It was decided that I would attempt to salvage what I could from my freezer and fridge and take it up the hill to the community center where there were industrial fridges and freezers with locks in which I could store my things until my own fridge had been fixed. We quickly sorted through everything and packed it up in a cart I used to use for laundry and groceries when I was living in Boston’s North End wheeled it up. Fortunately, the malfunction didn’t cause anything to thaw in the freezer but I was forced to discard over $20 in perishable items. Fortunately, I had not yet done my grocery shopping yet (I had intended to go later that day) for if I had, losses could easily have exceeded ten times that amount-- not exactly chump change these days!
Spoiled items in my fridge that had to be thrown out 
Soon after my food was safely stored in the community center, the guy from maintenance showed up. He removed the paneling from inside the freezer and the source of the problem soon became apparent.; a thick layer of ice coated everything and clogged the vent which led to the refrigerator below. He instructed me to begin 
thawing the ice with a hair dryer while he left briefly to procure new parts and an industrial dryer to melt the ice. Once he returned, and the rest of the ice had been molten, he replaced a cap that had been warped by the ice and explained that the ice buildup was due to a known structural flaw in the refrigerators purchased by University Housing. Apparently, every few 
years, UW puts out a fresh contract to the company responsible for supplying appliances. Rather than replacing faulty appliances, it is simply more cost-effective to continue repairing them as they break and/or malfunction. For the record, the fridge in my kitchen is a “Roper”; a name I have never heard of. As we sopped up all the water that had seeped onto the floor from the melting ice, he also explained that in a well-made refrigerator (i.e., GE models), certain parts would be made of steel, not Styrofoam and that an appliance could be expected to last 25 years. The models purchased for University Housing, however had a much shorter life expectancy, in the neighborhood of approximately five to six years.
Water, water everywhere! All this came from the ice we had to melt in the freezer. While I completely understand that the university would want to get the biggest bang for it’s buck by
purchasing appliances at discount prices, how deep a discount is too deep? It seems to me that if a product is deemed substandard that it should be grounds to terminate the contract with the manufacturer in question. What if this had happened in a full fridge? Like most other grad students, I live on a tight budget and unlike most other grad students, my budget is tightened even further by financial obligations associated with past medical expenses. $20 may not sound like a whole lot to most people, but it easily could have been $200 and I don’t know whether or not housing reimburses residents who accrue losses of this nature through no fault of their own.Like I said before, people here seem to be pretty nice. I think I’d be surprised if I couldn’t get that money back. Maybe if enough refrigerators break down here this summer and enough people also seek reimbursement, the policies which led to purchasing these particular appliances will be reviewed. I know I had better things to do this weekend than baby-sit a bum fridge!
I believe those big gooey chunks of putresence are called curds and then sell for $4 for 3/4 lb at the Farmer's Market. Maybe try and recoup some of the losses? Or deep fry them?
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