Noise Disposal

Over the weekend I was confronted with a terrible noise.  No it wasn't Dad upset that it was Mother's Day so that meant, he couldn't go golfing.  My dishwasher started to make the most heinous sound.  Now I'm not talking about the sound that a kid makes when they're asked to be the dishwasher, that's really more of a horrific groan.  I'm talking about a grinding, whining sound of the dishwasher machines' death throw.  Suddenly I'm standing there wondering, should I have used Jet Dry more often?  What is Jet Dry anyway?  Is there some part of the machine I should have been greasing or cleaning off or replacing?  The problem is, I really don't know much about dishwashers other than, you put dishes in, run it and they come our relatively clean.  Have I been causing problems by being in too big of a rush when loading it and leaving hunks of food on the plates?  Does that gum up the works inside maybe?  There are so many questions and all I know is that right now, the dishwasher sounds like it's very sick.  The other problem with the dishwasher is, it's not an easy thing to get at when it's built into the counter.  It's not like a fridge or stove that you can pull out and stare at the back of it for awhile so it at least seems to your family like you might have a clue as to what's wrong.  The dishwasher makes a horrible noise and my wife looks at me and I, well, I just shrug my shoulders and wonder if there's any chance it will just go away on it's own.  I remember last year there was a recall on some dishwashers and I thought at the time, man, that would be tough to get that thing in to get it repaired.  Well now I face that same dilemma. Which brings up a problem faced by most of us on a regular basis these days.  Do I drop a hundred or more to have some guy come in and show me his butt crack for an hour only to tell me, "oh ya, she's toast, you're gonna have to get a new one buddy, here's my bill !"  Or do I just bite the bullet and go and buy a new one.  Which you know will be followed by a conversation with someone at some point where I'll share my noisy dishwasher story and they'll say, "oh ya, mine did that too, so I kicked it and it worked for another 15 years without a problem!"  Either way I'm going to get hosed and you know it.  The problem is how cheaply they make products these days in order to give us lower and lower prices.  I had my first VCR for nine years.  The last one I bought, didn't make it through the first show I taped, it lasted nine minutes !?!?!?!?  The realization is this, we live in a disposable society.  And I blame the people at Bic for starting it all with their throw away lighters. Now I'm off to go dishwasher shopping.  Although it does strike me as funny how, actually doing the dishes by hand, didn't even pop into my head as a possible solution to the problem. Until We Type Again, Take It Ease !