Summer is here and the computers go crazy ....

[edDV]

First to go wiggy was my Hauppauge HVR-1600 that wants to watch a shopping channel. Changes channels by itself. That means dual recording with another card for backup.

In summer I move my servers to the basement-garage so they won't add to HVAC load. Good thing I ran all the CAT6 while it was cool. Cars go outside in summer.

[Webster]

Cars go outside in summer.

Boy, I'd hate to wait for the car to cool down before getting in it. Where I'm at, the temperature of the car can be 130F + sitting under the hot sun for a couple of hours.
Isn't it funny? We've garage but we don't keep our car in it.
That remind me, one of these day I'll have to clean out my garage and move my car in to park in it....

[edDV]

The garage is insulated. I still have room for one car but if I open the garage door during the hot part of the day it can increase temp 15 degrees. So I must decide which of the cars will be used that day in the early morning when outside temp is approx 55 degrees. By noon it will be ~85-95 degrees outside.

[redwudz]

My garage hits 120F easy during the hot part of the year. It destroys rechargeable batteries. The door is insulated, but I haven't got around to insulating the garage attic. I put in a portable AC unit in the garage so I can at least use the space in the evenings. For my car, I put a towel over the steering wheel when parked outside or I would need oven mitts to drive. Makes me wonder what people with convertibles and vinyl seats do.

My servers are inside, but they run fairly cool and I only turn them on when needed via Wake On LAN. They are set to turn off after 30 minutes of inactivity.

I have a fairly new and efficient HVAC unit, so electric bills aren't too bad. It's 105F now at noon. Lows are about 70F. But it will get warmer. Wonderful here in the winter, though.

[yoda313]

Wonderful here in the winter, though.

Yeah yeah rub it in why don't ya?

But I do like snow. I just don't like driving in it.

I'm hoping the laptop chil fan I bought helps keep my ps3 cool over the next few days. Its getting more humid and upper 80s for awhile and that will start wrecking havoc with my ps3 fat. I think this will do the trick - fingers crossed.....

[edDV]

Spring has finally come to the California Sierra foothills. Near record rainfall for June. For now the Miata lives outside with the top down until November. I just toss a painters tarp over it to keep the bugs and tree droppings out. Plenty of tree shade up here. Hot month is August. September-November is the best convertible weather from Tahoe to the coast.

As for the garage, it is under the house, half dug out of a hillside so stays cool if kept closed. A great project workspace.

[yoda313]

As for the garage, it is under the house, half dug out of a hillside so stays cool if kept closed. A great project workspace.

Neat. How very hobbit like of you

[edDV]

As for the garage, it is under the house, half dug out of a hillside so stays cool if kept closed. A great project workspace.

Neat. How very hobbit like of you

Yup constant temp +/- 10 degrees with door closed. Great for wine and magnetic tape storage. Plus great space for dark room or to detail or disassemble a classic car. All this goes into real estate listing when the time comes.

[yoda313]

Well just don't mention the word hobbit in the ad. Those lawsuits would be a nightmare

[edDV]

Well just don't mention the word hobbit in the ad. Those lawsuits would be a nightmare

The real estate types call this a "tree house". Very vertical. hobbit level to tree monkeys.

[redwudz]

I hate snow. I used to have to plow it years ago. Day after day, after.... I lived on the NW edge of California. Damp, foggy, overcast, rainy, cold, Wet. (Did I mention Wet?) Here in AZ I'm finally drying out. Winter time here it's usually ~75F in the daytime and ~55F at night. Short sleeves year around and no jackets.

Seven inches of rain a year, but that usually happens in a few days time. In NW CA, about 40 to sometimes close to 120 inches, rain year around. The downside here is temps up to 117F in the autumn months, 10% or lower humidity. Very few days below 100F then. But with AC, my PCs are happy.

EDIT: Fortunately, the big AZ fire is quite a ways East of us, so no smoke from it. But it's been really bad there.

[edDV]

I hate snow. I used to have to plow it years ago. Day after day, after.... I lived on the NW edge of California. Damp, foggy, overcast, rainy, cold, Wet. (Did I mention Wet?) Here in AZ I'm finally drying out. Winter time here it's usually ~75F in the daytime and ~55F at night. Short sleeves year around and no jackets.

Seven inches of rain a year, but that usually happens in a few days time. In NW CA, about 40 to sometimes close to 120 inches, rain year around. The downside here is temps up to 117F in the autumn months, 10% or lower humidity. Very few days below 100F then. But with AC, my PCs are happy.

EDIT: Fortunately, the big AZ fire is quite a ways East of us, so no smoke from it. But it's been really bad there.

Here in Nevada City, CA not to be confused with Utah territory (aka as Reno or Las Vegas), we have greater than Seattle average rainfall per year but in a concentrated time. That night we got 8.5 inches popped two end caps off my new roof gutters.

But snow days are few. Local motto is "above the fog and below the snow". North central California is infamous for winter fog. I have most luck flying out of Reno between storms or guiding the fog (plus dozens of car crashes) to SFO or OAK during mid winter.

More an issue here are power outages due to trees falling on power lines or sometimes taking out Comcast fiber as well.

On the good side, late August to November climate is very Mediterranean and the trees that keep vertical provide shade.

On the tech side we did get Comcast fiber before the state took over local cable franchise control. Now bandwidth follows voter support of the majority party.

[yoda313]

One thing I'll always say about Michigan weather is we avoid extreme weather most of the time. Sure we have our swings and highs and lows but nothing major. No serious droughts or floods - at least none that last very long. Though the upper part of the lower penninsula has had some small forest fires the last few years.

[edDV]

We live and die by forest fires. Good for us the fires mostly follow the canyons but want to climb the slopes.

[redwudz]

I live basically on the flatlands, about 1700 foot altitude. Not much to burn here. Unfortunately this area is a technological backwater. There is a fiber optic nearby, but all the wires in the ground are owned by the subdivision communication contractor, with little interest in upgrades. SD cable, 1.5Mbps WiFi internet. I have a antenna for OTA HDTV.

I use a microwave dish to get a bit more steady internet feed at 2Mbps down/1Mbps up, as the subdivision WiFi fluctuates in speed from 400Kbps to sometimes 1Mbps. The microwave connection costs me about $50US a month. DSL is available, but 1.5Mbps and about the same price. But the subdivision communication contract expires next year and I'm hoping we dump the contractor and get Cox to take over the system. I miss having a 8Mbps internet feed.

Just about any rain here is connected with massive thunderstorms. Horizontal sheet lightning that lights the whole sky and is very spectacular. They call that monsoon season and it lasts usually a couple of weeks. Torrential downpours, then blue skies an hour later. We've even had 'mud storms' as the desert dust is picked up by the winds and comes down with the rain.

The major forest fires are on the Eastern side of AZ, towards NM. Mostly Ponderosa pine and steep ground. Lots of high winds and very low humidity. The Wallow fire has exceeded 500,000 acres, and 30 to 50 mph winds are predicted today.