lumensoutdoors.org - Page 18

• Calculating fuel economy - October 10, 2006

  Some recent work that Ted has been doing about his fuel economy got me thinking about my own car (a 2005 Toyota Corolla). I have been recording every fuel purchase for the life of my car, including current odometer readings, price, gallons bought, and the mileage since the last fill up. So I have all the data. I even have some ideas about trends in my fuel mileage. I just haven’t sat down and analyzed it in any form. Today, however, I punched in all the data to OpenOffice and plotted some charts to see what’s going on.

• Chocorua II: Electric Boogaloo - October 9, 2006

  Yesterday, Lon and I took advantage of the perfect weather to drive up north and once again hike Mt. Chocorua. It’s not an exceptionally tall mountain, but it’s a great hike and has excellent 360 degree views from the bald top. It’s also extremely picturesque due to the lake sitting down in front of it that you must cross on the way to the trailhead. We went last went up Chocorua in April as one of our intro hikes when there was still snow and ice on the trail. I was looking forward to getting up to the top of this mountain again as well as seeing what sort of difference a season of hiking would make.

• Making groceries more complicated - October 7, 2006

  I decided it would be a good idea to start shopping for more stuff at local small businesses. This idea came up both from a quality perspective and from a supporting the local economy perspective. As for quality, I have long been unhappy with the state of produce in the northeast. The produce at Shaw’s is especially terrible: the tomatoes and peppers are frequently rotten, the apples are small and crappy, and the other fruit is not very attractive either. I knew it was possible to get better produce around here but it just took me a little while to find a good place. As for supporting the local economy, it just makes sense to give your money to stores that are based nearby and will put money back into the community, rather than shipping it all off to corporate headquarters in Delaware or wherever.

• Shush, TV - October 6, 2006

  By now, I think everyone knows how I feel about TV. However, there’s one show that I have gotten into since living up here - Battlestar Galactica. I like it because it’s actually got well-written plots, good characters, and I don’t feel like my intelligence is being insulted. I also find the whole post-apocalyptic theme compelling for some reason. This is in sharp contrast to most of TV, which I feel plays to the lowest common denominator and most simplistic impulses. How many teen sex romps, cop/lawyer/doctor dramas, and diverse collections of thirtysomethings in New York City do I really have to sit through?

• Winter, you're on notice - October 4, 2006

  Last April, we were nearly defeated by a giant ice sheet on the back of Cannon. Our lack of traction aids on ice meant a long, difficult slog up the mountain with a real chance of injury. This winter it’s all going to change. I now have 10 point crampons for my boots. I’ll be the one speeding up the mountain grinding through the ice while everyone else toughs it out grabbing onto trees to prevent sliding away. But this is only the start. I’ll also be getting an ice axe and lots of warm clothes. I won’t have to take the winter off, because I’ll have the gear to get to where I want to go.

  Consider yourself on notice, winter. I’m not backing down from the challenge this year. And if you push me, I might just spring for the showshoes and cross country skis, too.

• Brewing the pumpkin beer - October 2, 2006

  Now that fall weather is upon us, it’s finally cool enough in my house to get back into homebrewing. I hadn’t made any beer since early June because of the temperature inside, but the past couple weeks have been really nice so I can get away with running the stove for four hours again. Anyway, yesterday I made the second batch of my Drunken Pumpkin fall recipe. Pumpkin beers are a big fall tradition, dating way back to colonial times when grain was expensive in the fall, but pumpkin was plentiful and cheap. Brew with what you’ve got on hand. These days, we brew with pumpkin because it’s tradition and because it tastes good.

• Panic mode - September 29, 2006

  Today’s big surprise news at work was that we were going to make a sort of Fedora Core 6 test 3.5. Test 3 had a lot of installation problems, but we got most of those sorted out. However, we want to make sure they get extra testing before FC6 final goes out so it was decided to release this thing that’s not called test 4. Of course, I didn’t find out about this until I got to work today. And even after I got there and made some fixes, it was too late because the tree had been built the night before. I love our communication sometimes.

• Goodbye, free bottles - September 28, 2006

  I went to the homebrew store today for the first time in several months. While I was there getting my ingredients, I got to talking with the owner and he told me some distressing news about one of my favorite New England breweries. It seems that Smuttynose is going to stop bottling their Big Beers in 22 oz bottles, and sell four packs of 12 oz bottles instead. The reasoning for this is that the retail market for the really large bottles is smaller than the market for packs of the smaller ones.

  Unfortunately for me, I love these bigger bottles. They’re exactly the same as the bottles I get at the homebrew store, which means I can add them to my rotation after drinking their contents. While a $3.50 bottle isn’t a cost-effective way to increase my bottle capacity, it’s still a really good price for that much delicious beer and it comes with a free bottle. I guess I had better stock up while they’re still available. Also, I suppose this could just be a rumor.

• Food rut - September 27, 2006

  While standing in an aisle at the good grocery store in town, I realized something: I’m in a food rut. It’s always a struggle of the ease and speed of going out versus the satisfaction and price of cooking at home. Going out is lame because it’s always the same crap, and it’s expensive, and I feel like a fool for going out so much when I have the skill to cook. Cooking is lame because I always make the same things, it takes planning, it kills most of the night, and cooking for just yourself isn’t very rewarding. However, it is cheaper and making dinner means leftovers for lunch the rest of the week. And when your only lunch choices are sandwich places, having leftovers is a very good thing.

• So much stuff - September 25, 2006

  My years of accumulating junk are catching up with me. Since I’m going to be moving at the end of the year, I need to start decreasing the amount of stuff I’ve got so there’s less to carry around. It’s times like this where I realize that I have a lot more junk than I need, especially considering how often some of it gets used. Over the past couple days, I have been working on a list of things to get rid of either by trashing, giving away, or selling. So far, trashing is winning.