Sunday, November 27, 2011
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Customized Ringtones on your iPhone: Technical Difficulty Level = MEDIUM
These notes describe an iPhone with an apple laptop. To install customized ringtones onto your iphone, follow these steps:
The 1st time only, you may need to acquire new sound editing software, unless you already have sound editing software: install soundflower, also install soundstudio:
- open system prefs
- go to sound
- output to Soundflower (2ch)
- launch sound studio
- choose input Soundflower (2ch) only have to do this the first time... see pic to the right for details
- start to record a clip on sound studio by pressing the red record button
- play itunes track (you should see the sounds studio sounds bars fluctuating to the beat...) and stop recording when you are done... edit the file, crop, etc.
- save song to desktop
- drag file to sound coverter http://soundconverter.en.softonic.com/mac
- convert to .m4r
- drag m4r into itunes "Ringtones" folder
- sync your iPhone with iTunes (you may have to quit itunes and relaunch - be sure to confirm that you see the new ringtone in the "ringtones" area. if you can't see the file, you can also try double clicking on the m4r file that you just made and it should start planing in itunes in the ringtones area.
Cold or Flu? How can you tell?
CLICK on this WebMD link below for a great breakdown comparing colds versus the flu:http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/cold-guide/flu-cold-symptoms?page=2
thanks for the tip Sara :)
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Plumbing Obsession: HydroFlush Water Saver
Update: 2/16/2014:
Over a period of time, the flush buttons became annoying and occasionally required tightening, so I upgraded my unit by purchasing 2 items:
Original Publication Date: 10/23/2011:
I suppose my mild obsession with plumbing projects started at an early age watching my father fix minor toilet problems. As I recall one time, the toilet would not flush, so I patiently watched my dad remove the porcelain top, invert it and place it on the toilet seat. He next inspected the lever to find out if it was in fact pulling the chain, which it did. He manually grabbed the chain and gently lifted to see if the flapper, deep in the well, would lift. It did. After a few minutes of what appeared to be minor adjustments, the testing began. This is the part I remember most vividly. Dad would flush the toilet. And then he would just wait, watching the water completely recede, until that moment, in an instant, the flapper would drop like a hammer, and boom, the water would start filling up again. He would do this at least 4-5 times, each time, carefully watching all of the mechanisms that made the toilet work within the toilet engine, if you will. It's as if this was our mini-automobile, but with a lot less parts, and no chance of blowing things up. Worst case scenario, some water might drip onto the floor, but the odds of a pipe exploding were nearly zero.
Fast forward 30 years and I was running into COSTCO for a quick item (nearly impossible to do in COSTCO), when I decided to walk towards the left to pass the less frequently visited isles. Towards the back I noticed a plumbing product. It was called the HydroFlush DUAL-FLUSH and offered to save over $100 each year... something I could easily sell to my wife. So I read further and after seeing that I could completely eliminate the lever, chain and flapper, I decided to make the purchase, considering my toilet was currently using a rubber band to keep the chain at a perfect distance from the flapper. In addition, the mechanism worked by using two types of flushes, a heavy flush and a light one. Seems ingenious, but will it work?
Several weeks later, I had some free time to tackle this project, so I made my way to the bathroom and began the same ritual of removing the porcelain top. After reading the instructions on the DUAL-FLUSH, I quickly disassembled all of the necessary parts, gladly removed the lever, chain with accompanying rubber band and $3 flapper which I had purchased a year prior, and promptly proceed to install the mechanism. What I soon realized was that the floating balloon needed to remain in to tell the inflow when to stop. This was a problem because the rusty screw dowel was resting right on top of the intake valve.
I had to bend the dowel with two wrenches to make this process work, which it did, but something was wrong. The water would barely flush using the “light flush” mode, and leave residual water in the bowl. Mind you, I watched several YOUTUBE videos on installing this DUAL-FLUSH before tackling the project, and it seems easy, but no one had mentioned anything about this type of problem.
I went back on YOUTUBE and found another video about a guy who had a toilet tank similar to mine in shape and size and was experiencing the same issue. To solve the problem, he adapted a vinyl tube, similar to the ones used in high school for funneling beer, cut off a several inch piece and using a hair dryer, attached the tube to the top of the intake valve so that the water could reach a higher level in the toilet. Apparently a full 2” of water was required ABOVE the blue gauge on the DUAL-FLUSH mechanism.
At this point I realized that I was not going to be able to finish the project on that day. Fast forward another couple weeks. I stopped at Lowe’s and purchase a Fluidmaster
to get rid of the ballcock contraption which was leaving rusted bits on the floor of my tank. I also purchased the tubing.
A week or two later, the time had come to finish this project once and for all. I used the same hair drying method to melt the vinyl, which worked like a charm. I also used a zip tie to be extra sure the seal was tight since I was not using any glue, assuming the melted vinyl would suffice, which it did. After installing the the necessary parts, everything seemed to work. I left the tank cover off for a few days, just to watch the water ebb and flow.
So now it seems to be working, but I wanted to know for sure if this is actually working. I measured the amount of cubic volume of water being used on my other toilet which houses the older mechanism and compared it with the DUAL-FLUSH. On “light” flushes, I use 50% less water and on heavy flushes, about 4% less.
Pretty cool!
Over a period of time, the flush buttons became annoying and occasionally required tightening, so I upgraded my unit by purchasing 2 items:
- flush handle that looks more like a traditional handle with two levers for light and heavy and replaces the disc/button like device that comes with the original dual flush listed in the original story below.
- Once that lever arrived, it appeared that it would only work with the green cable connector, so I ended up purchasing with the...Dual-Flush Toilet Converter.
Original Publication Date: 10/23/2011:
I suppose my mild obsession with plumbing projects started at an early age watching my father fix minor toilet problems. As I recall one time, the toilet would not flush, so I patiently watched my dad remove the porcelain top, invert it and place it on the toilet seat. He next inspected the lever to find out if it was in fact pulling the chain, which it did. He manually grabbed the chain and gently lifted to see if the flapper, deep in the well, would lift. It did. After a few minutes of what appeared to be minor adjustments, the testing began. This is the part I remember most vividly. Dad would flush the toilet. And then he would just wait, watching the water completely recede, until that moment, in an instant, the flapper would drop like a hammer, and boom, the water would start filling up again. He would do this at least 4-5 times, each time, carefully watching all of the mechanisms that made the toilet work within the toilet engine, if you will. It's as if this was our mini-automobile, but with a lot less parts, and no chance of blowing things up. Worst case scenario, some water might drip onto the floor, but the odds of a pipe exploding were nearly zero.
Fast forward 30 years and I was running into COSTCO for a quick item (nearly impossible to do in COSTCO), when I decided to walk towards the left to pass the less frequently visited isles. Towards the back I noticed a plumbing product. It was called the HydroFlush DUAL-FLUSH and offered to save over $100 each year... something I could easily sell to my wife. So I read further and after seeing that I could completely eliminate the lever, chain and flapper, I decided to make the purchase, considering my toilet was currently using a rubber band to keep the chain at a perfect distance from the flapper. In addition, the mechanism worked by using two types of flushes, a heavy flush and a light one. Seems ingenious, but will it work?Several weeks later, I had some free time to tackle this project, so I made my way to the bathroom and began the same ritual of removing the porcelain top. After reading the instructions on the DUAL-FLUSH, I quickly disassembled all of the necessary parts, gladly removed the lever, chain with accompanying rubber band and $3 flapper which I had purchased a year prior, and promptly proceed to install the mechanism. What I soon realized was that the floating balloon needed to remain in to tell the inflow when to stop. This was a problem because the rusty screw dowel was resting right on top of the intake valve.
I had to bend the dowel with two wrenches to make this process work, which it did, but something was wrong. The water would barely flush using the “light flush” mode, and leave residual water in the bowl. Mind you, I watched several YOUTUBE videos on installing this DUAL-FLUSH before tackling the project, and it seems easy, but no one had mentioned anything about this type of problem.I went back on YOUTUBE and found another video about a guy who had a toilet tank similar to mine in shape and size and was experiencing the same issue. To solve the problem, he adapted a vinyl tube, similar to the ones used in high school for funneling beer, cut off a several inch piece and using a hair dryer, attached the tube to the top of the intake valve so that the water could reach a higher level in the toilet. Apparently a full 2” of water was required ABOVE the blue gauge on the DUAL-FLUSH mechanism.
At this point I realized that I was not going to be able to finish the project on that day. Fast forward another couple weeks. I stopped at Lowe’s and purchase a Fluidmaster
to get rid of the ballcock contraption which was leaving rusted bits on the floor of my tank. I also purchased the tubing.
A week or two later, the time had come to finish this project once and for all. I used the same hair drying method to melt the vinyl, which worked like a charm. I also used a zip tie to be extra sure the seal was tight since I was not using any glue, assuming the melted vinyl would suffice, which it did. After installing the the necessary parts, everything seemed to work. I left the tank cover off for a few days, just to watch the water ebb and flow.
So now it seems to be working, but I wanted to know for sure if this is actually working. I measured the amount of cubic volume of water being used on my other toilet which houses the older mechanism and compared it with the DUAL-FLUSH. On “light” flushes, I use 50% less water and on heavy flushes, about 4% less.
Pretty cool!
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
HealthTap
HealthTap Express Puts a Doctor on Your Smartphone, Ready to Answer Questions
http://lifehacker.com/5844191/
Back in 2008, I put a note in my computer to come up with a Web site to provide a Q&A exchange with doctors on basic questions about health... looks like HealthTap beat me to it and they did a great job! I asked a question a half hour ago and it was already answered by two doctors! Here is my question with answers below:
http://lifehacker.com/5844191/
Back in 2008, I put a note in my computer to come up with a Web site to provide a Q&A exchange with doctors on basic questions about health... looks like HealthTap beat me to it and they did a great job! I asked a question a half hour ago and it was already answered by two doctors! Here is my question with answers below:
How long can I use the same water bottle before washing or acumulating harmful bacteria?
Dr. Robert Kwok answered:
Wash it twice a week
A healthy person using a water bottle to carry clean drinking water is unlikely to get an illness from "harmful" bacteria in the bottle. Neither the water nor the bottle are sterile, so there will be some bacteria, but probably won't cause disease. Rinsing the bottle with a little drinking water at each refill will help keep the bottle clean. Actual cleaning of the bottle can be done twice a week.
2 minutes ago
Dr. David Finke answered:
Less than a week1st answer
First, make sure the bottle is BPA free and avoid reusing commercial one-time use water bottles over and over. Keep the water bottle out of hot environments and rinse it frequently. I wash mine with soap and water every 2-3 days.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
DampRid to the Rescue: Cell Phone + Water = Disaster
I must share this embarrasing moment with the world so that others might have the same luck as I have recently had after DROPPING MY CELL PHONE IN THE TOILET while it was flushing! (My phone is pretty outdated and slow and I was planning on getting a new one.)
Fortunately, 80% of the water had flushed, so it was only submersed for about 2 seconds. As soon as I grabbed the phone, I immediately POWERED IT OFF, just as I had recalled reading in the incredibly useful Apple Core Blog at ZDNet by Jason O'Grady in his article HERE: How to survive an iPhone liquid submersion (hint: it's not rice). The blog gives step by step instructions on how to increase your odds of success.
Unfortunately, I had to run to a meeting and did not have time to go to Lowes, so I did in fact put my phone in an airtight lock-n-lock container with about a cup if rice. Three hours later, I went to Home Depot, (in the pouring rain no less) and purchased 1 box of DampRid that comes in 2 "Sachet" bags. I followed The Apple Core steps, sandwhiched the phone and kept it sealed in a ziplock bag for about 30 hours.
I nervously turned on the phone, and noticed a faint charge symbol illuninated on the screen - almost as if the screen was broken at 10% brightness, so I plugged it in. Five minutes later, my phone came back from the dead with the sound of 40 texts and no voice message notifications*!
*One thing that really saved me was being able to forward my phone to Google Voice. I called ATT at 11 PM that evening and spoke to their after hours tech support crew. They were able to forward my phone to my designated Google Voice number. The great thing about Google Voice is that any messages are transcribed to text. Very helpful. I was going to forward all calls to a new Skype number, but that was $18/3 months, so I held off on that option.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
NEXT DIY: Undermount Microwave
After about three years of use, the GE (piece of crap) Spacemaker XL1800 started falling apart. First the door handle ripped off, then the door itself started cracking apart. I called GE to find out the replacement part costs and decided to hold off and just replace the entire unit. Forward two years and three mighty putty applications later...
I decided to run over to the "new" Sears warehouse in East Norriton to see if they had any good deals, but their supply of black undermount microwaves were limited and upwards of $350. Plan B: I re-activated my Consumer Reports account online for a one month subscription of $5.95 and found the number one microwave in its class: SMH9187B. I searched around and I found it online for $279. One appliance store was charging $99 for shipping. Then I found one at Lowes on Columbus Blvd, but they only had one in stock and it was the floor model. I talked my wife into driving down with me to check it out. Turns out it was in great condition, and the agent who helped me took $70 off for the floor model!!
During the drive home I memorized the instructions manual. The total swap took about 45 minutes, but mostly because the old and new microwave were indentical in size so we were able to use the existing wall mount bracket. Huge time saver.
STEP 1:
Remove power from old microwave.
STEP 2:
Detach the duct tape from the vent.
STEP 3:
Place support underneath the microwave so that it wont fall when removing the securing bolts from the top. In this case, I stacked some coolers and a book.
STEP 6:
Remove the three bolts from the top.
STEP 7:
Tilt the face of the unit down, then lift off of the wall mount support lip.
STEP 8:
Replace the new microwave... Having two people definitely helps make it easier.
STEP 9:
Make sure the duct is retaped securely, then plug in, power up and test!
I decided to run over to the "new" Sears warehouse in East Norriton to see if they had any good deals, but their supply of black undermount microwaves were limited and upwards of $350. Plan B: I re-activated my Consumer Reports account online for a one month subscription of $5.95 and found the number one microwave in its class: SMH9187B. I searched around and I found it online for $279. One appliance store was charging $99 for shipping. Then I found one at Lowes on Columbus Blvd, but they only had one in stock and it was the floor model. I talked my wife into driving down with me to check it out. Turns out it was in great condition, and the agent who helped me took $70 off for the floor model!!
During the drive home I memorized the instructions manual. The total swap took about 45 minutes, but mostly because the old and new microwave were indentical in size so we were able to use the existing wall mount bracket. Huge time saver.
STEP 1:
Remove power from old microwave.
STEP 2:
Detach the duct tape from the vent.
STEP 3:
Place support underneath the microwave so that it wont fall when removing the securing bolts from the top. In this case, I stacked some coolers and a book.
STEP 6:
Remove the three bolts from the top.
STEP 7:
Tilt the face of the unit down, then lift off of the wall mount support lip.
STEP 8:
Replace the new microwave... Having two people definitely helps make it easier.
STEP 9:
Make sure the duct is retaped securely, then plug in, power up and test!
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