Norbert's blog

The rear wheel on my electric mower fell off.  The mower is getting on but otherwise is still in working order - even the batteries take a usable charge.  Each of the rear wheels has two ball bearings pressed into a 1.25" hole in the wheel which rolls on a 0.5" shaft.  The inner bearing (lower right) was still intact but also failing.

• Read more about Ability to Repair: the Mower Wheel

I have an Ikea Henriksdal bar stool where the seat cover is showing its age.  Ikea has long discontinued this line and had no suggestions on a replacement seat cover.  Google to the rescue!  

• Read more about Keeping Ikea Looking Good

In Ontario, air conditioning combined with dinner preparation drives up electricity demands on sweltering summer afternoons.  Based on https://www.ieso.ca/en/Power-Data/Data-Directory, the peak usage in the 1994-2002 period was on August 4/2001.

• Read more about Demand Management and Hydro One's myEnergyRewards

Banks, credit cards, and PayPal typically charge currency exchange fees of 2.5% or more on top of the actual currency exchange rate.  I have a credit card that does not apply any additional fees, useful when travelling and purchasing products or services from outside Canada.  

• Read more about PayPal's "Automatic Payments" and Currency Exchange Fees

I received a reminder that an annual subscription was due, with some vague wording suggesting that it was an automatic payment.  I did not recall setting up a pre-authorised payment and could not log into the eCommerce site due to a company change.  I found that that I had last paid via PayPal, and via PayPal's Help, end up at the Settings (the gear icon) / Payments / Automatic Payments page.

• Read more about A Tale of PayPal's "Automatic Payments"

We have all experienced "pocket dialing".  Yesterday was my first (and hopefully only) case of "pocket pay".  Returning from a trip into Toronto, I paid with my Presto card and boarded the subway only to find out that due to a medical incident, shuttle buses were providing service between Bloor and Eglinton.

• Read more about The Case of Google Wallet "Pocket Pay"

Flo has to balance protecting against water damage and irritating homeowners by turning off the water while someone is having a long shower.  It does learn about 'normal' water flows over time, but 'normal' may still be 20-30 gallons.  

• Read more about Flo Is Not Just For Big Leaks

The Flo monitor communicates constantly with the Flo cloud servers so that water flows are tracked and categorised.  When a Flo leak detector is triggered, the Flo cloud will generate an alert that triggers the Flo to shut off the water immediately.  Similarly, unexpected high water usage will trigger a warning that the water will be shut off in five minutes.

• Read more about Flo Operation in Offline Mode