Goin' Green, Baby!

Green means so many things. Try this one one.

Sexy, Ain't It?

Caught your eye, didn't I. If I wrote bikes or songs or education you wouldn't have the same reaction.

I've been thinking about education and my job lately. Isn't educating ourselves a lifelong pursuit? Or shouldn't it be? When will making ourselves a less ignorant person (i=no, not + gno=knowledge) be a thing worthwhile in our culture?

Is High Ever Too High?

I was listening to Tony Bennett last night. Standards have been on my mind lately. Are high standards ever too high? I'm sure in some cases they are, but isn't it more often that high standards are considered too high because someone doesn't want to change to meet the standards? People can find exceptions to the standard.

"This person is good at X, so we should let them do X regardless of their behavior."
"They are just kids and kids make mistakes. Give them another chance. Remember what you did as a kid?"
"I don't like that person, so I just made up some stories about them to get them fired."

When do we reach the point that there are no standards? Who loses with no standards? Doesn't everyone? Shouldn't we remember to remove the log from our eye, before we complain about the speck in our neighbor's?

Or as Tony would sing, "Wake up, and kiss the Good Life goodbye."

Question of the Day

When is the time for a person to move on in their endeavors? Is it when the opposition makes life hard? Is it when there is no longer a connection to the endeavor, either familial or otherwise? Is it when the intrinsic desire departs?

Maybe in this fast paced world of "What have you done for me lately?" we need to stay around a bit more than others think. But where will a person then move?

Maybe that is the answer. Move on when another meaningful endeavor presents itself.

Part of the problem, or. . .

This is part of a thread from the I-BOB List I read this morning.  The author is
Perry Bessas. The whole thread can be read here.


"I read an article where a country was restructuring their
healthcare system (forgot which country) and so they were
studying the systems of other countries for ideas. The man
in charge was asked if he was considering the US system. He
said no, because the US has no system. We have a market, and
a market it not a system.

And so there you go. We want a market for everything, and so
we have it. Therefore, no exchange between humans can take
place here unless there is an economic component attached to
it. No holiday, no moments of intimacy, no public policy...
nothing can be done unless the economic component is factored
in FIRST AND FOREMOST. This means we trade in public water
fountains for bottled water, public transportation for the
automobile, love and commitment for diamonds,and reacquainting
ourselves with the Sermon on the Mount for a month of harried
shopping."


This really hit me today as I think about our lives.  I had never thought of the 
idea that Everything is connected and even directed by the spending of money.
And many don't consider you unless there is money attached. Even our personal
relationships with other humans.  That is what scares me.  It will take a 
conscience effort to change this.

This is a story, of a man named. . .

You will date yourself if you can finish that line.


This will probably take a while to complete. I mean the blog/record of this "Baseball Car" project. It starts with an extremely cheap baseball coach. If you don't realize, most high school sports involve fund raising. We have to fund raise for just about everything. The other thing specifically about baseball is that there is field maintenance involved. I'm enough of an Luddite and dinosaur to believe that if a person wants a job done, it is best to do it themself. So with that philosophy, I am always on the lookout for things to make my job maintaining the baseball field a bit easier. You know work smarter, as well as harder.

One of the big jobs is "dragging the field" or grooming the dirt of the field. I have used a airplane tug (you know, pulls the airplane on the runway), a Honda Trail 90, a Honda Accord, a bike, on foot, various ATV's (both 3 and 4 wheel versions), John Deere Gators, Kawasaki Mule, you get the picture. Some are better than others and all do the job. Keith Bontrager said you can build anything, "Strong, light, cheap; pick two." With this project and the constraints of fund raising I figure cheap is the highest priority, and that means appearance is compromised. At least according to the assistant coaches. There are those that like the look of such compromises. I am one of those creatures.

I have looked and priced various options. If money were no object, the Kawasaki Mule would probably be my choice. But that means spending $5000-6000 that could be used on other things like baseballs and uniforms. I've thought of many options in the interim.

All that being said, a local business donated a junked Mazda 323. Looked like this


except it is white. Just your basic high MPG Japanese engineered econo-car. Let the fun begin.

Keeping in mind the strong/light/cheap-pick 2(slc-p2) theory we then went to work with wrenches and a saws-all. In making something lighter, one should make sure the thing won't collapse when you're riding in it. Hatchback, gone. Doors, gone. Rear windows, gone. Rear bumper, gone. All of a sudden the econobox is lighter and more open.

Then one Sunday after church when I had too many things I wanted to avoid doing, I decided to accessorize the car. I used a Red Sox Nascar for inspiration and the "Baseball Car" is born.







Some more work with the saws-all and a few trips to our local high school shop night were made. Mr. C's wonderful students fabricated a rear bumper/trailer hitch. The doors are being chopped and opened up. Half doors are what they are called and they will make it possible to get in and out of the car and have a modicum of coverage. Here are some pictures of where the car is with the bumper, but not the doors yet. To be continued. . .

Could you believe?

We had a break-in to the baseball field and some mischief. In the end not much destruction, just more clean up for us. While there I heard a story about a Ferrari owner/driver. Seems the car was unregistered and the driver decided to fishtail the car sideways, then speed through a crowded parking lot. He didn't seem to understand why a police officer would want to stop him. I guess he really didn't understand why the officer had the car towed.

Is this an isolated incident, or the new normal? Are we as humans so unaware of others?

Just random thoughts to show I am randomly still alive.