So this week it was announced that the Nissan GT-R (remember the Skyline) whooped it up and did 7:29 around the 'Ring. That is the second fastest time of any production car. The fastest being the Pagani Zonda F at 7:27. As you can probably tell by the name it's a fast/expensive car.
Well today GM has decided to uproot the new occupant for #2. The Chief Engineer of the Corvette says that they new Corvette ZR1 will be able to beat that time.
So today is Earth Day, so I thought that I would let everyone know what we have been doing around the house to save the earth.
Our old showerhead was cracked and didn't flow well, so when we decided to replace it we got a super low flow head that only puts out 1.6 gallons/minute. It is made by Delta and was less then $15. It is the only low flow that is available at the big box stores. It has great pressure, but you do notice that less water is coming out. It is also louder then our old head. The 30% less water that this head uses not only saves on the water bill, but also the gas used to heat the water.
We have already converted every light bulb that we can over to CFL already, so not much to toot our horn about there.
Currently we have a compost heap that is just a pile of some yard waste. I am thinking about a more active composter that we can use with kitchen waste.
We try to drive as little as possible, and have both cars average over 30mpg. We are currently facing the idea that our family is growing and we may need something larger like a minivan or crossover, but by doing that we will cut our MPG by a over a third just to have some extra room. Maybe will we just get a roof box instead and not have more then three kids (if we can even fit three in the Vibe).
We try to not use chemicals for cleaning. Vinegar for windows and cleaning the bathroom. Baking soda for scrubbing. There are some good recipes here.
We try to eat local/organic. Almost all of our bread comes from the River Street Bakery here in town which gets the flour from a place about 50 miles away. We make our own yogurt, granola, and sometimes granola bars (we need to make more).
Cloth diapers have worked well for us. We try to use ones that require as little dry time as possible. We also use gDiapers with cloth insides instead of the biodegradable insides. When possible we line dry (all laundry)
and that means that it is time to go canoeing. Also that it is time to do some maintenance that I have been putting off. Earlier in the week I oiled the wood on the Kipawa. I don't think that Birdgit will want to do any solo canoeing this year. Her center of gravity is off and the water isn't warm yet and later in the summer we will have a newborn to deal with in the canoe.
I got the rack on the car and bought some replacement bolts for ones that end up missing. The paddles needed some love too so I got some varnish and have been touching up spots where it has worn off.
We did get to go out at Bandemer for a paddle. Eli is much more mobile and inquisitive this year. He is able to walk around the canoe and was enthralled with the ducks, geese, and muskrat that we saw. He also really wants to paddle, so I will be making a paddle for him (hopefully this week). He kept picking up a paddle to put it in the water. I have started teaching him the proper way to hold the paddle, but his stroke needs some practice.
This year should be a lot of fun, but it will be challenging with 2 kids and 2 adults. We may just have to tie up and sit in the canoe.
Also other canoes are out. We saw a number of nice canoes: a Merrimack Tennessean, a Kruger Seawind, and Mad River Eclipse.
Well yesterday we got back from the Rutz Colorado Family Ski Trip. It was a week of skiing and family. Read more for the blow by blow. We are getting all the pictures together and I will post a few.Fri. Apr 4
After cleaning the house I picked up Eli and Bridgit and we headed to MKAT’s to load up and were on the road by 5pm
Sat. Apr 5
Arrive in Denver and meet Eric (Bridgit’s brother) and his old friend John at Udi’s for some food. We then headed out to Summit County and decided that it was getting too late (and expensive) to ski a half day, so we decided to ski Loveland pass which was my first powder experience. We got to the bottom of the pass and decided to ski all the way to A-Basin which didn’t end up being much fun because the powder and flatness slowed us down and we had to do some skating.
We got loaded up and got to our condo for some dinner and rest.
Sun. Apr 6
We decided to ski Keystone because it was where we were staying and it would be less hassle getting on the slopes. The weather was OK and we did some great skiing. I have subscribed to the Bridgit Ski School (which means keeping up with her older brothers) and they took me down a steep, long hill with big bumps. Having only had a small introduction to moguls in the past it really kicked my ass. The exertion combined with the altitude gave me some altitude sickness and I felt miserable the rest of the afternoon and evening.
Mon. Apr 7
We skied A-Basin, which is a really cool place. For some reason The Basin has this stigma of being extreme and a crazy place to ski. It is actually a nice place. Apparently it’s mostly locals that ski there. From the front side you can see Loveland pass and on the side is the east wall which is hike in skiing and is pretty intimidating to look at. A-Basin is also a mecca for Telemark Skiers so Bridgit’s brother Eric fit right in.
While we were getting ready to hit the slopes I overheard one of the wonderful employees telling some Boarders that if they wanted to ski the back bowl they had better hurry because some weather was moving in. Weather is a concern here more so then most places because ABasin is at a higher elevation then everywhere else (It also allows people to ski well into June). We got up to mid mountain and John decided that the weather was too bad and not worth it so he went in the lodge there. Barb, Eric, Dan, and I decided to go up to the top and see how things were. As we were going up the lift to the top it was amazing. There was a time where you couldn’t see anything except the chair in front and in back. Everything else was just white. Coming down was cold (20′s) and windy. My beard turned into a sheet of solid ice. We followed lifts and fences back down to mid mountain. You couldn’t really tell where down the hill was and just had to follow the skis and whatever came under your feet. By lunch time it was beautiful and sunny. We had a great day skiing.
Tues. Apr 8
Dan was working at Vail for the second half of the week, but only in the afternoon on Tuesday, so we skied Vail on Tuesday and were able to use his room as a base. Bridgit and then Betsy watched the kids and we ate lunch there. Vail is HUGE. On the back bowls I was in powder like I had never seen before. The releases on my bindings were too loose, so my skis popped off all the time and caused me to fall. At lunch I tightened them up and skied the same hill without loosing them once. The day was warm and sunny. I ended up skiing with Eric and John most of the day and we did some fun stuff.
Wed. Apr 9
Our day off. We went to Boulder and then down to Denver to meet up with everyone at the Denver REI Flagship store to meet Eric’s lady friend Carole. After that we met up with some old friends Erin and Erich for lunch.
Thurs. Apr 10
Another day at Keystone. This time the weather was not perfect. Not as bad as it had been at ABasin, but cold and blowy.
Fri. Apr 11
Overnight we got about 7 inches of fresh powder and we really wanted to ski ABasin. Loveland Pass was closed in the morning.The weather reports made it sound like it might be bad, but things looked OK in the morning so we headed to the Basin. It turned out to be a wonderful day. We got to see avalanches being set off. It was pretty cool.
Sat. Apr 12
Bridgit, Eli, Dan, Betsy, and I headed out early to meet Erin and Erich for breakfast in Denver and we had a wonderful meal. Then Bridgit and I caught up with them half way across Kansas to continue to the long trip home.
Sun. Apr 13
We got back to our house around 12:30 in the afternoon to unpack and unwind after a great trip.
After his grandmother got him some bear paw mittens he learned that he should growl like a bear when wearing gloves/mittens. Here is a video of him wearing my ski mittens.
So normally today would be St. Patrick's day, but because it falls during Holy Week is has been moved. Most churches have moved it to Saturday (also the Solemnity of Saint Joseph.) Most secular celebrations drunkards are still celebrating it today though
It is kinda weird. I left for a few years, but for some strange reason came back to Ypsi. Now that we are planted it is nice to hear that things are getting better. Ypsi has always had a bad rap, but some of it is where in Ypsi you are. There is a strange blend of all sorts of socio/racial/economic backgrounds.
Don't forget that we have a kick ass radio station WEMU, which is where I heard about the meetings results.
I totally agree about the RAC. I have only been there once to see a MCRT play there.
I have already ranted about a commuter rail .
I remember checking out the Water Street Project on a trip with my Economic Geography class. It is still doing nothing.
Mark Maynard had really good point about the lack of comment on Wireless Ypsi, Shadow Art Fair, and the Farmers Markets.
So we have had a nice number of snow days this year that have been spread out. The nice thing is that it gives me a chance to shovel the driveway.
The most important thing about a snow day is to start out with a great breakfast. The last snow day we made blueberry muffins. This morning I made myself a Triple shot of expresso with some vaguely frothed chocolate soy-milk while Bridgit and Eli were still sleeping. By the time they got up around 7:45am I had cherry almond pancakes going. Diagnosis: delicious.
I try to blend to goals on a snowday: get caught up on stuff and do fun stuff. I don't want to offend the snowy part of God by wasting a snow day exclusively on one or the other. I feel that it is a chance to get caught up on household chores, but that we also need to do something fun that we wouldn't have done if it wasn't a snow day. XC Skiing is one of our favorites.
So I have been a Netflix member since way, way back. I looked and I joined over 5 years ago now.
The best part of Netflix is that I hate going to rent movies, but love watching them. When you go to the movie rental place it takes forever to decide on what movie to watch, if everyone watching will like it, do they have a copy, etc. Netflix lets me just add moves and then they show up. I started out with the 3 moves at a time plan, but switched to 1 at a time a couple years ago. Now that I have kids it is totally awesome because we get the chance to go to the theater about once or twice a year.
The problem is how to find out about moves. At first I would take a pen and paper to the rental place when I would go with someone (thats when I had roommates). I would make notes and then go online and add the moves that looked good. Now what I find works well is once a month or so I will check out the Apple Trailers page. I watch the trailers and add the movies. The trailers are for movies that aren't even theaters yet, but I add them anyway and Netflix adds them to a “Save” section until they are close to coming out on DVD. So I end up getting the movie about a year after I add it. That is nice because I forget what the movie is about, but I like it because I did watch the trailer. Apple has all the Indie moves that you probably won't find in Blockbuster or Hollywood Video so I get cool Documentaries and Foreign Films too.
The one flaw with this is that Netflix doesn't always have movies in their lists when they are still being made so they need a notes option so I can add moves that they don't have yet.
Netflix is also lame for TV shows on DVD. They treat each Disc as one move so to watch most shows it takes 4 to get through a season. For TV shows we usually just get them from the Library.