content: using-claude-for-non-tech-stuff
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| ryan | musings | For my wedding anniversary my wife and I went to the mountains of Southern California to get out of the heat of the desert. The weekend started of really nicely. The crisp clear air next to Big Bear Lake and the sounds of nature really helped to relax us. We were staying at an AirBNB within walking distance of the village. This was great because one of the things we really like to do is walk. This is very hard in the desert in the summer. We arrived on Thursday and spent that first day just enjoying the weather and being outside. On Friday the cool mountain breeze picked up a bit, but nothing too bad. My brother-in-law and his wife have a place in Big Bear Lake as well. They receieved a text message from the local power company that the power may be turned off that day due to 'high winds'. Now, where we were there weren't any high winds, but the power transmission lines that bring the power up to Big Bear Lake were in a potential high wind area. The estimated time for the power to be turned off was 3pm Friday. Well, 3pm Friday came and went and the power was still on. We didn't think much of it as we walked to a restaurant for dinner. After dinner we walked to a different place for dessert. We even closed the place down!1 We walked back to the house and at just about 9:30pm the power went off. This was disappointing. We figured that the power would be back on the next morning so we went to bed. The next day at 6am the power was still out. At 9am the power was still out. As far as I know, the power was out until the end of day Sunday, but we didn't stay to find out. By 10am on Saturday we had decided to leave and come back home. Not only was the power out at our place, but it was out everywhere. Like, litterally everywhere in town. The restaurants, the shops, but grocery stores. No power was to be had. The reason that a power company can just turn off the power like this is due to a California Law (law needed). It's couched in terms of saving lives, but in my opinion it allows power companies to not perform needed maintenance and then just shut off the power. If you know anything about the California Energy market, you know it's kind of a shit show. Well, not everywhere. The power company where I live is one of the best ones. They have inexpensive, reliable power. In the 19 years I've lived in my community I can count on one hand the number of power outages ... and one of them was due to an airplane that didn't land properly at the local airport and they clipped the power lines. Within 12 hours though, the power was restored. Like really, Imperial Irrigation District is one of the best utility companies in ever. And the thing about them is that they are based in Imperial County. But I live in Riverside County. They provide power to my part of the county because when they were first laying out power lines what would become Southern California Edison couldn't be bothered to provide power to the eastern side of the Coachella Valley, so IID did. However, it was only for 100 years. And that 100 years expires in 2030. At that point one of two things will happen: 1. IID will renew it's right to deliver power to the Eastern Coachella Valley (where I live) and I will still have inexpensive, reliable power 2. IID will not be able to renew it's right to deliver power and I'll be switched over to Souther California Edison. To give a sense of SCE, this is the power company that consistently turns off power to thousands of it's customers in the height of summer to perform maintenance. This endangers the lives of their crews and their customers. But because the decision makers don't live in the desert, they don't realize what a bad idea this is. Anyway, why am I telling this story? The experience in Big Bear Lake made me rethink about my dependence on power where I live. And that if there is a way for me to become energy independent, then I should investigate it. Enter Claude Code I used Claude Code to help me plan and budget for a project to help me achieve this goal. All I did was start with a simple statement > Energy Independence is achieved in two ways: > > * limit / decrease the energy consumed > * Generate your own electricity > with that simple prompt Claude Code output a pretty robust plan. There were somethings I needed to help guide it on (like the fact that I replaced my HVAC in 2017 and have kept it serviced every 6 months since so I wouldn't likely need a replacement for a while) and that may roof would need to be replaced before installing Solar Panels (it's the original roof from when the house was built 30 years ago) Would an 'expert' have given me the exact same advice? Maybe not, but it did make me think about some things that I hadn't considered. Things like * evaluating the duct sealing * applying window film to windows * having an energy audit done, and that my energy provider might actually do it for free I have until 2030 when the switch over to SCE will likely occur. My hope is that by 2031 at the latest I'm on Solar and I have a battery backup. This will leave me with anywhere from 1 - 24 months of being on SCE and I'm mostly OK with that. I'd like to have this all done before the switch over happens, but it's still possible that it won't. And if it doesn't, then the worst that happens is I get a new roof ... which I need anyway. For some context on the price differences for power from SCE and IID SCE: $0.316 / kWh IID: $0.1976 / kWh I'm very lucky that I am able to enroll in the average pay program and so my power bill each month is $136. On SCE this bill will be $217. This still isn't a lot, but if I don't have to pay anything to them I'd be happier. 1. granted closing time was 9pm, but it's been a while since I've closed a place down ↩︎ | 2025-06-26 | using-claude-for-non-tech-stuff | For my wedding anniversary my wife and I went to the mountains of Southern California to get out of the heat of the desert. The weekend started of really nicely. The crisp clear air next to Big Bear Lake and the sounds of nature really helped to relax us. We … | Using Claude for non-Tech Stuff | https://www.ryancheley.com/2025/06/26/using-claude-for-non-tech-stuff/ |