This and That

I have a routine when I arrive at a new city: find a Starbucks, find a grocery store, find the casino, and find the Laundromat. Yesterday, I finally found a suitable Laundromat.

After a Rangers game last week, I saw a Laundromat on Bell Road as I was driving back to Scottsdale. I pulled in, washed my clothes, then left in a hurry because I feared for my life. The location of this particular place was a little creepy. In fact, I left in such a hurry I left behind a load of wash which I didn't discover missing until three days later.

Finding a clean, safe, friendly Laundromat is key to survival on the road. Most wash-shops won't be located near the places I hangout. The location for the local Laundromat is usually in the lower economic strata of the community, thus can be in some creepy parts of town. This is not always the case, I have found very nice places in safer parts of town.

Northern Scottsdale is an economically upscale area, and I knew I would have to drive outside of the community and find a Laundromat elsewhere. Yesterday I found a nice enough place, just off Scottsdale Ave. south of Old Town. The one problem I had: this place uses a card system instead of quarters. You buy a plastic card for 50 cents, then add money to the card in an ATM-like machine. Each washer and dryer has a card slot.

One tip for searching for Laundromats: look around the local college or university. A Laundromat is usually near a campus for college students and these locations are ususally cleaner and safer than your average wash-shop.

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A local Phoenix-area man was upset with Apple, Inc. because his laptop went belly-up. Apple said he spilled something on it, so it's not covered under his extended warranty. He told them he didn't spill anything on it. They refused to fix for less than $780. So he got his message across to them via YouTube and a sledge hammer.

After over 350,000 views, Apple replaced his laptop and apologized. See the clip below.




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Tomorrow I have another Rangers game in Surprise, then I'm driving back to Tucson for a couple of days to check on things there. I have a mailbox there at the UPS store, and I'll keep it for a while. My friends there will keep an eye out for important mail and will forward it to me. Once I'm back in Scottsdale it will only be a few days before I head west for southern California.