I'm sitting in a log cabin in the Sierras thinking.... I've stayed in a two really nice remote (Sierras and middle of Alaska) cabins in the past year that were really more homes than cabins. Not "really nice" as in Tom Cruise is looking at buying the place, but really nice as in log cabins, large, nicely built and homely. Both cabins have been off the grid with wood heat & solar/wind systems (I think the Alaska cabin also had an oil heater stove though I didn't touch it). Having a cabin / country home is ultimately something I'd like to do (yes, I did just put a 12-volt solar system into the A-frame at the cabin, but that's quite small scale) so it's nice "try out" other peoples cabins and see what works, what you like, what you'd change, etc....
Electricity: If there is an option to hook up to electrical, do you take it? Even just as a back up for the solar / wind? Instead of running a generator if / when the solar system gets run down, you could use the municipal electricty to charge the batteries? What if it costs $5000? There are of course praticality issues (cost, electric heat option) and environmental issues. Probably more environmentally friendly to use municipal electricty to occasionaly make up power shortfalls / charge batteries rather than running a generator, but then you can't truly claim to be off the grid.
Cooking: There are 3 options as I see them. Wood, gas & electric. Wood is the most labor instensive, but can also provide heat and hot water, which is particularly useful in the winter, but not as much in the summer (still need hot water). If there is a municipal electric hook up, do you use that to run the stove / oven? Or go gas and accept that propane tanks will have to be filled at least a few times a year.
Heat: The cabin I'm in right now just has a wood stove (with water heater). Though there is lots of snow outside, I'm also in California at 3000' and there aren't many really really cold winter days (-20 C would be abnormally cold). It's a bit different in Canada where -30 C days are not uncommon. The wood stove option requires constant attention (at a bare minimum twice a day) unless the place is designed to freeze (i.e., is there full-time running water?). Which takes me to one of my future hobbies and possibly jobs at some point in the distant future: geothermal. I've read up on it a bit, but need to get more into it. But I think a small geothermal system could run off of a solar system and provide a base level of heating? Might not be the be all end all when temperatures drop much below freezing, but could be designed to keep a country place above freezing year round? If you're only going to a place on weekends in the middle of winter, there is a big difference between showing up and the place being +8C and the place being -23C. Of course if the choice above was to get a hookup to the municipal electric, then a single baseboard heater would keep the place from freezing over the unoccupied winter days for a few hundred dollars a season?
Hot Water: Again comes down to wood, gas or electric. Could have a wood option / pre-warmer regardless, but how rustic does one want to go? I know the cabin I'm in right now has wood fire heated water only and let's just say the fire didn't really keep going over night and I didn't shower this morning and the water was very luke warm when doing dishes. An on demand electric heater in the kitchen and bathroom might be a good option, but would require the municipal electrical connection. On-demand gas would similarly require the periodic delivery of propane.
I think it really comes down to is this a cabin or a home. A cabin I could deal with draining water lines in the winter and then having only wood and solar. But if this is a place you want to live and work out of for extending periods of time even in the winter months, then, personally, my requirements go up. Yes, I'm a spoiled westerner. I often chuckle to myself in an embarassed way when I'm travelling in a developing country and realize only the tourist places have hot water. Yet, here I am saying that it really is a necessity. So assuming a country place would be a place I'd want to stay for MORE than the odd weekend in the winter, my current thoughts are:
- solar / wind system (power, lights, geothermal system, groundwater pumps, laundry?, dishwasher?) w/ generator backup or municipal electrical backup depending upon availability / cost of hookup
- geothermal system for heat (a paired well configuration since I am a hydrogeologist) to heat hot-water radiators thoughout building
- large central wood stove w/ water heater and "some" cook top option (not designed as cook stove, but can still do some cooking)
- gas range (wood stove could be used for some cooking when the fire is going - i.e., probably not in August)
- gas water heaters in kitchen & bath (wood stove should provide hot enough water for showers / sink, but again, fire won't be burning at 8AM in August)
Obviously some numbers to be crunched above to make things work, but just babble...
P.S. a good Canadian govt site about geothermal - http://www.canren.gc.ca/tech_appl/index.asp?CaId=3&PgId=8
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Happy 2008
2007 is no longer... sigh... maybe a time to reflect as I drink a Miller Lite? The year ended with some more field work in Florida (same job as before drilling geotechnical borings for a new nuclear power plant), a couple weeks in Cuba and then home to Winnipeg for the holidays. I'm not going to do any work babble today, so I'll give some Cuba details and photos (which will lead to a later discussion about cameras - you'll see)...
Getting to Cuba was kind of funny. As I was working in Florida (only 90 miles north of Cuba), you'd think getting there would be easy. But what actually turned out to be the best and cheapest way for me to get there was to take a couple flights to get me to Winnipeg on a Thursday and then fly to Cuba via Montreal on the Saturday. Seems the Americans still aren't very accommodating when it comes to travelling to Cuba (even if you happen to be a Canadian with a US Visa). Well, at least I got my points...
The first week in Cuba was in Varadero in an all-inclusive. Not totally my thing, but nice at the same time. The 2nd week was more travelling around including a couple days & nights in Havana, a couple days up north in Vineles and Pinar del Rio, and then 3 days/nights in Trinidad. All travel was bus, and being Cuba, nothing goes too fast, so we didn't accomplish what we had initially thought about, but were happy with the final outcome none the less. Here's a few photos:
Highlight of the trip was Trinidad (which is a city in Cuba rather than the nearby country). I overheard some people talking about it at Tropicana in Havana and it fit our schedule so off we went. Turns out its a very nice town about 10 km from the beach with cobble stone streets and low key yet very interesting. There are a couple hotels, but not a tourist mecca. We stayed in essentially a bed & breakfast run by a doctor (actually his mother and sister live in the house) with a private entrance, private patio and great food. We were only going to stay 1 night, maybe 2 at most, but ended up staying three. Anyway, if anyones interested, I have the contact info.
Was a bit of a shock to get home to Winnipeg after Cuba (snow and all you know...), but is always nice to be home with the family for the holidays. Fortunately I had done most my shopping in Cuba, so I essentially managed to avoid the Christmas shopping boondoggle. Sweet! I never took my camera out of the bag during the holidays, so please just use your imagination (charlie brown christmas tree, 4 nieces and nephews, too much food).
I'm back at work now in North Carolina at the moment. Though I think this will be my last job for a while. After this I'm headed to San Francisco and LA (maybe a few days of work, but no more barring some serious begging). I should have about a week there (assuming this job finishes somewhat on schedule) before the family shows up on ~Feb 2 in Long Beach for a week-long cruise. Should be lots of fun and good family times!
After the cruise, I'm 95% decided that I'll buy a one-way ticket to London (might even just leave right away from LA). One-way doesn't necessarily mean I'm staying forever, but if I'll stay for XXX or where I'm going after (have also been pricing out round the world tickets, but don't feel like that much travelling right now). The only thing stopping me is some unresolved stuff and getting my UK Ancestry Visa in place. If I don't get real work with my company I'll need a UK Visa to work (i.e., if I decide working in a pub is more enticing than geology). I'm trying to invest or lock up all my cash over the next few weeks (cash that I had been keeping liquid in case I wanted to buy a house or something silly - but the stock market really looks too unpredictable to invest) so that I won't be tempted to sit around thinking about working while drinking beer in pubs and spending ridiculous amounts of money. I'll probably get work in a limited number of cities with my current company as long as I work things properly (I'm going to contact a few people in the next few weeks), but chances are I'll show up without too many commitments and we'll see if the work is what I want (one can't always be too picky when you just show up and say "hey, do you have anything for me to do?"). I'm really not sure what I'm doing, but I'm just going to do it.
WARNING FOR FRIENDS: I also have thoughts of visiting friends in Scotland (Pat & Stef) and the Netherlands (Darran & Jenny and Jen), Vietnam/Thailand (Ben threatening to tie the knot in Thailand), Egypt (my old friend / roommate Laurel) and maybe other places in between? So maybe I'll settle down and work in the UK or maybe I'll just travel until I feel like settling down to work or maybe a bit of both or somewhere in between? If I quit or go contract with my current company I'll have to give up the laptop, phone, healthcare, etc., so will be some decision making (I do have 6 weeks of vacation time though to help). As funny as it sounds, I've been homeless for so long (coming up 2 years in April), I'm more looking forward to getting roots somewhere rather than travelling endlessly, but time will tell...
So one last thing with a request for advice...
I'm thinking about buying a new camera. I have a Canon G5 right now and I've really enjoyed this camera. I bought it right before my trip to Europe in 2004 and it's gotten a lot of use since. It's still a great camera, but I haven't been taking it on trips lately because I've been travelling light and find it big (it's smaller than an SLR, but bigger than your standard point and shoot, and the charger is big w/ 2 cords). So they just came out with the G9, which is the more recent version of the camera in a 12 Mpixel variety, with image stabilization, with a much smaller charger, and the camera is much smaller (essentially it's a rectangle with no lens protrusion). Still not point and shoot small, but much better. Should I drop the $500 on it? The money isn't as much of an issue (it is but isn't), but I hate being a consumer when my current camera is still working fine. But for both the Peru/Boliva and Cuba trips I didn't take the G5 with me because of size and ended up missing some good shots. And I worry that I won't want to take it to Europe because I want to be light and mobile (laptop is going to be enough of a limiter as to where I can go). Anyone ever watch Suzie Orman (spelling?)? She has a section where people call up and she tells them whether they are "allowed" to buy XXXX. Did I mention the G9 also takes way better videos (XGA!), which is important as my sister tells me my videos from my camera are pretty well the only videos her family has of her family. So what's the verdict folks?
Happy 2008 everyone!
Getting to Cuba was kind of funny. As I was working in Florida (only 90 miles north of Cuba), you'd think getting there would be easy. But what actually turned out to be the best and cheapest way for me to get there was to take a couple flights to get me to Winnipeg on a Thursday and then fly to Cuba via Montreal on the Saturday. Seems the Americans still aren't very accommodating when it comes to travelling to Cuba (even if you happen to be a Canadian with a US Visa). Well, at least I got my points...
The first week in Cuba was in Varadero in an all-inclusive. Not totally my thing, but nice at the same time. The 2nd week was more travelling around including a couple days & nights in Havana, a couple days up north in Vineles and Pinar del Rio, and then 3 days/nights in Trinidad. All travel was bus, and being Cuba, nothing goes too fast, so we didn't accomplish what we had initially thought about, but were happy with the final outcome none the less. Here's a few photos:
Highlight of the trip was Trinidad (which is a city in Cuba rather than the nearby country). I overheard some people talking about it at Tropicana in Havana and it fit our schedule so off we went. Turns out its a very nice town about 10 km from the beach with cobble stone streets and low key yet very interesting. There are a couple hotels, but not a tourist mecca. We stayed in essentially a bed & breakfast run by a doctor (actually his mother and sister live in the house) with a private entrance, private patio and great food. We were only going to stay 1 night, maybe 2 at most, but ended up staying three. Anyway, if anyones interested, I have the contact info.
Was a bit of a shock to get home to Winnipeg after Cuba (snow and all you know...), but is always nice to be home with the family for the holidays. Fortunately I had done most my shopping in Cuba, so I essentially managed to avoid the Christmas shopping boondoggle. Sweet! I never took my camera out of the bag during the holidays, so please just use your imagination (charlie brown christmas tree, 4 nieces and nephews, too much food).
I'm back at work now in North Carolina at the moment. Though I think this will be my last job for a while. After this I'm headed to San Francisco and LA (maybe a few days of work, but no more barring some serious begging). I should have about a week there (assuming this job finishes somewhat on schedule) before the family shows up on ~Feb 2 in Long Beach for a week-long cruise. Should be lots of fun and good family times!
After the cruise, I'm 95% decided that I'll buy a one-way ticket to London (might even just leave right away from LA). One-way doesn't necessarily mean I'm staying forever, but if I'll stay for XXX or where I'm going after (have also been pricing out round the world tickets, but don't feel like that much travelling right now). The only thing stopping me is some unresolved stuff and getting my UK Ancestry Visa in place. If I don't get real work with my company I'll need a UK Visa to work (i.e., if I decide working in a pub is more enticing than geology). I'm trying to invest or lock up all my cash over the next few weeks (cash that I had been keeping liquid in case I wanted to buy a house or something silly - but the stock market really looks too unpredictable to invest) so that I won't be tempted to sit around thinking about working while drinking beer in pubs and spending ridiculous amounts of money. I'll probably get work in a limited number of cities with my current company as long as I work things properly (I'm going to contact a few people in the next few weeks), but chances are I'll show up without too many commitments and we'll see if the work is what I want (one can't always be too picky when you just show up and say "hey, do you have anything for me to do?"). I'm really not sure what I'm doing, but I'm just going to do it.
WARNING FOR FRIENDS: I also have thoughts of visiting friends in Scotland (Pat & Stef) and the Netherlands (Darran & Jenny and Jen), Vietnam/Thailand (Ben threatening to tie the knot in Thailand), Egypt (my old friend / roommate Laurel) and maybe other places in between? So maybe I'll settle down and work in the UK or maybe I'll just travel until I feel like settling down to work or maybe a bit of both or somewhere in between? If I quit or go contract with my current company I'll have to give up the laptop, phone, healthcare, etc., so will be some decision making (I do have 6 weeks of vacation time though to help). As funny as it sounds, I've been homeless for so long (coming up 2 years in April), I'm more looking forward to getting roots somewhere rather than travelling endlessly, but time will tell...
So one last thing with a request for advice...
I'm thinking about buying a new camera. I have a Canon G5 right now and I've really enjoyed this camera. I bought it right before my trip to Europe in 2004 and it's gotten a lot of use since. It's still a great camera, but I haven't been taking it on trips lately because I've been travelling light and find it big (it's smaller than an SLR, but bigger than your standard point and shoot, and the charger is big w/ 2 cords). So they just came out with the G9, which is the more recent version of the camera in a 12 Mpixel variety, with image stabilization, with a much smaller charger, and the camera is much smaller (essentially it's a rectangle with no lens protrusion). Still not point and shoot small, but much better. Should I drop the $500 on it? The money isn't as much of an issue (it is but isn't), but I hate being a consumer when my current camera is still working fine. But for both the Peru/Boliva and Cuba trips I didn't take the G5 with me because of size and ended up missing some good shots. And I worry that I won't want to take it to Europe because I want to be light and mobile (laptop is going to be enough of a limiter as to where I can go). Anyone ever watch Suzie Orman (spelling?)? She has a section where people call up and she tells them whether they are "allowed" to buy XXXX. Did I mention the G9 also takes way better videos (XGA!), which is important as my sister tells me my videos from my camera are pretty well the only videos her family has of her family. So what's the verdict folks?
Happy 2008 everyone!
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Thanksgiving airports
November US Thanksgiving is strange. First of all, we (as in Californians, which I am by employment still - many other states too, but not all) get the Thursday and Friday off. So I don't usually complain about this. But it really turns the long long weekend into a zoo. It's as bad if not worse than Christmas. Freeways are ridiculous, airports worse. So obviously I decided this is the weekend to take 3 flights!!
I was planning on flying to SF or LA and then driving to Joshua Tree to go climbing. But some flakey friend hurt his shoulder (don't want to say who, but starts with an "S" and rhymes with ham). So instead I flew from Charlotte, NC (about 4 hour drive from my field site) direct to SF. And after one day in SF I flew to LA. And on Monday I'll fly to Orlando. My solution has been to make sure I get direct flights everywhere. That way if you get on the plane, you'll make it. So far, so good!
Yes, I realize this is the most boring blog post in the history of the internet... what's your point? You can only complain if you have a blog of your own. No? Then talk to the hand!!
(sorry, went to bed at 1AM, woke up at 5AM (8AM in North Carolina), cement truck showed up 650AM, cement truck left at 820AM, me finishing blog post at 850AM)
I was planning on flying to SF or LA and then driving to Joshua Tree to go climbing. But some flakey friend hurt his shoulder (don't want to say who, but starts with an "S" and rhymes with ham). So instead I flew from Charlotte, NC (about 4 hour drive from my field site) direct to SF. And after one day in SF I flew to LA. And on Monday I'll fly to Orlando. My solution has been to make sure I get direct flights everywhere. That way if you get on the plane, you'll make it. So far, so good!
Yes, I realize this is the most boring blog post in the history of the internet... what's your point? You can only complain if you have a blog of your own. No? Then talk to the hand!!
(sorry, went to bed at 1AM, woke up at 5AM (8AM in North Carolina), cement truck showed up 650AM, cement truck left at 820AM, me finishing blog post at 850AM)
Sunday, November 04, 2007
food...
I know, I know... I blog once in 2 months and now 3 times in one day...
So, I'm on per diem on this job, but only $40/day for food. Which is really fine since I'd rarely ever spend more, but I look at per diem as a way to make money too (fond memories of Alaska where per diem was $75/day and there for over a month which gave a nice expense cheque bonus at the end of the job!). But the other good thing about per diem (as compared to just straight expensing meals) is that it makes me less likely to go out for big meals (which I sometimes tend to on straight expenses leading to a big gutt or at least a less healthy feeling). Per diem encourages me to make my own lunches and dinners, and for some reason, much more so than when I'm paying for my own lunches (which I do like the rest of the world when I'm not travelling for work).
I should mention that my breakfasts are free as well - hotel continental breakfast with a waffle maker, but no fresh fruit :( Next week I'll be at the Hampton Inn and breakfasts will be better.
So I went shopping the first day I was here and spent $54 on food and here's what I bought for lunches and dinners:
- mini cans of tuna & beans (have pull off lids, which are great for lunches)
- chips, salsa and cheese (I could live on this)
- pickles, salad dressing (both from the $1 section)
- peanut butter, cream cheese and humous (spreads)
- bagels and soft tortilla flat bread (spread receptacles)
- hot chocolate, chocolate milk, pomegranate juice, small cans of spicy V8
- oranges and bananas (also snag fruit with breakfast)
- one nice bowl, one nice mug, cutlery (I hate plastic)
- one travel coffee mug as I left mine in Montreal (I now have about 6 in Winnipeg and 3 in Montreal)
- ziplocs and ziploc bowls (will also use for work, so expense will be expensed)
Isn't that what all of you wanted to know? But I've been here for 7 days now ($280 worth of per diem) and have maybe spent $70 eating out (one steak dinner, one quesdeilla, one McDonalds trip (when out of town for CPR course), and a few beer here and there). I'm not short on cash in the slightest, so not sure why I'm being a cheap ass, but buy my count, I'm up by:
$280 - ($54 + $70) = $156 (
Did math in my head, hope its okay. Given I'm in North Carolina and I just get this general feeling that people are stupid (as I currently listen to some morons outside having an argument that would be considered dumb in Grade 3 - though I appreciate I'm in a small hick town and I'm very much generalizing, but I digress), I feel I must immediately go spend my $156 on something useless and short lived. Maybe they've got a casino around here? I was in Atlantic City yesterday, but the wrong Atlantic City...
So, I'm on per diem on this job, but only $40/day for food. Which is really fine since I'd rarely ever spend more, but I look at per diem as a way to make money too (fond memories of Alaska where per diem was $75/day and there for over a month which gave a nice expense cheque bonus at the end of the job!). But the other good thing about per diem (as compared to just straight expensing meals) is that it makes me less likely to go out for big meals (which I sometimes tend to on straight expenses leading to a big gutt or at least a less healthy feeling). Per diem encourages me to make my own lunches and dinners, and for some reason, much more so than when I'm paying for my own lunches (which I do like the rest of the world when I'm not travelling for work).
I should mention that my breakfasts are free as well - hotel continental breakfast with a waffle maker, but no fresh fruit :( Next week I'll be at the Hampton Inn and breakfasts will be better.
So I went shopping the first day I was here and spent $54 on food and here's what I bought for lunches and dinners:
- mini cans of tuna & beans (have pull off lids, which are great for lunches)
- chips, salsa and cheese (I could live on this)
- pickles, salad dressing (both from the $1 section)
- peanut butter, cream cheese and humous (spreads)
- bagels and soft tortilla flat bread (spread receptacles)
- hot chocolate, chocolate milk, pomegranate juice, small cans of spicy V8
- oranges and bananas (also snag fruit with breakfast)
- one nice bowl, one nice mug, cutlery (I hate plastic)
- one travel coffee mug as I left mine in Montreal (I now have about 6 in Winnipeg and 3 in Montreal)
- ziplocs and ziploc bowls (will also use for work, so expense will be expensed)
Isn't that what all of you wanted to know? But I've been here for 7 days now ($280 worth of per diem) and have maybe spent $70 eating out (one steak dinner, one quesdeilla, one McDonalds trip (when out of town for CPR course), and a few beer here and there). I'm not short on cash in the slightest, so not sure why I'm being a cheap ass, but buy my count, I'm up by:
$280 - ($54 + $70) = $156 (
Did math in my head, hope its okay. Given I'm in North Carolina and I just get this general feeling that people are stupid (as I currently listen to some morons outside having an argument that would be considered dumb in Grade 3 - though I appreciate I'm in a small hick town and I'm very much generalizing, but I digress), I feel I must immediately go spend my $156 on something useless and short lived. Maybe they've got a casino around here? I was in Atlantic City yesterday, but the wrong Atlantic City...
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