Sometimes the solution really is simple.
A wise person (an actual rocket scientist) once said “Keep It Simple Stupid” when leading a team of engineers at Lockheed. His instructions to his crew were to design a combat jet that could be repaired in the field by someone who wasn’t an engineer. In other words, let’s keep this as uncomplicated as possible people.
I have been having trouble with my humidifier units at the cigar lounge. Simply, they have been having trouble keeping the proper humidity. A few weeks ago, after checking each unit, I discovered one had a faulty extension cord. I took care of that problem and things worked okay for a few days. But, over time I noticed the humidity monitor was getting lower and lower.
There are four humidifier units all presumably working hard to keep the cigars healthy. The units all have filters, and the water is treated with a chemical (Propylene glycol) that prevents the water from evaporating to quickly. Many times, a low humidity reading can be corrected by changing the filters and adding some PG to the water. So I set out to get these humidors working properly. Since the units are at floor level I was working on my hands and knees, crawling from unit to unit, cleaning up spills, getting back up to answer the phone, etc. Along the way, being a man who is approaching middle age, I aggravated a muscle in my lower back that would stay bound up for days after.
As I was opening up the humidifier units I remember thinking “These filters are not very dirty. The units really shouldn’t be straining this much.” But I continued the process. Turn off unit, remove lid, remove filter, suck out the old water with a shop vac, add PG solution, let water fill back up, replace lid, turn unit back on. I followed these steps three times. When I made to the fourth unit, I realized I was right to say the units shouldn’t be straining so much. Remember when I was checking the units a few days before? When I discovered a faulty cord? Turns out I didn’t turn the fourth unit (and naturally the last one I checked this time) back on.
Being the king of social, I usually give new social apps a spin just to see what their about. I’m especially a fan of location based social networking. BrightKite, Loopt, Gowalla. I tried all of them before Foursquare became the de facto check-in app (I don’t count Facebook. Ever). Almost every time I used a new social app I made a discovery. Good or bad, the apps didn’t have much action here in my relatively small county. Even now, there are only a handful of active Swarm (nee Facebook) users in my area.
Marking The Days 