Last weekend, Tyla and I went on the annual Tulip Ride. This was my fifth ride with the group. The only one I’ve missed was in 2011 because we were on our 1 year anniversary trip. The first ride in 2007 was maybe 20-30 people and it has gotten bigger every year. This year the peak count was 162 bikes! The ride started in Redmond with about half the group starting there. We rode up 405 to Tulalip Casino in Marysville to meet up with the second half of the group. A police escort helped get us through all the stop lights up there by blocking of all the intersections and we made our way up to the tulip fields.
The organizer always calls the specific field where we stop and asks them to reserve space for us. He had planned on at least an acre of solid ground for us to park on, but when we got there they had room for maybe 50 bikes if we packed them tight. Tyla and I saw the mess and decided to just keep riding since there weren’t many tulips left and I was getting tired of riding in a pack.
We rode on and had our picnic lunch under the Deception Pass bridge, rode down Whidbey Island and caught the ferry back home.
The weather wasn’t sunny but it cooperated and we only got misted on from time to time. Photos are posted in the photo gallery. Some of them are a little blurry since it was dark and it was hard to take pictures on a moving bike! But it should give you a little idea of the ruckus we caused with all those bikes. Do you ride in the Seattle area? Join us next year! Watch tulipride.org for details.
It’s so nice to have contractors that you can trust. For any heating question, I call up Chelsea’s Dad who owns PMG Mechanical (206) 624-5040. When we bought the house, I asked him to come over and inspect our equipment. He recommended replacing the water heater immediately and said the furnace would last us through the winter but not much more. These recommendations lined up directly with what we heard from our inspector.
We ended up with a Carrier Infinity 80% efficient two stage furnace and a Carrier Infinity suitecase air conditioner. Brent recommended that we go with the 80% furnace over one of the high efficiency models because they just haven’t nailed the reliability of those models yet. The two stage furnace will give us a big boost because it only runs at partial power most of the time, but for the rare occasion when it gets really cold, the furnace kicks in full power. The fan is also incredibly efficient and costs almost nothing to run. The air conditioner is an extra small and quiet model that is normally installed in commercial locations where size and noise are a factor. In our case, it we only had about 5 feet to our property line and I wanted to still get yard waste bins and the lawn mower through. After it was installed, we still have 3 feet of clearance to the fence. It’s definitely a splurge but I’m betting we’ll think it was worth it as time goes on. Plus, we’ll be the party house when it’s hot outside! The final bit that we added to the bill was an electronic air cleaner. It increases air flow through the system, creates an allergy free environment, and is very easy to clean.
For the first time in my life, I own dirt! Yard care is a chore for some people, but after years of living in apartments and the condo, I’m excited to have a chance at taking care of a yard. We’ll see long long that feeling lasts!
I’ve gotten a few questions about my theater room and how much it costs to put something like this together. I know it’s impolite to talk about stuff like this in public, but on the flip side, I also want to point out that this might not be nearly as expensive as you think. Plus when I was putting this together, it was very helpful to read through other people’s build list. So I’ll just list out all the gear that I used and you can click the links if you want to look into buying it for yourself. I did this almost as cheaply as I could except that I splurged and spent a couple hundred extra to get a slightly better projector that had a lot of lens shift. That makes it a lot easier to mount it wherever is convenient and adjust the lens to hit the screen. And I suppose you could save some more money if you go for a 720p projector instead of 1080p, but if you can afford it at all, go for 1080p. At this size of a screen, you’ll notice the difference.
My parents came out for a visit this past weekend. While they were here, I thought it would be fun to attempt some food in the 
As you may
25% Less Wise
My wisdom teeth are a mess. I started typing out the details in this post, but really it’s just gross. Suffice it to say that many dentists and oral surgeons have taken a peek inside my mouth but since I wasn’t having any pain at the time, they reluctantly decided to just leave well enough alone. One of them is starting to cause some trouble and thankfully it’s one that they think they can get out of my mouth so this morning I’m having done. The oral surgeon said he didn’t want to attempt it unless I was under full anesthesia and I happily agreed to that. Hopefully I’ll come out of the surgery with only a little pain and none of the nasty potential complications. I’ll be out of commission for a couple days though. Bring on the soft foods and video games!
Maybe Tyla will bring a video camera along in case I act like this kid:
PS. Happy Birthday Mom! I got you bloody tooth remnants.