Caravan For Jesus - An Update

In 2006 I made a post in my old blog about a most remarkable minivan. You can follow the link to read the whole story of you want, but basically it was a Dodge Caravan from the 80's with 177,000 miles on it, a ton of rust, and about three molecules of paint left on it due to the worst case of paint cancer I have ever seen. It was for sale at the car auction in the as-is lane, and eventually sold for $50 after a lot of begging by the auctioneer. There was a huge crowd watching it being sold because no one could believe that this van was still moving under its own power.

Today, on the way home after work, I passed that minivan in traffic. It could have been no other. I would recognize that heap anywhere. It was driving right along with the flow of traffic, not smoking or backfiring or anything. Simply amazing. If it didn't look like it had just re-entered Earth's atmosphere - badly - Dodge should feature it in a commercial. I am rooting for that POS van. I hope that it makes it another 177,000 miles, bless its heart.

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Reducing CO2 in your home the nerd way

For Christmas my wife gave me a Netatmo weather station because I am a home weather station nerd. The Netatmo is very cool, but it has an unexpected feature: it measures indoor Carbon Dioxide (CO2) levels. As soon as I set it up, the Netatmo began to alert that our indoor CO2 was at an unsafe level. The notes said that outdoor CO2 is usually around 400 ppm, and numbers above 1500 ppm could be unhealthy. On that first day, my house was at around 1300 ppm. Prior to that, I never gave indoor CO2 levels a thought. I began to do some research and discovered high levels of CO2 can cause symptoms such as fatigue, headache, breathing difficulties, strained eyes and itchy skin. My family does have all of these issues, especially on the weekends when we are home all day, but I never connected that to indoor air quality. Previously, I installed a Nest thermostat . The Nest is very smart and saves energy by learning your habits and programming itself. Unfortunately, it is so efficient, that t

Rooftop Playgrounds

This week I have had some meetings in a tall building in downtown Seattle, and when I took a moment to look around and enjoy the view I have noticed playgrounds on rooftops. I saw this daycare playground: and this playground on top of a school: I think that this is a really cool use of space. A friend that grew up in NYC said that her school had a rooftop playground, too. The delinquent in me wonders how many toys and balls go over the side, but I bet the teachers are pretty strict about that. Downtown Seattle has always seemed a little unfriendly towards kids and it is neat to see spaces being carved out.

Dutch Oven Balsamic Chicken Recipe

This is a family favorite that is easy to make. It smells so great right from the start, that the first time I made it, my youngest son walked in the house while I was cooking and yelled, "Daddy! Make that one again!" It started life as a recipe on Delish .com, and I have cooked it several times, making small changes, to make it slightly less pretentious, and to work out issues with the directions. I also doubled the recipe so we end with a few leftovers for lunches. Ingredients 1 c. balsamic vinegar 1/4 c honey 3 tbsp. whole-grain mustard 6 cloves garlic, minced Salt Freshly ground black pepper 8 bone-in, skin on, chicken thighs 4 c. baby red, potatoes - or Brussels sprouts (or both) cut in 8ths (12oz bag) 2 Tbsp. Herbs de Provence 2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil to cook the chicken Preparation Marinade In a large bowl, combine balsamic vinegar, honey, mustard, 1 Tbs Herbs de Provence, and garlic and season with salt and pepper. Whisk until combined.

Adventures of a Seattle Dad

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