In a frakkin’ awesome deal for us, we signed with the NBA to get 2007 playoff highlights for Yahoo! Sports, everyone’s favorite destination for all things news, scores, rumors, and fantasy. It’s a pretty sweet package. We have highlights for every game, post game interviews, top ten plays and more. I’m pretty stoked about it. Of course, i’d be more stoked if my kings were in the playoffs, but why bog down a good thing with crushed dreams and broken hearts?

So, we have this furnace and it’s loud as hell. Like extraordinarily loud. One day i got fed up with the noise and cracked the thing open. There were a lot of wires in there. Luckily, there was also a wiring diagram. Unluckily, the actual wiring did not resemble the wiring diagram. Since then, I’ve been putting up with it while we’ve tried to get our contractor to come in and fix it.

Last tuesday I got fed up with it and tried to fix it. After messing with the thing for a few minutes, i realized i was missing a few quick disconnects, so i put the thing back together and left it for the weekend. furnace 1, jason 0.

Fast forward to Sunday. I head to the hardware store and pick up some quick disconnects and get back at it.

Our furnace is actually just a blower and a pump. It pumps in hot water from our tankless water heater and blows air over the radiator coil to warm it and then push it through the venting system. According to the manual, the blower has three speeds: high, medium, low. When heating, the blower is supposed to be set to low. The wiring had us hard coded to high, and that wasn’t the only problem.

Okay, time to get to work. The furnace is set for a three wire system and only two of the wires were set. I bring in the third wire. furnace-1, Jason-1.

next, the wiring diagram says you can select two of the three speeds. I reset the control switch to use medium cool and low for heat. furnace-1, jason-2.

after that, we have a time delay relay control which wasn’t wired properly. So i fix that up. Furnace-1, Jason-3.

All done! Woot! Ok, moment of truth. I turn the power to the furnace back on. It immediately starts to blow. doh. that’s not good. it should wait for the signal from the thermostat. damn. furnace-2, jason-3.

I turn it back off. go back into the furnace. observe the wiring diagram. the wires the LO are both yellow. maybe i hooked them up to the wrong ends? I reverse the ends and turn the power back on. nothing happens. woot! i smell smoke. DOH! i quickly turn the power back off as the thing fries. furnace-3, jason-3.

ok, stay cool. maybe we didn’t completely fry it. put the wires back. turn the power back on. it immediately starts blowing again.

I check all the wiring again. it’s text book. exactly like the wiring diagram. hmmm . . . . . hmmm . . . . i look at the time delay relay. I look at the wiring diagram. the time delay relay is mounted with a 90 degree rotation. i redo the wiring on the TDR to compensate, turn the power back on, and the furnace stays still. Good. no smoke. even better. I head upstairs and turn the thermostat up. The thermostat clicks, the furnace turns on and it’s quiet as a . . . . well, not exactly a mouse, but it’s much quieter. boo. yah.

Score one for the DIYers!

I returned to the house from work one day to find a wooden duck in my doorway. It was quite strange actually. The light of dusk obscured my vision just enough to think someone put a yellow bag of shit on my doorstep–the duck is yellow. It turns out my mother had bought the thing for us. Anyway, i’m still getting used to this wooden mallard seeing me out the door and welcoming me home everyday. At least i think it’s wood. i haven’t actually touched the thing yet. Perhaps my aversion has something to do with a prior history with birds, but i actually jumped back in defense the first morning i opened my door to this thing.

Spent most of the weekend recovering from either a stomach flu or food poisoning. apparently, something happened on the Y! campus that resulted in many a Yahoo! succumbing to gastrointestinal problems. Unfortunate because i was entertaining guests last week and had to excuse myself to toss my cookies. On the brightside, the down time gave me a chance to take up watching The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. with earnest. I cranked through thirteen or fourteen episodes. Rare is the occasion an actor can claim to have been in a “science fiction-Western and comedy-drama” on broadcast television, but i’m glad Bruce Campbell can and that someone actually green-lit this project if for only one short season. it’s a nice compliment to all the dark and gloomy BSG i’ve been watching lately.

On another note, Entourage started up again last night. Same day and time as BSG. Good thing the latter is in offseason now.

Since irina has dropped off on her math question of the week, I’ll offer a much easier one:

My mother is looking for a car. There are two versions of the car she’s interested in: the conventional gas powered model and the hybrid model. The gas powered model gets 26 mpg in-city and 34 mpg on the highway. The hybrid gets 42 mpg in-city and 36mpg on the freeway. The hybrid costs $6000 more than the conventional gas powered model. If my mom buys the hybrid, how many miles will she have to drive in order to recoup her $6000 if she drives 70% of the time in-city, 30% on the freeway and the price of gasoline stays constant at $3 per gallon?