Very sad. If you don’t know who Randy Pausch is, then you need to watch his “Last Lecture.”
Reunion Day #2
Absolutely stuffed, and hot as hell. According to my mother, there are two rules regarding the air conditioning. It goes on when it is over 90, or whenever my dad is hot. Neither happened, so you had 40 Coles sweating all damned day, walking listlessly from room to room to porch looking for a breeze, any breeze.
The food was great- grilled tenderloins, grilled mushrooms and zucchini and squash, turkey, ham, pasta salad, stuffed cabbages, mixed fruits, bread, stuffed grape leaves, a bunch of different torts, etc. My favorite was my Aunt Cherie’s stuffed cabbages, but I am just a sucker for any kind of cabbage.
Saw my first butterfly this summer, and some of the younger Cole cousins from the desert portion of Washington just saw their first lightning bugs. Seems like there are just so few of them compared to when I was a kid and we would collect jars of them.
This was kind of cool- my cousin turned me on to this Monterrey Bay Aquarium Seafood watch guide that you can use to make better choices about what seafood is better for you and the environment. I think that is a real handy tool. I did not realize the real extent of the problem of bycatch. Humans suck. We really, really do.
As far as politics go, we all decided that Keith Olbermann drives us insane and thinks he is Edward R. Murrow, but he is the only one out there saying anything, so we tolerate him.
At any rate, it was fun. I am stuffed, sweaty, and pooped.
Hot, Drunk, and Pissed at the Lawnmower
Keith Walendowski has been charged with felony possession of a short-barreled shotgun or rifle and misdemeanor disorderly conduct while armed.
According to the criminal complaint, Walendowski says he was angry because his Lawn Boy wouldn’t start Wednesday morning.
He told police: “I can do that, it’s my lawn mower and my yard so I can shoot it if I want.”
A woman who lives at Walendowski’s house reported the incident. She says he was intoxicated.
This is good news for Hillary.
Fuel Saving Tips
I can actually take transit most of the way to work. It means I have to leave an hour earlier in the morning, which I don’t mind. The problem is that at the end of the trip, I have about a 20-minute walk to work. In Atlanta, that means you’re soaking wet when you actually get there. So I have to drive. Because of the high cost of gas, I’ve been doing a few things differently. Fortunately, I have a great job and can afford the gas, but it’s irritating enough that I am conserving as much as I can. Here are a few tips I’ve picked up that have saved me (a lot of) money:
1. I got rid of all the crap in my trunk (about 80 pounds of junk.)
2. If I need groceries, I go get them. But I also go do all the other stuff I need to do. I switched grocery stores. I now drive a little farther, but to a store int he same complex as a Home Depot, Target, and all the other places I would normally go to.
3. I’ve slowed down. Seriously, I am actually driving the speed limit. In Atlanta, that almost always means having to put up with peoples’ horns blaring at you, but I’ve noticed that driving about 60 (instead of 75-80) has seriously cut down on my fuel consumption – by about 25% actually. Honestly! People hate me, but I am saving money. And really, do I really care about that the guy in the Tahoe behind me who is pissed off because I am not driving 80? No, I don’t.
4. I check weather.com every night. If the humidity is going to be low, I always take transit.
My commute is 54 miles round-trip. At the end of the week, I estimate that I am saving about $25 a week on gas. I’ve taken my fuel costs from about $80 a week to about $55-60 – mostly from slowing down. Still way too much though.
When the humidity goes down in Fall, Winter, and early Spring, my costs for commuting to work are about $13 a week – the cost of a MARTA card. The ride is great, I read about 3 books a week on my commute, and the exercise from the walking burns about 1000 300 extra calories in addition to the running I do daily.
Update: I honestly don’t know WHY I said the 20 minute round trip walk was 1000 calories. That’s just idiotic. Probably around 300 in the heat and humidity – 400 max when it’s blistering hot.
Pics of the Day
The coolest pictures of a leopard attacking and killing a crocodile that you will probably see all day.
Centennial Olympic Park
A picture of sunny Centennial Olympic Park, taken yesterday.
Even 3 months after the tornado, the Westin still hasn’t replaced the windows.
Apropos of Nothing in Particular
This just seems more relevant than ever:
Nothing particular in the news that made me post this, just a nagging feeling I have had for a while. Plus, I think everyone should watch this and read about the Milgram experiments.