I have a bunch of drafts of posts that I've been working on that relate to buying a home and making it your own. Lately though, I've also felt inclined to do more "off-topic" posts. I hope that irrespective of how you arrived here, you find these off-topic posts interesting.
Today, I wanted to share a list of websites that I read frequently. These sites may not be very well known, but if you are interested in the subject matter, I think they are good reads.
Home
Ana White - how-to site with lots of project plans
This Old House - guide on indoor and outdoor home improvement
News:
Flightblogger - analysis of the aerospace industry
New Fuelist - aggregator of interesting energy / new energy news
The Hill - political news, that in my opinion, isn't slanted
The Onion - satire
Finance:
DealBreaker - finance news but with a tabloid twist.
Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis - daily analysis of key economic news. Not doom-and-gloom, but a frank take on the state of global affairs.
ZeroHedge - frequent posts on intra-day stock market news.
Golf
3 Jack Golf Blog - one man's blog on golf equipment, the PGA Tour, and his own efforts to become better
GolfWRX - articles and forums for all things golf, but more of a focus on equipment
The Dan Plan - follows the efforts of one man who dropped everything to become a pro golfer
Random
Barstool Sports - city-specific blogs covering news and sports - very funny
Lifehacker - ways to improve your life with a technology focus
The Pen Addict - review site of various pens
Dog-Shaming - we've submitted Lucky
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Off-Topic: Election
How about a quick non-partisan opinion on the upcoming election: we're kind of screwed either way.
A lot has been made about the US cumulative deficit surpassing $16 trillion this week. That's $16 with twelve zeros!
$16,000,000,000,000
Here's a site tracking all manner of debt statistics: US Debt Clock
The upcoming election will provide this country with two candidates who may appear to have very different plans, but the reality is that neither is offering much in terms of a solution to this country's overspending.
This year, the US government will spend a bit north of $1T more than it takes in from taxes.
Candidate A has a plan to get that annual deficit to about $500B per year in three or four years while Candidate B projects that annual deficit to be about $700B in three or four years. There are a lot of differing assumptions and there's never enough detail, but you can be certain that those numbers aren't a "pessimistic scenario".
Here's a great picture:
Mish at Global Economic Trend Analysis has a great interactive chart where you can compare debt, spending, interest, etc
Again, there are a lot of assumptions in all of these numbers, and in no way am I trying to say that the Ryan budget (not the same as the Romney budget) is the better alternative.
So What?
That's the hard part. For years, fiscally conservative pundits have decried the annual budget deficits and said that a "day of reckoning" is coming as the deficit surpassed $5B, $10B, and so on. The US's credit rating was officially downgraded last summer - the stock market fell, but the downgrade had perhaps the opposite effect on the interest rates the US government pays to borrow.
Since the US government can't fund all of its spending from the taxes it takes in from its citizens, it borrows from the rest of the world. Luckily, the rest of the world is in a real mess of its own right now. Greece, Italy, Spain, and others are in such poor fiscal shape that they are paying 6% (on 10 year debt) or more to borrow from the rest of the world. Investors see the US, Germany, and a few other countries as being safe havens so they are willing to lend to them at 1% or 2%.
The downgrade of the US should have made investors more cautious on the US and led to the government paying higher rates. It hasn't happened - yet.
What will happen, at some unknown point in the future, is that investors will demand higher rates to loan to the US if our deficits continue to grow as they will fear our inability to pay them back. Like what is happening in Europe right now, this tends to happen very quickly. If the US government then has to pay 4%, 5%, or more, then more of the income from taxes will go to simply paying off the interest on the borrowings form the past decades.
The ultimate end scenario is a default or devaluation of the currency which has happened in many countries throughout the world, most noticeably/recently in Latin America. The US could one day simply say "we're sorry, but we we don't have the money to pay back our loans so we won't" which would end the flow of money into the country. The other form this could take would be through hyper-inflation. The US government has promised to repay its loans in dollars - well we own the printing presses, so we can always print however many dollars we need. This would be problematic because the economy is global and when you go to the pump to buy a gallon of gas, if no one trusts the value of the dollar, that gallon could cost $10, $100, $1,000 or more.
The Solution
Spend less than you earn. So simple, but probably impossible.
The last time the government earned more than it spent was during the mid-1990s due to the internet fueling global economic growth.
I'm not trying to be preachy, but if you want to solve for the deficit (which means not focusing on making life better for everyone):
Defense - a huge annual outlay to protect our interests globally, defend against terrorism, etc. I am a big supporter of our troops and their hard work, but we simply can't afford it. The trade-off would be China or someone else growing into the #1 military super power and our country not being involved in global conflicts (this can be good, but you do have situations - Syria- where someone needs to step in when civilians are getting slaughtered). This would also mean leaving Iran or North Korea to develop weapons if they so desire - again, tough to say we're better off in that situation.
Social Security - those in their 20s and 30s should assume that they will never see one cent from the deduction taking from each paycheck for social security. We'd probably need to raise the retirement age too, but that'd affect a key demographic that actually votes.
Healthcare/Medicare/Medicaid - medical care is too expensive and we can't afford to provide even basic services to our citizens. Ain't that sad? Both parties have talked about reforming the system to bring down costs - ObamaCare versus the Republican plan to privatize/create exchanges. Neither solution is enough. Perhaps we should require all high schoolers to take some basic training in medicine? Your friend gets a big cut, hand him a beer and stitch him up rather than going to a doctor. The problem in the long run is that while we are making real advances in medicine and technology that can help people live longer, most can't afford it without government assistance. So do you want healthcare for all that the country can't afford or allow only the rich to be able to afford modern medicine?
The recent healthcare debate also talked about "Death Panels" - the reality is that an immense amount of spending on healthcare comes at or very near the end of someone's life. My grandmother spent most of the last months of her life in the hospital getting treatment. In some cases, treatment can save a sick person and add decades to their life. In others, millions of dollars are spent to maybe add a few months. How do you ration spending? Who should make the decision whether it makes sense from a fiscal standpoint to operate on your grandparent to add a few more years to their life?
Conclusion
I would like to end this little rant with some serious decisions/solutions, but I don't really have them. I think this is also perhaps the core of why our Presidential candidates are quite similar. If you want to win an election, you can't take out-of-the-box positions (see Ron Paul). If you want to change the way our country spends, you have to upset a lot of people and make this country "suffer" for the long-term good.
Therefore, I think we need a Dictator, and I am ready to toss my hat in the ring.
A lot has been made about the US cumulative deficit surpassing $16 trillion this week. That's $16 with twelve zeros!
$16,000,000,000,000
Here's a site tracking all manner of debt statistics: US Debt Clock
The upcoming election will provide this country with two candidates who may appear to have very different plans, but the reality is that neither is offering much in terms of a solution to this country's overspending.
This year, the US government will spend a bit north of $1T more than it takes in from taxes.
Candidate A has a plan to get that annual deficit to about $500B per year in three or four years while Candidate B projects that annual deficit to be about $700B in three or four years. There are a lot of differing assumptions and there's never enough detail, but you can be certain that those numbers aren't a "pessimistic scenario".
Here's a great picture:
Mish at Global Economic Trend Analysis has a great interactive chart where you can compare debt, spending, interest, etc
Again, there are a lot of assumptions in all of these numbers, and in no way am I trying to say that the Ryan budget (not the same as the Romney budget) is the better alternative.
So What?
That's the hard part. For years, fiscally conservative pundits have decried the annual budget deficits and said that a "day of reckoning" is coming as the deficit surpassed $5B, $10B, and so on. The US's credit rating was officially downgraded last summer - the stock market fell, but the downgrade had perhaps the opposite effect on the interest rates the US government pays to borrow.
Since the US government can't fund all of its spending from the taxes it takes in from its citizens, it borrows from the rest of the world. Luckily, the rest of the world is in a real mess of its own right now. Greece, Italy, Spain, and others are in such poor fiscal shape that they are paying 6% (on 10 year debt) or more to borrow from the rest of the world. Investors see the US, Germany, and a few other countries as being safe havens so they are willing to lend to them at 1% or 2%.
The downgrade of the US should have made investors more cautious on the US and led to the government paying higher rates. It hasn't happened - yet.
What will happen, at some unknown point in the future, is that investors will demand higher rates to loan to the US if our deficits continue to grow as they will fear our inability to pay them back. Like what is happening in Europe right now, this tends to happen very quickly. If the US government then has to pay 4%, 5%, or more, then more of the income from taxes will go to simply paying off the interest on the borrowings form the past decades.
The ultimate end scenario is a default or devaluation of the currency which has happened in many countries throughout the world, most noticeably/recently in Latin America. The US could one day simply say "we're sorry, but we we don't have the money to pay back our loans so we won't" which would end the flow of money into the country. The other form this could take would be through hyper-inflation. The US government has promised to repay its loans in dollars - well we own the printing presses, so we can always print however many dollars we need. This would be problematic because the economy is global and when you go to the pump to buy a gallon of gas, if no one trusts the value of the dollar, that gallon could cost $10, $100, $1,000 or more.
The Solution
Spend less than you earn. So simple, but probably impossible.
The last time the government earned more than it spent was during the mid-1990s due to the internet fueling global economic growth.
I'm not trying to be preachy, but if you want to solve for the deficit (which means not focusing on making life better for everyone):
Defense - a huge annual outlay to protect our interests globally, defend against terrorism, etc. I am a big supporter of our troops and their hard work, but we simply can't afford it. The trade-off would be China or someone else growing into the #1 military super power and our country not being involved in global conflicts (this can be good, but you do have situations - Syria- where someone needs to step in when civilians are getting slaughtered). This would also mean leaving Iran or North Korea to develop weapons if they so desire - again, tough to say we're better off in that situation.
Social Security - those in their 20s and 30s should assume that they will never see one cent from the deduction taking from each paycheck for social security. We'd probably need to raise the retirement age too, but that'd affect a key demographic that actually votes.
Healthcare/Medicare/Medicaid - medical care is too expensive and we can't afford to provide even basic services to our citizens. Ain't that sad? Both parties have talked about reforming the system to bring down costs - ObamaCare versus the Republican plan to privatize/create exchanges. Neither solution is enough. Perhaps we should require all high schoolers to take some basic training in medicine? Your friend gets a big cut, hand him a beer and stitch him up rather than going to a doctor. The problem in the long run is that while we are making real advances in medicine and technology that can help people live longer, most can't afford it without government assistance. So do you want healthcare for all that the country can't afford or allow only the rich to be able to afford modern medicine?
The recent healthcare debate also talked about "Death Panels" - the reality is that an immense amount of spending on healthcare comes at or very near the end of someone's life. My grandmother spent most of the last months of her life in the hospital getting treatment. In some cases, treatment can save a sick person and add decades to their life. In others, millions of dollars are spent to maybe add a few months. How do you ration spending? Who should make the decision whether it makes sense from a fiscal standpoint to operate on your grandparent to add a few more years to their life?
Conclusion
I would like to end this little rant with some serious decisions/solutions, but I don't really have them. I think this is also perhaps the core of why our Presidential candidates are quite similar. If you want to win an election, you can't take out-of-the-box positions (see Ron Paul). If you want to change the way our country spends, you have to upset a lot of people and make this country "suffer" for the long-term good.
Therefore, I think we need a Dictator, and I am ready to toss my hat in the ring.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
How to fix your dryer... maybe
A Little History
A few weeks before we closed on our home, a hurricane hit the northeast. We found out the basement was significantly flooded due to overflow from a nearby stream. Until the day of closing, we were told that the basement was treated and all the important equipment was fine.
At closing, we were told the dryer didn't work. While it took some work, we were credited with what we believed to be the fair amount for the dryer.
The dryer actually worked fine at first, but conked out within a few weeks. We used the money to call a appliance repairman and he identified a broken igniter as the problem. Time and parts cost a bit over $200, but we were still in the black.
Flash Forward to Today
Pamela and I returned from our honeymoon with loads of laundry to do. Pamela went first but noted the dryer was taking forever to dry her clothes. Because we'd been through some issues before and I'd sat with the repairman, I knew a few things to check. The latest problem was different, but I am happy to report that I was able to solve it. I figured I'd write a few points below that might help you save on repair costs.
How to Maybe Fix Your Dryer
This really applies to the following symptoms which seem to be the most common: your laundry either takes too long to dry or doesn't dry at all; you open the dryer while it is running and you note that the air inside is not hot. I am also more specifically referring to a gas dryer.
This latest foray was luckily solvable by resetting the thermostat. I ended up disassembling almost the entire dryer and ended up with 6 spare screws once I had pieced it all back together.
Sidenote
The internet is incredible - I couldn't even figure out how to remove the cover of the dryer on my own. I'd like to note all the helpful sites, but there were too many sites that added just a little bit of info which helped me along the way. One thing I will gripe about though - Fixya.com is the worst website ever. It can contain good information, but it is difficult to navigate and it seems they just want you to click a lot to sell ad impressions.
A few weeks before we closed on our home, a hurricane hit the northeast. We found out the basement was significantly flooded due to overflow from a nearby stream. Until the day of closing, we were told that the basement was treated and all the important equipment was fine.
At closing, we were told the dryer didn't work. While it took some work, we were credited with what we believed to be the fair amount for the dryer.
The dryer actually worked fine at first, but conked out within a few weeks. We used the money to call a appliance repairman and he identified a broken igniter as the problem. Time and parts cost a bit over $200, but we were still in the black.
Flash Forward to Today
Pamela and I returned from our honeymoon with loads of laundry to do. Pamela went first but noted the dryer was taking forever to dry her clothes. Because we'd been through some issues before and I'd sat with the repairman, I knew a few things to check. The latest problem was different, but I am happy to report that I was able to solve it. I figured I'd write a few points below that might help you save on repair costs.
How to Maybe Fix Your Dryer
This really applies to the following symptoms which seem to be the most common: your laundry either takes too long to dry or doesn't dry at all; you open the dryer while it is running and you note that the air inside is not hot. I am also more specifically referring to a gas dryer.
- Your dryer likely has its own diagnostics that you can run. Find the directions in your owner's manual - if you don't have the manual, they are often posted online on Scribd or elsewhere, so just do a search
- The diagnostic may point you to the problem right away, but in my case, it did not
- Run the dryer with the door open by pressing in the door switch
- Put your hand by the lint trap - if there's no suction, you may have a clog in the lint trap, in the exhaust pipe within the dryer, or in the exhaust exiting your dryer going outside
- You can disconnect the exhaust pipe in the back to see if air is flowing smoothly within the machine
- If so, check the exhaust vent outside of your home - have birds made a nest?
- Clogged exhaust can lead to overheating or to your dryer shutting off the heat pre-maturely
- If that doesn't solve your problem, take the top cover off the dryer
- Turn the dryer on and look down into the machine (best to do in the dark)
- Do you see a glowing light come on? If not, your igniter is likely broken and you'll need to buy a replacement
- If your ignitor does glow, do you hear your gas come on? If not, the most common failing piece is the gas valve coils. Many companies sell these parts ($10 to $15), but some only sell the entire gas valve assembly (>$100) and you'll likely need a plumber to come in because this will require messing with your gas connection
- If your ignitor comes on, and your gas comes on, but quickly turns off, this means one of two things. Your gas valve coils may be bad - they may turn on but under electrical load they fail. Alternatively, this could be a signal that your thermostat needs resetting or replacing.
- Resetting the thermostat is the simplest. You'll need to take off the front cover to access the thermostat which is likely near the heat tube. Search on Google for your specific model and replacement parts. Sites like Appliance Parts Pros have the schematics of your machine (which can also be found in your owner's manual) which should help you locate the thermostat.
- Be sure to unplug the machine before you reach in there, then find the thermostat button and hit it.
- You'll find on the web that there are additional tests you can run on the individual parts to see if they are malfunctioning, but they most often require a multimeter.
 |
| Diagnostic |
 |
| Ignitor |
This latest foray was luckily solvable by resetting the thermostat. I ended up disassembling almost the entire dryer and ended up with 6 spare screws once I had pieced it all back together.
Sidenote
The internet is incredible - I couldn't even figure out how to remove the cover of the dryer on my own. I'd like to note all the helpful sites, but there were too many sites that added just a little bit of info which helped me along the way. One thing I will gripe about though - Fixya.com is the worst website ever. It can contain good information, but it is difficult to navigate and it seems they just want you to click a lot to sell ad impressions.
Monday, June 18, 2012
On the 31st Day
This is a picture I took back in April and a quick blog I wrote but never posted.
That was April. Today, that grass is full and lush. In fact, I've come to learn that once temperatures rise, the sun comes out, and we get some rain, the darn grass won't stop growing! I mow every weekend but I still feel that isn't enough.
I may post later on lawn care tips, but new rule #1 when planting new grass:
Wait until it is decently warm (above 70) with plenty of sunshine. Newly planted grass will take root and start growing with little effort in no time. If you do like I did and plant when it is still cool, you'll be out there watering twice a day for weeks, only seeing minimal results and probably second-guessing yourself the whole way.
The grass has come in, although it isn't exactly what I'd hoped for.
The picture is a decent indication. The brown areas do have grass, but it's much more sparse. Various weeds have popped up too, which I then pulled but that killed some grass too. Mint plants that were part of the garden from the past fall also started to sprout. I probably should have done a better job of sifting through the old dirt to remove old plants. I continue to water the newly planted areas twice a day and hope for better results in the near future.
That was April. Today, that grass is full and lush. In fact, I've come to learn that once temperatures rise, the sun comes out, and we get some rain, the darn grass won't stop growing! I mow every weekend but I still feel that isn't enough.
I may post later on lawn care tips, but new rule #1 when planting new grass:
Wait until it is decently warm (above 70) with plenty of sunshine. Newly planted grass will take root and start growing with little effort in no time. If you do like I did and plant when it is still cool, you'll be out there watering twice a day for weeks, only seeing minimal results and probably second-guessing yourself the whole way.
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