My drum is warped

When I moved back to the southland last summer, I purchased a brand new washer and dryer. Gone were the twice-monthly trips to a friend's house to do my laundry. No more would I haul my laundry down three flights of stairs and then have to haul it back again. No more would I have to face the prospect of using the only "decent" laundromat in a town that requires a downward recalibration of all standards.

When the good folks from Lowe's delivered the appliances in the summer heat, they gasped as they reached my 3rd floor apartment. When one of them finally regained the ability to speak, he said, "What were you thinking?" I thought, "Well, I was thinking that at least I wouldn't have to carry my washer and dryer up 3 flights of stairs." I wisely decided to offer them some water for their trouble.

I was free from the burden of dreading laundry day. Now, I could wash clothes every day if I wanted to. All I had to do was walk 5 steps with my laundry basket and voila! Washer and dryer. Oh, the joy, the rapture! Since that first glorious week, all has been right on the laundry front - until about 2 months ago. One day, my dryer started to knock when I put in a heavy load (ie, towels and jeans). I decided to apply my "just ignore it and it will go away" strategy. I'm using the same strategy with my TV and getting similar results. The dryer knocking got worse, and the fuzziness on the TV is also not improving.

I consulted with a friend about both appliances and he reminded me of my saving grace for the dryer. A warranty. What a wonderful thing. I called Lowe's and sure enough, I have a warranty for an entire year. I described the problem and it's covered. Yay! Today, the repair guy came and diagonosed the problem: warped drum that has damaged the rollers and a pulley. Basically, they need to replace all of the insides of my dryer. UPS will deliver the parts to my house, and the repair guy will return next Friday to fix the dryer. I'm hoping that I'm not home when the UPS guy has to wrestle a dryer drum up 3 flights of stairs.

Next up: the TV. Unfortunately, it's way past its warranty, so I think the only solution is to purchase a new one. I really can't get a permanent job fast enough.