Jeff & Amy

Alex & Marijke

Swamp coolers and ceiling fans

I got a lesson on the effectiveness of ceiling fans. I was laying on the couch watching my 3rd Rock DVD's, it was a warm evening and my living room gets the evening sun, so as always the swampcooler* was working at keeping the room cool. At least where I was laying, outside the flow of air. I leaned forward to grab the remote off the coffee table and noticed something I hadn't before; there was a cold breeze coming through the room. It was the cool air from the swampcooler, going right past the little nook the couch sits in. So I thought "Hmmm, maybe if I turn on the ceiling fan, it'll mix up the air a little bit and cool off the couch area." Less than 2 minutes later it was actually getting a little cold on the couch. Amazing what mixing up the air can do, now I know why I put ceiling fans all over the house...

*Swampcooler, also known as an Evaporative Cooler, is an effective way of cooling a house in areas like Utah where the humidity is low. Basically, you're pulling outside air through water soaked pads and blowing the cold air through the house. Unlike an air conditioner, you have to leave windows open because of all the air you are pumping into the house. I really like it because it's real cheap to run ($10 a month for the hottest months) and you're always running fresh air through the house.

Ahhh, the good old days. Gas @ $1.80 a gallon, minimum wage @$3.65

Ok, quiz time. Do you know what the letters BBS stand for? You, in the back with the wrench hanging from your ear....Nope, I'm talking before Boy Band Singers.....Yes you? Oh, the contractions are only 4 minutes apart? Is your mom sober yet? Think you can make it until 3rd period? Good. No, I'm talking about Bulletin Board Systems, the fetal period of the public internet. If you have no idea or don't care about what I'm talking about, then just move along. If you remember it, or want to get an idea about what it was like before DSL, terrabytes, http://www.anything.whatever or Windows 95, have I got the blog for you. An old friend of mine from a BBS called "The Motel West" has a blog about the good old days. He doesn't post a whole hell of a lot, but for me it brings back some fond memories. Check it out, or not, the choice is yours....

http://motelwest.blogspot.com/

Super Dell needs Super Straight-jacket.

Little history for those of you who don't know who Dell Schanze is. He's a local lunatic*. He used to own a string of computer stores in the Salt Lake area, his commercials were of the totally off the wall, in-your-face type. They were obnoxious and annoying, but not really offensive, except to your intelligence*. He made the news when confronted by a group of angry parents when he drove through their neighborhood at, some say, up to 50 MPH. He pulled a gun on the men because he felt threatened. Now, instead of just saying that the guys had a rock and he was with his young son and felt threatened, Super Dell starts arguing 2nd Amendment rights and that the State courts have no jurisdiction over him. I can't even remember how the court case came out, but I just remember him claiming that they had no right to judge him. A year later he's back in court and now he's claiming government harassment. This time he was flying his little one man helicopter and didn't understand why he wasn't allowed to buzz commuters on the freeway. After all, it's their own damn fault if they get startled by his copter and get in a crash* (my words, not his). Again I don't remember the outcome of the case, but he did lose his businesses shortly after, sold them to his brother-in-law for a song*.

So today, in the Salt Lake Tribune, I see his name again. I laready knew he was runnning for Governor of the Great State of Utah, I just didn't know how desperate he was to get the office*. He got one of those auto dialing machines and started calling with a recorded message calling Huntsman (our current Governor) an "anti-Christ socialist." And that's a direct quote from the Tribune, not just my opinion. Furthermore, when asked about it, he said "It's not name-calling. It's just stating fact." Now, Governor Huntsman is no Saint, nobody in government these day is, but to call him the anti-Christ is a little bit, um, how can I put this, totally and utterly deviod of reality?* Personally, despite his being a Republican, I kind of like Gov. Huntsman, he's lightyears better than that two faced Mike Leavitt* and the bonehead Nerm Bangerter who spent $60 million to water a concrete tree out in the middle of the west desert*. The democrats will have to come up with someone extrodinary to keep me from voting for Huntsman, and I rarely vote Republican. So Dell thinks Huntsman is responsible for outrageous taxes, not standing up for gun rights and, ironically, signing laws that ristrict our freedoms and failing to stop abortion. Even funnier, if it weren't for Gov. Huntsman, we'd all be driving cars that run off water. Yup, Super Dell is sure of that, after all he has a friend that has a 4 stroke Weed Eater that runs completely on water. (So, why doesn't his friend patent and sell the technology?). I hope he get's elected Governor, it'll give Bagely (a local political cartoonist) a lot of material for the next 4 years.

*These, and possibly other, statements are my opinion only, and are not proven facts.