I think it's great that people are re-evaluating things that we've long taken for granted in the name of increasing efficiency. In this case it's the gallon milk container.
OK, so it's from Sam's Club, but still, it's a great idea, allowing trucks to dispense with the ubiquitous milk crate and stack the cartons on top of each other.
In an era of soaring global demand and higher costs for energy and materials, virtually every aspect of the economy needs to be re-examined, they say, and many products must be redesigned for greater efficiency.
What a concept! Can't wait to see these in a real store.
I learned Saturday evening that what I had feared had indeed come true: This was my last weekend of softball for USA Today. Although we swept two games on Saturday, we lost a tiebreaker and did not qualify for the playoffs.
I started playing for the company 13 years ago, within weeks of getting a full-time job there in May 1995. Other than being with Cate, it's the longest I've ever been involved with something, and I'll definitely miss it. Only two people have been on the team since I started and I've seen close to 100 people shuttle through, including fellow bloggers Tammi Marcoullier and Neil (though he wasn't at all eligible, we passed him off as an intern). Dad has played for this team as well, though that got me blackballed from coaching the team for a few years!
I've already missed chatting with Tammi in the outfield about whatever was going on in our lives or at work, team captain (and team glue) Mark Hayes getting tossed from games in his younger days, falling to pieces on the final day of the season to miss the playoffs for most of the late '90s, and, of course, winning three league titles.
I came full circle this season, getting to pitch again after an ugly flameout in the 1996 playoffs kept me out of the rotation (other than to mop up) for more than a decade. Played first base, second base, catcher, all around the outfield. Pulled a hundred balls foul down the third-base line, as I have never mastered Dad's art of placing the ball in front of the opponent's worst fielder.
A few times in recent years, the kids came with me. One week the team was so hard up for players that I packed up all three kids and 8-year-old Elizabeth was in charge of watching the other two while I kept track with one eye. But I hated to miss a game. I spent part of the 2003 season on the sidelines when Cate went back to work Saturdays after Robert was born, and last year I wasn't eligible because of a paperwork snafu (I had to get grandfathered in since I no longer worked for the company), and those weren't fun. Cate was never quite as keen on me packing up the younger ones the way Dad would bring me out to a Dirty Sox or St. Alexis game. Or whatever the team in Delaware was.
This weekend we went out with a 16-0 win against the Discovery Channel and a 14-9 victory against AOL. I wore the Baseball Weekly jersey for old time's sake. In a mercy rule blowout, Ramon Padilla preserved the cheapest 2-hitter on record by throwing out a batter at first base to end the game on a ball hit into right field.
This will probably be the thing I miss most about living in Virginia. Although the names and faces changed frequently, this team eventually managed just the right balance of competitiveness and camaraderie so that we could all have fun.
I hear they might be getting the Cavity Busters back together, though. If Jay can still hit and Peter Erickson can still hit ball after ball up the middle, it'll be just like old times.
We don't get out to the movies much, let alone a first-run movie, but I took the kids out to see WALL-E, which just opened this weekend. Another year, another Pixar movie, and another success as the kids loved it.
A year ago I took all three myself as well to see Ratatouille, which of course means Colleen was a year younger. She enjoyed that movie well enough, but required a lot of hand-holding. OK, maybe lap-sitting. But a year makes a big difference -- even though this photo would suggest otherwise.
For those who have been under a rock or don't have children below the age of 13, WALL-E is an animated movie featuring a little robot left behind on earth sometime in the next hundred years to clean up after humans abandon the planet. Once there were many WALL-E units across the planet, but this is the last one.
Anyway, the kids loved it. We went out for ice cream afterward, which prompted the crying pose. Colleen wanted to pose in front of the garbage can and was upset at being moved. But I took the picture anyway. So stop your whining!
We were also surprised to find that Reston Town Center was the site of a bicycle race this afternoon, the Reston Town Center Grand Prix. It doesn't seem to be a Tour de France qualifying race, but the kids had fun watching the bikes go by for a few laps. There was also a trailer display with replicas and actual historic bikes, including a bike the same style as the 5-speed I rode in the early '80s.
I had to take the kids to the Reston theater because Cate doesn't stand up to interrogation! She gave Elizabeth so many hints as to what my surprise was I figured that if we went to our normal movie theater the kids would figure out the surprise right away. So I made use of a little misdirection and the kids were kept guessing right until we walked up to the front of the theater.
Who would've guessed that Colleen would be the only child to get through dinner without staining clothes?
For Robert, orange soda. And apparently he brushed against the grape jelly in the fridge reaching for something.
For Elizabeth, a red pepper chunk escaped and landed on her skirt, bringing sauce with it.
Of course, both wearing white! First time I've ever had the Shout brought to the dinner table, but perhaps not the last.
The Beatles are making a comeback, at least in our house. Elizabeth recently received 1, the compilation album with all 27 of the Fab Four's No. 1 hits. And it's been a hit here.
Elizabeth and Robert listen to this constantly and Robert in particular loves to sing along. When he found out I could play Let it Be, for example, he joined in on the chorus.
For Elizabeth, the favorite song is Eleanor Rigby, and she was doubly impressed to hear -- from both me and Cate independently -- that the lyrics were in our literature texts in junior high. She likes how it's different -- if you recall, there are no drum, guitars or bass in the song, just a string quartet. Plus, she keeps her face in a jar by the door.
Robert's favorite, not too surprisingly, is Ticket to Ride. Presumably it's the love of trains playing a part.
But Colleen is the cutest. Her favorite song off the album is Yellow Submarine. Except, of course, that for most of a week she insisted that it was Blue Submarine. Only today did we manage to convince her otherwise!
We're within a week of packing up the piano. I'll miss my music.
Around 2 p.m., Elizabeth asked me what we were doing for dinner. All I knew was it would be chicken, since I pulled some out of the freezer last night for that purpose. She said she would look for a recipe online and I turned her loose on it.
Every couple of minutes, she asked me if we had certain ingredients in the house. We're running low/out of certain things and we're not going to replace them before we move. We don't need more Worcestershire sauce, for example, since we wouldn't finish another bottle ... well, it took us three years to finish the last one.
She started calling out ingredients and it turned out we had them all, so we decided to make a Grilled Barbecued Chicken recipe from Taste of Home. I don't think Elizabeth knows how spicy this is, however.
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
- 1 large onion, chopped
Those are actually the only really spicy components, unless black pepper is on your spicy list. But the marinade comes out very spicy. We'll see how they react. Probably need to grill up a hot dog or two just in case.
The one consumable we did replace was the propane tank for the grill. No way we were getting through six weeks without grilling.
I worked some long hours last weekend on the U.S. Open and took today as comp time, hoping we could jump-start our effort to get out the door the first week of August.
It got started yesterday; while I was at work, when Cate worked up a handful of boxes in attacking the kids' rooms. And we got even further today.
Started in the kitchen, which is a room we have barely touched, aside from replacing the refrigerator. Two bags and several boxes of trash, four or so boxes packed. Knick-knacks boxed, wine glasses washed and packed, cookbooks boxed, some appliances taken out.
I took the curious fingers out with me on errands so Cate could get some painting done. We (and by we I mean she) finally painted over the tropical scene in the basement family room -- with just primer on it at the moment the room is already much brighter. Also primed over some of the kids' ... ahem ... artwork upstairs.
Cate also categorized the kids' books in their bedrooms, whittling them down to what will get them through the next month.
I was also sent out for an emergency birthday present for Elizabeth's classmate down the street, who had a party at 4. (Elizabeth was invited at 1.)
We took out cabinets from the basement, chairs from around the kitchen table. Not much cleaning of the kitchen and none of the floor, since we'll be replacing it.
After dinner, back to the kitchen. Cleaned off the hutch and took out another bag of trash. More knick-knacks, dishes, dusting ...
And no dust-ups. We survived the day.
I'm sitting here on my work laptop (Tiger Woods and the U.S. Open are a big draw for us on the wekeends) and Elizabeth is using my other laptop. She's checking her e-mail, surfing around the blogs and such and I was just thinking, shoot, when I was her age, we had just gotten a computer for the first time.
She is copying and pasting, visiting Da's Sweet Home Chicago hosta link.
Just very impressed.
Talking about Ryan's incomprehensible comments on that blog post, Elizabeth said: "He said 'I don't speak Russian, but then he typed it in Russian. That doesn't make sense.' "
Then she said, "it would be funny if you posted that and it popped up over here and I could read it."
So I did it.
Of course, she corrected me as I was about to misquote her. Good thing I'm not a sportswriter, right?
It's been a nice quiet afternoon. Some rain came through so it cooled off nicely, but it let up in time for me to grill up some chicken.
Just a quick note to say we acknowledge our dust and apologize. I'm busy this week working on a pair of stories for USA Today's college football preview special edition (Division III and some other division that offers scholarships), the kids have stuff going on for end of school and Patty's here visiting. Wish I could say this means we're getting lots of work on the house but sadly, that's not true.
Thanks for your patience.
Yeah, no, it's not my home, but here I am anyway. Ryan and I are in Chicago to meet with the guy who is going to be running D3soccer.com, and while we were here, we decided to take advantage of the opportunity to see the Twins play at New Comiskey Park.
The new name for that ballpark? Don't care. Stupid corporate names.
Twins lost. Long story. Not a good one. But on the way back, after the crowds of White Sox fans thinned out, ended up sitting across from a cute little almost-6-year-old boy on the El.
Kid was talking up a storm, noticed that Ryan and I were wearing Twins hats and suggested that we throw them away and get White Sox hats. My mantra to White Sox fans who bothered to give us a hard time on the way home was that it was just June and there was a lot of season left. (The Twins are .500 after this game.)
I told the kid, "You know, there are a hundred games left! Can you count to 100?"
He reported that he could; in fact, he could count to 300.
For some time I've been fairly good at figuring out kids' ages after observing to them, and that statement convinced me that this little boy was Robert's age. So I asked him if he was 5 or 6 and he told me he was turning six on June 15 and just graduated from kindergarten.
Even more like Robert.
The kid and I were talking, like a parent and a nearly-six-year-old can. He (I never got his name) was an only or oldest child, but he does have an 11-year-old female cousin whom he obviously wanted to be just like.
He said to me, "you have a thin face" and to Ryan, "you have a big face." Out of the mouths of babes, right, Ryan?
He was hispanic, but his parents apparently speak just English at home. Ryan was giving me a hard time on the train after that comment and I tried to speak Spanish to him to explain, he didn't understand.
During the conversation, the kid said he knows karate. His dad, a young guy, said, "No, it's not karate, right?"
Indeed, this was a little boy who turns 6 this month and does tae kwon do!
So I asked him what belt he was -- he's a white belt. We talked about what was next, and while we refer to it as the gold belt, he talked about the yellow belt. I asked him if he did the axe kick (which is the most basic one I know the name of) and he mentioned that the older kids can break boards. When I told him my little boy was a blue belt and could break boards, he was very impressed.
I reminded the kid that he had to focus and work hard, and he could do that too.
My battery died on my phone today. I was hoping Cate and the kids would call me from the Brennan family reunion in Pennsylvania, but perhaps they tried and couldn't get through. He'll have another round of birthday there, and I'll be back in D.C. on Sunday to hear all about it.
Miss you Robert. :)
Happy Birthday, Robert!
I just hope he doesn't wake us up the way he did six years ago today.
Sometime shortly after we moved into this house, some appointed official decided that we all needed to get duct tape and plastic sheeting to seal ourselves in in the case of a dirty bomb attack.
Now, we're maybe 25 miles from the White House as the plutonium flies. We know that's still pretty close but we weren't ready to participate in such paranoia. We did, however, put together a box of emergency supplies, to sustain us as we holed up in the hills.
Our rally point was/is the Bob Evans restaurant just off the campus of Shenandoah University in Winchester, Va. That's 50 miles west of here, a little over an hour, or six hours if we're all trying to evacuate Northern Virginia at once. And while we were refugees, here's what we'd have had at our disposal.
A box of Gerber single grain baby oatmeal (packed with Robert in mind, not Colleen)
Three trash bags
Two brand-new toothbrushes
A box of kleenex
A 4.6-ounce container of toothpaste
A half-ounce tube of Neosporin
Two 8-ounce cans of fresh cut green beans
Four 5-ounce cans of chunk chicken in water
Two 8-ounce cans of sliced pineapple (best used by July 2005)
Four rolls of store brand toilet paper
A 17.7-ounce can of Carnation instant breakfast (14 servings)
A container of hand sanitizer
Eight AA batteries -- don't tell Elizabeth!
A nine-pack of apple juice drink boxes (best used by Nov. 25, 2003)
A 20-pack of sturdy rinse and reuse bowls
I should point out that this box has been raided several times over the years. I remember there were snack bars in here at one point, for example, that I've since eaten.
I think we'll still a lot of this, even the edible stuff. I mean, it's canned food. It's been kept out of the sunlight in a cool place. Though I don't know anyone who will eat the instant breakfast. And I wouldn't foist the juice boxes on anyone.
Now watch the attack come tomorrow. It would take me a long time to bike to the rally point.
Then again, it might be the fastest way out on Route 7 in that scenario.
We've been trying to make ourselves more energy efficient, especially over the past nine months, and we've cut our energy usage quite a bit in that time. We've replaced light bulbs and the refrigerator and the washing machine. Replacing the washing machine has helped the dryer do its job more quickly as well. The Colemans are better at turning off lights than they've ever been and just as bad at turning off the TV.
But while I was checking out the weather for my bike ride to work tomorrow (going for my eighth consecutive weekday without driving to work, even though it's just four and a half miles), a link on the Weather Channel Web site caught my eye.
Is your kitchen wasting energy? Find out with our 33-point checkupUhm, guess so. Some of the items we could stand to incorporate into our daily lives:
- If you're using the dishwasher, pre-rinse dishes with cold water. Be sure machine is full, but not overloaded. (Color me guilty on both counts.)
- Turn off automatic air-dry switch, and let dishes dry by air. If your machine doesn't have an air-dry switch, turn off the control knob after the final rinse and prop the door open a bit so the dishes will dry faster.
- It's cheaper to cook by microwave than by electric oven.
- When using the oven, try to reduce the number of times you open the door while cooking. Each time the door is opened, the stove loses about 1/4th of its heat. (This I know, but it's so hard to resist!)
- If you cook on an electric range, you can turn off the burners or the oven before the cooking is finished, because it will take several minutes for the burners to lose their heat. (Never occurred to me.)
- If your sink has a disposal unit, use cold water when operating. This saves energy used to heat the water, and is more effective at removing grease. Grease will solidify under cold water and become more easily ground up and washed away. You can give it a quick final rinse with hot water. (I think I usually do this but now I will make sure to always do it.)
- Vacuum the coils on the back of your refrigerator twice a year to maximize efficiency. (New fridge, doesn't need it now, but wish I'd done that before.)
- A new, more efficient refrigerator can typically save you $70-80 per year and will pay for itself in about nine years. Older models commonly use an annual average of over 1,700 kWh, while equivalent models now use fewer than 700 kWh. This can reduce your carbon-dioxide emissions by over 1,000 pounds a year. (Oh, definitely. The old fridge was probably 15-20 years old.)
It's too late to really know if these changes will have an effect here. But I found some of the suggestions interesting and thought I should pass them on.
The state of Virginia gives standardized tests to each grade schooler annually called the Standards of Learning and fourth graders are in the middle of them as we speak. Elizabeth starts her third day of testing on Monday, with this set covering social studies.
They're multiple choice questions, so in the end, she knows she can pretty much always eliminate some answers before resorting to giving an answer, even if she's not sure. However, Elizabeth was distraught to learn that she got a question wrong on the math portion on Friday.
"How many meters are in a kilometer?" she asked us at the dinner table that night.
As I usually do when one of the kids asks a question like that, I turn it back around at them. "Well, Elizabeth, how many meters are there in a kilometer?"
She hesitatingly responds, "a hundred?"
I told her the bad news and she was visibly shaken. That's when we realized it was a test question she'd gotten wrong.
Last year she somehow got two questions wrong for the entire week, but she didn't know that until her scores came back over the summer. (Not like there is ever any danger of her not passing.)
I don't know if she was worried by the result, but tonight we spent an hour and a half reviewing U.S. and Virginia history. Thankfully for me, a lot of it overlaps what we learned in American History class since so much stuff happened here. Zebulon Pike? Not mentioned.
We'll see how she feels when she comes home from school tomorrow. The area which needed the most review seemed to be the branches of government, and that's without even talking about checks and balances or overriding the president's veto or all the fun stuff in that area.
They don't even have to know who the governor is. In fact, a study sheet she brought home from school had Mark Warner's name and picture on it under executive branch. He hasn't been governor in more than two years.
Now I guess I'd better get to sleep. I have to get up and make Elizabeth a good breakfast in the morning.
