This is why I don’t use a roof rack, but an easily removed (and retrofitted to another car) rear rack:
Don’t leave an empty roof rack on your car
This can increase fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by up to 10% due to wind resistance and the extra weight – removing it is a better idea.
Top 50 Things To Do To Stop Global Warming Get more tips there.
I haven’t updated here in a while, and that’s not kosher. This morning I accompanied Amanda to Brookline. She’s here to get her hair done (don’t ask how much that costs) and I’m not really sure why I’m here. Maybe nostalgia for the old neighborhood? We’re in Coolidge Corner, which is a great neighborhood. We enjoyed living here very much. But it was damn expensive. Thus when it was buy-a-place time, we had to get out.
I’m coming to you courtesy of Bruegger’s free WiFi service. They have great bacon egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches. I suggest having one on an Asiago cheese square bagel. I first stopped at Starbucks for my tea+ WiFi fix, but the one at Coolidge is tiny and every seat was filled. There WiFi isn’t free, which bugs me, but my company has an unlimited T-Mobile account, and I could have used that. Frankly, I’m a fan of that sugary Oregon Chai Tea that Starbucks doesn’t sell, but Bruegger’s does. And it’s cheaper, and it comes with free WiFi, and it doesn’t have the Starbucks ambience but it does have enough seating. Plus the login page on the WiFI (you don’t actually have to enter any personal info, it just looks like you do) says I can stay as long as I’d like. Good, because I need to stay out of the 17° temps for two hours.
Here’s some photographic proof, although I’m happier than I appear in the picture. The iSight doesn’t capture the true emotion in a snap shot.
I made an early morning run to Manchester, NH this morning, to drop the better half off at the airport. She had found a very affordable fare to visit a friend this weekend.
Recently, Manchester decided to rename the airport from merely “Manchester Airport” to “Manchester-Boston Regional Airport” to attract more customers. Some people don’t realize many people who work in Boston, live in southern New Hampshire. It’s about an hour or less commute. So if you’re looking for a good fare to Boston, then flying to Manchester could get you a better rate. Same deal with Providence to the south, though I know of few people who live in Rhode Island and commute to Boston.
But if you’re in Boston (and for my purposes here, let’s say within the 128 loop), my advice is that unless you’re saving a bundle, or unless you can get a direct flight to an out-of-the-way airport that you can’t get direct from Logan, don’t bother with Manchester. It’s quite a hike.
For us in Medford, I can get to Logan in like 15 minutes door-to-drop-off. So long as I don’t go at rush hour. But still, in rush hour, I would still get to Logan faster. So that fare had better be pretty cheap. Amanda had a Southwest flight that was $150 roundtrip. Unfortunately, she didn’t check Logan after finding this flight, so she may have saved some cash, but I will have driven four hours this weekend. So think how much four hours is worth to you before using Manchester.
4 of 5 Stars. Recommended for an active shell without a hood.
Feb 1, 2007 by
Brian Christiansen
★★★★☆ [prologue: The formatting is a little odd here because this was preformatted by hReview Creator. ]
At the end of December, I had the good fortune to get a couple of Eastern Mountain Sports gift certificates. With those I decided I needed an alternative to my long loved LL Bean XCR GoreTex hard shell which has served me well over the last five years. The shell is great, although it’s time to clean and retreat it, and has weathered some serious downpours, and it’s three layers of GoreTex have kept me bone dry, while keeping me reasonably comfortable internally. It did have some downsides, though. One being that it has no thermal qualities of its own, so if I wanted a shell, but it was mid-fall, I’d have to put a thin fleece underneath. So I’d be wearing two jackets. If it’s crazy cold and windy out, the shell plus my LL Bean PrimaLoft jacket underneath make for a formidable, if bulky, combination. But frigid and windy is currently the exception weather-wise in Massachusetts. Drawback number two is that the hardshell is noisy. Any form of movement would ruffle the sails, and it would amplify if the hood was up.
So, despite the years of dedicated service of this excellent shell, I needed something a little more appropriate for everyday use. I had heard that soft-shells offered comparable performance with few drawbacks. So I trotted down to EMS with my gift certificates in hand to find a black, hoodless softshell suitable for everyday use, perhaps winter on-bike use, and as an option for any cool weather sport (usually hiking). (more…)
Dear Boston, chill out.
But seriously. You need to let these guys go. Just because you thought their Lite Brite installations were bombs doesn’t make that so. In the justice system, you need to prove intent. Clearly, there was no malfeasance here. And ten other cities saw these and didn’t regard them as a threat. You’re just wasting our tax dollars by keeping them locked up and processing them through the legal system. Let alone the unnecessary suffering of the two men. They’ve been able to public keep a good sense of humor, maybe Boston authorities should simply come to their senses.
Now that brings us to another point: clearly Boston needs to save face here. I’d say that’s not a problem: public safety officials responded very quickly to (albeit incorrect) information that came from the public. I think the best way to spin this is to say it worked well as an un-planned drill.
Of course, that brings up the cost of the whole operation. If you really think that this was wrong, then you’re going to need to deal with the marketing firm or Turner Broadcasting. You have to leave the little guys out of it. They’re just working for a paycheck, and not doing anything illegal. Boston’s Mayor Menino said something to this effect this evening on the local news, and it was the first smart thing I think anyone’s said thus far.
I wrote to the city this afternoon to express these concerns. It winds up that these people are friends of a friend (or possibly, friends of a friend’s friend). I received an email informing me of this. You too can contact Boston City Hall and let them know your feelings. My emails were addressed to:
mayor@cityofboston.gov
and
law@cityofboston.gov
I hope everyone with an opinion writes in. Let’s not let this thing get out of hand.
{Picture at top of post} Best thing I’ve seen thus far, a woman standing behind someone getting interviewed, With a nice printed sign. At the top it read “1/31/07″ in the middle it had a picture of Mooninite Lite Brite and at the bottom it read “Never Forget.”
UPDATE: There were two fake pipe bombs found yesterday. The cops think they know who did it, and he’s not in jail.
