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Product Review: Logitech Harmony Ultimate Remote
Universal remotes have come a long way… and I’ve been along for the ride for pretty much the entire journey. I owned an old-skool “All In One” remote that controlled my cable box, VCR, and TV. I owned...
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Sea Doo VTS Not Working? Fix or Replace the VTS Motor Cheap!
If you have a Sea Doo with VTS (Variable Trim System), then you’re sitting on a ticking time bomb. Even a casual web search will fill your screen with horror stories of VTS gone bad. To make matters...
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Rant: Navigating Gerber’s Bear Grylls Parang recall process is harder than...
I hesitate to write this post. First, because I grew up in Portland, Oregon (home of Gerber), and have been a big fan of their knives since I owned my first one as a Boy Scout. Second, because a couple...
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DIY: Replacing the Main Board on a Vizio P50HD TV to Fix Broken HDMI Input
When the HDMI port stopped working (about a year out of warranty, of course) on the Vizio P50HD 50″ plasma TV in the living room at our Utah house, I thought “huh — that’s weird,” then promptly...
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How to Fix Error: Could not open command file...
After upgrading from Nagios 4.0 to 4.0.1, I attempted to manually reschedule a check of all services on a particular host, I received the following error: Error: Could not open command file...
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Upgrade your Dell Dimension 4600 AGP Graphics Adapter and RAM
I hate throwing away old computer equipment. Whenever I buy a new system, the older ones tend to find other roles in my digital life. Maybe not on my desktop any more, but maybe in the playroom, or in...
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Sea Doo BRP OEM Parts Cross Reference
If you’re a cheapskate (er… frugal) like me, and you like to do as much of your own service on your Sea Doo PWCs yourself, then hopefully this OEM parts reference will be helpful. It started out as a...
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Rave: Turns out Moen’s Customer Service is Just as Good as Kohler’s
Water was pooling under our “backup” fridge in my garage, and so I figured something must broken with its refrigeration. However, when I pulled the fridge away from the wall to check things out, I...
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Product Review: Vizio 42″ 5.1 Home Theater Sound Bar with Satellite Speakers
The difference between saying you have a “home theater setup” vs. simply having a TV hanging on your wall is, of course, having the audio played back on something other than your TV’s built-in...
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How To: Repair a Leaking Hot Water Tank Temperature Pressure Relief Valve
It’s 10PM. I get a text from our son (whose bedroom is in the basement) saying that he just got out of the shower and the water was barely warm, and now he’s hearing a “hissing” sound coming from the...
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How To: Swap RB63 UPS Batteries in an APC S20 BLK
This post is primarily a how-to for my own benefit, since I own a total of five APC S20 BLK battery backup units running a variety of things at the house from AV gear to a rack of servers. That means...
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Rant: Google Apps’ Gmail Can’t Protect Me from Misconfigured Mailers
It all started about a week ago. I got an alert email from a server, complaining about a RAID array. That’s nothing terribly out of the ordinary, as I have all of my systems set to alert me if...
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Testing and Replacing a Hot Water Expansion Tank
I’ve been on a plumbing DIY kick lately, and after recently replacing a hot water recirculating pump that had been installed incorrectly (upside-down!) by a professional plumber, I’ve been reminded...
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Is Your Shower’s Trim Ring Draining Properly?
Some of my previous posts might make it sound like I’m bagging on plumbers. I’m not. I love plumbers! They bring drinking water and hot showers to my house, and take the poop away. But I will bag on...
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Basic DIY Tools & Supplies Every Homeowner Needs
As a follow-up to my previous post on home maintenance parts every homeowner should have in their house right now, I’ve put together this list of basic tools and supplies for any homeowner that wishes...
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Review: Quirky Spotter
I really wanted to like this product. I really did. I bought it on impulse from Home Depot after reading this description on the box: Spotter keeps you updated on what’s going on at home—from anywhere....
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How to Wire a Humidifier to an Ecobee Smart Thermostat
In my original review of my very first Ecobee Smart Thermostat, I described how I had wired my Ecobee’s equipment interface to my whole-house evaporative humidifier at the Utah house. Because my...
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Installing a Water Pressure Gauge and Hot Water Feed to a Whole House Humidifier
The climate in Utah is particularly arid, both in the summer and the winter, and so I had my builder install a Lennox whole-house humidifier as part of our HVAC system in the Utah house. It helps keep...
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Two Cheap and Easy Water Heater Money Saving Tips
As we wrap up our Holiday vacation here at the Utah house, I’ve been tinkering with some home improvement projects (part of how I relax on vacation really is by fixing stuff). So today, I did two...
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Creating a Sheet Metal Bracket to Keep a Furnace Filter In Place
So my buddy Greg Ellis hits me up on Skype this morning and asks if I have time to “take a walk”, which is how we like to meet and discuss business. We both like exercise, and it’s a great way to get...
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