super-structure

Our good friends Chris and Sally stayed with us this past weekend on their drive back home. We hadn’t seen them in about a year, since they were first announcing to the world that they were pregnant. Well, as you can imagine, this trip was even better. This time, instead of blurry B&W sonograms, we had Mr. Mason himself, in all his giggly glory.

Mason, who is certainly the youngest blogger I’ve ever known, was loads of fun and the center of attention. He’s at that fun (albeit short) stage where he’s alert and somewhat interactive, although isn’t really able to communicate substantially (although he sure does indicate he wants to be carried around or to eat). We had some fun attempting to interpret his various sounds and expressions, although I’m sure that Sally and Chris had a much better picture of what was going on inside his head than Angela and I did. Most amusing was when Mason decided to entertain himself by making motor/fart sounds for about an hour-and-a-half straight. It was really kind of infectious and we were all mimicking him at one time or another.

The power was knocked out for about four hours on Friday evening, but it got revived just in time for the adults to all head off to bed. Trying to sleep through the a summer night in Richmond without a little air conditioning isn’t advisable, especially if it makes an infant cranky.

Saturday was spent mostly going out to breakfast and then to Short Pump, where much time was spent at the Apple store. We checked out the new iBooks, which have iSight built right in, similar to the new Intel iMacs¹. Anyway, the adults enjoyed some ice cream and then just a relaxing afternoon around the house. I was really glad to see that our dogs, while extremely curious about a human infant, weren’t upset to have him around at all. Kind of a relief for Angela and I, to tell you the truth.

Well, Sunday morning was waffles by Angela and the the long ride on home for our friends. We’re already looking forward to our next visit up to PA so we can exchange words in a more two-way conversation with Mason.

1. Although I wouldn’t buy one for that feature alone, it’s actually kind of a handy little feature. It’s amazing the quality of a tiny little camera (the lens is about a 1/8″ in diameter) compared to full-sized digital cameras of just a few years ago↵

Dave rocks out on his twangy Telecaster while playing for Stephen Simmons, who was in Ashland, VA last Friday night. That’s Paul on drums and Willie on bass.

My younger brother Dave was in town Friday to play a show up at the Ashland Coffee & Tea house with Stephen Simmons. We had a good time at the show and I learned that the Richmond area has at least one decent place to go listen to music (I’ve so far been less than impressed, as you can tell).

That night, he and drummer Paul Griffith stayed at our house. Paul was in dire need of some wifi, so we hooked him up in order to try and make some publication deadlines he had. The next morning, Dave joined me and Angela at the training team for our Saturday long run. Afterwords, it was Smoothie King (our latest addiction) and some showers. We took the guys out to lunch at a local joint we’d been wanting to try ourselves and everyone seemed to agree it was well worth it.

We wish that Dave and the rest of the band could have stayed even longer, but it was off to North Carolina for another show that evening. We’ll look forward to having some more bands traveling through to listen to and hang out with.

Saturday night, I konked Angela over the head with a billy club and drug her down to the Westhampton Twin to see the documentary staring former politician Al Gore, Jr., An Inconvenient Truth. Okay, so I really didn’t knock her out, either with a club or with drugs, but it did take some convincing on my part to get her to go. Partly because she’s skeptical and also because it’s Al Gore talking for two hours at a 9:50 movie. That’s got $10 nap written all over it.

Well, as it turns out, it’s a terrific film. There is none of the sensationalist drum beating that you see in the over-the-top trailer for the film. The movie itself, rather, is both calm and informative. Gore presentation is intermixed with shots of his travel and of his touring the family farm in (South) Carthage, where he spends most of his days off of the road now. The talk of politics is at an absolute minimum, treated as just one of many steps along his journey to what he does now (If you got up to get a box of popcorn, you’d miss that part entirely). What he does now is campaign for awareness instead of elected office. Even though he won more races that he lost, I’d argue he’s much better at his new career.

The news has been cluttered with all sorts of articles on Gore’s accuracy in presenting the science. The site I trust the most is Real Climate, and it’s founder Dr. Eric Steig has written a fair critique of the film. He feels confident that the film get’s all the core science right and explains it clearly without dumbing it down. Steig and his colleagues have taken issue with a few of Gore’s supporting facts, or at least how he presents them, but Steig claims that the points of the film are all in solid science. There have been a number of newspaper articles, which often depending on the editorial bent of the paper, range from claiming solid science in the film all the way to the other extreme. I did find that reviews in The Christian Science Monitor and National Geographic (both quoting Dr. Steig heavily) found the film to have solid science. The Canadian Post, on the other hand, found all sorts of scientists to nitpick various statements throughout the film (although most don’t seem to go for the big game of tackling major points of discussion). However, there’s also been a lot evidence that those people have energy industry or political ties and aren’t necessarily representing purely academic interests. Take it all as you will.

While I was never a hard sell to the theory that human beings are causing climate change, I do make an honest effort to stay on top of the science involved. If for no other reason, just to provide rebuttal points for those that seem to have a life goal of proving the guy who supposedly invented the internet is nothing but a charlatan (he, of course, never actually made that specific claim and climate scientists seem to appreciate a politician who listens to them). I would like to make one point about this film, though. No where does Gore say that those of us who believe him are somehow superiors and must go out and defeat the opposition. This isn’t a political call to arms for the Democratic party. Instead, he comes across as a man who feels very strongly that this is the right thing to do and wants everyone just to listen to the science for a little while. The film closes with tips for ways to reduce your CO2 emissions by small things around the house (like what I wrote about last week). There’s no demonizing of political parties or air of superiority in the film. Simply why Gore feels this way, how he got here, and what he has to say about what he (and I) believes is a very important and global issue. We should all see this film and take it’s lessons seriously before we just go making invented-the-internet jokes.

Consequently, Angela never fell asleep during the movie. She and I both were glued to the screen for the entire film. She even got upset at the description of drowned polar bears discovered in the Arctic. Afterwords, she stated that this movie should be required viewing for all elementary and high school children, so they could understand early on the consequences of our energy use.

So perhaps you’ve seen An Inconvenient Truth or you plan to. Maybe you have no intention seeing it because you’re convinced this is just all a bunch of bunk. Either way, being green doesn’t have to mean giving up a comfortable life style and taking the kids to live in a cave somewhere. As a matter of fact, one of the single best advantages of making the green shift is that, with a little bit of extra work and know-how, you can actually save yourself some money. Even when our conscious isn’t poking us in the back or we just don’t think highly politicized science is convincing, our thinning wallets can convince us to take action.

What You Buy

You can reduce your current spending some and reduce some of your environmental impact at the same time, so let’s talk about that up front. First, you should know that rushing out to buy the new, shiny gizmo that promises to save the planet isn’t always the most responsible thing to do. Is it replacing something that already works okay and could just be made better? Performing some maintenance and some elbow grease can make some things run with less energy or have a whole new life. You can recycle your own things even easier than someone else can do it for you. What are you going to do with the old item? Sending it to the landfill is probably far more harmful than any benefits your new toy will offset.

Well, if you’ve convinced yourself that spending some money on something new might be the best course after all, can I interest you in something slightly used? eBay, Craigslist, yard sales, and so on may require some more hunting to find the deals, but you’ll be requiring less production energy (it was already made) and you’ll save big off of that new sticker price, and that’s always a great place to start. However, some things just need to be bought new (like underwear). This is where you should start with some planning. Spend some time thinking how you can get the most bang for your buck. For example, if you want to replace you old incandescent light bulbs with some new fancy compact fluorescent lights, consider starting with the bulbs that get use the most: bathroom, living room, kitchen. Take functioning old incandescent bulbs out, but don’t throw them away yet. Just hold on to them to put in less used sockets, such as a lamp in a side room or your backyard shed. That way, you’ll start seeing the reduced energy bill now but won’t have to fork over quite as much for so many new bulbs.

Also, consider looking for less packaging. Geeks have known that buying OEM saves big for a long time, and you can use the same principal elsewhere. Why pay for stuff your just going to throw away as soon as you get home? Ask about display models at stores (big discount there) and look for things like contractor packs at the hardware store (you don’t think contractors like to pay extra, do you?) or just larger containers at the grocery store with higher product to packaging ratios. You’re paying for the packaging each time, so unless you’ve got a good use for that box, don’t buy it. Another great way to avoid paying for useless packaging: buy digital. He, ones and zeros do very little harm to the environment and why buy a CD that you’re just going to take home, rip over to your iPod, and promptly lose? Upset about DRM, well there are plenty of places that won’t force it upon you.

Around The House

I’m not sure when we all, as a society, decided that we should never suffer anything but 72° F temperature around us, but is that really nunnecessary You own sweaters and you own shorts, so use them. Drop the thermostat in your home and office a couple of degrees in the winter and raise it the same in the summer. Chances are, you won’t even notice, and if you do, you’re probably just not dressed appropriately anyway. I mean, what happens if you go outside? Well, if you’re dashing off to your vehicle to avoid the discomfort of 75° F this month, here’s some good news: you should run your air conditioner when driving above 50 mph. Your car was designed to drive at speed as a closed box and rolling down those windows while singing along with your favorite InIndieand at the top of your lungs actually costs you some extra fuel, and at today’s prices, you can’t afford to show off your American Idol-worthy voice. Also, when you do get home, rest your throat and breath clean air by replacing your air filters more often. You don’t drink your coffee through the swswizeltick cause you’d bust a lung, but that’s the kind of load you’re putting on your air handler by using dirty filters. Clean ones help to pay for themselves and help keep you out of the clinic with a soar throat.

One thing a lot of my environmental friends say is to take shorter, cooler showers. Well, I don’t like cold showers but I also know that my clothes generally don’t mind them. Separate out anything that must be washed warm and you’ll see that most everything you own can save you some money buy taking the cold wash cycle. Of course, your dishes will need some of the warm water love, but don’t waste money buy using the heat dry option (there are products that will do a better and cheaper job of reducing spots, anyway). Also, unless you just love household chores, only wash full loads in both the clothes washer and the dishwasher. One last way to save some on they electric or gas bill, hang your clothes to dry on a clothesline when you can. You’ll get less wrinkles from the gravity action and any you do get, a quick tumble in the dryer will knock out.

So, you drive a big SUV or a four-dour sedan and you really don’t plan on giving that up anytime soon. Well, at least listen to your dad: keep your tires inflated and change the oil on schedule. You’ll get improved mileage and, well, I don’t have to say that again do I? Also, time is as good as money, so consolidate your trips. Pick up your lunch on the way to work instead of an extra trip at noon (unless your walking, which is good for the health benefits) or plan all your Saturday errands ahead so you can do them all in one excursion (although, hopefully not a Ford Excursion with gas at over $3/gallon). Also, consider making part of your big day out to your local hardware and garden store(s). Get some of that cheap foam that goes around the doors and windows. You’ll find it costs you less if you put that up to keep the house at your required 70° - 74°, you fragile thing, you. While at the garden center, get some trees for the yard. They’ll look great and you could use the sun since you apparently have some aversion to being exposed to the outdoors. Just be sure to buy local stuff, since there’s no good reason to pay extra for something that got trucked in from two states over.

When it comes time to eat, I can’t think of anything better than fresh food. Buy some local meats, fruits, and vegetables (like your grandparents did). You’ll feel better about what you feed your family and you won’t be paying for all that transportation, cooling, and storage (and usually packaging). Also, consider making more stuff at home. You’ll eat better knowing what goes into your food and you’ll save money. Oh, the environment? Well, it’ll get the benefit, too. Sorry, I hadn’t realized you getting so concerned as to remind me of the topic. I’ll keep that in mind next time.

Well, hopefully you can see just how you can make some impact on the environment by thinking of yourself and your bank account. Some simple planning and extra effort can save you some money, just like your parents told you. You can also do right by your children and help out the environment at the same time. Heck, they’ll probably appreciate the fact you took them outside and started letting them wear shorts again in the summer.

Cross-posted from my Newsvine Column.

Angela convinced me that we absolutely needed to do the marathon training team again this year. It would be difficult for me to put down in one post just how much we learned doing this last year. In short, we went from people who go jogging occasionally to runners. Here would be my top list of things I took away from last year:

• Good equipment (clothing, shoes, GPS, hydration, etc.) won’t make you a good runner, but bad equipment will make you a miserable runner.
• Training is a never-ending process. Training never ends after one race, it just peaks and then ramps down between races.
• Mental conditioning really is that important. Your mind will make you stop long before your body will.
• You have to pay attention to what you’re eating. You can’t eat too few or too many calories; you have to find the right balance.

That only scratches the surface, but there some of the key things I’m trying to keep in mind going into my second marathon. We’re signed up to run the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington D.C. / Arlington, VA at the end of October. We wanted to have a change of scenery this year and give a sort of test run to the idea of running vacations. Angela and I had talked about doing marathons in other cities or even other countries, and then just a couple of weeks ago I read an article in the Christian Science Monitor about how that same thing is getting to be very popular¹ Anyway, it seems like a great way to see more of a new city and meet some of the local people. Of course, Angela will tell you that I’ll stop every 100 yards to take a photo and be worthless as a result.

By joining the training team, we are also signed up to run the Richmond Marathon as well². It’s only 12 days after the Marine Corp, so you’ll have to ask me later if I’m going to run it for sure. Right now, I’m planning on it, but there’s really no way to predict how I’ll be doing then.

Also, I’ve signed up for a free account at WeEndure.com, which is a handy way for me to log all my miles online. I’ll try and keep it going during the whole training. I’ll also add all the races on there for anyone interested. If you’re thinking about visiting us sometime, why not making it a running vacation?

1. One of my new things on my life-to-do list is visit Antarctica and run a marathon there. A training team coach of mine did that last year and became the youngest women to run a marathon on all seven continents in one year.↵
2. It’s included in the fee for the team. After you subtract out the $65 marathon registration, the $15 for the team color t-shirt, and $20 for your marathon racing singlet, the training team only costs $30. That means that you get six months of running advice, access to physical therapists (new this year), free clinics, snacks and energy gels, and more. I mean, I used $30 in energy gels alone last year. Seriously, it’s one of the coolest things in Richmond.↵

One of my favorite blooming-anything is an ornamental cherry tree. I can really say why, since it’s not like there were any in the yard where I grew up. There’s just something about them that I find beautiful and relaxing. I find it hard to see one with having also the urge to photograph it. It’s ethereal the way they drop their petals like pink snow.

We had a very beautiful ornamental cherry tree in our backyard up until recently. The trunk measured seven to eight inches in diameter, which if you’ve ever been to the garden center purchase one, you’ll realize is very large for an ornamental tree. It’s branches were the size of most trees at the greenhouse and they spread out horizontally to provide a large shaded area in our backyard. It provided a wonderful pink bouquet each spring and then gave way to a bushy green canopy. At first, it’s spread was so wide, I found it a pain to mow around. I came to appreciate it for just how wonderful it was, though.

Sadly, trees don’t live forever, anymore than animals do. I knew that the tree was dead, but just didn’t have the heart during the past couple of months to do anything about it. Finally, after talking with some friends along with knowledgeable greenhouse employees, we determined that the tree had simply died of old age. We really don’t know how old the tree was, but it’s safe to say it was older than either of us given it’s size. Who knows? It may have very well been older than my parents, even (the house, after all, is 68 years old).

We decided that this past weekend would be a good time to do some gardening and that part of my job would be to tear out the old tree. It was actually kind of sad doing so. Not like losing a pet that you have long enough to know it’s personality. More like a pet that just brings you joy having around, even if it’s nothing you can actively do anything with.

Oddly enough, neither Angela nor I even suggested replacing it with another cherry tree. We have one in our front yard we planted a couple of years ago and that is doing quit well there. Instead, we selected a pink dogwood that looks like has lots of potential to spread out over our backyard just as the old cherry tree did. Maybe, in 30 or so years, someone else will be here and get to appreciate it in the same way we enjoyed our old cherry tree.