning into the true spirit of America, which, if anyone even remembers, was the whole point of this blog to begin with.

Sometime last week I read some tips on how to make your home more energy efficent, one of which was to make sure the seal on your fridge door is tight so that the cold air wont escape. So, naturally, I go home and check our fridge and discover that the seal on our freezer door was loose enough to allow cold air to seep out. I the hope that the management would care enough about my energy efficiency to perhaps fix my fridge, I called them to my place to check it out. And they did come. The maintenance guys agreed that the seal was loose, so decided to fix it BY GIVING US A NEW FRIDGE! And, looking back, when our dishwasher's door-latch broke, they got us a whole new dishwasher! Is this how you all do things here in America? If any little (and I assume easily fixable/replaceable) part of a machine breaks, scrap the whole thing and buy an new one?! Should I stop washing dishes, and instead buy a new set after every meal? My car is due for an oil change, should I just get a new one instead?

I guess my complex might be trying to replace all the old appliances with new ones (in which case, we should make up some problem with our stove), but I like to think it is America's consumer culture that is fueling this amazing juggernaut of waste.

Oh America...

And in completely unrelated news, as I am writing this post, I'm listening to a live Broken Social Scene concert on npr.com. I mentioned a little while ago about how the Stars Concert we attended was available on the website, and now I will go the next step and recommend you (nay - command you) to subscribe the the "All Songs Considered Concert Series" Podcast, where you can download full concerts from artists like The Arcade Fire, Spoon, The New Pornographers, Animal Collective, as well as the two previously mentioned shows. Pretty Cool, Eh? (I had to throw in that 'Eh' to remind myself that I am still a Canadian)

Full post as published by Adventures in a Strange and Distant Land on November 18, 2007 (boomark / email).