Energy Efficiency Tips

Here's are some energy saving tips from our friends at the Austin Board of Realtors:

I have a couple of additional thoughts on this one:

• If your house needs it, add insulation.  For example, if you live in an older house (like I do) then there may be some advances in insulation from which you can benefit.  We had more put in our attic this year, and now that Austin is warming up I can tell the difference.  After the virus situation abates, we'll probably have more put in under the house.
• If you've recently moved into an older house, check door seals and windows.  You may be losing cold air.
• Get you ducts checked and cleaned.  Also, check the condenser and make sure the coils are clean.
• If you are considering a smart thermostat or lighting system, read up on the company's data and privacy policies.  Also, look into how said company has handled support for older systems (is there a long tail, or do they tend to deactivate units?).  
• If you don't want the oven to heat up your kitchen, you don't have to resort to microwaving your food.  Toaster ovens are great, and I use mine year-round when I want to cook something too small to merit heating up the regular oven.   Also, you can always go outside and grill.   
• Investigate options for solar panels and available rebates.
• Investigate rebates for installing more energy efficient air conditioning units (e.g., Austin Energy has a rebate program).

In addition to my points above, visit Austin Energy to learn more about making your home more efficient.  

Virtual Fusebox Festival

Fusebox Fans:

It's almost here.  The Virtual Fusebox Festival is April 24th-26th.  http://virtual.fuseboxfestival.com/

Austin Real Estate: Buying and Selling Residences During COVID-19

Are you in Austin and thinking of buying or selling a residential property right now?  First, you may be surprised at how much activity is still going on in the Austin area real estate market.  Second, check out these FAQ pages from the Austin Board of Realtors:

For more information, visit ABOR.com/WorkSafe.

I'll put up a separate post with Austin's February and March residential statistics.   I can say anecdotally that the residential side of our brokerage is still busy and we have generally seen a lot of action in residential through our law firm/fee attorney office.   Thus, there is still action out in the Austin market in spite of the COVID-19 situation.  

If you are thinking of buying or selling, please contact us at Floyd Real Estate.   And, of course, we're here to help with general real estate advice.  

Welcome to Fusebox Virtual Edition!

The Fusebox Festival is going to be virtual this year.  It's scheduled for April 24-26.  Watch the video below for more information: 

How Does 2012 mac mini perform in 2020

It was interesting to watch this video about the virtues of the Late 2012 Mac Mini, as I have been using one since March of 2013.  And by using one, I mean this is my workhorse home office computer which gets used about 5-6 days per week.  It's been the best value I've ever obtained from a computer (I spent about $900 on it 7 years ago).  At this point, I plan to keep using it until it can't take any upgrades or it becomes obvious a new Mac Mini needs to be procured.

Anyway, watch keep going and watch the video if you are curious about Mac Mini longevity (or bored, because of COVID-19 related cabin fever):




Note on the differences between mine and the one in the video:

• Video Mac Mini: has Catalina (the latest OS), 8GB ram, a 256GB SSD hard drive, and an i5 dual core processor.
• My Mac Mini: older OS (but may go to Catalina soon), a 1TB conventional hard drive, and an i7 dual core processor.

Note on how mine is functioning:

• I have noticed, of late, that the MS Office 2016 apps are starting to act a little weird.  At some point I am going to upgrade to Catalina and Office 2019.  What I haven't assessed yet is which of my usual programs are 32 bit and won't function in the Catalina OS.   I imagine I will have to subscribe to Adobe Creative Cloud and pay for a few other upgrades after going to Catalina.  However, in general the computer works well and gets the business/personal/creative work jobs I need done.    

[Update: As of December 2020, the old Mac Mini was finally retired and replaced with the 2020 Mac Mini sporting the new M1 processor.]

Food: Austin Take-Out During COVID-19

Grass fed, dry aged NY strip from ALC Steaks.

Eater Austin is maintaining a list of Austin restaurants open for take-out during the COVID-19 pandemic related business shutdown.  There are too many great options for me to list them all.

ALC Steaks (as featured in the photo) is open for take-out from both the restaurant and their food truck.  I added the photo above because it was the first food photo I found when looking for a visual aid to add to this post.  But, it was a lucky pick of the draw.  The above steak is the 44 Farms dry-aged, grass-fed ribeye about which I have waxed rhapsodic in past posts (and if you know me, in person).  The steak in the photo was served Oscar style, with chimichurri covered asparagus and flash fried spinach (probably not the healthiest spinach, but delicious).  Anyway, order a steak from ALC if you can: you're supporting a local business and treating yourself during this unpleasant time period.

Movies

First, The Bad News:

You can add Top Gun: Maverick (along with No Time to Die and many others) to the list of movies with release dates delayed owning to COVID-19.  At this time December 23, 2020 is the newly scheduled release date.


Now, Some Good News:

The 2020 SXSW Film Festival will stream this year's films through Amazon Prime.


More Good News:

Thanks to the 13 Days of James Bond marathons in the 90's, my studying for certain final exams took a hit (it's like the jerks at TBS knew I'd rather watch The Man With the Golden Gun than review my notes).   Well, now that I'm temporally distanced from college and we're all social distancing, it's a good thing multiple titles of old James Bond movies have been released on Amazon Prime this month.  There are some bad ones (I'm looking at you, Moonraker) on the list, but we also get From Russia With Love, Thunderball, and Goldfinger in the mix.

A View to a Kill is already on Amazon Prime (for free), and other Bond movies may be as well (you can look for yourself).  While certainly not the best movie in the Bond franchise, it does come with: Christopher Walken as the blimp-loving villain, Grace Jones as a bad Bond girl, and a great theme song from Duran Duran.  If you don't believe me about the theme song, just watch the video.

[note: it does appear these movies will no longer be free after 5/1]

Netflix Party Lets You Interact Over Movies While Social Distancing:

The Netflix Party browser extension lets you watch Netflix with friends (virtually).  You can chat, play/pause in sync, and so forth while drinking at home and maintaining your social distance.  The folks at CNET have an article which will instruct you on setting it up.


And Finally, a Movie Rec:

I have been watching more TV series than movies these days.  Last weekend, though, I watched Collateral (2004).  This movie stars Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx.  It was directed by Micheal Mann (Miami Vice, Heat, Last of the Mohicans).  I hadn't seen this one since 2005, and I'm glad I took the time to watch it again.  Tom Cruise plays a very intense hitman who forces Jamie Foxx's cab driver to take him around Los Angeles while he kills his targets.  If you haven't seen it in a while, it's worth a return visit.