My Own Personal Comparison-Shopper

As I type this, my husband is on a mission to find the best dishwasher at the best price. Being that he's able to go to 137 stores and look at 786 dishwashers before he finds "the one," I decided to stay home until he's narrowed the choices down to three.

All of this started because my husband asked me what I wanted for my birthday this month and my answer was a new dishwasher. He wanted to know what was wrong with the one we have. "Nothing yet, but it will be on its way to appliance heaven soon and I don't want to wait till it takes its last breath."

I've had enough experience with dishwashers to know when to replace them, and this one has started making strange noises. I've also had enough experience with bailing out the water from a dishwasher that could no longer drain itself, and I don't want to be doing that again. The dishwasher we have now is at least 15 years old and was bought by the original owners of this house. Time for it to be updated and replaced with a more efficient, more quiet model.

With my birthday request made, my husband got right on the Internet and started to download Consumer Reports articles about every dishwasher known to man. Then he made a list of the stores that carried the best options. I know how he shops-- the more choices, the better.... the more time it takes, the more research he gets to do on the products. If I were doing this myself, I'd drive myself right up to Best Buy, ask them for the top-of-the-line G.E. dishwasher, write out a check, and set up a delivery date. Bada-bing, bada-boom, as my dad would say.

I suggested to my husband that maybe he'd like to do his comparison shopping without me, because by the third store, my eyes would be glazed over and I'd be telling him that maybe we don't need a new dishwasher after all and I'd be perfectly happy to use paper plates for the rest of my time on this earth.

My husband thought that was a great idea--- going by himself, not the part about the paper plates. He left here about half an hour ago, armed with a list of the stores, the measurements of our present dishwasher, a yellow legal-pad, and two pens in his pocket. A man on a mission.

He'll come home around dinner-time, totally exhausted and complaining about the rush-hour traffic, and tell me about the three best dishwashers he found. We'll go out tomorrow or the next day, he'll show me the three best ones, and I'll pick out the one I like, write out a check and set up a delivery date. Then we'll go out for lunch. Bada-bing, bada-boom.