My water heater just poured 30 gallons of water all over the laundry room floor!
Guess I'll be getting one of those awesome new* demand-feed water heaters this week, and the $1500 tax credit that goes with it, woohoo!
*New to the US, that is, as they've been using them in Europe for over twenty years now. What were jump, LiG and I saying upthread about the USA and technology pursuits? <sigh>
Exactly 4 years to the day I started using this profile, after forgetting my previously log in during a drunken stupor and the rest is history. How about that.
and the stuff i've been reading is pointing to a less active than normal hurricane season due to the liklihood of el niño conditions in the pacific and average SSTs in the caribbean & atlantic
americans don't really need to be too concerned with comparisons to europe...that's kind of pointless since they are different places
what americans do need to be concerned with, however, is their waistlines. after a recent visit to states (my first non-winter visit in about three years) i was stunned by the obesity of the country. and not so much that i'd see a fat person and think "wow that guy is huge"...rather i would find myself scanning various public places and thinking that about 7 or 8 out of every 10 people was in need of a reduction...yikes
LB, make sure your house can handle the demand water heater. We were told that we would have to relumb the gas lines, and have two sepperate heaters, or something silly like that. Basically, that it wouldnt work. Our house was built in 81, and is only 1200 sqft - single story. I forget all the specifics since I was still baby-brained, but Husband looked into it.
We took Abram swimming for the first time yesterday. He had a blast. It was a lot of clinging and tossing, but fun none the less. And a cold front has come through, so its only been in the high 80s low90s the past two days. Nice.
lb- go solar thermal with a storage tank + on-demand for back up- your energy bills will be next to nothing most of the year! And you get an even bigger incentive check!
since we're on kid news, finally got Steven swinging and now he loves it! before he would freak out whenever we sat him in the swing at the local playground. Plus we 'walked' down the street (me holding his arms) to the park and got to splash through a sprinkler and puddles on the way.
TK - Would a solar thermal water tank work during the cloudy days of winter? I know in my neck of the woods, we have mostly cloudy skies for about 4 months a year.
*m, sorry I didn't drop you a line this weekend - I owe you.
Even in cloudy weather there is some thermal energy available from the sky. the storage tank can keep water hot for several days and all night. But that's why you need a supplemental water heater - for those times when there is many days of bad weather. Also, solar collectors are sized at about 80% capacity, so they don't overheat during the summer.
ugh... another big round of layoffs at my office today... 11 more people... bringing the total down to about 25 from a high near 80 or so last Christmas... its our 3rd round of layoffs in the past few months, combined with huge pay cuts and a reduction of hours which basically means half our hours worked are for free... anyone have any ideas of cities whos offices are not all out of projects?
ive always been intrigued by the north west... id love to live in seattle for a while... so i was sorta trying to get a sense of the job market there...
did you find a job out there?
My firm just hired 2 new people, but I'm not sure if we're still looking for more. I don't think we're typical for NYC, though... Most other firms in the city seem to have gone through at least one bloodbath.
I'm giving to Husband for our anniversary. What do you men folk think? I know its 'suppose' to be 'leather', but they dont make leather HRMs in my pricerange.
Sarah (and tk, beta, jump, everyone) you are right: our gas demands are too high for the existing gas piping to accommodate the demand-feed heater. We would need to tear out the existing service and put in bigger supply, at added expense of about $2,000 and added time of 5 days. As I want a hot shower tomorrow, and my bank account can't handle the excess cost, we've decided to go with a standard tank instead.
The contractor who told me this is my regular guy, someone who I trust enough to tell him where I hide my spare key and more importantly trust with my reputation with our shared clients, so he's definitely not yanking my chain.
Oh well. It's good to learn this stuff, so when clients ask me about it I can be more knowledgeable than saying " Well I loved the one I had in my apartment in Europe!".
Seattle's not doing so hot, job-wise. WaMu got sold and a bunch of people laid off, and both Starbucks and Microsoft laid off this year. Obviously, those aren't arch firms, but those are the major players in the economy here. Most firms seam to have had either layoffs, forced "vacations", or paycuts in the last six months, and are now holding steady.
sounds like you are heading down the path japan has been on for the last 20 years. 10 years of stagflation, government spending, stupid wasted money on keeping deadbeat banks alive (which resulted in more deflation and lack of loans for everyone), and general lack of work has made it a killer on employees. want a job? then work for wages from 1991 and shut up. oh and lots of overtime too, for which you won't be paid. and your house is not worth anything so don't ever move because you can't afford it.
that about sum it up?
only thing that might make things change here is that baby boomers are now retiring age and so the young folk are actually in position to get a job. oh wait, they WERE in a position to get a job. I guess we are waiting on usa to buy japanese toys again. THEN we will be set.
At least america has luxury of knowing there is no one to place expectations on but itself. Which is a very american kind of situation isn't it? buck stops here and all that...
LB, that sucks. solar powered water heaters are also very popular here. i wouldn't say most suburban homes have them, but enough that no one would blink an eye. also common lately is hydrogen fuel cells and geothermal heat pumps. PVC's are still struggling to be functionally useful (efficiencies are too low) but not uncommon on houses either. much of this has been going on for years, same as in europe and now apparently china too.
cool with the TOTO toilet! i hear they are luxury brand in USA? here they are cheap product. standard low/middle-end...remote control standard ;-)
melt don't laugh to hard....I put one in a clients house and the Mr. Client could hardly wait for his father inlaw to come over so he would have an opportunity to use the remote....It is kind of a Candid Camera kind of toy....
Sarah, I also love the watch. I need a watch, I've decided - haven't worn one since getting a cell phone, but I'm ready to get a cool one again. Cool, but cheap. What's the modern version of an early 80's Swatch (or two)?
I just want to make sure you all see this, because it made me laugh so much. The thought of a bunch of people doing "architecture dream camp" - in a FLW! - is unendingly hilarious to me!
holz can't stand jewelry. i haven't worn a watch since i was 12.
orhan, any thoughts on why the memorial is at the staples center and not, say at the rose bowl, where they could probably squeeze in 120,000 people? (instead of the 18,000 @ staples center)
I just asked the 20 something year olds that live two houses down if they'd mind cooling it with the fireworks for tonight. God I'm old.
Damn jump - thanks for putting things into perspective. I think I'm going to go crawl under a rock now and wait for the world to end... only half joking.
oh, I was thinking that it's to drum up publicity. You know, they'd rather have 60,000 people clamoring to get into an 18,000 seat stadium than 60,000 people only taking up half of a 120,000 seat stadium.
I agree with Vado about Rachel Getting Married. The film was incredibly boring and painful to watch. I kept checking my cell phone to see what time it was counting down the minutes until the film ended and I could leave respectfully. Anne Hathaway did an excellent job in her role. That's about the only positive comment I can give though.
I cannot stand anne hathaway's "acting" and therefore do not ever want to see that movie. I think about 25 very respected film buffs I personally know would need to recommend it to me to get me to see it. Sorry, beta, I am with you on most things!
liberty, in my opinion android is the new swatch. I love their radar watch; it's the one I have, but I was toying with getting several others as well. At last purchase, they were affordable (under $100), and pretty stylish without being too designy. (A lot of architects had recommended those russian n... something watches to me which are cool but too cool for me, personally... I don't like having to do math in my head to tell time, no matter how Cool the watch is... also, a lot of architects / designers recommended what I considered to be SUPER expensive watches, when I asked for something "cheap"... what the heck? One man's trash, I guess!)
Anyway, my other option was to just get a $25 plastic watch from target, but when I saw the Radar I figured I could upcharge it a bit and get away with something I truly loved. I think the Radar was $75 when I got it.
friedman and the others at new york times op-ed pages are always on about not following japan's model. and usa was totally into telling japan not to be such fuck-ups for years and years. and so what does usa do when shit hits fan? copies japanese plan that did not work (and still is not working!) because it is simply the easiest thing to do and the most politically expedient. so much for change in the white house. like whatever, y'know?
beta, i actually liked Rachel Getting Married,, my friends who watched it hated it, so there are two camps on the movie
a little unrelated, but i really enjoyed Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Sarah, nice watch, i dont wear watches, but i like seeing nice watches, this one is cool, not too fancy but cool, which is a good thing i guess
i tried to lsn to an audio book for the first time of my life while at work, and it actually gave me a headache, i couldnt concentrate, podcasts are much easier,, u dun have to focus and things can run in the background
I stopped watching Vicky Christina Barcelona before Penelope even showed up. It was the most tiresome cliche of a movie I had seen since Elegy (also with Penelope) However, I thought Cassandra's Dream was quite good.
Vado, the best movie i watched recently was a classic. Which apparently although it won an Oscar is basically reviled by critics???
The Greatest Show on Earth, it was playing this Sunday on AMC and although i had other stuff to do with my afternoon i just got sucked in...
Really enjoyable old hollywood. Plus James Stewart!
Fays,
the only way i have ever listened to an audio book (or would suggest listening to an audio book is on a long road trip...
i listen to quite a few audio books. Put them in before bed. its like having a story read to you when you were little. audio books i would recommend...
To Have And Have Not read by Will Patton
No Country For Old Men read by Tom Stechschulte
Dog Soldiers also read by Stechschulte
A Flag For Sunrise read by Stephen Lang
Archangel read by Michael Kitchen
The talent of the readers is phenomenal. Books are pretty damned good too.
I was looking to get one of the Harry Potter audio books for my niece, she's 9 and I doubt she's actually read one before (but sure as hell know she watched one of the movies). I heard there is one read by Ian McKellen which I think would be awesome since there is something quite majestic in his tone.
Awesome watch Sarah - the last watch I owed was a Seiko Kinetic. We believed it was the only watch I could wear since I have a habit of knocking them out (internal magnetism mumbo jumbo). That lasted me a total of 6 weeks - the last 3 required me to re-set it each morning. So despite loving the design of watches, I have to appreciate them on other people.
Thread Central
My water heater just poured 30 gallons of water all over the laundry room floor!
Guess I'll be getting one of those awesome new* demand-feed water heaters this week, and the $1500 tax credit that goes with it, woohoo!
*New to the US, that is, as they've been using them in Europe for over twenty years now. What were jump, LiG and I saying upthread about the USA and technology pursuits? <sigh>
Exactly 4 years to the day I started using this profile, after forgetting my previously log in during a drunken stupor and the rest is history. How about that.
lol, archi.
demand-feed heater is way cool LB. i bin loving them here in japan for years. no more cold showers, unless you want one!
still alive
and the stuff i've been reading is pointing to a less active than normal hurricane season due to the liklihood of el niño conditions in the pacific and average SSTs in the caribbean & atlantic
americans don't really need to be too concerned with comparisons to europe...that's kind of pointless since they are different places
what americans do need to be concerned with, however, is their waistlines. after a recent visit to states (my first non-winter visit in about three years) i was stunned by the obesity of the country. and not so much that i'd see a fat person and think "wow that guy is huge"...rather i would find myself scanning various public places and thinking that about 7 or 8 out of every 10 people was in need of a reduction...yikes
Techno,
You are hilarious!!! I didn't realize this wasn't your original profile. Guess you started using it, right aroudn the time i became active...
LB, Yeah!!! That is awesome i too love those things and the accompanying tax credit (they have that here in FL to).
Morning all.
LB, make sure your house can handle the demand water heater. We were told that we would have to relumb the gas lines, and have two sepperate heaters, or something silly like that. Basically, that it wouldnt work. Our house was built in 81, and is only 1200 sqft - single story. I forget all the specifics since I was still baby-brained, but Husband looked into it.
We took Abram swimming for the first time yesterday. He had a blast. It was a lot of clinging and tossing, but fun none the less. And a cold front has come through, so its only been in the high 80s low90s the past two days. Nice.
lb- go solar thermal with a storage tank + on-demand for back up- your energy bills will be next to nothing most of the year! And you get an even bigger incentive check!
since we're on kid news, finally got Steven swinging and now he loves it! before he would freak out whenever we sat him in the swing at the local playground. Plus we 'walked' down the street (me holding his arms) to the park and got to splash through a sprinkler and puddles on the way.
image of my day:
TK - Would a solar thermal water tank work during the cloudy days of winter? I know in my neck of the woods, we have mostly cloudy skies for about 4 months a year.
*m, sorry I didn't drop you a line this weekend - I owe you.
Even in cloudy weather there is some thermal energy available from the sky. the storage tank can keep water hot for several days and all night. But that's why you need a supplemental water heater - for those times when there is many days of bad weather. Also, solar collectors are sized at about 80% capacity, so they don't overheat during the summer.
ugh... another big round of layoffs at my office today... 11 more people... bringing the total down to about 25 from a high near 80 or so last Christmas... its our 3rd round of layoffs in the past few months, combined with huge pay cuts and a reduction of hours which basically means half our hours worked are for free... anyone have any ideas of cities whos offices are not all out of projects?
^ I noticed you posted on the Seattle thread the other day. Is that a possible relocation city for you? I'm moving out there in September.
ive always been intrigued by the north west... id love to live in seattle for a while... so i was sorta trying to get a sense of the job market there...
did you find a job out there?
Bad economy = I'm going to graduate school!
My firm just hired 2 new people, but I'm not sure if we're still looking for more. I don't think we're typical for NYC, though... Most other firms in the city seem to have gone through at least one bloodbath.
Wait, it actually should read:
Bad economy + Completed IDP + General life procrastination = I'm going to graduate school!
I'm giving
to Husband for our anniversary. What do you men folk think? I know its 'suppose' to be 'leather', but they dont make leather HRMs in my pricerange.
ANd everybody else seems so much more focused than I do.
Sarah (and tk, beta, jump, everyone) you are right: our gas demands are too high for the existing gas piping to accommodate the demand-feed heater. We would need to tear out the existing service and put in bigger supply, at added expense of about $2,000 and added time of 5 days. As I want a hot shower tomorrow, and my bank account can't handle the excess cost, we've decided to go with a standard tank instead.
The contractor who told me this is my regular guy, someone who I trust enough to tell him where I hide my spare key and more importantly trust with my reputation with our shared clients, so he's definitely not yanking my chain.
Oh well. It's good to learn this stuff, so when clients ask me about it I can be more knowledgeable than saying " Well I loved the one I had in my apartment in Europe!".
LB,
That sucks.
SH, beautiful love it.. Love the "matte(?)" black color....
On the green upside, I did just replace my broken toilet with a new dual-flush Toto!
Cold showers have their place...
liberty bell does it have a seat warmer and a squirter with a remote?
LOL snook!!!
SH - I'm not a guy, but I find that watch to be incredibly sexy. I like beefy metal watches on guys. Not sure why.
Seattle's not doing so hot, job-wise. WaMu got sold and a bunch of people laid off, and both Starbucks and Microsoft laid off this year. Obviously, those aren't arch firms, but those are the major players in the economy here. Most firms seam to have had either layoffs, forced "vacations", or paycuts in the last six months, and are now holding steady.
good luck america!
sounds like you are heading down the path japan has been on for the last 20 years. 10 years of stagflation, government spending, stupid wasted money on keeping deadbeat banks alive (which resulted in more deflation and lack of loans for everyone), and general lack of work has made it a killer on employees. want a job? then work for wages from 1991 and shut up. oh and lots of overtime too, for which you won't be paid. and your house is not worth anything so don't ever move because you can't afford it.
that about sum it up?
only thing that might make things change here is that baby boomers are now retiring age and so the young folk are actually in position to get a job. oh wait, they WERE in a position to get a job. I guess we are waiting on usa to buy japanese toys again. THEN we will be set.
At least america has luxury of knowing there is no one to place expectations on but itself. Which is a very american kind of situation isn't it? buck stops here and all that...
LB, that sucks. solar powered water heaters are also very popular here. i wouldn't say most suburban homes have them, but enough that no one would blink an eye. also common lately is hydrogen fuel cells and geothermal heat pumps. PVC's are still struggling to be functionally useful (efficiencies are too low) but not uncommon on houses either. much of this has been going on for years, same as in europe and now apparently china too.
cool with the TOTO toilet! i hear they are luxury brand in USA? here they are cheap product. standard low/middle-end...remote control standard ;-)
melt don't laugh to hard....I put one in a clients house and the Mr. Client could hardly wait for his father inlaw to come over so he would have an opportunity to use the remote....It is kind of a Candid Camera kind of toy....
it did not happened...;.(
Sarah, I also love the watch. I need a watch, I've decided - haven't worn one since getting a cell phone, but I'm ready to get a cool one again. Cool, but cheap. What's the modern version of an early 80's Swatch (or two)?
i know this is a year gone, but has anyone seen Rachel Getting Married? whoa! powerful film.
I just want to make sure you all see this, because it made me laugh so much. The thought of a bunch of people doing "architecture dream camp" - in a FLW! - is unendingly hilarious to me!
holz can't stand jewelry. i haven't worn a watch since i was 12.
orhan, any thoughts on why the memorial is at the staples center and not, say at the rose bowl, where they could probably squeeze in 120,000 people? (instead of the 18,000 @ staples center)
I just asked the 20 something year olds that live two houses down if they'd mind cooling it with the fireworks for tonight. God I'm old.
Damn jump - thanks for putting things into perspective. I think I'm going to go crawl under a rock now and wait for the world to end... only half joking.
melt, get a big gun, that'll fixem. fockers!
holz, i think (and this is a speculation on my part) staples center and sony relationship maybe?? at this point it is all corporate...
oh, I was thinking that it's to drum up publicity. You know, they'd rather have 60,000 people clamoring to get into an 18,000 seat stadium than 60,000 people only taking up half of a 120,000 seat stadium.
beta that movie annoyed the hell out of me.
jump,
Yep that about summs it up.
Beta, someone actually just recomended that to me this weekend. Honestly i was kind of taken aback by the recomendation..
Nite all
I agree with Vado about Rachel Getting Married. The film was incredibly boring and painful to watch. I kept checking my cell phone to see what time it was counting down the minutes until the film ended and I could leave respectfully. Anne Hathaway did an excellent job in her role. That's about the only positive comment I can give though.
I cannot stand anne hathaway's "acting" and therefore do not ever want to see that movie. I think about 25 very respected film buffs I personally know would need to recommend it to me to get me to see it. Sorry, beta, I am with you on most things!
liberty, in my opinion android is the new swatch. I love their radar watch; it's the one I have, but I was toying with getting several others as well. At last purchase, they were affordable (under $100), and pretty stylish without being too designy. (A lot of architects had recommended those russian n... something watches to me which are cool but too cool for me, personally... I don't like having to do math in my head to tell time, no matter how Cool the watch is... also, a lot of architects / designers recommended what I considered to be SUPER expensive watches, when I asked for something "cheap"... what the heck? One man's trash, I guess!)
Anyway, my other option was to just get a $25 plastic watch from target, but when I saw the Radar I figured I could upcharge it a bit and get away with something I truly loved. I think the Radar was $75 when I got it.
enjoy!
I should note that that is not Android's complete collection -- there's more if you poke around the site.
lol, melt.
friedman and the others at new york times op-ed pages are always on about not following japan's model. and usa was totally into telling japan not to be such fuck-ups for years and years. and so what does usa do when shit hits fan? copies japanese plan that did not work (and still is not working!) because it is simply the easiest thing to do and the most politically expedient. so much for change in the white house. like whatever, y'know?
can i just say that if you're unemployed in MN you can get up to 79 weeks of unemployment...
beta, i actually liked Rachel Getting Married,, my friends who watched it hated it, so there are two camps on the movie
a little unrelated, but i really enjoyed Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Sarah, nice watch, i dont wear watches, but i like seeing nice watches, this one is cool, not too fancy but cool, which is a good thing i guess
i tried to lsn to an audio book for the first time of my life while at work, and it actually gave me a headache, i couldnt concentrate, podcasts are much easier,, u dun have to focus and things can run in the background
I stopped watching Vicky Christina Barcelona before Penelope even showed up. It was the most tiresome cliche of a movie I had seen since Elegy (also with Penelope) However, I thought Cassandra's Dream was quite good.
Vado, the best movie i watched recently was a classic. Which apparently although it won an Oscar is basically reviled by critics???
The Greatest Show on Earth, it was playing this Sunday on AMC and although i had other stuff to do with my afternoon i just got sucked in...
Really enjoyable old hollywood. Plus James Stewart!
Fays,
the only way i have ever listened to an audio book (or would suggest listening to an audio book is on a long road trip...
i listen to quite a few audio books. Put them in before bed. its like having a story read to you when you were little. audio books i would recommend...
To Have And Have Not read by Will Patton
No Country For Old Men read by Tom Stechschulte
Dog Soldiers also read by Stechschulte
A Flag For Sunrise read by Stephen Lang
Archangel read by Michael Kitchen
The talent of the readers is phenomenal. Books are pretty damned good too.
I was looking to get one of the Harry Potter audio books for my niece, she's 9 and I doubt she's actually read one before (but sure as hell know she watched one of the movies). I heard there is one read by Ian McKellen which I think would be awesome since there is something quite majestic in his tone.
Awesome watch Sarah - the last watch I owed was a Seiko Kinetic. We believed it was the only watch I could wear since I have a habit of knocking them out (internal magnetism mumbo jumbo). That lasted me a total of 6 weeks - the last 3 required me to re-set it each morning. So despite loving the design of watches, I have to appreciate them on other people.
huh? Techno, I am very confused by all of what you just said.
Vado, Vicky Christina was slow until Penelope showed up, and then it gets fiesty. Rachel getting married is the next movie in the netflix que.
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