CBBaron

There's corn stoves also. Easy to find corn.

But not cheap. Especially after the drought last summer.

I think some of the pellet stoves can also burn corn. Something to look into.

Craig

Something else im curious about is wood pellet stoves. I know your locked into using pellets. I have a pretty good wood supply, but not having to split and stack sounds nice as well.

Pellet stoves are convenient, very easy to use, easier to install and much cleaner than wood stoves.

However you are locked into buying pellets. You cant cut costs by cutting you own. And depending on supply/demand it may be more expensive than other heat sources. Also as mentioned the pellets cant be stored out doors. They will absorb moisture if wet and become ruined.

When they first became popular pellets were cheap but the demand for sawdust and wood scraps for pellets and other uses (composite lumber, bio fuel, etc.) has driven up the price to be competitive with natural gas and oil. Currently I think it only makes sense for a cottage without access to natural gas.

A couple interesting options

http://leisurelinestoves.com/index.html

Automatic feeding coal stoves

Simialr to pellet stoves but the fuel is a little cheaper and prices should remain fairly stable

http://www.centralboiler.com/home.html

Outdoor wood boiler.

Craig

heres what I am looking at...

http://www.quadrafire.com/Products/2100-Millennium-Wood-Stove.aspx

This is what we have

http://www.quadrafire.com/en/Products/Yosemite-Wood-Stove.aspx

We chose that model because it fit on our fireplace hearth and looked good in out traditional living room. Due to the shape of our fireplace the inserts did not work or did not look good.

Nice little supplemental heat source. We run it on the weekends to help offset heat costs and because it looks and feels nice. I used to run it evenings also but I get home later so I dont feel it is worth the effort.

Or house is pretty cut up and not well insulated (1924 Tudor style) so the heat is mostly in the living room with some up the stairs. But it means the living room is about 75 while other parts of the house are 58 and the furnace does not run if outside temps are >20.

Years ago my parents used a wood furnace to heat our home. That was a ton of work every year to get enough firewood. However that kept the mess outside or in the unfinished basement. We had a window that was removed to throw the wood into the basement into a small room next to the furnace. Powered wood splitters are great if you plan to cut that much wood.

Craig

OK I am 100 pages into the first volume and just now found an article. This is as bad as the old "Computer Shopper"

I need to lose that page from my work computer.

Craig

Mohican's on my wanna-do list. I have to get to the next level in terms of fitness and skill first, though. I plan on doing a 6 hour race solo this year, and a bunch of shorter races. Not sure that I'm ready for a full 100 miler though.

I believe they have a 100km (62 mile) option also. But Im with swingset where a 10 would do me in.

Since my disc hernia last fall I have not even tried riding but I am anxious to do so again. Once we get dry roads again I will see how I do on the road. I can't stand working out indoors either.

Craig

Another option for high speed internet service in the boonies is Exceed.

However both satellite internet services have monthly data caps similar to your phone data plans (but usually higher). They will have no problem streaming movies but if you start streaming movies or TV on a regular basis you will quickly exceed the data caps.

Land lines will be better if you plan to stream video much beyond a few youtube videos every day.

Craig

I agree, I just didn't want him to think he was caffeine free drinking decaf.

Good point.

Personally I found I didnt care much for decaf coffee. Ofcourse I drink mine black.

Just an FYI. My dad had a doctors appointment a few weeks ago and the doctor told him that decaf coffee isn't 100% caffeine free. The doctor basically told him if it doesn't say caffeine free, it isn't. Last time I did this and need to do it again I just went cold turkey. The headaches the following day suck but it's worth it.

Caffeine is naturally present in coffee. Decaffeinated coffee goes through a process to remove the caffeine. Ofcourse this process is not 100% effective and it is the reason decaffeinated coffee tastes odd.

Soda on the other hand has caffeine added. So if they dont add it, soda can be caffeine free.

When trying to reduce caffeine decaffeinated coffee can be a useful tool as it has far less caffeine than regular and tastes almost the same.

Craig

Just quit, cold turkey. It's coffee/caffeine we're talking about here not heroin. Take a few advil if you get a headache and you'll be good. The physical addiction is not nearly as powerful as the mental addiction. If you have the will-power to say you're done and stick to it, it should be easy.

The physical addiction to caffeine is pretty bad but it is short lived.

However it is also painless if you taper off rather than go cold turkey. So why not avoid the pain :huh:

Craig

Decrease the caffeine in half each day.

Try switching to decaf from some of you coffee or mix decaf and regular grounds.

Then substitute tea for the coffee or just water.

I usually drink a couple cups a day and even at that rate if I skip a day Ill get a headache.

If you just quite cold turkey the headache will be killer.

I try to occassionally (once or twice a year) go a week without coffee.

I usually cut to 1 cup the first day. Tea the second day then go without on the third.

Craig

You can usually get away with a slightly smaller bike for MTB since you don't spend a ton of time in the seat. When I rode a lot, I rode about a size smaller than I normally would just because it was lighter and easier to throw around. But I'd ride relatively short distances (10-15 miles at a time), so I spend more time out of the seat than I would on a road bike.

Inseam should not matter much for either sizing except to have sufficient standover height. Seat height is easily adjusted to accommodate inseams and its easy to get a longer seat post if necessary.

More important is reach. A good bike shop should be able to help with fit. It seems many riders prefer frames on the small side of recommended to reduce weight and improve handling. This is more true of MTB than road.

Craig

I have used TurboTax for the last few years. Check the Tax software reviews and they were still the best so I bought it again this year (before I saw the news about them screwing the firearms retailers).

If you have a simple return the online tax software is a pretty good deal. The actual software seems to be a better deal if you will be using the software to e-file state and have more complicated returns like stock sales or rental investments.

Seems any one can be an H&R tax rep so I dont trust them to do any better than I can with decent software.

Id try one of the other tax softwares.

Craig

I knew about radiant floor heating just didn't realize it could heat the entire house and eliminate duct work. I image the A/C vents would be off the floor?

Insulation is something I am really concerned about. I've been in enough drafty house and wasting all that energy. I don't want to be paying to heat outside.

Yep, he heats his whole house with what is basically an ultra efficient hot water heater. Radiant floor heating uses a lower temperature for the hot water than baseboard heating so it can be even more efficient.

Central AC will require ducts in the ceiling or near the ceiling on the walls. But this location works much better for cooling than ducts near the floor (which works better for heating).

The combination makes for a nice clean install with no concern about furniture blocking vents or radiators.

However it is 2 independent systems so it will cost more than a combined forced hot air/AC system. He plumbed all of the heating system himself which saved a considerable cost.

Craig

I havnt built my own house but my brother did on my parents property similar to your situation.

I think its probably best for both parties if your parents sell (for a $1) you the building lot.

Basements are convenient for utilities, storage and future expansion if the local conditions easily support it but you probably want to figure out the price difference to determine if it is worth it.

My brother put in radiant floor heating throughout. This makes for a very comfortable house and eliminates the need for any radiators or vents on/near the floor. Your AC then becomes a separate system which adds a little cost but both can be optimally configured so that that the house is comfortable summer or winter with less waste.

Good insulation and sealing go a long way to not only reducing heating and cooling costs but also improves comfort.

It is nearly inevitable you will have cost overruns. So make sure you budget about 20% extra to handle those while still working to keep everything on budget.

Craig

They sell out every game and usually scalpers will get multiple times the face value of a ticket. For the Michigan games its even worse. It only business sense to try to take advantage of that to increase revenue.

As mentioned above, its capitalism.

Craig

I have gone the last 6 years and it gets a little less each year. It's not the show it used to be and the after party we had at Buddy's each year also had went down each year as well. That's why several of us are doing the Indy IMS this year, its a bigger show. If you've never been there then you probably won't be dissapointed but if you have been then you will probably be a little let down.

Personally I'm probably not going to Cleveland again so hopefully Indy is a hit

The last few years were very tough on motorcycle manufacturers so extra spending like IMS was reduced. So not surprisingly the Cleveland IMS suffered.

However things are starting to turn around and according to the list of bike manufacturers at Cleveland IMS there should be more than the previous couple years. So I am cautiously optimistic.

And its still a chance to do something motorcycle related in the middle of winter.

Ofcourse it helps that the IX is 20 min for work while Indy is a 6 hour drive.

Craig

Its nice to see most of the major bike manufacturers in one location with plenty of room between bikes. Usually a few new or concept bikes to gaze at and a few vendors with some interesting products.

However its not cheap and they gouge you for parking. Motorcycle parking is free but its hard to take advantage of that in Jan

Ill be going, most likely Friday after work.

Craig

immigraton laws tend to border on racisim for one. and 2 you don't need an assault type weapon. riffles, shotgun and handgun is all you should be allowed to own. and if you want to get technical about the constitution since it was written when the only kind of "arms" was a musket you should only be allowed to own one of those.

And what is the difference between a rifle or shotgun and an "assault type weapon"?

An AR-15 is a popular hunting rifle for some types of game and is actually a fairly low powered rifle. Many popular hunting rifles are semi-automatic with removable magazines and many of those can easily be converted to look like "assault weapons" with a few accessories.

An "assault weapons" ban does nothing to improve safety. The only thing it accomplishes is to demonize particular weapons and increase their value on the used market.

Craig

"...allows the weapon to be used as a spear."

I don't think my drill Sargent would have been very happy with me if I had fixed bayonet, stood up and launched my rifle like a spear.

Now the add is full of fail, however if a bayonet was able to be fixed, then the weapon CAN be used like a spear.

Spears can be divided into two broad categories: those designed for thrusting in melee combat and those designed for throwing (usually referred to as javelins).

Not all spears are thrown.

Craig

I read the other day in the retarded media that pistol grips allow a gun to be fired from the hip.

The more you know.

And they make it an "assault weapon" (according to NY)

Classified ads (craigslist, ebay, etc) are a great source of proof that people are stupid.

Craig

Must be a bunch of Clevelanders out driving

Sounds like it is the rest of the state having the driving issues.

Im guessing with snow flurries in the area and cold conditions that the roads were not as dry as they appeared. Only way I can explain that much of a pile up with good visibility.

Moronic drivers tail gating at 75+mph with less than 10 ft between bumpers easily cause multi-car pileups but you would expect far less than 30 to be involved.

I was amazed by the line of about 4 cars I saw on I-271 the other day. Driving well over the limit with NASCAR like following distances and changing lanes in heavy traffic.

During rush hour you always see a few idiot drivers like that but the first time I had seen that big of convoy of them.

Craig

What ever the reliability of snopes the objective stated in the OP story just doesnt hold up to any logical reasoning. If a company were to try to buy up all the gun manufacturers to prevent sales to non military customers, then a ton of other manufacturers would start making guns too fill the demand.

Such an attempt might drive up the cost and reduce supply in the short term but within a few years new brands would be fill the supply and the company that owned all of those old brands would just be poorer for little effect.

Thats how capitalism works.

Lobbying for gun control is a much more effective way to accomplish the desired task.

Craig

Why would one want such a monstrosity? The Judge is no longer the ugliest revolver in my book.

Ugly, definitely

However the idea/concept sounds pretty useful. Put the barrel at the bottom of the chamber instead of the top. That puts the recoil forces more inline with your grip and arm, nearly eliminating muzzle rise. Quicker time to reacquire targets and less noticeable recoil.

Because I could care less about aesthetics by only concerns are reliability and weight. This is a new design and the mechanics of the operation seem to be more complicated. And the current weights are pretty heavy compared to other light weight revolvers and definitely compared to subcompact seim-autos.

I guess time will tell on the durabilty front.

Craig

Ah yes, the whopping 200hp 6.6L. Kid at school had one of these, couldn't believe he showed up with the 16.8 dial-in still on the windshield.

Yea its funny looking back at cars from the late 70s early 80s. The "fast" cars wouldnt keep up with the average economy car today. Huge vehicles with big V8s that put out under 200hp.

I had a '78 Electra with a 350 with about 185hp. Comfy big boat, but not fast. Loved that you could fit as much in the trunk as a small pickup

Similar to this

Craig

Looks cool as hell ....

except for the knobbies!!!!

Why would you want to put knobbies on that type of bike????

Craig