Header taken from "Messenger" - Art by Kurt Vonnegut

Well we've been open for a while now & already had our first Art Show. It was a great success & I can't wait to have more! We've got more cleaning up in the back half of the bottom floor that we should be finished with soon & then we can start on the top floor, again. Our goal is to remodel the small bathroom that is already upstairs, so that we can go ahead and move in! So in about 6 months, we should be living Downtown!!

The Loft
 
Before & After
 
Our Wedding

 

7.25.2008

Join the I'm Inititaive

If you use Microsoft messenger you could be making a difference with each message you send! And all you have to do is at a few extra characters to your name :) Depending on which code you use Microsoft will make a donation to the charity of your choice. All you have to do is add one of the following codes to your name. For example my name on MSN was just Kari but now it is Kari*hsus So now every time I message someone Microsoft makes a donation to the The Humane Society of the United States. Its that simple....pick your Charity and then add their code to your user name. Its the little things that make a big difference ;)

Text Code Cause

*red+u American Red Cross
*bgca Boys & Girls Clubs of America
*naf National AIDS Fund
*hsus The Humane Society of the United States
*9mil ninemillion.org
*mssoc National Multiple Sclerosis Society
*sierra Sierra Club
*unicef UNICEF
*help StopGlobalWarming.org
*komen Susan G. Komen for the Cure

http://im.live.com/Messenger/IM/Join/Default.aspx
for better instructions & more info.

7.23.2008

Bicycle 101

Obviously I missed that class!!! This past Saturday I rode in the Tour de Paris.....with 2 flat tires.  I made it Downtown and back to the high school and was exhausted! I had fallen way behind Crystal, Dee & Brendan so I just quit early.  It wasn't until we got home later that day that I realized just how flat they were! I knew that I had at least one flat tire (another rider pointed it out to me) but both were down and Joe could feel the rim though the tire.  Then I looked at the picture that Joe took of me coming through Downtown.  You can see how flat they are!!! So considering I was riding on flats..I did pretty good.  So, I'm ready for next year, but this time I will check those tires!!!

7.03.2008

Drilling in ANWR...Will it make a difference?

Just another quick post that no one will probably comment on....but I've got to get it out there anyways....it's something that is important to me...

Fast Facts on Drilling and Gas Prices

Drilling will not lower gas prices today or solve our energy crisis.

• Even the U.S. Energy Information Administration has said that massive exploitation of new oil deposits will not produce oil for nearly a decade -- and then will not lower gasoline prices by more than a few cents per gallon.

• Under the Bush Administration, drilling permits have risen from 3,802 to 7,561 between 2002 and 2007. Eight years of increased oil leasing and production on America’s public lands has left us with nothing but high gas prices for consumers and record profits for Big Oil companies.

• More drilling would not affect world oil prices. The US has less than 3% of the world's oil reserves, yet we consume almost 25% of the world's oil.

Expanded drilling threatens permanent damage to wildlife.

• Offshore drilling threatens dolphins, whales, sea turtles and other imperiled wildlife. Drilling discharges mercury and other toxins into our fragile ecosystems. Such pollution can destroy beaches, and poison and kill the marine wildlife that we all care about. The noise from drilling is also incredibly disruptive to marine mammals. So while oil companies like ExxonMobil would continue to swim in record profits, dolphins and whales could become fatally disoriented, beach themselves and die.

• Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge threatens polar bears and other Arctic wildlife. The noise and disturbance caused by drilling in the Arctic Refuge -- the most important onshore denning habitat for America’s struggling polar bears -- could cause polar bear mothers to abandon their cubs to die. 

• Expanded drilling perpetuates global warming. Such drilling would further extend America’s dependence on climate-changing fuel sources that are threatening the very survival of polar bears and other animals. 


The following is a link the the Energy Information Administration's ‘Analysis of Crude Oil Production in the Arctic national Wildlife Refuge’ 
Please pay close attention to page 9 (which shows the facts of why we would see no production from ANWR for a decade) and page 17 (which says that oil production would have little effect on world oil prices).
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/servicerpt/anwr/pdf/sroiaf(2008)03.pdf#page=1


So PLEASE someone...anyone...i don’t care who you are....PLEASE tell me the good that will come out of this?? Because all I see is waste and destruction. And yes God gave us dominion over the creatures of this world, but what gives us the right to disregard their lives and their habitats????  Why don’t we just send the Hummers to the Arctic and let them run the Polar Bears down now...and get it over with. Because if we drill in ANWR that is basically what we will be doing..........


"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind"

Mahatma Gandhi    

Plastic Bags Consumed This Year

Brighter Planet's 350 Challenge