This Weekend in Sammamish

The 4th Annual Sammamish Safety & Preparedness Fair happens Saturday at Eastlake High School from 10am - 4pm. It's also called The Safety and Community Service fair--it depends on where you look.

It's a great time for kids to meet police officers and climb in a fire truck. Its also a way to meet your Sammamish neighbors and find out ways you may not have thought about to be safe and prepared in case of a disaster. Last year we had loads of fun and even went home with a nice fire extinguisher we won as a door prize.

Head out to the Sammamish Library on Saturday and you may score a free copy of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. Volunteers will be passing out copies on Saturday to celebrate the kick of of The Big Read Program.

The idea is to get a whole community to read the same book and then pass it on--in the spirit of Bookcrossing.com.

This weekend's all day Saturday overlay of 228th has been rescheduled.

Instead of doing all the work on one Saturday to avoid school and rush hour traffic, preliminary work will be on September 17-18. Two traffic lanes will be open. The actual paving will occur Saturday, September 22nd and Monday, September 24th with only one lane open. I don't know the reasoning behind this change yet.

Try your best to avoid these areas during construction. If you know the neighborhoods, or have a map or navigation system, its entirely feasible to avoid all but the tail ends of the work unless you are trying to get to the Fire Station.

This section of 228th (between NE 25th (Heritage Hills/Summer Ridge entrances) and NE 8th (Saffron/Inglewood Rd)) is starting to look up. Last year, a writer to the editor of the Sammamish Review described this area of Northern Sammamish as "the armpit of Sammamish". As a resident of this area, I took it personally and was dismayed by the condition of the Deerfield Park fence and the torn up road.

The dilapidated wooden fence was replaced this week by a black chain link fence. It is certainly an improvement, but I'd love to see the city plant some greenery. Half of Sammamish drives this route daily--it's certainly worth it to invest in the aesthetics of our roads.

Update on Comcast Dilemma

Here's an update to my Comcast Number Change dilemma. I called back last week and the 968 exchange opened up. There were lots of good numbers from which to choose! I picked one with lots of even numbers and even a double-zero.

The Comcast guy came on Sunday afternoon to switch us over. I'm not sure how competent he was. He unplugged my wireless network and just plugged the computer directly into the cable modem. Sure, it worked, but when he left, not only did I have to rewire it, but needed to reset both modems. That MCSE from 1999 sure comes in handy sometimes.

While he did take out a big bag of trash, he also left lots of sharp bits of coax cable endings all over the place--in our office, outside. Luckily, I found these before they ended up in the two year old's mouth..or eyes.

We decided to cut out HBO and Starz to trim a few dollars off that monthly bill, so this was the day it was turned off. I made the request on Friday, but we still had it Friday and Saturday night. I felt like I was dining on my last supper as I tried to watch as much HBO and Starz as I could--while it lasted.

Anyway, so far, so good. Except that, duh, when you reset the modem, the phone goes dead.

My September 11th

Time heals wounds, they say. It's hard to believe that September 11th, 2001 was six years ago, but on the other hand, it seems like so long ago. Here's my story--nothing incredible--just a memory.

We were living in Austin, TX with our 16 month old daughter. I had been a stay at home mom for almost a year. The tech industry had bottomed out--almost everyone we knew who had been prosperous in the years before had been affected by one layoff or another.

My husband's first layoff was no big deal. He was at another job within a couple of weeks. The phone hadn't stopped ringing and offers seemed to pour in. That was almost a year before.

Now, there was nothing. He'd finally secure an interview and they wouldn't even call him back to tell him, "No thanks." The phone barely rang. After a few months, I was starting to scrape my resume back together.

Microsoft called and his interview was scheduled for September 12, 2001 in Redmond.

The morning before, I was sleeping with my toddler and my husband called up to the room. "Come downstairs, something bad happened, I think."

We saw a smoking building on TV and thought for some reason we were looking at a small plane crash in Chicago. But, then things became clear. We watched the second plane hit. We watched the buildings crumble. My husband held his head and cried, "No, no, NO!" I didn't get it. It was so surreal, and certainly everyone had got out by now. I didn't get it until after.

Later that afternoon, my sister-in-law called saying his parents were okay and not to worry. Worry? We didn't know they were flying into Washington, DC at the time of the crashes. Their plane was grounded in North Carolina. I'm glad they forgot to tell us they were going.

We spent the next few days crying. I looked at the names of the missing and those on the planes. I am originally from Massachusetts and my husband is from the Washington, DC area. We hoped we didn't know any of the victims. We didn't. But we still cried and mourned for all those families.

There were no flights on September 12th, so my husband flew to Redmond the next week. I was terrified and held my breath until he landed safely.

Two weeks later, we were moving to Washington State--October 13, 2001. I was trying to be vigilant and afraid of terrorists like most of the country. I am embarrassed to admit that I gave some suspicious looking folks the evil eye. They were probably getting it a lot lately.

We arrived safely at Sea-Tac and have gradually felt safer and safer over the years.

Yet, every year, on September 11th, we pause and think about that day. How fortunate we were to have not lost loved ones that day--how vulnerable we are--yet how safe we are. No matter how much or how little we have, we are rich.

Ode to the CFL

There was an insert in this month's City Views @ Sammamish newsletter with an update about its intention to follow "green" development techniques. The quote on the back by a Local Area Developer summed it up by saying:

"Developers are not following green building practices for fun. They're seeing a market for it and buyers are starting to demand it for the benefit of the environment and their own health."

The new elementary school to be built adjacent to Inglewood Junior High promises to have many green elements saving tens of thousands of dollars yearly in energy costs.

Sure, it's a trend--every magazine out there has had their Green Issue this year. Al Gore became a superstar with a Powerpoint presentation. But, it's a great trend and one I hope continues.

I recently read about a village in England who sought to become a carbon neutral community. In 2006, the community of Ashton Hayes, supported by the villagers, local businesses, their city council and the Energy Saving Trust started in on their effort. Planting trees, installing wind turbines and replacing traditional incandescent bulbs with CFLs are just some of the things the community has done to become carbon neutral.

Why not Sammamish? It seems that now, with the planning of the Town Center and our expected growth, its an ideal time to strive for carbon neutrality and I'd love to see a push by our City Council to do so both in city development and on an individual level.

At the beginning of this year after many high energy bills and watching An Inconvenient Truth, among other things, we sought to make our home more efficient.

I just received our most recent Puget Sound Energy bill with a little bit of giddiness. You see, our bills have been going down. Oh sure, without air conditioning, the summer months always see a reduction in the bill, but it's been going down compared to the last couple of years, and I owe it mostly to the CFL.

Over the years, my husband has been hounding me to swap out our incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents. As much as I liked the idea of a CFL because it uses about 75 percent less energy, produces 75 percent less heat and lasts 10 times longer than its incandescent counterparts, I hated the aesthetics of the CFLs he brought home. The light was cold and harsh with a tinge of purple. They took forever to light up which wasn't conducive to something like a closet where the light was going on and off relatively quickly.

But then, on the emailed advice of the tasteful Rachelle Carson, wife of Ed Begley, Jr. and star of HGTV's Living with Ed, we sought out warmer CFLs and dimmable CFLs. Once they warmed up, there was hardly any noticeable difference. We replaced about 75% of our bulbs--because they take so long to warm up, we didn't replace those lights that were turned on and off quickly.

It was a bit of an expense, but not only did Puget Sound Energy have oodles of $2 off PER BULB coupons at Home Depot, but we knew we'd likely see a difference in our energy bill--and have we ever!

Now, mind you we have only changed our behaviors a little--like turning off computers at nighttime and making sure unused lights are off. But, with little ones turning lights on all the time, this doesn't always happen.

We started replacing bulbs in January 2007. As you can see from the chart below which is our actual electricity usage for the last two years, our energy savings have been significant since the beginning of the year and relatively painless.

Great ideas are not without caveats. CFLs contain mercury. While those old fashioned mercury thermometers contain about 100 times more than a typical CFL, they still need to be recycled properly and not just dumped in the trash.

One idea I saw recently was from Mindy LaClair, a student at Art Center of College Design. You buy the bulb in the box, and then turn it inside out and use it as a postage paid box to send back your old CFL when it burns out in ten years. But, as far as I know, it's still just an idea.

With technological advances, however, by the end of this year, the mercury content in CFLs is expected to drop.

Australia recently passed a law that will ban the sale of incandescent lightbulbs in three years. But, with the advances in technology, warm light, dimmables and hopefully warming up faster, this shouldn't be a problem.

So, if you haven't tried out CFL's yet, go ahead, try a couple--but make sure they are the warm ones. Then get a few more. You'll be amazed at the savings and you'll feel good that you are starting to reduce your carbon footprint--which is a step towards carbon neutrality for all.

First Day of School

After a pretty laid back Labor Day weekend, today was the first day of school for both my kids--a second grader and the first day of preschool.

This year seemed a lot less anxious and stressful than other years when it came to preparing for the first day. After two years at our local public school, we had it down. My daughter knew at least half a dozen kids in her new class and was confident about starting. My son is social and outgoing; he had been talking about going to school all summer.

I had all the school supplies (see previous post) and a $5 check for copy paper and a check for school lunches in her backpack ready to go. Her cell phone was charged and in the backpack (this provides our family with great comfort and is not used for anything except calling me).

My preschooler's extra change of clothes were folded and in a Ziploc with his name on the bag in black Sharpie. His 72 hour kit which his preschool requires was packed in an old backpack and ready to go.

I had actually ironed the first day of school outfits and they were laid out for the morning. Both kids had baths and the second grader even let me blow dry her hair. We were set.

This morning, I was woken up about an hour before I expected to wake up with my daughter fully dressed for school and ready to go. The little one was not as eager to be woken up. Once up, he was a grump and insisted all morning that he was not going to preschool.

The rain scared us off from walking the 1/2 mile to school and we opted to drive. We even left early. Everyone else had the same idea and we had to park about 1/4 mile away and walked in the rain anyway to get to the elementary school. We were barely on time.

The 2nd grade teachers were great and let the parents come into the classroom, take pictures and hug and kiss our little ones to our hearts content. My glowing heart fell, however, when I saw all the other children sitting with the completed questionnaires the teachers handed out at the meet and greet. I had forgot. Completely.

Somehow, I forgot to bring in the entire packet they gave us and never read it. The packet was still in the stroller in our garage. Later I found out I not only forgot the questionairre, but I forgot to send in two favorite books and a snack. "I was the only one without a snack!" she cried that afternoon. "I was starrrrrvinggggg!!!!" Talk about mother guilt.

At noon, it was preschool drop off. By this time, he was excited to carry his backpack to preschool and said "I'm excited!" often. He saw two other kids walking in and ran ahead. This was going to be easy, I thought, smugly.

He ran to the door, opened it, then saw the classroom and buried his head inbetween my legs. What was I doing? Was he too young for this? Was this the wrong preschool for him? The teacher wasn't prepared for the kids and we weren't sure what to do. So, I sat and played with him for fifteen or so minutes. Everytime I moved away, he got scared and ran to me.

Finally, a teacher offered to read to him and he cried and cried. Knowing my son is pretty adaptable and easily distracted, I left. My heart was in my toes and tears rolled down my cheek. I peaked in the window and saw the teacher shooing me away. I left feeling rather sheepish.

When I picked him up, he ran to me and gave me the biggest hug. I had him show me all the toys he played with and asked him what he would play with tomorrow. He insisted on bringing home the backpack with the 72 hour kit which was pretty heavy from all those juice boxes.

All in all though, it was a good day. The 2nd grader lost her bracelet at the playground and was annoyed at me for being the forgetful mom, but other than that she seemed happy with her first day. The rain subsided and we walked home. The little one bounces back and forth between wanting to go back to school NOW and never going back.

With the wet weather today and the start of school it just really felt like fall came all of a sudden. Where did the summer go?