Month: March 2007

Terabytes & Heat Pumps

Our household and my business recieved some nice upgrades this week.

Our new heat pump was installed Wednesday, and took all day.  It was amazing to watch the guys rip the old POS out.  What was even more amazing is the technology that goes into this piece of HVAC equipment.

 
The difference is amazing, as we can’t even tell when it turns on.  The best part is that we are now saving a boatload on our home heating and cooling costs, thus saving the environment a little.
 

We will be receiving $650 in rebates, divided between a tax credit next year, and a rebate from our electric company.

I also purchased another hard drive to expand my capabilities for video transfers.  This brings me close to having a terabyte of storage space.  (For those of you who don’t know what a terabyte is, it’s 1,000 gigabytes, or 1,000,000 megabytes or 1,024,000,000 bytes.)  I am now at 900 gigabytes, divided into 4 hard drives.

This new hard drive is a SATA (Serial ATA), which I have had no experience with.  So far it seems to be much better, as the data transfer rates are almost double from the standard IDE connection.  This makes editing video, rendering video and burning DVD’s that much faster.

My only problem with the SATA connection is more of a windows problem.  When a “hot swappable” device is attached to a windows PC, an icon is automatically placed in your “tray.”  I am very anal about my computer and this icon bothers me because I don’t need it, or want it!

I have done some searching on this subject, and found some clues, but nothing that has erased this icon from my desktop thus far.

Interrupting the Interruption

I don’t really have a title for this, it took me off guard actually.  As I was driving to work tonight, I stopped at the gas station as usual for my drink and smokes.  I pulled in at exactly the same time as a former co-worker of mine.

He was always kind to me in times of need, as he was with me the first time I had a seizure at Baxter.  He left Baxter before I did and now works for Cook Pharmica.

Many people left Baxter to work for Cook Pharmica, and after my abrupt termination, I began trying to seek employment with them as well.  I haven’t even recieved a letter of denial from them.

He let me in on a little secret, that hiring has been slow there due to them not being FDA approved yet, and that they are now, and have potential clients now.  He also told me that within a few months they will be having a “hiring blitz.”

Thanks to his kind words, I have new found faith in finding employment in the pharmaceutical industry again! 

Thanks Butch!

We’re Back

How time flys when your having fun.

We kept busy on our trip to Orlando and Daytona Beach Florida.  Our first three days were spent primarily at 3 different Disney theme parks, Animal Kingdom, MGM Studios and of course what I call “Disney World” but is formally known as The Magic Kingdom.

The ladies had some troubles on our trip.  Taylor was getting over strep throat, and Rachel was was starting to have symtoms of what is now known as bronchitis.

The most breathtaking part of the trip was our visit to the beach.  I had never been to Daytona Beach before, and it had been around 25 years since I had been to the atlantic ocean.  To keep Taylor away from the typical Spring Break festivities we went to the north side of Daytona.  We got to actually drive right onto the beach!

I was amazed at how fine and soft the sand was, and how calming the sounds of the tides were.

We took over 300 pictures and shot almost an hour of video.  I am currently working on uploading the pictures, and will post some as soon as possible.

Now it’s back to life as usual, and next week we have our new heat pump installed.  Right before we left we received our electric bill, $260 – ouch!

Greetings from Orlando!

After what I can only describe as a “grueling” 16 hour drive, we are here.  Travelling at speeds ranging from 80 to 110mph, was quite interesting.

Here we are arriving at our hotel

Our first days’ adventures were Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Epcot.  Taylor really enjoyed meeting all the characters at Animal Kingdom.

The wireless at the hotel isn’t that swell, so this will be my only post on the trip.  I just thought I would post this for all who are interested.

Tommorow’s schedule:  MGM Studios and back to Epcot.

6 Days on the Road

Friday we are undergoing an adventure only I have made before.  We are travelling to Orlando Florida to see the sights and sounds of Disney.

Taylor and Rachel have never been to Florida, I’ve only been once.  It’s a shame since my father has owned a time-share in Ft. Myers for almost 20 years!

We will be bringing all sorts of equipment with us.  From the digital camera to our laptop, and possibly several video cameras, this will be an interesting affair.

If I have enough energy, I hope to post some pictures while on this trip.  We will have the laptop and wireless internet at our hotel.

If I could only take pictures and use the net while driving…..Oh wait I can with my cell phone.  Have you seen the device to mount a laptop to a steering wheel?  I better not.

I’m as excited about this as I was when I became a wannabe trucker for 3 weeks in 2001!

Sadly we will not be able to slide over to NOLA.  Due to the purchase of a new heat pump, and time constraints it’s just impossible at the time.  I’ll do it soon though B, I promise!

Bugz

Tonight, my daughter had a musical program at her school.  It included the entire 1st grade class.  The name of the program?  Bugz, and each child was one.

There were ladybugs, army ants, butterflys, a praying mantis, a stinkbug and a maggot.  My daughter was a beautiful butterfly.

I recieved some news while at this program.  It has been announced where my daughter will be moving, Ft. Cambell, KY.

It is the closest solution possible, which should be good news.  I’m just not taking it well.  Was it the fact that I was “stuck in the middle” of 2 very strong personalities? (my ex and my wife)  Or was it that I am so tired of this job and can’t wait for this vacation?

Anyways, I enjoyed seeing my daughter up on stage having fun with her soon to be ex-classmates.

The teachers are fun to look at too! 🙂  Especially my daughters’ teacher, Mrs. P

Myspace

I have resisted to have anything to do with myspace.  I have thought from the get-go that it was for teenagers and just plain sillyness.

For some strange reason, one of my good friends, Craig, started an account for moi.  He could of just signed it up as a personal thing, but no, he used my business!

I have tried to make it a nice place to show off my skillz, but to my surprise I have pictures of cars, and comments that are crazy as can be on there.

So down this road I go, where I stop?  I’ll never know.

I must have to say that myspace has many capabilities for networking.  That is currently what I am working on with it.  If I can get the word out regarding my business, the possibilities are endless!

Doing More

After deciding on replacing our energy hog of a heat pump, it has made me take a deeper look at what I can do (within my means) to make our home as energy efficient as possible.

I have been teaching myself about many “green” technologies.  The big ones, solar and wind turbine mainly.

Right now I am looking at the major energy users in our home, I have 2 in particular picked out.  Our attic fan and water heater.

I have found a great solution to ease the electrical drain of our attic fan, a solar replacement!
Many new homes have passive solutions for attic ventilation (just vents on the ridge of the roof).  This may seem ok, but isn’t reliable.  Ours, like many older homes have an active solution, a fan.  It runs constantly in the summer, as the heat builds up inside the attic.  It has a good sized motor, even though I am unsure of it’s exact energy use, I’m sure it’s not small.  Our current fan is in good shape, so we are not going to replace it immediately.  It’s days are numbered.

Typical “tank style” water heaters are just a waste of space and energy.  Why must we constantly heat water that we might not use for hours?  I understand the reasoning behind them, it’s in their simplicity.  New “tankless” or “on demand” water heaters are great, but there are no electric options with these.  They are all gas powered, and even though I like the prospects, I’ll just pass on the gas.

There are other options though.  Ever heard of solar water heating?  I hadn’t until a few days ago.  It’s quite interesting, but still mysterious to me.  There are many ways to set it up, and it seems very complex at this time.

If I can find a way to set up a solar system to power a hot water heater I would be on board in a minute.

So on with the research.  From what I currently know, to accomplish the results I desire I will need:  1 PV (photovoltaic) panel, a battery array, an inverter and then a way to feed the power into the circuit that feeds the water heater.  It can be accomplished, and at a decent price.

I have seen way too many articles lately about how the United States is falling way behind when it comes to energy use statstics.  I read one the other day stating that we haven’t even kept up with some standards WE created 10 years ago.

Never being a statstic, I would like to eventually live off the grid, but I cannot afford the initial 20k or so investment.  With baby steps we might eventually be able to.