u/Tasty_Impress3016

So I have a dog's breakfast of different devices in my home. Zwave, Zigbee, wifi, smoke signal, all kinds of protocols. In the front of my house I have 6 zigbee bulbs, on 3 different circuits. The switches are always on but they all have switches. Recently three went offline. The other 3 were still working fine, but these three were offline, always on white. They are fairly common Sylvania color and heat changing bulbs. But three were fine, the other three on but unresponsive.

My guess is that someone, possibly a cleaning lady turned off that circuit for a period of time. The bulbs were off for maybe a day. Again, my guess is that that knocked them off the mesh even though bulbs physically on either side were still on. After some experiment and a bit of foul language I figured out I could put them in a pairing mode by turning the switch on/off for 5 seconds each, 5 times. That reset them and boom they popped back on line?

Anybody got any insights on this? I probably have a mesh of 10-12 zigbee devices. There is no "repair zigbee mesh" function I know of like there is "repair Zwave network".

This will probably get downvoted to the depths of Hades, but I have to ask, I am very curious and don't have much personal contact in that world. I add this sub to my feed because hey, alum. I seem to see a very depressing number of posts with varying approaches, details, restrictions, whatever but all boil down to "how do I make friends?"

Sure it's a life skill you need. You are in school to learn. Got all that. But you are mostly all over 18, a lot over 21, you are on a campus full of 60,000 people of a similar age. You have enough apps to wipe out the memory on my phone. Making friends is a skill touted by kindergartens as a benefit. So what do YOU see to be the problem? I mean, I know it's tough, believe me I was no people magnet in school. Nerd, engineering, working full time, no money. It's always been rough. But why all the posts?

Is there a belief that some other students hold the secret and can give it to you on reddit? Is it a hail mary because you can't think of anything else? Is this just how you believe the world is? I'd just love some input on the subject. Nothing academic here, I'm a retire engineer but am trying to become a student of human people.

I'm just going to put this out there and ask. Does anyone know of a local (or non-local, I'm frustrated) business to repair large clocks. Mine is a Grandmother clock about 60 years old, Chicago Clock Company movement. I usually fiddle with it myself, but now I can't keep it running. My dad built it, so I have sentimental reasons.

So I seem to do this annually, but anybody know a stand or shop selling ripe, local tomatoes? It's only mid July and mine are taking their bloody time, but I need some ripe ones for dinner tonight if possible. I try to avoid the major markets, but if you know one that has good tomatoes PLEASE feel free to post.

I just felt I had to post. Last weekend was parish festival. So lots of booths each selling different foods, almost all Mexican because of our neighborhood. I was working so it was later in the day I went to get something to eat. Only one booth still had food. So I went for carnitas. (its wasn't great) This guy in the booth was taking about 10 minutes to put out one plate. No wonder they had product left.

Lesson: Cooking for 200 is much different than cooking for 4. Consider your timing.

I just had to share a funny story. I don't tend to look for senior or veterans discounts. If offered I'll take it, I just don't really pay attention. About a year ago I was traveling with in-laws. We did a week in Hawaii. My wife and in-laws are bit younger than I. So we went to a National Park. My bil wanted to see a volcano. At the gate the the woman asked "is anyone over 65?" no. no. no. (sigh) yes. May I see your ID? I pull out my drivers license. "Oh you are a veteran?" (my bil says no, I said, yes, I am.) I didn't realize but my state puts a little thing on your license. Who knew? Anyway senior, veteran the whole car got in free. (probably worth $120?)

I bring this up because just this weekend visiting the same in-laws. We went to a museum. Are there any seniors? No, no, no, yes. Whip out the card. The whole group free, probably $90.

He said always keep your dl handy and bought lunch.

I'm not cheap, but that's not pocket change.

I'm just throwing this out there, I doubt it can actually be done, but who knows, maybe one of you clever people?

I have a whole bunch of windows and blinds in my house, let's say about 36 windows worth. They all have blinds because the sun here is intense. I have to adjust east and west facing blinds a couple times a day. (I also would like to automate opening/closing windows which I do twice a day, but that's a different and actually harder problem)

Here's the limiting factors that I think make this if not undoable at least undoably expensive.

• There is no power run near enough any window to use wall power.
• There are, as I said a whole bunch, some running from 10-20 ft up on the West side.
• They are wood slats. Three cord type one to raise and lower, two to adjust.
• And the kicker, they are wood and quite heavy. I don't want to replace, they look great, but the larger ones, let's say 7 ft by 10 ft. weigh A LOT, probably 15 lb draw weight to raise or lower. Solar and battery and motor would be a lot of power draw.

Although there would be ad-hoc controlling, the usual workflow for summer would be something like

7 am close all windows, draw blinds on east side.

1pm open East blinds. Close West blinds

Sunset Open some, not all windows and most blinds.

I call this Window-robics and do it daily. I save a ton on heating cooling bills

In winter windows stay closed but blinds still need to be controlled just differently.

Like I said, I really don't think it's doable for under many thousands, but maybe someone has a clever idea.

I do some catering. I'm no longer in the business, retired but I will cater sit-down fundraisers at cost for some organizations. So I have no staff at all. I met this little girl named Natalie. She was 12 interested in food service and she could really use the money, family not at all well off. So I would hire her as kitchen help, service, general gopher for events. I'd pay her $50 for 4-5 hours. (Yes, I realize I'm breaking child labor laws, tax laws by paying cash, but it's for charity and everyone benefitted) People who I also drafted to help would make a point of how much help she was, how intelligent and quick, how nice. The poor thing would often just sit on the floor and doze off waiting for parents to pick her up end of event. Everyone considered it a win/win.

So now Nat is 18. She applied and was hired at one of the better local restaurants. She put me down as a work history and reference. The punch line: The interviewer asked how much she had been making doing this. She told him and he asked "Where do I apply?"

Just an update, a post mortem so to speak on this post from a couple days ago. I served last night. 30 people crept up to 40, but I always over prep because this always happens. It was a success, a couple lessons learned.

It's difficult to cook in one location and serve in another, even if it is only 3 minutes away by car.

• I solved the safe hold problem by cooking them last minute, transfering in a small cambro and putting in a chafing dish. Sauce was transferred in a 1 gallon igloo thermos.
• The chicken breasts I bought were from giant mutant chickens. Close to a pound each. So each one made roll about 13 inches long. I don't think too many people could eat one that size so most I just cut in two before breading and baking.
• And speaking of breading, when I prototyped for dinner the previous night I realized I had forgot the key hack I had used 5 years ago. Brown the breadcrumbs first. Just add melted butter to the breadcrumbs to a wet sand consistency and toast in the oven to brown. Looks more like fried, and actually improves flavor.
• The sauce just kicks butt. Essentially a bechamel cheese sauce with good parmesan and dijon mustard. Good ingredients make a huge difference. I cheaped out on the ham, I won't make that mistake again.
• I used Emmentaler cheese to stuff, which is just about perfect. A bit of a nutty flavor and a perfect melting profile.

One woman complimented it and said that she had heard it was my specialty. I laughed. "This is the second time I've made it in 5 years.

That is all, just to complete the record. Thank you for all the help in the previous post.

I got a very nice compliment the other day. I made Chicken Cordon Blu for a friend for his anniversary party of about 50. Now 5 years later he wants the same for another party, only 30. Since I am not a professional and don't want to use a deep fryer, I use a pretty simple prep:

Pound out chicken breasts, season.

Add swiss cheese and ham, roll and secure.

Flour, egg wash and roll in Panko (this does an amazing job of kinda looking like it's fried)

Bake a sheet pan in high oven 425?

serve with a dijon cream sauce.

Does anyone have any suggestions for reducing workload or simple improvements? Not a big seasonings crowd and mushroom aversion. Rich is kind of the direction. I was thinking maybe spray the pan with melted butter before baking?

I checked the wiki and the archived post for this question is over 8 years old. So here I go.

The details: I had my spring maintenance done on my AC. The news was not good. I have a larger house, 2 units, one in the basement, one in the attic. According to the "guy", I'm probably best off just replacing everything. (What an odd thing for a person selling HVAC to say, right?) The one in the basement has a freon leak. (or whatever they use now) Could be in the evaporator coils, could be the compressor, could be anywhere in between. But it's dead Jim. He said it could be a small leak anywhere but charging it would be a temporary fix. Replace both.

The one in the attic works but the outdoor motor is about shot. Everyone in the neighborhood can hear it when it kicks on. The fan motor is on last legs, condenser is shot. Consider replacing.

Now in his defense, All of this is about 20 years old, and as they love to tell you, the expected lifetime is 12-15 years. Now I did learn this lesson. A few years ago the blower on one blew up and I had it repaired to the tune of about $900. Less than a year later I had to replace the whole thing, so money out the window. Plus I guess laws are changing at the end of the year and the new standards will increase the price significantly. At some point a heat pump might be mandated.

To replace both is easily in the $15,000 neighborhood. I have research to do.

tl;dr If I wanted to install all new HVAC, who would you trust for a fair appraisal and a good job. Doesn't have to be cheapest if you trust them to not do unneeded work.

I have an international conference next month. I am hosting a hospitality room for Colorado who is the host city, everyone is coming here. These things are usually chips and nibbles with drinks. I would like to elevate and make a good impression so I want a snack that is quintessential Colorado. IMHO there is really no cuisine in this state. It's not horrible, but we really aren't known for anything. So my concept is game sliders.

Elk and/or Bison sliders. I'm thinking classic White Castle style. Pueblo chili seasoning. maybe local cheese.

But what makes you think Colorado? It doesn't want to be fancy, should be hand friendly, and for an afternoon event.

My wife and I were just in Chicago for a wedding. We are both over-60s, I much more than she. We were walking back to the hotel in the heart of downtown (like Wacker and Michigan) and it was just after midnight I guess. It was only about .6 miles from the reception so we just walked it.

A car with purposefully noisy exhaust and a stereo turned up to play over it stopped at a light, we were waiting for a walk light. A window rolls down and I see 3-4 very dark faces (we are very white people) I looked over at them and a guy yells out the window at us -

Lookin' Sharp There!

I did omit that we were coming from a black tie affair and honestly did look pretty sharp that night. But it was not what I was braced for. Just yelled Thanks! Back at you. At they made the turn.

That's all. We are getting the captain of the national women's team in a couple months.

There are hundreds of recipes for each. In general my understanding is that Krautchi tends to use slightly less aggressive spices and uses head cabbage rather than Napa, but either can use any number of vegetables.

I am making ribs soon, and normally would just put them on kraut, but I'm looking to switch it up a bit. Thoughts? Opinions?