Author: Nicole

Panasonic Microwave Saga

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In February I noticed our microwave display had stuck pixels or whatever you call them on it.

I unplugged it and plugged it back in but it didn’t go away.

I kept an eye on it and within a few days it had gotten worse, so I contacted Panasonic.

Long story short, they told me I had to bring it into an authorized repair center, of which there are two in the entire state of Illinois. I guess I should consider myself lucky that due to where we live both were only 45 minutes away. Imagine if you lived downstate!

The one we were siding with was due east but it turns out the guy who does the repairs is technically retired so doesn’t keep a storefront and doesn’t work weekends. So we had to go with the one out west. We ended up dropping it off there on March 23rd.

Two weeks later they called to say they’d been using it, then unplugging it and plugging it back in for the last week but it wasn’t until the day before they called that the LCD weirdness finally showed up for them. According to them it wasn’t there after we had it unplugged for an extended period to bring it to them. They explained they don’t open up a unit until they can reproduce the error. So that’s all to say that now that they were finally able to see it, they would be opening it up and checking if maybe there was a loose connection or requires replacement parts and then they’d call with another update.

Another two weeks went by and the Panasonic authorized repair center called to say the issue wasn’t happening consistently, but they identified the part causing it. They checked all the parts places they’re authorized by Panasonic to use and none of them have that part. The repair place made it sound like Panasonic doesn’t make that part at all for repairs and suggested it’s because the model # is hard to locate and might be a Target exclusive.

I caught the fact that the woman who called said “they checked the parts sites last night”. Last night? But they should have opened up the unit and identified the part at least two weeks ago. I was so aggravated but said nothing.

We picked up the un-repaired microwave on April 25th and on the 29th I e-mailed Panasonic to ask them what they were going to do now to make things right. On May 6th they replied asking for a copy of the work order which I emailed them. They replied back a few days later stating they would be sending me a check and sure enough, they did. Not sure how they came to the total they did but by my calculations it was around $4 more than we paid, which isn’t enough compensation for all the time and gas we wasted, not to mention the aggravation going back and forth with them and their sad excuses for repair centers.

Needless to say, we will not be purchasing another Panasonic microwave, but will use this “free” one until we can no longer see the display.

Extended Weekend Recap 05/07-05/10

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Every year on the anniversary of Wookie’s passing Joe takes the day off work and we go birding because that’s what we did after leaving the vet without her on that horrible day. We couldn’t bare to go home to an empty house so we went to our happy place, the arboretum. This year because it landed on a Thursday Joe took Friday off too.

Since Thursday (05/07) was rather cold, we opted to do a Costco run around 11 am thinking it would be nice and calm. Boy were we wrong! It was pretty crowded, but we got what we came for and then stopped in the food court on the way out to get hot dogs. They also added chicken fingers to their menu and a caramel churro sundae so we decided to try those too. The chicken fingers were pretty good, as was the very generous container of dipping sauce that seemed like a cross between Raising Cane’s and Chick-fil-a sauce.

That sundae, though, wow!

I’m not big on churros or caramel but it was delicious.

Later in the afternoon we ran out to a nearby park to do a little birding before heading back home to wait for the Xfinity tech to work on the ongoing upload issues we’ve been having.

Friday (05/08) we decided to check out the DuPage Wildlife Conservation Center, formerly known as Willowbrook Wildlife Center. The new building is huge and you can peek in on some of the animal rehabilitation going on in there, including surgery, if you’re lucky. I miss when they had different birds, reptiles, and amphibians on display. Now it’s just very cold and lifeless with some educational materials which is rather sad. Sure, the former building was small and old but this big building doesn’t offer much to visitors and despite following them on Facebook I didn’t even know it finally opened in January after years of being under construction because they didn’t post about it.

The trail behind the building is still there but gone are the birds, foxes, and mammals that used to be on display. And I get it – that was probably stressful for them, so they have been moved away from the public eye. But did they have to take out the butterfly garden and koi pond too? The trail still offers something worth exploring, and it’s quiet back there, but I miss the old site.

Oh, and inside the building by the restrooms there is a box with a suggested donation of $5 per person. I thought about it while using the bathroom and decided against it since my property taxes, which have now exceeded $8000 annually, paid for that entire site. If we didn’t live in the same county then I would have left a donation.

Saturday (05/09) we finally visited Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary during spring migration!

We wanted to go during the week but the weather wasn’t cooperating. The nice thing about going into the city on the weekend is traffic is better.

We arrived at 6 am and headed to the pier by Montrose Beach first to see if we could spot a Piping Plover since they’re back for the season. To our delight, there was one running around the beach within camera range. They are so small and cute!

The lack of bands suggest she’s new to the area.

We could see a row of people on the opposite end of the cordoned off area probably trying to get a glimpse of the plovers as well but based on the fact that no one was taking any photos I don’t think they were in sight for them so we didn’t go over to that area. (We did end up over there right before we left the sanctuary a few hours later though to look for the burrowing owl that has been spotted in the grassy hill nearby but didn’t see it).

Once we headed into the sanctuary we could see it was busy. It only got more crowded as the morning went on! That being said, everyone was very quiet and respectful. We even had a nice conversation with one of our fellow birders while watching various warblers flit around the tree canopy by the magic hedge area.

Had we visited on a weekday, our next stop would have been the zoo, but we decided to skip it. We knew it would be packed on a Saturday, especially with how beautiful the weather was.

We stopped at Trailside Museum for a short walk around the nature center building to look at the bird feeders and see if there were any nearby places to grab lunch that weren’t as chaotic as the Cava I had bookmarked, but we didn’t find anything so we headed home where I made some crispy tacos instead.

Montrose Point Statistics

Photos taken: 662
Photos immediately deleted: 416
Lifers: 3 (piping plover, backburnian warbler, dunlin)

Species seen, with photos (12)
American redstart
Black and white warbler
Blackburnian warbler
Black-capped chickadee
Black-throated green warbler
Blue-gray gnatcatcher
Common Grackle
Dunlin
Piping Plover
Ruby crowned kinglet
Warbling vireo
White-crowed sparrow
Yellow-rumped warbler

Without photos (8)
American goldfinch
American robin
Common Yellowthroat
Gulls
Flycatcher – exact unknown (technically got very bad photos)
Killdeer
Northern cardinal
Palm warbler
Spotted sandpiper
Yellow Warbler

Dis-honorable mentions, just because I dislike these birds (2)
Canada goose
Red-winged blackbird

Sunday (05/10) after grabbing groceries from Aldi we stopped at ActiviTea so I could try their cookie butter iced latte.

I have to say, wasn’t impressed. 7 Brew is much better, and the cost is pretty comparable.

Update: I later learned ActiviTea uses Monin syrups. 7 Brew uses a combination of Torani syrups to achieve the cookie butter flavor, which I wish I had known before ordering the cookie butter from Monin because it sucks. I usually like all the flavors I order from them but that one is awful.

Later in the day we went to Lincoln Marsh.

Weekend Recap 05/02-05/03

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Saturday (05/02) we went to ABT to look at binoculars. I had my sights on the Nikon Prostaff P3 10×42 ($160 retail) which were ok. When I asked to try the 8×42 version, the employee mistakenly handed me the Nikon Monarch M5 8×42 ($340 retail) instead and I fell in love with them.

Not one to buy something on a whim, I took his business card so I could go home and do more research. That’s when I learned about a term called called eye relief and how this affects whether you can see through a pair of binoculars with glasses on. I always have to take mine off for all the binoculars we own, but the pair I’m thinking of getting don’t require that which is a real plus. Not only that, but the hinge bends close enough to accommodate my close-set eyes. The glass is a higher quality too so everything was brighter and crisper even though the magnification was less. That makes them heavier, though, which is a trade-off. I’m still thinking about whether I want to buy them or look at more binoculars first, but it’s hard finding places that have them on display to try. ABT only had a few and they were all Nikon.

(Update: a month later they are selling for $40 less).

After ABT we walked around the nearby River Trail Nature Center before making a stop at McDonald’s to pick up some chocolate chip cookies for our friend, K, who we were visiting for the afternoon.

Joe replaced her patio door screen and helped her mount a new outdoor camera. We had lunch from a Thai place.

Sunday (05/03) I bought three new hand soaps from Woodman’s. I don’t want to use Bath & Body Works soaps anymore so I’m phasing them out. Not only are they expensive, but their bottles tip over too easily.

The Softsoap ones were inspired by K; she had both scents in her house and I really liked them both. Mrs. Meyers is a brand I’ve seen a lot of people say they like. They had multiple scents and the honeysuckle smelled the best. They have an apple one I liked too but I will save that for the fall.

Too Good To Go

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Too Good To Go is a service that was created to suddenly prevent food waste. Restaurants and gas stations offer surprise bags – for a pre-paid price you get items nearing expiration (but not yet expired). Usually at places like gas stations it will specify whether it’s a general surprise bag which can contain any consumable they sell or a baked goods surprise bag which could include muffins, cookies, croissants, etc.

All that to say we got a general surprise bag from a gas station recently that was actually very good for $4. Inside was a yogurt parfait, fresh fruit, two muffins, a stuffed croissant, and some Kraft mac and cheese.

This morning we stopped at Speedway to pick up a baked goods surprise bag for $4. First off, it wasn’t ready so we had to wait while they put it together. When it was handed to me I could see through the bag it had a can of Pringles and some candy in it. I pointed out it was supposed to be a baked goods surprise bag and the lady started arguing with me, saying it can include anything. I replied, “no, that would be the regular surprise bag”. I could tell the guy working the counter was looking at her sideways. She was treating ME like I didn’t know what I was talking about when that was HER. I even pointed out in the app it said “baked goods” and she told me they don’t sell cooking items, as if I was asking her for flour and sugar to bake a cake or something! Finally she threw in two packages of mini donuts off a nearby rack to get me to leave.

I got home and opened the bag.

None of the stuff was expiring anytime soon except one of the peanut butter cups which was over a month past expiration. What that means to me is they aren’t following the spirit of the app and are merely trying to pawn off their poor selling items.

Those egg shaped items are bath bombs, by the way. The lady who I dealt with didn’t seem too bright so I wouldn’t be surprised if she thought they were candy due to their shape.

When I got home I looked closer at the baked goods description and it literally said it would include donuts. Wish I had been able to pull that up to show them in store but I was frazzled from being admonished by that stupid woman.

Needless to say I gave them a 1 star rating in the app and explained why. I won’t ever be going inside that Speedway again anyway – it was very dirty and disorganized. Their entire hot food area was completely empty except for some old slices of pizza. No wonder we were the only customers.

April 2026 Recap

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04/02 (Thu)
Took the coins we’ve been collecting for years to US Bank to be deposited into our account. I swear their counting machine is programmed to rip people off because I meticulously counted everything multiple times and came to a total of $163.04 but they claimed I gave them $162.55, thus stealing $.49. It didn’t help that when I handed over the coins, which I had placed into baggies which were inside a plastic container, the doofus lifted the baggie and proceeded to dump coins all over the floor. I wish they weren’t the only place to cash in coins without paying a fee. I will need to make a point of bringing them in more often so I can ensure they aren’t ripping us off.

04/05 (Sun) – Easter

04/09 (Thu)
At the marsh I was putting an old pair of binoculars that used to belong to my late uncle around my neck when I remarked to Joe “I really need to get a more comfortable strap for these already”. Mere seconds later the universe said “I hear you”, the strap broke, and they tumbled to the ground! Luckily they didn’t break and only got a little scuffed up. I knew I had to order a strap ASAP.

Update: I didn’t like anything for sale because most of them are “quick release” and I worry the plastic will break and they’ll get damaged. Then I remembered I had an older Canon Digital SLR camera in storage, so I removed the strap and Joe put it on the binoculars.

Problem solved at zero cost.

04/11-04/12 – Weekend Recap

04/15 (Wed)
Picked up my new glasses from LensCrafters. I opted to have new lenses put into my existing frames with them because they ordered the lenses and then cut them right there when they came in, so I was only without my frames for an hour.

04/17-04/19 – Extended Weekend Recap

04/21 (Tue)
There’s a football some kids were playing with a month or so ago that they left outside. With the high winds it got blown over to our side of the shared courtyard and has sat there ever since. I got sick of looking at it so I moved it to the side of the courtyard where all the kids live since I’m not sure who owns it. I put it in spot where a tree would obscure my sight, or so I thought. I miscalculated the angle so unfortunately I can still see it. (As of May 6th it’s still there).

04/22 (Wed)
Installed I-PASS stickers, which I ordered online and came in the mail, on both our cars. My responder was never mounted to the windshield and after last month’s incident, I was tired of dealing with it. With the stickers we will never have to worry about a missed toll again.

04/23 (Thu)
Tried recycling our dead batteries at Home Depot but they wouldn’t accept them, so we took them to Lowe’s. They wouldn’t take them either! This is despite a website that claimed both would. Very annoying! But we were rewarded for our effort by discovering a Salvadorian food truck in the parking lot of Lowe’s. Their food became our delicious dinner.

04/24 (Fri)
Went to Armstrong Park for the first time this year. Was surprised to see the area across from Klein Creek was completely dry. After all the rain we’ve had not only did I expect to see water there, but it should have been very high. We walked over to Balog Island to see the returning Purple Martins, although I only saw two.

Maybe they were the early arrivals. We saw a few sandpipers by Lake George as well.

We also went across the creek by the library to explore the wooded area since there’s a little through the trees but no birds were seen there at all.

I hate what they did to that park when they removed all the trees along the creek. We used to see much more wildlife over there.

04/25 (Sat)
We picked up our microwave from the repair shop (I’ll need to construct an entry about that whenever the saga ends since it wasn’t fixed even though they had it a month) and stopped at Muirhead Springs on the way home. We saw two sparrows that only grace us with their presence for a limited time every year.

This one is a Savannah Sparrow. I’ve only seen one once before and it was at the same place!

Afterwards we visited Fermilab but despite everyone else seeing cool birds we never do. It’s very frustrating and I low-key hate that place now.

We decided to get some pizza for lunch but decided to stop at Brown’s Chicken first to pickup some breaded mushrooms after reading on Reddit earlier the week how good they are. They did not disappoint! And this is coming from someone who doesn’t love mushrooms, although lately they’ve been growing on me… you could say like a fungus. ;)

04/26 (Sun)
Joe installed two shelves in the office so we can create a little memorial for Wookie on one and place some pop culture stuff on the other.

Notable media this month:

Dexter: Resurrection – We’re behind in watching this continuation of Dexter: New Blood; I snagged the DVD from the library and we blew through the entire season quickly. I really enjoyed it compared to New Blood because Harrison wasn’t nearly as annoying, plus Peter Dinklage’s character was perfection. There were quite a few celebrities in the cast too. I cannot wait until season two, even though I’m disappointed that they chose to end Original Sin in favor of this. That too was so good! If I had to rank all iterations of Dexter in order of best to worst, it would look like this:
Dexter
Dexter: Resurrection
Dexter: Original Sin
Dexter: New Blood

Anaconda – Jack Black and Paul Rudd together in a movie? Yes please! Was it the best comedy I’ve seen? No. Was it better than most? Yes! There was one scene in particular closer to the end that had us rolling.

Senseless – Nothing compares to a 90s comedy in my eyes. Even when they aren’t that good, they’re still interesting and funny in parts. This stars Marlon Wayons and David Spade. I don’t remember hearing anything about it back then but we were browsing Roku live channels and this came on. That’s one thing you can’t get with streaming – you never stumble upon something, but have to be intentional with what you watch.

Eternity – When I read the premise of this movie I thought it was interesting:

In an afterlife where souls have one week to decide where to spend eternity, Joan is faced with the impossible choice between the man she spent her life with and her first love, who died young and has waited decades for her to arrive.

I wish they had explored the whole reason behind why souls had to pick a very specific eternity without the option to change their mind but overall it was very good, even more so than I was expecting. While they inexplicitly put her far down on the cast list despite being a major character, Da’Vine Joy Randolph was fantastic and so funny. I hope to see her in more films.

Send Help – You’ve never seen Rachel McAdams in a role like this and I was all for it! This was quite entertaining and kept changing direction just when you thought you knew what was going to happen. I made the mistake of reading user reviews on IMDb and woo boy, people really can’t just say “hey, this wasn’t for me”. Oh no, it’s like “this is dumb because they did this or that for mere shock value”. Personally, I think it was a unique thriller and I enjoyed it.