Missy has an important role in Krissy and my life, so her wedding had a special meaning to me (and Krissy). Krissy met Missy in Geology classes at NIU, which is how they became friends. The important role comes to Missy’s neighbor in college, Justin. I’ve known Justin since we lived on the same floor in the dorms. Justin and Missy were neighbors, and would combine parties, which is how Krissy and I met.

So being I was at a wedding, I couldn’t leave my camera in its bag, so here are the photos:

<< Mike and Missy's Wedding Photos >>

To download a larger image in the album, click on the thumbnail and click the download link at the top right of the image.

Congrats Mike and Missy!

When driving this summer, remember that slowing down can really add up.
Be Safe.
85% of work zone crashes in Illinois injure motorists, not workers.
Be Wise.
Keep tires properly inflated - fuel economy decreases by 10-20% when your tires are low.
Save Gas.
Every 5 mph you go above 60 mph is like spending $0.22 more per gallon for gas.
Save Lives.
In Illinois, an average of 7,000 crashes occur in highway work zones every year. (www.illinoistollway.com)

Wait, what? Save gas? Really?

To: Illinois Tollway Media Questions
From: Phil

I just received the Illinois Tollway newsletter about construction and safety. It's an interesting letter I just had one question regarding it, the "Save Gas" statement on it. It said "Save gas, Every 5 mph you go above 60 mph is like spending $0.22 more per gallon for gas." Could I get the source to where this fact came from? Could you supply the data that supports this statement?

Thanks for your help.

Do you believe this statement? I can see that it is somewhat true, but I want proof. Speeds above ~45 mph affect gas mileage but only because of wind resistance. That is if there was no wind resistance, it would be the same gas to go 5 mph as it would be to go 100 mph. So this said, how can they relate such a general statement to the cost of gas? What price are they paying for the gas? What vehicle are they considering? Is this a car? Truck? SUV? Semi? Airplane?

Aerodynamics is critical to the gas mileage you get at higher speeds. I have a 2002 Grand AM GT 3.4L V6 and as a test I drove no more than 70mph, for just over 300 miles (Chicago to Detroit), and I got 33.6 miles per gallon. Granted 200 of those miles I never stopped, but this is what your “highway miles” should be rated at. According to the window sticker that came with my car, it is rated at 20 city and 29 highway. So how can I get over 29 mpg? Well this is what happens when you reduce the gas consuming habits in driving.

Taking off fast, stopping at traffic lights, sitting in traffic, repeatedly speeding up/slowing down, all cause low gas mileage. You can see this topic comes back, Traffic Lights.

I would like to see the Illinois Tollway Newsletter say “If we eliminate unnecessary traffic lights and time the ones that are in use, make roads that can handle the traffic better, we will save you $300/year on gas” because that is as much true as their statement above. Granted they aren’t in control of traffic lights, only toll booths (to take your money in another way), but still.

Not to get too off topic but my car is rather aerodynamic, which lets me go faster and still get good gas mileage. If your driving your new Hummer at 70 mph, guess what, you’ll get bad gas mileage. Hummers are good for doing 15 mph over sand and rocks in the mountains, or driving through 3 feet of water, but not for doing 70 on IL roads. Hell, the Hummer is not even good for doing 15 through downtown traffic. That is unless your driving through the Chicago river, then it’d pay off getting that Hummer.

So moral to the story, don’t give fallacies, give real facts: Stopping less saves more than not going over 60 mph.

So what is the other American pet? Yes, a cat. Well I like cats, and have had cats almost all my life; problem is they’ve all been outside cats because I am allergic to cats. Well after many hours of research and looking at the options Krissy found that Siberian cats have less of the protein that produces the allergen. This is not a cure for everyone, some are still allergic to Siberians, but she has wanted to get a kitten for a while. Then she found a 9 year old Siberian cat that was looking for a new home.

So we finally got the time to get up to Wisconsin and pick Sasha up.

Today is day two of the one week trial to see if I’m allergic to her and so far I’d have to say I’m still allergic to her. Krissy is also reacting to her, which she usually isn’t allergic to cats. She did make a nice feather duster by going behind the fridge and washer when we brought her home as it seems that the stress of the car ride home made her really tired because she hid for the first 6 hours she was here. Then she came out, and as friendly as could be just wanted to explore. Jump on anything she could, get to all different altitudes, etc. She is not destructive, but if it looks like she can jump on it, she will. She took to her litter box very well, no problems yet.

Now we’re trying to determine if we are allergic to her, or her shedding and the dust she stirred up. I had more of a reaction yesterday than today, so maybe that’s a good sign, for Krissy that is :).

She has also made a bed of Krissy’s desk.

This post has had a long time coming:

Being I’m a late person and tend to be out late at night, like say, after 11 PM, when the traffic is basically nothing, I cannot stress how much I hate traffic lights. They are stupidly designed, horrible in the way the sense when you are there, and always turn just before you get to them. At least they do for me.

I don’t understand how we can have cars that have advanced control systems, smart tuned engines that require the computer to be there and tell them if anything is wrong, and shut down if there is something wrong. The car knows if there is someone in the passenger seat, knows weather or not to turn on the airbag, knows if you are spinning out and corrects your dumb driving to get you back driving in a straight line.

Advanced cars, advanced computers, in the world of computer controlled everything how have we forgotten about stop lights?

Lets say your driving down a 4 lane road, a main drag, basically no one on the road, (it is late remember, maybe 11:30 PM), coming up to a green light.

Guess what, you found one more person on this lonely road, and they are coming up the side street. In about 4 seconds you would be through the light, but NO, it turns right at that point where you would have to floor it to make it through (and hope that other person is not a cop ready to pull you over for speeding) or you would have to run the red light.

Not only do you have to urgently stop, this person coming from the side road just wants to turn right. He doesn’t even have to stop for the right turn, and is long gone, and there you are sitting at a red light with no one else around.

This is when you have the time to think, “NO one else is coming, why is the light not changing?!?”

Then you realize that only if the light had stayed green for 4 more seconds you would have been through the intersection and the other person would have made their turn, not even waiting 2 seconds.

Well, this seems to happen to me all the time, I don’t understand why we cannot make lights that are more intelligent and not turn the instant a person comes up the side road, especially when there is a break in the traffic that has the green light.

This brings up many issues: Traffic Backups, Gas Mileage, and travel times.

Given I’ve had a real job now for a couple years and get to drive back and forth to work, I see more how traffic works, how to improve it, and well, just where the shortcuts are, which usually include just avoiding as many lights as possible.
-- That’s a good note, ever realize that? Look at many shortcuts people take in their daily commute, does it involve avoiding a traffic light? Well, for damn good reason!

So intelligent lights could allow more time for traffic to get through the light, and allow more than 3 cars through each green light, prime example of this is going westbound on Devon coming up to Arlington Heights road, for those in the NW Chicago area. This light is so quick only 3 cars (or 4) can get through the light, given why there is such a backup.

Oh, and here’s a good example of avoiding a light, I call it the business park shortcut, just because Hamilton Pkw is a business park area and is a great shortcut to get on the Elgin O’hare Expressway heading west, to avoid that light at Rohlwing and Thorndale.

Fewer backups mean better gas mileage, as well as my scenario I described earlier. When I have to abruptly stop like that, that means I have to accelerate again, which only causes me to use more fuel. The government needs to do something about this, don’t just make laws about our cars emissions, make laws to reduce reasons we need to produce emissions.

Some areas have timed lights, when this is done correctly, it works, problem is it seems that most lights are not intelligently timed, only on a 2 minute this way 2 minute that way timing. You’ll really notice this on those “turn arrow” turn lanes; you’ll sit there for a few minutes.

There are many more scenarios and examples I can give, but I think we get the idea; stop lights need lots of improving. Maybe I should have gotten into Civil engineering rather than Mechanical. Either way, maybe you can also see how easily traffic lights could be improved.

LCD TV wall mounted at the foot of our bed.

Blog about his speech

You're the best, man.

Still no takers on this:

Grand Prix GXP

Is that one bad? That must be why I haven’t got it, ok we can go with one of these:

Dodge Charger, all wheel drive, blue SRT8 with a Hemi please.

Ok we’ll drop the costs a little bit for those with a tight budget. I’ll even save you shipping on the next items, just add them all to your cart at www.bhphotovideo.com:

70-200 2.8L IS Canon Lens, you’ll save $125 on this lens! It’s got an instant rebate on it now.

24-70 2.8L Canon Lens

10-22mm Canon Lens

Ok, that is still over your budget, we’ll go for one of these, lets join the crowd, who wouldn’t want this:

160GB Apple iPod Black

So those all bust your budget? This is one is for you, hey get 2 friends to go with you on it and you’ll have the 3 I need! C’mon we’re talking pennies here!

Digital8 tape case, Yes, I still need 3 of these.

www.tapeandmedia.com

So you can't afford anything? Well ya know I have just thing below, those boxes before the submit button, type something and hit POST. Thanks.

The live view is neat, but not really useful other than for still objects, manual focus is slow and hard to get right, even with the 5x or 10x zoom features.

A great improvement is how loud the camera is. I also have a 20D and that camera is very loud, same with the 30D, but even at 6.5 frames per second (I’d eventually verify this fps myself) it is very quiet, and not ‘motorized’ sounding like the Rebel XTi is.

The first thing I noticed is just how enormous the screen is, 3 inches, especially because I’m used to the nice 1.8” on the 20D.

I would really like to do a full test, being that we’ve got the 20D, 30D and now 40D. Side by side, same objects to test color, noise at different ISO, etc.

20D vs. 30D vs. 40D

Is the 40D that much better? I think so.

First photo with the camera:

If I believe the rumors across the internet the 40D will be announced in 3 long days. Hit the stores September 2, that is if I believe Best Buy (Leaked internal information from Best Buy... big oops on Best Buy's part!).

Or maybe I should skip the 40D and go with the EOS-1 Mark III, it is an amazing camera, just got to play with one a couple days ago.

I mean sheesh, it is only $4500, body only.

<< View Cubs Game 7.16.07 Photos >>

View Cubs Game Photos 4.24.07 >>
<< Aramis Ramirez photo also in Photoblog! 7.19.07
<< Cliff Floyd photo also in Photoblog! 4.24.07]]> http://photofill.com/blog/archives/2007/07/cubs_game_photo_1.html http://photofill.com/blog/archives/2007/07/cubs_game_photo_1.html Thu, 19 Jul 2007 22:58:36 -0600 So Krissy finally got her life long dream: a puppy. I was hoping not to get some ugly dog or one who I could mop the floor with. This one she picked out was a pretty decent dog. Calm personality, friendly, etc. The story behind him is we got him from a lady in Woodridge, she says her mom has like 5 acres in MI and breeds her 5 dogs like twice a year. So this was the last one out of this years litter, a 8 week old male Chihuahua-Dachshund mix, also known as a Chiweenie. So why the name Mica? Well, remember, Krissy is a geologist, mica is a sometimes black mineral. Answer your question?

So we’ve had it three days, and it is pretty well crate/kennel trained. He likes to go in there to sleep, and goes in on his own, so it is going good so far.

So here’s Mica:

<<View Photos>>

I’ll also be updating the pictures in this album when I take new pictures of Mica, so look there for updates!

<<You can also see Mica in the Photoblog!: 6.10.07

It was my first Cubs game, I was a Cub virgin I know, too bad they lost, it was still fun though. As usual I did take photos:

<< View Cubs Photos >>

<< Cliff Floyd photo also in Photoblog! 4.24.07

So what am I do to? Well what else but build my own! So it started on paper, sketches of what I wanted. Then I created a 3D CAD drawing of the correct dimensions of everything.

And after a few weeks of trying to get plywood to my house (4x8 sheet of plywood just does not fit in the Grand AM very well), and finding time to actually build these shelf/drawer units, we have the final product:

Yes Mac and PC get along in the same cube, they haven’t fought yet.

Custom built computer shelf and drawer, and printer shelf and drawers. Project complete.

Ok. Nuff said.

Now look at all the people who will ask:

What if…? Why didn’t they…?

Mr. Police Chief, why didn’t you shut down the campus before that shooter went to the classroom and shot 30 more people?!?

That is the question of 2007 I think. It’s rather stupid too. Ok, so why didn’t that policeman stop that drunk driver before he crashed into another car and killed 4 people?

This question probably will be discussed for the next few months, and I haven’t heard it that much, but I’m tired of it already.

Leave them alone, they did the best they could given what they were faced with.

Then the rain came Thursday, no problem.

Then snow Friday (3.16.07) morning, uh oh, I had 4 wheel drive no big deal.

Then more snow. More. Um, this is not going to let up, big storm coming in. Ok I think we should call the travel agent to see if we can catch an earlier flight before more of this big storm comes through.

Too late, all flights canceled. Call airline to see if we can get on a flight out of a different airport.

Nope, all flights are cancelled for Friday out of the New York, Philadelphia area. Pittsburgh, Nope, Washington Dulles, 11 AM Saturday flight, probably will be canceled though. Next available flight (that may be cancelled too) = 6 PM Saturday.

Being Krissy and I had her advisor's (teacher) wedding reception to get back to at 5 PM on Saturday, our choices were 1) stay in PA and not get home till maybe Monday. Or 2) drive the 12 hours (plus stops for gas, driving through snow delays, etc) though the snow all the way home and maybe make it home Saturday morning.

Pick Option 2).

Start driving in Bethlehem, PA at 2:30 PM Eastern. Driving started out looking a lot like this:

Roads not bad, just lot of traffic, NO WAY are we going to make it back by 5 PM. Ok, traffic let up soon after, now we're cruising.

Then the snow got a little worse, kept snowing. Drove by a few crashed-into-rocky-mountain-wall vehicles:

Also a few tunnels,

Hey, it was a break from the snow.

Then saw the Ford Exploder on its side:

A few more cars spun out, and/or stuck in the ditch:

Just before dark we got to see a jackknifed semi in the ditch as well as many more cars in the ditch.

Keep driving: I have 4 wheel drive, I can make it, only 10 hours to go.

Trying not to get too confident of this 4 wheel drive thing, yes I know 4wd helps you go, but still does not help stopping. Mostly I did just follow semi's, they would really speed through the snow, makes ruts for me to follow.

The whole way through PA it was snowing, few spots worse than others, but snowed the whole 7 hours it took us to get through PA. We did have to stop a few times to get gas, thats when I noticed how ice covered the front of the car was:

We made it to Ohio just before 9 PM. That's when things got better, only drove another hour or so through dusting snow, then wet roads, then dry. We made it through Ohio into Indiana a little after midnight, and pulled into our driveway just after 4 AM.

Yes this was a rental car, yes I did drive the whole way, yes it was a 14 hour drive, yes it was an adventure, yes we made it to the reception.