Sticky Notes

I had a whole pile of sticky notes a few weeks ago. Now I am down to my last two. Guess it's time to find some more.

Dale

Putting holes in things.

Well, it's about to get cold. That means one thing. We need to get out and do as many warm weather activities as we can before it's too late. About a week ago Shala, and I went out and killed some empty soda cans. We went to the Arapaho National Forest and hiked to a nice open area, away from people and with a good back drop. It was a pretty nice day. We went through about 100 rounds and maybe 30 soda cans and 2 targets. I highly recommend the shoot'n'see targets. They show bright green or orange where you hit instead of just a tiny hole. Shala's .380 had a few failure to fires, and upon cleaning it, I found a broken firing pin spring, but the manufacturer has a free firing pin assembly on the way to us now so everything should be good. My .40 was almost flawless except for a few rounds that tried to get hung up on the feed ramp. I have since removed the factory paint from the feed ramp and polished it up to a brilliant shine. I think next time we're going to take Trevor with us so we can teach him how to shoot.

Ruben

A Few Tips I Picked Up Last Night

Did you know that Fall is a great time to fertilize your plants and lawn? It seems a little counterintuitive, but it's true! Feeding and seeding in the Fall helps your plants and lawn recover from Summer stress and promotes root growth throughout Winter for healthier plants and grass in the Spring. Fall is also a wonderful time to start a compost bin. While you're clearing out the dead foliage from your flower and vegetable beds, (which you definitely want to do to reduce bugs and plant disease) add it to your compost. If you have trees, don't send your leaves to the dump. Put those bad boys in your compost too! Just make sure none of the goodies you add to your compost are diseased and are just on their way out naturally. You'll be glad you did when the next year rolls around.


-Shala

Preventing Fall Allergies

Ca-choo! Hi everyone.  Well, I love Fall but my allergies are killing me right now. For about the last 2-3 weeks I've done nothing but sneeze, cough, and blow my nose all day.  Medicine seems to help a little, but not always.  If you're like me here are some helpful tips I found for preventing Fall allergies:

1. Pay attention to the weather. Warm, windy days tend to have more ragweed pollen in the air, so staying indoors can help you feel better.
2. Plan outside activities for afternoons, when the pollen and mold spore counts are often lower than any other time of day.
3. After spending time outside, clean your hair and clothing to wash away any allergens.
4. Keep your car and house windows closed to prevent allergens from coming in.
5. Run your air conditioner to help clean the air.
6. Take allergy medicine preventatively rather than waiting until symptoms start to kick in. If you are looking for drug-free methods - stay away from dairy products and sugar, eat a variety of fruits and veggies, and invest in a saline nasal spray. 
7. Let someone else handle your yard work since mold can thrive in piles of leaves and can cause you to itch and sneeze.
8. Stay indoors after your lawn is mowed, since this can stir up allergens in the air.
9. Remove indoor plants from your home (or at least keep them to a minimum), as the soil can be a breeding ground for mold.
10. If you must spend time in your yard, wear a mask when pollen and mold spores are out in full force.

Ta ta for now,
Allison

Some Quotes

Here is a quote I saw that I think is amusing b/c I always hear the older generation talking about the younger generation.

"Those who criticize our generation forget who raised it."


Here are a few more quotes that I saw that I thought were good:

"The only time you run out of chances is when you stop taking them."

"Everyday is a gift, that’s why they call it the present."

"I have enjoyed life a lot more by saying yes than by saying no."

"Try and fail, but don’t fail to try."

"People can live one hundred years without really living a minute."

Happy Thursday
Dale

The Dilemma

Recently, computer time has been a bit of a struggle in my household.  Until last weekend I had a MacBook Pro and an HP desktop.  Well, one night about two weeks prior my desktop decided it didn't want to turn on anymore, and when I tried one last time to power it up sparks ensued.  Needless to say, it semi-blew up and is no longer usable. I've had it since college so in technology years it is getting kind of old and I knew this day would come.  However, my girlfriend Megan and I both are in grad school and sharing one computer has not been working out so hot.  She has three classes which of course involve lots of assignments, and I am in an online masters program that is obviously totally reliant on the use of a computer. I should also mention that it is my final week of my current class and I have a 400-point 12+ page paper due in two days (I'm on page 4 right now).  Given the student promotion that is going on at Apple until the end of the day today, we decided to go get another computer.  We opted for getting something a bit different and got a MacBook Air. After my desktop blew up that had tons of files on it, we also thought it would be a good idea to get some sort of an external hard drive.  Our sales rep was very knowledgeable and told us about Apple's Time Capsule.  It's the best router on the market that also happens to have a 2 TB hard drive built in, and with the time machine app on mac computers it makes it super easy to backup all of your data everyday.  The next morning we setup our new router and gathered the warranty information and receipt together so we could file them.  That is when I noticed that we were never charged for the router ( a $300 value).  Megan, being the upstanding moral person that she is said we had to do something and it would bother her if we didn't at least call the store.  So, yesterday we called the Apple store and told them what had happened and the lady on the other end of the phone was completely stunned.  Never in her years of working at that store had anyone came in or called and pointed out that hey had not been charged for something.  She thanked us for our honesty and said she really didn't know what the proper procedure was for this, so she asked us to bring the router box into the store.  Today after work Megan is taking the box into the store, where I am assuming they will charge us for the router.  Now, I know I can't really be disappointed because it is money we would have spent anyway, however I can't help but be a little bummed.  I kept thinking that maybe we would be rewarded for doing the right thing, but I guess that kind of defeats the purpose right? We both asked several of our friends and family what they would have done in this situation and we got mixed results.  These were the most common answers we got:
* Just keep it, Apple makes enough money they don't need your measly $300.
* Take it back, it will bother you forever if you don't.
* No one will ever know...and if it breaks later it's not like you paid for it anyway.  You spent enough on the computer, they owe you. 
What do you think? What would you do?

Allison

Things That Make You Go...Meooow!

If your neighborhood is like mine, you can't go a night without hearing a cat fight, or a cat "fight". Granted half the time it's probably my cats... Feral cat colonies are taking over the world. Have you even heard of a feral cat colony. You probably have a colony within a couple of blocks of your house. Animalshelter.org estimates that there are 125,000 feral cats in the Denver metro area. Trailer parks and junk yards are the leaders when it comes to the size of the colonies. One major impact that most people don't think of is the impact a feral colony has on local wildlife. Cats are natural born hunters and will kill because its natural for them, not because they're hungry. My two cats alone killed at least 10 birds this year between the two of them. And that's just the ones I saw. That's two cats that are 50% outdoor cats, imagine what 125,000 full time outdoor cats can do. Another problem is the disease that a colony can carry with them. In June of this year in Boulder Colorado a cat had the bubonic plague. Most cats in a colony do not see the doctor often, so disease could easily get out of hand. There is a great program out there called Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) that is a humane way to keep the feral colonies population in check. After the cats are fixed they tend to get fatter and have a longer lifespan. Anyways, that was just a few thoughts on an observation from my neighborhood. Whats going on in your neighborhood?

Trevor

Are you ready?

Hi,

The official start of winter is usually on December 21st or 22nd. It begins when the sun is furthest south. This is called the winter solstice (great band, look em up). But here in Colorado, we only have winter and July. So now that it is halfway through September, it's already starting to cool off. At least snowboarding will be starting up soon. And that is why now is the time to start tuning your snowboard and/or skis.

1. Clean, clean , clean. You need to wipe down the base of your board with base cleaner. Remove all debris from the base and let it soak for about 15 minutes. This is also a good time to identify damage to your board such as rust on the rails and gouges in the PTEX (the plastic of the base).

2. Tuning. Use an edge tool to remove rust from, and sharpen the rails on your board. It's a cheap tool and is the easiest way of getting a real 90 degree angle on your edge. There is more you can do in this phase if you want to get technical, such as de-tuning the tip and tail to prevent catching an edge, but that's up to you. Now for the important part.

3. Waxing. Warm up your iron. And don't use your clothes iron. You want to either get a waxing iron, or dedicate a clothes iron to your snowboarding tools. After you use it once, it will ruin your clothes. Clean up and debris that made its way onto your board during tuning, and drip wax all over the base. If the wax smokes then turn down the heat. Once the base has drops all over you can start to iron the base, melting the wax and smearing it around. Keep a hand on the other side of the board to make sure it isn't getting to hot. Stop and let it cool down occasionally. Once the entire base is coated, scrape off all the surface wax. The base should have absorbed enough wax for about 3 days of riding.

Bye,

Ruben

Oktoberfest

Here we are already in the month of September. The beginning of cold weather is upon us and in Germany they are preparing for Oktoberfest. Basically it is a festival where the main draw is drinking beer. With over 5 million people attending the festival it is considered the largest in the world. Here in the USA there are many cities that have their own mini Oktoberfest. Now of course they are nowhere near the size of the one in Germany but they still pack a thirsty crowd. Even though it is only September, Denver's Oktoberfest starts today in downtown Denver. I guess they want to get an early start on the festivities. I think I will stop by at least one day to check it out.

http://www.oktoberfestdenver.com/


Dale

Happy Birthday To Everyone

At least that's what it seems like. September is a busy birthday month, (must be all the New Year celebrating). A coworker's daughter has a birthday on the third, my dad's birthday is the 12 followed by Ruben's dad and cousin on the 13. Then my sister's birthday is the 15 and it doesn't stop there. Ruben's sister celebrates her birthday on the 16 and then another cousin will be 25 on the 22. After that Ruben's birthday is the 23, Will's the 29 and did I mention my uncle Mike? His birthday is September 9. Crazy, right? You would think that after all these years I'd remember to start buying gifts a little early, but no. I found myself printing cards at home and scrambling around trying to think of gifts for everyone. In a perfect world, I'd have a wonderful gift to send to everyone along with a thoughtful card and it would arrive exactly on their special day. In the real world, they're lucky to get a printed card a few days late with a generic "Happy Birthday" on the front. This year I did manage to whip up a bracelet for my sister, but the others got squat. I'm thinking I'll start buying gifts now for all the birthdays next year. Heck, I might even pre sign all their cards and stick them in an envelope so they're all ready to go. From my experience, only grandmas have the ability to send out birthday cards to everyone on time, so I don't feel too terrible.

I'd like to know how some of you handle birthdays. Do your cards and gifts make it out on time or are you just as bad as me?


-Shala

Football Goodies

In the spirit of our free scale giveaway this week and the home opener of the Broncos last night (still very sad about their performance) I thought I would share an awesome list of 32 Simple Snacks for Football Fans.  Who doesn't like to entertain and watch football?  Personally, I have a favorite family tradition that every year on the day of the Rose Bowl we make a feast of snacks.  It's one of my favorite days of the year...it was always one of the few days where my brother and I were allowed to just lay around all day and watch t.v. :)   I've found this list super helpful and all of the items that I have made have been super tasty.  My favorite is the nacho cheese dip recipe, it has beer in it! Beer and cheese...nothing screams football quite like it.  So, enjoy and cheers to your game day celebrations.

http://startcooking.com/blog/289/32-Simple-Snacks-for-Football-Fans


Allison

Need Power?

Have you ever been without power? In Oklahoma we had the great ice storm in 2007 and lost power at our house out in the middle of nowhere for over a week. We had an old diesel welder converted to a generator that we wired into our house so we could have a running water for an hour or so every day. Living out in the country meant we had a well. This means with no power, you have no water. We quickly ran out of diesel, which meant a trip into town on iced over roads in my 4x4. Looking back, I wish we'd had a gas burning generator converted to burn propane. Propane burns cleaner and more efficiently, can be kept in greater amounts without taking up space, and has a much longer shelf life than gasoline. I think when I set up my house with a generator, I will use propane just to not have to deal with the potential hassle of a gasoline. Not that a gas burning generator is that bad, it's just that the benefits of a propane system are sure worth the costs. Any 4 stroke gas burning engine can be converted to burn LPG with a simple kit and you're good to go. The forklift at our warehouse runs on propane and it actually has the same engine under the seat that my Nissan Altima has under the hood. We also had some old farm trucks that were converted to LPG and they only needed filling once every year or so. The end.

Have a good weekend,

Ruben

Thursday Night Football

The time has finally come. It is the first day of the 2011 NFL season. The Green Bay Packers take on the New Orleans Saints tonight which should be an exciting game. To anybody who is on the fence on if they like the NFL or not, I would suggest you watch this game. This should be one of the best games of the year so if you still don't like the NFL after watching this game you never will like the NFL. For me, I'm so excited for the season I just couldn't hide it and had to let everyone know it's time for some football.

Happy Watching,
Dale

Recognize and Reduce Stress

I recently finished a chapter in my Management class dedicated to stress in the workplace.  As everyone probably knows stress leads to burnout and higher turnover, especially in small businesses.  So, I thought I would share a summarized list of things that cause stress and how you can help reduce your stress level at work. 

Things that cause stress at work:
* Excessive/Insufficient Workloads - when there's simply not enough time in the day to get things done, or you're left searching for things to do.
* A lack of control over work activities.
* Poor working relationships.
* Bullying or Harassment.
* Weak/Ineffective/Over-Management - everyone needs a leader, but no one likes to be micro-managed.
* Poor physical working environment - eg excessive heat, cold or noise, inadequate lighting, uncomfortable seating, malfunctioning equipment, etc.

Things you can do to reduce your stress level:
* Create a balanced schedule - all work and no play leads to burnout.
* Don't over-commit yourself.
* Plan regular breaks - Make sure to take short breaks throughout the day to take a walk or sit back and clear your mind. Also try to get away from your desk or work station for lunch. Stepping away from work to briefly relax and recharge will help you be more, not less, productive.
* Make healthy food choices that keep you going throughout the day.
* Prioritize Tasks/Delegate Responsibility.
* Don't try to control the uncontrollable.
* Think Positive.

Happy days,
Allison

Twinkies!

Or, I guess, more like Quadruplekies. Let me explain. There are four of us here that share an office and more than once a week we're all matching in one way or another. Yesterday, we were all wearing blue shirts. Last week, we were all wearing shirts with horizontal stripes and a couple of days before that we were all wearing a shade of orange. Weird, right? Now, sometimes I subconsciously match The Toddler's clothes with mine, but that's different. We live in the same house and it's me picking out the clothes. None of us here at the office live anywhere near each other, but somehow we manage to dress alike. Has being so close all day everyday put us on some psychic channel that causes us to think alike? Is it the weather? Maybe it's just a plain ol' coincidence. If anyone has an explanation or theory, I'd love it if you would share your thoughts!

-Shala

Wisdom Teeth

Well today I will have my last wisdom tooth taken out. Hopefully with the removal of my last wisdom tooth I don't lose any of my unmatched wisdom :) I really never understood why we have wisdom teeth if most of them if not all of them need to be removed. I know I wish I never had wisdom teeth as I would have more money in my pocket and a lot less pain. Hopefully, the surgery goes well and I am able to do something over this extended weekend.

Have a fun and safe Labor Day Weekend,

Dale

Right Tool for the Job

Hey There,

Well the other day, Shala and I were doing a bit of landscaping in our front yard. We had cut some landscaping timbers and cut a narrow trench around the weird "garden" thing in our front yard, and buried them half way to separate it from the grass. Well, we decided to shorten each one, cut angles at the joints, and add some short, vertical pieces to dress it up a little. As I was cutting the angles with my fancy pants compound, sliding miter saw, I realized that just a few years ago, I was doing the same type of work with a hand saw and a miter box, which is just a piece plastic with slits cut at different angles to achieve your goals of straight or diagonal cuts. It's great being able to turn what would have been a 7 minute cut into 2 seconds. And the fact that I made about 8 cuts turned 56 minutes of cutting (and a sore arm) into 16 seconds of cutting (and a big pile of sawdust). I picked up my saw at a local Harbor Freight with a coupon and kicked myself for not doing it years sooner.

That's just one example. There are still many more tools on my wishlist that I plan on packing into my tiny 1 and a half car garage. Having the right tools for the job is extremely helpful, but can lead to a messy garage. Sorry car, I but my Snap-On tool box, and garage sale special power tools just aren't as water proof as you are.

Bye,

Ruben