apple juice

My Day at the Orlando Airport, originally uploaded by ajc3.

Our flight has been delayed a few times. (See the notes in the photo)

I’ve been stuck at the Orlando airport for the past 10 hours.

On the plus side, they have free wifi. This has led to a number of funny incidents of chatting random people on Bonjour.

I’ve also been able to explain to a few people how to log out of Bonjour so they don’t get freaked out with random people trying to chat them.

All airports should offer free wifi. It would make the delays more palatable.

Shot!, originally uploaded by ajc3.

From the Pond Hockey Tournament

One of the books I’m reading is The New Urbanism by Peter Katz. Sometimes I tell people that in my next life I’ll be an urban planner, but I think that mostly stems from playing a lot of SimCity. (When I was younger).

A passage I recently read stated that one of the things that makes great urban design is chance encounters with your fellow neighbors.

With that rolling around in my head, the Juice-ette and I walked down to the grocery store. We bumped into TEP. The next day we walked over to Lake Nokomis to watch the US Pond Hockey Championships (check out the photos in the sidebar). Three minutes into our arrival, we bumped into a co-worker. As we were leaving, someone yelled out, “AJ!” A co-worker from my last job.

I love our neighborhood. More simply, I love living in “the city”. The hardware store owner lets Yeti come in and shop with us. The owner of the coffee shop knows our names. I think there is something to be said for living in a density that supports small shops, allows you to run into your friends, and lets you leave the car at home fairly often.

Anyway, I’m just trying to brag, and a bunch of the rest of my friends are talking of moving to the suburbs. (You know who you are!)

Am I going to feel this way in a few years when we’re thinking about schools, letting our kids run around, or the inevitable brush with crime? (A neighbor got mugged recently in our alley.)

Half of me wants to move to an even higher density location, with a few more shops, restaurants and bus lines.

I don’t know how the future will play out, but I can tell you that right now, I love our neighborhood.

Apparently Wal-Mart put out an RFP for a rather large solar power installation.

Maybe they’re serious about this alternative power thing?

Tags: energy, environment, walmart

I always think it’s weird to call a store, and then show up later asking about the same thing. Especially if you know that there is just one employee there. Does their impression of the man on the phone match your description. Did my guess live up? How many people call asking the same question?
How much do you pay for The X-Files Soundtrack in good condition? What is the soup of the day? Do you have those shoes in a 44? Do you still have the Pumpkin Spice Latte? I’m looking for something to block the air coming under our front door, do you have those? Do you sell compost bins?

It’s especially funny to make the call when you have absolutely know idea how to purchase the item you are after. We’re going to buy new windows at some point. My phone calls surrounding the subject have been very odd.
Enough procrastinating, I have a few calls to make.

I’m on various City of Minneapolis email lists, and I typically skim them over before sending them to the trash. Today’s update from Mayor Rybak caught my eye, given my earlier post about light bulbs. Maybe he’s a reader?

Anyway, from the newsletter:

Global climate change can’t be fought in isolation within the borders of Minneapolis, but I’m resolved that we collectively do much more than our part. We are moving ahead on our city-wide environmental sustainability plan that guides our aggressive work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase the use of renewable energy sources, and my 2007 city budget adopted by the City Council includes new resources to ramp-up our efforts to directly engage the public on ways to help address climate change.

As a Minneapolis resident, you will be asked to do much more to reduce your energy consumption, but today I ask you to take one simple step towards that goal: this week change three of your light bulbs to compact fluorescent bulbs. If every household in the U.S. replaced just one light bulb with a compact fluorescent, it would equal the energy conservation of taking one million cars off the road. We all need to do much more, but in this first and possibly fleeting glimpse of a dramatically shortened winter, taking this one simple act together seems like the least we can do to protect this special place in which we are fortunate to live.

He also mentions a website, Minnesota’s Energy Challenge, where you can form teams and track your CO2 savings.

3 bulbs, that’s not so hard…

Tags: energy, environment