My new love...

Okay, is this weird or what? My dish washer has been freaking out, grinding, gurgling and not cleaning well for about a year. It works fine if I pre-wash all the dishes and turn it on after everyone goes to bed.

Well, Saturday morning I decided to go to Appliance liquidators just to check out their dishwashers. One of the owners helped me choose a model and quoted me a really good price, so I decided to take the plunge and buy it. The new dishwasher has a disposal, time delay, heater, low water use and it’s really big inside.

The installation was very easy and it was up and running in about 1.5 hours. I decided to run a load of dishes through it and Wow! This thing is quiet, so quite that I had to check on it several time just to be sure it was on and working. How exciting is that? Okay, so is it weird to want to have dirty dishes so I can run them through the dish washer and marvel at how quiet and efficient it is? I love this thing!

Oh, if you are looking for new appliances, checkout appliance liquidators. The dishwasher was about $200 cheaper that it was at Lowes.

Okay, so maybe I need to get a life.

Adventures of my bike commute

I’ve been steadily commuting on my bike for about a month now. For me, that means anywhere from 2 to 4 times per week, and only during the nice seasons. Winter commuting on a bike just isn’t fun, and it’s a bit dangerous. I’m not sure how some of the folks in the colder/snowier states commute all year long.

So I thought I would recap my month a bit and let you know what’s happened.

- I Almost got hit by a lady turning right in front of me, while I was in the bike lane. She actually sped up to pass me and then cut me off, this was all within about 20 feet. What’s up with that?

- I found a very nice cell phone and thought about keeping it, but of course, I called the guy and returned it.

- I get to go through the construction site on my normal route home, instead of taking the detour. It’s kind of fun watching the day to day progress.

- I’m down to filling my truck up every other week now. This means I’m saving about $60 over the course of two weeks. Nice lunch money

- Since I’m “trapped” at work I bring my lunch, which is better for me than eating out. Hummm, what to do with that $120 per month…

- The days I bike commute I get to leave early, so I can miss the traffic, you understand…

- The wind is my friend. With several opportunities to fight 30mph head winds on the way home. My legs should be stronger. Of course my lungs are now full of sand so it’s an even wash.

- I have come across several ladies on their bikes, with no helmet on, chatting on their cell phones. Folks can't drive a car much less a bike while talking on a phone.

- Ah, extra protein! The gnats and bugs are starting to come out and I’ve already eaten my share.

- It’s amazing that I’m still seeing the same folks that have been commuting that last several years. I wonder if they recognize me?

- Ran into the cement retaining wall while I was trying to figure out what was swimming in the irrigation channel next to the trail. Never did figure it out but I did leave a good part of my knuckle on the wall.

- We actually had a bit of a traffic jam on the trail! At the Montano turn off a bunch of us actually had to stop so we wouldn’t run into each other. How cool is that. Lots of folks riding their bikes to work these days.