Not-new home sales also waste water

With the City Council on the verge of imposing Stage 2 water restrictions, much has been said about the water wasted when new developments flush their new water lines. I realized last week how much water gets wasted when a house gets sold: any old house, not just a new one.

We hired a home inspector to thoroughly inspect our new home. The water system is part of the inspection, so the inspector cranked on the faucets and let them all run for over an hour as he checked the system for leaks. It made me cringe to see how much water was going down the drain, and yet I certainly wanted any leaks to be discovered. I just wish there was another way to accomplish this without so much waste.

Then again, last summer when I was still drought-stupid I would habitually water the lawn for 3 hours with two hoses going full blast. I wasted far more water doing that than any home inspection could…

New job update

The new job is going okay after two days. I’m getting the firehose treatment when it comes to learning the product. Everything is a bit abstract as most of the servers and data is in Germany. Not having a company laptop yet also keeps me from poking around more.
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Starting the day off right

I woke up before dawn this morning, pulled on my sneakers, and went for a walk around the neighborhood. I’ve become way too lazy in the past few months and its starting to show around my waistline, so I’m going back to regular exercise beginning today.

The weather was perfect for walking, too, with temperatures in the 50s and winds calm. I took a lap around Hobhouse Circle before taking the greenway to Camp Durant Road and back. It was a short circuit (ha!) but it was a start.
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Transitions

Friday was also my last day with Zenoss. I thought I might be with them for a long ride but my priorities simply changed within the last few months. I’ve been working from home pretty much exclusively and felt I needed more day-to-day interaction in order to be successful in that position. While I won’t be an employee anymore, I will remain a huge advocate of the product. In fact, I hope to continue to conduct presentations to interested user groups whenever possible.
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Busy busy weekend

I’m on the tail end of a very busy and productive weekend. Let’s see: I cut and installed the last floorboard in my attic project, replaced a broken picket in the fence, fixed the fence gate, turned the compost pile, stored some backyard junk under the deck, packed six or so boxes with dishes and photographs, moved ten boxes into the garage, moved the crib from upstairs storage into the garage, walked with Travis while he rode his bike, visited while Travis played at our neighbor’s house, and helped another neighbor move his refrigerator. And that was just today.
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Best train video on Youtube


During today’s obligatory train video for Travis I found the ultimate train video on Youtube. BBundridge caught the Union Pacific 844, a “Big Boy” steam locomotive pulling an excursion train, passing a crossing at a jaw-dropping 79+ MPH. I’m amazed at how this train comes out of nowhere and roars past in a fury of rolling steel.

Most remaining steam trains never break 20 MPH. To see this monster steam locomotive (the only steam locomotive never retired by a class 1 railroad) stretching its legs is truly awesome. It’s the best 24 seconds of train video you’ll ever see.

Microsoft bids to buy Yahoo

The Beeb tells me Microsoft wants to buy Yahoo. I think this is kinda sad in a way. Microsoft now relies mainly on its formidable bank account to compete, rather than the “innovation, innovation!” Bill Gates used to love mouthing off about.

Its also a tacit acknowledgment that Microsoft no longer leads the way: Google does. I don’t think Microsoft will ever be the same.

Ever-green

The other day I was chatting with my neighbor while I was working on our backyard fence. I mentioned when we were closing on our new house.

“So … what are you planning to do with your rainwater tank?” she asked as she eyed it jealously. Seems everyone wants their own rain tank nowadays!

As much as I’d like to take my 400 gallons of rainwater with me that ain’t gonna happen. The tank’s gotta be empty for the move so I’ve got to find a new home for all that water. More showers are on the way today and once again I have to pass up the chance to capture more rain. Once you become a rain miser its a hard habit to break!
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Surrounded by boxes

Our house is starting to fill up with neatly-packed boxes, and its a beautiful thing! We’re taking the stuff off our shelves and putting it away: most of which we probably won’t even miss while its in storage.

Just knowing we’ve gotten started on the whole selling process is a big relief. We’ve still got a list four pages long of things we need to do but we’re breaking it down to smaller parts and doing them when we can.

Refreshing sleep

Contrary to my pessimistic beliefs, I slept very, very well during my sleep study last night. The technician showed me my sleep report card and it seems to reflect a good night’s sleep. Maybe I need to go to bed in a tangle of wires every night!

I’ll post my sleep report once I figure out how to work this Internet thingy.