JEB:LOG

When we bought the house, there was a stagnant pod with a little stream of water streaming up in the middle. One of my early projects was to clean out the pond and clean the pump. It worked fine for several years until I had to replace it with Pump #2... which went out this winter after about three years. I'm amazed that these little pumps can run continuously under water for years.

Photo of pump #3 that is now installed and circulating the water. Just in time for spring. Note the little slica gell pack. Keeps moisture down. Wouldn't want a pond pump getting moist.

Posted by Jeb at 7:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Our garage door opener started making a thumping noise that got worse, and then it did not want to open our door. It sounded like the sound was coming from within the motor housing, so I figured something was busted bad. Started researching new openers.

I had previously fixed our opener when a chain guide sprocket had broken. Had to order over the internet. I thought I would take the housing apart to see what was wrong before going off to buy a new one. Piece of rubber fell out of the housing. About 5 inches of the inside of the drive belt had torn away. The thumping noise was the stripped part of the belt slipping on the drive wheel.

Ace Hardware. Lots of belts, but not the 3L 290 size. Lowe's. Lawnmower belts only. Guy there said try Pep Boys, Autozone, or Napa. Pep Boys guy looked at it and brought out something that looked like a close match. Had to adjust the motor a tad for tension and the belt seems a bit too wide, but the garage door is going up and down fine. $12.70 beats $200.

Reference: Original belt is optibelt 3L 290 (H). Made in Germany (like my Passat.) Opener is an Allister II. Replacement belt Dayco Top Cog 15295 (11A0750). Has ribs on the outside where the 3L 290 was smooth. Doesn't seem to matter. Looks like a much tougher auto belt. Aaargh.

Posted by Jeb at 8:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Not sure why I ended up on the Georgia entry in Wikipedia, but I thought I would edit the page and add Five Forks as one of the towns in Georgia. To my surprise, I found it was already there. However, it had no link and no article of its own. So I created an account and added an article. There isn't much there, but I think I'll try to build it up. It is amazing how much trouble someone has gone to on the Snellville article.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five Forks, Georgia

Wikipedia is one of the most amazing things that has ever happened on the internet. As Ted has asked, "Why would anyone ever buy an encyclopedia?" One answer is: "To look at all the colorful flags." That's one of the things I remember doing. But Wikipedia has flags, too.

Posted by Jeb at 8:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I had previously concluded to not buy Lights of America lightbulbs, but one problem with blogs is that they are not readily available as you are standing in Wal-Mart. (I suppose they will be some day.)

I leave a 25 watt bulb burning outside of our basement door to discourage unwanted visitors. Because I don't routinely go to the basement, it often ends up being on continuously. While 25 watts is not a lot, switching to a 5 watt (25 watt 215 lumen equivalent) compact fluorescent makes me feel less guilty about leaving the light on.

We'll see if it is still burning 6,000 hours later. That's on June 16th, 2006.

Posted by Jeb at 3:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Kathy and Danny got their U.S. Passports earlier in the year for their Jamaica trip. While you are supposed to be able to just use your birth certificate and a driver's license, the Jamaica customs agents had told me last year to go ahead and get a passport.

I went ahead and applied for one Saturday to use on our Windjammer cruise. I got to the part of the application that says: "Hair Color." I wanted to put "straw", but I wasn't sure that was legal. I stepped outside where Kathy was working in the yard. "What color hair do I have? The passport application wants to know."

"I guess you should put gray," she said. So I did. That's a first.

Posted by Jeb at 7:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Summary: Buy Commercial Electric (CE) ultra mini compact fluorescent (CF) lights. They are smaller and cheaper than ever, and seem to be reliable. Don't buy Lights of America (LOA) CFs.

Just bought two six packs (a dozen) of Commercial Electric Ultra Mini Spiral Lamps. The CE bulbs I already have are holding up, including the one they mailed me after a good customer service experience.

These are very small. Smaller than a regular light bulb or the burned out LOA bulb seen in this photo. They seem to put out as much light as the larger bulbs. (In this case 60 watt equivalent.)

The ultra minis are replacing three LOA Model 2425 Bulbs that burned out very quickly. Unlike my good Commercial Electric experience, Lights of America wanted me to mail in forms with receipts etc. I just won't buy from them anymore.

Commercial Electric puts a customer service number right on the bulbs: 800-378-6998. That's a good sign. The sale price at Home Depot was $9.95 per six pack. Too good to pass up.

Specs:
Light Output (Lumens) 900
Energy Used (Watts) 14
Life (Hours) 10,000
SKU # 292-460
Model: EDXO-14
14W 200A
V#42836
Customer Service: 1-800-378-6998

Marketing:
Lasts 7 Years Guaranteed*
This Package Saves You $276.00
$46.00 in Energy Costs Per Bulb
Lasts 10 Times Longer Than Standard Bulbs

*based on 4 hours average use per day
*savings based on 10 cents per kilowatt hour

They are replacing larger Lights of America Model 2425.

The Light Log - a 7 Year Experiment
Last updated 11-23-2005
Installation Date / Fixture

1. 1-3-2005 / Basement Hallway South. Died 1-23-2005
2. 1-3-2005 / Basement Hallway North
3. 1-3-2005 / Basement Office South
4. 1-3-2005 / Basement Office South
5. 1-3-2005 / Basement Office North
6. 1-3-2005 / Basement Office North
7. 1-3-2005 / Basement TV Room East
8. 1-5-2005 / Piano
9. 1-15-2005 / Upstairs hall East (Moved to basement hall south 3/6/06)
10. 1-15-2005 / Master Bedroom Closet 1
11. 7-10-2005 / Upstairs hall West (Moved to basement main west 3/6/06)
12. 9-3-2005 / Master Bedroom Closet 2. Died 11-23-2005.

Posted by Jeb at 7:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Ted reports he has used Tax Act for several years. I use TurboTax.

I look forward to using TurboTax every year. I've been getting it for $10 from Intuit because we are their check vendor. They cancelled that benefit last year when our CIO (if your reading this Chris, you cost me money!) e-mailed the order form to our entire I.T. department. It was supposed to be limited to people associated with the plants producing Intuit's checks. The flood of requests had them cancel the deal because in overwhelmed the friendly lady that handles these requests manually.

I bought TurboTax for $39.95 from Costco this year. We started printing checks for Costco about the same time Intuit cancelled there offer. No connection.

I'm not sure if Tax Act supports everything I do in TurboTax. Clark Howard says if you have complex tax transactions you should use TurboTax. But I'm also addicted to how TurboTax carries forward data every year (no retyping) and maintains a 5 year historical view.

(Disclosure: I currently am holding Intuit stock, but I just realized that.)

Posted by Jeb at 8:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Danny and I installed a new gas line for $75 in materials. This included two new pipe wrenches! It saved us so much money, I gave DC a $50 tip for helping out with both his brains and brawn.

This photo shows where we tapped in, replacing a 6" link with a "T". The other T's heading back go to the water heater and dryer.

This photo shows the elbow hanging above the mudsill going up through the kitchen floor.

Danny did all the work behind the narrow space of the stove. (He's taller than me and weighs the same, so I'm not sure how that worked out.) The valve is currently in the off position with a temporary plug screwed in for extra measure.

One thing that made this project possible (besides Grant and Ted telling me I could do it) was being able to get the new stove's installation manual off the internet before buying it. That is how I knew I had a 7" high x 15" wide x 3.5" deep space to install the valve in the back left corner. Kathy and I wonder how the expensive plumbers would have known that. Maybe it is an ANSI standard.

Posted by Jeb at 6:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Two plumbers came by on separate visits today to give us a quote on installing a gas valve in our kitchen so that we can get a new gas stove/range. (Currently have electric.) One quoted $475 and the other quoted $525. There is a gas pipe running under the floor where the stove is today carrying gas to the dryer. It is probably 12" away from where we need the valve to be. That's a lot of money for a little bit of pipe.

Grant thinks I should try to do it myself. So does this guy....

Moving A Gas Pipe

And here is an article on flexible piping.

Posted by Jeb at 11:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Tip from Clark Howard:
Junk Mail Lists
Sample letter

Posted by Jeb at 7:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One problem with having little girls is that you can come home from work to a pile of naked Barbies. The two problems are: 1) they have too many Barbies and 2) their little fingers can undress Barbies but cannot dress them. Why they end up in a pile in the middle of the living room floor is not clear to me.

As the little girls grow older, they learn to dress their Barbies, and the phenomenon cleans itself up. Having three girls, I've had to endure this problem many times over the years. I thought it was all a distant memory.

Then I walked in on this:

Kelly and Mary Claire had decided to inventory all of their Barbie clothing. They were arranging it in stacks by category. Something of a mini laundry folding. I don't know why they were doing this, nor did I ask. I just ran for the camera crying out "evidence! evidence!"

Reviewing the evidence, I see now that there were trolls involved. (What kind of clothes do they have? Click in to zoom if you dare.) And I think there is a Ken in the middle somewhere. Wish I could see his face.

My friend Greg Willits, who now has four boys, is likely to never experience walking in on such a graphic scene of twisted plastic flesh.

Posted by Jeb at 9:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

He did good work:

Mitchell Gutter & Sheet Metal
Covington, GA
678-342-0890

6" Cream Gutter +
4" Cream Downspouts $1550
Brown Gutter Hallet cover (top gutters only) $650
Paint facia board $175
Replace rotten facia and facia on back porch $50
Total: $2400

Posted by Jeb at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Danny researched the Jeep top decision. Bestop, thickest canvas, $464.90.

Posted by Jeb at 9:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There once was a bruthu named Ted,
Who wanted an iPod for his head,
But he spent all his doughs,
To watch GIANT TV shows,
"Maybe next year" is what he said.
"Thank you Susan!" is what he said.

Posted by Jeb at 4:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

An obscure place to play soccer. Seems like it is always cold when we play there. (Dark and 45 degrees right now.)

Norcross, Pinckneyville Park
4707 South Old Peachtree Road
Norcross GA 30092

From I-285 in Northeast Atlanta:
Take the Peachtree Industrial Blvd/GA 141 exit (Exit #31).
Travel NE on Peachtree Industrial Blvd. for 6 miles (Take the right fork at the split with Peachtree Parkway (GA 141)).
Turn right on South Old Peachtree Road.
Go 0.4 miles to the Pickneyville Park Soccer Complex on the left. (Click to zoom.)

Posted by Jeb at 7:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Nicole came home for a birthday celebration including funky glasses shopping, church, dinner at Roadhouse, and a delicious birthday cake with Nicole's favorite icecream from Bruster's.

Nicole flanked by her two goofy sisters.

Posted by Jeb at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

According to this article, if you sign up for the National Do Not Call list (free) you will automatically be added to the Georgia No Call list. Since registering for Georgia's costs $5 every two years, the National Do Not Call list is the way to go.

Posted by Jeb at 7:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

True to their e-mail, the lightbulb arrived U.P.S. Kathy noted that it cost over $3 to mail it to us. It's now glowing in a basement lamp that the kids like to leave on. Now if they just don't knock over the lamp.

A nice end to a simple process all triggered by an e-mail to customer service. Kodak could learn from these people. So: I can continue to recommend buying the compact florescent lightbulbs from Sam's. The manufacturer is Commercial Electric or Spring Lamp or TCP depending on where you look on the bulb or box.

Posted by Jeb at 8:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Subject: Burned Bulbs
From: [email protected]
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2003 08:16:40 -0400

Jeb

Yes sometimes the wait for the hotline can be tiresome but we are glad that you found this web site and were able to contact us through e-mail. We will send a re-placement to the address you gave @ N/C and you should receive it in about two weeks.

Thank you
Pamela

Posted by Jeb at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Based on this monthly pricing scorecard, I'm going to switch from Scana to Walton EMC (our current electricity co-op):

Georgia Gas Marketer Pricecard Information

However, if I'm reading this correctly, it suggests Georgia should never have deregulated. "Regulated Group" comparisons (I assume in other states) have much lower prices.

Posted by Jeb at 10:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Update 1: The website worked. See this posting for web / e-mail info.

Update 2: Buying 12 mini spirals at Home Depot.

I bought a 5 pack of compact flourescent bulbs from Sam's. They cost more but last longer and use less energy, so they should be cheaper over time.

One burned out within 6 months in our storage room. Ted says they should not be put in places where you turn them on and off a lot. But that's what we do with lights. Turn them on and off a lot.

I'll call the 800# on the bulb and see what they say...
Commercial Electric
800-378-6998
SKU# 319-733
Model EDO-13
120V 60Hz
13W .200A
V# 42836

Posted by Jeb at 1:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

I called the number below. There is a 2 year and permanent opt out option:

From Clark Howard Show Notes Tuesday, July 22...

But if it's junk mail you hate, you can do something about it by contacting the Direct Marketing Association. Send your request for "no more direct mail" to:
DMA
Mail Preference Service
P.O. Box 9008
Farmingdale, NY 11735

If you don't feel like sending the letter, you can go to the Web site, the-dma.org and pay $5 to request no more mail. You can also call 1-888-5-OPT-OUT to have your name removed from the database for sending out pre-approved credit cards.

Posted by Jeb at 11:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Kodak announced further decline in earnings and 6,000 layoffs today. If they only stood behind their products...

Posted by Jeb at 12:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Kelly is experimenting with Trackback. She picked up a Trackback URL from one of my postings and put it in the "URLs to Ping" field on her own posting. This caused my original posting to end up with a Trackback to her reply.

However, Trackback only puts a link from the original posting to the reply posting. It may be a good idea to put a link in the reply posting to the original. Like this. I did this by right-clicking on the Posted time at the bottom of her article and copying the link.

Takes practice.

Posted by Jeb at 1:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)