Get Better Gas Mileage

Improving Gas Mileage (Edmudns.com & About.com)

1. Slow down.
   Driving the speed limit, rather than 5 to 10 miles over it, can have a significant impact on gas mileage, especially at highway speeds. If you're not sure what speed to travel, a good rule of thumb is to "Drive like you have a soon-to-be licensed teenager in the passenger seat and there is a police car following you."
2. Gradually slow for stop lights.
   Rather than rush up to a red light, start slowing down in advance of the light. This may allow the light to turn green before you reach it, meaning you can cruise right through. It takes less fuel to accelerate a car that is in motion than one that is at a dead stop.
3. Avoid abrupt accelleration.
   The "jack rabbit" start is one of the biggest fuel wasters. Accelerating smoothly yet briskly accomplishes the task of getting a car up to speed without using as much gas. Drive at an even speed, whenever possible.
   
4. Don't let your car idle for long periods of time.
   While it may be nice to have your car's interior temperature at the "perfect" setting the moment you step in, the unnecessary idling means results in zero miles per gallon during the idling period.
   

A couple of other tips for better saving money on gas:

• Buy gas before the weekend. Gas prices seem to go up after business on Friday.
  
• Eliminate unnecessary cargo. Hauling heavy loads in the trunk or inside the car will lower your gas mileage.
• Go into the store rather than sitting in the drive-through.
• Comparison shop for cheaper gas. Try your local Costco or Sam's Club and check an online service like GasBuddy.
• Link several short trips together, starting with the farthest away trip first. Linking trips together helps keep the car at operating temperature. Starting with the farthest away trip allows the engine to have more time to get up to operating temperature.
  

Other Good Ideas (that don't really affect gas mileage)

• Regularly check your tire pressure.
• Keep your car properly maintained. Blocked air filters, dirty oil, and lack of attention to other maintenance items all decrease performance.
• Calculate your gas mileage on a regular basis. By being more aware of your gas mileage, you are more likely to make changes. Sometimes it may mean a change of driving habits. Other times it may mean a change of cars.
• Purchase a fuel consumption gauge. A fuel consumption display can help you see, in real time, how your driving habits are impacting your gas mileage. If your car does not already have one, you can purchase an aftermarket gauge that plugs into your car. There are many available on the market, such as ScanGauge.

Recipe: Turkey Tetrazzini

Turkey Tetrazzini

This dish was first made in a restaurant using chicken and was named for an opera star of the 1890's, Luisa Tetrazzini. Over the years, countless cooks made the dish at home, resulting in numerous delicious recipes like this turkey version.

Preparation time: 15 minutes.
Cooking time: 40 minutes.
Makes 4 servings.

Ingredients:
6 ounces spaghetti
1 can (12 ounces) evaporated skimmed milk
1/2 cup low-fat (1% milk fat) milk
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon lower-sodium Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon each salt and white or black pepper
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (2 ounces)
2 cups chopped cooked turkey breast or chicken breast
1 jar (2 1/2 ounces) diced mushrooms (drained)
2 tablespoons chopped drained canned pimientos (optional)
1/3 cup fresh bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Cooking Directions:
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cook spaghetti according to package directions; drain and keep warm.

Step 2: Meanwhile, in a medium-size saucepan, whisk together evaporated skimmed milk, low-far milk, flour, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper. Cook over moderate heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture starts to thicken. Cook and whisk for 2 minutes more or until thickened. Stir in the Cheddar cheese until melted. Stir in turkey, mushrooms, and pimientos (if using).

Step 3: Place half of the spaghetti into a lightly greased 2-quart casserole. Top with half of the turkey mixture. Repeat layers. In a small bowl, combine the bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle bread crumb mixture over casserole. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes or until heated through.

Nutritional Information for One Serving:
Calories 458
Total Fat 9g
Saturated Fat 5g
Protein 41 g
Carbohydrate 51g
Fiber 2g
Sodium 569mg
Cholesterol 84mg

Lee's Seminary Schedule

Well, I got my class schedule figured out for the rest of the year. I still have to petition to get into one class and three other classes require a signature to get in. If it all works out.

Google Mail Spam (not SPAM®)

You may know that Google's Gmail generates revenue by contextual advertising. So when looking through my spam email filter (not to be confused with the luncheon meat, properly notated as SPAM®) I was amused to find advertisments for SPAM® recipes.

For some reason, that is really funny to me!

S.M.A.R.T. Sunday Sermon

Cathy & I had very nice Sunday. The pastor's message was relevant and encouraged us to be "S.M.A.R.T." in our everyday Christian living. In other words, we should:

Study the Bible & Jesus
Meditate on the Bible & Jesus
Abandon the old self
Renew our minds
Transform into the new self

Cathy & I were joined by our friend Chris & Laura (the one who drew the ducks) for church. Before Cathy managed to invite them to lunch, they invited us to go to Kabuki for Japanese food. Chris & Laura were willing to share this $50 gift certificate they received, and Cathy & I are always willing to help eat sushi! Yes, the food was good, although I admit I still prefer a local sushi place that translates to "Smile-Smile". The company, however, was fantastic. They are a great couple (and they look cute together) and we share very similar interests. We'll be saving seats for them during service.

After that wonderful lunch we caught a nap before heading to the bookstore. We visited a Barnes & Noble where Cathy perused several real estate books and made a purhase. I had tea and alternated between reading homework, researching church visitors and what keeps them coming back, and also some light reading. After an easy dinner at Baja Fresh we retired for a quiet evening at home.

One of these days we'll drive to a Panera Bread, or they'll finally build one closer than 20 miles away from home.

Duckies

Image Credit: Laura Brown

This is a photo of the whitboard painting our friend Laura did at Cathy's office. Laura is quite talented!

There is a duck which Cathy has named Getrude who nests near Cathy's office every year. A stream is near the office, and Gertrude would guide her ducklings to the stream every Spring.

For the past several years, Cathy has been walking Gertrude to the stream to keep her and the ducklings safe from traffic. Maybe next year we'll get photos of the duckling migration!

Multi-Touch Interaction Research Demo Video

When I saw Minority Report a few years ago I was quite impressed with the display and user interface in that movie. I saw a video of a "bi-manual, multi-point, and multi-user interactions on a graphical interaction surface" at this link. It is, in other words, a giant touch-screen that can take multiple points of input.

The video at the NYU page is better quality, but you can play the Google Video version below. You can also visit the page to see a diagram of the underlying technology. If this works, tablet computers would easily become the norm and I would gladly use the screen instead of a keyboard.

"The Rapture Question Answered: Plain and Simple" by Robert Van Kampen

I read a lot of books, almost entirely of the non-fiction, technology, theology or philosophy genre. Currently, I am reading several books on welcoming people to church, but for my leisure reading I am going through "The Rapture Question Answered: Plain and Simple" by Robert Van Kampen.

Based on what little I have read, I think Van Kampen believes in a "Pre-Wrath" rapture. I read The Pre-Wrath Rapture of the Church by Marvin J. Rosenthal and I'm not sure I agree with Van Kampen at this point. Nonetheless, I think this read will help me clarify my own position as I just have not taken a stand on eschatology just yet.

As I finish chapters I'll post a comment here to continue my thoughts. This will be an interesting experiment in using my blog for more than static postings.

The Church Workaholic & Easter

I am a workaholic. While my lovely wife is helping me manage my tendencies to overwork in my day job, when I am in church I still feel too driven to do as much as I possibly can.

I have learned that I can't do everything, and I certainly cannot fix everything. Still, I will do my part to both fulfill my own responsibilities and to enable others to perform their roles.

The Easter service was great; Pastor Mike balanced the needs of believers to celebrate the resurrection with the needs of the unchurched for explanations and understanding of the story of this Resurrection Sunday. I got to greet a lot of new people and have some ideas for the first impressions piece now.

Google Calendar

From the company whose software is perpetually in beta comes Google Calendar.

I'm going to try it out with the SourceForge Remote Calendars project to see if I can maintain my Google Calendar from Outlook. If I can, then that would solve my problem with having a calendar for work, one for home, one for school and one for church.

Update 3:45 P.M.: Google Calendar is pretty good! You can schedule recurring events, delete only certain occassions from recurrances, and you can make multiple calendars with different colors and display them all in one view.

That is to say, I can create a calendar for church, class, and home and display the ones which I need to see together. I can then import these to my Outlook work calendar using Remote Calendars . This is very cool!