I got my first National Grid bill since the installation of all the new HVAC/water heater do-dads and am quite pleased.  Even running the furnace for a day or two – yeah, it was a little cold in June – my gas bill was still only $27, using only 12 therms of gas!  That is about a third of what I normally used during the summer.  My electrical usage was also down about 125 kilowatt hours.  And yes, the air conditioner did run last month.  It is always cool here in June, so it really did not start running regularly until the end of the billing period, which is normal.  In total, my bill was only $85!  I did the happy dance when I saw it.

I am glad to see a savings reflected so immediately in my utility bill.  It remains to be seen how much it will cost to run the air conditioner for a full month, but it looks like it is not going to be much more expensive than running the window units.  They can tell you this when they are selling you the equipment, but you never know how much of that is sales pitch versus reality.  I am relieved that it was not just puffery.

I figured, how better to spend a power outage then playing on my laptop.  After all, it is battery operated and telling me it has a 4.5 hour charge.  Great idea, I think.  Until I realize that my internet connection is connected to my cable tv, which is powered by the very electricity that is MIA.  Oops!  So much for that idea.

What I did do is move up when I planned to go to the grocery store by about 50 minutes.  I had planned to go after watching In Plain Sight, and drying my hair since I had just gotten out of the shower, but with no power by which to watch tv, it made waiting seem a bit pointless.  But now that I have been to Wegmans, and have replenished my supply of Zyrtec, which dwindled to nothing, what am I to do in the dark?  Even Nanook, who can see in the dark when she wants to, is a bit perplexed.

Do you know what everyone in Syracuse does when the power goes out at night?  Apparently they get in their cars and drive around.  You would think the fact that the power outage happened at about 10:10 p.m. would deter such behavior, but apparently not.  There was an unusual amount of traffic when I went to the grocery store a little while ago.  In my own defense, I had to go to the grocery store anyway.  It was either go then or after 11 p.m.

The rest of my Sunday evening chores are bit impossible at the moment.  Laundry requires electricity, not only to run the machines, but I also need to see in order to sort my clothes.  I still need to take out the trash, but I cannot see at the moment in order to pick up the bits and pieces around the house that need to go out as well, plus there is the fact that I do not really want to open the fridge any more than I must at the moment.  But I suppose I can always collect the trash by flashlight, if I must.  I still needed to do something for my mom for Mother’s Day.  In my defense, I feel asleep earlier today, and woke up only a short time before the power went out.  I had almost decided what to get her – at which time I would have also sent an e-card – but now I cannot even connect with the internet.  I suppose now I have a good excuse as it slowly creeps up on 11:30 p.m. here.

But now what do I do?!?  I really do not feel like doing any of the work that I brought home.  I suppose I could watch the last DVD I have, provided I can find it in the dark.  I still need to watch Pineapple Express.  I should be able to watch it on my laptop.  Maybe if I do that, it will entertain Nanook to some extent as well, as she seems to be acting a bit oddly.  Or maybe this is just what she does at night after I have gone to bed.

I think I am going to try the DVD.  And I really wish National Grid would get off its butt and fix the power!!  After all, I have certainly paid them enough money in the last several months to warrant prompt service!!!  Hmm, maybe this is punishment for installing energy efficient equipment in place of my gas and electricity chugging old equipment. . . .

Well, the power is back on now.  It was off for about two hours.  I also figured out why it went off: I reset the time on the oven clock this afternoon.  Every time I set the time on the oven or microwave, the power goes out within 24 hours.  It never fails.  I guess that is why I the time is usually wrong.

I was finally able to cross my HVAC projects off of my 2009 to do list and house improvements list yesterday.  It took two days to install the new furnace, air conditioner, and tankless water heater.  The first two were mostly done Thursday, leaving the water heater for yesterday.  They had to re-route one of my pipes in order to accommodate the enormous exhaust vent, and there is water everywhere in my basement at the moment due to a few problems they had getting the valve open – let’s just say he had to break my old water heater in order to drain it – but it is finally done after months of waiting.

The new furnace is about two-thirds the size of the previous one.  I guess they were not lying when they told me it was grossly oversized for my house.  And it is so quiet!  I had to run the furnace yesterday since my house was a bit chilly by the time they finished, and it was cold last night.  Hopefully by the time I am able to switch off the heat for good in a week or two the “new furnace” smell will have burned off.

I have yet to run the air conditioner as it has been a bit cool.  Looking at the forecast, I do not see a need for it for at least the next week, although I could have used it last weekend when it was in the upper 80s.  I have missed central air!  I have not had it since I left D.C. in 1995 to move to Syracuse.  I suppose it is nice to live somewhere where you can get by with window air conditioners, fans, and open windows, but I miss having a cool house.  Maybe if I was native to this area, I would not miss it so much.  I now plan to sell my two window air conditioners for a small sum.

The tankless water heater is much smaller than I anticipated.  It is about the size of a suitcase.  They managed to put it on the wall over my washing machine.  It delivers hot water almost immediately, which is nice since I was afraid I was going to have to start waiting.  My old water heater did not have a wait before the hot water started coming out of the spout, especially in the shower on the second floor.  The new one appears to deliver hot water almost as quickly.  Now that is what I call “on demand”!

I programmed the thermostat this morning.  It was set by someone who (a) went to work before I even get up in the morning, (b) goes to bed much, much, much earlier than me [10pm?!?], and (c) likes the house colder [in the winter] and hotter [in the summer] than me.  I took care of that.  The summer temperatures will need some tweaking, especially the nighttime temperature since I cannot sleep in a hot house.  Hopefully, I will be able to keep the house a couple of degrees warmer in the winter and still have cheaper utility bills than my first two winters in this house.

I have had a number of people, when they are through being jealous at the concept of endless hot water, comment upon the price of the tankless water heater, suggesting that it is not worth the additional expense.  From where I stand, I will recoup the extra cost within a year or so.  The tankless cost $2,200 to install.  I will receive a $500 rebate from National Grid and a third of my $1,500 tax credit is $500, leaving a balance of $1,200.  I needed to replace my water heater anyway, and wanted something larger than 40 gallons.  I was probably going to get something between 60 and 75 gallons, which would have cost around $900 to install [I was quoted a 40 gallon for $675 by one contractor].  The cost savings for not having to heat a standing tank of water all day long is about $300 a year, and would have been more for a larger tank.  Thus, I will recoup the difference in cost in about a year, and the overall cost in about four years.  So to all the naysayers, I will be enjoying nice long, hot showers, without that almost daily rush at the end to get the conditioner out of my hair before the water becomes completely frigid because I lingered too long.

In short, I do not have any regrets about this project, depsite the cost.  Yes, it is expensive, but it will also save me money on a month to month basis, which is where I feel it the most.  It will also make my house much more comfortable, especially in the summer.  I know that it does not get that hot around here, but after my time on the High Plains of Texas, I can no longer handle the humidity in the summer.  Now I just need to work on some insulation issues in the attic this summer that will hopefully resolve the huge icicle issues I have in the winter.

I finally have an installation date for my new furnace, etc.  It will be installed next Thursday and Friday.  It only took five weeks for the dropdown of my interest rate to be approved.  To say I was losing patience would be an understatement!  The only good thing about the day is that National Grid is now offering rebates on air conditioners, so I was able to change my contract to a 15 SEER, for the same price, and will now get that rebate as well.   Bryant also began a rebate program after I signed my contract and so I will get that as well.

I hope work will not be too irked that I will have to work from home for two days.  Personally, I cannot wait for the endless hot water!

As I was finishing up the trim painting in the library/Nanook’s room, I decided that rather than paint the louvers that go in the top part of the built in linen closet, I should make stained glass doors.  That, of course, begs the question, what design?  Well today I decided as I was digging through my desk drawer at work and came across a couple of patterns.  I am going to do the Aanraku maple leaf pattern.  I will simply split it in half between the two doors.  There is also a more complex version of this pattern, of which this is just a portion.  And if I don’t do the maple leaves, I think I am leaning towards an aurora boreales.

Aanraku's Maple Leaves

]]> http://extraspot.wordpress.com/2009/03/13/hallway-glass/feed/ 0 extraspot Aanrakus Maple Leaves http://extraspot.wordpress.com/2009/03/11/its-here/ http://extraspot.wordpress.com/2009/03/11/its-here/#comments Thu, 12 Mar 2009 03:21:24 +0000 extraspot http://extraspot.wordpress.com/?p=150 ]]>

I got my new computer on Thursday.  I am still trying to get used to it.  One of my biggest problems is the touchpad.  I seem to be hitting it with my hand every time I reach for the letter “T” as well as a few others and end up opening new tabs, browser histories, and a sundry of other things.  It is driving me batty!  Since I have to write an appeal and respond to another motion, I guess I will have plenty of opportunity to get used to the keyboard, unless I give up and hook up my regular Bluetooth keyboard and mouse.

The two features I did not really want, but were required options on the configuration I purchased are the backlit keyboard and fingerprint reader.  While I thought the backlit keyboard would be cool, I wasn’t really willing to pay an extra $25 for it.  Well I was right.  It is uber cool!!!

As for the fingerprint reader, it is Dell’s own fault that I did not know what its purpose really was since it does not put an explanation of the features in the customization portion of the website.  I figured it was just an extra security feature to keep unwanted people from logging on to your computer.  It does do that, but it does so much more.  The handiest use I have encountered so far is that you can use it to enter passwords in websites and programs.  So not only does it fill in your username and password, just as the password feature in the browser does, but when you swipe your finger, it logs you in.  Instead of using your mouse to click “OK” or whatever, you simply swipe your finger.

I am still loading my software, and I have not even started to transfer my data, but I did email myself my Firefox bookmarks, which makes my life much, much, much easier now.  It should be a breeze to load my data since it will just require hooking up my external harddrive and copying files.

I have decided that I should probably get a USB port, and that I will need a separate laptop case.  While my laptop does fit into my new bag, it is so long that almost nothing else fits in there with it.  I did find a bag that fit will fit in at Dell that only costs $30, so I will definitely be doing more shopping.

I wrote the above on Friday,  but did not get a chance to edit or post it until now.  It is Wednesday now, and I have written an Appeal and another short brief on my laptop.  Since then, the fingerprint reader has had problems twice.  Apparently there is an issue between the software and the driver.  On Monday and then again tonight it tried to tell me I needed to install the driver, but if you go into the driver’s area, it says it is there and working.  The Dell support board seems to indicate it is the software.  It seems that you have to reinstall the software, going through some roundabout process where you have to rewrite a line or two of code that is written for a different brand of computer.  That seems to involves so I have just been restoring my computer to a previous restore point.  It seems easier, although it is a temporary fix.  But then again, I have been too busy in the last couple of days to mess with it so temporary – and quick – is good!

And other than this one problem, I am ecstactically happy with my new computer.

My computer shipped today. I will have it on Thursday. That means I will not have to worry about getting it in time to leave for Vegas. I wonder why it had a nearly month long build date?!?

Now I just have to find all of my software so I can load it.

It seems that I cannot get away from the family preference for marbletop furniture.  My grandparents and parents had them, now so do I.  And just like my parents, I now have one for my entryway cabinet.

It took me all of about 90 seconds to pick it out, but that was because it is a gorgeous piece of furniture.  And since it was on sale, I managed to get it for half price.  It is a pecan marble and the wood appears to have a pecan finish as well.  [Although the picture turned out a bit more mahogany looking.]  It has three drawers.

It is intended to keep me from dumping the mail on my coffee table, which has been a constant problem since I moved into my house.  I am not sure what is going to go into it yet, as all I have put in it so far is stamps and some notecards.  It definitely needs a picture above it.  I do not need a mirror there as there is a mirror on the door directly to the right.  I should have a print that will work; I just need to get them all framed.

Today was rather expensive.  I signed the contract for my new furnace, a/c, and tankless water heater, and ordered a new laptop computer.  That makes today an almost $11 grand day.  I just need a home energy audit, then I can get the buy-down on the interest rate for my financing, and my new goodies installed.  Hopefully that can be done quickly.  It took forever to get the revised contract.

As for the computer, it is set to ship on March 26, with a possible arrival date of April 2, the second day I am in Vegas.  Oops!  I really should have ordered it last week.  Hopefully Dell will continue its past practice of shipping well before the scheduled ship date.

The system I bought is sweet!  It is a Dell Studio 17.  It is a 17″ laptop, with a Mike Ming “Red Swirl” design cover.  Here are the some of the rest of the stats:

Studio 1737, Intel Core 2 Duo P8600, 2.4GHz, 1066Mhz, 3M L2 Cache
4GB, DDR2, 800MHz 2 Dimm
Back-lit Keyboard
320G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
8X Slot Load CD / DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive)
Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy Advanced HD Software Edition
Intel 5100 Wireless-N (1×2) Half Mini-Card
Integrated 2.0M Pixel Webcam
No Virus Protection Requested
85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
MS Workplus 2008
2 Year Limited Warranty
Dell, Software, Wild Tangent Inc Games
Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module (2.1)
Integrated Finger Print Reader

It has a few things I don’t really want – or need, such as the finger print reader or backlit keyboard, but they were not optional on the configuration I chose.  I am glad I can get it without a preinstalled virus protection since I just renewed my virus protection software last month and it is good on three computers.  Because I can now get my system without the default 30 day McAfee trial, I do not have to worry about uninstalling it and the stray files it always wants to leave behind.  I just wish I could get it without the rest of the other junk software I don’t want or need.

I just hope I am not up all night before leaving for Vegas trying to load software.  At least I have an external hard drive, which will make transferring my data a trillion times easier.  All I will have to do is plug in my drive and copy it over.  Hmm, I just need to make sure I load the software that runs the auto backup.  Maybe I can load the annoying trial software again and run the Sync program and let it copy all my old files over onto my new computer.

I decided on a contractor and HVAC system.  I am getting a Bryant 95% furnace with “PerfectHeat” and “PerfectHumidity” and a 14 SEER air conditioner, as well as a Rianni tankless water heater.  It comes in a little under $9,000 before all the credits and rebates.  And if I wait until March 1 to have it installed, I get a 10 year parts warranty instead of a 5 year warranty.

Now I just have to get a home energy audit [ugh!] as a condition of my financing and then they can install.  My house was built in 1925, what is an energy audit going to tell me that I don’t already know?

Update  March 2, 2009:  I found out this weekend that Bryant is now running rebates, so now I get even more money back and reducing my overall cost.  I do not know how much it is yet, but since I am buying a furnace, a/c, and expensive thermostat, it should be at least $500.  Now if they will just call to schedule the home energy audit so we can get this show on the road!