Feel good song of the day: Breath Deeper, by Tame Impala, from the album The Slow Rush. Love these lyrics, the repetitive “I can, believe me”. Perfect song to combat pessimism.

If you think I couldn’t hold my own, believe me, I can
Believe me, I can, believe me, I can
If ain’t so awful and we’re all together, I can
Believe me, I can, believe me, I can
If you think I couldn’t roll with you, believe me, I can
Believe me, I can, believe me, I can
If ideally we should feel like this forever, I can
Believe me, I can, believe me, I can

seems you’re coming on
Breathe a little deeper, should you need to come undone
And let those colors run
(It just so) now you’re having fun
So do this and get through this, and come find me when you’re done
So we can be as one

If you think I couldn’t hold my own, believe me, I can
Believe me, I can, believe me, I can
If you need someone to tell you that you’re special, I can
Believe me, I can, believe me, I can
If you need someone to carry on, believe me, I can
Believe me, I can, believe me, I can
If you think no one is feeling what you’re feeling, I am
Believe me, I am, believe me, I am

And the groove is slow

seems you’re coming on
Breathe a little deeper, should you need to come undone
And let those colors run
Now you’re having fun
So do this and get through this, and come find me when you’re done
So we can be as one

‘Til the mornin’

‘Til the mornin’
Oh
And the groove is slow

‘Til the mornin’
And the groove is slow

Seems you’re coming on
Breathe a little deeper, should you need to come undone
And let those colors run
Now you’re having fun
So do this and get through this, and until we see the sun
You’re my number one

‘Til the mornin’
(It just so)
And the groove is slow
‘Til the mornin’
And the groove is slow

We’re both adults but we behave like children
Long as we got enough to keep on livin’

‘Til the mornin’
‘Til the mornin’

There’s absolutely no justice in this country until this guy is removed from the court or in jail. Or both. This kind of corruption makes it impossible to have faith in an objective SCOTUS. That hurts everyone. He’s a corrupt, unethical, dishonest, arrogant and smug prick.

***

This guy has an interesting blog theme – using technology to make life better for senior citizens. I learned a few things from the very first article – especially how an Amazon Fire TV Cube can replace a constellation of remotes. Remote sprawl is irritating, confusing, and now, apparently unnecessary. We might have just found the killer use case for Amazon Alexa.

***

This kind of sneaked up on me, but…it’s here! UK basketball 2023-2024 season starts Friday evening (afternoon, for me). UK v Georgetown College – an exhibition game, but a real, competitive game for the first time in many months. The actual season start is only ten days away (!!), on Monday 11/6. Full schedule can be found here. It’s the best time of the year.

***

It’s time for our annual true-up bill payment to SDGE, and it’s clear that the time of use rates have made our solar roof uneconomical. We installed a big (13.5 kW) solar roof back in 2015, and for a couple of years it took our net energy cost to zero, as designed. Then SDGE and regulators began fucking around with rates, and now our annual bill is over $5K, or $600/month. Back to where it was in 2015 without solar. So it’s time to install a home battery system to use during peak rates. The system I’m looking at is the Homegrid Stacked system, paired with a Sol-Ark 15 inverter. This will allow us to charge the batteries during non-peak-rate times (late at night), run the house on solar during peak sunlight, and run the house on battery during the evening’s peak hours. With a little behavioral management (e.g., do all laundry before noon, trim some trees), we should be able to get back to net zero SDGE charges, and the investment payback will be about 5-6 years. It’s a shame that this stuff is so expensive and complicated – I’m a EE and I have to think hard about what I buy and why. There are firms that will do that thinking for you, but at least I can double-check their recommendations.

I will say that whoever buys this house next will get a very full-featured property. Water supplied by a well and a robust filtration system (with backup of city water), electricity supplied by solar roof and battery (with SDGE grid as backup), programmable pool and spa pumps, a Ring-based security system, a custom microwave link between main house and guest house to deliver Wifi, and (maybe, one of these days) a fire suppression system. When you consider it all, it’s complex – we might need to sell to an engineer.

Or maybe there’s a business opportunity here. For houses with big, complex infrastructure like ours, maybe we pay a fee to an outside party to monitor and manage it all. I don’t know of any such companies yet, but it makes sense that they would exist.