I have arrived! And smartly, no less.

I have been inducted. I am One of the few. The proud. The smart.

I was heading towards the freeway; he had just gotten off. We saw each other from a distance - two cars, identical in colour and model. Our roofs were both up; it looked like rain. As he passed me he flashed me a peace sign. I waved excitedly back at him.

A fellow smart car driver on the road. I've heard they are out there but had not seen one. Until today.

A coworker (the one who put me onto the smart car in the first place) had told me that by driving a smart car I was also becoming a member of a growing but still small and close-knit community, and she had informed me there's an unspoken but well known (by smart car drivers) etiquette involved when you see another smart car driver on the road. I think I might have been slightly off-etiquette with my excited spastic wave in response to his cool peace sign, but I'm a newbie. I'm sure I'll be forgiven.

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Some smart mileage

I filled up the tank on the Smart car for the first time today. I thought it appropriate to post some stats.

I've had the car for exactly 1 week. Seven days.
I'd put 290 miles on it by the time I rolled into the gas station.
I pumped 7.7 gallons into the 8 gallon tank, at a cost of $4.61 per gallon.

So I'm averaging about 37.6 mpg in the car so far, and about $35.50 a week in gas.

Compare that to the 18 mpg I was getting in the audi and about $60.00 a week in gas.

I'd say I'm getting my money's worth.

The dealership and other drivers that I've spoken to say to expect the mpg to increase after I've got about 1500 miles on the car. Something about the smart car engine settling into its groove. I dunno. I'm not a car expert. I just use the car to get from point A to point B. A colleague is currently getting about 45-50 mpg and averaging $17 per week in gas. She does more freeway driving than I do though.

Still - I've doubled my mileage and cut my weekly gas expense in half. Off to a good (smart) start, I'd say.

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Paying for itself already

We picked up the Smart car today after work. What a blast :-) Bobbin was just head over heels giddy with the notion that she'd get to ride "up front" next to Mommy in her car seat. And when I put the convertible roof down after we got off the freeway, she was just beside herself. "Mommy! Look! Look up at the SKY!"

We logged over 50 miles before the first "gallon" disappeared from the 8-gallon indicator. Pretty smart start, I'd say.

Of course we needed to see that, after the $4K that we ended up dropping into the mechanic's wallet when we went to pick up the Audi; they ended up replacing the transmission.

Tim's car is officially up for sale, so if you're looking for a 1990 Corrado G60, look no further!

Salient points of interest:

• 137K miles


• 5 speed.


• White with Black Leather interior, Corrado floor mats.


• New front windshield installed,


• stock radio.


• Momo shift knob.


• Wing still works perfect.


• Sun roof, all lights, power windows and power mirrors still work.


• Still runs strong


• Comes with trunk of extra parts that Tim's had no time to install.

$3000.00 obo Serious inquiries only

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A smart buy

Today Tim and I took a short jaunt down to the south end, and ended up purchasing one of these.

We get to pick it up and take it home Wednesday!

There is an 18-20 month waiting list for ordering these cars. A coworker of mine ordered one over a year ago, but she ended up purchasing an "orphaned" model that had come in earlier (orphans are cars that people had ordered but ended up not actually taking; usually because another car had come in earlier or because they just decided to go another route - eg hybrid, etc). , and so the one that she ordered that arrived this week, suddenly became up for grabs. So we grabbed it. After doing appropriate research to validate the safety, gas mileage, consumer ratings, environmental claims, etc.

Right now I'm filling up my Audi (when it's not in the shop to get a new transmission; but that's another blog entry) with a full tank of gas once per week. I did the math after tracking my consumption and costs carefully for several weeks and right now in my current car I'm averaging about 18 miles per gallon total; and I'm spending about $266 per month on gas.

$266 per month on gas. I tell you, I get SO ANGRY these days when I have to fill up my car. Actually angry. I used to just be mildly annoyed but willingly accepted it as a necessary cost of choosing to own a car. But now I'm just angry. Outraged. And not just at the industry or the companies or governments involved . I'm angry at my own lack of foresight and bigger picture thinking. I didn't need to buy the Audi in October 2000. I could have chosen to buy a more fuel efficient car then. But I didn't, because I wanted to endulge myself, and now I'm shelling out $266 in gas. And as a result of wanting to be self endulgent I'm an enabler of those prices continuing to climb and our dependancy on oil continuing to grow. Unless I decided to change something. And at this point I'm so fed up with the state of my gas consumption and the money I'm literally pouring into the tank of my car that I decided I needed to change something. And fast.

So you might say this car was a (well-researched) impulse buy. But I think it really was the smart (pun intended) decision for us.

Most of our weekday driving takes place in 2 cars. Tim drives his car to work which is usually up north. I drive Bobbin to daycare and myself to work which is in the opposite direction. I definitely need to have a car at least for the daycare portion of my commute both ways, so being a 1-car family would be more of a challenge than I'm willing to take on at this point in our lives. I'm open to changing the non-daycare portion of my commute to reduce the gas consumption if I can find some viable options and I'm researching that now. But I still want to have a car that I can use to get me where I want to go when I want to go in the time that I have to get there.

This seemed like the answer. My first and primary concern however, was about safety.

1) It's tiny. How would it hold up in crashes with big vehicles

2) It has no back seat; would it really be safe and responsible of me to transport Bobbin in this car, which would be the primary purpose.

Tim and I did the research and found the answer to #1 to be pretty impressive. It is a small car and so crashing in a small car is definitely different than crashing in a big car. But the safety design, features, and technologies are impressive and thorough and the actual video that Tim found online was convincing.

I also confirmed that it was legal to transport children in a front seat in a car seat if there was no rear seat in the vehicle. The airbag automatically deactivates when there is less than 80 lbs in the seat. We'll need to confirm this and test it out for ourselves (will Tommy fit in Bobbin's carseat? Hmmm... that could be interesting) to be sure, but everything we've read and seen seems to indicate that the vehicle is safe enough to be granted the honour of transporting our most precious cargo - namely one little Bobbin.

I took a test drive last friday and it definitely feels different - especially on the freeway. The automatic shifts aren't nearly as smooth as they are in the audi, and the braking feels different (wheels are smaller & the car feels different) but in terms of roominess, I forget that I'm driving in a vehicle that is essentially as long as most cars are wide, until I step outside and look at it.

I can't wait until Wednesday! And I can't wait to see Bobbin's reaction to the new vehicle. Although I'm prepared for her to be less than enthused about this purchase. She has a special attachment to our cars and we're going to be selling Tim's white 1991 VW Corrado (which is in excellent condition, btw) to help finance the smart car. I expect she may express some sadness over the loss of Daddy's car. I expect to witness something similar to the emotion my sister expressed when she learned that our Dad had traded our Volvo in for a 3-person pickup truck when she was just a couple years older than Bobbin is now. As long as Tim doesn't shave his facial hair at the same time, I think she'll recover quickly.

Mostly I can't wait to see how much mileage I get after the first month, and what my monthly spend on gas turns out to be :-)

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More info on Marmoleum

Had a couple of inquiries about marmoleum after some recent posts, so thought i'd post some additional information sources.

We learned about Marmoleum from our architect, Rob Harrison, who specializes in what he calls "Lyrical Sustainable Design" - the building high-quality green architecture, applying the base principles of energy and resource conservation, the use of healthier materials and finishes, reduction of long-term costs, and "making poetic places". It's all certainly been true of the house he designed for us :-)

Rob's web site is http://www.harrisonarchitects.com and it has links to other resources and information about "building green", as well as suggestions for materials, finishes, fixtures, and energy efficiency and conservation. During the design phase, he had directed us to the Environmental Home Center (EHC) in Seattle to learn more about Marmoleum and other materials.

We fell in love with the texture and colours of Marmoleum immediately - they're so bright, fun, and colourful and they just inspire creativity :-). It is also affordable, and we also really liked the environmentally friendly properties, as well as its durability and flexibility, so we went with it for our counter top as well as our flooring in our laundry room after talking with the folks at the EHC and seeing examples of its use.

The Environmental Home Center web site is http://www.environmentalhomecenter.com and they have a great deal of information about Marmoleum. You can also see the variety of colours that it comes in there as well.

The manufacturer of the marmoleum they carry, Forbo Flooring, also has a web site which contains more information about the environmentally friendly aspects of Marmoleum, its maintenance and care, and also where you can buy their product.

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A spooky good time was had by all

Although Tim seems a little leery of the paparazzi in this shot.

Tim and I went to Sir Vincenzo's Halloween bash yesterday. Vince didn't exactly require us all to show up in costumes but did say we should all try and wear "something we wouldn't normally wear". In an 11th hour moment of inspiration late friday afternoon, brought on by the little bob-the-builder who showed up at my office door trick-or-treating, I thought we should go as "Green Builders" in keeping with the theme of our whole "building green" efforts in the construction of our home.

Anyway - here are a few more photos from the festivities. Thanks Vince, for a fun evening!

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"Green" Gables and Gay Rodeos

An update from George, our builder: According to the recycle report from Rabanco, they were able to recycle 83.01% of that old double-wide that we demolished and disposed of! Not too bad for, as George put it, "a funky old place". Funky is an understatement. I think I've mentioned that Tim and I felt like total slum lords when we had a tenant living in that thing. Very glad though, that so much of it was recyclable!

More updates on the dream-home front from George: The guys are now tying steel and will begin setting "buck-outs" and the opposite wall forms this week.

What are "buck-outs" you ask? Those of you heavy into bull-riding (and I know there are oh so many of you who read this site) will recognize it as a rodeo word. If you go to that other search site, and search on "buck-outs" the number two result returned is "Let's Rodeo! The incredible world of gay rodeo" which is an interesting read in and of itself that I highly recommend.

Exerpt: "Watching a serious bull-riding gay cowboy hop onto the back of 2,000 pounds of pissed-off pot-roast will surely put to rest anyone's ideas that gay rodeo isn't serious rodeo or that gay men can't be real men."

The Internet (or is that Internets?) continues to be a gold-mine rich with nuggets of interesting and diverse information. I love it! Go Cowboys!

But I digress. A "buck-out" (or "buckout" which is how most sites spell it) in construction terms is a reinforced opening in the form, used to maintain shape (eg for a window, door, sewer line, etc) during the pour.

Anyway - If all goes well, George figures they'll be pouring the walls by next friday!

Tim and I were out at the property ourselves this weekend. All the outer wall forms are up and we wandered around "inside" and took some photos.

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Stingers and Concrete

Heather's Tool Tip of the Day #2: A Stinger is a tool used to vibrate the concrete after it is poured to help remove any air that might be trapped in the mix. According to architectureweek.com,trapped air will form bubbles that create small holes and pits in the surface of the concrete as it sets up. Plunging the stinger into wet concrete vibrates the concrete and releases the trapped air. Also sometimes referred to as a "stick vibrator", a stinger looks like a large metal rod attached to a hose that is in turn attached to a motor. When it is turned on it vibrates and hums. "Stingers" come in a variety of sizes and configurations. Some are round and some are square. The dude that was "stinging" our concrete was using a round one.

Now - if you're using a stinger in the pour of a concrete countertop (ie, a much shallower container), architectureweek.com suggests that you "run it along the surface of the wet concrete, taking care not to let it dip into the concrete..." According to them, "this technique is very effective. It's also very messy".

If, after reading all of that, you need to take a break now to go have a cold shower I completely understand. Do what you gotta do. (In about a week I'm gonna see people arriving at our site via some really interesting search strings thanks to this post).

So... now that you're back, as I'm sure you've deduced by now, our footings did in fact get poured today! Here are a few pictures to give you a sense of what was going on.

Oh - before we get to the photos, let me share a couple of additional factoids I picked up from George:

1) there's about a ton of rebar in our footings right now, and I believe George said that they poured about 20 yards of concrete into our footing forms all told.

2) they are using a special concrete mix containing fly ash (I think between 15 and 25%) as specified by Rob, our architect. This mix is also apparently referred to fondly in the industry as "eco-mud" :-) According to the Northwest Ecobuilding Guild web site, fly ash increases the strength and workability of the concrete, and substitutes energy intensive cement with a waste product. Yet another green element to our cool house :-)

In that last photo you can see the dude in the background "stinging" the concrete as it is being poured.

And here's a little video (yeah - I know it's sideways but my version of breezebrowser doesn't rotate AVI files... and I forgot that when I shot the video. Still, it's kinda fun. :-))

There are even more pictures from today in our House Building Photo Album.

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Demolition has Started!

We got to the property in the early this afternoon to find half the house demolished! Woohooo!

The machine made me think of a big mechanical dinosaur with crushing jaws of steel tearing into the house like it was freshly caught dinner. The wood and metal would make this bone-crunching sound as the jaws clenched shut around it. Every once in a while some bits would get stuck on its "chin" and lower teeth that it couldn't shake loose, and the machine dude would have to get out and pick them out :-)

In the picture above you can almost see it grinning, the saliva dripping from its metal teeth in anticipation, as it stares at the pile of scrap and thinks "Mmmm mmmm... tasty. Here I come for another bite!"

Or maybe I just need to have some lunch :-)

Anyway, here's a little video. At the end you can hear Tim saying "That'd be that George Forman Grill", referring to the round thing dangling from the mouth of the machine.

The tenant who had lived there and paid us rent (I still shudder to think we let him pay us to live there!) didn't have enough space and/or money to put all of his stuff in storage when he moved out, so he left quite a bit behind. We salvaged what was usable and in working condition - which amounted to a television and barbecue -and gave it away. The rest of it - George Forman Grill included - got dumped in the bin (see the Note on Recycling below).

George (Piano, our builder; not Forman, the Grill Maker) thinks that the whole thing'll be down by EOD tomorrow. Tim's going out there tomorrow to meet him and Rob, our architect, to go over the house positioning.

Yup - it's really begun!

Here are some more pictures of "Demolition - Day 1" including the traditional and obligatory "Throwing rocks at the windows" shots :-).

Tim's also got more pictures and commentary on crappymusic including some cool "before" and "after" pictures!

A Note on Recycling

We were able to get away with dumping everything into a single bin (as opposed to separate bins for recyclable and non-recyclable materials) and not having to do the sorting on-site, because Waste Managment Seattle accepts "mixed CDL" (CDL stands for Construction, Demolition and Landclearing materials generated at job-sites; "mixed or comingled CDL" means CDL waste containing both recyclable and non-recyclable materials that have not been separated). All of the material at the job-site is put into a single bin, and then taken to a Waste Management Seattle sorting facility where materials are separated for recycling.

You can get more information on CDL recycling programs in King County at the following web sites:

King County Construction Recycling and Waste Management

Seattle/King county Construction Recycling Guide and Directory (pdf file)

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