Tech Wreck
"Our country may be likened to a new house. We lack many things, but we possess the most precious of all - liberty!" - James Monroe
If you know me, you know I love human rights; my Independence Day message this year:
Happy Independence Day!
Wishing that all Beings remember that they are free every day!
(And that all Beings remember that no mayor or governor can make a law (they're supposed to represent us, not tell us what to do); that the Constitution recognizes our natural-law human rights to be free from tyranny, to go where we choose and assemble with whom we please; and not to be penalized for believing as we choose; and that, as my generation said as kids to anyone and everyone: "you're not the boss of me!" : )
Those who know me also know that I believe technology should help not harm humanity, and that I'm not good at making technology work, but am good at harming it!
I encountered several tech challenges at the cottage:
- No air conditioning
- Living room ceiling fan doesn't work; bedrooms have no ceiling fans, though these are present and working in the kitchen, home office, and upstairs sitting room
- No wifi
- Exposed electrical wiring in places
- Some non-working electrical outlets
- Non-working or absent smoke detectors
Air conditioning / cooling
At first I told myself: I don't need air conditioning this summer; I can live naturally!
Then we had 90 degree weather with 100% humidity and thunderstorms in early June, and I was miserable.
I still believe one can live without air conditioning even in hot humid climates; it has been done and is being done! Measures such as awnings to keep sun off the windows, and cross-ventilation to keep air moving, can help keep a house cool, for example; however, the cottage lacks these. (A post about window challenges and solutions still to come!) [Update: here is the first of the window solutions posts!]
Humidity can be an even trickier challenge, as de-humidifying techniques without an air conditioner generally involve adding heat, and that's not what you want on a 90 degree day. Eating light foods (like organic fruit with ethical chocolate spread from client Ritual Chocolate, in the photo above!) and drinking plenty of water are wise, yet a monsoon is a monsoon.
So, to be able to sleep, and to have some comfort indoors on hot humid days, I had to find solutions. After all, not being able to sleep at my regular place due to the noise and vibration caused by faulty design and implementation of the new roof, including improper and undisclosed installation of neighbors' ac condenser lines inside my roof causing the roof to growl and shake like an angry anti-sleep monster, was a big reason I rented a summer cottage in the first place!
Solution #1:
My mother sent me a wonderful portable air conditioner, which I managed to set up easily! I have it in the dining room, because that is a ground floor location where both an open window (for the exhaust hose) and a working electrical outlet are located. I use the device in usually short bursts, such as to cool down after a walk when I find it's even hotter inside than outside!
Solution #2:
I purchased some electric fans from Target. Yes, sometimes they simply blow hot air around. But if placed in front of an open window, and if placed in such a way as to create cross-ventilation, they can help with cooling and I'm very glad I have them.
Solution #3:
Two girlfriends helped me get the living room windows at least partially open, after the owner of the house accused me of being "demanding" when I told him I couldn't open the windows and asked if there was a trick to it. I replied, I am not demanding, just hot!
Being in the living room with the windows closed on a hot and humid summer day is like being in a sweat box of suffocation.
Jorji the cat prefers the windows open, too!
The upstairs windows are old and light; the ground floor windows are newer and strangely heavy. So almost all of the windows have a propensity to fall shut. Having them fall shut on Jorji is not anything I would want to consider! To keep the upstairs windows open, I have some clever window jacks from The Vermont Country Store. To keep the downstairs windows open, I need something larger, wider, and stronger than these slim and elegant pine jacks. For now, I have non-elegant Chewy.com cardboard shipping boxes holding the 2 living room windows open. I have ordered wooden buoys as window props, and I am excited for them to arrive so that I can try them out in their new role, while sticking to the Great Lakes / nautical theme!
Solution #4:
A dear friend very kindly lent me a used window air conditioner unit for upstairs, which I had installed today by someone through TaskRabbit. The installer seems to have done a fine job; the unit doesn't work terribly well though, and, surprisingly to me, it stopped the wifi from working. (More on how I set up wifi below!) After I finally reached someone at Xfinity, where I have prepaid wifi, she said that having an air conditioner share an outlet with the modem can indeed stop the modem from working. Isn't that odd?
In related ac drama, I realized when I tried to plug in the window unit, that I would need an extension cord. So I purchased 4 extension cords today through Instacart at CVS and Staples, including 2 with surge protectors, to find one that works; the first 2 took only 2-pronged plugs, and the ac has a 3-pronged plug. Someone who knows what they're doing probably would have needed to buy only 1 extension cord/surge protector. But I now have 4! (Do you need 1? Or 3?)
Whether the modem and ac are on the same surge protector, or just on the same outlet, the modem doesn't work. I unplugged the air conditioner entirely, the Xfinity agent did another reset, and the Internet works again (as I'm typing this). She is sending a technician soon to add another outlet and see if both machines can work at the same time. In the meantime, I chose Internet over ac since the ac wasn't delivering too much cooling anyway. If the technician can get both to work simultaneously, I may purchase a new window unit and have the installer return.
The window unit from a friend is installed in the sitting room outside my bedroom (photos below); this seems like a good place for a window unit so that cold air doesn't blow directly onto me as it would if installed in a window in the bedroom. We shall see if the window unit will crank itself up to working well, and if it and the modem can operate simultaneously!
[Update July 7: It can't, and they can't.
That is: the air conditioner has decided not to condition air after all -- it trickles out only a very small stream of somewhat cool air, as though someone were blowing through a straw. So it goes, I knew it was a used unit, and my friend was still generous in lending it to me. Maybe we can find an ac disposal or recycling station, unless he wants to try to have it repaired and use it himself again another time. This has inspired me to consider purchasing a new window ac unit for the cottage, specifically my bedroom, especially as last night it was so hot I slept downstairs on the sofa. (The guest bed mattress is due to be delivered soon!)
And: apparently, it is common indeed for a modem not to work on the same electrical outlet as an air conditioner. Did you know that? I didn't know that. This morning, an Xfinity technician arrived and confirmed that air conditioners and modems often don't work on the same outlet, because an ac uses so much more electricity.
The technician was helpful in streamlining the wires to the modem -- apparently, the house had an outdated set-up -- and also confirmed that wifi downstairs is weak because of something to do with the floors and walls, while it is medium to strong upstairs where the modem is located.
So, the Internet is working again, I'm not using the used ac, and I'll do Zoom calls upstairs in the home office only, not downstairs at the dining room table! More is below on my original set-up of prepaid wifi here at the cottage; this post is thorough! : ) ]
Solution #5:
Old school solutions, which I do in my normal life anyway:
- cold water on pulse points
- cold showers
- walks outdoors when it is cooler outside than inside
- wear natural fibers only (I've done that my whole life; no tech clothes)
- no cooking (I bought a nice set of stainless steel cookware (no tech cookware) to use at the cottage, and it's still in the box because it's too darn hot. I make cold salads, order in from a wonderful Naples style pizzeria not too faraway, and cook when I'm back at my regular place and bring food to the cottage)
- eat light food and drink good water (no tech food or fluoridated water)
- no use of superfluous appliances (I haven't run the dishwasher once since I've been at the cottage, as it generates so much heat; I've done the dishes by hand)
- I am considering a lovely Chinese paper fan or maybe a Great Lakes-themed one : )
When it is in the 70s and not humid, the cottage is paradise. Low 80s: manageable. High 80s or 90s+ and humid: miserable. Thunderstorm: Wizard of Oz meets Noah's Ark level drama, practically, in a tropical-feeling monsoon setting. And: book pages are getting wavy from the humidity!
And: chocolate! All of my chocolate for business is at my air-conditioned regular place, and most of my personal chocolate is too. To keep a small stash at the cottage, I store it in insulated bags with cold packs that I refresh regularly.
So: indoor temperature management is still in process!
Wifi
Just as I thought the owner said there would be a window ac unit, I also thought he said there would be wifi. (And I thought it would be clean!) No worries; I have clearly rented the house as-is, and can find my own solutions. (Such as lots of Mrs. Meyer's cleaning products!)
At first, I said to myself: I'll enjoy a relaxing summer without wifi!
But trying to do Zoom events like the beloved book club I'm in with women former college classmates, and even trying to order more Mrs. Meyer's cleaning products and the like, just wasn't working well or in some cases at all on my phone or tablet. I knew that business events like the virtual chocolate tastings I hold, and the tutoring that I do, wouldn't be professional or comfortable without wifi for my laptop.
My mom -- who is a tech genius as well as simply an amazing human being if you haven't recognized that yet! -- sent me a link for prepaid wifi from Xfinity. (She reminded me to buy renters insurance too, which I did.) I prepaid for a month of Internet, and several days later a box with a modem and some wires showed up.
The wifi installation instructions seemed ridiculously simple, with just 4 steps, and I was feeling pretty good about having accomplished all 4!
But there was no Internet connectivity. Two calls to Xfinity later (which take time and patience and serenity indeed) and the Internet was up and running. Until due to the window ac it wasn't. And then it was again after more outreach to and discussion with Xfinity. Oy!
By the way, why does this modem look like a mini monolith from the movie 2001? It is something to redesign -- or replace, and 5g with it -- for the coming Golden Age of empathy and equality, courage and compassion, liberty and love, where choices help not harm people and planet!
Electrical
Decor-or-ignore is one of my decorating mottos for this rental cottage project: if something isn't crucial, and since I am renting here and am not the owner so not in a position to make, say, structural changes, cover it up or distract from it, or just plain ignore it!
I used the decor part of the solution for example in hanging a mirror to cover up exposed electrical wiring in my bedroom. The mirror reflects the gorgeous green trees outside that were a big reason I chose the cottage. Double love!
I used the ignore part of the solution for exposed overhead electrical wiring in the upstairs room I've designated as my closet. (Before & After post to come!) I'm just here for the summer, and this particular issue is not crucial, so I'm not going to hire an electrician to install a lighting fixture or ceiling fan to deal with the exposed wiring. I'm just ignoring it!
The same goes for outlets that don't work, such as the one by the reading nook I set up in my bedroom (I can read there during the day with natural light, or in bed with the blue-and-white lamp I bought and plugged into the outlet that does work!) or the one in my bathroom (oh well!). Ignore!
I'm ignoring whatever this is, too, in the photo below; in fact, it seems to be a land-line phone element, but I don't remember them as having exposed wiring when I was a kid or young adult:
Smoke detectors
Mom saved the day again, by sending me a smoke/CO detector, and a smoke detector!
The instructions said they only work when screwed into the ceiling or something. Isn't that odd? Why couldn't you just put in the batteries and put it on top of the refrigerator or cabinets or somewhere like that?
So, I had the TaskRabbit installer handle the batteries and any other details and mount the smoke/CO detector in the kitchen. It turns out we didn't need to install the other smoke detector upstairs, as there is already one near my bathroom. I don't know if the batteries in that one are about to give out, as they did in the smoke detector that I hadn't noticed on the ground floor until it started beeping due to low battery power.
Why are these items put in places where petite women can't reach them, even on a step stool or chair? For the same reason seat belts in the front seats of cars seem designed by their placement to cut the throats of petite women? (That's why I sit in the backseat with no seatbelt, and one reason I don't drive.) Or why airplanes have overhead storage that we can't reach? We are going to see some rethinking and redesigning in the Golden Age, that is for sure! (And elimination of pollution and noise from air conditioners, airplanes, everything, or elimination of such machines altogether for replacement by something even better!)
To get the ground floor smoke detector to stop its unholy racket, I pulled the house owner's semi-rotten wooden ladder from the back porch -- which tool- and paint-filled space I otherwise ignore -- asked the angels and dragons to support me please, climbed up, and took down and de-batteried the device. Oy.
So, this tech post was a bit of a rant, which again if you know me is not a surprise : )
Will tech wreck at the cottage turn into tech success, or success through tech workaround? Or not, and I'm moving out at the end of August anyway?
Stay tuned!
And in the meantime, I stay focused on the trees around the cottage, and birdsong that floods in, and decorating enjoyment plus peace and quiet for reading, reflecting, and dreaming the Golden Age into existence!
With liberty and justice for all --
Your friend in decorating,
Valerie
Feel free to say hi via email as well: valerie.beck@post.harvard.edu.
Thank you!
Comments
Post a Comment