Blizzard Nemo

A'yuh, here in New Hampshuh, we got a bit uh snow.
 

Our snowblower-equipped neighbors were out in force to save the neighborhood. Much thanks for their help!
 

All bundled up, B finds a fun snow bank. I was tempted to pitch her off the porch and into a snowbank. For fun, you see.
 

We found that we could not open our back door to let Jasper into the yard this morning, so we cut a path to it by way of the gate.
 

Jasper the wonderdog LOVES the snow. Here he is reenacting the battle of the Somme from WWI.
 

Being near the fence, the snow tended to drift into high piles on the raspberry path. Look closely and you can see the horizontal wires for training the canes: those are 18" apart, and there's one that you can't see that's 18" off the ground!
 

The back door has snow piled about halfway up the lower pane. Fun drifting, too.
 

 

Jasper likes bounding and rolling in the snow. Here, he wades.
 

Brynna did make it to the swingset eventually, slid once to clear the slide, swung once to clear the swings, then gave it up.
 

That's a 4-foot fence. The pile on the raspberries comes almost level with the top!
 
Actually, my favorite part of the storm was last night around 11 pm. I pulled on my backcountry skis (I rock the old-school 3-pin bindings, no heel strap) and went cruising around the neighborhood. Great weather for it, and I had the streets to myself for the most part. The wind was up (sustained approaching 20 mph, gusts up to 30), temperature in the mid-teens, and snowfall over 1" per hour of fine powder. Heading down towards a local park was fine: in places where a car or truck has passed in the last hour, the tire tracks made a nice packed surface. In the park the powder parted around my shins. Heading back home was tough: into the wind. Had I planned a bit better, I would have had a balaclava and ski mask. As it was, the headwind and snow made things quite uncomfortable. As I returned home, I noticed that my outbound tracks down the middle of our street had been completely obliterated by wind and fresh snow - all in less than an hour!

A budding scientist

One of the most endearing things about Alex is that he is completely committed to making sure that Brynna gets a thorough scientific education, even in her preschool years.

Here are a few of my favorite Alex-to-Brynna-isms:

1. "Look, Brynna, it's a rhombicuboctahedron!"

...I needed help with that one, too. Here it is:

2. "Now, the tricky thing about snowflakes—real snowflakes—is that they have six-fold symmetry"

...And indeed they do.

3. [While discussing whether heavy and light things fall at the same speed]..."Now, Brynna, this is a FUNDAMENTAL theory of physics. If you get this, you can understand almost everything else about the natural world."

...Go try it out yourself!

4. [While looking at Brynna's world map placemat] "This is a Mercator projection."

...For alternate projections and what they mean about you as a person...see this awesome xkcd comic. 

Pain Cave

In Winter, days of cold darkness can be squandered in somnambulance, waiting for warmth and light to return. For the triathlete, winter is a fine time to put in some serious training time. If the cold and darkness has you holed up indoors, may as well spend a little effort warming yourself. If it's dark outside, then even the basement, poorly light by a buzzing fluorescent tube, can become a sanctuary. This is the Pain Cave.

That basement may the coldest place in the whole house, but it is still warmer than it is outside. The lowered temperature means you can work it that much harder without overdoing it. Standing there in just your bike shorts, facing off against yourself in a mental struggle just to mount that bike again, you might shiver just a bit. But five minutes after clipping your shoes into the pedals you will feel warm from head to toe. In ten minutes the first drop of sweat will collect on your face. Fifteen minutes in you'll see beads of sweat building up on your shoulders. By the half-hour mark you'll be glad of the towel draped over the handlebars, the contacts you put on instead of glasses. The whir of the trainer is loud; the speakers turned up louder to get above it. Inside your own head, though, you will still easily hear the quick beat of your own heart and the heavy whoosh of your breathing. A quick click and accompanying shunck announces you've shifted up another gear. The rest of the house will not hear any of it: you are in your Pain Cave.

*   *   *

OK. Perhaps it's not always that intense. But sometimes it is, which can in fact bring you back the next time. It is true that we'd much rather be outside swimming, biking, and running. Running we can usually still pull off unless it's down into the single digits. Biking is largely infeasible because of the scant daylight and the fact that a self-generated 18 mph wind makes things that much colder. Swimming outdoors it right out, even if you could find an open lead of water. So Hilary or I, sometimes both in the same night, make a visit to the basement, where among the piled storage boxes, washing machine, and cluttered workbenches is our bike trainer. Here's a shot from just the other night:

It's a good way to catch up on reading or the Netflix queue.

Brynna Skiing

A little ways down the road (about one half hour door-to-slope) is a modest ski area: Pat's Peak. They have a surprisingly large beginner's area, which is free of charge. This is BRILLIANT. It means that we can take B most anytime with almost no risk. If she is done after one or two runs, we aren't our umpti-ump dollars for a lift pass. It has also meant that we've gone more than we otherwise would dare. And so, probably not this year but next, they'll score at least one and perhaps several season passes from the Mooses. We took her a few times last winter. She wore the strap-on skis that Hilary had when she was that age. But she advanced out of those pretty quick, so at the end of last season we got her a set of real skis and boots. She's got to going downhill part pretty well squared away. Turning and stopping, those minor details, are a work in progress. Two weeks ago she got to show off for one set of grandparents. The following weekend: her other set of grandparents. And now the whole world:



I never considered myself all that good skiing backwards. Turns out to be pretty easy on the bunny slope! Holding a camera steady while skiing backwards and watching out for others is still pretty tough.

Climbing!

The local YMCA has a modest climbing wall upstairs in the "little gym." A few times a week some locals come by to volunteer for some top-rope belaying. Along with a milk crate full of harnesses of various sizes, it makes popping in for some brief climbing impressively easy. Much easier than, say, risking $20 and an afternoon at a more proper climbing gym.

We have gone a few times in the last few weeks, and B loves it. She hasn't yet gotten all the way to the top - I suspect she starts getting nervous when her feet get higher than our heads. But she does have a blast. Her first time going coincided with her grandparents visiting:

Manholes

News of the random. I found this photo-essay and accompanying article on the NY Times website this morning. Ever wonder where the ubiquitous manhole covers of NYC come from? As it turns out, they're made in India. The article and photos demonstrate the casting process used to create them. Imagine carting around molten iron from an open furnace when the temperature is over 100 F outside! To cope, the workers are usually wearing nothing more than a simple wrap - no shoes, no smocks, no gloves, no goggles. The article devotes some paragraphs on the workplace safety issues this raises, and compares it to foundries in the U.S. Another interesting example of the globalized economy.



I actually drafted this blog post back in November of 2007, when this article was actually fresh and new. Ah well, it's still a cool story!

LED lighting and microeconomics

If you believe Michelle Bachmann, the legislated phase-out of the incandescent lightbulb is a facet of an insidious plot to destroy freedom [1] [2] [3]. We reserve the right to be as idiotically wasteful as we please!

You can guess from my sarcasm that I don't give that much creedence. But sticking to the incandescent is, with all apologies and respect to Thomas Edison, a downright stupid thing to do. Why? It's more expensive. Reserving your right to be as idiotically wasteful as you please is also reserving your right to throw away money and needlessly contribute to the ruination of our one and only home. Hoarding 100-watt bulbs in your basement? Congratulations: you have just tied yourself to a decade of spending much more than necessary to light your home. You are doing no one, particularly our nation, our freedom, and our planet, any favors. I'll get to the numbers in a minute.

I can understand the reticence. Look at a typical 60-watt incadescent - it costs less than a dollar. Burns out: swap it and go on with your life. Now compare to what had, until recently, been the primary alternative - the compact fluorescent. I have paid to replace incandescents with CFLs in three residences over the last decade - a few dozen bulbs from different manufacturers at varying price points. The energy savings are undeniable. The steady-state color is pleasant from most bulbs. The mercury content didn't bother me much; it was a manageable inconvenience. I've never had much use for dimmer switches.

But, despite my environmental leanings, I had my gripes with the CFL. The turn-on time was the biggie for me. Some of my bulbs came on to full brightness immediately. But many, and unfortunately some I used most often, would be sluggish. Coming down to the kitchen in the pitch black of a January morning, with the thermostat showing 55F, flicking the switch would spark a weak, sickly pale, purplish green glow, which would take a minute or more to demonstrate itself worthy of being called light. There were probably better bulbs out there, but at $5/ea, it's not something I could change out casually. Besides: what to do with the old bulbs? yes, I could recycle them, but they are still perfectly serviceable and represent a significant "sunk energy" cost in their manufacture.

But I am very optimistic about the future of lighting: LEDs. I've tinkered with LEDs in one form or another since college. I've even incorporated them into Brynna's nightlight. I've followed the development of the LED lighting industry from niche to mainstream. I would say that the products available now, from reputable vendors, are ready for widespread adoption for the uncompromising masses. A decade from now, I'm willing to assert, in my capacity as an engineer, that there will be little justification for buying another incandescent.

And I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is.

I will be the first to admit that digital photography is a difficult way to judge lighting. My own equipment is not exactly stellar for this task either. The camera is not an eye. Still, bear with me.

Which are incandescent? Which are CFL? Which are LED?

The answer is that there are no incandescents. The two bulbs in the hanging fixture are CFLs. The recessed lights (seven in the kitchen and pantry) are LEDs. You are seeing them here at full brightness. Were I to turn them off, let them cool for a few hours, then return and flick the switch, the recessed lights would be back at that full brightness in the blink of an eye. That's the big sell for me: the instant-on. The fact that they do not contain mercury, are less energy intensive to produce than CFLs, last longer, use less power for equal or better light, and are entirely compatible with dimmer switches are nice bonuses. And this technology will only get better and cheaper.

The recessed lights you see here are sold under the EcoSmart brand at Home Depot and retailed for $35 apiece. I also managed to score a $10/ea rebate from the local utility (take that, RGGI haters). They replace the entire recessed can, but screw into the standard socket at the back. Installation took all of three minutes apiece.

Now for some numbers. These bulbs are rated for 30,000 hrs lifetime. Given how they are used in our home, that works out to a decade or two. The rebate I got is not universally available, but you can probably find something in your area. Let's call the cost $30 apiece. That works out to an amortized cost of $0.001/hr. To produce the equivalent light of a 65-W incandescent, these pull about 10 W. If you take my monthly electric bill and divide by the energy used, it runs about $0.18/kWh. All told, the operating cost per bulb works out to about 1/3-cent per hour.

Compare to an incandescent. A little searching will find a 65-W PAR 30 bulb retailing for about $2. It will last upwards of 2000 hours. This yields an amortized capital cost of, TADA!, $0.001/hr. In other words, hour for hour, the new LED fixture costs the same to purchase as the conventional incandescent. The LED bulb uses 1/6th the power to produce the same light, and so it costs 1/6th as much to operate.

This is a clear win. Over their lifetime, I estimate each LED fixture will save me $100-$200; about $1000 just for this one room.

The comparison to a CFL is a bit tricker and less clear cut. A CFL bulb will run perhaps $10-15 (depending on quality), last about 1/2 as long, and use a touch more power than an LED. Depending on how you work these estimates, the CFL can be the cheaper option in terms of Total Cost of Ownership. However, as I mentioned above, I have grown dissatisfied with CFLs. CFLs may be great in most respects compared to incandescents, but they now seem like a poor compromise compared to what's available now in LEDs. So why aren't we all running out to the local big box store for a mass conversion? There are plenty of reasons. Consumer inertia is one reason. By that I mean that consumer behavior is difficult to change. Plenty of people (my electrician included) stick with incandescents as the default choice because of their consistency, long standing existence, and low upfront cost. Those who were inclined towards CFLs on their merits have largely already converted, and aren't too anxious to junk that investment. Other consumers have been burned (figuratively) by CFLs for a variety of reasons; deserved and otherwise. Lots of people rent, and why make capital improvements in a place you don't even own? I also admit that, as an engineer, these kinds of calculations and considerations are second nature to me; most people simply cannot be bothered. That's OK to an extent: there are plenty of matters that, being outside my area of expertise and experience, I simply cannot be bothered with. Cost is probably the biggest hurdle. I've converted the kitchen because it is the lighting we use most frequently. It's the place with the greatest room for improvement over CFLs. The PAR30 form factor (i.e., recessed can) provides a more favorable economic and aesthetic case compared to the usual bulb. Even so: I dropped a few hundred dollars for this one room. Sure, they'll save lots of money over their lifetime, several times what I've put in, but it's still a lot of money. There's a decent chance, too, that we won't even live in this house long enough to recoup the investment.

The way that I look at it is the way that I think many people will eventually come to look at it - as a capital investment. Think of all the important components in your home: the heating and cooling equipment, the toilet, the refrigerator, the stove. Why shouldn't we start to view lighting as another big ticket item along these lines? When a lightbulb's lifetime can be measured in decades, it has moved out of the category of consumable items like toilet paper, razor blades, dish detergent, automotive oil. Instead, it has become a piece of equipment: something that is installed in the home; a fixture.

Jenga

One of B's admirers thought that Brynna might be getting bored with Uno, or that her parents might be getting tired of losing at Uno, so now she also has Jenga. Turns out she's got mad skillz here, too.

Notice we are playing at the kitchen table. We quickly learned that Jasper really doesn't like it when we play on the coffee table - the crash of the tower right over his head freaks him right out!