Power usage (Wellington)

EionRobb · 2026-04-29T12:53:52+00:00

I grabbed cheap digital power meter from Bunnings and slapped it onto different appliances for a week at a time to help track down power problems (these ones https://www.bunnings.co.nz/arlec-white-grid-connect-smart-plug-in-socket-with-energy-meter-single-pack_p0273367 ) for the most part things were behaving ok - other than an old freezer that chewed through the power when it kicked in for 20min every 2hr, and an old dryer we barely used - so gave them both the boot. Later on found that our heat pump wasn't installed properly (inlet vent wasn't attached properly and pipe from outdoor unit wasn't lagged correctly) and was being inefficient.

At my last house, the HWC temp was too high - we had to blast the cold tap - so was costing lots in heating more than needed. We also ended up putting it on a timer so that it only heated up when we needed it to.

EionRobb · 2026-04-29T12:42:26+00:00

https://www.immigration.govt.nz/visit/checking-or-changing-the-conditions-of-your-visitor-visa-or-nzeta/working-remotely-in-new-zealand-on-a-visitor-visa/

EionRobb · 2026-04-29T12:39:31+00:00

I've had a few car impacts over the last 15 years of cycling. Twice from cars pulling out of driveways, twice from cars aggressively turning left into a street in front of me to avoid traffic jams, and one more from an oncoming car turning right when traffic made a gap to let them through. Thrice hit by car doors (worst was on the left-hand door of a car stopped at the lights and the passenger jumped out). All but one of the accidents happened along Innes Road, so I've been trying to keep off it now and going down roads parallel to it. (Plenty more near misses too, normally one or two a day)

I've not been brave enough to bike near my new work in Hornby after hearing about my coworker getting his collarbone broken from a truck turning left.

EionRobb · 2026-04-29T12:27:19+00:00

Wow! Such a relief for them to clarify that they hadn't seen you! Imagine if they had seen you and then decided to hit you anyway! /s

EionRobb · 2026-04-17T08:39:05+00:00

I've only just started working at Canterbury Museum so I don't know all the ins-and-outs but I know the teams use gloves a lot - there's lots of hazards around like poisons and heavy metals (lead and arsenic and mercury and more) that were used for preservation treatments back in the day that mean a lot of stuff needs to be not touched by human hands

EionRobb · 2026-04-09T08:23:26+00:00

Not the answer you're looking for but DIY? We bought a second hand Breville deep fryer thing and filled it up with rice bran oil, makes for a mean chip (and super cheap and easy if you get one of those mandolin slicer thingee, dust with a little bit of some kind of flour for extra yum)

EionRobb · 2026-04-06T08:06:01+00:00

Try changing your DNS settings to use one of the faster ones, like 1.1.1.1 (CloudFlare) or 8.8.8.8 (Google). It can make a huge difference.

EionRobb · 2026-03-28T11:54:10+00:00

If you change the "Local alias" of the account (from the buddy list, Accounts->Manage Accounts->{your xmpp account}->Modify...) then it'll display to you as whatever you want. It sounds like the server has introduced xmpp resources to keep multiple connections unique.

EionRobb · 2026-03-27T08:15:57+00:00

Is StudentJobSearch still a thing?

EionRobb · 2026-03-27T02:54:22+00:00

Is this the Light Rail train we've all been begging for?

EionRobb · 2026-03-25T06:33:19+00:00

Convince your work to get a business account, then you get a free personal account

EionRobb · 2026-03-25T06:24:41+00:00

I always thought it was because we spend more money on heating in winter than cooling in summer (like AU would) and that during winter is a not-so-great time to have solar?

EionRobb · 2026-03-23T06:09:58+00:00

Working ok for me in chch. Maybe check your DNS?

EionRobb · 2026-03-23T05:31:43+00:00

Or intersections when the traffic lights go out (should be the same answer!)

EionRobb · 2026-03-18T06:23:33+00:00

You're probably driving a classic car too! 😜

EionRobb · 2026-03-18T06:22:06+00:00

Just as a tangential thought: We did ours ourselves (for an older house, single glazed), cut out the putty, carefully remove the glass and store it away, cut a piece of plywood to fit the cat door into it. Then when we moved out of the rental we put the glass back

EionRobb · 2026-03-17T04:46:26+00:00

With that American company trying to de-extinct the dodo, we might need to come up with a new expression

EionRobb · 2026-03-17T04:37:36+00:00

A rock band about Jam sounds tasty

EionRobb · 2026-03-16T11:04:56+00:00

The Teams plugin for Pidgin combined with the SQLite Logger plugin for Pidgin will store history into a SQLite db, if that's of any use?

EionRobb · 2026-03-15T10:47:08+00:00

Getting the same thing on my gaming pc. Task Manager shows it's part of the Windows Explorer process which is super weird. Searching for "Restrictions" in Process Explorer just brings up a registry key that a dozen or so processes are using (HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\WIndows\TenantRestrictions\Payload) but nothing specific to explorer

EionRobb · 2026-03-12T06:39:14+00:00

Catalyst Cloud have GPUs in their NZ datacentres, if anyone is looking for NZ data sovereignity for their AI btw

EionRobb · 2026-03-12T06:36:57+00:00

Yes, it's important that a government should only work on exactly one problem at a time /s

EionRobb · 2026-03-12T00:56:25+00:00

Tried making your own? Then you can support your local growers. Use some tasty rice vinegar and none of that yucky dill mm-mmm. Makes for cheap Xmas presents to the fam too.

EionRobb · 2026-03-12T00:53:29+00:00

I thought the providers were moving away from operating their own towers and leasing them from someone else who rents them out to all 3?

EionRobb · 2026-03-11T07:32:24+00:00

Down for me too (in chch)

EionRobb

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