Above 63

They are easy and elegant if you know the trick. . .

I love gadgets. I love good design. One of the things about travel is that I get to see and use gadgets and products with good design. For instance I love the heated towel rack in my bathroom. We have one at home, but this one doubles as heat for the bathroom and is always on. I never have to remember to turn it on. Cool and elegant design doesn’t mean that the technological encounter is without incident. In fact sometimes it can be an embarrassing moment them makes it perfect for a post.

My apartment is less than 2 years old and is well equipped. Much of it comes out of an IKEA showroom. The cook top and oven have a European design and the flat control panel works well once you get the hang of it. I am thankful for growing up in the 1970s when we had to learn the metric system. The dishwasher controls are on the inside of the unit and it along with the refrigerator hide behind cabinet facing. All of this is easy–but overconfidence leads to a quick downfall.

Here is where it gets tricky

I am lucky to have an apartment with a washer and a dryer. I’m always amazed by a “small space laundry.” Many times the technology is different due to infrastructure limitations. Although I’m not keen on doing laundry at any time, the fact that I can do it at home is a big deal. The icons and dials were intuitive enough. I ran several loads of laundry until the day the dryer wouldn’t run for more than 1 minute. If you have a load of wet laundry on a Sunday night–this is not good news. Thank god for the internet and owners manuals online. Here is where I learned: my dryer has a water tank that needs to be emptied periodically. Who knew? I was good with cleaning the lint trap–now I’m good with emptying the water tank.

How do you open the door?

About two weeks after I moved in, the workmen were changing the door latch on the exterior doors to the building. I didn’t think anything of it until I was heading out that day and I realized that there was no moving handle that would operate a latch on the outside of the door. It seemed that the only way to open the door was with a fob of some kind (which I didn’t have). I was feeling a little trapped that day and was in communication with my landlord who was unaware of the shift. Later that day someone showed me the secret to opening the door. No need for a fob–just press the BIG button that says “open.” Elegant. Effective.

Your Turn to Figure it Out

I will leave you with a challenge that took me 2 weeks to figure out. This is the wall switch in my living room. Which of these switches is the dimmer and how does it work? Have fun.
Yes–I do know which one is the dimmer and how to operate it effectively.