Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! I am writing this post at 7:00 at night - and I haven't had a single trick-or-treater yet. Crazy! I remember when I was a kid... as soon as I finished dinner we got to go trick-or-treating. I'm sure it was no later than 6:30 when I started! Not sure when they'll start coming, but I'm turning off my porch light at 9:00! Anyway, I thought I'd share this picture with you. At work, our group (the systems group) decided to dress up as "The Grading Scale". I know that might be a little corny, but it's fitting for a Registrar's Office! Anyway, here we are, dressed as A, B, C, D, and F. Diana was super excited to be the F because she got to wear sweats and slippers to work - lucky her! She even brought her "homework" which had a bite out of if from her dog and was stuck together with chewing gum :-)

100-Post Club!

Today I join the ranks of my fellow bloggers who have reached the 100-post mark! Can you tell that I really enjoy blogging? I have averaged about 10 posts per month, and I actively read my friends' blogs. I've never really been a phone talker, and am not that great at sending personal emails, so I love this method of communication. It has been so much fun to reconnect with old friends via blogging. So, along the lines of blogging, thought I'd share these quotes that I found - enjoy!

• A blog is in many ways a continuing conversation. ~Andrew Sullivan
• Blogging is the new poetry. ~Unknown
• A blog is merely a tool that lets you do anything from change the world to share your shopping list. ~Unknown
• A blog is a personal diary. A daily pulpit. A collaborative space. A political soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A collection of links. Your own private thoughts. Memos to the world. ~Blogger
• Your blog is what you say when there is nobody standing over your shoulder telling you what to do. ~Lorelle

Have You Seen Chuck?

While The Office still tops my list of weekly must-see tv, the new comedy Chuck is a close second. This hour-long show on Monday nights keeps me laughing and wondering what will happen next. Chuck is a computer nerd who plays spy in his spare time. He basically accidentally downloaded a bunch of government secrets into his brain, and when triggered by a person or image, the related government secrets flash through his mind. He is then able to help his fellow spies solve mysteries and capture the "bad guys". If you haven't seen it, you can catch up by watching previous episodes on nbc.com (although their video player sucks). I give Chuck two thumbs up, and look forward to the show every week!

Yardwork!

I love my mature landscaping, but it sure is a lot of work to maintain! For those of you who haven't visited my house, I have wisteria growing up and over the roof of my deck. Once spring hits, my deck is almost completely covered - keeping the sun, rain, etc. out. I love walking out back when the purple flowers are in bloom because it smells so sweet. But wisteria is messy! Once those purple flowers drop, I will sweep the deck for weeks. And then in the fall, when the leaves of the wisteria drop, there are several more weeks of sweeping - of course they don't all drop at once! I spent about 4 hours yesterday afternoon doing yardwork... pruning, raking, digging up the plants in my garden, etc (the picture isn't even a fraction of what was done - I have about 20 bags of trash this week). I was dreading getting on the roof to prune back the wisteria growing over the house and to clean out the gutters that were filled to the brim with wisteria leaves. Luckily, I was able to recruit my sister Beki and her friend Spencer to do the roof job... it took them quite a while to prune, clean the gutters, and unclog my drain spout - thanks guys!

Unleash Your Inner Chef

Each semester, Boise State has an "Unleash Your Inner Chef" night, featuring one kind of cooking or another. I loved the class I attended in the spring (featuring local and organic cooking), so I jumped at the opportunity to attend this semester's Mediterranean cooking class. I was not let down! We learned how to make and got to sample hummus, risotto, bruschetta, polenta, and more. I especially loved all the cheeses we got to sample. And when I say sample, I mean heaping plates with seconds :-) I am excited to try some of the new recipes I got, and when I do, I'll let you know how they turn out on our recipe blog!

Schrute Buck

To all of you Office fans out there - I just thought this was fun so had to share!

Iron Chef Boise

I went on a date with my dad tonight to Iron Chef Boise IV. It was so much fun watching two local chefs battle it out for the title of "champion". The secret ingredient tonight was lamb, and let me tell you... everything smelled SOOO good! For those of you familiar with the Egyptian Theater in Boise, I sat up in the balcony, and the smell of the food made me hungry all night. I was hoping to win the raffle or one of the auctions to taste the food, but the bidding on the plates went pretty high because it was for charity. Thanks dad for the great evening!

I Splurged!

Have you ever been in the middle of vacuuming and needed a new vacuum bag, only to realize that you don't have one on hand? Well, that was my situation a couple weeks ago. I had been pondering getting a new vacuum cleaner for a while, and so instead of going to the store to buy vacuum bags, I splurged and bought a new bagless Dyson vacuum. It works beautifully, and I'm so happy not to ever need to change a vacuum cleaner bag again!

One Less Napkin

Tonight's energy efficiency class was entertaining and enlightening. The program focused on the four R's - rethink, reduce, reuse, and recycle. I think most of us have heard of the reduce, reuse, recycle part, but it was the rethink part that I really liked. Here are some of my key takeaways from tonight:

• The average American throws away 1460 pounds of garbage every year - we are so wasteful!
  
• Look at packaging! If you have the option of a styrofoam egg carton or a paper one, pick the paper - it can be recycled when you're finished.
  
• I learned a cool new term - precycle! Instead of purchasing several small containers of yogurt, purchase one large one - this creates less waste. Consider purchasing a small box of jello and making it up at home rather than purchasing the individually packaged jellos. It may be more convenient, but a small recyclable box creates a lot less waste than the cardboard packaging, 6 small plastic jello cups, and the foil lids. If possible, buy items with no packaging at all.
  
• The average distance food on an American's dinner plate has traveled is 1700 miles! Consider buying local or only fruit that is in season.
• Ride your bicycle when the weather is nice instead of driving your car.
• Donate items when possible instead of throwing them away. Local organizations such as Computers for Kids are more than happy to take used computers and monitors off your hands for a good cause, when otherwise you would need to take them to the local hazardous waste pickup. The average CRT monitor contains 8 pounds of lead!!!
  
• Glass is not picked up as part of the curbside recycling in Boise, but there are drop off sites. The glass is recycled locally - every couple years, the ACHD grinds down all the glass that has been collected, and the glass is then used in the makeup of the sub-surface of our roadways. In fact, 90% is rock and 10% recycled glass, which is reported to help with drainage, etc.
  
• If you register with Greendimes, you can actually reduce the amount of junk mail that is sent to you, thus reducing your waste. There is a small charge to register, but in return, they'll plant 10 trees on your behalf. How cool is that!!!?!
  

Toilet Talk

Today I took a picture in an airport bathroom stall... I know what you're thinking... that I visited the Minnesota airport bathroom made famous by our senator. Nope, nice try, though. I actually was in Portland today for a workshop. As I walked into the bathroom stall in PDX, I noticed right away the green flush handle on the toilet. I quickly realized that it was a dual-flush toilet. I had heard of dual-flush toilets before but had never actually seen or used one. They're pretty cool - you are supposed to lift the handle up for #1 and push the handle down for #2. Lifting the handle up triggers a "half flush", using less water than a typical flush. Just one more way to be environmentally friendly and save money on your water bill!

Oh, and sorry it's not the best picture... I was kind of embarrassed to be pulling out my camera in the middle of the bathroom :-)

Weekend Jaunt

My mom, dad, and sister Beki picked me up at 6am Saturday morning as we headed up to Moscow for my sister Mandi's surprise baby shower. Mandi is due the beginning of December, and is expecting a girl. A few months ago, I got this great idea to make Mandi's baby a quilt. Not quite sure how I got that idea, because I'm not much of a sewer, and I've never attempted a quilt. A friend's mom suggested I make a rag quilt, and after finding a picture in a magazine, I decided to go for it. I made up a pattern, bought some fabric, and started cutting and sewing. I was so excited to give Mandi my present - it turned out SO cute (the pictures don't do it justice). Anyway, it was fun to surprise Mandi and see how big her belly is.

Un-4-Gettable

Un-4-Gettable - This was the headline of the Idaho Statesman this morning. Now, I really didn't plan on blogging this much about Boise State football, but it really is incredible to watch. Last night was a nail biter. I have no clue what happened to our defense, but I think they were definitely somewhere else besides Bronco stadium. In all reality, Nevada's offense played great, but how the heck did they keep running right through our defense? One of my co-workers described it like the parting of the red sea :-) Anyway, that's beside the point. Last night's game was super intense, tied at the end of the game 44-44. We were tied after the first over time, 51-51. We were tied after the second overtime, 58-58. We were tied after the third overtime, 61-61. Finally, we pulled ahead to win the game in the 4th overtime, winning 69-67. I'm sure glad we won, but here are some interesting facts from the game:

• Highest scoring game in NCAA football history (since 1937, when they started keeping track) – 136
• Most overtimes in WAC history
• BSU had given up 61 points all season - the scoring average rose from 12.2 per game to 21.3 points per game
• BSU is 23-4 on ESPN

Get Your Ducts in a Row

Did you know that today is Blog Action Day? Lucky me, I still needed to blog about last week's energy efficiency class :-) Get Your Ducts in a Row was all about making sure the ducts in your house are sealed properly. Here are a couple of the key things I took away from the class:

• Energy audits are more than just seeing if you need to seal your ducts or replace your windows - they look at your entire building plus your lifestyles and habits (i.e. do you take 30 minutes showers).
• Air sealing - where is air getting into or escaping from your house. A couple of places that I want to check it behind my plug-ins and my floor vents. Is there a way that I can caulk or foam to prevent leakage?
• Metal tape or mastic can help seal up small leaks in your ducts - some of the pictures that we saw had ducts completely separated from each other, allowing huge amounts of air to escape.
  

The Office Sticky Notes

My boss is pretty cool. I stepped away from my desk for a couple minutes earlier today, and when I came back, there were these fun "Office" sticky notes on my desk :-) She knows me well! Thanks Kris!!!

CFLs Light the Way to Savings

CFL light bulbs are pretty cool. I have replaced almost every light bulb in my house with these energy-saving, long-lasting compact fluorescent light bulbs. It's true that these bulbs often cost a little more at the store than regular bulbs, but they last up to 13 times longer, so they really are a better value for your money. Not only that, but they will save you money on your power bill as well. CFLs use up to 75% less energy than incandescent light bulbs. Did you know that if every home in America replaced just one incandescent light bulb with an Energy Star-qualified CFL, the EPA says that we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes and would eliminate some 800,000 cars' worth of greenhouse-gas emissions annually? So I challenge you to change a light bulb today!

PS - If you want to read more, I borrowed most of my info for this post from an article I read in this month's Costco Connection

Domination!

Wahoo! I love Boise State football! I think I decided that next year I'm going to buy season tickets. I just love watching those boys dominate the competition :-) I lucked out tonight and got to attend the Boise State game with my friend Diana (her husband was out of town fishing, so I got his ticket - thanks Ben!) It was a beautiful night for a game. It was televised on ESPN, and to make things a little more exciting, the fans in the upper bowl wore orange while the lower bowl wore blue. The game was not disappointing - Boise State creamed New Mexico State 58-0. We only punted once the entire game, and held New Mexico State to less than 90 yards total offense (while we had over 600 yards!) We even had our third-string offense in at the end of the game! All I can I say is that Boise State football rules! An added bonus - I get 58% off a Chicago Connection pizza tomorrow, as they promised a discount equal to the point differential :-)

Cleaning up Mother Earth

Boise State's Division of Student Affairs recently adopted a stretch of highway just outside Boise. For those of you familiar with the area, it's the last mile up the summit before Horseshoe Bend, and then the first mile down the hill. Yesterday was our first time of cleaning the highway, so there was lots of trash to be picked up. We spent 1 1/2 hours picking up garbage, collecting total of 12 bags of garbage and 3 bags of recycling. I had a good time, and I got to know some of my colleagues a little better. It's always nice to feel like I can make a difference - I'll definitely be joining in next time around!

Beyond the Green

Last night I attended the second energy efficiency workshop. This one was focused on building or remodeling with sustainable products. I learned about some cool green building products - I am excited to implement some of these as I update my house!

• Typical carpet backing, paint, and cabinetry have loads of toxins, which affect indoor air quality. In fact, indoor concentrations of volatile organic compounds are often 2-5x greater than outdoors!
  
• Bamboo is a great flooring product. It it not only beautiful and super hard, but bamboo is fast growing - so when it is cut down to create flooring materials, it replenishes quickly.
• There is this cool insulation on the market that is made of recycled denim - it won't irritate your skin like fiberglass does! It's also very sound absorbent, unlike regular insulation.
  
• There are certain brands of paints that are low in odor and toxins.
  
• There are some great sustainable countertop options. My favorite is paperstone - made of 50-100% recycled paper!!!
• A lot of people think that they need to upgrade their windows to cut back on air leakage. The truth is that leaky ducts can cause 30-60% of air loss in a house (compared to about 15% from your windows). So we should get our leaks fixed/sealed first, then get new windows if there is money left over!
  

Be an ENERGY STAR!

Okay, I know you've all been waiting for this one :-) A couple weeks ago I posted about an energy efficiency workshop series that my sister-in-law organized. Well, I attended the first workshop last week and learned some interesting tidbits. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring note paper to the workshop, so I don't have all the cool facts & figures, but here are a few of the tips I learned:

• Did you know you're supposed to clean the coils on the back of your refrigerator? Wow - that one had never crossed my mind. They suggest you clean them annually...
• Check the placement of your air conditioning unit - is it on the west side of your house getting direct hot afternoon sunlight? If so, consider trying to shade (without suffocating) your unit. This will make it more efficient.
• Considering replacing your windows? I'd never thought about this one, but it makes sense... you may need different windows on the different sides of your house. For example, you may want one type of windows on the north and south sides of your house and a different type for the east and west sides that see direct sunlight. There are websites that can help you determine this, and I'm sure window companies may have suggestions as well.
• Insulating your attic is important! You should also make sure that it is ventilated so that air can circulate up there. If there is no circulation and poor insulation, all that heat can seep into your house.
• Idaho Power offers several incentive programs, including rebates for purchasing energy efficient air conditioners, monthly discounts during the summer if you sign up for the A/C Cool program, etc.