Another short post

I had an interesting message from the book of faces today asking what I had planned for my birthday. This will be a milestone birthday for me as I turn 60 this year. And Mrs. the Poet turns 65 this December, so she’s wanting to do something big. Big as in trip to Vegas or Hawaii big. What she’s having the problem with is the budget for the trip is almost the same as the budget for putting the central AC back on line, and the time for the trip is also the perfect time to fix the AC.

So maybe this would be a good time to get the AC fixed? And make Mrs. the Poet happy. Comments please.

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Feeling really lazy now

Can’t say why but I just don’t have any get-up-and-go today. The only things I have on the agenda are checking my account balance to see if payday is the first/last of the month, or the 15th, and if I have the energy change the broken AC unit for the new one sitting in the box on my right. But given the yawning I have been doing just trying to compose a blog post, I don’t think that is a realistic agenda item.

I mentioned I bought some generic versions of the Otter Pop earlier, well, these puppies have some interesting flavors. Besides the usual orange, lemon, lime, raspberry, grape and cherry, this brand has kiwi, mango, pineapple, peach, and something light orange that isn’t any of those that I can’t identify except as “not bad”. And there’s something yellow that is vaguely citrus and also “none of the above”, and “not bad”.

And since I can hardly keep my eyes open now, I’m gonna have a lie-down on the bed. Current time is 1730 in case I can’t wake up before midnight. It’s now 1940 and I just finished dinner, or supper, or whatever you call your evening meal. Mrs. the Poet and Clint made sure I didn’t sleep too long and made me get up around 1900, by either yelling at me or walking on me, respectively.

One of the things that has been bothering me about the Subaru engine install has been how much room behind the engine is taken up by the intake system. Now on the donor vehicle this makes sense because of how far forward the engine is mounted because of the AWD transmission. Literally the entire engine sits in front of the front axle so there is tons of space behind the engine for support equipment like turbochargers and intercoolers. But on the Sprint-T that just moves the shifter on the transmission out of the driver’s reach. So this means reworking the intake and turbo routing so the bits are in front of the engine, which in turn means moving things like the alternator and power steering pump so they are out of the intake system. And if I go with electric power assist that just leaves the alternator to stick out from the front of the engine, but it has to be a really high-output alternator. On the positive side for this, if I just turn the intake around there will be room underneath for things like big (physically large) alternators because the OEM installation had to clear the bellhousing and the FWD portion of the transmission and the drive axles so nothing could hang very low. I might have to make a new exhaust pipe or two, but nothing too difficult to make as long as I keep the original bits to steal flanges and connectors from. And that alternator will have to be large to keep cool during racing as the power assist puts out 250 watts at the steering shaft, meaning it takes about 300 watts at the controller or 21 amps at the alternator, not including any other electrical loads like the ECU and the ignition system, or any entertainment systems. As far as “entertainment systems” go, I think we are looking at a charging cord to a smart phone for Google Maps, so minimal power usage there. But in transit the steering assist hardly enters into the equation so basically the electrical system just needs to supply the electrical power needs required to make the engine run, so maybe I just need a small alternator and a solar charging panel on the trailer for plugging in, in the pits between runs. Sorry, I started thinking on the page again, and redesigning things as I describe them. That seems to be a habit of mine.

And I never did make that run to check the balance on my account, so I’ll wait until grocery day on Saturday and check it then.

Still looking at AC units

And there are a plethora of them. Office temperature is about the same as before, peaking at 86°F right after sundown every night. And every day I have to “fight” with the cat about keeping stuff that belongs on my desk actually on my desk. He really wants to get on my lap, but there just isn’t enough room for a cat on my lap while I work on the computer, so he goes behind the monitor/laptop screen and ends up pushing everything off the desk trying to get comfy. So I yell at him and he pouts, then walks across the keyboard as soon as my back is turned.

Anywho, just got back from an argument with Mrs. the Poet about spending money. Not that I’m spending it unwisely, but according to her I’m not spending enough. The reason we even have window units is because way back before Dad died our central AC died first, and the reason it died was the wiring in the house has gone bad. I had an electrician look at the situation back then and part of the problem is our breaker box is no longer up to code and before any other work can be done that has to be replaced at about $1K then troubleshooting or replacing the bad wiring may commence. In today’s $ we are looking at $3-8K total repairs before fixing the AC can even start. And the reason we are looking at these costs is the wiring may or may not have been up to code when the house was built in 1985, there was some shady business with building inspection back then.

Another reason for the argument is I have been working from faulty data on our finances. My data says we have about 8 years left before we have to sell the house to cover taxes, but according to Mrs. the Poet I was only informed about one of 3 accounts and we really have a lot more than that, more than twice as much. I’m not used to working like that. But either way we are looking at between $5K and $9k to repair the central AC compared to $130 to replace the window unit in the office. We got the window units about 10 years ago, and the three little ones all failed last summer pretty much at the same time, so to get everything back to status quo would be about $400. Now the real problem is our heat tolerance differences. I’m good to about 85 for sleeping under a ceiling fan, Mrs. the Poet really needs something cooler. Going the other way I can sleep comfortably under a heavy quilt as cool as 50 with a pair of wool socks on, where Mrs. the Poet starts complaining under 60. Part of that is I spent two winters in my grandmother’s house that only had a wood-burning stove for heat and the bedrooms would get near freezing in the winter and only got a small window unit for AC after Dad got back from Vietnam, and we moved out before the AC went in. The other part is I spent years riding as much as 200 miles a day out in the heat so just hanging around in the same heat is nothing, barely even uncomfortable.

Bottom line, I want Mrs. the Poet happy and comfortable, but not at the cost of not having a place to live shortly after that. That’s why the T-bucket project stalled, so that we would still have a roof over our heads.

I can’t decide

I can’t decide if I’m just cheap, or acclimatizing to the heat, or what. Because it doesn’t really bother me that it’s 84°F in the office, the real concern is for my electronics, some of which are not performing correctly, like this laptop. Since I have to use the on-screen keyboard to use some of the keys, things like cursor control are important right now. But the cursor is wandering all over the screen without any input from me. I used to be able to park the cursor on top of the <m> key on the on-screen keyboard and just tap the touchpad at the bottom of the keyboard to type the letter “m”. And the cable box is a little wonky too but nothing I can put my finger on to say specifically what’s wrong. It might just be the remote instead.

But me? I’m just dandy, if a little damp. Not sweaty, just not dry, damp. Also not uncomfortable. Which is why I think I should be getting the new unit for the bedroom instead of the office except for the electronics, which are much more heat-sensitive than me. That is my dilemma, save the electronics that will cost a fortune to replace, or have a bedroom Mrs. the Poet can sleep in. But she’s leaving for the summer, so that has to weigh heavily in the decision. And before anyone says anything, Mrs. the Poet spends most of the summer in Upstate NY every year, and has since we moved to TX back in 1989.

It’s getting hot in here, again

“… so take off all your clothes.”

Current office temperature is 85°F with the AC going. I really need to use the extra $$ from the insurance payment withdrawal to get a new AC unit for the office, or the bedroom. I don’t want to be selfish, because I can live with an office temperature below 90°F as long as I have a fan going and the old AC unit does blow up a storm. And moving the clock with the thermometer to the bedroom has shown a drop of a full degree in about 10 minutes, and 2 degrees in about a half an hour. Knowing the response time for this particular thermometer I can safely say that the bedroom is roughly 80°F at the hottest part of the day, and high 70s at night. Mrs. the Poet and I can sleep when it’s like that, but the electronics in my office don’t perform well with sustained 85° temperatures. So, Mrs. the Poet says put the new AC in my office instead of our bedroom.

And I’m running out of cold water, and the laptop is warning about overheating. That’s my cue to cut this one short.

Sitting here sweating

Our last window unit seems to be dying and not cooling and I’m suffering in an 86°F(30°C) office. I’m pretty much covered in sweat and somewhat smelly or maybe more than just somewhat smelly. I am seriously lacking energy from all the heat, but there is an up side to this: my back is not hurting much while the muscle is nice and warm. I was able to get to sleep without using pain relievers last night. I made the mistake of also not taking the diphenhydramine I use to shut the brain down so I can sleep, so I basically didn’t get to sleep for anything more than a catnap and woke up again around noon. I’m bobbing and weaving in my chair so I think I will be able to get to sleep early.

And I think I will take that trip to bed shortly.