Did you know?????

Studies revealed that 35 percent to 40 percent of all methane emissions (which have 23 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide), 65 percent of nitrous oxide (which is 320 times as warming as carbon dioxide) and 64 percent of ammonia, which contributes to acid rain. The animals' burps, the nitrous oxide gases from their decomposing manure and other factors, including the energy needed to store and transport meat, were responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than the entire transportation sector.

30% of the worlds land is used for animal grazing?

The amount of land used to grow crops to feed livestock is 10 times what we need to grow crops for human consumption. Because of this, the demand for land is much greater, which leads to the decimation of rainforests and other vital land.

According to Hence Freston, 'Producing a calorie of meat protein means burning more than ten times as much fossil fuels—and spewing more than ten times as much heat-trapping carbon dioxide - as does a calorie of plant protein.'

In other words, reducing or eliminating the amount of meat one eats will have a significant impact on the environment.

Birthday Boy

Yesterday we celebrated Jacobs 6th birthday at a casino fun center. One of the other Jacobs in his class (there are 3!!) also had a birthday around the same time, so his mom and I decided to have a combined birthday party since they would be inviting a lot of the same kids anyway. It turned out to be a real hit. Lots of kids showed up and they had a blast. There was a miniature golf course, ferris wheel, carousel, 3D motion ride, and a bunch of other stuff for the kids to do. Jacob made out with a TON of toys - so much that he was a little overwhelmed.


the wind machine



the two birthday boys

Jake and Jacob's actual birthday is next Sunday (23rd). Poor Jake doesnt really get much recognition on his birthday now since he has to share it with his son! Since its Easter and everything will be closed that day, we might just go out and spend the day outdoors if the weather is nice. If not, then father and son will probably spend the day playing all the new videogames that Jacob got.

Why I May Have to Vote Republican Afterall

I subbed in an 8th grade English classroom today, but I was asked to cover an ELL (English Language Learners) class during my prep period. They were taking practice tests for those lovely standardized tests. One of the students was trying to convince me that he had completed his work, when I was fully aware that he had not even attempted the constructed response questions and had only finished the multiple choice section. Keep in mind that this is a 7th grade Mexican student. This is how our conversation went:

Me: You know, the writing portion is probably the most important.
Student: Yeah, but I hate it. Its so boring.
Me: Yeah, but if you don't write very well, I can guarantee you that you'll be doing a lot more boring things when you grow up.
Student: Well, I want to do construction when I grow up. I like it and I don't need to be good at writing to do that.
Me: What are you going to do when you fall and break your leg and can't work for a month? How are you going to make money to live on?
Student: Thats easy, you just go to the government and they give you money.

Its amazing how fast they learn.

Our "ski" weekend

Since we didnt end up going to Vegas, our plans were to go skiing (ie. sliding down the side of a mountain on our butt) on Saturday instead. We had been having perfect weather all week, but of course, just as we were walking out the door on Saturday morning, we learned that the lifts were closed due to high wind conditions. So we scrapped the ski day altogether. Being that my parents had taken the kids though, we couldn’t let the weekend go to waste. So instead, we went quad riding.

We thought it’d be fun if we stopped by a friends house to see if he and his girlfriend wanted to come along. On the way there we drove past a high school and the billboard caught my attention. Apparently some teenagers were up to no good the night before and had pulled a little prank. While the wording bordered on being a little bit vulgar for the general public, it was still pretty funny. Lucky for us we had just bought a new camera and had it with us.

Afterward, the 4 of us took the 2 quads and the motorcycle out for a few hours. Lisa and I took off on the quads for a while on our own. Alex, however, didn’t feel completely comfortable with her knowledge of quad riding, so he followed us on the bike. It seemed like she wanted to go faster than me, so I let her lead the way. It was then that I went from quad riding to bumper cars :o) Lisa was tearin it up so I didn't expect her to stop. By the time I realized she was coming to a complete stop, it was too late. I used the brakes but not in time enough for me to prevent rear ending her. Luckily, it wasn't a hard hit though and both of us were ok. There was only very minor front end bumper plastic damage. It was more of a "ding" than a full-on rear ending :o) At least thats how I explained it to Jake....