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Busted Liftmaster

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Not part of the home renovation project, but our garage door motor didn’t survive the Rapture “end of the world” weekend. The older Liftmaster 2500 motor has “unique” parts that make repairs atypical. 🙁

Fortunately though, H & H Overhead Door of Oahu was able to fix it. Yay! But they really need to work on communicating better with their staff and customers. There were too many unacknowledged (but received) phone messages and an unacknowledged (but not received) phone message that resulted in a scheduling mixup.

Service guy: “Hello, I’m here to fix your garage door.”

Me: “Um, I’m at work. I left two messages saying I couldn’t be there today.”

The company did accommodate for this faux pax, but still not the best experience for customers. On Yelp, I had to soil their company’s 5-star ratings.

A Corian Counter Conundrum

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Was all set to buy DuPont Corian countertops for the bathrooms when I hit a snag. At Home Depot, there is a minimum counter purchase of $1000, meaning that for one type of countertop material, it needs to be at least $1000 for the store to accept your order. This applies in Hawaii where its Corian fabricator only sells full sheets and nothing smaller.

I wanted Burled Beach in one bathroom and Lava Rock in another. This means each countertop would have to exceed $1000. The smaller bathroom’s countertop did not past this threshold, so now I’m stuck.

There are some options.

  1. Stick with a single Corian color for both bathrooms so the minimum stays at $1000 for one type of material.
  2. Order additional countertops so the cost goes above $1000.
  3. Pick a different material type such as Staron that is available in half sheet sizes. Sadly Staron is not on sale this week at Home Depot.

Lowe’s isn’t much better, requiring 25 sq ft of countertops before they accept your order.

What to do?

Looking at Refrigerators

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So many refrigerators out there to look at. We’re going big and French. At least 28 cu ft with French doors. Seems like Samsung and LG own the top spots for French-door refrigerators according to my ghetto scouting at Costco.

Today’s Best Buy ad featured an interesting Samsung with a LCD display capable of running apps. Neat but too many things that could go wrong? Samsung – 28.0 Cu. Ft. French Door Refrigerator with LCD Touch Screen and Apps – Stainless-Steel, Model RF4289HARS. The reviews and ratings look iffy and strange.

But a very intriguing choice might be the LG behemoth known as LFX31925ST. Most refrigerators max out at 28 or 29 cubic feet of storage. But LG has figured out how to get 31 cu ft of space in the same physical footprint of a typical 28-cu ft model. So far, looks like only Home Depot carries this beast, but it hasn’t yet hit Hawaii. According to the Home Depot personnel, this LG should be available very soon. Our refrigerator is stocked with various kinds of milk, full fat, non fat, lactose free, so all this space is needed.

Hold up… seems like LG ain’t the only one with a 31-incher. Within the past 30 days, Sears released its Kenmore Elite 31 cu ft French door refrigerator. Wonder if it’s based on the LG model? Must investigate more since there’s a 30% off Kenmore appliance sale!

My Mini Design Center

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Still picking out flooring and countertops for our kitchen and bathroom renovation. Here’s my mini design center. Decisions, decisions…

Already locked into KraftMaid cabinets ordered through Home Depot. Liking Corian for the bathroom countertops and can’t compare the quality of Karndean vinyl. Those wooden planks in the center (cedar on the left and bamboo on the right) are actually vinyl.

Ridermakerz Comes to Hawaii!

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I thought Hawaii Five-0 could have provided the impetus for custom toy car shop, Ridemakerz, to open shop in Hawaii. Just imagine building and customizing your take on Danno’s Camaro or a throwback of Senior McGarrett’s Grand Marquis. But nope, not the case. Regardless Ridemakerz has made it to Hawaii thanks to Disney, Cars 2, and Toys R Us.

Part of the Cars 2 craziness, you can pick up a prepackaged starter kit or fully stocked kit and customize your own Cars vehicle. Unlike actual Ridemakerz stores, you don’t assemble your custom car in the store, taking away from the overall Ridemakerz experience. But I guess this is as good as it gets.

Old School Lightning McQueen Kit
Body Kits
Customize with accessories

Just don’t expect top quality plastics and fine details with the prepackaged kits. Obviously, the Ridemakerz stores have more selection of parts and availability of the remote control engine, but I think you still can construct a cool Cars car with these kits.

Cars 2 Craziness Begins

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Disney’s Cars 2 doesn’t come out until June 24, but the push of its products has already begun. There’s the Cars 2 Lego sets found at Toys R Us.

And special deals like getting a Cars 2 backpack after purchasing $10 worth of Cars 2 merchandise at Safeway.

If you can’t find the Cars Lego locally, Amazon has a wide range of sets.

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