We’re about four months past the end of our bathroom model and I’m still very happy with the result. There’s not much, if anything, that I would change if we were doing it again. One of my favorite features is turning out to be the Moen Posi-Temp shower valve. I didn’t think much about it when I picked it out, but this thing works wonders.
If you’re in our other shower and someone turns on the hot water anywhere else in the house, you get a shot of cold water and the opposite is true for them flushing the toilet, etc. With the Posi-Temp valve, you can’t tell at all! I’ve been searching for a good diagram to show how it works, but this is the best answer I’ve found so far:
The balancing spool may be either within the cartridge or in a separate spool cartridge. If the pressure of water coming in on the cold side suddenly drops it will cause the spool to shift and reduce the incoming hot water thus balancing the pressure (and the temperature).
I’d love to take one of these apart some time and see how it’s put together. But regardless, this thing is magic and I highly recommend it if you’re changing out your plumbing valves.
A week or so ago, we caught our first glimpse of the Xbox One which will be launching later this year. This was the first speech in a three part rollout and it focused mostly on the TV and entertainment options in the box. (Part 2 is E3 for games and then part 3 is Build where they’ll talk about developer stuff.) With all the talk about TV, the internet was once again buzzing about the possibility that the Xbox will be a DVR or that it will allow you to connect tuners to it. 
Now that we’ve restarted our Netflix streaming membership thanks to Arrested Development, I think we’ll probably keep it going for a while. This gives us access to more online streaming content than we had with just our Amazon Prime membership and Comcast streaming options. So now the problem becomes how do I figure out which service has the content I want? That’s exactly what 
If you’re building a campfire to cook your food, there’s a lot of wasted energy. A company called 
I’m usually left with way more books that I want to read than I have time to read, so keeping track of them all can be a hassle. After trying a variety of methods, I’ve landed on 
You may have heard about a new currency called 
With our son coming any day now, I feel like we’re about to really ramp up our battery usage. For the past couple years, I’ve been investing in Eneloop rechargeable batteries. They hold a charge very well in storage and can be found at a decent price. I charge them with a 
“You’re still here?” That’s the question I get from people at work who know that Tyla is about ready to pop. There’s no baby yet, but we’re really getting close. The due date is June 6 but we’re about smack dab in the middle of the “normal” window for birth. The national average for first time moms is that they go five days past their due date which would put us at about a week from now. They won’t let her go more than two weeks past the due date so one way or another he should be coming out before the 20th!
Shingles
But anyway, from a geek perspective, I found this interesting enough to blow right through that “Too Much Information” barrier and blog about it:
Concern that I would give my newborn son a disease sent me to the doctor much earlier than I would normally have gone. That was a great move because catching it in the first 72 hours makes it much more treatable. The doctor said there was no concern about passing it on to my pregnant wife or to my newborn son. We double checked with our OB and she completely agreed. Woohoo!*
So while this week has not been at all fun, I’m very happy that it won’t affect my wife or my son!
PS. Please note that advice was given in my specific case. Don’t extrapolate to your situation. Talk to your doctor!