How to cut the Cable Cord

Cutting the cord has become a symbolic term for getting rid of cable.  The fact of the matter is that you need internet if you want to cut the cord and not see any drop off in what you watch...so you're still gonna have a cord, but it'll be a helluva lot cheaper.  My watchout here is that if you're the type of person that loves just channel surfing and watching a wide variety of random stuff you never planned on watching, this is not for you.  You need to know what you want to watch and then find the best way to get that content without paying for cable.

First steps, get an OTA (over the air) antenna and DVR.  You can start with just the antenna, but I recommend not half assing it.  I have a Tablo DVR that is two tuner (meaning you can watch or record two things at the same time.  I recommend a 4 tuner DVR because I sometimes have conflicts and the price difference isn't that great.

The OTA antenna will get the major broadcasting channels like CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, and CW and in HD quality.  Depending on how good your antenna is and your location, you may get additional random channels like Grit, Laff, Ion, etc. I've got a cheap RCA 70 mile antenna mounted in my attic but I've also used several Mohu models in the past.  Mohu is focused on making the antenna's look cool and that's not really something I care about since it's in my attic.  You can plug your attic antenna into your existing coax cable run through your house and run about 4 tvs.  However, I run mine directly to my Tablo DVR and stream the antenna content from there to every tv in the house that has a streaming device.  This can seem like a lot of streaming devices if you have a bunch of tvs at your house, but the cost is a drop in the bucket compared to what you pay for cable every month, year after year.

You'll also need a signal amplifier for the antenna, this is the one I have.

As far as streaming devices go, Apple TV is the best and it's not even close.  The main TVs in your house need to have Apple TV to make your experience enjoyable.  Other less used tvs can have other devices like Chromecast, Amazon Firestick, Roku, etc.  Maybe these other devices catch up soon, but as of this blog post, Apple TV is the best there is for this purpose.  You can get deals on streaming devices when you prepay for certain streaming services when they have deals running (ie, Sling was giving away Roku's when you prepay for two months).  

Next is figuring out what you watch and the best streaming services to get it.  The cool thing about these services, is that there's no commitment.  It's month by month and most are really easy to turn on and off.  Sling, Hulu, Netflix are just few of your options, but are really easy to cancel and resign up.  You'll just need to look at each and see what meets your needs.  If you have want AMC, Sling is a good option, etc.  And you don't have to get them all.  That's the cable company's argument for cord cutters, "if you have a bunch of different services, you're paying as much as you would for cable.  Not true, even if you have 3-4 services going at the same time, your total spend is still usually way less than your cable bill.  

The bad part about having to watch some of your show live through a streaming service is that you can't skip commercials.   This isn't always the case, but some services like Sling that offer live and on demand options have commercials.  Another option is to just buy a season of a show on Itunes.  Instead of paying for Sling for 3 months to see "Better Call Saul" on AMC, I just bought the season for about 1/3 of what I would've paid for 3 months of Sling.  Buying the season doesn't always make sense, but in certain situations it might.

You also need good wifi or your cord cutting experience will be frustrating.  I recommend biting the bullet and getting an Eero system or really any type of mesh system.  It's expensive, but its a great investment for rock solid wifi.  If you think you have good enough wifi, I guess you could just try it and see how your original wifi setup does.  But there are so many other things we are adding to our Wifi everyday (thermostats, lights, etc) that having a great Wifi setup is becoming crucial to living with 21st century appliances.

You can also get a lot of content through certain sites streaming services HBO Max, ESPN, etc with more and more being added every day (like NBC's Peacock).  If you can "borrow" a subscriber login, you can get a ton of content that way.  Some call this theft of service but I don't like to put labels on things.

Some downside to cutting the cord:

• People that come to your house can't figure out how to operate your tvs.
• Even people living in your house may have a steep learning curve
• Watching commercials in certain situations.
• Becomes hard to channel surf
• You're giving up a one stop shop of DVR'd shows

Homemade Pizza Dough

Mix
1.5 cups of warm water (100-110 degrees)
2 tsp dry active yeast
1/4 tsp sugar

Wait ten minutes for yeast to set.

While that is going, mix together in big bowl:

4 cups flour
pinch of salt
1/4 cup of olive oil

After the ten minutes is up pour the yeast/water mix in the big bowl.  Let dough hook beat it up for about 15-20 minutes.  You can tell its ready when it begins to cling to the hook and stays in one big glob.

Remove from mixer, cover and let stand for an hour (couple hours is fine).

Dough mass should more than double in size while it sits.  Now "punch" the dough a few times in the center to remove all the air.  Move the dough to somewhere that you can work on the dough.  Sprinkle flour and knead a few times.  This should make enough for about 4 pizzas.

Fix for Heat Not Working When Engine is Idle - Infiniti M35 2007

My wife's Infiniti started blowing cold air when the car was stopped at a red light or whatever.  When the car was moving, the heat would blow just fine.  Apparently, I common cause for this symptom is air being trapped in the cooling system (which is also used by the heater).  When the engines RPMs are revving, that forces the coolant through the heating coil and allows the heat to work.  When the RPMs are down the engine is idle, the air sits in there and doesn't allow the coolant to work its way through the system.

The first thing I checked was the coolant level, which was really low, like 2 inches below the low mark.  I added some coolant, but that didn't immediately fix the problem.  Apparently, there is a "bleeder screw" or an "air relief valve" on the heater hose.  This allows all of the air to evacuate the system when enough coolant is present.  You want to just crack this screw open a few turns until you see coolant dripping out.  You do NOT want to take this screw all the way off.

After a few minutes of waiting for coolant to drip out I got impatient and unscrewed it a few more turns.  It eventually just came off and coolant came running out, it was not that easy getting it back on.  However, once I did, it worked and the heater was blowing warm parked in the driveway!

Tips for First Time Big Green Egg Users

I've had several members of my family and friends getting a BGE lately.  This made me want to put together a checklist of starter information so I can point them to this post instead of me having to teach them how to use it.  I'm just joking...kind of.

Firstly, from purely a Big Green Egg 101 standpoint, here's how you get started (here are some videos from Big Green Egg).  Insert the firebox and make sure the bottom charcoal grate is in place to keep the coals off the bottom and allow oxygen flow.  Then the fire ring and finally the grate.  Close the dome and install your felt lining around the chimney and put on either the black, cast iron adjustable chimney cap or your green ceramic cap if you will not be using it immediately.

From a first time operations standpoint, remove the top chimney cap, open the dome and open the bottom vent all the way.  Also, remove the food grate.  This is the setup you will always use to light your Egg because it is getting the fullest supply of oxygen with this configuration.  Pile in some charcoal into the firebox and light your coals with the method of your choice.  As the coals start to light and spread, you can replace the grate and close the dome.  If you do it too soon, you'll limit the oxygen getting to your fire and it may go out or fail to light.  This just takes a few times of trial and error to master, you just want to make sure some of the coals are on fire before closing.  With the dome closed, the top damper removed and the bottom vent open, your Egg's temp should start to rise.  It might take a few minutes to move the temperature significantly, but stay near by because if left wide open, it can jump up to 700 degrees rather quickly.  Depending on what temperature you are cooking at, you can now begin to close your vents and damper to a point that will maintain your desired temp.  So if you're going to cook a pork shoulder at 225 degrees, you'll have the bottom vent only open about a quarter of an inch and the top vent just cracked open.  If you're cooking a steak at 600 degrees, you'll have both open much more. Again, this will just take a few attempts to understand how these control the temperature of your Egg.

Here are few things to keep in mind:

1. This is really the only item from a safety standpoint.  When opening the egg, especially at higher temps, you need to always "burp" the Egg.  This is simply opening the Egg slightly (about 1-2 inches).  This allows oxygen to slowly creep in and lets the fire react.  Otherwise, if you quickly rip open the dome, a large influx of oxygen hits a very hot fire and you will have a flare up similar to a back draft.  Most people have to experience this a time or two and burn the hair off their hands before heeding this warning.
2. The first time you use your Egg, they say to season it by doing a short cook at relatively low temps.  I think they just don't want you to jump into cooking at 700 degrees or doing a 24 hour cook right off the bat.  I also think this fully cures the felt lining gasket so that it completely adheres to the Egg lining (which is really the only part of the egg that needs to be periodically replaced).  I just cooked burgers on my inaugural cook at 300 degrees to break in my Egg.
3. Never use lighter fluid.  And I'd go as far to say never use briquettes although I hear you can.  I always use lump hardwood charcoal.  Kind of the whole point of using a BGE is a natural, instinctual way of cooking food.  Don't mess that up by using chemicals like lighter fluids, etc.
4. Never use water in any way.  Not to clean your egg, not to put out coals, never.  Closing the dampers for a few seconds will bring down any out of control flames you have going.  I don't even soak my wood chunks (by the way, never use pellets or chips, stick with the big chunks).  Closing the damper and vents after your done cooking will allow you to reuse much of the charcoal in the fire box.
5. Forget everything you know about using a gas grill or regular charcoal grill.  For instance, to increase or decrease your temperature, don't make big changes to the damper or vent.  I've heard it described this is more like operating a boat than driving a car.  A slight turn will eventually make a boat go a completely different direction.  Same with the Egg, slight adjustments can raise the temperature 25-50 degrees.
6. It's ideal to wait until the smoke goes clear or blue before cooking (see link for example pics).  At first, you'll see a heavy white or gray smoke.  This can make your food taste bitter.
7. If you are going to slow cook at a low temp, make sure you don't let the egg get too hot before attempting to arrive at your target temp.  If you let it get up to 600 degrees, it will be challenging to bring the temp back down to the desired range in the time-frame you probably wanted to put the meat on.
8. It's easy to get information overload when trying to learn how to use the Egg.  You will have to do a lot of experiments to determine what works best for you, your tastes and your favorite types of meats to cook.  The good news is, these experiments are fun and it is really, really hard to screw up food on the Big Green Egg.  Enjoy the learning process and don't stress about it.

Here are some references:

http://www.smoking-meat.com/big-green-egg-instructions

Fixing Pilot Light on Furnace (Replacing Thermocouple)

So my heat went out towards the end of winter.  It was blowing cold air and with a little investigation I realized the pilot light is out.  I was like "SWEET!", all I need to do is relight it and we're good to go.  That worked for about a day and I was back up there relighting it (Note: Occasionally this can be the only problem, high winds or other random things can cause the pilot light to be blown out).

I had a guy come look at it and said the whole unit needed to be replaced.  Hard to argue with that since it's like 30 years old, but I wasn't ready to bite off that if I didn't absolutely have to.

With some research, one of the main causes of this is a bad thermocouple.  I don't know a whole lot about HVAC stuff, but I watched a youtube video on how to replace one.  It was probably the easiest DIY project ever.  I bought a 10 dollar replacement part at my local hardware store and BOOM!  Fixed.

Search around youtube and find one that looks similar to yours:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5j29RILOGOU

Chevy Tahoe 2002 Steering Column Rod Knocking or Rattling or Clunking

This is just one of those things with this model/year of GM vehicle.  When you go over a bump or a turn it sounds like something inside the steering wheel is loose and knocking against itself.  I've heard a bunch of people complain about it.  I lived with this "knocking" for years until I discovered the fix and it so easy to fix.

I know I'm not using all of the correct terminology but I don't think you need to know all that to fix this issue.  Pop the hood and you'll notice you can see where the steering shaft comes through the firewall between the engine and the inside of the vehicle.  There is a single bolt and nut that attaches this shaft to another piece that actually turns the axle/tires.  Take this nut/bolt off which will free the steering shaft.

This is where it gets weird.  You will be able to use the "That's What She Said" line after every other sentence.  Now push the shaft back up into the steering column (towards the inside of your truck), it will easily slide in and out.  Do this in and out motion about 30 times.  This will feel like you are abusing your truck but what is happening is that you are redistributing the lubricant within the steering rod.  The original problem is with the design of the rod, it lets the lube all run to the bottom end and that creates your noise.  Here's some good info and a video on how to fix.


http://www.silveradosierra.com/transmission/how-to-fix-the-steering-clunk-t15336.html

Chevy EBCM Fix - ABS Light Constantly Staying On

If you have a Chevy Tahoe or Silverado that was made in the early to mid 2000's, then you may have a problem with your ABS light coming on at random times.  My security light would come on as well as my emergency brake light.

With some digging I discovered this is a common problem and it is caused by a cheap ass component used in the Anti Lock Brake system.  This is called the EBCM (electronic brake control module).  So the problem is that this little module is shorting out and sending random signals to your dash.  What you need to is to remove it, repair it, and reinstall it.  Here is a link to a Chevy forum that really goes into detail on how to remove your EBCM and the overall procedure so I'll just give the highlights of my experience.

http://chevyavalanchefanclub.com/cafcna/index.php?topic=121523.0

It's located underneath your driver's seat under the carriage of the vehicle (not like under your seat inside your truck, actually under the vehicle).  It's fairly easy to remove, but you have to get a really short handled screwdriver or one that bends to the side like a ratchet.  There are four screws and like three electrical connections.  Once you have it removed, wrap the place where it was with duct tape as well as each of the electrical connectors to keep dirt and moisture out if you are going to drive the vehicle with the EBCM being installed.  If you can leave the vehicle in your garage for a few days, don't worry about it.

You can repair it yourself if your good with circuit boards and what not, but I elected to just send it off and have it repaired for about 100 bucks.  There are tons of sites that do stuff like this.  I think I sent mine to Module Masters, but I also saw one called ABS Fixer.  They repaired and sent it back within days.

I reinstalled the module on my truck and fired it up.  It did NOT initially fix my problem and I was livid thinking I just wasted a hundred bucks and a lot of time.  I read somewhere that you may need to drive upwards of 20 MPH to make the module go through all of it's program routines or whatever.  Once I took it down the street, the light went off and hasn't been back on since.  BOOM!

Dr. BBQ’s Rub

1/4 cup salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons granulated garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons granulated onion
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg