Christmas Time's a Comin'

And I still have gifts to make! If any of you have run out of gift money, want to give a more personal gift or just don't want to fight the cold or holiday shoppers, I recommend getting crafty and making some holiday cheer...It's not too late!

Christmas cookies are great and most people already have the ingredients on hand. Cutout cookies are my favorite; they're not too sweet and you can decorate them! Homemade candy is a cool gift, too, but it takes a little more time and effort. You definitely don't want to attempt candy last minute, (unless you have a backup gift or are just super awesome). If you, like me, bought way too much fruit and know it will not get eaten before it turns to mush, make fruit leather! You don't even need a dehydrator, just an oven, some fruit, a food processor (Magic Bullet!) and some time. After it's finished drying, roll each slice up in wax paper and tie it with a pretty ribbon or use decorative tape, Christmas style of course.

If you want to avoid sweets, try mittens. You can crochet them, knit them or, my favorite, cut them out of fleece and glue or stitch them together. It's super fast and you can decorate them anyway you want. If you're feeling really adventurous, you can even make a matching scarf. Necklaces and bracelets are easy to make, too, and the materials don't cost much. You can usually make three or four bracelets for the same price you would pay for one at the store. Thrifty!

Speaking of thrifty, you can find tons of cool things at your local thrift store to re purpose into new awesome gifts. T-shirts can be made into quilts, books can turn into art, old knit sweaters make great leg warmers and wrist warmers...heck, you can even turn an old tv into a fish tank.

If you're stuck, check out Etsy.com for some cool ideas...You only have 24 days, so get to it!




Happy Christmas!

Shala

Gotta Get My BPA!

If you're like me, you've spent a pretty penny over the past few years upgrading your water bottles to the BPA free bottles. I'd guess that my family has spent around a hundred dollars on BPA free bottles. And it all seems a little pointless now that researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health have found that canned foods contain a ton of BPA. Endocrine-disrupting chemical BPA is apparently used in the lining of metal food and beverage cans. And yes, this is the same BPA used in number 7 plastic bottles. The scary stat that the researchers found was that BPA levels in the body were 1,221% higher after eating canned soup versus eating fresh soup. And that number is not good considering BPA is linked to cardiovascular disease (the #1 killer in the United States), diabetes, and obesity. If you are expecting a baby soon, you really want to avoid the BPA. Exposure to BPA in the womb causes hyperactive, aggressive, anxious, and depressed behavior and poorer emotional control and inhibition in girls. Boys don't seem to be affected near as much. So if you eat a lot of canned foods or drink a lot of canned beverages I would read up on this topic a little more.

T-rev GB²

Mile High Holidays

With so many holiday shopping deals and special events being advertised on t.v. and in the news it's hard to decide what you want to do and where you want to go.  I just recently finished my second term in graduate school and am so glad to have some much needed time off.  So, during the month of December I plan to pack my weekends with fun, family, and shopping.  Just yesterday I heard about this great website called Mile High Holidays.  There you can find shopping deals and holiday events around Denver all in one convenient place.  I never got around to decorating our Christmas tree last weekend and putting up the lights, so I'm thinking of dedicating this weekend to holiday spirit by sprucing up the house and going to the Parade of Lights.  If your city is as cool as Denver I'm sure there is a website for your area holiday events as well ;)

Allison

Time for Traditions

It's that time of year for traditions.  I was raised on holiday traditions, and I think it's important that everyone has those certain things they do every year around this time.  This weekend will be full of traditions for me, beginning with Thanksgiving.  Of course there will be the usual turkey grazing and football watching, but every Thanksgiving evening my girlfriend demands we watch "Christmas Vacation," because that is her family's Thanksgiving tradition.  It also happens to tie in perfectly with my recently added ritual of hunting for a REAL Christmas tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  Growing up in my family we always had fake Christmas trees, but since I moved to Colorado I started going up into the mountains every year with my family, friends, and their families to hunt for a live tree.  It's so pretty and fun to hike through the mountains when it's slightly snowy and not too cold yet.  If you're interested, get your permit HERE! I also really enjoy jamming out to Christmas tunes on the way up the mountain, just like the Griswolds :)  Last year we even got in a car accident on the way back from getting our tree...that was a little too much like "Christmas Vacation" for me.  On Sunday, we'll decorate the house and the tree.  This involves the popular custom of Hide the Pickle, and drinking a little egg nog with brandy.  I can't wait for Thanksgiving this year, as my parents will also be in town to enjoy all of these traditions with me.  So, here's to holiday traditions!  Anyone have any unique traditions?

Happy Thanksgiving,
Allison

Hurried Time

Get ready to feel small.

The speed of light travels at 299,792,458 meters per second, or 186,000 miles per second, or 700 million miles per hour. At that speed it takes light 1.2 seconds to travel from the moon to the Earth. 8.5 minutes to travel from the Sun to the Earth. 5 hours 40 minutes to travel from the Sun to former planet Pluto. And 100,000 years to go from one edge of the Milky Way to the other.

The Andromeda galaxy is 2.3 million light years away from Earth. This means if you're looking at this galaxy through binoculars or the naked eye if you're in a dark area, you're looking at light that is 2.3 million years old. The Andromeda galaxy could explode right now and we would not know it for 2.3 million years. And Andromeda is close as far as galaxies are concerned. In fact, Andromeda is estimated to collide with the Milky Way in 5 billion years. So we better hurry and figure out an escape plan.

Go Back to the time it takes light to travel from one edge of the Milky Way to the other. Now imagine we have a little spaceship that can travel at the speed of light and we need to go explore all the other galaxies. Surely with our fast little spaceship it will not take long. There are only an estimated 125 billion galaxies in the Universe. We are tiny.

Trevor

Tootsie Roll

I went scouring through my kids Halloween candy looking for some candy to munch on and decided to go with an oldie but goodie in the Tootsie Roll. The Tootsie Roll has been around since 1896. Yep, that is a long time but they are still as delicious as any candy today. So go out and grab some Tootsie's and enjoy.

Thanks
Dale

How much does the Internet weigh?

I'm in charge of finding interesting things to post on our social network sites, but let's get real - there's not a whole lot of compelling stories out there about scales.  But, there are a lot of interesting facts about weight, and the weight of certain objects in particular.  For example, today I shared a video with all of our Facebook and Twitter users that answers the question, how much does the Internet weigh?  I thought this video was so interesting I'd share it with all of you as well.  Check it out. 

Until next week,
Allison

Best Pizza?

We had a pizza party here and the pizza was amazing. My favorite was the Pineapple and Bacon pizza. What pizza chain do you think is the best?

Dominos
Pizza Hut
Papa Johns
Lil Ceasars

What is your favorite pizza?

I think my vote goes to Pizza Hut with my favorite pizza as Pineapple and Bacon.

Happy Friday!
Dale

Thanksgiving, THEN Christmas

Does it bug anyone else that the second we enter November all you see is holiday advertisements? I get that people start to do their Christmas shopping around this time of year, but what about Thanksgiving? Where's all the commercials with families playing touch football in the leaves and laying on the couch after a turkey coma? I'm not ready for Christmas music and all the cheesy ads that imply the only thing women want for the holidays is jewelry.  So come on people, let's not forget about Thanksgiving! After all, any holiday that gives almost everyone in America two days off of work is worth recognizing, right?  Cheers to turkey, mashed potatoes, and giving thanks.

Gobble gobble,
Allison

From mud to mountains

Well, it has snowed twice already here in Denver, which has me thinking about winter activities. I don't think I'll have the cash to do a lot of snowboarding this year so I am looking into some cheaper options. Ice fishing is on the menu because I already own all the necessary gear. I just need to give the lakes time to build up those much needed inches of ice.

I think one thing I used to enjoy in Oklahoma would be a lot better here in Colorado. And that is four wheelin'. I know it isn't cheap to get started, but it's not bad once you have a solid, reliable rig. In Oklahoma I had me an old Chevy K-10. For those of you who don't know, K=4x4 and 10=1/2 ton. I had to sell it because it not only was my mud slinger, but also was my daily driver. The shale pits and country road ditches liked to tear up parts. I sold my Nova a few weeks ago, so I have been itchin' for a new project and a 4x4 might be just what I need. It needs seating for 4 and I'd go with the short wheel base so I can stick to the tight trails. I'll also need a mild lift, tall, knobby tires, and some low gearing to match.

Here are the only remaining pictures of my old rig. Sorry they aren't better.

Oh, yesterday was Chevrolet's 100th birthday so Happy Birthday Chevy.

Have a good weekend!

Ruben

The Walking Dead

I know Halloween is over but I had to bring up the show on AMC "The Walking Dead". The show is awesomely great! For those that don't know it is about a world where Zombies have taken over and the remaining people who are fighting to stay alive. If you aren't watching the show I would suggest you rent the 1st season to catch up, then tune in this Sunday at 7:00pm Mountain Time to watch the next episode of season 2. You won't be disappointed! Here is the official website of The Walking Dead,

http://www.amctv.com/shows/the-walking-dead

Watch if you dare
Dale

Walk This Way

I don't remember where I heard this, but the other day I was listening to a podcast and I tuned in exactly when a man was describing the fact that no two people in the world walk exactly the same way.  He also said that your walk may actually be used some day as a unique identifier in airports or other agencies.  I thought this was really interesting so I decided to see if I can find some more information that explains how this has been studied and how your walk might be used in the future to identify you.  In order to better understand this article you might need to be familiar with the following terms:

Biometric Systems - methods for uniquely recognizing humans based upon one or more intrinsic physical or behavioral traits. In computer science, in particular, biometrics is used as a form of identity access management and access control. It is also used to identify individuals in groups that are under surveillance.

Gait - the pattern of movement of the limbs of animals, including humans, during locomotion over a solid substrate.  In other words, your walk!

Here's the article, enjoy!: http://techbiometric.com/articles/how-gait-analysis-has-emerged-as-tool-for-biometric-identification/

Ta ta for now,
Allison