iMatt :: The Blog of Matt Clare

I’ve blogged about being a big fan of the PeakSaver program before. mattclare.ca/blog/2010/07/07/peaksaver-heat-wave/ No longer.

I recently wrote Burlington Hydro about the about the remarkably poor instructions for logging into the PeakSaver Online Control Centre. The number of issues with the process really does make Burlington Hydro and the PeakSaver program look foolish.

The issues stem from me attempting to log into the online control centre with credentials I had saved but no longer work. It would appear they stopped working after my thermostat was replaced in the summer after it was damage by our child — an experience that was very good and left me impressed with PeakSaver’s responsiveness. My opinion has since changed.

Apparently the new thermostat meant a new log-in, no one told me this, but it was simple to deduce. Here are the three major problems the experience highlighted, with the benefit of information from a phone call on Thursday December 15.

1. Login page for PeakSaver Control Centre

   When you don’t enter your password correctly at rscdr1.rodanpower.com/login06.html the logo changes from BHI’s to PeakSaver’s
   

   When you follow the Forgot your password link you are presented with a form

   

   I filled out that form at least a 1/2 dozen times. I never got a response. I’d put my phone number in the notes, ask if anyone was receiving these, no one ever got back to me in any format.

   PeakSaver and Burlington Hydro would be offering better service if this link wasn’t even there, because I’d call immediately and not wait for a never arriving response.

2. The account instructions to sign-in to the online control centre are incorrect on the Burlington Hydro web site, and I know how to correct them based on my Thursday December 15th phone call.

   At www.burlingtonhydro.com/your-home/conservation/peaksaver.html it should read:

   The letters BUR followed by Your Account Number. Note that there is no dash in your User Name as there is in your Burlington Hydro account number.

   


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Many have heard me complain that I’m not a fan of AWOLNATION’s hit song “Sail!”.

One thing I often cite is how few unique words are in the song. I finally ran the numbers:

AWOLNATION’s four minute and twenty seconds song “Sail” has 85 words, but, only 36 of those words are unique!

Here’s how those 36 words break down:

Here’s the PHP script I used to do the analysis mattclare.ca/~mclare/blog/sail.phps

If you use a Mac, and you haven’t had a chance to install it yet, I’d like to recommend AppleJack.

AppleJack is a free open source tool that automates the basic UNIX tools are a few other basic maintenance tasks for OSX. All things someone comfortable with the command line could do themselves, but AppleJack automates the process and more. It’s routine repairs disk contents, repairs permissions, validate the system’s preference files, and gets rid of possibly corrupted cache files.

In my experience AppleJack is as good or better than commercial OSX maintenance tools and makes the most of the proven command line disk maintenance tools that come with almost all UNIX operating systems.

Once you have visited applejack.sourceforge.net and downloaded and installed AppleJack it is ready to be run. To run it restart in Single User Mode (SUM), by holding down Command + S keys at startup, and then when prompted type applejack, or applejack auto (which will run through all the tasks automatically), or applejack auto restart (which will also restart the computer automatically at the end of the process).

One of my favourite features of AppleJack is that it lets you issue commands like applejack auto shutdown to have it run through its whole routine and shutdown the computer when it’s done. A great task to run at the end of the day, and it looks really hacker-cool when its running.

I run AppleJack every once and a while, or when something goes wrong for un-explained reasons. Occasionally it catches problems and alerts me, but mostly I feel the benefits of good computer hygiene.

I’ve been looking for a modification for my new-to-me car to help make it my own. I searched around the forums that deal with the Acura CSX and the Honda Civic and quickly realized that the simple “bolt-on” modifications available for the Honda Civic don’t work with the CSX as it has a slightly larger engine that was borrowed from the Acura RSX.

I started to home in on the engine’s air intake as a good place to focus my efforts. An air intake that allows more air to pass into the engine can increase the power (a little bit), this is done by decreasing the amount of effort to draw air into the engine and ensure there’s always enough. Less restricted air intakes also tend to improve the sound of the engine by allowing more induction noise to be heard.

Some Acura CSX owners had tried applying other Honda Civic-intended air intakes, but they would tend to trip the Check Engine light. The solution a lot of owners were coming to was modifying the airbox top cover to fit a generic cone-type air filter. The modifications involved trimming away most of the cover’s plastic and attaching a standard 3′ flange cone-type air filter to the now exposed tube. This not only involves a better filter but allows air to be drawn from more locations than the restrictive tube that leads to the front of the car – this could be the cause of the cars not-so-great throttle response.

Many Acura/CSX forums detail this DIY process, CSX DRIVER (login required – probably the best how-to), Acura Forum and this YouTube video of an obnoxious kid.
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The Muppets cover “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen on YouTube! It’s part of their YouTube channel.

There’s also their own take on the dog-on-a-skateboard on-line video.

When I was a kid I considered the position of Statler or Waldorf as a real career option. They are rumoured to be based on Jim Henson’s college professors. Now that I think about it, the only thing holding me back now is that I need a partner and a balcony.