I do not consider myself a good blogger. Like my DIY skills, my blog writing is mediocre. I admit that my writing has gotten better. I write less on the step-by-steps of one of my projects, and spend more time on the back story, which I believe is more interesting. Nonetheless, I will never be good at blogging and DIY.
I, like most, have dabbled with AI. I use it when I am writing a long email or when I struggle to pen something that makes sense. However, I do not use AI in my blog writing. Yes, MS Word® does correct my spelling and grammar errors, but sometimes I refuse to bow to the “correct” way of writing for my blog. I write how I speak, which is not saying much, but it sounds personal and informal.
But let me get to my point of writing something, “blog-worthy.” I have done some DIY projects that do not make it into the blog. One, the project was small and forgettable. Two, the project went smoothly, which happens on an occasion, but forgettable. And finally, I forgot about a project, so for sure it is forgettable.
There have been times when I tell Efiwym, my wife, that I did not think a project was blog-worthy, and she would respond with all the details of my many screw-ups and misadventures in the process of completing it. Every now and then she reminds me that a project is unforgettable. So, suddenly it becomes blog-worthy.
I recently replaced our old smart thermostat with another smart one. The old one was about 10 years old, and it was starting to act weird. I had it scheduled so the a/c or heating adjusted throughout the day based on when we were home or going to bed. One day when we had the house closed up and the air conditioning was running, Efiwym noticed it suddenly was getting colder in the house.
In the summer, we set the temperature at 77 degrees during the day and 72 degrees at night. We are old, so we do not need the house to be too cool. It reminds me of Seinfeld’s Season 3, Episode 3, “The Pen,” when Jerry and Elaine are visiting his parents in Florida. His parents refuse to turn on their air conditioner and Elaine tells Helen, “Mrs. Seinfeld, please, I am begging you… put the air conditioner on.”
But back to the project. At 7:00 PM the thermostat kicked in and started cooling the house down to 72 degrees. I know that the thermostat is designed to calculate the time needed to get to the next temperature that it should be at. So, it considers the temperature in the house with the temperature outside and determines when to start the cooling. But not 2 hours to get from 77 to 72 degrees.
Efiwym suggested I change the schedule to 11:00 PM. And even though I thought that was ridiculous, I did it anyways. But I decided we needed a new thermostat, and Efiwym, concurred.
I did my normal routine when starting a project. I went online and shopped. I found the one I wanted where I could save 11% on everything. I bought it, brought it home and installed it. Nothing unforgettable here.
Except, the new thermostat was a different shape, so I needed to paint the bare spots around it. However, we threw away some paint cans not long ago, and one of them was that color. I found a green color that was not even close, but I taped up a square area around the thermostat and painted it using that paint. It was like I did it on purpose, which I did. Now I could glare at the mismatched paint job, and fume about it until I repaint the living room. Nonetheless, I deemed this DIY project boring.
Since this small DIY project went smoothly and forgettable (except for the paint job), was this project blog-worthy? I don’t know, but I posted it any ways.
(After installing the new thermostat, it started cooling the house 2 hours before 9:00 PM. The old one apparently was working well, I guess.) I turned off the “adaptive scheduling” option, and now it will start cooling at 9:00 PM and not any sooner.)
(P.S. After installing the new thermostat, it started cooling the house 2 hours before 9:00 PM. The old one apparently was working well, I guess.) I turned off the “adaptive scheduling” option, and now it will start cooling at 9:00 PM and not any sooner.)