I think I’ll give myself a B for my installation. We have 3 Britax car seats in a mini van. The infant’s seat was too close to the front seat so we had to rearrange. We also had our toddler’s seats a little too reclined. They helped me with the adjustments, set up the tether, and showed me how to install the car seats. I was happy that there wasn’t too much movement in our seats so I had done that right. There was a slight tilt to one of the toddler seats and they showed me a trick that let me pull it tight without getting the tilt.

I also agreed to a research study so I’ll be tested in 2 weeks to see how much I learned. If you haven’t had your seats tested, it’s worth the time and many organizations do it free.

I went to Childrens in the Dallas area and was very happy.

Nationwide, look at seatcheck.org or search in your local community.

They’ve even got a coloring page and word search for the kids.

http://unclutterer.com/2007/12/26/uncluttering-your-refrigerators-crisper/

My wife suggested it earlier but I wasn’t really comfortable with it for us. Mostly concerns because her first pregnancy was hard on us but the circumstances were very different.

There’s a lot of fear around the birth of your child and the hospital and the doctor as an authority figure do provide some comfort. I’m beginning to realize a lot of their sales pitch is fear related. They also work on the large factory model but I’ll write more about that in another post.

At the heart of it, 3 things really stick out in my mind:

• You get more attention at a birth center. At the hospital, we’d see the doctor for 5 minutes during rounds and right at the end. The nurse would pop in at random for checks but mostly watch a monitor. At the birth center, my wife will have a midwife (and a backup in our case) focused on her alone for the entire time.
• The environment is nicer. At least the one we visited. It’s set up like a nice home with whirlpool bathtub and large bed. Frankly, I’m surprised they don’t market this as a high end choice.
• It costs less, assuming you have a normal birth and aren’t transferred to the hospital at the last minute. See above. I don’t want them to change my rates but it really is a good value.
• You don’t pay for minor risks. At a hospital, rules are designed around potential problems. Even if that risk doesn’t apply to you or the risk is less than 1%, you still suffer.
• They care about your desires. I hadn’t thought a lot about it before but we are bringing a new baby into the world. Why wouldn’t we want some control of the setting. If my wife wants to walk around, she should be able to. If she’s thirsty, she shold If she wants to roll over, it shouldn’t be an ordeal.

I’m sure I’ll write a couple posts about the decision and the switch. I may be repeating what other’s wrote but the more the merrier. I also didn’t find much from the dad’s perspective.

Richard Box via io9

You may not want to do the work yourself, as this family did, but this is a pretty cool house. I’d definitely stay for the weekend.

4 months
1000-1500 man hours
£3000

“The house was built with maximum regard for the environment and by reciprocation gives us a unique opportunity to live close to nature.”

Check it out at www.simondale.net/house/index.htm

I’m all for major initiatives that decrease energy and water use like solar panels and catching rain water but we seem to forget all the simple fixes. Small corrections like fixing leaks would save us money and reap huge benefits for very little effort.

1. Little water leaks that aren’t fixed can amount to a lot. 8,000 gallons per year from a toilette and 52,560 from a water line. – USGS
2. A faucet leak at 1 drip per second amounts to 8.64 gallons per day and 3,153 gallons per year. American WaterWorks Drip Calculator
3. May 4-10 is water week. I know it seems like there’s a week for everything but it’s a good opportunity to focus on long term changes to reduce your water use.
4. Download this PDF on identifying and fixing leaks from savingwater.org.

If you want to reduce your wasted water but don’t want to spend $250 on a plumber, check out these how tos for some common problems.

1. Stop a running toilette and save some water.
2. Fix a leaky garden hose.
3. Save more water by repairing a leaking faucet.

Leave a comment if you know about other solutions for common water leaks.

“The Vulcan Project is a NASA/DOE funded effort under the North American Carbon Program (NACP)to quantify North American fossil fuel carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions at space and time scales much finer than has been achieved in the past. The purpose is to aid in quantification of the North American carbon budget, to support inverse estimation of carbon sources and sinks, and to support the demands posed by the launch of the Orbital Carbon Observatory (OCO)scheduled for 2008/2009. The detail and scope of the Vulcan CO₂ inventory has also made it a valuable tool for policymakers, demographers and social scientists. “

Watch the video after the break (click read more).