This past weekend we were out of town, hitting the road and travelling great distances, as usual. This is no unusual event for us; it seems like we’re always in the car these days, driving thousands of miles for gigs, university tests, and friendly visits. All that being said, you would think that I’d be able to figure out the temperature control situation at home when we’re gone. For the longest time, I simply forgot to adjust the thermostat before we walked out the door. In all the hustle and bustle of packing and loading the car, I would rightfully forget to walk down the hallway and turn down the air handling equipment. Then, I would remember halfway through the trip that the AC was still set to 68 degrees or the furnace was still blasting away. After that, I simply felt guilty and anxious about the energy I wasted, and the trip would suffer from my negative energy. That’s why my husband finally had a smart thermostat installed in our home, to circumvent this guilt. Suddenly, I had the ability to adjust the indoor air temperature from anywhere! Whenever I remembered that our HVAC system was still pumping away at home, I could easily modify the thermostat settings and reduce my anxiety. Well, that was a really great improvement to our home energy expenditure and HVAC plan… but it only works if this idiot can figure out how to use it properly. Last weekend, I thought I was turning the AC down in our absence, but I was really cranking up the heat to 75 degrees. When we got back into town, our house was scalding hot and our energy bill was quite impressive.