Z.Monkey’s Blog

Alright, now I don’t know japanese but I do not that this is funny.  It’s a TV tongue twister contest from Japan.

So we went to the Home Depot last night to pick up some supplies. One of our main goals for was to replace a bunch of the lighting in our home with Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) Bulbs. Our new condo has several recessed lighting fixtures all of which were loaded with 100W Halogen Bulbs; these we replaced with 13W CFL. So if the current rate for power from PSNH is 7.34 cents/kilowatt-hour and if the average life of a CFL is 8000hrs (6 years) then…

(100W * 8000hrs) * ($.0734/1000WHrs) = $58.72

(13W * 8000hrs) * ($.0734/1000WHrs) = $7.63

Those numbers are cost over 8000 hours (which they say is 6 years of use) and since we replaced 6 of the 100W halogen bulbs we will save $51.09 dollars per year in energy costs. Of course we had to pay for the new bulbs. These were $7.99 for a 4 pack* (plus a $1 dollar instant coupon from PSNH) which makes for $1.75 a bulb. So $51.09 - (6 * $1.75) is $40.59 our first year!

Incandescent, Halogen and Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs

In case you are wondering these numbers are ridiculously inflated. I doubt that we’ll have each of these lights on for 1300 hours per year, but in any case they say that it only takes 500 hours of use to pay off a CFL and after that it is pure savings! Of course, there are other benefits to using less energy than just saving money but after you buy something as expensive as a condo you want to pinch pennies as much as possible (especially if those pennies can go towards video games, beer, or TV.) I’m not going to talk about whether the manufacturing process for CFL are better than normal light bulbs because I honestly don’t know but it would be interesting to find out.

Oh, and we also replaced 4 60W bulbs in our upstairs bathroom for an extra $18.40 in savings.

*We bought a different brand of bulbs from Home Depot.

We have been pretty much working day and night for the last two weeks (jobs and packing) and it is starting to catch up to us.  Neither of us really wanted to get out of bed this morning and I am still exhausted but tonight we are cleaning up a little bit more at the old apartment and hitting up the hardware store (energy efficient light bulbs, stain and so misc. crap).  I did actually go and take some more photos last night.  Check them out.

   

We are moved in. A special thanks to my folks, my brother and nikkiana, Maletas and Dave. The move went very smoothly (it helped a lot that Maletas used to work for a moving company, the apartment was right next to an exit and everyone was not afraid to just grab the heavy stuff) and took very little time! Now comes the hard part for us. We need to unpack, paint and stain. But first things first. I need to get internet! Not that I’ve had time to actually post anything but what if I did?! And what if I actually had something to write about?! Then you’d be sorry.

I’ll take some pictures of our new place before our hockey game (or have the scientist do it as I take shitty pictures) and post them tomorrow for those who haven’t seen the place and our interested. Which reminds me, Tizzom you need to play hockey tonight! Jefe is AWOL a guitar hero.

Now here is a game I can really get into.  Now if I can only get past the first level…

Don’t Shoot the Puppy.

I’m getting tired of this home buying process.  The condo we are buying appraised for about $7K less than we expected (yeah!) but that has held up the mortgage approval or restarted it (boo…).  I thought we were already approved so why would we need to get re-approved for less money?  So now it turns out we may not be able to close on Wednesday.  If this is the case I’ll be rather annoyed.  I want the process to be done with already!  I want to start moving in!  I want to be able to enjoy our new patio for a least part of the summer!  Sigh.

So now it should not be a problem.  Argh!  I kind of wish I had some idea of what was going on.  I feel like every time I ask ‘What do we have left to do?’, I’m told ‘Nothing. Everything is going fine.’  Then something comes up and I have to stress out for several hours before it resolves itself.

I have, for some reason, be quoting Golden Boy occasionally at work and I want at least one person there to know what I am talking about so I think it may soon be time to watch the complete set (all 3 hours!). The only problem is I have the series on VHS and I am afraid that my VCR will do what Maletas’s did (see image below). Fortunately the complete DVD set is only $18 (wasn’t $25 for each VHS? Nevermind!) so if I can only lay my hands on $18…

In case you don’t know the title of my last post is a quote from the series. Who here thinks the scientist will be amused by it?

So I lost my notebook yesterday. That is where I write down shit I need to do… now what will I do today! Plus I am now required to go to the red light district to get a new notebook (which happens to be my car as I bought a three pack last time). Sigh.

One thing I did remember to do is to call up Verizon about transferring my account to our new condo. Here the deal (in a D14-esque complaining spiel). Yesterday I called up Verizon and went through their nice automated, voice recognizing menu system, and, finding no option that fit my need, decided to just hit buttons (say things) until I could talk to a human. The only problem was ‘please stay on the line while we direct your call to the next available operator’ was directly followed by ‘the number you are trying to contact is currently unavailable please call…’. WTF. I gave up, deciding to call again the next day.

Upon getting home, the scientist encouraged me to call again (much to my chagrin) and this time I was able to get through, but that department was closed (Indian call centers just aren’t what they used to be)! Blah.

So, I called again this morning and got through successfully… and here’s the deal. If you have a dry loop dsl plan (dsl with no phone) then you cannot transfer your account. You are required to cancel your account and, once the old account has been cancelled (note that this is several days after the date you tell them to cancel it) you can call them up and start a new account. Convenience at its best. Oh, and I also have to ship back our modem. On the plus side, as I said we were going to sign back up again they waived our early termination fee ($70. Though the email I was just sent told me that I am still subject to the fee. Sigh.)… hmm… this information could be used for evil. ‘Hello, Comcast?’

In case you care, D14 has put up a blog for us all to read. I hope his typing improves…

Last Saturday my brother got married (huzzah for him, huzzah for Nikki) and somehow this video became the topic of conversation. The funnest part was when my dad, my uncle Paul, my cousins Josh and Dave, and my grandparents were all stand around the computer watching movies off of YouTube. The best movie we watched was this one about an exploding whale. (Make sure you have audio because the news report is what makes this awesome.)

Another thing that is really cool about YouTube (and I guess the internet in general) is that when you are sitting around with a bunch of people remember funny things you’ve seen on TV (or what not) it takes about 30 seconds to find clips online! I suppose I am awed easily.