I’ll be posting them to Flickr with the tag “Daily Shot”. I also created a “Daily Shot” set.

I may blog a favorite photo here and there, but for now I’ll being doing this just over at Flickr. Let me know what you think of the photos; just be gentle since they ARE coming from a phone…

I haven’t done research to see how they’re rated or if they’re safe strollers; that’s for you to do. I’m just here to help you save money!!!

       
In order:

The Combi is down 66% from $229.99 –> $79.00
The Safety First Ivy Cottage is down 66% from $259.99 –> $89
The Safety First Biltmore is down 72% from $354.99 –> $99.

Enjoy!!!

This image will grow and change over time as I log more tanks of data into the site. Right now I’m at 47.8 MPG avg over four tanks of gas. Not as high as th MID average, bu I’ll take it.

Things were low but decent as a slow but steady amount of snow continued to fall. Then, I got to the end of SR509 South and stopped. For a long time. I waited. Cars were perched along the top of the curving offramp afraid to proceed for fear of sliding into the guardrail like the four cars crashed into it ahead of us. Rightfully so I suppose as they slid through the ramp themsleves.

I do have a CR-V with “all wheel drive”, but I like to think that AWD alone is not what kept me from sliding too much too far, because I did slide a few times. What helped me was slow and steady application of gas and a healthy dose of D1 and D2.

Those are the low gears in an automatic, and the first ones to get hit in a manual. I have an automatic and stayd under D3 for the rest of the trip home. They allow an amazing amount of traction and are essential for situatins like this. If you’re reading this, tell your friends and family to use them. tell them to tell their friends and family. I want to get home a bit faster and a lot safer next time.

I finally get through the ramp and off after swerving the serpentine of stopped cars that just will not move. I don’t know if they were paralyzed with fear or what, but they coul dmove if they wanted, but they did not. I mean, if I can serpentine through 5 “stalled” cars on ice, surely they could have at least followed one by one in a single file line…?

It’s now 8:00PM and I’m hungry, tired, and starting to get a bit cranky. I hit a cruising speed of 20 MPH and head down Internatioanl Blvd South through Tukwila and past Seatac airport. I think things are going good, but know in my heart that they’ll go to hell really quick.

You see, we live in Maple Valley. Emphasis on the word valley there. That means the most direct rout e is through Kent and my choice of one of three hills. Two are massive and entirely unsafe, so I choose the third ahead of time. I hit Kent at 8:30 PM. It took me an hour to get to Kent Station from 516 via Meeker street. Once I was there it was almost over. I came inches away from pulling into a parking garage and sleeping in the car. Only problem was I left the car over night once before (without me and in good weather) and got a ticket for leaving it over 24 hours. I was told I’d get towed if I did it again. Bummer…

Lightning is lighting the sky and the thunder cracks are getting closer to the strikes. The storm is getting closer with every lightning strike.

It’s now 9:30 and traffic is stopped and people are walking around the streets trying to figure out what to do. Those people walking around are the drivers of the cars that are stopped and empty. Yes empty. A woman yells at me for not backing up into a car so she can turn right from the left lane. It sparked a thought though. I turned left into Kent Station myself.

I had no idea how to get where I wanted to be from where I was, so I called my wife on the cell phone (one of 10 calls it later turns out). The stopped cars were going east, trying to go up the hills. I would go south to a freeway and try to do an end run around Kent thhrough Auburn.

It worked. Traffic on cross streets did not exist. I was able to get directed over the phone via my wife’s google maps query to Central Ave which got me to 277th S which got me to 167 South. That highway was molasses, but it was moving. I finally went the two exits it took to get to my exit and pulled onto 18 E at about 10:00 PM.

Now you’ll never believe the site I saw. An open road with no traffic on it at all. AND it was clear of snow. The closer I got to home, the lighter the snow was. I was able to go the rest of the way home without any stoppages, trouble, or trauma.

End to end it took about 5 hours to get home. I slid very little thanks to actually using my low gears. The thing that frightens me most is the other drivers that just have zero knowledge about how to drive in the snow. These are the folks that brake for rain. Throw some snow at them and look out! These people were stopped in the road, afraid to proceed as things got worse. I almost had to sleep outside because of them.

This was the string of the most horriffic traffic sites I have ever seen, and I grew up where a storm meant two feet of snow. I checked the traffic cams at MIDNIGHT last night to see the snow, and I-5 S was STILL bumper to bumper.

There’s no way I can fathom it being any stretch of safe to drive to Seattle from my house for the next few days while this winds its way out of the area. I have kids that need a dad.

Like I’ve always told my wife; (who grew up back in the NE as well) it’s not us and our ability that scares me in storms, it’s all the idiots that don’t know how to drive that scare me. 4WD helps you, but it won’t help them…

Sometimes I want a regular old cup of coffee, or a cup with some custom grounds (there’s a great roaster in San Francisco, but they don’t make pods…) It’s not easily done with the Senseo (or others like the Black & Decker and Keurig versions)
My answer was to do some research and find refillable coffee pods that can be used in single serve coffee machines. I plan on reviewing them all, but initial indications have me leaning towards favoring the myPod since it can make a double cup.

If you’re looking for the same thing, please follow this link to find refillable coffe pods at RefillableCoffeePods.com (my new store )

You can also buy a new Senseo Coffee Machine Gift Pack while you’re there if you’ve been thinking about getting one.  Just click on the picture over there on the left (or go to my store - it’s on the front page.)

I drove to the train station Friday on my way to work and parked in the outdoor lot.  Aileen came into the city that day and offered me a ride home.  We went the way home that is not the way home to pass by the station, so in a fit of laziness we left the car in the lot for the weekend.  Turns out we risked it getting towed - Kent Station is owned and operated by Sound Transit who have a semi-strict policy on 24 hour parking limits.  KC Metro allows 72 parking, but now I’m on some Sound Transit hit list of cars to be towed if they hit 24:00:01 time parked.

I digress.  So, Aileen drives me back to the parking lot Monday morning so I can move the car and get to work.  She goes up to drive it to the indoor lot and asks me why I left our daughter Kelsey’s bike helmet on the ground next to the car.  I curiously told her I had not (considering it had been in the trunk…) and went over.  The car was locked, but a bit ransacked inside with the driver seat reclined.  There were NO signs of forced locks.  No broken window.  NOTHING.  The guys that got into the car were good, nay, VERY good at their job.

Here’s the kicker though.  They stole ONE thing - a stroller from the trunk.  Now, we know they didn’t want it for their own or a friend’s kid.  How you ask?  Because they left a slew of toys and bikes in the car that could have gone to the same kid.  They even went to the trouble of taking the busy bar OFF of the stroller.  Come on, what self righteous thief says this busy bar isn’t worth the stroller it’s tied to?  None that I can think of.

My guess?  They used it to wheel something else off from someone else’s car.  But that begs the question of how good the thieves actually are.  If they are THAT good at getting INTO a car, what stopped them from hotwiring the car and driving the whole darn thing away?  Maybe they were interrupted??  Missing tools? gaps in knowledge?  Too big a crime?
Who knows.  But to leave a  car capable of carrying a LOT of stuff and being smart enough to see kids toys in a car and hit it for the possibility of a storller in the trunk is brilliant.  I’m not sure I’d have thought of it had I been stealing things.

He has done a great job explaining how they pack down their weight, what gear they take, and even reviews of all the pieces.  It’s a must see for the serious backpacker.

I don’t have an address for the garage, but Sport’s address is on 4th street, and Fisher Plaza is the huge white building with the mass of satellite dishes on the roof right across from the monorail and Space Needle. The garage entrance is on the south side.

AND, if you live in the Seattle area, check out Sport sometime for your favorite sporting event. I don’t work there, but I’m on the Puget Sound PSU Alumni Board of Directors, and we watch all our games there. The staff rocks, the food is great, and you can’t beat a 130″ Plasma HDTV with any size stick.

1)  Crank up the heat before you put the meat down.  This will allow you to properly sear the outside, which closes the pores and seals moisture in.  After you sear, move to inderct or lower heat.
2) Dont over flip.  Flip once during searing, and once during cooking.  The more you turn, the more you cook protein.  This makes your meat tough.  Add one more flip if needed to brush sauce (see below)
3) Hold onto the brush.  BBQ and similiar suaces caramalize faster than meat cooks.  Your curst will either be burned or your meat undercooked.  Wait until the very end of the cooking cycle to brush
4) Let it sit.  After removing from the grill, let your meat sit.  Juices migrate, so a few minutes will let that moisture settle around in your meat.

Bike to Work Day: Throughout Puget Sound, riders can stop at commute stations to pick up free swag — snacks, city and county maps, bicycle commuting information and to have bikes checked for free by bike shop station sponsors. See the Cascade Bicycle Club Education Foundation Web site for locations and an interactive map. 

Unfortunately I can’t join in this year because of my back, but I otherwise would be doing this.  I’m going to try to stop for some maps and info if they’ll let me. 

Save the environemnt for at least one day and get out of your SOV and enjoy the trip and your surroundings.  If you live really far away, take the bus - each one has two bike racks on the front. 

technorati tags: bike, bicycle, bike-to-work