Cat

CAT: by Annisa.  Taken with her new cell phone.

The Joys of a New Phone

Here we have a 17 year old transfering her address book from her ipod touch to her new cell phone.  Yay!

Men building a snow house outside of Sharon's office

These guys told me they were not being paid, just having fun.  They did not have a plan for a roof, so I think they were telling the truth.

Ice

Snow in Town

It was a heavy snow

Will it be a Nor' Easter?

Running in E-Town

This morning my friend Dan and I ran 9 miles through the outlying hills of Elizabethtown.  It was a tremendously hilly course, but very much fun.

This course had a difference of 311 feet from the lowest point to the highest point.  That's a more than a whole football field standing on its' end, isn't it?

The views were outrageously awesome!

The run started with a brutal 20 minute climb to the top of a mountain.  We took it easy and did OK, but somewhere during mile six, we hit some short but very steep climbs.  If we had planned a seven mile run, we would have finished at that point and felt like we pushed our selves to the max (see the red arrow below).  But since we were doing nine, and there was no shortcut home, we just pushed on.  And for the last 15-16 minutes we kept a steady pace, even over the last little hill.

BLACK SWAMP RD, was near mile six.  It threw everything it had at us, but we survived and were NOT defeated by the BLACK SWAMP!  Woot!

Sunday Weather

Today my BlackBerry announced that it's overcast and 9 degrees.  Ouch.

My Latest Toy

My latest toy is Endomondo, on my Blackberry.

I turn it on when I start running, and it keeps track of my route and times.  On this screen shot below, I was running for 1 Hour 27 Minutes, covering 8 miles.  The Speed Min/Mile is a little goofed up, for some reason because of how I took the screen shot, but it does work.  A nice mechanical sounding lady talks through the speaker and says "Last mile in eleven minutes, forty seven seconds."

At the end, the information about the run is saved on my Black Berry, and also uploaded to the Endomondo web site.  The dates are in European format: dd/mm/yyyy.

The web site shows the route I ran and other info about the run. 

I'm still trying to figure out how to read this speed and elevation chart.  I think the light gray mountain is the elevation and/or the steepness of the grade.  The white line would be my speed.  I guess I'm a slow climber.

The web site records my runs.

And creates a nice little profile.

My only problem is that Endomondo makes my BlackBerry battery life even worse that it is normally.  An hour run burns nearly half the battery.

Businesses that Care EXPO May 14

This is a plug for an event organized and sponsored by my Rotary club.  If you are involved with a no-for-profit agency that is trying to increase its' visibility, raise money, or find volunteers, this is for you.  Alternatively, if you work for or own a business that wants to do good in the community, this is a nice opportunity.

Here is the sale's pitch:

The Lancaster Hempfield Rotary Club will conduct the Businesses That Care EXPO III on May 14, 2011 at the Farm & Home Center in Lancaster from 10am to 4pm. Local businesses that care will sponsor booths for non-profit agencies. The agencies will have an opportunity to demonstrate their services and solicit volunteers from the audience that attends the EXPO. (The number of visitors was approximately 800, last year.) The agencies will compete on the basis of the number of votes that they receive from the EXPO visitors. The four agencies with the highest number of votes will receive $2000, each. Two agencies will be selected, randomly, to receive $1000. (That's $10,000 in potential awards!)  For additional information or to register as a sponsor or an exhibiting non-profit agency, contact Ed Bednar at lebednar@comcast.net



Admission to the EXPO is a food donation or $1 which will be given to the Landisville Food Pantry. Last year nearly $1000 in food or cash was donated to the Pantry. In addition, a local non-profit organization will provide cafeteria and refreshment services for the EXPO. A similar non-profit earned $400 for their mission project in Brazil at EXPO II last year.


Sponsors for 2011
Platinum Sponsor: Engle-Hambright & Davies, Inc.
Gold Sponsor: Oak Leaf Manor


Booth Sponsors for 2011 (so far!)
Lancaster Rotary Club
Engle-Hambright & Davies
Oak Leaf Manor
NAI Commercial Partners
Mongiovi & Mongiovi Law Offices
'lyn Paddock Prudential Real Estate Agent
Reinsel Kuntz Lesher LLP

I have additional info and sign-up forms posted HERE.

Here is a list of participants and sponsors from last year.

http://www.lancasterhempfieldrotary.com/

Gas Pipeline

We have a Texas Eastern natural gas pipeline that goes through our nieghborhood.  Today there was a dusting of snow, and while out running, I noticed the snow over the pipeline was melted.

I researched this, and learned that Texas Eastern deliveres gas from the Gulf Coast to the Northeast.  6.7 Billion Cubic Feet of gas flow through the 9,200 miles of Texas Eastern Pipe each day.  They say their system of pipes and storage allows "for 'one turn' per year (an injection and withdrawal cycle that takes 12 months)."

I guess that means if you played Pooh sticks in the Texas Eastern pipeline, it would take a year for your stick to get from Houston to New York.

It appears the line near our house is 36" steel. We live at the green arrow and the photo was taken at the white arrow.

We have gas in our house, but ironically, it's LP.  There is no natural gas in our nieghborhood, except for that big pipe just passing through on its' way to NYC.

We get it monthly delivered by truck.  Our tank is probably 24 inches in diameter, so it could be layed on it's side and slid in to the 36 inch Eastern Texas pipe, with room to spare.  And that much gas lasts us an entire month. 

Cool Car

This cool Camaro was parked outside my office tonight.  I don't have any interest in owning a sports car, but I like looking at them.

Interesting Blog

One of the blogs I read is called "Snapshots from Oz", written by someone I don't know, who loves in Austrailia.  Margie Marino from the North Museum sent me this link to a photo of an Ibis on a plate, and that's how I got started watching the blog.

One of the recent posts is about Vegemite, which we called Marmite, in Kenya.  I still use it for seasonings soup.  The post is a fun little read!

Cookies

Jody is doing his best to make a dent in all the Christmas cookies.

The first time I tried to upload this photo, Google saw it and tried to block it.



Sunset Tonight

New Year's Eve Photos

We had the Assateague Gang over for New Years Eve.  14 People.  We wrote our New Year resolutions, then read them out loud and threw them in the fire.  Susan said there is power in saying the words out loud.

Below are photos of the Mill House on Snapper Dam Road that burned on Christmas Day.

Last week in York I came across this accident at a Rt 30 traffic light. There was just way too much laughing going on. I guessed that was because no one seemed injured. The car's engine was still running, and as I pulled away from the traffic light, the women drove the car into the median.