13mpg after 200 miles... Black jeep did 15.5mpg. On the plus side it handles hills better and lower temp.

4 days till Pennsic

Oh, how I can't wait. The trailer is loaded and most of the food bought
and frozen. We just have a few last minute items to load in on Thursday
and we'll be ready to go.

Pennsic packing is almost done...

Today I did the bulk of the Pennsic loading on the trailer, Since I now
have the poles loaded outside the trailer and will be loading the
coolers in the Jeep (due the the spare being under the floor and more
room) the trailer is actually loaded a good foot or so lower and has a
little space left in it still. It shiuld be interesting to see how it
works out in the end, but so far it is looking really good.

Candles...

Well, tonight I made more candles just to be sure we have enough for
Pennsic. Katya also helped me start on my first actual jar candles.
We'll have to wait till tomorrow to finish them, but it seems like a
good start. I'm sure I will need to make a bunch before I get good at
it, like the votives. About 15 dozen candles later and I'm still picking
up some things. I'll probably make 2 dozen more votives tomorrow just to
be on the safe side.

Only 10 more days till we leave for Pennsic! :)

Why I hate car dealerships

When we bought the new Jeep, we only got one key with it. Ok, no big
deal really.. I'll just go get 2 more keys made. Yeah, right! The Jeep
has a transponder based key (Have I mentioned lately how much I despise
factory car alarms???). This means that not only do I need keys cut, but
the Jeep needs to be programmed to recognize them. So I start calling
around. I start with a local locksmith. He quotes me $125 for a key, and
"about $20 less" for a second key. Woah! That's a bit steep, so I go to
the local Jeep dealer. The local Jeep dealer has the keys ($45 each),
but they can't program them because they are no longer Jeep Authorized
as of 2 weeks earlier. Nice... They send me across the street to the
Chrysler dealer - $65 each for the keys and $55 to program them... Ouch!

I decide to call around. Here are the prices I got from various Jeep
dealers for the EXACT SAME PARTS & SERVICE:

Key - Programming
50 - 50
53 - 50
58 - 50
75 - 60

I got fed up with the major differences in pricing. I went on the
Internet and found the same keys from a key dealer for $15.99 each. Now,
that's a significant profit margin if you ask me. I got 2 keys off the
Internet for $38. It cost me the $50 to cut and program both of them at
the dealer (oh, did I mention that the dealer didn't stock the keys to
fit a 2000 Jeep that fit every Jeep up until 2007????).

While I was at the dealer I priced up a screw I needed - $6.99 ($2.60 on
the internet), and a switch to disarm the alarm when you use the key to
unlock the door - $68 ($44.23 on the internet). Needless to say, I will
be ordering the parts I need on the internet and not the dealer whenever
possible.

Helmets...

If you aren't a believer in helmets, you would be after seeing Katie's
helmet. I was riding to work Wednesday and had the helmet strapped on
the back of the bike. Somehow it worked loose and I heard it bounce off
the road (for those who think full helmets block sound, think again.)
It got wedged under the front of the car behind me and dragged a good
300 feet. The helmet did wear through in one spot, but the foam was
still intact. The face shield was still intact until just before he
stopped the car. There are some scuff marks elsewhere, but overall the
helmet survived impact and dragging down the highway remarkably well.
I'll post some pictures later.

I hate leather car seats... I'm wearing shorts and sticking to the seats! Seat covers are a must here.

I hate ants!

I so hate ants right now. It seems as if a colony of ants decided that
my dining fly made a good home and they proceeded to chew 20 (yes, 20!)
holes in it in the process. Thankfully, the holes are not too big and I
was able to glue on some canvas patches. I still need to sew around the
edges of all 20 patches yet to make them permanent. Needless to say I am
not real happy about it.

This also means that I have bought plastic bins to store the canvas in.
This is a bad thing, because any moisture at all on the canvas when I
pack them away will mean mold will grow on the canvas. This is why I
have stored the canvas rolled up on a shelf (so it can breathe) for the
last 13 years, and probably why is still is in good condition (minus a
few holes from animals and stupidity).

New photo albums

I just added a new photo gallery to the website. All new photos will be
added to the new gallery and I will work on re-uploading the previous
photos over time.

We had adrien's birthday party today. It went real well. Amanda is really working hard to get him back.