The Fit is Go! Wednesday, August 19, 2009

It's official. We said good-bye to the Love Boat after over 10 years of having it as our main ride.

Here, you can see the Love Boat fading in to the background as the Fit is ready to come home with us.

As a keepsake, we kept the middle row captains chairs from the van and we're going to make a "love seat" out of them. I'm thinking they'll look great in the living room.

Here's a pic of me giving the van one last hug before we traded it in. You will be missed you big Boat of Love...

Cash for Clunkers - Would you take advantage of it? Monday, July 27, 2009

I'm sure you've heard about it by now. It seems that every time I turn on the radio or the television (I've even seen it advertised on some websites) I'm bombarded with "cash for clunkers" offers. It just passed through our government, and is EVERYWHERE!

I'd heard rumblings about this government incentive to rid the roads of gas-guzzling rides for the past couple of months, but there was no official announcement until just recently. It turns out that the start date for this program was on July 1 and it will be in effect until November 1 or until the $1 billion set aside for this program runs out (whichever comes first).
In short, the Cash for Clunkers (officially "Car Allowance Rebate System" or CARS) program is a government stimulus package that essentially provides a rebate to any person trading in a car that gets a combined (hwy and city) fuel economy of 18 mpg or less. The rebate amount you get depends on how many miles per gallon the new car that you buy gets compared to your old "clunker". Buying a car that gets more than 4, but less than 10 mpg more than the car you're trading in yeilds a $3,500 rebate. Should your new car have a combined fuel economy of 10 mpg or more than the car you're trading in, you will receive a rebate of $4,500.

There are some restrictions, but cars.gov does a great job of answering a bunch of questions you may have. One caveat is that this only works with new car purchases. There are also some limitations with particular work trucks. I encourage you to do your own research if you think this a good idea.

Now that all of the technical stuff is out of the way, I get to the point of this blog post. Should we trade in The Love Boat for a couple grand towards a new car? More specifically, a black 2009 Honda Fit Sport with a manual transmission, some flashy rims and a thumpin' stereo? Raise your hand if you're ridden with me lately and have heard the "doo-doo bass".
I did the math and found out that our trusty old van gets 18 mpg (even the original listing when the car debuted says 18 mpg, combined). The Fit gets an average of 31 mpg. That's roughly a 55% increase in fuel economy. (31 / (18 - 1) = % difference) So, if we currently spend $150/mo. on gas for the van (we like to travel), then I could assume that we'd be spending $82.5/month on gas. Wait...is that right? Somebody help me with the math. I manage projects for a living now. My math skills have gone out the window. Assuming that's correct, we'd be saving $67.5/month...minus the monthly cost to actually pay for the car.

And therein lies our dilemma. All the numbers out on the table and we're probably looking at around $100/month to own a spankin' new Honda Fit Sport (and helping out the environment that much more). Oh yeah, the cool thing about the "cash for clunkers" program is that the car you trade in MUST be sent to a scrap yard and "...be crushed or shredded so that it will not be resold for use in the United States or elsewhere as an automobile." Kinda hard to stomach the thought of that happening to the van, but it is nice to know that we were the last ones to drive it and that the terrible emissions from that car will cease upon selling it.

So, with all of that said, I'm asking for your help and your opinion. What should we do? If you were in our situation, with a van worth (maybe) $1,000 and over 260,000 miles, would you pull the trigger on the new car and take advantage of this rebate? Whatever your answer, tell me why you think what you do.

Kettlebells Thursday, July 02, 2009

So, this week begins my kettlebell workout routine with a friend from work. Yes, I know what you're saying..."what happened to P90X?". It was a fantastic workout, but I stopped doing it when I got the flu at the end of last year. Then, the holidays were upon us and...well, I guess I'm just making excuses. Sorry Christopher!

Christopher was my accountability partner for P90X. We were so serious about making P90X work for us that we even created a blog to catalog our workouts and other random thoughts. We were about as consistent with that as we were with our workouts.

Now, I'm off to the next shiny new thing; Kettlebells. If you've never heard of a kettlebell, imagine a cannonball with a handle on it. Or, if imagining things is too hard for you, just look at the picture to the left. There are literally dozens (maybe even hundreds) of exercises you can do with a kettlebell. Right now, I'm only working on swings (goofy-looking, air-humping, arm swings between your legs) and getups (lie down, hold HEAVY weight above your head and try to stand up while not dropping it on your dome). Check out these videos if you want to see some actual examples of the workouts and techniques. Anybody out there got a workout program that they're doing and seems to be working for them?

Top Gear - Season 13 Monday, June 22, 2009

Tonight is the night I've been waiting for since last Fall. A tradition that Sony and I have been dragged into (actually, most willingly). I'm referring to a get-together we know as "Top Gear Night".

We have a great group of friends here in Knoxville. Most of which attend Christ Community Church with us. The tradition of Top Gear Night basically just involves all of us gathering around somebody's glowing picture box to watch the latest episode of the greatest show ever -- Top Gear. A beautifully produced program on the BBC 2 about cars, Top Gear spares no expense to make quality entertainment with exceptional production quality...and a bit of good ol' British humor.

Now, I'll probably catch a lot of flack from some of you hardcore peeps out there, but neither Sonya, nor I are really "car people". You know what I mean when I say that. Neither of us could talk to you about cars in any intelligent manner...unless we're talking about the Volvo or the Love Boat. What I can tell you is that this show is just fun and pretty to watch! The amount of effort they put into its production is definitely noticeable.

Watch this clip from last season and you'll see what I mean. Be sure to click the HQ (High Quality) button in order for it to play correctly. (If that doesn't work, just click here to watch the video on YouTube.) If you're not a fan of the show after watching this, I don't know what to say.

Improv Everywhere...even in Knoxville! Monday, June 08, 2009

So, while perusing the interwebs, I came across this video on Ken Wilson's blog...

I had to watch it a few times to see all of the people's faces that were not part of this event. Someday, this will be me! I will don my hammer pants (or other mission critical attire) and dance, sing and act like I don't care who's watching...because it's not as embarrassing when everybody's doing it, right?

In watching this video, I was reminded of the whole Improv Everywhere movement (a.k.a. Urban Prankster) and how I still long to be a part of that. Knoxville has a group, which I am a part of, but haven't gotten involved with any such events...YET!

Take some time to check out the Improv Everywhere website and some of the classic missions they've done over the years. Then, find your local Urban Prankster group and make a scene!

Atlanta Saturday, May 09, 2009

If you are ever in Atlanta, I highly recommend the Botanical Gardens. Of course, your experience will never be as awesome as ours was, because we were with two of the coolest people in the world. That's right, Brett and April Emerson were with us to experience this lush urban refuge and I doubt the experience would have been half as great without them.

I don't really have an explanation for these photos. I just picked the weirdest ones from this trip...wasn't hard to do! Seriously, the gardens were beautiful and we had a lovely weekend. Keep the Emersons in your prayers as they fly back to Africa this weekend.

Christian, but not conservative Thursday, April 09, 2009

This piece I just found on CNN is so important. It's exactly what I feel about where I'm at politically. I heard Frank Schaeffer on NPR a few months ago, talking about his book, "Crazy for God", and how he and his father (regrettably) were some of the original voices of right-wing politics that are so frustrating to me. It's inspiring to see how Mr. Schaeffer has had such a significant change in view point as he has gotten older. Has anyone read that book?

Our Cat, The Celebrity Thursday, April 02, 2009

Have you ever heard of a LOLcat, a.k.a. "cat meme", or just simply a "lol"? In short, a LOLcat is a picture of a cat, with some text captioned on the photo expressing the cat's thoughts or explaining the photo in what is known as "lolspeak".

Confused? You'll just have to visit icanhascheezburger.com to really get it. If you're interested, check out the history of I Can Has Cheezburger or this Wikipedia entry about LOLcats.

Well, tonight I got a flattering email from one of the folks over at ICHC. They hand-picked this photo of our cat Beedie and want to use it in their next book! How cool is that?!


Not only is Beedie going to be a star, but the ICHC peeps want to give us props in the book, which will be titled I Can Has Cheezburger?: Lolcats Teach U How To Take Over Teh Wurld. Let's hear it for Beedie!!

Oh, and if you want to see the original caption that went with this photo, you can see it here on icanhascheezburger.com. Don't forget to vote for it! We'll keep you posted when we know more.

April Fools Day Prank Wednesday, April 01, 2009

This afternoon, we had probably one of the best April Fool's Day pranks played on us EVER! Read this email thread first, then I'll explain what happened. (images will expand when clicked)

So, here's how it all went down. Sean creates a Gmail account of luchauer.sonya, which is flipped from what her actual account is. From that account, he sends the first message (disguised as Sonya) to himself about us being pregnant. He then replies to Sonya with what he says in the first email above and also CC's about 50 people (some we know, some we don't) to the email. ALL of these people get an email from Sean with what looks like a legitimate email from Sonya saying that we're pregnant.

After some time passes, and after my heart jumps back into my chest from thinking that Sonya told these friends of ours that we're pregnant before even telling ME, Sean follows up with the second email above saying that he was mistaken and that we're having twins.

Well, now I'm thinking "okay, okay...you got us good, Sean", but he follows up with a third email saying we're having triplets, but then goes on to smooth everything over, explaining that it was all an April Fool's joke. Phew! Sonya and I didn't know what was going on and I'm sure the people that were all copied on Sean's emails REALLY were wondering. I'm just glad he didn't have our parent's email addresses in his contact list!!

I talked to another friend who received one of these emails and he said that people were going to think one of three things after reading them:

1. Sonya and I are pregnant with 1 child
   
2. Sonya and I are pregnant with twins
3. Sean is a jerk

Hahah! Just know that NONE of the above things are true. This was, by far, the best prank that has ever been played on us. Props to you Sean for being so sly, but like Sonya said, you're still are a turd. I love you, man! Thanks for thinking we were "worthy" enough for this prank. LOL!

The Love Boat Reaches a Milestone Friday, March 06, 2009

Sony and I have been rockin' the minivan ever since my brother totaled my green '94 Ford Escort GT. Some days I miss the old green machine, but when I start to think about the van, and all the travels and fun we've had in it (keep your mind out of the gutter), I can get a little choked up.

There she is in all her glory. Back in her home-state of Michigan, she was looking beautiful that evening as the sun-lit waves of Torch Lake reflected playfully off of her rusted and paint-chipped body. And check out that rack!

In all seriousness, the "Love Boat" as it was affectionately dubbed while we were at Harding, has been the best car ever. It's been to/through at least 15 U.S states that I can think of and we've finally reached a milestone. This is no bit of camera trickery that you are about to witness. Behold, we've reached a quarter of a million miles!

Can you believe it? It's been SO nice not to have any car payments over these past couple of years, but we know that someday, she'll travel her last mile. When that day comes, I think I'll hold a ceremony in memory of all of the good times we had together. Thanks little Love Boat. You'll always be my #2 girl (unless we have daughters someday).

If you have any special memories with the Love Boat, we'd LOVE to hear about them in the comments, below. Thanks!

Never In A Million Years Monday, March 02, 2009

Though this could quite possibly be the biggest rush ever, I don't think I'd ever try it. This video both left me in complete awe and also needing to change my underwear. Enjoy!

wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.

Have you ever done any base jumping or skydiving? If so, where...and why did you do it? If you bungee jumped, don't even bother commenting. That's child's play you big baby!

Final Edition of the Denver Rocky Mountain News Friday, February 27, 2009

As most of you know, I work for E. W. Scripps, the parent company for over a dozen newspapers across the country. I am a project manager for the online department and help to manage and implement pieces of the dot com portions for each of their newspapers.

It is with a sad heart that I write this post. Many of my co-workers (though most I do not know personally) are losing their jobs after today. Back on December 4, 2008, Scripps announced that they would put the Rocky Mountain News up for sale. Unfortunately, a buyer never stepped up. Just yesterday in this press release, Scripps announced that the Rocky was going to publish its final edition today.

My heart goes out to all of these employees. I wanted to thank you all for the dedication to see it through and continue to bring the people of Denver (and the rest of the world through your website) amazing stories and integrity in your journalism. Thank you!

The following video is a beautiful piece put together by the staff at the Rocky Mountain News. I hope you enjoy it and realize the impact this has on SO many people. Not just the employees, but also the city of Denver and journalists across the country.

Final Edition from Matthew Roberts on Vimeo.

Comments From Garrison Keillor... Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Garrison Keillor's comments on Obama's election...

Be happy, dear hearts, and allow yourselves
a few more weeks of quiet exultation.
It isn't gloating, it's satisfaction at a job well done.
He was a superb candidate, serious, professorial
but with a flashing grin and a buoyancy that comes
from working out in the gym every morning.

He spoke in a genuine voice, not senatorial at all.
He relished campaigning. He accepted adulation gracefully.
He brandished his sword against his opponents
without mocking or belittling them.
He was elegant, unaffected, utterly American,
and now (Wow) suddenly America is cool.
Chicago is cool. Chicago !!!

We threw the dice and we won the jackpot
and elected a black guy with a Harvard degree,
the middle name Hussein and a sense of humor.
He said, "I've got relatives who look like Bernie Mac,
and I've got relatives who look like Margaret Thatcher."
The French junior minister for human rights said,
"On this morning, we all want to be American
so we can take a bite of this dream unfolding
before our eyes." When was the last time you heard
someone from France say they wanted to be American
and take a bite of something of ours?
Ponder that for a moment.

The world expects us to elect pompous yahoos,
and instead we have us a 47-year-old prince
from the prairie who cheerfully ran the race, and
when his opponents threw sand at him,
he just smiled back. He'll be the first president in history
to look really good making a jump shot.
He loves his classy wife and his sweet little daughters.
At the same time, he knows pop music,
American lit and constitutional law.
I just can't imagine anybody cooler.

It feels good to be cool, and all of us can share in that,
even sour old right-wingers and embittered blottoheads.
Next time you fly to Heathrow and hand your passport
to the man with the badge, he's going to see
" United States of America " and look up and grin.
Even if you worship in the church of Fox ,
everyone you meet overseas is going to ask you about Obama,
and you may as well say you voted for him because,
my friends, he is your line of credit over there.
No need anymore to try to look Canadian.

_____________________________________________

Mr. Keillor is great! To bad I couldn't find a clip of him saying this so you could just hit a "play" button and listen to his captivating voice. Unabashedly, I admit to looking forward to his variety radio show, A Prairie Home Companion, each weekend on NPR. I recently read a funny description of the mysterious appeal of Garrison Keillor, by Sam Anderson. Anderson describes Keillor's weekly News From Lake Wobegon: "Keillor delivers the news in a kind of whispery trance. When he speaks, blood pressures drop across the country, wild horses accept the saddle, family dogs that have been hanging on at the end of chronic illnesses close their eyes and drift away". Ha ha! Perfect description.

Knoxville Skateboarding Saturday, February 07, 2009

Today, I ventured out to the Knoxville Skate Park. The park is great and has a few bowls, some stairs, rails and hubbas. It's a perfect mix of street and vert! The temperature got up to 65 today and there were a TON of kids (and 2 old guys) rockin' it out. Check out my Flickr page for more!

After hitting up the skate park, I headed over to The Board Room in fabulous Knox-Vegas. Some good friends of ours opened the shop this past Fall and I'd be willing to put money on it being the best skate shop in Knoxville. Some of the kids that were at the skate park must have knew I was coming because they were playing on the Xbox 360 when I showed up. After teaching them a lesson in s.k.a.t.e, I had them give me lessons in kickflips. I was able to get my board to flip, but just couldn't land it. All in good time. Here are some pics of the kids hitting up a rail in front of The Board Room.

The rest of the photos from the skate session at The Board Room can also be found on my Flickr.

Why do we live this way? Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Recently, I got to thinking..."a lot of the stuff we have is old and jankity". I voiced this thought to Sonya and we decided to make a list of all of things that we could categorize as such. If you know anything about the two of us, you should know that we both absolutely LOVE to make lists. It's one of our favorite things to do. Sometimes, we even make lists of lists that we want to make in the future!

And I digress. What I was getting at was the fact that we've got a lot of dated things in our collective life. Here's a short list of some of the things I'm talking about:

1. We use a VCR to record television shows
2. The VHS tape we use to record television has been fully copied over at least 4 times
   
3. We have a tube television that weighs about 200 lbs
4. My cell phone does not have a camera on it
   
5. I have a drawer full of cassette tapes in my van to which I still listen
6. In my closet, among many other similar shirts that I wear, you'll find one which says "1999 College Basketball Champions"
7. Every pair of jeans that I own has at least 1 hole (and they're not "fashion" holes)
8. I've been riding the same snowboard for over 13 years
9. Sonya drives a '93 Volvo station wagon with ripped seats
10. I drive a '96 "Mercur" Villager van with ripped seats (the letter 'y' fell off the word "Mercury")
    

So, after we made this list, we started thinking "why do we do this to ourselves"? And therein lies our question to you, our 2 readers. Respond to the poll on the right about why you think we live this way. Then, comment with your suggestions about which one of these things we should change/update and why.

Sick Longboarding Action Monday, February 02, 2009

This blog has really been crawling along for the past few years. We usually only write about things that we do or places we go, but no more. There are tons of cool things that I come across on the web and lots of thoughts rolling around in my head, so I thought I'd try and dump some o' dat in you face erry now and then.

I came across this insane longboarding video on one of my Vimeo romps. Check out these two dudes rocking the blue suits and passing the video camera back and forth while they blaze down this hill at ridiculous speeds.


Adam Kimmel presents: Claremont HD from adam kimmel on Vimeo.

If you're going to do something this crazy/awesome/stupid, you might as well look fresh while you do it!

Knoxville at Night Monday, February 02, 2009

Sonya spent the weekend in Nashville with some of her friends, so I thought it would be the perfect excuse for me to head downtown and learn how to use my new Canon Digital Rebel XSi in low light settings. I got down there just as the sun had set, so it was practically dark. Thankfully, this camera is AWESOME and was up for the task!


I learned a lot about my camera, but what I really took away from my night out on the town was that I should never do this again without gloves and a heavier jacket if it's only going to be 28 degrees outside!!

See more photos on my Flickr page

The Last of 2008 Thursday, January 15, 2009

Some of my favorite things about 2008:

1. New community and involvement with Christ Community Church
2. Our travels in EUROPE
3. Rootclip officially launched, and was featured in the Traverse City Film Festival
4. I officially started Grad School full-time, working toward my Nurse Practitioner Degree
5. Ran my 1st 1/2 Marathon
6. President-elect Barack Obama - hopeful future for our country
7. Many of our friends brought new little lives into this world in '08, plus a few via adoption!
8. Erik and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary

I'm sure there are many, many more awesome and amazing things that God allowed me to experience in 2008, but these were just the highlights.

The last few weeks of December were filled with visits from friends and family - much laughter and love all around. Here's a link to our photos chronicling all of the fun :)