April 2008

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On the way home yesterday there was a, well for lack of a better word, a Yahoo on the radio who’s part of some protest group called Stop NASCAR.

I can’t find their web site, so it obviously has a large following.  <- That’s sarcasm if you didn’t detect that.

While there may be plenty of good reasons to protest or picket NASCAR, Tony Stewart probably being one of them :) , fuel consumption isn’t one.

The idiot’s premise was that we, as a country needed to step up and reduce fuel usage.  That NASCAR alone wastes fuel, and when 150,000 people go to a race, they also waste fuel going to watch it.

Yet he was opposed to banning any other activity, like baseball, basket ball, or any other sport which also attracts a boat load of people from all around.

So if the fuel consumption of the fans attending NASCAR is roughly the same as say any other professional sport, then the only other waste you have left is the fuel they burn during the race.

Google answers claims that the average NASCAR car gets about 4 to 6 miles a gallon, which considering the horsepower they generate, seems pretty good to me.

But for the sake of argument, let’s assume the low of 4 MPG.

A typical race is 500 miles, plus a few miles for parade laps, perhaps some caution laps that might not count, or a green/white checker finish.  So for fun let’s extend that to 520 miles per event per car.

Fuel usage for one car would be approximately 130 gallons.

NASCAR starts 43 cars per event, so that puts fuel consumption at: 5,590 Gallons of fuel.   Now of course there is practice and qualifying, so let’s double that figure as fuel consumption for a typical NASCAR Weekend. 

Let’s just say it’s 11,000 Gallons.

Google Answers also claims (per British Airways) that a typical BA 747 burns approximately 3378 Gallons of fuel per hour.   So a 3 hour flight would use 10,134 gallons.   (Close enough for my comparison).

So if we’re going to boycott NASCAR, I expect this clown to stay away form airports too.

Here are someone else’s calculations.  They quote 8000 gallons per race.

He also complained that NASCAR doesn’t care about fuel economy.

That is also very untrue.  Fuel economy often wins races.  I suspect nearly 1/3rd of the races come down to fuel economy, and it’s not always the fastest car that wins, but the one who can get to the end without taking more fuel that does.

I can’t speak for NASCAR but they do care about fuel economy.

That’s akin to saying McDonalds is anti-chicken because they serve eggs for breakfast.

The reality is, NASCAR, and racing in general is directly responsible for many of the fuel efficiency, power, and safety improvements in your every day car.  It is the testing bed for a number of technologies.

So if this clown is really concerned with fuel wastes, there are plenty of other places to start.  He fully admits that stopping NASCAR would be a miniscule drop in the bucket.  His reason for pushing forward?  “You have to start somewhere, and it sends a message”.

I’ve got a message for him…

Currently:

prestigerank_level_0429

Level 40-something.   I flipped over this weekend during the Double Experience Point Extravaganza that was part of the new map releases.

While double experience points helps you level up faster, it kinda screws with you.  I’m somewhere in the 40’s but my weapons have only been upgraded to about where they’d be if I was in the 20’s.   So this kind of puts you a little behind the 8-ball if you will.

You just don’t have the tools you’re used to having at this level (perks aside).

I was half thinking about stopping at this level but will need to do at least one more to round out my weapon differential.

The new maps are great, they claimed (4) new maps but only 3 are really playable.  Kill-House is pretty useless.

COD 4 remains one of the better games I’ve played, but it’s wearing thin.  There are things they really need to fix.  (these probably won’t make sense if you don’t play the game).

* Party or Lobby Migration is good, but host migration during a game needs to take place, even if it only moves to the user with the best overall connection.  That won’t help when that person leaves, but it would help game performance.

* It needs a messaging system that pops up to let you know you’ve received an invite.   Similar to the way the PS 3 notifies you that friends are logged on/off.  In game is when you need this.   When I push the start button it’s to switch weapons, not to see (and dismiss) a bunch of useless invites received 5 minutes prior.

* When someone performs an invite, they should be forced to wait for those to expire before moving on.  It would help with those impatient folks who invite people then go join another room, only to screw up the folks that they invited.

* Tone down the noob tube.

* Tone down Jaugernaut.

* Fix the sniping with the ACOG, for real this time.

* Show the blast radius of what killed you in the kill cam.  I die from stuff (claymores usually) that I’m no where near.

* mute in the Lobby, please…

* Oh and fix the hard core team killing…  Allow users to vote a player out.

A Hero

A hero is not someone who pitches a shutout, hits a game winning home run or makes a game saving catch. 

Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter is a Hero.  He defines heroism.

Hero

His story is here via Newsday.

I did not personally know him, but I have met and ridden with his father a couple times.  I am deeply saddened today.  I am thankful for the men and women in our armed forces who keep us safe and free.

Freedom certainly isn’t free.

Refrigerators

It’s always something…   We’ve replaced just about every major appliance in our home since we moved into it almost 9 years ago.

Furnace [check]
Air Conditioner [check]
Stove [check]
Dishwasher [check]
Microwave [check]
Washer [check,check (2x)]
Dryer [check]
Hot Water Heater [check]
Well Pump [check]

The last holdout was our fridge.  It was used when we bought it 12+ years ago, but has served us well.  It’s given us a couple scares over the years, and we’ve almost replaced it twice, but space constraints made that nearly impossible.

It looks like it has finally quit.   Coincidentally as we’re about to redo the kitchen.  I’m thinking there’s a conspiracy going on here somewhere. 

Since we’re in the process of redoing the kitchen and knew this was inevitable, we were prepared to move the fridge to another area of the kitchen. 

So after much deliberation (read: arguing) about the size, and type of refrigerator we as a family need.

We ended up with this:

Whirlpool Sidekick Series.

WP-EV187NYRQ Fridge

Now if you’re looking at that picture and thinking "That’s a big refrigerator" you’d be right.   It’s actually two, a full size fridge and freezer, joined together.

When you’re a family of 7 something like this probably makes sense.

It’s not fancy, it doesn’t dispense water, ice, or beer.  But it holds a lot of stuff.   Our current fridge is 19.x sq feet in size.  This thing combined is around 35.

Nobody stocks these which might be a sign that buying them is a bad idea.  I suspect it has more to do with nobody has room.  We’ll find out in about a week when ours is delivered.

Until then we’re still using the refrigerator in the basement that was my parents and is at least 30 years old.   It still works, though I suspect it isn’t all that efficient.

After the kids are gone, I figure we’ll be able to rent out some of this space as climate controlled storage.  :-)

Last year we finished off the attic and turned it into a bedroom for the girls.  It already had base-board heat so they survived through the winter.  Summer is fast approaching and I suspect it will be uninhabitable in less than a month.

We’ve looked at multiple options, we’ve tried fans, but nothing will combat the heat of that big roof. 

There’s no way to get ductwork up there, and the current AC has enough trouble keeping up with the house as it is on really hot days.

We need something self-contained.  The current windows in the attic are too small for any window units on the market that we’ve found.   I did borrow a 5,000 BTU port-a-cool from work and gave it a try but it wasn’t big enough and dealing with the 1 gallon condensation bucket wasn’t going to be an option.  After looking at all the options we’ve decided on one, maybe two of these:

PTAC Door Open 325

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Yep, just like in a hotel.  PTAC (Packaged Terminal Air Conditioner w/heat pump).

It probably needs two but we’re going to try one first.   I’m a little worried about the amount of electric we’ll burn with two, though but they seem to be somewhat efficient.

We’ll have to cut a hole in the side of the house to make room, but I think it will fit on either side of the chimney’s.  (To be verified soon).

More to follow as this project unfolds.

Greener Pastures

Or… “Not everyone that shows up is there to help”

:)

cow3

Well it’s only taken us about 5 months to get our act together.  We finally figured out what we’re installing and where.   We initially wanted to do the entire first floor but budget constrains are keeping us to only the Kitchen/Sitting room and the hallway for starters.   We’ll do the office and Living room at a later date.

The big monkey wrench in all of this is some added cabinet work and new counter tops which bit into the flooring budget.   So when all is said and done, the kitchen should be good to go.   We’re going to put a cabinet where the fridge is now since it’s a goofball sized space and we can’t find another fridge that we like that will fit there.  This will move the fridge to an open wall.   New countertops too.

The flooring we ended up choosing is this:

Somerset Flooring, Hand Scalped, Country Collection Natural White Oak.

We’ll also install a mix of 3″ and 5″ like their photo shows:

Ctry_NaturalOak

This should go with our old house rather nicely.

Things we’ve learned thus far:

1) Lumber Liquidators isn’t all that.  Their prices are OK on some items, not so OK on others.  If you have to toss a significant portion of anything because it’s a mix of A, B, and C grades, then you haven’t really saved much.

2) The internet pricing is similar, by the time you read the fine print, and realize you’re getting seconds, adding in shipping, or making their minimum order, well, that’s not necessarily a good deal either.

We worked with our local supplier (Halsey-Myers) the fine folks that supplied the materials for our barn.  While they didn’t match internet pricing, they came close enough and we’re dealing with someone local for issues.

More details as this project unfolds.

In the interest of getting it done, Charlie’s doing the dirty work.  He’s a master at working with old houses and things that aren’t square.  Heck he put square garage doors on our barn, and that was almost a miracle.

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While we live out in the sticks we rarely see deer.  In the 8 years I’ve been here I’ve only seen them near our place one other time.

A couple of days ago we saw one out by the Horses near the burn pile.  We watched it for a while until it finally meandered into the woods.

This morning it was back.

It certainly wasn’t very big. 

Claudine wondered how close she could get.  So with camera in hand she set out towards it.  Using her Monty Roberts “Horse Whisperer” techniques, she slowly approached and retreated.   It didn’t take long and the little deer was watching her and curious.  It was clear she wasn’t a threat and it eventually walked up to her.  It was alone, and probably looking for someone to hang with.

Eventually she got to pet it (more like rub up against it).

There are more photos in the Deer Gallery.  It was one of those once in a lifetime things.

We kind of hope it sticks around, at least until the garden is planted, then it’s game on if it starts eating the garden.

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Last night I flipped Prestige over again… On my way to that elusive gold cross.

prestigerank level 0411

So I am again a level 1 with next to no weapons and the quest to build up the arsenal starts all over again. I am no one over 1/2 way if you count the 55 levels it takes to get to the first one, I have completed the task 6 times. It takes time…

I’m hopeful that when the new maps are released to the PS3, we’ll have a double experience point period, that might help me cap off a prestige in one weekend as opposed to about 2 weeks of play.

It’s that time of the year again.  Time to break the mower out of storage and get ready to mow some grass.

This post serves two purposes. 

  1. It gives me an online place to put all the stuff I need to remember about our mower so this time next year I don’t have to go hunting for make/model numbers.

    We have a 61″ BobCat (Ransom) Zero Turn Commercial Mower.  This isn’t your mamma’s mower.   It’s now 7 years old and still cuts like the day we bought it new for nearly $8k.  Of course it’s gone through a number of sets of blades, etc.  It looks a little rougher than it used too, the seat could use some work, but it still runs great.

    For historical purposes here’s the info I wish to save:

  2. Engine: 23HP Kawasaki FH680V Twin
    Engine Spec# BS08
    Oil Filter: (21334-1) 49065-2078
    Oil Capacity 1.9L (4.0 pt)
    Spark Plug: BPR5ES
    Pre Cleaner 11013-7009 // Air Filter 11013-7010

  3. Now that that’s out of the way.  Each year I change the oil, put in new plugs and treat her to a new set of blades.   I purchase all of this stuff from MowTownUSA.com Back when I was cutting commercially and went through 3 sets of blades a year I’d buy them here.  I do sharpen them myself, but for $8 a blade for standard blades you can’t hardly beat that.  It takes me a good hour or so to sharpen and balance a set.  If one’s bent your kind of hosed.   So replacing them is the easy choice.

So if you need parts, I highly recommend them.  They’d beat the locals (with shipping) by $5 a blade or more on Gator Blades.   This year I’m going out on a limb and trying the new Super Hard, Gator Brand Mulcher Fusion Lawnmower Blade.  It’s supposed to last 200% longer, etc.   We wear them out, we hit rocks, sticks and toys so we’ll see.

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