Drive like an old man ...

and save gas. I am doing an experiment where I deliberately slow down my rate of acceleration from stops and on highway on-ramp entrance. This was spurred by linda's obsevation that the subaru gets worse mpg when I drive, and I read an article about tips on how to save gas. I knew most of the tips (proper tire pressure, well maintain car), but the article states that accelerating quickly from stops uses more gas. I really enjoying quick acceleration from a stop light and when entering the highway. With the window down on the Saab, you can hear the turbo spool and it is addictive (whooooosh !).

So, one week into the experiment and I am averaging a 2.5 mpg improvement (from 25.4 mpg to about 28 mpg) with my old man driving. This works out to be about 50 gallons savings a year (about 1 month's worth of gas for me). Net, sounds like a good plan to help reduce my consumption of oil.

There are some downsides: first, in the week of this experiment, I have this crazy need to eat dinner at 4:30, second, the hit to the ego is bad since I am getting passed by minivans, Corollas and everything in between. Since I am trying to be more enviromentally responsibile, i will keep it going.

Thinhblog's Nature Series: Large Birds of Prey

I noticed large shadows moving as I was cutting the grass today.  I looked up to see a very large bird.  It decided to take a rest and I was able to snap a picture  (2 more birds joined the first one within a minute).

Linda used the picture to identify the bird in our Bird Guide... turns out it was a turkey vulture.  (click through for wiki info).

Maybe the nicest ferrari in town

Ferrari 599 GTB inthe Nati. I saw it on the way to the ballet on columbia parkway. The guy ended up going to dinner at Nada.

Virgin Gorda Part 4 - the Baths

The Baths is probably the most famous part of Virgin Gorda.  From Wikipedia: the beach shows evidence of the island's volcanic origins, which deposited granite that eroded into piles of boulders on the beach.^[1] The boulders form natural tidal pools, tunnels, arches and scenic grottoes that are open to the sea. ^[2] The largest boulders are about 40 feet (12 meters) long.  Either that or aliens dropped big rocks on the beach.  Some of these rocks are not stable so I had to hold them up.  

Virgin Gorda Part 3

These are pictures of Nail Bay beach, a short walk from our villa.  The nice thing about Virgin Gorda is that it is not very crowded yet.  While walking on the beach, Linda and I found this strange black cable that spanned the beach and went into the ocean.  It looks just like the cable that tethers the "Looking Glass" station on Lost.  I did not investigate further cause the freaky one-eyed russian guy might still be there. It was also protected by these killer attack crabs :-)

Virgin Gorda Part 2

We took a ferry from Beef Island, Tortola to Virgin Gorda.  Net travel was car from home to CVG, plane from CVG to Miami, plane from Miami to San Juan, prop plane (ack !) from San Juan to Beef Island International Airport (double ack !), ferry from Beef Island to the Virgin Gorda Ferry dock and then car from ferry dock to Nail Bay Resort.  Very long but it was worth it once we got there.

We got a Suzuki Grand Vitara 4x4 as the rental.  The roads are quite hilly and in many spots really rough, so a 4x4 with high clearance is a must.  Gas was about $1 more than in the US.

Greetings from virgin gorda

We're staying at the Nail Bay resort on virgin gorda. There was some drama with our luggage (we got here and our checked luggage did not). Fortunately I always get luggage insurance via amex ($9.95) per person, so our expenese for necessities are covered. We made it to our villa late saturday night so we did not get a peek at the view. Here is what it looks like during the day

This mountain of mulch

has to go on the flower beds. It's Mulching time. We hired James from the perfect field co to do this work.

Yummy ba le sandwiches

Mom, uncle and bro were visiting the nati this past weekend and brought me some yummy sandwiches.