The End of Spring Break

Well, I had outrageously overly ambitious plans. I now laugh at myself for thinking that I had time to:

• get the car cleaned
  
• start the scarf for CL
  
• go to a single yoga class, never mind the blitz I was imagining
  
• see a movie in a theater (mostly because I missed everything I wanted to see in a theater)
  
• get the computers/printers/other assorted defunct tech stuff donated
  
• go birding
  
• attend a wedding ( I had time but I wasn't well enough yet)
  
• re-establish financial order
  
• attend two committee meetings (I was double booked)
  
• have a picnic
  
• attend the community knit
  
• track down the mysteriously unfilled holds at the library
  

I had partial success with:

• cleaning out scary corners- some progress made in the office but it is still a wreck; the public areas of the house are ok, but closets and cabinets are still pretty scary
  
• the stack of paper to be dealt with is smaller, though not diminished entirely
  
• I didn't make Shaker lemon pie, but I made Shaker lemon pie inspired muffins instead
  
• small donations to Freecycle and East Bay Depot
  
• first leg of travel plans made, still need to figure out what I'm doing on the way back from Johnstown
  
• some progress on nominating committee business
  

Actual success:

• I am well! No more creepy new symptoms
  
• I remembered all my meds, and the cat's meds, too
  
• I got my Oakland Museum card with my actual name on it
  
• kitchen and bathroom floors mopped
  
• microwave cleaned
  
• fingerless gloves finished
  
• I am on the final stripe sequence on the endless blanket
  
• All books labeled, ready to lend to teachers (thanks, Karen!)
  
• breakfast muffins made for 2 weeks
  
• hosted unfinished business party
  
• car serviced
  
• atm cards wired to correct accounts
  
• bills paid
  
• taxes paid and mailed
  
• LOTS of laundry done
  
• registered for FGC
  
• read 4 books
  
• cooking: food for the party, to take to various events, to have for lunch and dinner this next week
  
• ate out for breakfast, lunch and dinner (not every day, of course)
  
• went to two different farmers markets and two different libraries 
  
• got a haircut
  
• went to the fabulous ACCI gallery seconds sale

Carbon Footprint Calculators

Here are a few carbon footprint calculators, with the pluses and minuses of each:

Al Gore's site:

The advantages to this site are that it is easy to enter revised figures, it's easy to use, and it's fast. You can quickly see the effect of adding or subtracting one airline flight a year, or changing the model of car that you drive. One disadvantage is that there is nothing about consumption- the site only includes transportation (car and airplane) and home energy use. I do wonder how accurate it is- the site doesn't allow you to enter exact values. I suspect I may have gotten more credit for efficiency with my Prius than I really get.

EPA:

This site is also easy to use, and it suggests actions to take and calculates the reduction to your footprint that these actions would cause. However, it doesn't automatically recalculate if you change one of your entries- you have to refresh the entire page. Air travel is not included, and there is a lot of emphasis on recycling, but not on reducing use in the first place. And it doesn't include anything about the consumption of goods.

Cool California:

This was the most difficult site to use: you have to enter information on various screens, and on dial-up this was excruciatingly slow. It also uses your annual income to preset average values-- you then have to override if your figures are different. Though I appreciated that they were trying to account for consumption, I found the screens for goods and services to be confusing and hard to estimate. I also didn't like that they don't use the same format for all graphs. They use a vertical bar graph and a pie chart for your individual results, and use a horizontal bar graph for comparison to average state, country, and world consumption.

Atmosfair:

It has a nice graph comparing the carbon footprint of airline flights to car use, refrigerator output for a year, and the average annual emissions of an Indian. On the downside, the comparisons were all in euros and kilograms. The Al Gore site has a link to a flight calculator that is in "American."

All of the sites give widely diverging results, so it's hard to know really where you stand. I come out as way below average for Americans on the Al Gore site (again, doesn't include consumption), about 45% of average at the EPA site (which, remember, doesn't include air travel); and 42% of  an average Californian's emissions on the Cool California site.

Spring Break, Here at LAST

Despite the setback of pinkeye in the OTHER eye and ear infections in BOTH ears, I have now ascended into the land of moderately sick and well-medicated. I'm almost well enough to enjoy my 10 day weekend.

As always, I have completely unrealistic plans, which include:

1. getting the Oakland Museum to send me a membership card with my actual name on it
   
2. mopping the really scary kitchen floor
   
3. cleaning out the equally scary microwave
   
4. making Shaker lemon pie
   
5. finishing my fingerless gloves, including weaving in the ends
   
6. cleaning out all sorts of scary corners, but especially the office (this, alone, would be enough for one week)
   
7. donating all the stuff found in those scary corners to the appropriate agencies
   
8. getting the car serviced
   
9. getting the car cleaned
   
10. getting my atm cards wired to the correct accounts
    
11. hosting my "unfinished business" party
    
12. making summer travel plans
    
13. reading at least some of the 35 books I have checked out from the library
    
14. progressing on the endless blanket
    
15. starting the scarf for CL
    
16. labeling the stash of books for school so that I can lend them to teachers
    
17. seeing a movie in a theater
    
18. getting the computers and printers ready to donate/recycle
    
19. taking several yoga classes to find out which one(s) could be added to my routine
    
20. going birding
    
21. mailing in the taxes
    
22. sorting out the ten inch stack of paper that I keep avoiding
    
23. re-establishing some financial order
    
24. walking every day
    
25. registering for Friends General Conference Gathering
    
26. attending two committee meetings
    
27. attending a wedding
    
28. attending the community knit at Piedmont Yarn and Apparel
    
29. attending the party for our newest member of meeting
    
30. making snacks for singing (maybe the aforementioned shaker pie)
    
31. having lunch out
    
32. having a picnic
    
33. blogging
    
34. playing on Ravelry
    
35. cooking: can I use up those fruits and veggies before they go bad?
    
36. convince the library to actually send me the books I have on hold that the computer says are on the shelf
37. visiting as many libraries and farmers markets as I can possibly squeeze into one week
38. remembering to take all the various prescribed antibiotics
39. remembering to dose the cat, too

There's more, but I'm tired already. I know I'm being goofy, but I really love the first day of a vacation. Time seems infinite! 

Um, Remind Me Why I Didn't Get a Flu Shot

There are worse things in the world than the flu, I realize. But I am going to whine anyway. I'm glad I feel well enough to whine, actually. I barely got out of bed Sunday and Monday, except to run quick but necessary errands. I hope to remember for next time that it is much easier to pick out a cold/flu remedy when not actually suffering cold/flu symptoms. It is also easier to do four loads of laundry and several days worth of dishes when well. Finally, though I might have come down with the flu even if I had got the damn shot, at least I would be feeling righteously indignant instead of stupid. I hate feeling stupid.

 I had planned to go to back to work today, but I woke up with what may be pinkeye. After braving a humorless advice nurse and the surliest hospital volunteer you could ever hope to meet, I needed a lift. So I went on a mini-shopping spree, scoring pretty office supplies, shower sauna tablets, and books, magazines, and videos at the library. A nutritious lunch, a stop at the vet for pet meds (kinda weird how the cat needs medical attention pretty much at the same time I need medical attention), and a stop to drool over gorgeous yarn at Piedmont Yarn and Apparel rounded out the trip. As long as I don't mix up my eye drops with Zila's hairball treatment, we'll both be fine.

Into the Light

Inder did her version of this post (twice), but I, too, feel the need to catalog signs of spring. For many reasons,  I feel like I don't take a really deep breath until spring. Here's some of the evidence I've collected that we're headed into the light (there would be more if Flickr and Blogger would only cooperate):

Thin Mints and more...

I haven't bought any asparagus yet. I'm holding out for organic.

Tulips, french and plain.

blossoms, blossoms, and more blossoms.

adorable shoes.

Happy spring!