Conservation Over Comfort

I've got the heat set on 50-55F. However, as of today I shut off half the house from the heat. The only part being heated is the part with the thermostat and the water pipes. Can't let the pipes freeze. I spend most my time in the part of the house that isn't heated. So if the "warm" part is 55F, I'm not sure how cold it is in my room. Right now I can see my breath a little.

I'm not doing this to prove a point or be macho. There's no sense in heating such a large space in this house. I'd rather pile on extra layers than burn fossil fuel when not necessary.

How It Seems To Me

Voice of Reason: The world is heating up.
Republicans: No it's not!!! You can't prove it.
Voice of Reason: Yes, it is. Here's the proof.
Republicans: (reluctantly) OK, so it's heating up. But it's NOT our fault.
Voice of Reason: I'm not assigning blame, I'm only saying that we all collectively have to change our practices because bad things are happening right now and they are going to get far far worse if we don't act IMMEDIATELY.
Republicans: Well, it's really just the natural cycle of the planet. It warms and cools all the time.

Voice of Reason: It's true that the planet has natural cycles. This is NOT one of them. The warming is happening faster than ever before and corresponds directly to the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.
Republicans: No. It's sunspots. I'm not changing a damned thing I'm doing. I will drive my SUV. I can afford the gas. I will consume rapaciously and not value the things I own.
Voice of Reason: You personally can afford the gas, but as a global community we can't afford your waste. It's hurting everyone.
Republicans: Well you are just a bunch of unwashed, tree-hugging, hippie liberals. (fingers in ears) lalalalalalalala.....

The Hazards Of Carpooling

For the last few weeks I have been riding an hour to the job site with a coworker. He listens to country music. It would be hard to overstate my abhorrence of country music, but etiquette keeps me from asking him to change the station. It's his truck, his radio, his time. He can listen to what he likes and I know he prefers country above all else.

However, listening to one hour of country is like listening to 4 straight hours of a 3 yr old whining. I would rather listen to a dental drill all the while. It comes close to physically nauseating me. Once to the job site or home I rush to a radio to wash the bad flavor out of my mind with another kind of music. Worse, is the fact that through the repetition of hearing the same songs day after day I'm learning some of them enough to get the chorus stuck in my head. Oh, it hurts.

For the record, I'm a referring to only new country pop. I love Johnny Cash, Waylon, Willie, and others who are seldom ever heard these days.

Just Because

Taking Time, Taking Photos

I spent some quality time this weekend with my camera. The foliage got a slow start this year but has made up for it in this last week. I'm still experimenting with the camera settings and haven't been able to nail some of the photos I wanted, but I'm enjoying the practice.

Crash and Burn

My father is 62 years old. A while back he purchased a kit to make a bike motorized. The engine is very small, but will get the bike up to 25-30 mph when opened up. Yesterday I got a call from him on his cell phone saying that he'd dumped the bike. A stranger picked him up and dropped him off back home. I drove him to the hospital to get him checked out as he'd landed pretty hard and was fairly scrapped up. Fortunately he was wearing a helmet (you'll see it on the bike seat and note that is saved his melon). He checked out fine - nothing broken. He has substantial swelling on his hip, but was told there's no serious injury.

When we retrieved the bike we found that the front fender had fallen off and its support posts and wound themselves around the wheel collapsing it.

I bet he's really sore today when he wakes up.

I'm Back

There was this Thing out there in the desert. It was the strangest thing I ever saw. Just this thing in the middle of nowhere. OK, I've taken that as far as I care to.

I got back from Burning Man two weeks ago. Since then I have been working, visiting with family, catching up with friends, and trying to unpack. I'm still working on the unpacking part.

Green Man

Though this year's theme at Burning Man was "Green Man" there was very little that was environmentally friendly about the event. This doesn't look very environmentally friendly so me.

Burning Man Update

I made it to Gerlach Nevada without any trouble. The bus performed admirably. It took 5 days of hard driving but I was in a good mindset to get through it without going crazy with boredom. I got some excellent photos of Bonneville Salt Flats at sunrise. I'll post those photos later.

There is no Black Rock City yet, only empty desert. The city is in the process of being surveyed and created. I've been a part of that process for the last two days and for many more days to come. It all starts with finding the location for the Man, and the entire city is based on that first point. Yesterday I helped map out the street; today I helped lay out the intersections - there's over 200 intersections.

This year the city itself is bigger than ever - another five streets were added perhaps. The city perimeter will be a whole mile longer - 8.2 miles.

The weather has been hot (but bearable), sunny, and windy. That's the way it will continue for at least the next 5 days. Dust hasn't been bad yet, but there's hardly anyone here yet to stir it up.

I Set Out Running But I Take My Time

This line from a Grateful Dead song comes to mind so often when I start my annual cross country trip in the VW. It's hard to do anything but take my time when driving a VW. But I've learned to adopt a different driving mentality when behind the wheel of the Dub. I've can't go fast so if I ever plan on getting across the country I have to put in LONG hours to make up for it. I hope to be on the road by mid morning tomorrow.