Lauren and I recently purchased a Nest thermostat after hearing rave reviews from our friends. Basically it is the most hi-tech thermostat thingy that there is. It is like a little circular computer with big energy-saving capabilities once it learns your daily schedule. In the summer our AC had been running around the clock, costing us hundreds. Now, Nest will learn our schedule and turn down the AC when it knows we’re at work. The temp can also be controlled by our phones.
It was a $250 unit, but we receive a check for $85 from the city of Austin for participating in their summer “rush hour” program which means the city can regulate our house’s temperature during peak hours when huge amounts of power are being used. We can always go in and override their settings if we don’t like it.
So, last night while Lauren was away, I set out to install the Nest. The directions were extremely simple. Make sure the power is off, take off the old thermostat, hook in the new one, turn power back on, and Nest does the rest. Only problem was, I assumed the power I wanted to turn off was in the living room since that’s where the thermostat was. In reality, I needed to turn off the power for the HVAC in the upstairs closet. So there I was, working with live wires in hand.
Needless to say, something went terribly wrong. The Nest was hooked up but not functioning as expected. After a lengthy but helpful call to Customer Service (which oddly is just down the road right here in Austin) it was determined that I had blown a fuse. This morning I went out and purchased a fuse for mere pennies and now all works great!
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In other news, why does Baxter want to destroy his most favorite item–his comfy bed? “Oh look, my bed is full of stuffing! I will take it all out! I don’t know very many things.” Well, a quick search will tell you that he is either bored, suffering from some sort of anxiety due to a change in his environment, or just has a ton of pent-up energy. I would wager to bet that it’s all three with this mutt—he’s bored out of his mind, it’s rainy and we can’t go on a walk, and Lauren has been disappearing for streak of days at a time due to work and he’s anxious.
But still… can’t you find something you hate, like the window blinds that prevent you from staring at the cat across the street to destroy instead of your beloved bed?!
Or maybe he’s still sulking from when I kicked the volleyball directly into his little hound face on Wednesday morning. God knows I’d be crying.
Ryan Glanzer Blog 