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My family visited Disney World over the Christmas holiday. Yes, this is the absolute peak season for visitors. So I went bracing myself for an hour in every line all day long. Right before leaving we talked to a neighbor who recommended a service named RideMax. He told me you feed it a list of things you want to see at the park, and it optimizes a plan for what to see when. I said we’d give it a try.

So we did give it try. We spent a 4 days at the parks, and we never spent more than 15 minutes in a line. Again, this was during the peak season. The wait times we saw posted as we walked by other rides were between 30 and 120 minutes, most were an hour or more. We paid $15 for our RideMax subscription, but I would have paid $100 for it with the value we got out of it with 8 people for 4 days. We were totally sold on how it works. I assume it sends us to where the crowds aren’t. We wandered off the plan once, and paid for it with a 90 minute line – we learned to stay on the plan. We got to see everything we wanted to, it just gave us an order and a time for each. We even got done with our plan a bit early. We were able to modify our plan from our iPhone.

If you’re going to one of the Disney parks during a congested time, I highly recommend RideMax. Personally, I won’t go without it.

As recently featured on Brohammas.

He gushes too much.

I did admit that intervention was needed. I have no fashion knowledge (exhibit A: the before picture).

Several months ago my wife and I were lamenting some of the things we saw weren’t going well in our family. So after some long talks, we came up with a set of guidelines for our family that really hits the nail on the head (at least for the issues our family is struggling with). There are three parts:

Love, Respect, Kindness. The bickering, mean voices, not sharing, and general selfishness are things we do not want in our home. It really sucks the spirit out when these things are going on. And it’s not right to be nice to strangers and mean to your own family. Close quarters does uncover the flaws in people, but we are all flawed and we need to deal with it. The attitude we have can make all the difference.

Do Your Duty. It’s not fair to have 5 capable people making a mess of the house and not cleaning up after themselves, leaving mommy to do it all. Do your homework before your recreation. Many hands make a light and even load.

Play Together. We need to have fun, and we need to do some of it together instead of in isolation. We need to budget time and money for family activities, and do things we can all participate in, whether it is a trip somewhere for a couple days, a handful of milkshakes, or a board game on a Sunday afternoon. We need to have positive interaction together and build memories.

I share this in the hope that someone else might benefit from what we’ve learned, and to see if there are suggestions from others.

Having bought 4 new tires for each of my cars recently at around $700 for each car, that is something I would like to avoid needing again for a long time. So how to make the tires last long? There are really 2 things to do: tire inflation and wheel alignment.

The tire inflation ought to be checked at least a couple times a month. I just recently did this, and found one tire that had lost half its pressure, due to a slow leak. Ack! Running that low did cause some nasty wear on the outer edge of the tread. I didn’t catch it quick enough. I might suggest that you check the tire inflation at the same time you check the engine oil level. But I’d really suggest that the tire inflation is more prone to sudden change than the engine oil level, so perhaps the tire inflation ought to be checked more frequently. But a new engine is much more expensive than a new tire. Get yourself a good air pressure gauge (a round one, not a stick one), and either a stack of quarters or a small air compressor for home.

For the wheel alignment, this is something that can really only be done in a shop that has the proper equipment. Normally it will run around $60-$80 for a 4 wheel alignment. Even though the front wheels are more prone to being out of alignment than the rear ones (such as when hitting a curb while parking), you do want all 4 to be aligned, since you do have 4 tires.

Normally I dislike the subscription automotive services, but I stumbled across one I like quite a bit: a multi-year program for wheel alignment. I bought a 3-year program at the local tire shop so I can take my car in for 4-wheel alignment as many times as I want in that 3 year time period. The total cost for the program is $150 for each car. So for the cost of 2-3 alignments, I can get as many as I want in a 3 year period. I’d suggest getting an alignment every 3 months if you are on a program like this, or every 6 months (or hard curb impact) if you pay for each one without a program/subscription. So I think it is a really good deal. If a good alignment extends the life of the tire set by 50% by minimizing the wear, you can see that financially it is good deal and a worthy investment.

My clothes dryer recently broke. It’s an electric dryer, not gas-heated. The drum would rotate, the fan would blow, but the heating element never got warm. I figured calling a repairman to come on-site would equal the cost of a new appliance. It’s a shame we make items less expensive to replace than repair. So we end up with larger landfills. Time to learn something new.

I’ve been buying Sears Kenmore appliances. I don’t think they are particularly better than the regular brands. Actually, I believe they are from the regular brands, and just rebranded as Kenmore. But what Sears does really well is their parts management.

First, they keep track of your phone number when you buy an appliance. So if you call them for service or parts, they can look up what you bought previously. They also do this through their website, managemylife.com, which also allows you to keep track of non-Sears appliances.

Second, their online parts store offers exploded diagrams of all their appliances. This is really helpful for (a) figuring out how to disassemble an appliance, and (b) finding the part number for your defective piece, and (c) listing which Sears stores actually have the part in stock so you can drive over and pick it up without paying shipping. Yes, the parts are still really expensive, but you can find them easily.

So back to the clothes dryer. The hardest part was figuring out how to open the darn thing up. The parts diagrams didn’t help a lot, but I was eventually able to locate the panel that popped off (just under the front door), and was able to figure out how to pop it off (via some really difficult latches). Once the panel was open, you’ve got access to pretty much everything.

Make dang sure you unplug the dryer from the wall. You don’t want to meet 220 volts.

I figured the heating element would be the culprit. So off to the Sears store to buy a $60 part. Bring it back home, install it, still doesn’t work. Hmm. Some poking around on the forums and there is mention of the thermal cutoff and thermostat. They are located right next to the heating element, and I can see from the wiring how they are in series with the heating element. So I pull out my multimeter and start testing for continuity. Yup, the heating element looks good, thermostat looks good, ah the thermal cutoff has no continuity. So back to the Sears store to get a new thermal cutoff and thermostat (they come bundled together) for $30. BTW, Sears won’t accept the heating element for return because it is an electrical part that I opened and tried, even if it never got power. Replace the thermal cutoff and thermostat. Since I have a new heating element, might as well put that in too. Aha, it works! Clean the inside of the dryer out since I have it open. I note that the rollers for the drum have lint on them, that is why it was thunking a bit at the beginning of a cycle. Clean lint out of the dryer vent, since that may be what caused the thermal cutoff to trip.

So I’m out $90 and about 3 hours of labor (not counting driving to the store and back). Still a fraction of what it would have cost a repairman to come on-site, and I learned something new.

Now we can work on the backlog of dirty laundry. I don’t know why everyone dislikes putting their wet clothes all over the bonus room and turning on the ceiling fan.

I don’t really watch much TV at all, but came across these clips on the web from the Daily Show (the first couple minutes of each can be skipped):

I’ve never been to a political event before. These guys have just about convinced me to go to theirs.

In their half-mocking half-real commentary, I think they hit the nail on the head. The noisy people on the fringes who make for riveting news coverage are dominating the conversation. Aligning with parties has become a substitute for being informed and exercising good judgment (the party does that for you). Fear is being used as a tool to get control, solving problems has become secondary. Politicians are quick to criticize, but slow to offer real proposals.

Some amount of tension and disagreement is OK, it helps us look at things critically. But not so much tension that it paralyzes us. We’re in the latter now, and it’s not good.

I saw a bumper sticker today: “Get involved. The world is run by those who show up.”

Let’s do take it down a notch, stop vilifying each other, and really figure out how to solve the complex challenges facing the USA.

I am in the 70-80% of people who are moderates, I don’t speak out because I have stuff to do, but I am here (but only until 6:00 because I have a sitter).

My home has a gas-powered hot water heater located in the walk-up attic (3rd floor). I’d like to give the architect a dope-slap for doing that. Especially when the master bath directly below the water heater takes the longest to receive the hot water. But the real reason why the attic location is an issue is because there have been two incidents where the water heater has leaked which ended up sending water spilling down the lower two floors. If only they could have put it in the garage. Sigh.

Anyway, one of the leaking incidents occurred recently. I just woke up the kids for school. I’m standing in their bedroom on the 2nd floor and asking myself, “why do I hear water running above me?” So I grab a flashlight and dash upstairs to the attic. There is water flowing out of the top of the water heater and down the sides, as if it has ruptured. At least the water heater is surrounded by a drip pan which drains outside the house. The drip pan was full to the brim, and just a little bit had spilled out. I quickly shut off the inlet valve on the water heater and the pan continued to drain. It looked like less than half a gallon had spilled outside of the pan, I consider myself very lucky. Time to call for a replacement water heater. I also take note to make sure the drain on the outside of the house for the drip pan is free of debris that may interfere with draining.

Since the water heater is in an attic closet bounded by the A-frame roof, there is limited height. It turns out that my water heater is a few inches shorter than the typical short model, so it is a bit of a specialty product that the typical big-box retailers don’t carry. So I need to call a real plumber. Although the plumber did a first-class job and was done within 4 hours of when I called them, it also cost me $1100. Ouch.

So while the plumber was working, I was my usual inquisitive self and was asking questions. And I had done some research on the net before calling the plumber. The typical lifespan of a water heater is about 8 years. Mine had died at about the 9 year mark, so it wasn’t out of bounds. The most common cause of water heater death is a build-up of sediment at the bottom of the tank. This sediment is present in the water supply, and simply settles while in the heater. There is a relatively easy way to flush out the sediment, which until then I had never heard of. Here is what the plumber told me:

The water heater should have on it what looks like a spigot near the bottom where you can attach a garden hose, just like the hose bib on the outside of your house you use to wash your car and water your garden. And once a year, you should do just that – a power flush. Get a garden hose (make sure it doesn’t leak before you do this), connect it to the spigot on the water heater, run the hose to a safe location (ie, a bath tub or out a window to outside), open the spigot on the heater and let the water blast though the hose for about 5 minutes. The water will be hot, so be careful that the hose and water output doesn’t hurt anyone or anything. Do not shutoff the inlet of the water heater, you want the water to blast out of the garden hose at pressure instead of simply (partially) draining the tank without pressure. The reason you want it to be pressurized is because of what is behind the spigot – a tube that causes the water flow to stir up the sediment on the bottom of the tank so it can be flushed out the spigot. When the 5 minutes are up, close the spigot (make sure it is fully closed), and remove the garden hose. Be careful of hot water that may still be in the garden hose while you are removing it.

You should do this once a year. I got a Sharpie pen and wrote on my new water heater “flush on March 15″. Had I known about this earlier, I would have done it and would expect a longer lifetime of my water heater. The plumber said that it should be possible to get several more years than average from a water heater that is well-maintained.

What is it with deer? You would think that they are used to being chased by predators and are careful to avoid getting hurt and watch where they are going, except whenever there is a car involved in which case they go kamikaze.

Friday evening I’m driving home from work. It’s dark, rainy, and I’m going about 50 mph down a 4 lane divided road. Then I hear a big thunk. That was not a pothole. I didn’t see anything before it happened. It felt like it came from the left side of the car, so I immediately look to the left. I see just on the other side of the window a close-up of a deer head, a doe. My brain says, “ok, you just hit a deer”. I look in the rearview mirror as I slow down and I see the deer get up off the ground and run off the road into the woods.

There isn’t anywhere to stop on the road I’m on, so I pull of onto the first side street into an apartment complex. First step is to take a look at the damage. I try to open the driver’s side door to get out, but it won’t open more than a little bit. So I crawl across to get out the passenger’s side door and walk around. It’s just bent sheet metal, and the side mirror is hanging down. The door has a good-sized bend, there is a couple dents in the fender. Sigh, first damage to this car.

I call the police, it turns out that a police report isn’t needed. I took it in to a body shop for an estimate. They will replace the fender, the outer shell of the door, and the side mirror. The insurance company has been really good to work with, they are covering it under my comprehensive coverage instead of the collision coverage, which for me has no deductible so it won’t cost me anything out of pocket. My friends say “oh no, this is your favorite call that you blogged about? We’re so sorry!” Yes, the car was in basic pristine condition prior to this. But I’m OK with it, although it is a pain it won’t cost me anything and it will be put back in pristine condition. So I take a deep breath and just deal with it.

Another week and it should be all fixed.

So as I’m looking at the damage waiting for the police to arrive, I’m thinking that if I had been a couple hundreths of a second later I would have hit the deer head on and it would have been a much more unpleasant outcome. So I do have things to be grateful for.

Last night we stopped for food as a burger and shake joint, the kind where there is no seating, so we were standing outside the order window waiting for them to bring out the trays of our food. Next to us is a couple trash bins, the tall ones with the the big flap. While waiting, I turn to look at my 5 year old daughter who has her head through the flap inside the trash can. Before I can yell at her to get her head out she says, “daddy, it smells good in here.”

I tell her that it will smell better when it is our own fresh food.

A friend showed me the following video, and I was laughing and nodding my head. Perhaps it’s because I’m in my 40′s and have seen change, and sometime find myself with the same whacked expectations that he talks about while forgetting what life used to be like. I hope you’ll laugh too.

My take on this is let’s not forget where we came from, not be self-centered, step back more to realize what an amazing world we live in, and recognize technology as an enabler and not as an end in itself. Lastly, let’s not make technology a requisite to make us happy. We can find happiness no matter where we are.