I have a soft spot for reusable water bottles. I had my Nalgene for 13 years before it died on a marble floor. I could not resuscitate it with heat or adhesives, and had to replace it. So when I was given a water bottle that clearly had a lot of sentimental value but a…
Heat Pump Water Heater Installation
In the endless effort to improve the home’s efficiency and reduce contributions to climate change, I took on replacing the water heater with a heat pump water heater. There were a few reasons for this, and the stars aligned to make it happen. There’s a lot of hype about heat pump water heaters. They’re super…
Bibimbob
Yes, I know it’s actually bibimbap, but I’m Bob, so get over it. This dish usually takes me 3o minutes to prepare, but on your first time you should budget an hour. It’s sort of like a salad on rice, so you can choose which goodies to use. In advance (or first thing), I take…
Do Treehouses Need Permits?
The short answer, as far as I can tell, is no. And the neighborhood seems surprisingly cool and impressed with it. I looked at the city websites to do some diligence, but the closest I could find was a deck or a shed. Decks have certain accessibility requirements that are not possible in a treehouse,…
Aurora Borealis in my Backyard!
I mean, it was there, but super hard to see. After a large solar storm, Earth got hit with an unusual number of charged particles that lit up the night sky. When it had reached its peak overhead, I could barely see it and decided to go outside of town to find a less polluted…
Real Data on the Solar Eclipse
As the 2024 solar eclipse dimmed the United States on April 8, 2024, every solar installation in its path experienced a dip in production. For me, the most exciting part of the eclipse wasn’t the actual eclipse, but rather watching the energy output on my solar panels dip and then rise, not only EXACTLY when…
The Multiverse of Future Bobs
I have a problem. I spend a lot of time on projects, whether it’s house projects, electronics projects, hobbies, cooking, even in preparation for social events. I research the heck out of everything. And I do it because I’m taking care of the multiverse of future Bobs. It’s exhausting, and I need to stop and…
Installing Solar
I installed a 4kW solar array.
The Wacky Dancer Army
I’ve always wanted to create an army of Wacky Dancers. I still have quite a bit of inventory left from when we sold them commercially, and a couple of each color, and I thought it’d be amazing to have a bunch of them dancing down the street in a parade. I posted to the Madison,…
I learned the Rubik’s Cube
I’ve always known that it’s a matter of learning the algorithm. It’s not that people who can solve it are geniuses, it’s just portrayed that way on TV. I came into one and really wanted to say I knew how to do it. So I went to a tutorial and practiced. Over and over. There…