Ugh. I'm tired of seeing political advertisements on television. The obvious answer is to stop watching television, but I like to have it in the background while I get chores done around the house. It's either television or talk-radio, and my wife can't stand listening to talk-radio, so as a compromise, we leave the television on, except when we're eating together.

In the past, political ads didn't bother me, because I was mildly interested to hear the kind of spin politicians put on the issues they supported. This year, however, every political ad is a smear ad, regardless of political affiliciation. "So-and-so supports such-and-such, and that's bad for you. That's bad for America." Bleah. Nobody likes folks preaching at them, much less from politicians. Garbage.

Speaking of garbage, my wife informed me today that the garbage disposal wasn't working. I figured it would be an easy fix, like last time I had to work on it (last year, I jammed a bunch of cilantro down the drain; that didn't work as planned), but no such luck. After pushing the breaker-button to reset the motor, and after turning the flywheel from the bottom with an oversized screw-driver, the garbage disposal was still humming. Sucks.

Only one thing to do: take my garage disposal apart.

Apparently, my garbage disposal is a Badger 5, which touts a 1/2hp, 6.9amp motor. That's what the label says, anyway.



And this is the Badger 5 on top of the sink.



This is down the Badger's throat, without the rubber cover. Delicious.



How delicious? THIS delicious.



It turns out that even after taking the Badger apart, the bolt that holds the top plate onto the motor was so rusted and crusty that there was no way to get it off. But I tried anyway.



So... I couldn't get it apart, and after putting it back together and turning it on, nothing changed. It just hums.

I got on eBay to see if I could find a replacement, since I'm sure that this garbage disposal is as old as this house... meaning that it's been through about 17 years of work. It turns out that a brand new Badger 5 can be found on eBay for about $80, shipped. Not a bad deal... but after hunting around a little longer, I found the Badger 1, the older model, but still brand new and in a box for just $50.



The Badger 1 has a 1/3hp, 6.7amp motor... which isn't that much different than the Badger 5. We'll see. A new Badger 1 might actually be better than my 17-year old Badger 5, so maybe I came out better anyway. Or maybe it'll be awful and I'll regret it. I'll be sure to post about it once it's delivered and I install it.


So yeah. Garbage.

I'm jovial_cynic, and I endorse this message.