Voyeur

I found this guy waiting for me in shower room at work Friday. It's a house centipede (or scutigera coleoptrata). They eat insects, usually the ones you don't want around. Sorry for the poor picture, it was the best my cell phone camera could do with the low light levels in the room.

Light bulb follow up

Nothing has come of my disappointment about not recycling the fluorescent lamps at work. I need to corner the two guys who did it, so I've at least talked to them and find out if management told them to throw them away or not. Bethany called this a pretty funny passive aggressive move, but I added a line to the working list whiteboard regarding the failure to recycle. Obviously, they don't go back over it very often, because they'd surely know who wrote it if they had.

It does seem a bit silly, but I think it's more funny than anything. I get worked up about this stuff, but in the end try not to let it get too serious. I have mixed results at that, of course, but I try.

PS. I opted to highlight some of the text on the board with a 'black highlighter' like the CIA does. The company gets weird over things, and if they find this post, I don't want to give them the easy rationale for firing me of disclosing company secrets. :) I doubt they'd do it, but it's best not to push my luck.

Disappointment and embarrassment

This is what I found in my company's dumpster after work Friday. That's right, 30 or so six-foot T12 fluorescent tubes. I saw the two people replacing them during the day. One actually participated in the greeening of the company meetings when we were having them last year. I'm not surprised they threw them away instead of recycling them, but it still tears at the small amount of soul left in me. Pretty impressive for a company with a vision statement that includes six mantras, two of which are "health" and "environmental responsibility."

These guys know about the mercury content. They know the tubes are suposed to be recycled. They also couldn't care less.

I'm also pretty sure it's against city ordinances to throw them away like this. Not that the city enforces this sort of thing.

Behind at this blogging thing

I've taking a pretty good hiatus from the interactive side of the world of the internet for the past month or so. I still don't have time to write now, but ended up writing a piece for my long-neglected HGTVpro blog about the solar conference I went to in Buffalo, NY, last month. That post is:

SOLAR 2009 conference

Since my last post, much has gone on that I am incapable of finding the time to write all about. On the fun side, I acquired a mountain bike and competed in my first adventure race this past weekend. More about that when I can sit down and write about it tonight because it isn't that stale and was a great time.

Bike commuters take over the research bay

We had six bike commuters today! The seventh bike has been abandoned since the weather got wet and cold in the fall. The offending person says she'll get the bike home and start riding again soon. We're going to need to build another rack to accommodate the few more riders we'll likely pick up when the weather actually gets nice. This one is Kevin's handwork.

The flash sets off the reflective sidewalls on Dave's and my bikes nicely. John's got a good reflective strip around his seatpost tool bag.

Lighting design post on my other blog

Yes, here we go again on my shameless promotion of my building science blog at HGTVPro...

I have been trying to apply some of my engineering tools to a field that sort of defies typical engineering methods much of the time, or at least the more academic side of it. I think it's changing as some of the big builders are looking into process mapping, lean busing models, and even manufacturing quality control strategies.

In the post, I put up a list of requirements that a lighting package in a house should satisfy and a list of all the entities that I consider 'customers' to said design (such as the homeowner, builder, architect, etc).

If you're not already asleep, maybe the actual article will finish you off. Go check it out if you wish: Lighting package desires and requirements.

Playing at work

One of my responsibilities at work is the overall management of our data acquisition and monitoring activities. Another engineer, Dave, does most of the actual work these days, but I get to play with the parts and pieces as much as I can find time to. We're transitioning to a new server and ultimately a database for our data collection and needed an in-house logger to test out the new system. Dave set up a logger in an enclosure, and I got to program it as well as play around with modifying one of the bazillion old UPS's lying around the office.

These uninterruptable power supplies are basically a charge controller for a 12V sealed lead acid battery and a somewhat crude inverter to supply AC current to the load (computer, etc) when the power goes down. The UPS's that have been pulled out of commission in the office are almost 100% due to the batteries having died and not the electronics. The loggers we use (Campbell Scientific CR10X or CR1000) also use a 12V battery and don't draw much power. So, I jumpered off the battery in the UPS to power the datalogger. The logger has been running for the better part of a week now and hasn't caught on fire. That's a good sign, right? :)

Modified UPS:

The datalogger cave:

Lighting questions on building science blog

Sorry for these cross-postings.

On my HGTVPro blog, I am asking for help from the community in compiling a comprehensive list of things people want in the lighting design of a house. If that strikes any of your fancies, please check it out and comment over on my Building Science blog post on lighting on HGTVPro.

Thanks.

Post on my official building science blog

I'm still trying to figure out how trackbacks work. On my HGTV blog, I put up a new post about strategies for conserving energy on miscellaneous electric loads. It's pretty dry, as it is more or less a cut and paste job from my work for our 2008 annual report to the Department of Energy. I've neglected that blog, so I felt it was fair to cheat. :)

Actual URL of the post: http://blogs.hgtvpro.com/hgtvpro/building_science/archive/2009/02/some_thoughts_of_energy_conser.html

Trackback URL: http://blogs.scrippsnetworks.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1848

New construction lighting issues and a blower door

Here are a couple of pictures from two nice houses we consulted on recently. I wanted to show some of the funky lighting that happens when there are a bazillion people working on things and not all of them give a shit.

In the picture above, I'm not sure the architect intended the sconce to be where it is. Even if he did mess up and not realize how spacially challenged that location is, the electrician and site super both should have caught it and had it fixed prior to final fit and finish.

Below, there are several things I can nit pick about the kitchen lighting, most of which aren't visible in this picture. However, I want to point out how important it is to choose light fixtures and/or bulbs that have the same color characteristics, especially in an indirect lighting use. The recessed can and pendant lights are fine for color, but the two undercabinet areas are lit completely differently. The one on the left has a warm light (lower color temperature) and the one on the right is bluer and has a higher color temperature (cool white light). Yes, it's confusing that warm white light has a lower color temperature than the cool white light, which has a higher color temperature. But then again, this is from an industry that calls bulbs lamps and lamps luminaires... In any case, the fixture on the right should be longer to fill more of the space over the switches.


The picture below is of a blower door. It is essentially a nylon sheet to block the door and a calibrated fan. You depressurize (or pressurize) the house to a certain level below (above) the outdoor pressure. From knowing the pressure difference and the flow rate through the fan, you can estimate how airtight or leaky the house is. It's a fun, but sort of painstaking, process. Half the time I've done it, I've finished up and am putting things away when I realize I forgot to close all the windows all the way or block the dryer vent (known hole). Then we have to redo it. I don't usually do this type of testing, so I'm not as good at is as the guys who do it all the time.

We recommend this type of testing on every new house to be able to know the envelope was built tightly. I recommend it also to existing houses because it can help the homeowner make decisions on what projects to tackle first to get the biggest benefits from retrofits.

When I leave for work

It's hard to get up and leave the family in the mornings...

Salt and draftstopping

In general, our sidewalks at work are more dangerous due to the piles of salt than any snow or ice that may or could possibly accumulate. The driveway in the picture above has not been salted for a couple of days and has been pulverized pretty well by the cars. However, the sidewalk continues to be pretty treacherous.

I picked up some bread at Pennsylvania Macaroni Company today. Dave and I were admiring their draftstopping measures on their exit door. They've filled some of the gap with tape, then used fender washers and screws to attach a strip of clear hard plastic to the door on the right of the picture in order to block the airflow. Pretty crafty.

Goodbye transition year

When I was half asleep this morning, drifting about trying to decide if I was going to get out of bed or not, the narrative for this post was so clear and powerful in my head. However, now it's just a ghost that I feel like I saw out of the corner of my eye. It could really have just been some ruse of my mind to bolster its ego in a Walter Mitty bit of dealing with its own ineffectiveness.

I'm just going to keep going without a real plan because I really think writing like this requires writing and not planning. I've done the thinking. It's what I do. But doing doesn't always get done.

That's been the crux and important takeaway for me from 2008. I know the year end/start and resolutions are the consequences of an arbitrary construct based on our sentimentality for numbers. However, I'm a huge fan of thinking and reflection, so I'm all for what's effectively a national holiday for introspection.

Back to 2008 and its crux. I think the most growth I've had this past year has been the wretched position I was put into at work. Instead of most of my time going toward learning and practicing my technical capabilities in the new fields I'm working in, 80% of my headspace at work this past year has been dealing with the ineffectiveness, lack of planning, and other neuroses of my work group and, of course, myself. I has been a worthwhile endeavor, despite the grief and conflict it has brought up.

What I find interesting from this is that in my workplace, doing is valued more than thinking and the thinking never gets done. A quick, poor outcome is looked at better in management's eyes than a well thought out, concerted effort that takes longer. This has been of the utmost frustration to me and took me way too long to figure out how not to be adversely affected. I will no longer spend my time thinking and planning for those above and around me. I got nowhere with enablement. I was subjected to a very negative review by our CTO because it wasn't obvious to him because I worked with teammembers on an one-on-one basis and did not take nor was given credit. So, here we go. Now, they have to deal with me calling them on their shit as I focus on what I need to get my work done with integrity.

I find it crazy annoying that this has been the cloud under which I've labored this year. This year was a wonderful trip in so many other ways. Silas having come into Bethany's and my life has been the most beautiful thing ever. I'm touched and affected in so many ways that I cannot begin to discuss them here.

At the center of every gallaxy, I think, is a black hole. Or at least that's what I sort of remember from a paper I read this past year. If that's true, we live out our entire lives falling into one. Slowly, but unstoppably. I have been using a black hole analogy this year for the birth of my son. The disappointing part is that it seems most people take it as a negative. Maybe that's my fault for trying to reappropriate the general association of black holes with something akin to negative fatalism and/or nihilism. I don't see it that way, and I don't think my tone, body language, and words convey a negative impressing. Nonetheless, I watch person after person react like I'm saying I miss my old life. Bethany tells me I expect too much of the general populace. I don't know. In any case, I'm on this side of the event horizon now, and the physics of life have all changed. I can't get back to the other side, and I don't want to. Being a dad suits me well.

Thursday at work

Oh yeah, cold mornings now - I love it! Or at least so far. A little bit of snow and some wind made for a fun ride in. It was sunny and really pretty today, despite the temperature.

Bethany and Silas came to work for a short visit as well. Silas slept for most of it in his double thumbs-up pose.

Presentation is over

The presentation went well. I'm glad it's over. I have to admit, despite the stress of putting together an hour and a half of material, it was kind of fun. The presentation part went fine. I didn't have a mic, so some people in the full room had trouble hearing me in the back. Overall, we got positive feedback. For the kid that about wet his pants in nervousness in high school speech class, it's kind of funny to be pretty comfortable talking to 50-100 people once or twice a year... This is my second presentation at the EEBA conferences. I've presented papers at two others.

EEBA is the Energy and Environmental Building Association. There is one more day left in the conference, so I'll get to do the rest without the cloud of the never-finished presentation hanging over me.

Nightime break for dinner

Just posting a few nighttime pictures around the resort from my walk out for dinner. I didn't do much besides work on the presentation all day. I did get a nice 3 1/2 mile run in the evening before it got dark. Even though it wasn't all that hot, the air is so dry.

Water heater or sci-fi bomb

Well, it's not nearly as cool as the Maker Faire in Austin this week, but this electric water heater was sure a looker. That turbine-looking device is the flow sensor. It provides the computer some idea of the flow rate of the water so it knows how hard to pulse the heating elements hidden in those sexy stainless steel tubes. Of course, the timer is there so you know how long you have to get off the ship before the core goes critical and you need to be at least two parsecs from the resultant thermonuclear explosion.

In Phoenix for a conference

I'm speaking at the EEBA conference tomorrow about energy saving strategies and modeling techniques for the wild west of the efficiency world: lighting, appliances, and miscellaneous electric loads. I'm co-presenting with one of the partners of our company, but really that means that I create the whole presentation, and he gets to present it with me. The part that is going to be fun to watch is how Brad is comfortable standing in front of 75 people and talking to them as if they were in the parlour at his house. I'm not that experienced of a presenter to be at that point. However, this presentation is about as unscripted as I've ever had it, as I probably know the material more than any other and have written much less than any other. It is going to be conversational no matter what, because I have gotten all wrapped up in modeling and the conundra involved in that side of things that I have very few slides actually prepared. It'll be interesting...

These photos are of the resort/conference center where it's being held, and where I'm staying. The top picture is of the resort from the restaurant looking over the water park toward the building where my room is (building on the left).

Each building has two pools in the courtyards. Here is the view from the door to my room at 8 this morning.
This is where I've spent most of my time here so far.

They even left me a teddy bear on the bed! Yay! Now I have something to cuddle up with and not miss my family as much. :)

I'm sure it'd show up as a $99 cost on my room bill if I were to take it with me. I accidentally broke the seal on the refrigerator not realizing it was sealed with a plastic device that breaks irreparably into several pieces when you open it. That way, they know to do an inventory and charge for the drinks in the fridge.

Here is the reception area. You drive in under these chandeliers and park to check in. The valet takes the car away, and they drive you to your building and room in a golf cart. Kinda silly. Anyway, these two fixtures have something like 50 lamps in them each. That's 100 bulbs! At least these are all compact fluorescent candleabra bulbs. So, 100 times 7 watts each is 700 watts of installed lighting. That's more than all the lighting in our house. If they were incandescent bulbs, it'd be around 2,800 watts! The electric water heater that Bethany uses to boil water for tea draws 1,500 watts.

Great grandfather's chair

A while ago, my father and stepmother sent us my great grandfather's rocking chair. It's been in a crate at work for a few months, and I was getting a bunch of heat at work about that. So, this was the weekend to dismantle the crate and bring it home. I have a picture somewhere of the crate when it was delivered, but can't find it now. Here are a few from the dismantling process. The Dewalt boxes are empty (alas). They were filler to take up volume around the chair in the crate.

Once the crate makes it to its final spot in the house, I'll post a picture.


Dave helped take it apart. Fun Friday night. I owe him a beer or bike tube or something.


The term "station wagon" is certainly a little anachronistic, and none of the car companies use it anymore. However, this style of car is so utilitarian and gets good mileage.

Dark mornings

It's getting darker by the day for my commute to work. I got out a little earlier this morning, and it was fully dark. I'm fine with the darkness, as it is probably safer than the dusky transitions for visibility. The bike lights scream out "pay attention" in the darkness much better than they do in the light transition times.

The picture is looking past the back of my office toward downtown along the cliff that the railroad tracks and busway parallel.