Phew… Featured photo is of the interior of the new fridge!

This week has been somewhat momentous in our household. We’ve made a couple of significant upgrades to certain essential and expensive electronic devices in our home.

On Monday, I got a brand new iMac desktop computer. I hadn’t really been planning to buy one in July, but my old computer was simply too full of data to use efficiently. It was driving me crazy, and I was wasting a lot of time finding things to delete so I’d have room for more stuff.

I bought the old computer in February 2023, so it’s disappointing that I needed to replace it so soon. But, in fairness, I am a power user, especially since I started making song parody videos, and I didn’t spring for generous storage or RAM when I bought that computer. This time, I decided to upgrade both RAM and storage, so this machine should be good for awhile.

I made my decision to upgrade about ten days ago, when I spent a couple of hours trying to find raw video footage I could part with so I could run Apple’s updates. It took FOREVER to finally hit that sweet spot of 14 GB available. And yes, I do have an external drive, but a lot of the stuff taking up space is stuff I can’t really put on an external drive.

I ordered the new computer on Monday morning, July 6th, and it arrived at about 11:30 AM on July 13th. It took the rest of the day to set it up, but it now feels both like I’ve really upped my game, and never stopped using the old computer. I have a lot more room on this new computer, but thanks to the migration assistant on Apple, it’s pretty easy to move everything. So I have pretty much all of my stuff from the old computer, and lots more room to grow on the new computer.

The physical setting up, though, was a bit of a pain. I bought a VESA arm for the last computer, because somehow I ended up ordering a VESA configuration. I didn’t even know what a VESA arm was when I got my computer with no stand! Now, after three years of using a VESA set up, I realize that I prefer it to the stand. For one thing, it takes up less space and gives me more room to put my crap. For another, it makes the display easier to adjust.

However, I had forgotten how the arm works, and didn’t realize that all you have to do is push on it to manipulate it. So I probably spent about 90 minutes trying to figure that out… And then there was the actual physical strength needed to hang the screen on the arm. It was a bit awkward and taxing. But… I did it! I only spent a few minutes wishing I’d opted for the stand, instead of the VESA arm.

Below are a couple of pictures of the new computer, as well as the VESA back. I’d take a photo of the computer on the arm, but it looks the same as the old one did.

The next big upgrade this week was our refrigerator. If you read this blog regularly, or you follow me on social media, you might know that on June 5, 2026, our landlord’s fridge finally died on us. I wrote about it here.

That old fridge, which was stowed inconspicuously in a cabinet, needed to croak. It was sitting on a rotting platform that needed to be repaired, but it was also just old and obsolete. Nevertheless, when it died, things became very inconvenient for us.

Fortunately, we did have a refrigerator that we bought when we moved to Jettingen in 2014. It’s not a great fridge, nor is it very big, but it was able to handle full refrigeration duties while our landlord tracked down our new refrigerator. We had false hopes in late June, when a fridge was brought to us, but our landlord rejected it because of a cosmetic defect. Plus, the platform needed to be repaired.

Last week, a couple of handymen came over and made the new platform. You can see the progression in the photos…

All week, we’ve had an empty space where the fridge usually goes. Then yesterday, a different appliance vendor brought us a brand new Liebherr refrigerator that would fit in that space. It cost about 2100 euros, and it’s a big improvement over the last fridge. However, I think the high cost comes from it being able to fit in a cupboard, rather than it having a lot of features. It doesn’t have an ice maker or a water line, for instance, for dispensing cold water. But then, the fridge is not actually based near a water source, anyway.

Below are a few photos of the new fridge. It has a touch screen that allows it to be turned on or off, special modes for different occasions, and it can be connected to the Internet. Also, if you leave the door open too long, the lights flash at you, and you get a little red nastygram that orders you to shut the door!

I was wearing my TRUMP SUCKS t-shirt when the delivery guys came. I think they got a kick out of it. I heard them talking to the landlord about it… and the landlord also talked to me about “our president”… a man I don’t wish to claim as a leader.

They told me not to turn on the fridge for 24 hours, but I lasted about four hours before I turned it on. The 24 hour rule comes from the risk of the fridge lying on its side and not having the oils properly circulating in the compressor. Turning on the fridge too soon can lead to damage to the machine. But I don’t think this fridge was stored on its side or back. It definitely wasn’t delivered that way, and was already standing upright for some time before it got to us. So I turned it on, and later, the landlord saw Bill and asked if it was working okay. This morning, it was working fine, so I think I made the right call.

The delivery guys also warned me about the age of the cupboard, and that it wasn’t quite perfect anymore, due to “warping”. Because of the warping, the door might not close properly. I know… but it’s not my kitchen set up. It is an old set up that needs replacing, but I’m not sure the landlord is going to want to do that if the cupboards have now gone out of style. He just spent 2100 euros on this new fridge!

For those who don’t know… in many German rentals, people buy their own kitchen set ups and install them when they move into the house or apartment. This house came with a setup already installed, but it’s pretty old and needs to be updated.

We’re so grateful to have a fridge in the kitchen again. It’s a real pain to have to go up and down a flight of stairs to get food and drinks. However, Bill has admitted that doing that has helped him get his steps in this month… He’s also been sick, though, so the extra steps were especially vexing.

Our landlord apologized that it took so long to get the new fridge. I assured him it was okay, and of course he can’t control how long these things take. I’m just glad he didn’t yell at me when the fridge finally gave up the ghost. I fear that’s what would have happened in Jettingen. I know we pay a lot more to live in this house, but it’s worth every euro cent, simply because the landlord doesn’t act like a tyrranical asshole.

Tonight, we’ll have a wine stand, and I think Bill will want to go, if it’s not raining. We sure could use the rain! But it’s always fun to drink wine with the locals. And maybe this weekend, we’ll go out and have a proper celebration of Bill’s birthday, now that he’s not so sick.