Service

It was time.  Well, waaay overdue actually.  Yesterday I took my little Kenmore for service.

It had not been professionally serviced since I got it for my college graduation, 11 years ago.  It was looked at by a home repair woman when I lived in Hokkaido in 2002..
A really awesome and totally random Japanese experience-- I was in my apartment and the doorbell rang.  I answered and found a woman there, asking if I had a sewing machine.  Huh?  I showed her to my machine and she said she'd check it out and give it a tune-up.  I said "Ok" and went back to my guests in the living room.  "How cool is this that sewing machine repair people make unsolicited house calls" I thought.  After she was done I thanked her and she left, then just wrote it off as one of the many cool-yet-bizarre experiences I was having in Japan.  It's only now, as I write the post that I realize I probably should have offered to pay her.. and with hindsight, the 32-year-old me really regrets missing out on this chance to talk sewing with a knowledgeable Japanese lady.
But anyway, back to the machine..
I haven't used it much since I got the Janome in '10, but I decided to get it cleaned up so I can bring it
 to our house in Athens.  The repair guy said I'll need a transformer for the power issue, but they sell them at the shop so I guess I'll just pick one up when I go back next week.  Has anyone dealt with this type of power issue before (bringing a machine to a country with a different wattage)?  I'd love some advice/guidance, thanks.
Since this is the machine I used since college, I treated both it and its case like I was some sort of folk singing guitar player, plastering stickers all over them. 

(February 2010-- he's really gotten big, huh?)

The lady at the repair shop gave me quite the look when I lifted the cover.  I got the same look again when I handed her my guild ID to get a discount.  She had never heard of the Modern Quilt Guild and asked if we had a newsletter.  "No,  but we've got a blog."  I told her to check it out because I'd really like to bridge the gap between "traditional" services/shops for quilters and the big, booming online quilting world.  I hope she takes the time to learn about what her customers are up to online..
So, I'm happy I finally took it in, and wonder why I waited so long.  The cost for service is actually less than I was expecting (provided nothing's broken), and I'm anxious to see how she runs after the tune-up.  Next in line is the Janome, which in 14 months has quite a few miles on it and the bobbin thread has started to get hooked on the feed dogs when I free-motion.  That's a problem I need to get fixed, but I couldn't take both machines at once, I'd have separation anxiety..