In Hot Water... Again

Which is a good thing. This morning I noticed the hot water supply was lacking; while relighting the hot water heater, I also noticed that there was a puddle underneath it (not good on a wooden floor). Tonight, while buying a hot water heater (and a drain pan to put it in), I noticed that the size we previously had was rated for a family size of 3-4 people (and if you wonder why we ran out of hot water with a family of 8, now you know).

We now have the bigger size (50 gallons), suitable for a family of 5-6, which is a lot closer to the size of the current population.

Thanks to Chaelomen for help with the install... and I did take time to read the directions... after we were done.

Sadly, I missed the Crew Meeting tonight. I think a hot shower in the morning is a fair trade.

If I only had a brain...

So as I was pulling away from Carolyn's for the drive back home, I suddenly realized that I'd left the computer sitting on her kitchen table.

For my next trick, I almost made it out of the parking lot, when I realized that I still had the hang tag for Carolyn's complex. Easy enough to turn around and fix that.

For my great and final lapse (at least of the trip), about 400 miles later, I realized that my two suits were hanging in Squirt's closet, which would not be much of a problem, as Carolyn was coming to town for the reception. Coincidentally this weekend was Stake Conference and we have two visitors from the Seventy - the Stake Presidency was being reorganized - and they were interviewing all the Bishops, High Council, and a number of other leaders as they were selecting a new Presidency.

I am now the owner of a third suit (and with Susie's help, a nice looking suit).

The Wild and Crazy Bachelor's Party

Sushi and ...

... what more can I say.

Just me and 25000 of my closest friends

Picture of the class of 2009 marching in.

I came to town early for the graduation exercises for both Sarah and David as well as for the upcoming wedding. The instructions for the 4:00 pm commencement were to be in your seat by 3:15 pm.

My attempt to make the 5 minutes drive, leaving at 3:00 pm, to the event center turned into a traffic jam, filled parking lots, and stumbling into a faculty parking lot by catering services resulted in me finding myself looking for a seat at 3:30. I found one on the top row, with a view of the proceedings, that was only improved by being at the top of the staircase where nobody could sit in front of me.

Carolyn decided to stay at home; Squirt needed a nap. She got to watch the proceedings live on TV with a far softer seat. And David's name wasn't listed in the program, as he is officially graduating at the end of the summer term, staying on campus to work on a research project and present a paper at a convention in Las Vegas.

ESC - Eurovision Song Contest

For those that may not be aware, the competition is heating up. For those that really may not be aware, there is a competition... Here's a couple of the highlights.

Spain makes a respectable showing this year:


On the other hand, Sweden misses on the choreography, and the mixture of pop and opera almost works, but goes a bit too far near the end; the mixture of English and French isn't too bad:
The link for the ESC TV site is: http://www.eurovision.tv/mediaplayer/2009/player.html

"New" Oven ... Elementary

The result for now is repair, rather than replace. Here's the repaired oven in action. The important thing to remember when installing the new element (or for that matter, removing the old element) is to turn off the power at the circuit breaker. And no, I won't tell you how I know this to be the case; there were no injuries and no tools destroyed as part of the repair. Two sheet metal screws, pull out the old element; unscrew the power connectors. Rush to the parts store so that you get there at least 12 minutes before closing. Installation is the reverse.

Fire in the ....Oven?

You've read on Susie's blogspot that we had a "fire". Here's the gruesome details.

It started as a couple of quick pizzas in the oven, so I could eat something before leaving for conference. It ended up with two pizzas in the garbage and , missing the first half hour of conference.

When it started, Susie noticed a spot on the right side of the heating element that was shining brighter than the rest. Our thought was that something had spilled on it and that it was burning off. We closed the oven and let the pizza's bake. Coming back we could see that it slowly progressed, like a giant slow motion sparkler on the fourth of July, burning along the element, leaving a somewhat charred version of itself in its wake. After 15 minutes (the pizza was supposedly done, but not really), and turning off the oven the coil kept burning... and the unburned coil kept growing brighter and brighter.

We decided that it was time to get serious about putting the fire out. (Shutting off the oven didn't stop the fire). As class D extinguishers have NaCl (or so I'm told), Chaelomen tried smothering it with salt. It kept on burning. Next trick was the ABC extinguisher in the garage... again no effect. At this point the smoke form the oven has set off the smoke detectors (we have 11 interconnected detectors in the house), so we opened windows for ventilation and evacuated the house.... and called 911.

I figured we were in no great danger, as the fire was confined to the oven, but was not too comfortable with a fire that I couldn't put out... I was worried about it progressing to wiring that was not in the oven. I called 911 to get some advise as to how to put out the fire. I was transferred from the 911 operator that the cell phone connects to, to a more local 911 operator,... provided all the information, the fire department was dispatched, and the 911 operator told me to call back if there were additional problems.

15 minutes after I called 911, I got a call from 911. Prior to that, we'd pulled out the stove from its cubbyhole in the kitchen, just to make sure nothing was going on behind the stove (there was... a mouse hole in the corner, but that's another story). As the fire was still burning, I decided it was safest to cut the power to the range at the breaker box (even though the oven control indicated "OFF". The fire died out.

Anyway, 911 called... The fire department couldn't find us. As I was giving directions, the fire engine pulled up. They'd been dispatched from a station 8 miles away - - - the closest stations were all busy with a big fire north of us. They came in the house, took a report on the make, model, and age of the range, nature of the fire and our efforts to put it out, pronounced the fire scene safe, mourned with us at the loss of our pizzas, let Jack-Jack see the fire truck... and left.

In all seriousness, we were very lucky. I don't know what a metal fire could have burned through and / or burned if it had been left unattended, but I have a vivid enough imagination.

I am curious about what was actually burning in the oven's heating element. After all, it's supposed to get hot and not burn, right? Any thoughts?