thanks for memories . . . blogger

. . . but it feels like I never left

As you may have guessed from the sidebar over here (-->), I have decided to take this show over to the Wordpress platform. There are several reasons I have decided to make this move.

While developing the web component of my venture at http://www.buildingmoxie.com/, a Blogger blog presented a quick and easy way to manage the content I hoped to generate for/through the site. At the time, I had a few ideas about what I might cover using my blog. Unfortunately -- I found quickly that the variety of topics I ended up writing about spilled out beyond one simple, and centralized, location. So . . . as need arose, I created the additional extensions for Home (work around my house), for Jobs (work on other people's houses), and for the 'Hood (stories about houses and people near me).

For the last year, I posted on average one article a week to one of these places. But while traffic to the landing location AOM grew, my numbers in the auxiliary buckets remained somewhat flat. My assumption . . . perhaps you and others simply may not have known those other destinations also existed.

So with the long and the short, I am moving to Wordpress for their tabbed scalability (through both pages and categories) and for the ability to unify all of my content under one harmonious domain.

What's in a name?

During this process, I am taking the opportunity to rename and re-brand the blog. While I, of course, love both the phrase "agents of moxie" and further the way the word "agents" plays several meanings, it has in some regard failed largely to accomplish one primary goal. That is -- unless you found me through my website, you and others may not have noticed that this blog is in fact attached, and is meant to serve, my budding home improvement business.

While fun and flirty at first - "agents" had to go (at least as the domain name); enter, now, Building Moxie :: the Blog. The word "Building" hints that my business and my blog may have something to do with . . . well, construction, and it helps reinforce my brand as a whole.

And what will you find at http://blog.buildingmoxie.com/

In re-designing, I hope to come up with a snappy tag phrase that tells every visitor what they might find there (here). Something that says, "You are visiting the site of an aspiring entrepreneur." In visiting, you'll find content written by an analyst turned week long warrior -- who with some formal training has made his way through many, many home improvement projects using information collected not only from magazine articles, books and online resources, but also through the everyman's weapon of choice -- trial and error.

I mean -- I am actually to the point where I am considering a professional career with it! Am I crazy? A do-it-yourselver gone mad, and it, I feel, offers a unique, from-the-ground-up perspective of the industry.

And there you are - the theme, at least the one I am toying with -- "An end user's view to home (no, strikethru) life improvement." You'll find material on and from the agents of moxie, still, the full array: a person or business authorized to act on another's behalf; a natural force or object producing or used for obtaining specific results; Grammar. a form or construction; and so on.

I welcome you to come visit now, as I rework the blog in broad daylight. I will be noodling new sections and hopefully testing a new "thing" in the coming months. In the future, and when the re-design is complete, I hope you will return to read and leave comment.

I am always available at jb@buildingmoxie.com. Thank you all for your support and BMoxie BMore!

ps -- Oi! This time of year is really slowing this process down. Happy Holidays all! And If you are so inclined, feel free to contact me about becoming a sponsor and/or an advertiser; just sayin'. Thanks. jb

so what I am trying to say is . . . heavy on the one

my first guest post

Let me be honest, I obsess (usually afterwards) about almost everything that I write, and post. Yes, I am still in that phase. But . . . this post -- and how, and/or if, it fits -- has really troubled me.

I do revel in the opportunity to write from the hip; I find that it is often a great way to explore. But sometimes though -- like in life, walkabouts lead only to places that you know.

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Thanks to Paul Anater at Kitchen and Residential Design for having me. I am one of eleven guest posters who are holding the fort while Paul gets some time away. Please check in throughout the week to see what is up!

Without further build-up, here is my first guest post: . . . heavy on the one

ps. Thanks to Barry at the Big Blog of Building and Mike at Home Path Products for getting my back, as always.

If only you could drive your house up to the home center

Car guys vs. House guys (and yes girls and women can be guys too)

I have mentioned it previously; I am not really a car guy. Sure, I know a few things. I know how to operate a vehicle, and I know where the gasoline goes. I know that they ride on tires, which, in turn, must be rotated every so often.

OK . . . I am probably selling myself a little short here. I do know a few other things. I mean -- I know, for me, when issues arise, I do not always have the experience or the time to make a fix happen, well, efficiently.

So . . . I often opt to leave things for the pros. I mean – you can call me Frank, but cars, and/or learning how they work to any intimate degree, just do not interest me. To me – they are simply a more efficient means of getting the people I know and things I need from Point A to Point B.

No*Star

A few weeks back – I got the call. I picked up the phone in my office, and I heard it, the sound of panic in her voice . . . . She said, “My check engine light is on,” sigh . . . . “What I should do?”

A transcript (roughly) of the conversation that then followed:

I started with, “Jen, calm down.” Then, I proceeded to give her a brief outline of what I know. “It could mean anything . . . . It could mean it is time for regularly scheduled maintenance. Or, it could mean, well, that there is something seriously wrong.” I thought for a second, then I finished the first wave with, “How is the car running?”

She replied, “Well, it does feel a little sluggish – what should I do; should I not drive it?”

“We are going to have to have someone do a diagnostic on it.” But who, I thought.

Jen then said, “I guess I’ll have to go up to my parents and have Roy look at it.” (Roy is a "guy" in the classic sense of the word. For a loose definition, see the Moxie Mouth side bar here). “But that means driving up on a weekend – (paraphrased) and we are so busy.”

I said, “OK, let me call some places around here. We’ll get this checked out.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.” But I continued, “Don’t worry about it – I think you are OK driving it for a little bit.”

Kinda like shopping bids for a home project

I proceeded, as promised, to call a couple of the places near us. Two, to be exact. Both regionally recognizable chains; we have visited both previously. $89.99 per hour for a diagnostic – “But it usually doesn’t take more than an hour,” the service tech said. My reply, “OK, thanks.”

So . . . I called the next place. “Whew,” I thought, “Only $89.99 for the test, and just the test, no by the hour included here.” And I reported back quickly. My wife’s reply sharp and clear, “I guess I am going to have to take it up to Roy.” The plan of action decided.

Now . . . my wife is a smart lady. She knows, like I do, that there are always options. So, she called her brother. Her brother, my brother-in-law, Darin is a smart guy, too, an engineer; he knows some things. And he is certainly more of a car guy than me.

Two days after that initial call, I picked up another call in my office. The excitement in her voice was pretty plain, “Darin says Auto Zone does free diagnostics.” I said, “Hmmm, wow, cool.” And a few days later my wife went to Auto Zone.

If only you could drive your house up to the home center

As with most events in life, this got me thinking. How does this translate to the home?

In a lot of ways, maintaining a home and maintaining an automobile are quite similar. Each has systems that effect overall performance, each is fairly expensive, and each requires routine maintenance, and regular care, to perform at its best.

These conditions are due, in part, to the temporal and fading nature of things. Much as a car’s odometer rolls with every tenth of a mile accumulated – your home loads on mileage, too, with each passing year. Short of noting proactive discretionary improvements, and extending beyond the mechanical equipment found in your home, all parts in, on, or of your home will wear, and ultimately fail (if left unchecked).

The timeline of failure, of course, can be accelerated by poor maintenance within interconnected systems. This has never been clearer than today, as many of us focus our attention on energy usage.

Enter the home energy audit, a diagnostic of home energy performance. These check-ups look at such things as the air-tightness of your home’s shell (the skin) and the health of its working parts (organs as such). It's kinda like a doctor’s visit, a house call.

Some of today’s home automation systems allow for in-line diagnostics of power-based components. But . . . still these controls are evolving and I can think that one day maybe homes, too, will fitted with a “Check Engine” light. Think about it – a LED blinking on at a centralized location to not only notify you at certain intervals, but also to highlight the detection of specific negative events.

Auto Zone is the sh*t (stand back now he's really rambling)

As my wife, her check engine light still lit, was finalizing plans to have Roy change the thermostat on her car, it happened, as if a cruel joke. My check engine light, with no regret or remorse, popped on. “Damn!” But I tried not to panic; I mean – after all, from recent experience I knew what I needed to do first. Head to Auto Zone. I just had to work it into my schedule.

It was a rainy Saturday, and early, when I walking in. There were two employees on duty, and one person in the store. I did my usual, with the body language, and not impatiently mind you. More in stance that says – “Yes, I am looking at these displays, but not because I intend to purchase anything off of them; instead, I am just killing time here until you ask me if I need assistance.”

When the staffer came over, and I didn’t have to wait long, he was pleasant enough. “Can I help you?” he asked.

I said, “I hear you are doing free diagnostics; and my check engine light is on.”

He said, “Sure. We are.” And he reached his hand back behind the island that holds the store’s computer monitors, he grabbed a handheld device, and we walked out to my truck, together.

Below the truck’s steering wheel and on the side of the console that houses my radio, there is a port. And he took this device (it wasn’t too far off of some the electrical testers I have seen), and he plugged it in. With a turn of the key, and shutting my wipers off, he captured an error code in a matter of seconds. He then said, “Let’s see what the computer says your problem might be.”

A minute later, and more time actually spent walking and chatting, I had a list of four possible issues (ad libbing a little here): the catalytic converter, a leak at the exhaust manifold, a dirty air flow sensor, or a blocked fuel injector. My problem to be found at one of these four points.

The first thing out of my mouth of course was – “Well, what do you think?” And we fired questions and answers back and forth for a few minutes. I finally, then, made the resolution to start the troubleshooting dance with the more inexpensive options.

Knowing full well that Auto Zone stocks injector cleaner, I asked, “How do I clean the air flow sensor?”

“I’ll show you . . . . Here,” he said, as he handed me a can that looked quite similar to spray paint. And I walked out of there that morning with cleaner for my air flow sensor, fuel injector cleaner, and a thermostat for a 2000 Volvo.

What a brilliant organizational decision!

The Auto Zone associate, very knowledgable, may I dare say a car guy, provided tips for troubleshooting, laid down the truth of things if my troubleshooting were to fail, and he assured me that I could confidently perform some of these steps myself. Then, he rang me up for the supplies that I would need. And we went about our days.

Systems normal

I find that when troubleshooting it is often best to get the easiest and least expensive possibilities out of the way first. And in my case, this time, those basic measures performed that Saturday worked. I was able to shut that sucka light off.

I also find that these aren’t the kind of things you usually want to let go for too long. As with our house above, causes and effects are all too often interrelated. In my case, and with my vehicle, data pointed to either the air intake or the fuel system, each potentially having compounding effects on the other.

Left unchecked, who knows, the issue could have effectively manifested into a larger (and more expensive) problem.

Plus, you have to admit, it sure is unsightly. The check engine light -- starting your car, and there in the dashboard, it stares back at you, telling you something isn’t quite right.

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More Moxie:

Check engine light shot by Barry Morgan @ Barry's Big Blog of Building: http://bigblogofbuilding.blogspot.com/

As I was noodling this idea, I stumbled upon this outstanding article on "Your House as a System". Link courtesy of Extremehowto.com: http://www.extremehowto.com/xh/article.asp?article_id=60917

A top publication on home controls and other electronics: http://www.electronichouse.com/eh/magazine/

Get in the Zone! Auto Zone: http://www.autozone.com/autozone/