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| I think Cowboy and Miss K have been laughing at me all this time. |
Say El, wanted to thank you for something I don't know you realize you did.
Years ago when you had just split from your husband and were in that house you bought, you had an electrical box that didn't work. You told me you took off the face plate, fished around and fixed it. It made you feel empowered to do that. I have always remembered it, and my boys have been really good at helping me learn to fish as well, but you know our generation of women: raised to be insecure about our ability to fix things without a man to help.
I bought a treadmill in 2000 in eastern Colorado. Moved it to Denver, then San Francisco, then Canada. A basic fold up model small enough to fit in my car and not too heavy. Cost me $188 at SuperWalMart.
When I got laid off in 09, it stopped working, first trouble I'd had with it. A friend got a guy to come in and he got it working again. A few months later I stepped on the belt and the frame at the same time, stopping the belt. The motor stopped dead. I tried to get that guy to come back. He just wouldn't. I asked folks to help, including my engineer son, a friend who owns the Esso station, looked in the phone book where no one advertises they fix small motors, talked to the manufacturer, not that they make it anymore but they still service it, but nobody would or could help. I thought about buying a new motor for $250, but the motor frankly looked fine to me - how could I tell I needed a new motor? I finally gave up and looked on Craigslist for a used treadmill since the price was now in the high hundreds and thousands. I actually got one in my car, but it stuck out three inches and I couldn't close the trunk (it also took three of us to move it, so not exactly portable) - in short I have been trying to get that treadmill fixed or replaced for going on two years.
Yesterday, for some reason, I got tired of it being a big metal coat rack. I'd just talked to the electrician my landlord has working on the extension he's making to the house (and my place, I get another room!) I told him about the treadmill and he wouldn't have anything to do with it. Suggested I ask the place I bought it - same old, same old.
Now I'd had the cover off before. Looked at it. Found a reset switch which I thought was frozen since I couldn't get it to move. It was a mysterious, intimidating mix of circuit board, motor and pulley to me.
Yesterday, I found the manual on line. Read it. It showed a graphic of the reset switch. I pulled the cover off and looked. The button was reset, not tripped or frozen. Hummmm. I reached underneath the frame and felt the wires it was attached to. Wiggled em. Moved the cord next to it. Blew out the dust. Turned it on.
It worked.
And while I was at it, the dashboard hadn't worked since I got here. The manual had a hazy explanation of what to do if it didn't work involving the pulley, a magnet and a switch that I would have to move closer to the magnet. I couldn't picture where it was on the diagram, but figured what they hey, in for a penny...so I looked, found the magnet, moved the switch and Bingo! The dashboard now works, too.
OMG. I gotta tell you, El, I've just won the lottery. The confidence that gave me is just amazing. I'm not opening a fixit shop or anything, but anything that goes wrong around here will get looked at thoroughly, wires wiggled, whatever, before I give up on it. That kind of goes for life, too. I don't know why no one else would wiggle the wires, but I right now I'm damn glad they didn't!
Thank you.
Your friend, T
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