Hey folks, sorry for the big laggediness in posting to the old blog. Last week I was in Wisconsin for work, and I have several interesting stories which I will share with you soon. However, I was working so hard that I did not have enough time to get enough sleep, much less [...]
There’s a pretty nifty gadget called a Kill-a-Watt that you can use to measure energy consumption — and other related things — for any 120V AC device that plugs into a wall socket. You simply plug the KAW into your outlet and plug your device into your KAW. Then it has a digital [...]
I’ve tracked my finances in Quicken for 6 or so years now. It’s pretty much a total love-hate relationship, because no other software really works any better, and it’s still really poorly-engineered. You can search my blog for diatribes on why it stinks later; this entry is just about my own problem.
You see, [...]
The engineer has completed his analysis, and our home is deficient. Well, it’s deficient if we want to add another 18,000 pounds to one little room in the corner on the second floor.
We need to make some changes to support the load. They include:
Reinforcing the steel load-bearing beam by welding a 15-foot-long, 1″ [...]
Here’s a scale rendering of SuperFishRoom. The tank is named Bertha, by the way:
In other news, it’s rained a lot this evening… some of the most rain we’ve gotten this summer, I think!
I’d like to mention how impressive power-compact fluorescent lightbulbs have become in the last 5 years. The last time I paid them any attention was in late 2000 when I received one for free as part of some festival I wandered into in downtown Pasadena. (I think they had free hot dogs, too.) [...]