Steve Jenkins' Blog

Knowing Myself Part Deux and Updated VO2 Max Data from Cycling Test

Steve Jenkins — Thu, 17 May 2012 00:53:55 +0000

In celebration of a positive annual 2012 physical, I decided to do a follow-up VO2 max test with POTENTRx in Seattle. The test today went great, and I learned lots of new things about my personal fitness, and fitness in general, just as I always do during these tests. I’d love to share some of what I learned here, as anyone who cross-trains, does triathlons, or otherwise participates in more than one sport will likely be interested by some of what I learned today.

I decided that since I’ve been cycling a fair amount lately, I’d like to get a baseline VO2 max on a stationary bike, as opposed to a test on an elliptical trainer like I did back in July 2011, when I got a dismal result of 24.9. I’ve posted previously about those results, what I’ve been doing with the data, and my positive results to date, so if you haven’t already read that post, I recommend doing so first and then coming back to finish reading this one.

I scheduled my test today with the always affable and extremely knowledgeable Sean Machak at POTENTRx. In addition to being a fitness uber-expert, Sean’s also a car guy (he owns a tuned Subaru STi), so of course we get along. I assumed that my results from this cycling VO2 max test would be easily compared to those from my earlier elliptical test, but Sean warned that wouldn’t quite be the case. The actual VO2 max value might translate fine, but the resulting heart rate training zones would likely be different. more on that later. Still, after discussing it over with Sean, I decided that I wanted cycling results, and so that’s the test I did. The results were encouraging, as well as enlightening.

To help follow along, I’ve uploaded the analysis of my test results here. I’d suggest keeping them in a new browser window so you can follow along as I go through it.

The first item of note is my new VO2 max value: 32.4. That’s a massive step up from 24.9 less than a year ago, and I was stoked to see that my data-driven training over the past many months has been working (dropping 30+ lbs was also a dead giveaway, but the more data the better). This also correlated with the 33 that my Polar FT80 heart monitor calculated based on resting heart rate over time. So it’s nice to know I can always do a quick and dirty VO2 max test (kinda) any time I want.

The next line down on the report shows my aerobic threshold: the point at which my body is optimally oxidizing fat calories per minute. This section also shows my anaerobic threshold (sometimes called the lactate threshold) which is where my body burns no fat, pulls energy only from blood sugar, and starts to build up lactic acid faster than my body is able to recycle it.

To help understand these thresholds better, here’s a helpful chart I stole from Wikipedia showing graduated exercise thresholds:

Back on my report, I had mistakenly thought that the specific heart rate zones shown there would be universal across all exercises I perform… but I learned today that they’re not! In fact, the farther an exercise is anatomically from walking (which is the primary activity our bodies are designed and/or have naturally evolved and adapted to perform), the higher the physical effort required to perform that exercise. An elliptical trainer, for example, is extremely similar to walking, and so my body does it easier than running, cycling, or swimming… each of which is progressively and inherently more physically demanding than walking. This blew my mind, but after talking it over with Sean, it made total sense. Our bodies simply have to work harder to do things they weren’t designed to do naturally, but the more we do them the more adapted to those activities we become.

This means that the heart rate zones derived from this test are useful to me only while on a bicycle, and that in order to get specific updated zones for elliptical workouts, I’d need an updated test on an elliptical. That’s fine, since the tests are only $180 and worth EVERY penny to me. In fact, POTENTRx gave me a 10% discount as a repeat offender, so my test today was actually $162. A bargain for this kind of insight.

So basically, according to these results, I need to keep my heart rate at 126 BPM while on a bike to get the most efficient fat burning (2.1 calories per minute, according to the report). If I take that up to between 129-139 BPM, my fat oxidation rate drops to only 1.1 calories per minute, and when I get to the 140-146 range, I’m not burning any fat at all. Yes, I’m still burning calories (from blood sugar), but not fat calories – and that’s still my primary fitness goal for the time being.

On an elliptical, however, my test results from last year showed that 131 was my ideal fat burning heart rate, and it’s safe to assume that number’s probably gone up a bit since my last test because of my training. But to isolate the exact number and target zones, I’m going back in to POTENTRx to do a VO2 max elliptical test in a couple of weeks. For now, I’m still writing this post at 131 BPM on my elliptical, because I know I’m burning fat at that heart rate.

So it’s possible (and in fact, this report showed it’s actual) that my body can perform one mode of physical activity at one given heart rate, and a different (less adapted/more difficult) mode at a somewhat lower heart rate, but that the two activities at the two different rates could have the same cardiovascular effect and physical demand on my body! So a 123-128 heart rate on a bike is the “same” aerobically to my body as, let’s say, a 133-138 heart rate on an elliptical… because I’m less adapted to biking.

An article shared with me by Sean at POTENTRx explains further explains this concept:

Maximal heart rate (HRmax) is generally reported to be slightly (~5%) higher when obtained from an incremental treadmill test as compared with an incremental cycle test in untrained subjects. In addition, the relationship between HR and exercise intensity or VO2 is exercise dependent and is influenced by
training mode, postural position or laboratory
environment. In triathletes, the HRmax observed in cycling is often lower by 6–10 beats/min than that obtained during running. Longitudinal investigations have demonstrated HRmax to remain relatively stable over the course of a season, with higher values (~5 beats/min) observed in running than in cycling. (Physiological Differences Between Cycling and Running - Millet, Vleck, Bentley, Sports Med 2009)

I’ve updated my Polar heart rate monitor with the new zones from this report, and padded them a bit to encompass both my cycling and elliptical fat burning and cardio zones. I’ll just need to be vigilant to make sure I’m in the right zone on the right equipment. And after updating my elliptical test in a couple of weeks, I’ll know exactly what I should be doing in different exercise modalities to keep getting positive results.

Again, the adage generally attributed to Socrates of “Know Thyself” applies in the 21st century just as it did in 400 BC. So don’t exercise blindly. You may luck into results, but chances are you’re expending effort sub-optimally, and could get better results with less effort by simply knowing your body and exercising in the appropriate zones.

And if you live in the Seattle area and want to get your own VO2 max test performed, feel free to name drop me at POTENRx, and ask the receptionist to schedule you with Sean. I’d love to hear about your results!

I also love blog comments, so please feel free to leave yours below.

P.S. Click here to see the cardio workout I performed while writing this post!

Want fitness results? Know thyself.

Steve Jenkins — Tue, 15 May 2012 21:11:26 +0000

I’m writing this blog post after getting home from my annual physical. The results were great, and my doctor is almost as proud of me as I am of myself. I’m down 30 lbs, my resting heart rate is 30 points lower, and he reduced my cholesterol meds for the first time in over a decade.

A few of my friends have asked me lately how I’m getting results, so I’ve decided to create a few blog posts with stuff that’s been working for me. Maybe some of it will work for you. Now, I’ve lost weight before. Right around the time I turned 30, I dropped 50 lbs and got down to a downright sexy 170. But now that I’m 41, the things that worked a decade ago aren’t working any more, and I faced some frustration as I tried plenty of things that didn’t work.

So let’s start with what didn’t work. About three years ago, I decided to make some changes to increase my fitness level. I was already active with karate and kickboxing three days a week, but I also hired a personal trainer to come lift weights with me 3 days a week in my home gym. I started doing at least an hour of cardio at home daily, in addition to anything I was doing at karate. I started eating more healthy food. But after a year of all this, the scale just didn’t move. My endurance improved, I felt slightly better, but the scale didn’t budge.

So at last year’s annual physical, I asked my doctor to check my thyroid and testosterone levels, hoping they’d explain my inability to lose weight. The labs came back normal. Frustrated, I decided to kick up the cardio intensity. I’d get on my elliptical trainer for a solid 60 minutes and keep my heart rate between 155-165, and sometimes spike to 170. The screen showed I was burning between 800-1000 calories per hour, and I figured that would have to generate results. Right?

But after 6 more months of crazy daily cardio, my body still refused to drop any weight. Finally, I decided to apply the same approach to my fitness that I apply to all my business endeavors: instead of guessing at what might work, it was time to get some data and make decisions based on that data. In business, I call that “3D” – a data driven decision.

When it comes to fitness data, there are plenty of calculated averages out there. You take your age, weight, activity level, subtract this, add that, carry the one, and you have a number that applies to most people for some particular element of fitness measurement. Your max heart rate, for example, is generally 220 minus your age –meaning mine should be 179. But I didn’t want general “should be” averages, I wanted cold hard data that’s specific to me. So I contacted POTENTRx labs in Seattle. They specialize in sport-based data gathering and analysis for athletes. And after performing a base metabolism and VO2 Max test, I discovered a few things about myself. First, I am apparently designed to live 1,000 years ago, when food wasn’t so easy to find. My metabolism is 1/3 of what is “normal,” meaning that I can survive on very little food. The problem is that I love food, and I don’t want to have to eat 1/3 of what everybody else does. The second thing I learned is that my VO2 Max was classified as “very low,” a 26, in fact. You can Google to learn more about VO2 Max, but basically it’s a measurement of how efficiently your body uses oxygen during exercise, which contributes to a lot of things, including how efficiently you burn calories and convert stored fat into available energy. I also learned that my anaerobic threshold (the point at which the body stops converting fat into energy under athletic load and starts taking energy from blood sugar because taking it from fat takes too much time and effort) is extremely low, too. Most of the averages say that mine should be around 140-something heart beats per minute. In my case, at around 120 BPM my body starts to burn fat pretty well, and on a graph that line continues up until about 131 BPM, when the graph looks like it fell off a cliff. At 132+ BPM, my body is pulling energy for exercise almost exclusively from blood sugar, and ignoring my fat stores.

All this helped explain why my previous attempts at losing weight had been fruitless. When I was on my elliptical at 150-160 BPM, all the energy for that exercise was coming from blood sugar, of which plenty was available because while I was eating a “normal” amount of calories a day, my body was only consuming 1/3 of it to stay alive, and spending the surplus on my crazy cardio efforts.

The doctors at POTENTRx told me I needed to radically change my cardio approach. Instead of 60 mins of 150+ effort, I should do 90 minutes of no higher than 131. This was a bigger adjustment than I expected. At 131, I start sweating, but exercise doesn’t really feel difficult. In fact, I kind of get bored. To address the boredom, I velcroed a laptop to my elliptical machine, and I can watch Netflix, surf Facebook, or even write blog articles while I’m exercising. In fact, I’m writing this entire article on the elliptical at 130BPM.

The doctors also told me that running my heart rate up to the “crazy” levels was still a good idea a few days a week. That helps increase my cardio endurance, even if it doesn’t burn fat. So now I alternate between long+low burns and short+intense bursts. I also mix up the workouts: spinning, running, ellipting, kickboxing, swimming, weights, and karate. But the most important part of all this is measurement. I can’t do anything effectively without a heart rate monitor, since that’s the most accurate measurement of how hard my body is working.

I also changed how I ate. In addition to being forced out of eating all dairy (I became lactose intolerant last December), I now eat pretty much all day long instead of three big meals per day. I “snack” on healthy (and some unhealthy) stuff throughout the day, keeping portion sizes small. The doctors say this will help increase my metabolism, since my body is forced to burn up small meals throughout the day. I drink lots of water, and eat something whenever I’m hungry. It’s usually healthy stuff, but I enjoy my carbs every now and then. I just try to eat them earlier in the day, when I still have time to burn them off, rather than late at night when the excess blood sugar will be stored as fat. I’ll probably write a dedicated blog post about this later, since I’m still experimenting with what’s working for me.

Since the beginning of the year, armed with some data and an accurate heart rate monitor, I’m finally seeing results. My plan is to go back to PotenRx soon and see if my baselines have changed (I think they probably have), and then modify my exercise so that I’m still operating at peak efficiency.

So if you’re one of the many who seem to be killing yourself in the gym but not getting results, stop basing your exercise decisions on averages that may not apply to you. Collect some accurate data, then make some personal decisions based on that data. You don’t have to spend the money on testing at a place like PotenRx, either. My Polar FT80 heart monitor was able to calculate my VO2 Max at exactly the same level as the PotenRx test. For the same price as one test, you can get a good data collection device. In many cases, the mere act of measuring something can lead to improved results. This was certainly the case when it came to my fitness. Maybe, like me, you’ve actually been working out too hard. By calculating my personal fitness “zones” and then choosing how long to stay in each zone during each workout, I’m finally noticing results… and others are noticing, too.

Good luck, and let me know in the comments about your own experiences with data driven exercise!

No related posts.

Fixing WordPress Admin Issues with CloudFlare Page Rules

Steve Jenkins — Mon, 07 May 2012 19:11:14 +0000

I’ve been noticing some wonkiness with the admin area of our WordPress blog at CheatCodes.com EXTRA!. Through some experimentation, I noticed that all of the issues went away if I put CloudFlare into Development Mode. This, however, isn’t a long-term fix, so I decided to create a CloudFlare Page Rule for the /wp-admin/ directory. To do this, just login to CloudFlare and create a Page Rule that covers:

http://example.com/wp-admin/*

Then turn off EVERYTHING: apps, cache, security, always on, etc.

This fixed most of my problem, but I noticed that I still had issues when logging in or out of the WordPress admin area, and I couldn’t figure out why.

Then it hit me – the login page for the WordPress admin area isn’t in the WordPress admin area, and therefore wasn’t covered by my CloudFlare Page Rule! Instead, the WordPress login page is here:

http://example.com/wp-login.php

So I added a second page rule that covered:

http://example.com/wp-login.php*

The asterisk is necessary to cover URLs such as:

http://example.com/wp-login.php?loggedout=true

Now the login/logout hangs and other strange behavior are gone, my WordPress admin area works great for all our authors, and I’m still benefitting from CloudFlare protection and optimization across the rest of the blog.

So if you’re noticing strangeness between WordPress and CloudFlare, create a Page Rule!

How to Adjust the Clock on a Panasonic Hybrid Phone System

Steve Jenkins — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 16:02:53 +0000

This is one of those blog posts that’s almost 100% for my own benefit, since twice a year I have to fumble around with my phone system trying to remember how to adjust the clock to and from Daylight Savings Time. Of course, this would be easier if I knew where I’d put the paper overlay that shows what each of the keys do in programming mode, but where’s the fun in that?

Here are the steps I take to adjust the clock on my Panasonic Hybrid phone system:

Move the Memory button on the back of the phone from SET to PROGRAM. PITS-PGM NO? -> will appear on the LCD screen.
Type *# followed by my 4-digit password to enter programming mode. SYS-PGM NO? -> will appear on the LCD screen.
Type 000. Day/Time Set will appear on the LCD screen.
Hit SP-PHONE key. The screen displays the current date.
Hit the FORWARD button to move forward through the date and to the time.
When the hour is flashing, enter the correct hour. Hit FORWARD to move to the next item and adjust minutes, if necessary.
To save the adjusted time, hit the AUTO DIAL / STORE button. You’ll hear a long beep to confirm.
Move the Memory button on the back of the phone from PROGRAM to SET.

Your Panasonic Hybrid phone system now has the correct time!

How to Disable Phone Options on a DSC Alarm Panel when Converting to Envisalink Internet Alarm Monitoring

Steve Jenkins — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 18:26:00 +0000

As you may be aware from one of my previous posts, I decided to ditch both of my analog phone alarm companies in favor of digital monitoring using my Envisalink 2DS adapter which connects my DSC alarm panels to my in-home networks and, along with a host of other features, allows my alarm systems to be monitored via the Internet.

Envisalink, the developers of the 2DS, now offer EnvisAlarm: an alarm monitoring service that integrates wonderfully with their free ESP service, which allows users to log in from anywhere to view and control their alarm system details.

However, since my DSC panels were still set up to transmit alarm information via the telephone, I had to disable a few options on my DSC panels that were no longer needed now that I’m monitoring over the Internet with my 2DS. If you’re a new Envisalink monitoring customer who previously used telephone monitoring, you’ll want to following these same steps that I took to disable the phone-related options.

These instructions assume you’re using the factory-default Installer Code of 5555 (which you probably shouldn’t). Insert your own installer code in place of the 5555.

To disable the phone line: *8 5555 015 7 ##
To turn off test transmissions (which are no longer needed since Envisalink monitors network connection from them to your 2DS continuously): *8 5555 371 9999 ##
To turn off the phone dialer: *8 5555 380 1 ##

I relied on the following online docs to help me remember the correct menu options in the DSC panel:

http://www.myalarm.com/manuals_prog/832p.pdf

http://www.mainelectronics.com/pdf/HowToProgramDSCsystem.pdf

So far, I’ve been very happy with the price and service of Envisalink’s monitoring.

How to Reboot with a Bash Input/Output Error

Steve Jenkins — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 02:21:07 +0000

Man – this post saved my bacon today:

http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/rebooting-magic-way

Was able to reboot a CentOS box with what appears to be a failing (failed?) file system. We had backups, but we’re evacuating the server now.

Bedroom Furniture Discounts & Exel Direct’s “White Glove” Delivery Service

Steve Jenkins — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 18:56:16 +0000

Here’s a copy of an email I just sent (on Feb 11, 2012) to the customer service email address and my salesperson at Bedroom Furniture Discounts, from whom my wife and I recently purchased new bedroom furniture. They were fantastic to work with on the sales side, but I think they may be using the wrong company to fulfill their “White Glove Delivery” service.

I’ll update this thread once I get a reply.

Email #1 – Feb 11, 2012

Hi, Nataly & Dominick.

The purpose of this email is to give you an update on the AICO bedroom set we ordered from you. Of course, I realize that once the order is placed, that the delivery and setup of the items are somewhat out of your hands, but I nonetheless wanted to share feedback with you on the process so that you are aware of what’s happened so far, and evaluate whether the company currently fulfilling your orders is the best choice for your “White Glove” delivery.

I’ll explain what happened chronologically.

1) I was contacted in January by Exel Direct (the delivery company) to schedule delivery of all three pieces of furniture I ordered: canopy bed, curio, and dresser. We scheduled the delivery for Saturday 1/28.

2) Once I knew the delivery schedule, I hired movers to disassemble and move all our current bedroom furniture into a storage unit for Thursday 1/26, and carpet cleaners to clean the bedroom carpet on the morning of Friday 1/27. That way, the room would be empty and cleaned for all the new furniture.

3) My movers showed up on Thursday 1/26 and emptied the bedroom as planned.

4) On the afternoon of Thursday 1/26, I received another phone call from Exel. They informed me that because there were so many parts for this order, they were unable to bring them for delivery on Saturday, since they’d need a whole truck to bring them. I informed them that was unacceptable, since the number of items should be no surprise to them, as they’d been sitting in their warehouse for at least a week, and also that I’d already removed all our bedroom furniture in anticipation of the delivery. After a few more phone exchanges, they informed me there were unable to bring all the furniture, but agreed to bring just the bed on Saturday and reschedule delivery of the rest of the furniture for the following Saturday 2/4.

5) On Saturday 1/28, the delivery truck arrived with the bed. However, only part of the bed had been loaded on the truck. The canopy was missing. The delivery men assembled the part of the bed they had (which thankfully was enough to sleep on), and left.

6) The following Saturday 2/4, the Exel delivery truck showed up again as scheduled. This time, the two drivers stated they had all the remaining furniture. However, after partially unloading the truck into my driveway, the drivers informed me that because they were unable to remove the drawers from the dresser, that the dresser was too heavy to carry upstairs by themselves, and that they would need four people instead of two. They installed the canopy on our bed (albeit with some rather large dings in the canopy pillars), and wanted to put the furniture back in the truck to take back to the warehouse, and re-schedule delivery for another day. I told them I didn’t want the furniture reloaded on the truck, since I’m sure it would have been unloaded in the warehouse and then reloaded again later, and I had already noted a number of nicks and dings on the furniture from the amount it had already been transported and handled. I called the Exel dispatcher, but she was unable to send another crew to help carry the furniture up the stairs. So I had the delivery drivers stack the curio and dresser pieces in my house’s foyer. The dispatcher assured me that she’d be able to schedule four people to come within the next few days.

7) I expected to hear back from Exel on Monday morning, but heard nothing. On Wednesday 2/8, I contacted Exel myself and scheduled delivery for Saturday 2/11 (which is today), and verified that they were indeed sending FOUR people this time.

8) At 7:30am this morning (Saturday 2/11), I received a phone call from the delivery driver who informed me he was 15 minutes away. I asked him if there were four people in his truck. He informed me no, there were only two. I told him that he needed to contact his dispatcher immediately to verify that four people were coming.

9) At 7:45am today, the delivery driver rang at our front gate. I buzzed him in. When he got to the front door, he informed me that another truck was on the way to meet them.

10) At 8:25am today, the other truck arrived with one other person, named Patrick (who had been one of the people that helped assemble our bed on 1/28). Patrick was able to figure out how to remove the drawers from the dresser, making it relatively easy for the two other drivers to bring the dresser upstairs. And while I was grateful to have the furniture out of my foyer, I was frustrated that it had sat there unnecessarily for a week.

11) Patrick and the other two delivery personnel carried all the remaining pieces upstairs into our bedroom and began to assemble them. I noted that one of the provided cords for powering the light fixture atop the curio was too short to connect. In the process of trying to stretch an electrical cable to power the light fixture on top of the curio, they pulled the end off of the electrical cord, making it impossible to light the top of the curio. I need to arrange to have a longer cord, or two of the shorter cords, shipped to me as soon as possible. In fact, I’d prefer to verify on the phone with someone at AICO who is familiar with this set with to make sure the correct cord(s) are sent.

12) Patrick also noted that the hardware necessary to secure the mirror assembly to the dresser was missing, as was the hardware necessary to attach the top trim pieces to both the curio and mirror assembly. Patrick informed me that he would look at the warehouse for the hardware, or look through their available bolts for ones that might work. However, I would prefer to have the correct hardware as supplied by AICO for this purpose. And, at this point, I’d rather just install it myself. Can you please put me in touch with someone at AICO who can supply that as soon as possible, since both pieces are in the middle of our bedroom partially assembled, rather than up against the wall and out of the way.

13) I also noted that one of the light bulbs in the mirror assembly would not light up. After removing the bulb and testing it, the bulb is defective. I plan on purchasing a new one at a hardware store today.

14) And the most humorous part of this entire “White Glove Delivery” tragedy? While I was in the middle writing this email to you this morning, at exactly 10:01AM Pacific Time, my cell phone rang. It was a computer call from Exel Direct… asking if I’d be willing to “take a short six-question survey about their service.” I laughed so hard I almost dropped my phone. The computer also said that at any time during the call, I could press 0 to talk to a customer service agent instead. So I pressed 0. I was then greeted by another computer prompt apologizing that nobody was available to take my call, that I had reached them during non business hours, and that their normal Saturday business hours were 10:00AM Eastern to sometime later in the evening. I’m rather certain that 10:00AM Pacific (when the phone rang) is well after 10:00AM Eastern (when they claim to be open on Saturdays), but pressing 0 again had no effect. So I simply hung up.

Again, I realize that once the order is processed, the execution of that order is somewhat out of your hands. However, while I believe that authority can be delegated, responsibility cannot. And since your company collected payment for the products and their delivery, the responsibility for the entire purchase and delivery experience remains yours. How you address the issue is certainly up to you, but I wanted to provide my feedback that the term “white glove delivery” may be an overly generous term for my experience.

I would appreciate someone contacting me via telephone at xxx-xxx-xxxx at your earliest convenience so that I can arrange to get the missing electrical cords and hardware to finalize the installation of my bedroom set. I plan on getting a replacement light bulb and some wood stain at the hardware store today to try and ameliorate some of the nicks and dings on the furniture myself.

Best regards,

Steve Jenkins

Email #2 – Feb 11, 2012

Hi, Nataly & Dominick.

As a follow-up to my prior email, I no longer need the requested bolts and washers for securing the mirror to the dresser, or for the decorative tops that mount on top of the lighted cabinets on the curio and mirror. I visited the hardware store today and purchased all the necessary hardware, and just finished installing them.

However, while installing the decorative top to the curio, I noticed a problem with the right curio hutch door. While the left door closes completely flush, the upper section of the right door leaves an approximately half-inch gap in the “closed” position, so much so that the magnet on the inside of the hutch does not make contact with the corresponding metal catch on the inside of the door. After opening the right door to investigate, I noticed the holes shown in the attached image “curio_magnet.jpg.”

Curio Magnet

The existence of these holes leads me to conclude that in all likelihood, this door-closing issue was likely known at the point of assembly of this curio, and that these holes represent adjustment attempts by the assembler. Unfortunately, his or her adjustment attempts were unsuccessful, yielding a curio hutch with a door that is still unable to close properly – with the addition to a few uninvited holes in an otherwise beautiful cabinet. My preferred course of action would be to replace this curio hutch with a new one. Please let me know if this is not an option.

Additionally, I figured it might also be helpful to attach a photo of the broken electrical cable mentioned in my previous email.

Broken Electrical Cable

It’s a black, 18 gauge, 2-conductor wire, approximately 24 inches long. One end is a female connector with one square and one circle connection, and the other end has the a corresponding male connector. The replacement cable should be at least 36 inches long in order to span the distance between the end of the wire that is connected to the curio and the lighting fixture hidden inside the top of the curio hutch (which lights the alabaster fascia). Alternatively, two of these 24 inch cables could be connected in series and solve the issue.

At your earliest convenience, please let me know if you’re able to swap the hutch and supply the proper length electrical cable(s).

Best regards,

Steve

Update Feb 13, 2012

I called BedroomFurnitureDiscounts this morning, and they informed me that Nataly (whom I had been emailing) no longer worked at the company, and that Dominick (my salesperson) was off today. However, the customer service representative who handled my call was very friendly, and asked if there was anything she could help with. She checked the general customer service email queue and found my emails there. I suggested that rather than keeping her on the phone, she may want to just read them and give me a call back. She did, because she left the following message on my Google Voice:

I’m not sure how their technician “repairing the hutch” is going to work out, but I’m open to giving them an opportunity to make it work before I press the issue on replacing it. Of course, as I always do with every online purchase, I paid for this item with my American Express Centurion card, so in a worst case scenario (and I see no indications that this situation is headed there), I know AMEX will intercede on my behalf.

Update #2 Feb 13, 2012

I also received a voicemail from Patrick, today – who was one of the delivery personnel. He was following up to see if he could bring by some hardware to secure all the necessary pieces. I thanked him, and told him that I’d already taken care of it. I have to admit that in the entire fiasco that was Exel Direct’s “White Glove Delivery” service, Patrick was the welcome exception to the rule. Every time something actually got done by Exel, Patrick was the one who made sure it got done. I’d post his friendly and professional voice message here as well, but it includes what I believe to be his personal cell phone number, so I won’t post it.

Update #3 Mar 2, 2012

Received a voicemail from Matthew at Bedroom Furniture Discounts, which said:

Hi Steve Jenkins, This is Matthew calling from Bedroom Furniture Discounts. I’m just calling to give you an update. Your cable should come today, and I believe I spoke with the the tech yesterday, he’s scheduled to come to your house sometime next week. Please give me a call back At (212) xxx-xxxx extension xxx. Thank you.

Alright! It’s nice to see progress!

Update #4 Mar 1, 2012

Well, the good news is that two new electric cables arrived today. The bad news is that each of them is exactly half the length of the original cable, meaning that they still aren’t long enough to connect the lights atop the curio to the power supply. They were shipped directly from AICO, so I called the number on the packing slip to see if they could ship me either one more shorter one, or two of the longer ones that I originally requested. The receptionist informed me that it would be “easier” if I called the store instead of calling them. Yeah… easier for her.

I called Matthew back and he apologized and said he’d call AICO today and have them fix the error. The furniture repair technician is supposed to be here in a few minutes to look at fixing the curio door, so I’m crossing my fingers.

Customer Feedback Regarding RC Willey Furniture Delivery

A Tale of Two Alarm Monitoring Cancellation Requests: Fire Protection Inc (Seattle) and Mountain West Security (Provo)

Steve Jenkins — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 17:26:34 +0000

This is somewhat of a different blog post for me, as I’m starting it before I even know what’s going to be in it. Maybe everything will go smoothly and this will be a boring story of how I made a couple phone calls and quickly and easily cancelled two alarm monitoring services. Or maybe it won’t. Either way, I got the feeling that I should be writing this down as it happens.

Background

I currently have a primary residence near Seattle, WA and a vacation home in Provo, UT — both of which are protected by alarm systems and monitored by local alarm monitoring companies. In Seattle, I’ve used Fire Protection Inc since 2003. In Provo, I’ve used Mountain West Security since 2005. FPI charges $29.99 per month and MWS charges $24.95 a month.

Recently, however, I’ve discovered a number of alarm monitoring alternatives that offer comparable UL-listed alarm monitoring services for much less. After reading some reviews (and some more reviews) and checking out the websites of a few of the companies, I decided to use SafeMart, which offers the same service as both my existing providers for $8.95 per month. Initially, I was tempted to use AlarmMonitoringService.com, which offers UL-listed alarm monitoring for only $5.95 per month. However, after phoning both companies and asking some questions, it turns out that AMS charges an additional $5 per month if you want to set up a daily test transmission from your alarm system — which I do. SafeMart includes that service in their $8.95 plan, so they’re my choice. Now, all I have to do is cancel my current providers. That should be pretty easy, right?

Monday December 19, 2011

At around 7PM I phoned the FPI and MWS office numbers. In both cases, the calls were forwarded to their respective monitoring stations and I was instructed to call back during business hours to speak with customer service. No big surprise there. I hadn’t really expected their customer service reps to be available after business hours, but there’s no harm in trying.

Tuesday December 20, 2011

At 8:05AM, I called Fire Protection Inc. Seattle’s office number. The receptionist, Ashley, was friendly, even after I explained that I was calling to cancel my service. She looked up my account, and informed me that my original contract was signed in 2003 and ended in 2008, after which it converted to an auto-renewing annual contract that now extended through July 2012. I told her that I thought the contract went month-to-month after the initial term, but she informed me that wasn’t the case. I asked if it was possible to terminate my contract early, and Ashley replied that it was “up to the discretion of the cancellation department.” She then confirmed that I was paying quarterly via an automatic credit card charge, and that my account was paid through the end of 2011. The friendly receptionist said I could request an early termination via letter, email, or fax. I opted for email, and sent this one to her at 8:14AM:

Sent: Tuesday, December 20, 2011 8:14 AM
Subject: Monitoring Cancellation Request

Good morning,

The purpose of this email is to request cancellation of my alarm monitoring service as of 1/1/2012. My account number is XXXXXXX, which has been in good standing with you since 2003 and is paid through the end of this year.

This email also serves as immediate de-authorization to bill my credit card on file.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.

Best regards,

Steve Jenkins

I’m hoping that FPI’s “cancellation department” uses their discretion in my favor. However, I’d be lying if I said my spider sense wasn’t tingling a bit and telling me that maybe it’s not going to be that simple. I hope I’m mistaken.

Next, I called Mountain West Security. Their receptionist, Lucy, was also very friendly. After looking up my account number, Lucy informed me that my initial contract from 2005 was complete and that I was now on month-to-month service. She said they simply require 30 days written notice for cancellation, which I could do via email. So at 8:18AM, I emailed this to Lucy:

Sent: Tuesday, December 20, 2011 8:18 AM
Subject: Monitoring Cancellation Request

Good morning,

The purpose of this email is to request cancellation of my alarm monitoring service at XXXXXXX in Provo, effective January 20, 2012.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.

Best regards,

Steve Jenkins

At 8:45AM, my phone rang. It was Mike Dibble, owner of Mountain West Security. He said they had received my email, and that because I had been a long-time customer he wanted to call and ask if there was anything they could do to keep my business. I told him that I was simply looking for a less expensive option, and told him I was planning to use SafeMart for $8.95 a month. He politely apologized that he was unable to match that (Mike has a British accent, so pretty much everything he said sounded polite), and again thanked me for my long-time business, assured me they’d cancel my service on January 20th as requested, and wished me well.

At 10:35AM, I received the following reply to my email to FPI:

Thank you Steve, I will forward this along to the cancelation department for review.

Please call me with any questions
Thank You,
Ashley Ward

At 5:23PM, FPI’s owner left comment #1 on this article (thanks, Roy!). I posted comment #2.

Thursday December 22, 2011

At 11:45AM, my cell phone rang. The caller ID was blocked, and I usually don’t answer blocked calls, but I was glad that I did this time because it was a lady from FPI Seattle informing me that my monitoring service would be cancelled as of 12/31/11.

I have to admit to being pleasantly surprised, as it was far easier to cancel things with both FPI and MWS than I initially thought. Of course, the cynical journalistic side of me would wonder if maybe FPI couldn’t find my original contract, or if perhaps I never signed their version of an original contract because my original contract was through Madison Audio, who transferred my account to FPI years ago after going out of business, or maybe they just decided it wasn’t worth the hassle.

The less cynical side of me, however, thinks that it’s more probably more likely that both owners of Mountain West Security in Utah and Fire Protection Seattle simply decided that if a customer didn’t want to be with them any more, for whatever reason, that’s fine. And perhaps they both realized that by letting a customer leave easily, it keeps the door open wider for them to possibly return.

Or maybe it was just a Festivus Miracle, one day early.

Whatever the case, I’ll be writing a separate blog post on my experiences with getting set up with the new monitoring company.

How to Disable Phone Options on a DSC Alarm Panel when Converting to Envisalink Internet Alarm Monitoring

CheatCodes.com Goes Mobile!

Steve Jenkins — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 06:09:43 +0000

CheatCodes.com Mobile

Just in time for the holidays, CheatCodes.com has launched a mobile-optimized version of their video game cheats website.

As with the mobile versions of many other popular sites (such as Facebook and Google), you can access the mobile version of the website by putting an “m” in front of the address:

http://m.cheatcodes.com/

If you’re not on a mobile device when you try to visit that link, it will redirect you to the full version of the site.

As an added bonus, our Print Cheats function now includes a QR code at the top of the first printed page. You can scan it with your mobile device to automatically visit the cheats page for that game. Here’s an example:

http://cheatcodes.com/print/call-of-duty-black-ops-xbox-360-cheats/

With CheatCodes.com Mobile, now you don’t have to leave your game console to look up all your favorite cheats, hints, achievements, and unlocks. Check it out and let us know what you think!

Product Review: Skytech SKY-5310 Fireplace Remote Control

Steve Jenkins — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 16:59:05 +0000

As part of our preparations for winter, my wife gently reminded me last week that she’s been asking me to fix the gas fireplaces in the house for months. But as a geek’s geek, I can’t just fix a fireplace, I have to upgrade a fireplace!

We have three gas fireplaces in our house — two of which weren’t working. The repairs were straightforward and inexpensive (especially since I did them myself): the living room fireplace needed a new thermopile millivolt generator (and I threw in a new thermocouple while I was in there anyway), and the entry fireplace just needed some wall switch rewiring. But who wants to have to hit a wall switch to turn on a fireplace?

Enter Skytech Systems — purveyors of fine wireless control kits for gas fireplaces. I set my sights on the grand-daddy of their current line-up: the SKY-5310. The 5310 is a back-lit LCD touchscreen remote transmitter that allows you to control your gas fireplace within 20 feet, although my testing worked at more than double that distance. Unlike a standard infrared TV remote, the Skytech 5310 transmits via RF (radio frequency), meaning you don’t need to point the remote at the fireplace, nor do you need direct line of sight for it to work. The remote runs on four AAA batteries (included) and has 1,048,576 security codes, meaning the chances are slim that an unintended RF transmitter will start your fireplace unexpectedly.

Installing the SKY-5310 was easy. I plugged a two-prong 110V AC receiver unit plugged in to the outlet box behind the access panel of my fireplace (most modern gas fireplaces have these outlets already installed), then connected the two red lead wires on the receiver (which were already terminated with piggyback spade connectors) to the TH terminals on my gas valve. It literally took me longer to unpack the box than it did to install everything.

After installing the included batteries in the remote, I was ready to light things up. A simple touch on the top section of the LCD screen and my fireplace delivered that satisfying “whoomph” of gas igniting safely. The touch screen interface was simple (you can try a demo of it here), with basic functions of ON, THERMOFF, and OFF. The ON and OFF are obvious. THERMOFF mode will automatically turn off your fireplace if the thermostat inside the remote reaches a user-selected temperature, and then turn the fireplace back on again when the temperature drops below that preset. Essentially, this allows your remote to act just like a furnace thermostat.

With the unit in the ON or THERMOFF mode, you can also enable a countdown timer from anywhere to 15 minutes to 9 hours, so that your fireplace automatically turns off when the timer reaches zero, regardless of the temperature settings.

On-screen icons tell you when the remote thinks the fireplace is lit (a good safety idea) and when you need to replace batteries. You can also enable a child safety lock-out feature, so junior doesn’t accidentally start your fire while you’re watching Dr. Phil.

MSRP for the Skytech 5310 is $254.99, but you can find them easily for around $190 at many online retailers. Since I was buying three of them, I was able to get them for slightly less.

Bottom line: these units are admittedly more expensive than some simpler fireplace remotes out there (and Skytech themselves actually make some of those less expensive units). But if you’re the kind of caveman that likes to “make fire” in the most technologically advanced way possible, the Skytech 5310 is for you. It sure beats rubbing sticks together.