New Must

As we head into the Fall, Winter and Spring months I am searching for ways to weatherize the home. I bought a programmable thermostat last winter (which led to a week or two with only partial heat due to only one of the breakers being on after install) because I thought that the reading would be more accurate and the idea of being able to program the house-weather based on our work and sleeping patterns appealed to me. I cheaped out on the thermostat and only got the 1-program model rather than one that allows you to program at least 2, 1 for weekdays and the other for the weekends, so we have been manually controlling/adjusting the heat when we are home during the day.


Image from Amazon.com

Now without employment, I have re-set the thermostat so that I do not need to bundle up too much between the hours of 9 and 5, and with few distractions throughout the day have noticed that our heat pops on and off quite regularly. When the heat turned off yesterday I looked at the thermostat because it still felt pretty cold to me, and to my amazement the reading said 77º! After actually looking at the set up, the heat vent relative to the placement of the thermostat (not my choice, it's where the old one was), I noticed that the former blows directly onto the later. This is totally screwing up the heat! Immediately the vent covers my grandmother had when I was younger (and perhaps now, I don't remember) sprang to mind. After some keyword searching on google (vent covers, register covers, vent accessories) I finally found a page that put me on to the right turn of phrase, Air Deflector!


Image from Amazon.com

These things should direct the air into the room and away from the thermostat. I promptly ordered 2 (though I only need one, I just want to have a back up in case the product is not as sturdy as advertised) and am anxiously awaiting delivery. In the meantime, one of my housemates has a rigged up a very "paper-taped-to-the-floor" solution.



This seems to be having some effect, but the tape keeps unsticking from the floor (perhaps a consequence of being heated?) and the paper falls over regularly. Until the more permanent solution shows up are keeping the tape roll close at hand and making fixes as needed.

I have a few more ideas for weatherizing the house this winter: making temporary storm windows, using some heavy velvet I have to sew curtains for the dining room windows, figuring out what As Seen on TV product will best block the draft coming under the exterior doors...


Image from AsSeenOnTV.com

With the curtains in particular, I am paralyzed by the fear that I will just make a crazy mess of it and waste the fabric that I have, but, I guess if I have it and am not using it for anything, it's a bigger waste than if I try. We'll see how that goes.

Last Days

The days in the office can now be counted on the hand of a two-fingered individual. Here's some snaps of the office as it stands EOD Friday.

My sweet milk-crate-top set up.



Main production area, computing on the floor is no fun.





Dan, working on the floor.



Broken down desks.



Steve's old office, just slightly messier than when he was working in it.



Stacie loves working on her fancy new filing-cabinet-top system.



Jeremy does too.



Chair graveyard.



Rob, also employing the popular filing-cabinet-top system.



More broken down desks and tables.



Dev, half empty.



Scott's work area.



Austin, Dan and Stacie getting ready to throw down some Magic the Gathering. Work is hard!

Things I know nothing about

We have watched the first two episodes of Shaq Vs. and I have to say, it's pretty funny. The guy just seems to have tons of fun, and watching him compete against the masters of the various sports is a lot funnier than the usual serious-while-playing sports that are usually happening in my general 1080i area. This might be his last year playing, and he could have a big future in TV, but I think that maybe he could only play himself. If Kazaam taught us anything, it was that Shaq acting is just Shaq playing... Shaq, and that those shoes looked silly. OK, the whole thing was silly.


But who ISN'T down with a rapping genie with attitude, really?

Perhaps he could also play the role of an *ahem* "thief", as it has now come to light that Mr. Steve Nash feels that Shaq lifted the idea behind Shaq Vs. from him sometime last year. I don't know if it's true or not, but honestly, I would much rather watch Shaq try to compete against the Women's Volleyball champions that I would the Suns' #13. Mr. Nash is a svelte individual who could possibly don a bikini and pull it off.

I could not find any actually pictures of Mr. Nash in a bikini, sadly.

It's much more entertaining to watch Shaq talk trash and compete against individuals that are a total mismatch when they get onto the field/court/pool, etc...

This issue reportedly led to some tensions on the Phoenix Suns team last year, which in turn led to Mr. O'Neal's early exit. This year he is playing for Cleveland, and if his statement in September of last year holds true, the 2009-2010 season will be his final playing professional basketball. If TV doesn't pan out for him, he could always fall back on Law Enforcement as he is already a reserve officer in Miami (maybe Cleveland now?) though I'd probably prefer him as a new recruit on Reno 911.

They give up

As do we all in this heat...

Sighted

On a recent expedition to the South-end for some furniture browsing, we stopped by one of the gems of the valley and saw this:



It sort of looks like a sofa comprised entirely of fists, just waiting to punch you in the butt. And this sofa can be yours for the low, low price of just $399.

Bad Panda

One of the better sketches I have seen from these guys.

"I'll even whale on a whale!"

Cute / Funny

Cute!



Funny!