Gas mileage

At lunch today, instead of going for my usual walk in the woods behind the office, I went to fill up the gas tank on my new scooter. The gas gauge showed that I was down to a quarter tank after all. This was the first time I'd put gas in the tank since I bought the scooter. I knew how to get to the tank but I wasn't sure how well I'd be able to see the level of the gas. The first obstacle was that you have to pay first. Since the tank only holds 1.6 gallons, I gave the attendant $5 knowing that would cover the full 1.6 gallons if necessary.

As I slowly filled the tank (I didn't want it to overflow and ruin the nice new finish), I kept checking the readout of the pump. I got a shock when I saw "1.70" at one point. I thought the tank was supposed to only hold 1.6 gallons. It turns out I was looking at the price and not the number of gallons. I carefully put gas in until it reached the bottom of the filler tube (as stated in the manual). When I looked up, I saw that I'd put in 0.843 gallons! I'd put 84.9 miles on the bike since I bought it with a full tank. That means I got 100.7 miles per gallon! The scooter dealer may not have been as careful as I was and maybe he'd filled the tank up to the top of the filler tube. So, I may not be getting mileage that high. Now, the next time I fill the tank, I'll fill it to the same level and I'll get a better estimate of the mileage.

The other nice thing I learned was that when the gas gauge shows only a quarter tank of gas left, I know I've really got almost a half a tank of gas left. If the mileage is really about 100 miles per gallon, that means I could still go another 76 miles. We'll see. It sure was nice to get $2.65 in change from my $5.

I made it to work on my new scooter

I made the 12 mile trip from home to the office this morning on my new scooter. It only took about 5 more minutes than it would by car. That's mostly because I took back roads instead of the more direct four-lane highway. Technically, my scooter could go 55 MPH to keep up with traffic on the highway but I'm not experienced enough to do that. Even when I get more experience, I don't think I'll try that. It's just a bit too scary thinking about all of those cars passing me and wondering which of them are distracted by talking or texting on the their cell phone - among other distractions. On the back roads, I saw very few cars and none of them needed to pass me because I was able to travel fast enough to keep up.

We'll see how I do on the ride home tonight!

[Update - Rather than make a whole new post, I'll just update this one. Yes, I made it home yesterday (Monday, June 28) and now I've made it to work again successfully (Tuesday, June 29). The worry yesterday was that a storm was heading our way and was supposed to arrive about the time I would be heading home. But the storm was late and wasn't that bad anyway. The bottom line is, I love riding this scooter and I will be writing more about it in the future.]

Back from vacation

We're home from a four day vacation. We went to our usual place - Santa's Village in New Hampshire. This picture of my son Evan, my wife Cindy and my daughter Emma was taken under one of the covered foot bridges in the park. We had a wonderful time. The weather wasn't perfect but the fact that it drizzled rain for most of two days just kept the crowds down - it didn't prevent us from doing anything there.

We love the relaxed atmosphere there, the kindness of the workers and the good-nature of the other visitors. And this year, Cindy made reservations at the Evergreen Motel that is just across the street from the amusement park. We assumed it would be expensive or not very nice but we were wrong on both counts. They had a free miniature golf course and free DVD movies for the evening. Also, they provided a free continental breakfast. I hope to get back into writing more and longer posts in the coming days.

Motor scooter

I've been thinking about getting a more fuel efficient way of getting to work. I used to have a small pick-up truck that I used for work while we have a minivan for the family to use. But the truck is gone now (I should write about that some day) and we tried just using the minivan for everything. Usually, I just took the minivan to work and Cindy and the kids borrowed my mother-in-law's car when they needed it. Or Cindy would drive me to work and pick me up again at night. That was twice the miles per day to get to work, though. Also, the minivan gets pretty bad gas mileage. So, I'd been thinking about getting a motor scooter to use on days when Cindy needs the car. I shopped around and priced them and weighed the various benefits of different models and decided on a Honda Elite 110cc motor scooter. Being over 50cc engine size means I have to register it and get a motorcycle license but the mileage is incredible. The cost of the scooter, the insurance, the registration and the license fee (not to mention the cost of gas) are MUCH less than what we'd need to pay for a small, fuel efficient car.

I bought the scooter two days ago, on June 19. I've registered the bike and got a learner's permit for a motorcycle license. That's me and my son Evan in the picture. He's only 13 years old and won't be driving it - yet. I'm sure to have some stories to tell as I learn to ride it correctly and get my full motorcycle license. It's already been an adventure just getting the learner's permit. They give you a test of 25 multiple choice questions. I thought it would be easy but I studied the motorcycle handbook published by the registry of motor vehicles. You only have to get 18 answers correct to pass and get the learner's permit. A piece of cake.

But the first two questions were about the penalties to junior operators (16.5 to 18 years of age) when operating a car. That wasn't in the handbook that I'd studied! So, I got the first two answers wrong. I had to get 18 of the next 23 questions right. They threw in a few more questions about penalties that I hadn't studied and I ended up having to get 4 of the last 5 answers right to pass. I got exactly 4 of the last 5 questions right and ended up with 18 correct answers - just enough. I'd passed but I was completely embarrassed. The lady at the counter said they didn't care. She tried to make me feel better by saying they threw in those "penalties to junior operators" questions because they think learner's permits will be taken by young people and they want to warn them about the consequences. Well, all it's done is make me really nervous about the final written test. And what about the road test? I thought it was going to be easy. But now I'm not so sure.

[Update - Well, there was no "final" written test. This was the one and only written test. I wish I'd known that when I went to take my road test. More about that in this post.]

A new bird (for me)

Yesterday, I saw a bird I've never seen before. It's a Ruffed Grouse (pictured here). Notice the crest (on its head) and the short fan tail. According to my bird book, they don't usually perch in trees like this but I startled this mother and her chicks and she didn't want to fly away too far from them. She made a strange crying sound and I'm told they do this to lure predators away from their chicks. The predator hears the sound and thinks the mother is wounded and will be easy to catch.

The funny part of this is that the Ruffed Grouse is the state bird of Pennsylvania. I was born and raised there and stayed for 24 years and never saw one in that time. It took moving to Massachusetts and waiting another 32 years (plus another 3 years in between while I lived in Virginia) before I saw a Ruffed Grouse. Seeing the state bird of Massachusetts is much easier. I see Black-capped Chickadees all the time. I posted pictures of them before (here and here) so I won't bore you with another one.

What a trouble maker I am

I recently read an article on the Electronic Design website titled Broadband for Everyone. It talks about a report by the Federal Communications Commission (available here) to bring broadband technology (that is, fast network access) to more of the country. The Electronic Design article says that our country is progressing well in spreading fast Internet access to more people in the country and that government interference will only hurt our progress. The article also cites a study (available here) that says that most of the people that don't have broadband either don't want it or wouldn't be able to use it.

Well, I couldn't sit still for that. I had to write a comment:

"There are two problems with your article. First, you only paint the rosy picture that broadband and Internet use are growing in our country but you fail to mention that we are behind or not far ahead of other countries - our competitors. We should be further along than we are.

Second, you seem to be saying that most of the people who don't have broadband and Internet access either don't want it or couldn't use it. How many people had no use for the automobile and the telephone when they first came out? Cheap oil and Henry Ford helped the auto take hold but it took the government to help spread the telephone. Many people don't know what they are missing because they've never seen what a good broadband + Internet connection can do. Don't treat these people like some of our conservative friends treat the homeless - "Oh, they're homeless by choice. They wouldn't know what to do with a place of their own. They LIKE their freedom."

Simply leaving things to private industry is just handicapping our progress. Private industry, with help (or incentives or regulations) from the government, is a potent combination to move forward in technology. Checks and balances don't just work among the three branches of government. They help keep our government and our industries honest, too."

I can sympathize with people who don't like government interference. No one likes to be told what to do. It just drives me crazy, though, when people blindly reject any kind of government involvement. I used to work in the Federal Government (the United State Geological Survey - for 13 years) and I know how screwed up a government agency can be. I also know the good it can do. I have also dealt with large private companies and I know how screwed up they can be and I know the good they can do. I do not want to see the government, Federal, state and local, take over our lives but I also recognize that we need a balance to companies and industries (and foreign governments) that would like nothing better than to have unfettered influence over us. At least with our own government, we have a say and we can vote out a bad government. Try that with the directors of the company that built that refrigerator you bought that never worked right.

Baltimore Oriole

No, not a member of the baseball team. The real thing. Every year, I see at least one Baltimore Oriole but only once and only one day. Previously, they always seemed to be passing through our area heading north in the spring. I know they have to head south in the fall but I never see them at that time.

So, this year has been especially exciting. I've seen many Orioles and they've stayed around for days. Of course, the jokes around the office are that the baseball team in Baltimore is having such a bad year that the bird they are named after is leaving town. Not so funny if you're a Baltimore baseball fan.

There's an interesting story about how I got these pictures, though. In my usual style, I had chances to take pictures of these birds earlier but I kept missing them. Either I'd be too slow or the camera would be in the wrong mode and it wouldn't focus correctly. But the day before I took these pictures, a co-worker saw them around our parking lot. I rushed outside (quickly but quietly) to snap a picture but I missed them. But I did hear them calling. I'd never heard the call of the Baltimore Oriole in isolation before but now it was obvious that it was the orioles making that sound. So, I sadly went back in the office.

The next day (yesterday) when I went out for my lunch walk, I heard the call of the Baltimore Oriole. I hadn't seen them up in the trees but knowing they were there got me to stop and take a better look. Sure enough, they were flitting through the trees. I'd have missed them if I hadn't learned the call the day before during my "failed" picture taking session. I have to remember this in daily life. God teaches us lots of lessons during what we think are trials and mistakes. As our pastor said in his sermon a couple of weeks ago, when we are going through bad times, we need to pray to God and ask Him what he wants to teach us.