Camping with the Residents

After weeks of rescheduling camping reservations due to the unhealthy air quality, we finally decided to go ahead with our plans and go on our first "real" camping trip as a family. What we neglected to take into account is that if you are not there by the time the campsites fill up on Friday, your reservation is void and it becomes a first-come-first-serve basis. Being that we were only going to camp one night, we arrived on Saturday to find nothing available. So instead, we went to a different lake just up the road, where we fought our way into a recently opened site.

The campgrounds we were at were not only occupied by campers. Apparently there were "wild" deer that seem to make that area their home. They have no problem visiting your campsite and making themselves feel right at home. The kids loved this! They were amazed that they could get the deer to literally eat out of their hands. We had a couple deer come by our campsite so the kids fed them cherries amd chips.

Gone with the Wind

The other day, I happen to catch Katie Couric interviewing T. Boone Pickens, the big time oil tycoon. I didn't really know who he was, but he caught my eye because he reminded me so much of Jakes grandpa. He was about the same age, spoke like him and even looked very similar.

Since I am somewhat of an environmental enthusiest, I found what he had to say very interesting. He is attempting a movement in which we would harness wind energy so that we could replace oil with natural gas. If we could power our vehicles off natural gas (which is much cleaner than gasoline), we would then reduce our dependancy on foreign oil.

I am against domestic drilling, not because I want all those Arabs to get rich off of us, but because high gas prices are the only thing that will drive private companies to develop clean energy practices. T. Boone Pickens is not in this because he is a tree hugger - he is a conservative that does everything he can to keep democrats out of office (he spent millions of his own money to campaign against John Kerry when he was running for president). He is a business man who is trying to make a profit. This is exactly what we need to make our planet a cleaner place.

Wind blew apart my brand new gate this winter. It blows away trailers in the midwest. Wind closed down the ski resort on the one day that we had made plans to go skiing. If it can do all this, why shouldn't we use it as a source of energy?

Take a look at the video below. Its actually quite interesting even if you know nothing about the subject. For an 80 year old man, he does a good job at getting through to the average Joe.

Props to Utah!

So we all know that "Utahonians" are a little weird. I haven't been there in a long time, but from what I remember, much of the "native" population has a fashion sense that is about 25 years outdated and they are just a little odd all around.

Then they have all those wacky laws - like the one requiring you to get some kind of membership in order to drink an alcoholic beverage in a bar. To outsiders (non-Mormons especially) Utah is sort of like going to one of those Amish villages in Pennsylvania - except for maybe just slightly more open to new technology.

While their sense of style may be lacking, the people of Utah sure have a progressive way of thinking when it comes to the environment. The State has just implemented a mandatory 4 day work week for most of their employees. The main reason for this was to save the state money in operating costs - mostly heating, A/C, etc.., but this also saves the employees money as well. Turning a 5 day commute into a 4 day commute can reduce gas consumption by as much as 20%.

In addition, its a step in the right direction when it comes to business and the environment. Government entities should be setting examples and being one of the first to offer incentives such as the 4 day workweek, carpooling rebates, and telecommuting to its employees. Instead, most government buildings have the AC blasting at below zero temps or every light on in every office 24/7. I'm glad that at least one state is going in the right direction. Maybe other states, as well as private business, will follow Utah's example.

Updates

Im going to copy Carlys blog this week and just add little updates about us since I don't have anything to rant about lately :o)

It looks like Jake will be receiving the cost of living raise he was promised afterall. The governor backpeddled and decided it would not be fair to the state employees and teachers in such difficult times.... So instead he cut textbooks funds and 4% operating costs in each department. I could write an entire blog posting about this, but don't have the energy to devote to that. Just remind me to vote for whatever Democrat is running against him during the next state election.

The kids and I have been spending a lot of time at the water park and lake. Last week they were in a city sponsored camp. It was $45/week from 7am-6pm and that INCLUDED breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as swimming, roller skating and bowling. Wow! Megan, being easily intimidated, was scared on the first day. She said that she wished that Jacob was her older brother instead of her younger brother, so that he could protect her. Jacob then responded with, "Megan, I can pretend to be your older brother". By the end of the week, Megan was asking if I would sign her up again.

The fires in N. Cal have pretty much ruined things for us in Reno. The air quality is horrible and you can barely be outside. We were supposed to go camping, but we had to reschedule due to the harsh air.

I went for an interview for the perfect PT job (well, not perfect, but close enough). It was for an HR position and the hours were from 9-3 (school hours). I left feeling pretty good about the interview, but was disappointed when I didnt hear back within the week. The lady finally called me the other day and said that they thought I was wonderful and that they were ready to offer me the job, but the company instituted a hiring freeze. ARRRRGGGHHH!

Megan is going on a flight all by herself. I am flying her down to spend a week with Jakes parents. Its a nonstop flight, so she should be ok, but of course Im a little nervous. I think itll be good for her though. I spent a lot of time with my grandparents, and as a result I am very close to them.

Below is a picture of Jake and I at Lake Tahoe yesterday. I have to say that we look way better now than we did when we were first married!

Ok, so summer vacation is not THAT bad, I guess

Summer vacation sure got off to a bad start. The kids had their last day of school on a Wednesday, and by Friday they had managed to get in enough trouble that they would be grounded for the next two weeks.

Fortunately, week 2 has seen a bit of an improvement. On Tuesday, we went to the Sparks Marina with a friend of mine. Its not really a "marina", its more like a large pit that was flooded back in the late 90's and turned into a lake/park with a beach and swimming area. The water is disgusting enough that the kids bathing suits smelled pretty raunchy when we got home that night. Nevertheless, they were really well behaved kids and managed to entertain themselves for a good 6 hours.

Today, we went to Lake Tahoe. Anyone who has been to Tahoe knows that the water there is unbearably cold. Kids seem to be immune to that though. Megan, being the tomboy she is, is completely a girly girl when it comes to having unrealistic and irrational fears of nature. She refuses to go camping because she is convinced a bear will rip through her tent and eat her. She also refused to go into the lake because she was afraid the crawdads would bite her. Those fears became a reality when Jacob managed to catch one. Apparently I have to buy her a pair of crocs before she will be comfortable wading in the frigid Tahoe waters. On another note, we now have a new pet crawdad. :o)

Gov. Jim Gibbons (R) sucks

I now have more reasons to come up with synonyms for the word "sucks". Except this time I would like to use more explicit ones.

Nevada is just one of the many states facing a budget crisis right now. Its hard to imagine, being that in the last ten years property taxes have skyrocketed due to the rising cost of housing. Yet, they havent gone down since the housing market has plummeted. So why are all these states broke???

Our dumbass, lying, cheating governor decided to call a special session in order to address this budget shortfall. He decided that "delaying" (ie. eliminating) the cost of living raises that state employees and teachers receive on Jul 1, would be part of the solution to the budget problem. Educators will most likely get the raise, since it is part of their already negotiated and signed contracts. The budget cuts will likely occur by slashing other school programs, which will in turn, directly affect the education of our children.

State employees already got screwed last year, when the governor persuaded the legislature to change the COLA raises from 3% last year and 3% this year, to 2% last year and 4% this year. Somehow this was supposed to "even out" for the employees, but it would save the state a gazillion dollars due to the compound interest it would gain in the additional year. However, it looks state employees got swindled last year and will get thrown to the wolves this year.

Meanwhile, this idiot is prancing about in his private jet, texting his mistress 865 unauthorized text messages on his state issued phone, and fighting his wife to keep the divorce proceedings private because he doesnt want anyone to know the real reason they are getting divorced.

Just another reason Republicans are no longer my party of choice.

One of Those Weeks

This past week has sucked.

Unpleasant, disagreeable, low quality, unsatisfying, crappy, sub-par, rotten, lousy... feel free to come up with more synonyms.