[Westy]

I installed a Toto Washlet today. Why? Free from parents (from an additional house in Wyoming that they no longer have by virtue of retiring and not working there any more) and because it's fabulously Japanese.

Hot butt + bidet function FTW.

Installation was pretty simple, with the only difficulty in getting the metal nut on the adapter piece cinched down without crossthreading on or twisting the plastic tube upon which the float floats. I had an extra 120V outlet put in by the toilet expressly for the purpose of powering this thing.

It has always bugged me that those things require the installation of a second unsightly water connection for the anal rinse cycle. You would think that someone, somewhere has the engineering prowess to design a butt washing shitter that only requires one external connection.

 

[Toshi]

Toto makes toilets, too. The integrated toilet + Washlet setup appears to have the concealed plumbing as opposed to the retrofit toilet seat cover that I have.

 

[Toshi]

Vacation requests approved. Time to book some $$$$ Japan tickets.

 

[Toshi]

Usage data after the first full month living in our new, efficient house. (To recap, efficient == R38 walls, R50 roof, tightly sealed, 96% AFUE gas furnace, and 21 SEER AC, not that we're running the AC in this weather.) The overall bill of $175 after fees and other garbage is less than we'd typically see before in our built-in-2005-to-code-and-nothing-more prior rental, which was less than half the square footage and less yet in conditioned volume given the high ceilings in this house, etc.

Keep in mind that this 33.5 kWh/day includes at least 5 kWh or so each day from recharging the RAV4 EV, and that Jessica stays at home so lights are always on somewhere. All electric usage is offset with wind RECs since Denver's native power grid is very dirty and coal-heavy.

 

[Toshi]

Also note that this is with the 2.6 kW of PV on the roof still sitting there and doing nothing. We're still waiting for SolarCity and Xcel Energy to get off of their asses and hook the thing up and let the electrons flow.

 

[Toshi]

Winning:

My gaming PC is built, both graphics cards are recognized/SLI is enabled, and it displays glorious 4k @ 60 Hz to the giant TV.

Neutral:

I bought incompatible RAM for said PC so need to swap it out (only 2 or 3 of 4 sticks recognized reliably, and it crashes if I enable XMP to run it at full speed). I'll also end up wasting significantly more time before even launching Fallout 4 because I feel compelled to overclock it.

Also neutral is that I fixed an annoying software-induced buzz in my Hackintosh's audio system by nuking the audio components and reinstalling those kexts anew. Would be a win except the problem was probably my own doing somehow, too.

Update: Buzz is back. Gah.

Losing:

I gave the hot water dispenser water line installation a bit of a try this morning and gave up:

That's the correct shutoff. I just don't trust myself with compression fittings on copper. The braided hose running to the faucet is really easy and seals up nicely with very light pressure. The compression union at the bottom of the photo goes to 1/4" copper and the thing just slides off before the olive deforms.

I am trying to get a handyman through Amazon Home Services (with the service clearly specified this time on my end!) to do it. It'd be an easy job in all likelihood but that 1/4" copper and, to a lesser degree, the compression fitting on the 1/2" copper inlet pipe make me nervous. I understandably don't want water all over the place.

 

[Adventurous]

Usage data after the first full month living in our new, efficient house. (To recap, efficient == R38 walls, R50 roof, tightly sealed, 96% AFUE gas furnace, and 21 SEER AC, not that we're running the AC in this weather.) The overall bill of $175 after fees and other garbage is less than we'd typically see before in our built-in-2005-to-code-and-nothing-more prior rental, which was less than half the square footage and less yet in conditioned volume given the high ceilings in this house, etc.

Keep in mind that this 33.5 kWh/day includes at least 5 kWh or so each day from recharging the RAV4 EV, and that Jessica stays at home so lights are always on somewhere. All electric usage is offset with wind RECs since Denver's native power grid is very dirty and coal-heavy.

I'm curious to know what your cost/sq. ft is. Granted of variables that don't make it a direct comparison, but I'm curious to know how your energy efficient dwelling compares to my late 70s era house.

 

[Adventurous]

Losing:

I gave the hot water dispenser water line installation a bit of a try this morning and gave up:

That's the correct shutoff. I just don't trust myself with compression fittings on copper. The braided hose running to the faucet is really easy and seals up nicely with very light pressure. The compression union at the bottom of the photo goes to 1/4" copper and the thing just slides off before the olive deforms.

I am trying to get a handyman through Amazon Home Services (with the service clearly specified this time on my end!) to do it. It'd be an easy job in all likelihood but that 1/4" copper and, to a lesser degree, the compression fitting on the 1/2" copper inlet pipe make me nervous. I understandably don't want water all over the place.

I went through the olive/junction issue recently hooking up the water dispenser to the fridge ice-maker. I did it incorrectly and ended up with water in the basement, so learn from my mistakes. When the union connects to a plastic hose there is a hat shaped insert that slides into the end of the plastic tube. The olive on that side is tapered on the junction end and hat shaped on the nut end. For the copper side you don't need the tubing insert, all you need is an olive that is tapered on both ends. it will cinch up nicely and seal the tubing into the junction.

Perfectly understandable if you get someone to do it for you. I didn't and learned the hard way. Sometimes those are the best lessons.

Adding some pictures...

Junction to plastic tubing:

Copper pipe:

 

[Toshi]

We're at 3250 finished square feet, I believe. Lots of conditioned volume as per the quoted post since it's 10' first floor, 9' basement and 2nd floor.

 

[Adventurous]

We're at 3250 finished square feet, I believe. Lots of conditioned volume as per the quoted post since it's 10' first floor, 9' basement and 2nd floor.

I wish they would quote house square footage and approximate volume. Would make those comparisons much easier.

 

[Toshi]

my late 70s era house.

:crickets:

So how much electricity and gas do you use?

In other news I've decided that an electric motorcycle would not make my commuting life any more fun. It would make for fun in the hills but it'll be a stretch just to make it up to skiing with everyone, let alone carving out multiple weekend days for myself.

What could fly would be a Tesla Model 3 with Autopilot. I would park the Land Cruiser on the street if it meant my weekday commute was basically a hands off affair. That would make my life better.

I can make this happen. (Net cost starting at $24k thanks to CO state EV credit helps!)

 

[Adventurous]

:crickets:

So how much electricity and gas do you use?

In other news I've decided that an electric motorcycle would not make my commuting life any more fun. It would make for fun in the hills but it'll be a stretch just to make it up to skiing with everyone, let alone carving out multiple weekend days for myself.

What could fly would be a Tesla Model 3 with Autopilot. I would park the Land Cruiser on the street if it meant my weekday commute was basically a hands off affair. That would make my life better.

I can make this happen. (Net cost starting at $24k thanks to CO state EV credit helps!)

My most recent bill has myself and the wife using:

March 2016
Average Daily Temp 41 F
Electric/kWh per Day 10.1 kWh
Electric/Cost per Day $1.25
Gas/Therms per Day 1.9 Therms
Gas/Cost per Day $1.38

 

[Toshi]

I biked into work today for the first time since December, iirc. Back in December my route was just under 3 miles. Now that I've moved it's right around 6.5.

The downside is that it takes me about 40 minutes door to door (significant unpaved sections and some minor climbs). The upside is that outside of the on-campus roads at the end I'm on protected bike paths (and one stretch of little-used sidewalk) the whole time.

 

[Toshi]

I would totally rock these tall skinny tires on my Land Cruiser:

Bro-wheels would have to go, though, and I can't quite fit 40" tires under my fenders. (33", sure.)

 

[Toshi]

Two cars to review from this current trip to the big island:

2016 Chevrolet Impala LTZ (current gen model, not the Classic or Limited or whatever the hell they call the gimped prior-gen fleet only model)

Like this but fleet grey.

Pros:

- very low wind noise and only minimal road noise, even with giant wheels and low profile rubber
- V6 is very strong, has a nice growl when provoked, and is quiet otherwise
- good sized trunk
- interior looks like they tried, and the MyLink screen is good sized
- safety features out the wazoo: autobrake, lane departure warning, blind spot warning, cross traffic warning when reversing
- enough room for my big noggin

Cons:

- oddly doesn't feel that spacious from the driver's seat given its size, thanks to the center console intruding on knee room
- who decided a blue/teal lighting scheme was a good idea?
- steeply raked A pillar is the bane of many a modern car, including this one. Right in the field of view, necessitating those sundry warning systems.
- backup camera of noticeably poor image quality, although it does have moving lines to its credit
- only getting 22 MPG in combined driving, although a lot of that is in the city

Verdict: One of the better rental cars I've had, but I wouldn't buy it due to the visibility and cramped feeling cockpit. I guess I am a SUV person, after all.

2016 (presumably) Jeep Wrangler base 2 door

[You all know what it looks like. Red, 2 doors, steel wheels, black bumpers and fenders, vinyl top.]

Pros:

- putting (part of) the top down and cruising around in sunny Hawaii is quite a nice experience

Cons:

- claustrophobic, what with the roll cage bars intruding, tiny windshield height, and stupidly tall cowl
- loud at best, and worse yet when one of those vinyl windows decides to pull itself a bit loose
- vestigial rear seat
- poor egress/ingress

Verdict: Amusing for a day (borrowing it from mother in law--it's her rental) but about as abysmal overall as Consumer Reports says it is.

 

[StiHacka]

2016 (presumably) Jeep Wrangler base 2 door

I rented one for a couple of days on Oahu. Going over 50mph on freeways was interesting.

 

[Toshi]

Denver Blizzard, mostly at 32x speed

 

[Toshi]

Baby Yuna had her 11 month "monthday" in Hawaii:

We were out there with extended family help (Jessica's mom and her mom's sister):

Pretty flowers at the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Gardens:

 

[StiHacka]

Denver Blizzard, mostly at 32x speed

T+0:01 says 2015 blizzard?

 

[Toshi]

Heh, whoops

 

[Toshi]

I switched cell phone plans today and saved $40/month despite sticking with Verizon.

Devices are the same, two iPhone 5S units, both now no longer under contract. All plans described include unlimited talk and text as is the norm these days.

Prior plan: Verizon post-paid "More Everything 2 GB", which after my prior-employer discount came out to $112.80 before taxes, $125.35 after taxes.

New plan: Verizon post-paid "The Verizon Plan Medium 3 GB". After the same employer discount this is $76.90 before taxes, and if the effective tax rate is the same that'll be $85.45.

Net result is that I'll be getting 1 GB/month extra data for $40/month less money, month to month to boot. I can live with that.

Comparisons: This plan, again with my discount, is cheaper than Straight Talk ($45/month per line + taxes + $1 activation kit). It's also cheaper than Verizon prepaid ($45/month + exorbitant $50! activation kit). Finally, this pricing is on par with Google Fi assuming we actually use that 3 GB and assuming there's a similar level of tax. There's a 1 GB/month The Verizon Plan option but I don't get a discount on that one so it'd be less than $10/month cheaper--totally not worth it since we do exceed 1 GB/month occasionally.

 

[Toshi]

Model 3 reservation has been placed.

 

[Toshi]

Slower footage from my neighborhood, from last week's blizzard. 18" seems pretty easy when in a Land Cruiser with Nokians, eh?

Here's context for how high the snow was:

 

[Toshi]

Multivehicle rollover MVC that my wife saw yesterday:

She was pretty shaken up. Kudos to the Ram driver who jumped right into action and the others who jumped out of their cars, too.

 

[Toshi]

(Not my photo but my parents' looks much like this only with Oregon plates.)

My parents bought a 2016 Prius Two a month or two ago. I got to drive it today to and from my concert: mix of 25, 30, 40, 45, and 55 mph limit/freeway travel. Good weather with A/C on, too, so no hijinks there.

Pros:

- 68.x mpg one way, 70.8 mpg the other (so not some artifact from elevation change) with relatively conservative but otherwise normal/safe driving
- good side visibility
- roomy front passenger compartment, without that stupid flying buttress design from the 2010-2015 generation
- I actually like its Alien v Predator styling and especially the full-height taillights

Cons:

- top of front windshield is quite low by virtue of super-raked design
- my oversized noggin hits the headliner in the rear seat
- drivetrain incentivizes slow acceleration and slow driving in general (as opposed to full battery electric vehicles that promote sprightly takeoffs)
- I can see how the styling might be polarizing

 

[dan-o]

Finally, this pricing is on par with Google Fi

My Fi bill has never exceeded $44, and my phone gets a workout.

 

[dan-o]

Multivehicle rollover MVC that my wife saw yesterday:

She was pretty shaken up. Kudos to the Ram driver who jumped right into action and the others who jumped out of their cars, too.

Dude.....
Did the car driver survive the ladder to the face?
That truck cab was caved as well.
Ugly accident.

 

[Toshi]

That bill for one line or two?

Yes, no fatalities. I heard that driver lost an ear (!).

 

[dan-o]

That bill for one line or two?

Yes, no fatalities. I heard that driver lost an ear (!).

Just one device, I missed yours was 2.
My wife's Fi bill is ~$20/mo.

Amazing what people can walk away from.
That truck was pretty crushed.

My buddy was broadsided in his tundra, rolled 4x until it hit a parked car.
Other than tinnitus from the airbags, he and his daughter were fine.

 

[Toshi]

Yeah, modern cars are amazing provided one wears seat belts and doesn't get physically ejected from the vehicle.

Relevant to this: I saw a really nicely preserved Suzuki Samurai on I-25 yesterday, which would be fun were it not for the risk of being crushed like a tin can and the emissions from that ancient 4 banger.

 

[Westy]

Yeah, modern cars are amazing provided one wears seat belts and doesn't get physically ejected from the vehicle.

Relevant to this: I saw a really nicely preserved Suzuki Samurai on I-25 yesterday, which would be fun were it not for the risk of being crushed like a tin can and the emissions from that ancient 4 banger.

I love the old volvo but refuse to drive it on interstates or in heavy traffic. Slow in town stuff or back roads. It was a safe car in 1966, tin can today. It is well tuned, runs near Stoich but as an uncatalyzed high compression engine it probably produces quite a bit of NOx. But over its estimated 400,000 mile life it surely has displaced the need for 2 or 3 other cars.

 

[Toshi]

Since I'll be getting a Model 3 (my best guess is that my ticket will be called mid 2018) and the Land Cruiser is sticking around I need to find a place to punt the latter. I was thinking that I might have enough room in front of/back of the 0.5 car portion of my 2.5 car garage, but upon looking at the plot drawing it seems as if I'm out of luck:

As one can see if I could use the space all the way to the paved edge of the alleyway (roughly the line in the concrete on the photo) then I'd be fine given the dimensions of my Land Cruiser, if I moved the fence line to be perpendicular to the house and paved over that resulting triangular area.

Unfortunately, the dark line on the plot drawing appears to correspond to the actual corner of the fence in reality, which means that I'm a few feet short.

I guess I'll be parking it out front on the street after all, which is annoying in that I can't keep it on a battery tender.

 

[dan-o]

Solar marine battery tender. Or just drive it once in a while.

 

[Toshi]

The ideal solution would be to rent the damn thing out when I'm not using it for fun activities. Turo (formerly RelayRides) doesn't allow vehicles with over 125k miles, though, and I'm 130k and change.

 

[Toshi]

This is a Model X gripe, but with the rake of the Model 3 windshield, continuity with glass roof, and my own similar experience with Lexus RX windshield distortion I think I'm going to have a similar issue:

Tesla forum: Double vision at night through windshield?

At night, when looking through the front windshield straight ahead, I see two sets of brakelights on cars in front of me - one set low and the other set slightly higher. In other words, this is a high/low effect not left/right, where the lower lights are brighter and the higher lights are dimmer - but still visible. Same is true of headlights if a car is driving towards me.

This has something to do with the windshield slope, glass type or tinting. I am 6'5" so I am probably looking forward towards the top of the windshield. I don't wear glasses or contacts and have great vision.

I have found that if I crouch down about 3 inches and look forward it goes away. This is not only super annoying but a serious safety issue.

Hmph.

I'm still going to keep my Model 3 reservation, even though I may be happier in the long run with a Model Y (unannounced as of yet crossover based off of Model 3) for interior volume and for hopefully less rake in the windshield where I'd peer through it.

Plan: Buy, take credits ($7.5k Federal +/- phaseout, $6k CO), make Model Y reservation, sell to CarMax or out of state buyer around time Model Y will be delivered, ???, profit or at least come close to even for the deal. That'll work.

 

[Toshi]

Saving up for my kids' education

As well documented here I have two kids, ages 1 and 3. They'll presumably both go to college. I haven't saved up a penny towards that, instead addressing saving up for the house I bought a few months ago and maxing out my own tax-advantaged retirement accounts.

(I figure that the benefits of 529s are decidedly less than those of tax-advantaged retirement accounts, as all I get exempt from is Colorado state income tax on contributions.)

In any case I thought it would be a good idea to map out how much I should be saving for my kids. A quick Google turned up a decent looking calculator from savingforcollege.com. This quickly informed me that "In 2031, the total cost of 4 years of University of Colorado Boulder is $182,388".

Yikes.

Dialing that down a bit to cover 82% of those costs not coincidentally makes that a cool $150k. Multiply that by two kids while ignoring the cost increases over the two year interval that separates them yields $300k.

So how much do I need to be saving to hit $300k in a 529 that the kids will share? (It'll be in the name of one kid but will be used for both kids' expenses since the beneficiary can be changed arbitrarily.)

It looks like the answer is right around $1,000 per month from now until the first kid enters college.

I'm not sure what assumptions the calculator used as far as expense ratios and mean return, and surely it doesn't account for order-of-returns or more thorny problems. Nevertheless it shows that $1k/month should get me in the ballpark…

Cliffs Notes: Kids are expensive if one intends to even pay for a majority of a state school…





Supplementary reading: It makes sense for me to use a Colorado plan so as to get the state income tax deduction. There are all of two plans, one of which looks terrible.

The other has an expense ratio of 0.39% and has "target date"-style offerings, but for kids. Here's that glide slope:

Attn @stoney

 

[Nick]

College will be free soon. Buy yourself new toys and trust in the future.

 

[Toshi]

College will be free soon. Buy yourself new toys and trust in the future.

If by some miracle Bernie is elected and gets that enacted my taxes would go up by more than I'd benefit. Someone has to pay for it. I would be ok with that and would change my plans accordingly but it would cost me more net.

 

[Nick]

understood.
well, the world needs ditch diggers too.

 

[stoney]

Saving up for my kids' education

As well documented here I have two kids, ages 1 and 3. They'll presumably both go to college. I haven't saved up a penny towards that, instead addressing saving up for the house I bought a few months ago and maxing out my own tax-advantaged retirement accounts.

(I figure that the benefits of 529s are decidedly less than those of tax-advantaged retirement accounts, as all I get exempt from is Colorado state income tax on contributions.)

In any case I thought it would be a good idea to map out how much I should be saving for my kids. A quick Google turned up a decent looking calculator from savingforcollege.com. This quickly informed me that "In 2031, the total cost of 4 years of University of Colorado Boulder is $182,388".

Yikes.

Dialing that down a bit to cover 82% of those costs not coincidentally makes that a cool $150k. Multiply that by two kids while ignoring the cost increases over the two year interval that separates them yields $300k.

So how much do I need to be saving to hit $300k in a 529 that the kids will share? (It'll be in the name of one kid but will be used for both kids' expenses since the beneficiary can be changed arbitrarily.)

It looks like the answer is right around $1,000 per month from now until the first kid enters college.

I'm not sure what assumptions the calculator used as far as expense ratios and mean return, and surely it doesn't account for order-of-returns or more thorny problems. Nevertheless it shows that $1k/month should get me in the ballpark…

Cliffs Notes: Kids are expensive if one intends to even pay for a majority of a state school…





Supplementary reading: It makes sense for me to use a Colorado plan so as to get the state income tax deduction. There are all of two plans, one of which looks terrible.

The other has an expense ratio of 0.39% and has "target date"-style offerings, but for kids. Here's that glide slope:

Attn @stoney

I use the 529 through https://www.collegeinvest.org/our-savings-plans/direct-portfolio. I went that route as it has the Fed deduction but doesn't limit you to CO. I'm doing ~$2400/yr, knowing it's not the perfect amount, but that closes the gap substantially and I can use income (and debt if necessary) at time.

One big thing that I have been working off is that it's a lot easier for me to take out debt or use income at a later date than it is for me to replace lost growth for retirement now. Because of that I focus on maxing out the retirement plans then overflow goes into the 529. Worst case scenario I can take a 5 year loan from my 401k to pay for near-term school loans at prime+3%.