Monthly Archives: December 2013

Call Me, the Memesical

From Sean of Just a Jeep Guy

CALL ME

1. Do you still have a land line?
Yes. Not that it gets used. The people who need to get in “real” contact with us have our cell numbers. So the ringer is shut off on the telephone attached to it. But one never knows when an emergency will require it. And it’s bundled with our Internet package, so there’s that too.

2. Which cell phone do you use and why?
I have an iPhone 4S currently. Mostly for the reasons I wrote about here four years ago when I got my iPhone 3GS. And those reasons still hold true. It just works, and it does what I need it to do. I just wish I had about 256GB of storage on it instead of the 16GB I have.

3. Which provider do you use? Is there really a difference?
Currently AT&T. I hear people moan and complain about them, but I’ve yet (*knock on wood*) to have an issue with them, either at home or when traveling. I had two other carriers before switching to AT&T: Alltel and Sprint. Neither provided a decent signal where we lived. Which really sucked. AT&T comes through loud and clear.

4. If you call someone and they don’t pick up, do you leave a message?
If I’m calling someone, there’s a reason.

5. When you have a missed call (with no message), do you call the person back?
No. If it wasn’t important enough for them to leave a message, it’s not important enough for me to call back. Oh, and if your number isn’t stored in my contacts, I pretty much don’t pick up.

6. Do you text willingly or reluctantly? How are your skills?
Willingly. In fact, I prefer texting to most forms of communication. I despise talking on the telephone. Loathe it! It’s… not efficient.

7. Has your cell replaced your camera?
Yes. In fact, I sold my DSLR several years ago. I still have a small 10MP pocket camera, but that stays at the tattoo studio for use in taking pictures of tattoos I have completed. With my next phone upgrade, I hope to get rid of it as well.

8. Selfies….
Is this a question?

9. How many apps do you have? Which is your favorite and why?
Apps installed currently: 105. I know I need to go through and prune a few that I haven’t used. And I don’t know that I have a “favorite” favorite. The apps I have all do things I need them to do. I’d say for entertainment purposes, Instagram is my favorite. Mostly because I seem to apparently follow a lot of rather hot men…

10. What would life be like with no cell/smart phone for one month?
I panic if I don’t have it with me when I walk out of the house. It’s a lot of everything for me: my communication center, my camera, my notepad, my music collection, and the list goes on… I’d have to replace those functions with other devices just to manage.

BONUS

How much has your cell phone become a part of your sex life? Sexting, hookup apps, selfies, video, GPS, more?
Pretty much not for me. If you’ve read me long enough, you know I’ve never been a “sex” guy. While I do have a couple of “those” apps installed, they rarely get launched. And when they do, it’s usually just to say howdy to a couple of friends I have out there that don’t have my phone number or email address.

Until next time...
Erik

Drafted

Ever since we installed the wood burning stove back in the house, we have been having issues.

With smoke. And because of that, it smelled like a campfire in the house. Yuck.

From what we could tell, not enough draft was being created to pull smoke up the chimney, so it would come back down into the house through the chimney. Which made for a rather smokey living environment at times.

And because of that (and the fact the Husbear has been burning green wood and not seasoned), the chimney was getting quite a buildup of creosote. You know, that bad bi-product stuff that can be highly flammable…

The view into the top of the stove.
The view into the top of the stove.
A closer view in.
A closer view in.
The coating on one of the heat exchanger tubes on the "Miracle Heat Reclaimer".
The coating on one of the heat exchanger tubes on the “Miracle Heat Reclaimer”.
The through-the-wall section that goes to the outside chimney stack.
The through-the-wall section that goes to the outside chimney stack.

Well that’s no good either! Argh!

After doing some research, we found out about a product that would help create an artificial draft. So we ordered a Tjernlund Auto-Draft Inducer to install in the chimney.

Basically, it’s just a fan that pushes air up the chimney to help create a draft.

Installing it wasn’t the easiest of feats. I had to cut a hole in the chimney wall (which is when we discovered the little issue with the creosote build up), and then do a song-and-dance to get it to fit just right.

Eventually I got it installed, and we did a test burn.

Tjernlund Auto-Draft Inducer, installed.
Tjernlund Auto-Draft Inducer, installed.
The view from the front of the stove.
The view from the front of the stove.

The unit itself didn’t seem that well sealed: it leaked smoke from the welded seams! So I sealed those with fire barrier sealant. After that, I’d say it works!

There’s no smokey smell in the house, no back draft, and hopefully, less creosote build-up in the chimney system.

The only sucky thing is it takes electricity to make the inducer go, so if the power goes out, we’ll get smokey again. But we do have a generator, so I guess that’s always an option.

All this just to decrease the usage of the central heating system in the house.

Until next time...
Erik