Post a Picture of Your Silly Purchase of the Month.

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Gonna give these suckers a try this weekend. Should be absolutely hilarious!

DON'T break a leg!

Ha! Wow those look dangerous.

LeapingGnome wrote:

Ha! Wow those look dangerous.

Can't argue with that

I've used those before, or something very similar to them. They're a lot of fun and my preferred way to ski.

They are indeed a lot of fun, and also you don't generally pick up as much speed and you're more maneuverable compared to regular skis, so as an amateur who has skied a total of, like, 5 times, I found them much easier than "real" skis.

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It's a hybrid convection/conduction dry herb vaporizer which I picked after reading dozens of review lists. From what I could tell, mostly convection. Ceramic heating element surrounded by a metal chamber. The whole thing is made of metal, and feels very solid. Zero smoke and very easy to use and clean. I got it for a little over $100 on vaped.com. They threw in a $20 grinder for free. The website and manufacturer are both Canadian.

I really have a hard time handling harsh smoke, and nearly all edibles are loaded with sugar (big no-no for me), so this was exactly what I was looking for. Actually I wanted one of the big table-top ones that can fill up bags but they're super expensive.

Now I just have to wait until April so I don't have to drive to Nevada or California to buy.

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Just a teensy bit shorter than my regular skis...

Ooh, I might have to try one of each ski... That'd be amazingly ridiculous...

Serengeti wrote:

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Gonna give these suckers a try this weekend. Should be absolutely hilarious!

I was just thinking about these as I was snowboarding the other day. Was curious if I had made them up in my head as a kid or if anyone ever used them. Good luck!

BadKen wrote:

Actually I wanted one of the big table-top ones that can fill up bags but they're super expensive.

I think you’ll be happier with that. I had a volcano and it was nice in certain situations but in general it was a bit of a hassle.

BadKen wrote:

nearly all edibles are loaded with sugar (big no-no for me),

On this note, Ken, it's trivially easy to make your own pot butter at home. Keeps for multiple weeks in the fridge and can be frozen (so if you make a big batch, freeze it in portions). You can use the cheapest, trashiest flower for it. Spread it on toast, or use it literally anywhere you would use butter. Allows you to make savory edibles and control the sugar content yourself. Or, just take the lazy route and have a piece of toast.

Jonman wrote:
BadKen wrote:

nearly all edibles are loaded with sugar (big no-no for me),

Or, just take the lazy route and have a piece of toast eat the butter.

BadKen wrote:

Now I just have to wait until April so I don't have to drive to Nevada or California to buy.

Just move to Cali, man! We need more Goodjers here.

My wife and I are at least 20ish years away from retiring but we are seriously starting to look at Portugal as a place to move to when that time comes. Apparently it is a great place for ex-pats. Of course a lot can change in 20 years, but I don't see the US improving.

Short skis are super fun, just remember your stopping distance is roughly tripled

It was a lot more effort than i though! My quads are shaking!

(Link to FB video my buddy shot)

https://www.facebook.com/10000566109...

Seems like it would be a lot closer to ice skating, which I already love.

Want to be even more loved and adored by your partner? Disclaimer: this statement has not been verified with a partner other than mine who happens to hate waiting for her shower to warm up on cold mornings...

I installed one of these last night (hot water recirculating pump) now it's almost instant hot water at the shower and sinks in the house.

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JC wrote:

Want to be even more loved and adored by your partner? Disclaimer: this statement has not been verified with a partner other than mine who happens to hate waiting for her shower to warm up on cold mornings...

I installed one of these last night (hot water recirculating pump) now it's almost instant hot water at the shower and sinks in the house.

I didn't even know these existed, and now I'm super intrigued. Do you need to have a recirculating loop already installed in your plumbing? How did you decide where/how to install it?

When we replumbed our house a couple of years ago, I insisted on a hot water recirculation system. The plumber had to install a return run through the house back to the hot water heater. We put in an on-demand gas water heater that has a built in recirculation pump. It automatically recirculates the hot water line when it senses the temperature at the heater lowers below a certain point (adjustable, I believe).

Without the return loop I would think the only other option would be to discard the hot water at the far end of the pipe.

For this particular solution you don't need an extra line installed. It uses the cold water return line instead. Two parts to it.

1- You install the pump right at the water heater on hot water line. You need a power source near it to run the pump and timer.
2- You then go to the furthest sink from the water heater (the one that takes the longest to warm up) and install a "sensor valve" (which is just a fancy way of saying it's a thermostatic valve) to the hot and cold faucet connections.

When that sensor valve detects hot water, it closes, which keeps hot water in the lines and ready to go. When the temperature drops below 90 degrees, it opens and allows hot water from the pump to refill the lines. The cold water in the lines is simply returned to the water heater via the cold water line.

This does mean that your cold water is luke-warm when you first open the tap but that's a plus in our book. It also means that you "might" use more energy since hot water is always flowing, but that's what the pump timer is for you set it for when you know you're going to use it. Should save a lot of water. We had to wait 1 minute for our master shower to warm up. Now it comes out warm and is at temp in 5-7 seconds.

Took me 30 minutes to install it. If you've ever installed or replaced a faucet, you can do this.

Here's the link to the one I bought

The tradeoff is, of course, more energy use. You expose more of that heated water to conditions that will cool it off, and you pump cold water into your hot water heater, causing the water in there to cool, engaging your water heater.

A full recirculation system has the same problems, too. But there is some loss somewhere - in the cases where you're waiting for hot water, you waste cold water. So... Pick your tradeoff, I guess.

OK, got it.

Looks like it could also work for on demand systems as well. Nice. Don't you need to install a one-way valve just upstream of the tank on the cold water from the mains pipe? Otherwise you could pump water out of the tank back into the city system. No wait, I believe most municipalities have a flow-back prevention valve. Never mind...

Is there a downside of your cold water potentially not being as cold as it can be, especially if the valve has just opened?

Moggy wrote:

Is there a downside of your cold water potentially not being as cold as it can be, especially if the valve has just opened?

Not that I've found so far. If you just want cold water, it gets cold within a few seconds of opening the tap. If you're used to drinking cold water straight from the tap I suppose that could be a detractor, but we use our fridge for filtered water so it doesn't impact us.

Another side benefit (we're in NC so it's not a big deal)- If you're in a very cold climate, you don't need to worry about freezing pipes.

NSMike wrote:

The tradeoff is, of course, more energy use. You expose more of that heated water to conditions that will cool it off, and you pump cold water into your hot water heater, causing the water in there to cool, engaging your water heater.

A full recirculation system has the same problems, too. But there is some loss somewhere - in the cases where you're waiting for hot water, you waste cold water. So... Pick your tradeoff, I guess.

You're constantly wasting energy by holding the water hot in the pipes, and without any insulation and a great deal of surface area, the loss will be substantial. But then you're not throwing away water waiting for it to get hot, either.

Basically, you're trading energy for water. In hot, dry climates, that might be a good systemic trade, overall. But it's almost always more expensive to buy energy than to buy water, even in desert cities.

If you were using solar power to run the recirculator and heater, it would probably be a good overall trade, especially where water is in short supply.

Malor wrote:

You're constantly wasting energy by holding the water hot in the pipes, and without any insulation and a great deal of surface area, the loss will be substantial. But then you're not throwing away water waiting for it to get hot, either.
Basically, you're trading energy for water.

Correct. I insulated all the hot water pipes that were accessible in our basement when we moved in and I'll be interested to see if I notice a difference in gas bills vs water bills. I have a hunch it will be negligible. I'm ok with the trade off of conserving water at the cost of gas to heat it.

JC wrote:
Malor wrote:

You're constantly wasting energy by holding the water hot in the pipes, and without any insulation and a great deal of surface area, the loss will be substantial. But then you're not throwing away water waiting for it to get hot, either.
Basically, you're trading energy for water.

Correct. I insulated all the hot water pipes that were accessible in our basement when we moved in and I'll be interested to see if I notice a difference in gas bills vs water bills. I have a hunch it will be negligible. I'm ok with the trade off of conserving water at the cost of gas to heat it.

Most importantly - you're gaining time. Time that otherwise you'd have to spend waiting for the water to get hot.

So I guess the aphorism "no amount of money ever bought a second of time" is disproven then.

BadKen wrote:

So I guess the aphorism "no amount of money ever bought a second of time" is disproven then.

The entire appliance market is another hard disproof.