Release of the Mueller Report would likely lead House Democrats to impeach Trump

President Trump just manages to cover his undersized junk with Attorney General William Barr's suspicious 4-page summary of the Mueller Report, according to this cartoon by R.J. Matson of Roll Call. You can find more cartoons on PoliticalCartoons.com and at The Cagle Post.

Last week's top read in The New York Times was a story reporting the special counsel's report was more damaging for Trump than first indicated.

A cartoon from Joe Heller, who was the political cartoonist for the Green Bay Press Gazette in Wisconsin from 1985 to 2013, when he was laid off by the Gannett Co. "My hands are clean," Trump says weakly.

The special counsel's investigators had already written multiple summaries of the report, but the office didn't ask AG William Barr to release them.

Cartoonist Kevin Siers of The Charlotte Observer lampooning the conclusion of Attorney General William Barr, who essentially reduced the nearly 400-page Mueller Report to two words, "Not guilty."

The full report is believed to examine President Trump's attempts to thwart the investigation of Russian interference in the presidential election.

Cartoonist Steve Sack of the Minneapolis Star Tribune has Attorney General William Barr muting the report: "Exzzzzonerate."

After Robert Mueller made no judgment on obstruction, Barr stepped in to declare that he himself had cleared Trump of wrongdoing.

Cartoonist Jeff Darcy imagines the Mueller Team's summary of Barr's 4-page summary.

From shit to ritz, are these really the 'best' hamburgers in all of Bergen County, N.J.?

LESS IS MORE: A Pacific Salmon Burger and a Dr. Praeger's California Veggie Burger, both from Costco Wholesale, are all the burger I need. I slipped them into a warm Syrian pocket bread with a slice of reduced fat Swiss Cheese, organic greens, pesto and Dijon mustard, and had Costco's Ultimate Fish Stick and a Campari tomato on the side.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- With few exceptions, newspapers, magazines, morning TV shows and other media have done a great job of hiding the secrets of how food is churned out on America's industrial farms.

One of the darkest chapters involves beef, according to Consumer Reports, The New York Times and a few others.

But that doesn't stop The Record of Woodland Park, its affiliated (201) magazine and others from grinding out article after article on the 5, 10, 15 "best" burgers and hot dogs, usually made with mystery meat raised on harmful antibiotics and growth hormones.

I recall the shock I felt when Consumer Reports magazine reported in 2015:

Unlike grass-fed cattle, "in the feedlot, corn and soy are the primary foods, but conventional cows also may be fed candy, chicken-coop waste [including feces], and the slaughterhouse remains of pigs and chickens."

"They also may be given plastic pellets, which are used as a substitute for the fiber they'd normally get from grazing on grass," the magazine said.

Harmful antibiotics

Why should you be concerned whether the 100% beef hamburger you love came from an industrial farm?

"Many factory farms use and abuse antibiotics," according to Consumers Union, the policy and action division of Consumer Reports magazine.

"Here is why this is so dangerous: 70 percent of the most important antibiotics -- the ones we need to survive deadly illnesses -- are used on animals instead of people in the U.S.

"Overabusing antibiotics accelerates the process of antibiotic resistance. Already, more than 23,000 people die each year from antibiotic-resistant superbugs," Consumers Union said in 2017.

FREAKY: Blake Horton, described as an "intermittent faster," is the cover model for (201) magazine's April 2019 issue. He was photographed at an Englewood restaurant after he "hadn't eaten in 18 hours." That's weird.

(201) magazine

On more than a dozen pages in the April 2019 issue of (201) magazine, Esther Davidowitz and Rebecca King engage in the hard sell on "BERGEN'S BEST BURGERS" (Page 50).

Davidowitz is the food editor and King a food writer at The Record, my local daily newspaper, and on North Jersey.com, and their constant nagging may have something to do with why readership has plummeted since Gannett Co. took over in 2016.

On Pages 50-58 of the magazine, readers find close-up photos of the 15 so-called best burgers and the places that serve them, including a double cheeseburger from White Manna in Hackensack I don't hesitate to call shit.

I read and searched, but could find no mention of whether any of the 15 are made with grass-fed beef raised without harmful antibiotics and other nasty stuff.

Veggie burgers, more

But just when you think that's all there is, Davidowitz throws a few morsels to people like me who don't eat meat with photos and descriptions of three veggie burgers.

Then, to really confuse matters, that's followed with a two-page feature on "the man behind North Jersey's best burger," Steve Chrisomalis Jr., owner of Steve's Burgers in Garfield.

His burger was shown among the original 15 on Pages 50-58, but not identified as best of the best.

There's more

If you don't have enough heartburn, that's followed by another feature on Chef Peter Loria, identified as the man who makes "Bergen's most gourmet burger," The Matisse Burger (with sirloin, short rib and brisket).

Let's call it the ritz. Still, that burger is omitted on the pages describing the original 15.

And that's not all.

On Pages 92-93, in Travel, Davidowitz describes a baker's dozen of burgers she claims are "worth the drive ... calories ...and grease stains" -- available as close as Hawthorne and as far away as Morristown.

One served in Manhattan is made with sirloin stuffed with foie gras and truffles for $35.

All I can say is I'm glad I long ago stopped eating beef and poultry, and now focus on a diet of wild seafood, whole grains, vegetables and fruit.

I got agita just looking at all that beef, bacon, full-fat cheese and greasy fries.

The Record and NorthJersey.com lose even more readers in 2018, Gannett says

The Record of Woodland Park and the Hackensack Chronicle, a free weekly that no longer has its own staff, and reprints stories and photos from the daily newspaper. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Readers are fleeing The Record of Woodland Park and NorthJersey.com as if they were a sinking ship.

As of Dec. 31, 2018, daily circulation of The Record was 68,630, compared to 91,032 at the end of 2017.

The numbers include visitors to The Record's digital news site, NorthJersey.com, Gannett said in its 2018 Annual Report.

Sunday readership was 90,352, including visitors to NorthJersey.com, compared to 97,149 at the end of 2017.

That's a loss of 22,402 readers daily and 6,797 readers on Sunday in 2018.

'Bergen, N.J.'

The Record is listed 8th among Gannett's "major publications and their affiliated digital platforms." 

That means the once-great local daily newspaper published in Hackensack is ahead (in daily readers) of only The Des Moines Register and the Democrat and Chronicle of Rochester, N.Y., but behind both in Sunday circulation.

The annual report lists the location of The Record as "Bergen, New Jersey."

Under bylines in the print edition, The Record is referred to as "North Jersey Record."

End of 2016

At the end of 2016, readership of The Record and NorthJersey.com was 235,681 daily and 147,609 on Sundays, according to the 2016 Annual Report issued by Gannett, the nation's largest newspaper chain.

Gannett bought North Jersey Media Group from the Borg family in July 2016 for $39.3 million in cash.

NJMG published The Record, Herald News, (201) magazine, North Jersey.com and about 50 weeklies.

Layoffs

More than 350 NJMG employees were laid off eventually.

Retaining such veteran columnists as Mike Kelly, Charles Stile and John Cichowski apparently had no effect on keeping readers.

The error-prone Cichowski retired this year after writing the Road Warrior column for more than 15 years. 

Meanwhile, platforms for local news, including TAPIntoHackensack, may be drawing readers away from The Record and NorthJersey.com, which have cut municipal news drastically.

Read: Gannett admits circulation

 dropped dramatically after 2016 takeover

Read: What the Borgs started at The Record

 Gannett finishes with a vengeance

Consumer Reports trashes Tesla, Model 3, other EVs; and a new reason to hate SUVs

The Subaru Ascent SUV leads Consumer Report's list of Top 10 vehicles in 2019, even though a competing model, the Toyota Highlander, is more friendly to the environment. The Highlander, available with a gas-electric drivetrain, gets better mileage.

Environmental impact of cars 

missing in magazine's 2019 Auto Issue

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Consumer Reports' 2019 Auto Issue completely ignores the environmental impact of the 260 new vehicles that are rated and reviewed, just like the first such issue in 1948.

Not a single all-electric, zero-emissions vehicle makes the magazine's "10 Top Picks" this year, although the list includes three gas-electric hybrids from Toyota.

Topping the Top 10 is the 22-mpg Subaru Ascent, a 3-row midsize SUV, even though the Japanese automaker's Crosstrek is available as a plug-in gas-electric hybrid that gets far better gas mileage.

Shocking omission

Given climate change, global warming or whatever you want to call the heating up of the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels, the refusal of the magazine's testers to give vehicles an environmental grade is shocking.

When he unveiled the Model 3 in March 2016, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he hoped the mainstream sedan would accelerate the transition to "sustainable transportation."

And he noted electric vehicles are more important than ever in view of 58,000 premature deaths every year in the United States from tailpipe emissions.

The automotive media, including Consumer Reports (CR), ignored him then just as they are doing know.

Tesla and other automakers should get points for the number of zero-emissions and gas-electric hybrids in their lineup, just as CR knocks itself out praising them for "impressive fuel economy" (19 mpg in the Ford F-150, for example).

Instead, in a March 15 report sent to readers, CR asks, "As Tesla unveils Model Y crossover, should consumers buy into drama-filled company?"

The piece was by Jeff Plungis, identified as CR's lead "automotive investigative reporter."

2019 Auto Issue

In a section on "How the Brands Stack Up" (defined as companies offering "consumers strong-performing and problem-free vehicles") EV maker Tesla dropped 11 places to 19th among 33 brands (behind Buick, but ahead of Ford, Nissan and Chrysler).

On the "Best + Worst Lists," Tesla's Model 3 is "no longer recommended" because of "declining reliability," along with the Acura RDX, Chrysler 300, BMW 5 series, Dodge Charger and Volkswagen Tiguan.

The Model 3 problems described by readers were cosmetic, and don't affect its high safety rating.

No category for EVs

In another section, "New Car Ratings," EVs do not appear in their own categories.

Under "Cars: Compact Electric and Hybrids," two Toyota gas-electric hybrids are rated higher than the Chevrolet Bolt EV Premier, and the Honda Insight EX is tied with the Bolt.

That's bewildering in view of the improved Bolt -- a fast, quiet, tight four-door hatchback you can drive with one pedal: 

Lift off the gas and the battery electric car comes to a stop at a crosswalk, stop sign or traffic light.

And CR dropped the Bolt from its Top 10 list this year.

Teslas finish 4th

Tesla's Model 3 is listed 4th among "Cars: Luxury Compact" after the Acura TLX, Infiniti Q50 and Kia Stinger.

The Tesla Model S -- the first car to achieve an overall score of 100 points from CR -- also finished 4th among "Cars: Ultraluxury." 

Ahead of the Model S were three gas-thirsty cars the Tesla outsells by far: 

Mercedes-Benz S550, BMW 750i (xDrive) and Genesis G90.

Electric Jag?

I could not find any mention in the 2019 Auto Issue of the all-electric 2019 Jaguar I-Pace, which is being advertised on TV in the New York-New Jersey area.

Subaru's Crosstrek, a plug-in hybrid, merits only a few words under "New Car Profiles."

The section on "New Cars Worth Waiting For" lists only 8 vehicles, including 6 gas-guzzling SUVs, 1 sedan and 1 sports car.

Among the 6 so-called sport utility vehicles is the monstrous Lincoln Aviator, to be available with 400- and 450-horsepower engines.

That abomination from Lincoln flunks every environmental test.

Read: Years late, CR puts an EV on Top 10 list

The Toyota Supra, above, a 2-seater that will go on sale this summer, is being built in partnership with BMW and is based on the German automaker's Z4 roadster, according to Consumer Reports' April 2019 Auto Issue.

SUVs are deadlier

Consumer Reports continues to ignore the menace of big SUVs, which use more gasoline and pollute more than other vehicles, and make traffic congestion worse because they take up so much more space than other vehicles.

Not to mention how aggressively they are driven.

Yet, in a section of the 2019 Auto Issue called "Making the World Safer for Pedestrians," the magazine notes "the unforgiving structure of SUVs, when compared with the lower profile of cars, is adding to the [pedestrian] death toll," according to research by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

"Higher-riding SUVs and other light trucks -- which now account for almost 70 percent of U.S. vehicle sales, up from nearly 50 percent a decade ago -- mean that pedestrians are more likely to be hit in the abdomen or head than at the legs, which leads to more serious injuries and fatalities."

CR says vehicles with pedestrian-detection systems and automatic emergency braking are one way to slow the rising number of pedestrians killed in the past decade.

The magazine said  that in 2017, 5,977 pedestrians were fatally hit by vehicles -- a 45 percent increase from 4,109 such deaths in 2009, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

So, it's hard to understand how CR can then turn around and recommend any SUV to readers, who could find as much room, all-wheel drive and even a hybrid drivetrain in a minivan.

Attention N.J. commuters: You don't have a constitutional right to drive into the city

Photos of traffic heading into the Lincoln Tunnel in Weehawken from The Star-Ledger, above, and NJ.com, below. The top photo shows commuter buses (left of the barrier) in the exclusive bus lane (XBL) on Route 495, linking the turnpike to the tunnel.

Despite increasing congestion and delays, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has never added a second XBL since the first was set up in 1970. More than 463,000 buses carrying 18.5 million passengers use the XBL now, compared to 206,000 buses in the first year. And the bi-state agency hasn't expanded PATH since taking over the trans-Hudson rail system in 1962.

If you venture below 60th Street,

plan is to hit you with $11.52 fee

Editor's Note: This week, The New York Times reported "congestion fees are not expected to start until 2021."

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Commuters aren't the only New Jersey residents who will be affected when congestion fees are imposed on drivers venturing south of 60th Street in Manhattan.

Broadway theater goers who drive into the city for Wednesday matinees, and members of clubs who gather for monthly lunches in midtown also will be affected, unless they take the bus and walk to the venue, as I do.

"Under a similar plan put forward by a [New York State] task force last year, drivers [would be] charged $11.52 for passenger cars and $25.34 for trucks," The New York Times reported in February.

No actual fee amounts for passenger cars have been decided, The Times says.

A congestion fee of $2.50 already is tacked onto taxi rides, and Uber users are paying $2.75 more for trips that begin, end or pass through south of 96th Street in Manhattan.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo "is banking on congestion pricing to generate $15 billion for repairs and improvements to the transit system through 2024," The Times said, or, he has warned, subway riders could be hit with a 30 percent fare hike.

A congestion fee also is expected to cut traffic volume, improve air quality and prompt drivers to switch to mass transit.

The zone would stretch from river to river. 

Not a right

The plan to impose congestion fees tells New Jersey drivers, especially those going solo in enormous gas-guzzling SUVs, that commuting to Manhattan isn't a constitutional right. 

These drivers ignore mass-transit options -- and bumper-to-bumper waits at the Hudson River tolls that have ballooned to 90 minutes on some days -- as well as Manhattan's high parking fees.

Many likely are receiving subsidies from their employers to defer the enormous cost of driving to work and parking in the city, compared to taking NJ Transit or a ferry.

Bumper-to-bumper traffic at the George Washington Bridge tolls in Fort Lee. This photo, from Drew Angerer of Getty Images, appeared on the New York Daily News site. Waits of 90 minutes are not unusual.

Credit for tolls?

The Times story on Feb. 19 said some drivers would receive "a credit," if they "use already tolled tunnels or the Henry Hudson Bridge from the Bronx to enter Manhattan."

"Drivers crossing the Brooklyn Bridge and headed directly north on the FDR Drive past 60th Street would not have to pay," the newspaper reported.

So, does that mean New Jersey drivers who pay a toll at the Lincoln Tunnel or George Washington Bridge also will get a credit?

The Times didn't say.

The Record weighs in 

Transportation writers at my local daily newspaper have never met a driver they didn't like.

On the other hand, Staff Writer Curtis Tate and former Road Warrior Columnist John Cichowski of The Record and their editors have never, as far as I know, fretted over a struggling  trans-Hudson public transit system in one of the world's most congested metropolitan areas or called for its expansion.

Those reporters and opinion writers at the once-great daily -- now a Gannett rag based in Woodland Park -- may be kowtowing to car dealers and makers, whose advertising helps keep NorthJersey.com and the print edition afloat despite declining readership.

'Big costs?'

In a Page 1 story on Feb. 6, Tate warned that New Jersey commuters who pay Hudson River tolls to drive into the city "could face a double whammy that New York drivers coming into Manhattan from the outer boroughs would not."

But he doesn't say New Jersey drivers can reduce the impact of congestion pricing by carpooling or cut their commuting costs dramatically by switching to mass transit.

The clunky headline:

Big costs from NY

congestion pricing?

The cash toll at the three Hudson River crossings is $15 (collected going into the city), $12.50 with an E-ZPass tag during peak hours (weekdays 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.) and $10.50 off-peak.

Tate doesn't bother giving the E-ZPass carpool discount of $6.50 at all hours -- weekends, too --as long as there are 3 people in the vehicle. 

The Port Authority told The Record 43.2 million passenger vehicles crossed the George Washington Bridge from New Jersey into Manhattan last year, but Tate doesn't say how many of those were then driven south of 60th Street into the planned congestion zone.

The Lincoln Tunnel was used by 14.4 million vehicles going to Manhattan, and 13.1 million used the Holland Tunnel, Tate said.


Will N.Y.C. be first?

New York would be the first U.S. city to adopt congestion pricing, but central London put a fee into effect in 2000.

Stockholm, Milan and Singapore also employ similar charges. 

The big hospital I love to hate scores a few points during same-day surgery -- and yet

ASS-BARING GOWN: Country music star Trace Adkins tweeted this image of a hospital gown he wore when he got his kidney stones blasted, according to a July 2012 post on NurseTalk.com, where I found this photo. Many hospitals still provide skimpy, ass-baring gowns that humiliate patients, but Hackensack University Medical Center is an exception.

HUMC, a so-called non-profit, shifts

tax burden onto homeowners like me

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- The night before cataract surgery at Hackensack University Medical Center, I dreaded having to wear one of those skimpy hospital gowns with an open back that bares all.

So, when I got a call from a nurse who wanted to go over when I had to get to the hospital and other details, I asked if I could wear my own pajama bottoms and robe.

"No. The operating room is a sterile environment," she said firmly, but added I would be allowed to keep on my briefs.

There was no need to worry, because HUMC long ago addressed the dressing down, so to speak, of patients.

"Nicole Miller, the posh designer, came up with new designs, sporting stethoscopes, syringes and other medical-related stuff, for Hackensack University Medical Center...," Joyce Hoffman wrote in a July 2012 post on NurseTalk.com.

"But in the 10 years she has been reinventing the hospital gown, HUMC is her only client," Hoffman said. "Maybe it's because the [two-piece] gowns are double the price of regular gowns."

NO IFS, ANDS OR BUTTS: The 2-piece Nicole Miller-designed hospital gown and robe I wore on Tuesday during same-day surgery. The gown is generous, going below the knee, but is open at the back and cinches around the neck. But then you can put on a robe over it. Mine had loops, but no belt.

High property taxes

Still, as much as I loved the gown and robe I wore on Tuesday, and appreciated the care I received from the medical staff, HUMC has been a thorn in my side since I bought a home in Hackensack's Fairmount section in August 2007.

My annual property tax bill has grown to more than $19,100 a year.

The enormously profitable hospital, which paid $3 million a year to CEO Robert C. Garrett in 2014, claims to be a non-profit, and pays only a small amount of its property tax obligation to the city of Hackensack, shifting the burden onto homeowners like me.

Noise, traffic

As it has grown over the years, the medical center has destroyed the residential character of its North Hackensack neighborhood, flooded the streets with traffic and the wail of ambulance sirens, and used more and more city services, including police and fire protection.

In a deal the City Council approved last June, the sprawling medical center agreed to pay $4 million a year for 6 years in lieu of property taxes or what officials are calling "community host fees."

If it wasn't tax exempt, the medical center would pay $19 million in property taxes annually.

And, City Councilman Leo Battaglia said today, the hospital also will pay property taxes on a major expansion: 

• A 9-story, 500,000-square-foot tower on Second Street with 150 patient rooms, 24 operating rooms and 150 intensive-care beds that will begin construction at the end of the year.
• And a 430,500-square-foot central utility plant for the 2.5 million-square-foot medical center campus that broke ground this year.

Unfortunately for nearby residents and the environment, the plant won't use any green energy, such as solar or geothermal, according to initial reports in The Record of Woodland Park.

Surgery delayed

On Tuesday, my surgery had been scheduled for 2 p.m. and I was told to eat a light breakfast -- such as toast -- and no dairy or anything to drink, even water, after 7:30 a.m.

But when I had undressed and put on the two-piece gown and robe, a nurse asking for my medical history said my operation was scheduled for 3:15 in the afternoon.

That was a determination made by my own doctor, who, she said, was operating on someone else at 2.

I wasn't wheeled into the operating room until about 3:45. I was wheeled out at 4:33 p.m., and returned to my cubicle in the pre-op area, dubbed B Pod.

The hospital "lunch" my doctor promised after the surgery turned out to be little more than a ham-and-cheese sandwich (I don't eat ham), a buttered roll (I don't eat butter and I'm watching my carbs), or crackers.

So, after 9 hours without even a sip of water, I had apple juice, apple sauce, black coffee and salty crackers.

St. Joseph's Day

I've always been struck how some medical staffers talk about their personal lives, oblivious to nearby patients.

On Tuesday, for example, one nurse in the pre-op area announced during a telephone call that it was St. Joseph's Day, and did the person on the other end want her to stop at Rispoli's Bakery for pastries.

When I asked, the nurse said St. Joseph's Day is the Italian Father's Day, and then she and a doctor discussed the best places to buy Italian pastries, though no one mentioned Hackensack Pastry Shop on Hudson Street.

Blended families

When another nurse learned a man who was awaiting surgery and his wife have a blended family, she launched into a tortured tale about her own blended family -- she sold her house and with her kids moved into the home of her fiance, a doctor, who I think has children of his own.

When the doctor asked what would it take to cement the relationship, she said a "3-carat diamond ring" -- and got it. 

But now, he is having second thoughts about marrying her, so the ring is in a safety deposit box.

EYE CHAIR: When it was time for my cataract surgery, I took a seat in this Eye Chair, which was wheeled into the operating room and then adjusted so I was lying face up for the 45-minute procedure to remove the cloudy lens in my left eye and insert a clear plastic one.

PARKING FEES: Weeks after Englewood Hospital and Medical Center made all parking free, HUMC still charges patients and visitors for parking. Given the small amount of property taxes the medical center pays Hackensack, parking should be free for city residents.

Homeowner has another reason to worry when he tries to use his WorryFree service

When the pilot light on my gas-fired water heater went out, I called PSE&G and asked them to send over a service technician. But no one was available for 2 days. Then, the technician sent here had to order a part, which took another day and a half to arrive. But no technician was available for another 2 days to install it.

EDITOR'S NOTE: After I posted this, I recalled a brief conversation with my doctor during a routine exam on how to get a PSE&G technician to come to your house right away. "My wife always tells them she smells gas," he said, whether or not she does. Sad, but true.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- The home I bought in the Fairmount section of this small city in 2007 had been completely renovated three years earlier.

But any homeowner knows -- and I soon learned -- that owning a house can be a real pain as appliances age and storm-filled seasons come and go.

So, I turned to PSE&G for what the public utility calls a WorryFree Residential Contract -- basically insurance on appliances, water heaters and central air conditioners that covers repairs, but not replacement and not always parts.

Last week, after I had some electrical work done in the house that required turning off of the power, my son complained the water in his shower was ice cold (probably just a coincidence).

2-day wait for service

The next day, I called PSE&G, but was told a service technician wasn't available for 2 days. 

No, I was told by a woman in customer service, the public utility hadn't laid off half of their technicians, as I suggested.

And another puzzling factor was the nice weather -- no storms and no snow that would demand a lot of PSE&G technicians.

So, while I waited, I called Rheem, the manufacturer, and Mike, one of the techs there, walked me through relighting the pilot. 

But it didn't stay lit for long.

So, my wife and I heated pots of water on the stove, carried them upstairs and emptied them into the sink of our master bathroom, and used a washcloth, shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, mouthwash and shampoo to clean up. 

Water heater needs part

When the PSE&G guy did show up, the fault code on the water heater indicated I needed to replace the flammable vapor sensor, but he said he had to order the part.

"Our guys are always going to the supply house, so it could come in later today," he said. 

But it didn't. 

I got an email from PSE&G on Wednesday afternoon that the part had arrived, but when I tried to schedule the repair, no PSE&G tech was available for 2 days.

So, I again called Rheem and was told the part, covered by the warranty, would be sent to my home overnight, and the tech I spoke with assured me I could install it myself.

I wasn't sure (I'm not much of a do-it-yourselfer), so took a look at PSE&G's online service scheduling -- now, no tech was available for 4 days.

Arrives after noon

I thought the part would arrive first thing in the morning, but it didn't get here until a little after noon (and another bath-from-a-pot). 

I had called Rheem again to track the shipment, and when I got off the phone, a FedEx truck was outside my house.

And, yes, I was able to install the sensor myself by inserting the part into a plastic collar and connecting two wires from the water heater to the device. 

Relighting the pilot involved unplugging the water heater, shutting the gas line, turning off the vented blower and turning the dial seven times from "low" to "very hot."

So, we didn't have hot water for 5 days, and, as you can imagine, my hot shower on Friday morning felt great. 

But now I'm worried that when we have another problem with an appliance, PSE&G won't be able to supply a technician for days.

So, what's the good of the monthly payments to cover repairs, if you're left to your own devices?

The flammable vapor sensor, shown below right on an instruction sheet, installs behind a metal cover under the white gas valve (with the red dial and on-off switch) by connecting two wires to the "male tabs" on the sensor.