Update Update

[Three Valves]

The Russian babes ain't bad either!!

[Dan Schultz]

Dang! It was A LOT warmer in St. Thomas!

[bort]

That's a lot of words. Are they going out of business?

[Three Valves]

Article ~

anuary 2015: Citing a bloated cost structure that keeps the company from achieving historical profitability, new CEO Darrell Webb fires 42 corporate executives, including the last remnant of Mike Pratt’s team, as well as 28 regional managers. Music Trades reports that the company is down to $10 million in available cash after Christmas.

The constant, smarmy mantra of impenetrability and infallibility has finally been dispelled. Their new executives have, at long last, ceased the comedy routine about how Guitar Center’s stores are always profitable no matter how many times Standard & Poor’s declares them technically in default, or that a billion dollar of debt is totally normal and wonderful and manageable.

They thought they were the Government!!

[bort]

Haha, ok, now we're talking. Thanks.

[bearphonium]

So, instead of snow (like we had at this time last year; over a foot) we are getting a sub-tropical event called the "Pineapple Express" which will dump a boatload of rain on us, but no snow in the mountains (which we desperately need). Weather...

[gwwilk]

So, instead of snow (like we had at this time last year; over a foot) we are getting a sub-tropical event called the "Pineapple
Express" which will dump a boatload of rain on us, but no snow in the mountains (which we desperately need). Weather...

[Curmudgeon mode]
I'm gonna pick on you for no good reason other than the fact that unless you are personally known to your readers, this post is absolutely unintelligible. WHERE ARE YOU

Clever 'location' entries in profiles are one of my pet peeves. They may tickle your fancy, but others such as myself sometimes find them very irritating. Usually we really DO care where you actually reside.

(BTW, because I know there's a great deal of rain in the Pacific Northwest Coast's forecast, that you must live there. Here is an image I captured yesterday from the National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center:)



[/Curmudgeon mode]

I'll also be the first to acknowledge that my response to your post is over-the-top and heavy-handed. I apologize, but I was just trying to emphasize my point. Most of the time it matters not that people disguise their location, but this time it's a critical omission.

[Donn]

And unlike what might be the case for some, she hasn't really made a secret of her location.

I'm not sure what's the extent of the Pineapple Express phenomenon. I've heard complaints from as far north as Vancouver Island (that's Canada), and south from Oregon (bearphonium habitat.) It's raining as I write this, looks like rain all day, but ... it's Seattle, after all. Amount, and temperature, seem pretty normal. I see the snow level is predicted to rise from 5000-6000 feet up to 7500 tomorrow, that might be what we're talking about.

[bort]

I just learned...

Apparently 74 degrees is neither an appropriate nor an efficient thermostat setting. Whoops.

Side note -- in college, on one of the coldest days of the year, we had the great idea of cranking the heat as high as it would go and having a summer-themed party (who wants to wear all those clothes in winter anyway!). Utilities were "included," so what did we care... It was fun, but looking back, it must have been a bit expensive to keep it at (or close to) 85 degrees.

[tbn.al]

You need to install the proper kind of thermostat.

1249051082Thermostat(1).jpg

[Donn]

I just learned...

? You're kidding.

[bort]

I just learned...

? You're kidding.

Nope.

At my last apartment, the floor-based heating unit had the thermostat at the same height as the windowsill. The windows were extremely drafty and thermostat was in direct sunlight, so there was always some sort of external influence that made the temperature number meaningless. You basically just turn it up to whatever's comfortable and then live with it.

Before that, I lived in an old house with an radiator heating system. Again, the thermostat had numbers, but they didn't mean very much. It was basically had 2 options -- "not hot" or "open a window."

There are many great things about being a renter, but with heating, it's always been "you get what you get."

[bort]

The connection is, in my new place, I just cranked it up until it seemed comfortable. Never paid attention to the numbers before, so didn't really do it now either.

So... I'm going to put on a sweater and see what I can do with 70. Apparently 68 is "normal"...?

[Donn]

It's just that the connection between lower standard room temperature and energy conservation has been a the public discussion since 1977, when after some lean years brought on by an oil supply reduction by OPEC, US president Jimmy Carter imposed a 65°F thermostat setting on government buildings (78° for summer AC.)

Now that I think of it, you may not remember those days, or remember the brief period of our history - Nixon through Carter administrations roughly - when the US was moving in the direction of environmentally responsible national policy.

[bort]

It's just that the connection between lower standard room temperature and energy conservation has been a the public discussion since 1977, when after some lean years brought on by an oil supply reduction by OPEC, US president Jimmy Carter imposed a 65°F thermostat setting on government buildings (78° for summer AC.)

Now that I think of it, you may not remember those days, or remember the brief period of our history - Nixon through Carter administrations roughly - when the US was moving in the direction of environmentally responsible national policy.

65F is crazy talk in Bort's world! What is this, air conditioning?

I was born in 1980, so that was before my time. I do remember that in elementary school, we had "energy conservation week," which was always described to me as being a week off from school during the statistically coldest week of the year (around Presidents' Day). The idea was to save energy by closing schools and not have to keep them heated that week. They stopped it, in part, because for a few years in a row, it was either not cold or unusually warm. All I remember from it was them constantly telling us to turn off the lights when we leave a room.

Anyway, the point is that for the first time in my adult life (at 34 years old) I live in a place that has a working thermostat, and it's been interesting to attach numbers to what I perceive as comfort. I never thought about it that much before, I just had what I had.

I realize this ridiculous for everyone except for me, but hey, it's a slow Thursday and this is my update!

[Dan Schultz]

blokesplace great room is "heated" to 53° in the winter and "cooled" to 88° in the summer...

....

Until about ten years ago I had a Bullard double-door air-tight woodburner in my greatroom.... complete with a heat exchanger in the flue. The thing would take a 30" log and burn all night.

The VERY BEST day was when I took it out and put in a vent-free gas stove. End of mess. End of chopping wood. End of bugs in the house. End of lugging logs in and taking ashes out.

[Tubajug]

I will be attending a masterclass with Gene Pokorny tomorrow afternoon. Needless to say, in pretty excited about it. That is all.

[bort]

I will be attending a masterclass with Gene Pokorny tomorrow afternoon.

Whoa, you and Gene are going together? Is he driving, or are you? That's even cooler than if he was teaching it!

Kidding, of course. That's going to be a *great* time. After you get back, you should post a few things you learned from the experience. Have fun!

[gwwilk]

I will be attending a masterclass with Gene Pokorny tomorrow afternoon.

Whoa, you and Gene are going together? Is he driving, or are you? That's even cooler than if he was teaching it!

Kidding, of course. That's going to be a *great* time. After you get back, you should post a few things you learned from the experience. Have fun!

While I'm not going to be a part of the master class, I'm most definitely going to be in the audience for the CSO's performance this evening here at the Lied Center. Hearing Gene in person is going to be a real treat. I last heard him in 2006 at the Denver ITEC.

Pass on a few tips here from the class if you can, Jordan. It should be a fantastic experience.

[bearphonium]

Bloke, we used to heat with one of those exclusively in our previous house. Cord and a half of wood for the winter, such as it is at 44 degrees, 1 minute and 51 seconds North latitude, 123 degrees, 8 minutes and 10 seconds W longitude at an elevation of 380 feet. Had almost an identical fireplace set, too, although ours was set on a pad in front of the floor level fireplace.