Travels in Fairfaxistan

Installed the programmable thermostat yesterday evening. Went very well, on the surface. The screw driving bits for the drill made quick work of the fasteners. When I went back upstairs to turn the power back on, however, I found that maybe I never turned it off, after all. Oy.

Set the programs, things seem ok - except for the fact that the temperature still reads 72. I wonder if disconnecting the thermostat while it was still powered, stalled the furnace or something.

Went to Crate & Barrel tonight to check out the coffee table, and ended up taking it home. Paid for the desk too, though there's no way it would fit in the car. Put it together while Jenn made cupcakes for Easter dinner.

Things progressed much more expeditiously with the screw driving bits for the drill. It can be rather difficult to keep from over-driving them into the unit, and cracking the wood.

Even though we measured out the height, in the living room, it still looks taller, when you see the mass of it. But I like it.

Now begins the challenge of keeping crap from collecting on it.

Installed some outlet baffles in the exterior wall outlets today. Supposedly you lose a lot of heat through these holes in your wall, and as cold as these things feel, I believe it. Sometimes I can even feel some air movement.

So you get these little foam pieces that just fit around the plugs, and should block the hole (if they were cut conservatively, which mine didn't seem to be).

Remove plate, put in foam, return plate. Couple bucks for the foam, couple minutes of time, and supposedly I'll get a return on my energy bill. I dunno, though. They still feel pretty cold.