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Southern California Edison might not be all that concerned in saving energy.

Southern California Edison might not be all that concerned in saving energy.

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(Or allegedly stupid about some energy factors).

Our pool pump went out the end of 2009.  I did quite a lot of research and found out the following:

  • Two speed or variable speed pumps are required in California to save energy.  These motors are way more expensive than single speed motors.
  • Every pool supply vendor failed to inform me of that California requirement and would be most willing to sell me a single speed motor.  I was extremely surprised that the pool supply stores and wholesale outlets were not helping to enforce the requirement but allegedly flaunting it.
  • A dual speed and variable speed motor requires a costly controller/timer (The one we purchased, the Intermatic P1353ME costs about $200).
  • Our city required a permit for installing a new pool pump.  Our cost was $98. The city was enforcing the dual or multi speed motor requirement.
  • Southern California Edison gives a $200 rebate on approved pumps but watch out, there are significant exclusions which is the main point of this posting.

Here is the rough cost of replacing the pool pump with a single speed, $200 to $300 (rough material cost).

Here is the rough cost of replacing the pool pump with a dual speed, $1,000 or more if a variable speed motor is purchased. ($1000 for our electrical and plumbing materials, dual speed motor, special timer and permit cost).  I also had to pull a second neutral wire to meet code requirements and pull out two mechanical timers (one for the pool sweep).

Just by chance, I called the manufacturer of the pool motor we intended to buy because no one could tell me with any certainty the correct size pool motor.  The technical support person asked me how large was the plumbing going to the pump.  I said 3/4 inch.  He told me that you can only push so much water through that soda straw and by his calculations, all we needed was a 3/4 horse power motor of the design I had selected.  I had contacted quite a few pool supply vendors and they all were trying to sell me a 1 horse power or higher motor.  The motor that broke was a 1 and 3/4 horse power.  We had been wasting vast amounts of energy with that old brass pool motor.  The new pool motors are way more efficient as they can push more water even at lower horse power.

Now here is my point.  The politicians and utilities want you to conserve energy.  What you need to take into consideration is the often times huge front end expense involved making the change over to energy efficient systems.  I am also a bit suspicious that conserving energy is all about certain businesses making buckets of money and your only benefit might only be a decline in your bank balance.  You can see the cost difference shown above between a direct same motor replacement, single speed  vs the new required multi speed motors of about double and when you add the special timer and city permit, the cost starts to really go up.  Now you would think that the government and utilities might help the little guy a bit to soften the huge front end cost of making an energy saving conversion.  Southern California Edison did just that by offering  $200 rebate on pool motors.  The problem is they allegedly seem to have a short list of pool motors, which I can not explain, and get this, they required that you buy a 1 horse power motor or more to qualify for the rebate.  Does that make sense?

Now let me see.  I just dropped my original horse power motor from 1.75 to less than half of that and I purchased the required dual speed motor which is way more energy efficient and expensive.  I did my civic duty and pulled a permit for the work and it was approved.  But, I get no benefit from SCE for making the energy conversion and providing the rather large energy savings.   SCE should require a matching of pool motor performance flow to the pool plumbing pipe size.  They don’t seem to get the point that vendors are pushing pool motors that are over sized, allegedly due to ignorance or wanting to make more profit.

Now looking back, I figure I could have purchased a 3/4 hp single speed motor, kept my original pool timer and saved even more money by not pulling a permit or reworking my electrical and plumbing.  The cost savings would be about $800.  By putting in a new more efficient motor with lower horse power, I still would be way more energy efficient than before my old motor died.   Southern California Edison, allegedly, just does not get it and neither did I when this all started but you are now the wiser for my mistake.

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April 15, 2010 I used the Southern California Edison web site portal to send the following message:

“Our pool motor quit.  I purchased a Pentair Whisperflow 3/4 HP two speed motor, model WSDS-3 012530 on 11/17/2009.  It was delivered a few days later.  It took weeks to install as I did the plumbing and electrical work myself.  The motor, being two speed, required me to purchase and install a special controller, Intermatic P1353ME, to run the high / low  speed motor and the pool sweep motor.  Our total cost approached a thousand dollars.  The city inspector signed permit February 8, 2010.  I have looked at your web site and I do not see the pool motor, we purchased, listed.  My research showed the motor I purchased as being the best, most recommended by installers and very efficient.  Is there any way I can qualify for the $200 rebate?”

My computer screen showed this image after I sent the message:

———————

The Contact Us computer image said they would send me a respose within 2 days.  It also stated that if the subject requires specialized knowledge, it might take longer.  Look at your calendar and calculate how many days it has taken from April 15, 2010.   We received NO ANSWER!

Note: This blog post went up July 4th.  We believe we waited long enough for Southern California Edison to respond before we shared this issue with the general public.  It is not our purpose to embarrass but to improve our society.

Fullerton Meridian Sports Club

Fullerton Meridian Sports Club

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Meridian Club is a sports club at the east end of Fullerton, California.  The location is weird, next to the 57 freeway, south west of Target and has residential condos to the east and south.  The physical building is three stories and side parking structure is impressive.  The inside is cavernous, expansive and secluded.  Tennis court, hand ball courts, roof track, swimming pools, jacuzzi, sauna, and cafe as well as large dressing rooms. As opposed to a 24 Hour Fitness, this place is lay back and not crowded.  The lack of crowding might be more the result of allegedly bad management though.

Negative Features:

  • Weight room machines that rely on electronics and motors are not kept working as well as they should.  Most machines are old and should be upgraded with new.  Quite a few treadmills, elliptical and stair step machines only partly work many times and repairs are seldom if ever made unless a machine is completely dead.
  • It is our opinion many sports clubs as a business category use business practices that are not transparent, and allegedly close too being deceptive.  There should be a clean up of the industry.  This club allegedly follows some of those practices.
  • We can not find any published list of pricing.  It appears to us that pricing is arbitrary, decided upon by the sales person.   Your price is set as to when you joined and under what enticement plan.  We understand that this is approved marketing practice and improves sales but where the club seems to fall far short is keeping its members.  Once you enter their door things allegedly change.  Meridian Club allegedly fails to keep members by raising rates which it can do but over time these price increases get quite large and drives its core constituents into leaving.  We have heard prices range from $40 up to $80 a month for a single member.  Cheaper rates can usually be had by agreeing to pay for a year at a time.  Problem with this is there is a constant fear that the facility will be sold to another company and you will not get your money back because the company will tell you to go to the next nearest facility.  The next nearest faculty from Fullerton would be Pasadena.The Meridian Club seems incapable of looking at the long term prospects and trying to keep its current customers satisfied with reasonable prices and good service.
  • We have heard members interaction with the club management has not gone too well.  Every interview came out with the same comment.  The management does not seem to care.
  • The corporate management, located quite far away, fail to realize how different the Meridian Club is than their other operations and thus push some pretty stupid programs upon the facility, which misdirects expenditures,  without looking at the average age and interests of its customers.  For example, it put in a boxing ring and offers boxing lessons to a member population that are over 40 years of age.

Club cafe was removed:

It is quite remarkable that there is a cafe inside this club and could be a terrific asset. Our test of this cafe was very disappointing.  The prices were high.  We give this restaurant a test and it resulted in  a very low score because we did not get our side dishes thus an incomplete meal.  The food was nothing special and the service was dreadful.

Plus Features:

  • The customers are its best kept secret.  The place is like visiting a small town where most people know one another and that is an important draw.   Most of the customers are affluent and older.  These people would not be caught dead in 24 Hour Fitness because those cheaper places are sardine establishments.  Twenty Four Hour Fitness in Brea is tightly packed and at peak time you must endure long waits to get on a machine or into a class.
  • The classes are quite good.  They are easy to get into partly due to the alleged mismanagement is keeping more customers away by their out of line pricing and lack of customer concern.

Conclusion:

This club is sort of an uncut gem.  This club is in real need of another owner to show its many positive facets to the public by using a much better business model.   A fixed fee of $40 for everyone would be a terrific start for basic one person membership, month by month payment, and $30 a month for a year contract.  Another idea is to turn this club into a coop sports club.

We recommend this sports club if you are looking for a club which seems more in line with the needs of being older.  You will pay a lot more for an ambiance that is more spacious, lay back and you don’t need to fight to get on a machine or get into a class.  Finally, the  facility is not that well maintained.

Update, April 3, 2016:

Because the owner of the Meridian Club allegedly failed to understand how best to run this club, the membership has declined.  The mistakes were quite obvious so one wonders about the competence of the owner to run this type of facility.  The City of Fullerton owns the property and their tax money comes from the club making a profit.  I personally know that the front office staff has angered quite a few customers so they left.  Some of the people who left also had hired the club trainers so the loss incurred was felt by the club and the trainers.  This club looks like it might be taken down.

To read more, go to “Fullerton considers putting several city properties up for sale”

This type of club is a real asset for older clientele and this area of Fullerton and Placentia.  I know of members who drive from Diamond Bar and Yorba Linda.  Most other gyms in the area cater to younger people.  This club has a lot of potential to succeed but not with this owner.  I do hope the City of Fullerton comes up with a solution to keep this club but with better management.

 

The Cypress Hotel in Cupertino, California (Yelpers report this location has closed)

The Cypress Hotel in Cupertino, California (Yelpers report this location has closed)

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Our family stayed at The Cypress Hotel in Cupertino, California April 2010.  We strongly recommend this hotel.  Here are the reasons why.  The location was simply perfect.  We tried to find a location that was central to Santa Rose, Stockton, and San Francisco.  We chose San Jose but my daughter did not like my choice of hotels in San Jose.  She picked The Cypress Hotel in Cupertino.  The city has a relatively low crime rate.  It is nestled among some impressive buildings and fountains.

Image of The Cypress Hotel located in Cupertino, California.
The Cypress Hotel located in Cupertino, California

The  hotel is managed by a very professional company, Kimpton Hotels.  The staff are spot on professional with good attitudes when dealing with customers.  There are restaurants in close proximity, which is one of our requirements.  There is a restaurant in the hotel and one right next door and many more close by.  Most businesses that you might want to use to support your vacation are quite close.  A Whole Foods is just down the street.  If you want to save money, this super market offers terrific offerings for do it yourself meals in your room.  There is a very nice Starbucks across the street and next to that is a very nice bagel shop.  A pizza restaurant is within walking distance.

The hotel interior is quite nice in every way.  The room provided to us was very nice.  I love large room size and our room was spacious.  The bed was firm and pillows were soft.  We had free Internet.  We also had a home theater in our room.  The parking garage was most convenient and we did not get wet getting to and from our car when a huge storm hit while we stayed at this hotel.

The upscale amenities found in this hotel made our stay more enjoyable.  Here are my list of other impressions not in any particular order.

  • Moving the luggage cart down the long hallway was a a bit difficult because the hallway carpet is so thick.
  • Tea and coffee is provided in the morning.  Free wine is provided in the evening.  The wine is not all that bad and we received good pours.  We noticed that some people came  back for seconds and were accommodated.  These free drinks are located in the lobby area.
  • I found free newspapers just opposite the elevators.  They even offered the New York Times.
  • The work out room was, in our opinion, way better than most hotels we have stayed in.
  • There is no designated concierge, but any of the front desk staff, in our opinion, appear to us to be extremely competent to answer just about any question and solve any problem.

From our hotel room, we connected to the San Francisco Alcatraz Island tour web site and found that it sends you e-tickets, tickets that you print out from your home or laptop computer.  We were in a hotel room with no printer.  I called the front desk and they suggested that I get confirmation copy and send it to PrintMe.com.  I did this and the confirmation was ready at the front desk.  The procedure was so slick and easy.  Part of the print process you can tell which hotels subscribe to this service because you have to choose the hotel you are staying in.  The Cypress Hotel, I believe, was the only hotel in all of Cupertino to have this service because it was the only hotel to show for that city.

General Impressions:

  • The elevators are quite fast.  I was really impressed with their speed.
  • The hotel approach entrance is so under stated that it is a bit shocking to us.  You turn off the major street with very little hotel marking to tell you to make the turn.  Once you make the turn it almost looks like your entering a wide alleyway that ends in a parking garage.  This hotel departs from a lot of hotels that put a lot of money in the entrance and lobby but take it away from the rooms.  This hotel appears to do the opposite.
Hidden Cypress Hotel Enterence
Somewhat hidden entrance to The Cypress Hotel
  • We were given a king size bed in one room and a queen sofa in a side room.  The layout of this side room did not seem to work perfectly.  Before the sofa bed was set up a bed, it faced the wall away from the TV in the room.  Once the bed was set up, the passage around it was restricted, a bit tight.  I had to lift our suitcase over a break away L part of the couch.
  • The room desk was in the room with the king bed but we later discovered that a very long Ethernet cable was behind the queen sofa.  It is my guess that the queen sofa bed room originally was configured for the desk.  It still worked for us as my daughter used the Ethernet cable and I used wireless to connect to the Internet.
  • The closet held a rather kinky surprise.  We found two sets of women sleep wear with leopard spots for sale and two bathrobes also with those leopard spot markings for sale.  Next to the women’s sleep wear were bedroom socks for sale.  Inside the closet, leaning against the corner was an umbrella.  An extra pillow was in a zippered bag on a shelf.  An iron and iron board was also inside that closet.
  • The windows to the room could not be opened, which disappointed me a bit.  The room did not seem stuffy and well ventilated.
  • Some slight noise was heard from inside our room and it appeared to be in the  building like cables hitting one another but the sound was very faint and infrequently heard.  We heard no outside street noise or sounds from the next room or rooms under or over us.
  • On our last stay day, our magnetic card keys would not work.  It was most fortunate that we discovered this before anyone got locked out.  We left a person in the room to gain access.  I am sure we could go to the front desk and get this resolved if we chose too.
  • We found a DVD player in the room with very nice speakers and sub woofer.  The room had two large flat screen TV sets.  We used this, in room movie theater, setup to watch two wonderful DVD movies.
  • There was no room coffee pot so we could only have hot tea in the mornings when it was served with compliments of the hotel.
  • The room did not have a refrigerator.  It appears to us that lower scale hotels offer in room coffee pots, refrigerators and microwaves.  This is probably because their customers drink beer and eat pizza.
  • The furniture and decor was most attractive in all hotel spaces.
  • When asked where to eat the staff always recommend the in house restaurant.  In our opinion, it had commensurate up scale decor compatible to that of the hotel but the food was just average.  I am sure the staff is instructed to recommend this restaurant.  We think you should find much better restaurants in the area.
  • The room heater/air-conditioning system worked pretty well.  We found it rather odd that it included three fan speeds.  This was nice because as you increased the speed, the fan noise went up, which is what you would expect.   We did notice that when we attempted to close the door between rooms, the smaller room was just a bit cooler than the larger room.
  • We tried to make the 5pm to 6pm free wine serving but a huge storm caused us to arrive quite late, well after 6pm.  My wife asked and she was given free wine vouchers    at the hotel front desk, which we used at the restaurant bar.  I had driven for over three  hours from Santa Rosa, normally a two hour drive that was white knuckle all the way.  I was most happy to relax with a glass of red wine.  We ordered an extra pour and were charged $8 which seems to indicate the value of getting the free house wine.

Shower/Bath

  • There were no hand bars in the shower.  I really think this is a significant deficiency.
  • A granny, no slip tub, mat is provided, coiled along the side of the tub ready for use.
  • A hair blower is provided in a canvas bag hung along one side of the shower.
  • Bath towels were found on a rack in the shower, opposite side from the water spray head.  I have never seen towel stored inside the shower before.  I must admit this did work.  The towels did not get wet during showers.  As  a test, I hung a used towel from the single bar under this rack and it dried perfectly.
  • There was only one soap dish in the tub area which requires you to line up your shampoos, conditioners, and brushes along the side of the tub.
  • The bathroom door used a pocket door with no lock.
  • The lights inside the bathroom were controlled by two switches.  The switch closest to the mirror  but would only take the lights up to about half setting.  It was a dimmer with an off setting.  The second switch turned the lights on full power or off.

Summary
I had spend two full days using AAA book for California, Kayak.com to evaluate hotels and Google Earth to get down to street level for a final look.  Every hotel and motel that I looked at (Walnut Creek, Berkley, Santa Rosa, Stockton, Menlo Park) seemed to have one or more deficiencies that killed the deal for me.  When my daughter found this hotel within 20 minutes, I must admit, my male chauvinism and awesome dad self image took a hit.   When I looked at The Cypress Hotel on Kayak and Google Earth, it shouted out as being a winner, too good to be true, and it was just that when we arrived and throughout our stay.

 

Updated March 25, 2018:  Reports show this hotel is closed.
Updated March 7, 2019:  I had to reset the link for Kimption Hotel reservations but any attempt failed.
Laptop could not connect to hotel wireless.

Laptop could not connect to hotel wireless.

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Our family was staying in a Kimpton Hotel in Coopertino that offered free wireless where I encountered a problem with wireless connectivity.  My daughter’s Mac laptop could easily connect to the wireless system but my Mac laptop could not.  I called the front desk and they said there was no setup to be made.  I dug into my laptop for a considerable time trying out a number of things.  When I chose System Preferences>Network> [Then choose Airport from list] >Advanced>TCP/IP and change the option for “Configure IPv4” from “Using DHCP with manual address” to “Using DHCP” I then got it to work properly.


Filemaker Pro all of a sudden asks for a password.

Filemaker Pro all of a sudden asks for a password.

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After spending about a week putting together a significant database I ran into a glitch that astounded me.  I was creating envelope template when the program crashed.  When I restarted the program and went into my database, that I had been working on, the progam now asked for user name and password.  I had NOT set either.  It took quite some time but the trick is this.  Enter “Admin” for the user name and leave the password blank.  Do this now.  Put that user name and password (blank) into your computer Keychain application so you will remember.

Tip: Before you put in hours of time building a database, add one or more full access users to that database and record the logon some place that you will not forget. Filemaker Pro has two default users.  Only one is turned on, that being Admin.  Unless you set a password, you should be able to get in without using any logon.  But when Filemaker Pro crashes it might start asking for a logon.  It will NOT give you the words “Admin”.  It will probably default to your user name, you use to log into your computer.  You must remember that Admin is the default. I recommend that you put that logon into the Keychain if you have a Mac computer.    If you have a Windows machine, you might consider looking for some software that will guard important pin numbers, log on, account info, etc..  I like SplashID but there are a lot of similar products, some free.

Tip 2:  If you are going to start to tie down the database by requiring security log on, think about adding TWO ways into that database.  A lot of IT people have learned, the hard way, to always provide a back door to the house.

Another option: Activate Guest by checking the box in front of that account.  Then make sure you give “Full Access” to that account.  I would do this only for listing really unimportant data because anyone that gets to use your computer can view the data.

I use SplashID to keep all my secret information.  That program costs money.  If you have a Mac computer, try using Keychaina as it comes free with the Mac operating system.  You can find this application in Applications>Utilities>Keychain Access.app.

Solution for not seeing Excel formula results.

Solution for not seeing Excel formula results.

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Program: Microsoft Excel 2008 for Mac.
Version: 12.2.3

Problem:  After entering in a formula the cell that contains the formula will still show the formula and NOT the result.  There are a number of causes for this problem.  One can be that you asked Excel to display an incompatible cell format.  Go to the cell or better yet the column you want your formula results to reside and click on the capital letter at the top of the column so as to select the WHOLE COLUMN (or single cell if that rocks your socks).  With the whole column selected (changes color) or single cell (changes color) you will then remove ALL formatting.  Next, go to Format at the top of the Excel screen and then choose “Cell…”.  Choose “General” as your cell format option.  Once you see the formula results begin to work, you can come back to this option and change it.

Now here is the trick or option that will stop you in your appreciation of Excel.  Hidden in the Excel main preferences is a toggle (turn on or off) to show formulas.  If you have show formulas checked (turned ON), you will ONLY see formulas and NOT the results.

Go to the top menu where it shows Excel.  Click on that word, top left corner.  A pop down menu offering will be displayed.  Choose “Preferences …”.  When you click on Preferences a large box will appear and give you mind numbing choices.  Don’t mess with anything but “View”.  Open View up and look to the top right column.  You should se the words (option) to “Show formulas” on (when check box has an X) or off when the box is not checked.  Make sure the box is UNCHECKED!

A really good time for you to turn “Show formulas” on is when you know you are seeing bad results  in one or more cells on the spread sheet and you suspect you screwed up one or more formulas.

Show Formulas
Show Formulas