Lake Wisteria

As you can see, it is a little after 8:30 and I am online instead of at school. I don't think I have to explain to anyone why I am not in Springfield, do I? This is a picture of the end of my street at about 8. The car is the middle was a young girl from MTZ who babysits at a house almost exactly across the street from me. You can also see two other cars that are normally parked on the sides on the street. We had been down to check the water level a few times prior to this picture and they were even higher at that point in time. I am sure that the water will go down soon (at least I hope so because my mom has to go to work.) I really love my neighbors! Every time something like this happens they are always willing to help. We had another flood a year or so ago and everyone was helping then too, and don't get me started on the Wisteria Street annual snow dig-outs we have. Here are a few other pictures of cars driving past my street (on Arbor) and my wonderful neighbors.

This almost the same picture as the one above, but you can now see the Burdick truck crossing "The Arbor Rapids."
This is what good neighbors look like. The water was so cold, so I'm glad they let my be the camera lady. ;-) They were almost out of he water in this picture, but they had to push her car the rest of the way down the street because it wouldn't start.

P.S. A small part of Kyle's walk in basement is flooded too.

Gas Tank Tips

I know everyone is worried about inflation and gas prices, so I did some light research.  I found tons of tips on saving gas so I figured I would share some. . .

1. Drive on highways as much as possible to avoid stop-and-go traffic
   
2. Take off slowly - fast acceleration sucks up gas
   
3. Turn off the air condition - using windows (when driving under 40 mph) can use 10-20%
   
4. Make sure your tires are filled to the right pressure
   
5. Get oil changes on time
   
6. Car-pool when you can
   
7. Don't turn on your car to warm up when you don't have to
   
8. Follow the speed limit - going 65 instead of 75 can save 10%
   
9. Empty your trunk - storing lawn chairs and whatever else can create more weight
   
10. Don't idle for more then 1 min., just turn it off - that's why hybrid cars get the same gas mileage in town and highway because they don't use gas to idle (or so this web site says)
    
11. Fill you gas up when its cooler out and put the cap on tight - less gas will evaporate
    
12. Don't waste gas looking for a parking spot just walk!- when my grandpa parks out really far he tells my grandma that he is saving her life ;-)
    
13. and last...but not least... www.GasBuddy.com it shows local gas prices so you can get a deal when you do have to fill up.  

I hope someone saves a little gas.  Feel free to leave any other tips you might have.

EARTH DAY ! !

Today is, yes you guessed it, Earth Day! Go do something green even if you can't plant a tree. I know the day has been all about seeing how many millions of trees people can plant on the same day, but that isn't all its about. I think that it is cool and important, but there are so many other things. Just do something that you can do to make things better. Do that green thing that you have been putting off because it takes too much time or isn't fun. Or just read something, learn about the things you can do. There are so many people and companies claiming to be green that it is hard to tell what's true (and if you find out let me know!). Learn what it means to be green. Just remember what we do today will effect our kids and grand kids tomorrow! Happy Earth Day!

Cleaning Cars

Sunday was "clean your car day" at my house (at least for Kyle and I), and for any of you that have ever looked in Kyle's car, you know that it does need an entire day. So Kyle and I got all of the junk out of our cars and then took them to get vacuumed and car washes. It was defiantly an accomplishment. For a short while there were multiple garbage bags on my driveway (all of which were from Kyle's car). My mom, half joking, asked if we needed to schedule a special garbage pick up for his bags. It is clean now, but we will wait and see how long it can stay this way.

The funny part of the story comes in when my dad was talking to our neighbor. His name is Darin and he is the associate pastor for First Christian Church. They were both out mowing the lawn for the first time of the season and started talking. Darin asked my dad if Kyle and I had broken up. My dad said no and asked why he might have thought that. Darin said he saw Kyle messing around in his car with lots of garbage bags, so he thought that Kyle was taking all of his stuff home! I thought that was too funny! I knew those of you who read this would understand because you all know how messy Kyle is!

Just a thought

Isn’t it ironic how when the whole world is spinning and you are so overwhelmed that you want nothing more than to be alone in thought, that people come in herds.

There are other times when you have so much to say that you feel like if you don’t talk to someone and work through it that your insides will explode, but there are no words to say how you feel and no one around that wants to hears them.

Websites

Here are a couple of interesting websites that I have come across over the last few days. Let me know what you think. . . .

http://www.FreeRice.com This site is really cool. This asks you vocabulary questions. For each one you get right the site donates 20 grains of rice to a foreign country that is in need. Kyle checked it out and it is legitimate!

http://www.MonkeySee.com I haven't looked around on this one too much yet. It is full of videos of people doing things. They are all instructional videos, but there are some "unique" things that people are teaching. Other videos may come in handy for something else...who knows...

Last but not least. . . http://www.CoolSiteOfTheDay.comThis site is crazy. It is pretty much what the URL says. It gives a new site everyday. It also has the quote of the day, word of the day, birthday, and even a hangman of the day! I haven't looked at it too much either so I cannot say that it is all..PG...you know with Internet stuff you can never tell. I haven't signed up yet. I am waiting for Kyle to check it out for me.

Coffee Day

So if any of you follow business news, or maybe just coffee news, then you know about the problems Starbucks is having. I'm not going to get into details about it. If you want to know I'm sure you could find an article somewhere. Anyways, someone from Starbucks in Springfield came to my business class today. We talked about their issues from a business standpoint, but we also had a coffee tasting. We tasted something new called like Pike Place Roast or something. I'm sure you all know how to do a coffee tasting, but i never had. It was kinda fun. I didn't really like the coffee, but it was fun. Who knows maybe someday I'll like it....there is always hope