Fuel Economy Website

I currently drive a 2005 Pontiac Bonneville, but have lately been seriously considering selling it for a cheaper car (in the $1500 range) just to get rid of my debt. While looking for alternative cars on Craigslist, I started to wonder about the fuel economy of these cars. I came across a neat site that I'd like to share:

www.FuelEconomy.gov

It shows the city and highway gas mileage of all model cars, including emissions and other helpful information. Check it out!

Booty Camp

This is me, as the hulk. Those are my real muscles, but my skin is not really green. I have been working out with the Lightning 100 crew for six weeks now. To be honest, I think my muscles are too big and I'd rather just take nap time while everyone else is working out, but a commitment is a commitment!

I've had a great overall experience with it! In fact, Team Green is now offering a Team Green exclusive Bootcamp this winter with Focus Fitness. Here's the pitch:

"Dates and times will be established by those who are interested. If you're one of them, email me at TeamGreen@WRLT.com to reserve your spot and let me know your availability. TEAM GREEN BOOTCAMP is an exclusive 10 week program, twice a week. As a group you will build strength, energy, awareness, and camaraderie. Make a one time payment of $300, which includes all equipment (kettlebell and restraint bands). This offer comes out to less than $15 per class!"

My only problem with the Lightning 100 bootcamp is that it's three days a week, and I get so worn out. This TEAM GREEN BOOTCAMP will be great, especially if it ends up on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It's so hard to get back Sunday from a weekend long Team Green adventure, then have to work out on Monday!

Recycling Center for Boys

I really apologize for taking so long to finally post a new blog! Yesterday I took my first day off in almost six weeks (seriously... seven days a week for almost six weeks)! This job has really trained me to be productive because I could not sit still. Everything around my house that has been neglected finally got some attention. It felt so wonderful to get so much done! Major projects included:

1. Taking reycling out to convenience center
2. Test homemade backpacking fire starter (see post below)
3. Screw kitchen trash can to wall so TG will quit knocking it over!
4. Create home recycling center for my roommates

My roommates (3 guys and 2 dogs) have made a mess of my recycling attempts. The guys don't rinse out their beer bottles before putting them in a bag, which brings flies indoor, and the dogs (well, mostly just my dog) gets into all of the plastic and chews it to shreds. So, here's what I did:

Dog Issue: I went to Walgreen's and bought some cheapo laundry hampers. They are 2 for $5. I bought one for paper and #1 & 2 plastic, one for all other recyclables and 3 for glass. The hampers are tall enough to keep the dog out, and for safe measure I placed a board over top of it so she can't stick her nose in there.















Boy Issue: The beer bottles tend to stay around the house for a long time because when it comes time to recycle, no one wants to stick their hand into the stinky bag and separate the three kinds of glass (brown, green, and clear). Some boys just don't learn and will never rinse out the glass, so I created an outdoor recycling center for them. Here's how I did it:

What You Need:
Scrap wood and bricks or cinder blocks
Drill
Hand Saw
Screws
Small hinges (3)
Pipe fixture (3)
Laundry hampers (3)

1. For some reason I have some scrap ply wood, cinder blocks and random wood pieces around my house (probably from a construction project over 10 years ago). I used a hand saw to cut off a 20"x45" plank of wood. I screwed this onto the hand railing of my patio. One side of the plank was proped up by house and the third side was proped up by two cinder blocks and a 4'x4' chuck.
   
2. The laundry hampers will line up underneath the wood plank. Cut a hole over each hamper. To keep the rain out, create a small door to go over the holes.
3. Using some of the left over wood from the ply wood, cut squares just larger than the holes you've made to drop bottles through. Preferably, make the squares larger than a glass bottle. These pieces will become the doors to each hamper. Using your hinges (just over $1 for two at Home Depot) attach the doors over the drop holes. If you want to be fancy (like me), purchase some pipe fixtures large enough to go over a glass bottle. You can then use one of each color bottle as the door handle to the correct colored bins.
4. I then used a second sheet of ply wood to place on the outside of the new recycling center so that wind and rain could not blow through the back side. (See photo above)

Viola! You have yourself a boy- (and girl-) proof recycling center for all your stinky beer bottles. If they can't put the right colored bottle in the right hole... I just don't know what I'm going to do about them!

Fire Starters: Perfect for Backpacking!

On the Team Green Frozen Head backpacking trip a couple weeks ago I over heard someone talking about how to make home made fire starters. It had rained the entire day before and most of the wood around us was wet. A fire starter really saved us because it was able to burn long enough on its own to dry out some of the wood and generate enough heat to burn the rest. You can buy fire starters pretty cheap at most outdoor stores, but they usually have chemicals of some sort in them. Here are step by step directions how to make your own out of house hold items.















What You Need:
Zip lock bag full of dryer lint (maybe even some wood chips or dry leaves)
Glass container
Two or three cheap wax candles (99 cents at Micheal's)
Boiling Pot
Match Box

1. Break the wax candle into pieces and removed the wick. Place the wax pieces into the glass jar or glass.
2. Fill a boiling pot 1/3 to half full of water. Place the glass container with wax in the pot and cover with lid. Boil water until wax melts
3. Stuff dryer lint into melted wax. Before wax dries completely, mold the melted wax and dryer lint into small balls (about the size of a doughnut hole). Make sure that dryer lint is well saturated with wax, but not much more than 50% of each.
4. Place match stick into dryer lint/wax ball and allow to dry for several hours.
5. Light one to test in an isolated area and see how long it burns. You'll want it to burn on it's own for at least 10 minutes.

I tested mine the other day and it lasted almost a half hour. The larger you make each ball, the longer it will burn. If you are a backpacker you can appreciate the need for things to be small and light weight. Customize each for your activity needs.

Radio Fit

Three weeks ago all of the Lightning 100 employees (minus about 3) enrolled in a 10 week bootcamp through Marathon Fitness, a fitness facility directly below our studio (in fact, most of the afternoon as we hear are grunts and groans from guys trying to lift weights). Each of us weighed in and determined our goal for the 10 weeks. Based upon our age, weight, gender, body fat, and goals we were each issued a meal plan. You can learn more about everyone's response to this experience on our blog Radio Fit. I discovered a very significant problem with my diet: I don't eat! I tried doing the bootcamp and eat more, but even then I wasn't eating enough. My over exherting my body through bootcamp three times weekly plus Team Green Yoga on Tuesdays and our outdoor adventures over the weekends I was starting to feel weak, negative, and tired. If you're interested in designing your own meal plan, here is an example of a meal for those of you who are active, want to mantain your weight but gain strenght:

7am
4 Egg Whites (I still only eat maybe one or two)
1 Yolk
1/2 cup oatmeal

10am
Meal replacement or yogurt

1pm
3 oz fish or chicken
Complex carbohydrate (rice, potato, pasta)

3pm
1 tbsp peanut butter

4pm
6 oz chicken
Veggie serving

7pm
6 oz chicken
Veggie serving

1/2 gallon of water (Really, I still only drink a couple glasses)

They are very small portions but they keep you full for the duration between meals.