Evolution of CFLs

The package on the left I bought around three years ago (the two bulbs are dead ones that I need to dispose of properly), the package on the right I bought last weekend.

The package on the left claims the bulbs last seven years (8000 hours). Of the package of four, I've had to replace two, and one just went in a month or two ago. It's not doing well on it's seven year claim. The new bulbs claim to last nine years (10000 hours). So... do you think they'll actually last nine years (as claimed), five years (two more than the old bulbs), four years (20% more), or three years (exactly the same)?

The old lightbulbs have 850 lumens flux, the new ones have 800. (It's daytime right now, so I haven't turned them on for a light output test... I'm not sure how I'd do that without equipment anyway.) They both use 13W.

The old bulbs are "Daylight Extra... Colour temperature is 3500K. Does not comply with ANSI specification C78.376-2001 for Daylight colour temperature (6500K)." New bulbs actually do claim to be 6500K, and are a noticeably different colour than the old ones when I flicked them on briefly to check. (Old one is yellow-white, new one is blue-white.)

The old bulbs came in an excessively large clam-shell package made from non-renewable petrochemicals, with no recycling symbol. The new ones come in more compact, recyclable cardboard.

Regular lightbulbs are being phased out all over, in favour of CFLs. I have two concerns about that:

1. What do you use for your porch light? CFLs turn off when the temperature drops too low. (Not a problem in NC, but does happen regularly in Winnipeg.)

2. Many CFL packages still say not to use the bulbs in enclosed fixtures, or in a sideways or upside-down position. What are you supposed to do for overhead lighting if you don't want a chandelier? (As is the case in my apartment? Is that why they don't last as long as they should? Or take so long to come to full brightness? ...Although I have those same problems with the tri-light in the living room, and it's upright and unenclosed.)

Even ignoring the concerns migraine sufferers have, they still have some issues to resolve.

Update: If I had to make a guess, I'd say the new bulb is brighter. It certainly comes on faster. The blueish light is going to take some getting used to, though.

Happy Canada Day!

Happy Canada Day! I love my country. It's not perfect, but it's my favourite place to live.

To those along the Souris River, or being swamped by Lake Manitoba, my thoughts are with you.

This climate change shit is scary... more people need to start doing more to slow it down & hopefully get things under control! I try to do what I can. (What are you doing?)

Why is it when DDT was killing birds, it got banned? How did the government get CFCs phased out, to try to save the ozone? What's different now, that our government is not being proactive when it comes to climate change? Does it not see the million tiny things pointing to something being wrong? Three million acres of Manitoba farmland went unseeded this year due to flooding. The entire state of Texas has been declared a natural disaster due to drought. Storms are more severe, and more often. Oceans are facing mass extinction.

When you're out celebrating today, please think of a way you can help keep this country (and the world) a great place to live.

Two small things I did recently:

1. I made a reusable shopping bag out of fabric that was rescued from the trash:

(It was formerly part of a camping item which was wearing out and no longer wanted.)

2. I repaired a reusable bag for a friend, so that it can keep on chugging:


One thing I'm not happy about:

That seemingly sturdy bag my tooth-care items came in?

Is "degradable", which means that if I try to reuse it, it will fall apart on me. The product's web site makes it sound nice, but I don't trust so-called (bio)degradable plastics: see this, this, and this. Ever hear of "greenwashing"? :(

I'm not perfect either, but I do what I can.

Reusable Shopping Bags

My uncle was throwing out an old camping thingy recently, and I rescued it for the fabric. Since we were also celebrating my uncle's birthday this past Monday, I decided (at least) one of the grocery bags I made should be for him.

Somehow, I still ended up sewing it at 2 am the night before the party. (What is it with me, and getting things done late at night?!?) The first bag was meant to be a prototype, but, since it was about 2 am when I was finishing it, it became the present.

I added a fun bike machine embroidery to the front:


(I like going bike riding with my uncle!)

Of course, the bobbin had to screw up, and make a mess of one of my seams:

Yes, I'm a slow learner... not only am I sewing at 2 am the night before the party, but I'm using a contrasting colour thread. (This time on purpose, even!)

With the long handles, I could use the bag itself as the wrapping and bow:

(Extra environmentally friendly! No packaging! We've definitely got reduce and reuse going on here!)

I love the bag I made for my uncle! Using some more of the fabric, I made another bag for myself last night:

Go figure... this time the bobbin didn't mess up, and all my seams look much better. (Not perfect, but not hideous either.)

The applique is a bit of an experiment... I'm not sure how it's going to look once the edges start to fray. (I love how it looks right now, though!)

And, while I'm on the subject of bags, I repaired one that I gave a friend previously. She's been getting a lot of use out of them, and it shows:


Repaired and reinforced:

One More

In my list of "all the stuff I did" yesterday, I forgot one: I converted some ratty old jeans into some ratty new jean shorts.

They're uneven, but I just plan on using them for gardening and bike riding, and other things where I get dirty. It was a quick job. They're functional, and that's what counts.

The grass stains are from gardening with dad. :)

Thrift Shop Purchase

Five shot glasses, two tea light holders, one small pitcher, a bag of quarter wrappers, and some "instant papier mache" that looked fun.

It's funny how the "old fashioned juice glass" looking shot glasses make everything else seem so much larger in the photo. ;)

No, I'm not suddenly taking up drinking shots, those are for silk painting (to mix paints in). I'm looking for inexpensive supplies that are about the right size and shape, and either white or clear. The tea light holders are for that too. (Candle will go into the stash of tea lights for power-outages.) I don't need scads for myself, but I need a bunch for workshops. The tea light holders look the best, but they only had the two in clear. There were more shot glasses, but they were taller and skinnier, but shorter and fatter are better (I think) for my purpose.

I'm considering painting the bottoms white, to make colour mixing easier.

All the shot glasses and tea light holders were 25 cents, but one was 40% off, because it happened to have a blue sticker instead of yellow. (Gotta love that... it was identical to one of the others, but on sale because it had been there longer!)

The pitcher was an impulse purpose. There's something about that shape that I love. It will either hold pencils, dpns, or flowers.

The quarter wrappers are for friends who collect quarters for me. (The bag had 32 instead of the original 36, but was only 75 cents... and the dollar store packages have 5-10 plastic ones, I think.)

When I was in Dollarama, I was checking out their tea light holders (inappropriate shapes and more expensive) and shot glasses (nonexistent, unless I just couldn't spot them).

Three R's: Reuse

I'm a little short on flower pots right now, and can't seem to find ones I like. However, since this pepper is only for a season or so... an ugly pot is fine.

Did you know that sorbet containers make great pots? The lids are nice and deep, so they hold the drainage water fine. I cut four holes at the curve where the sides meet the bottom... much easier than trying to pierce holes in the flat bottom, and probably more effective too.

"Super Chili" is still super small... I'm guessing size was limited by the toilet-paper tube starter-pot it was in. Both Super Chili and Little Blue have moved to my mom's porch for the time being... my self-pollinating wasn't working, so I decided to see if the bugs could get some peppers going. Fingers crossed!

Jean Quilt

I love how my scrappy jean quilt gets better with every random patch! I sewed on three new patches today (over the worst holes), but it currently could probably do with a dozen or more small patches. ;)

Current state of the jean quilt:

(You can see one of today's patches: it's the dark blue patch in the upper left.)

Patches ready for sewing:

These are scraps left over from hemming my dad's pants. I ripped the seams today, and then ironed them flat to make them easier to handle. (The patches I sewed on today were kind of curly where the seams had been.) I expect I'll apply at least some of these next weekend.

While I was sewing anyway, and the thread happened to match, I whipped up two more gift bags out of recycled skirt lining. I still have more lining to make into bags, but didn't feel like switching to the matching thread at the time. ;)

Accomplishments today:
1. Washed the majority of my dishes. (I'll get the rest tomorrow.)
2. Baked "Grandma's Chocolate Cobbler". (Yum!) I messed up the recipe a bit, but it turned out great anyway. (I ran short of white sugar, and then didn't read the quantity of sugar for the second part properly. I ended up adding more than enough brown sugar to compensate for the missing white sugar. Turns out too much sugar isn't a problem in this recipe!)
3. Prepared patches for my jean quilt.
4. Sewed three patches on my jean quilt.
5. Sewed two gift bags.
6. Did laundry.
7. Finished another baby wash cloth. (I'm getting quite a stack now!)

Not Early, But Not Late

In the past, when I've started plants indoors, I end up with really leggy, weak seedlings. However, one of the seed packages I bought says "start EARLY", and I want the poor things to have a chance once I plant them outside... which may end up being late, depending on when I get the gardens done. Hopefully by starting them today, I won't be too early, but will still get a head-start on the growing season. If nothing else, they'll be easier to tell from weeds. ;)

The seeds I'm supposed to start early are chili peppers. Now, I don't think my landlord or caretaker are expecting me to plant peppers (they're expecting flowers)... but I thought I might try sneaking one in, and growing one on my window sill. Peppers are ornamental, right?

Other things I want to try on my window sills, once I have something to plant them in, includes: swiss chard, herbs, and perhaps some lettuce or other baby greens.

The rest of the seeds I bought and/or collected for outside are all flowers. My seed-starting efforts involve recycling/reuse: an egg carton, a bunch of toilet paper tubes, two small plastic containers, a tall yoghurt container, a glass baking dish, and a used vegetable bag. (The baking dish will be washed and returned to normal purposes later.)

I snipped the sides of the toilet paper tubes in case I wanted to remove them before planting. I figured that them being mostly cut to begin with would make it less traumatic for the seedlings.

Good luck, little seeds! Fight hard, grow strong!

Mail

Recycling Tip: Packing peanuts can be brought to your local UPS store for reuse.

Housekeeping Tip: Actually taking the packing peanuts to the UPS store reduces clutter.

Mailing Tip: Procrastinating on the housekeeping tip means you have a box and peanuts to use yourself when you need it. (Note to self: Actually finally take the other two boxes of peanuts to UPS... I don't need them in the foreseeable future, even with all the other stuff to mail.)

Question: Why does it take me an hour and a half to package something to mail? *sigh*

By my calculations, tomorrow I will be giving Canada Post approximately $35 of my hard-earned money. They better treat the package well... (That amount includes insurance, just in case they don't.)

Cabin Story

A post over at The Estate Store reminded me of a funny story, so I thought I'd post it here (too):

I come from a family of short people, and am short myself. One summer we needed a “new” hide-a-bed for the cabin. We found one in the classifieds, hauled it out to the lake by boat (hide-a-beds are *heavy*… transporting them by boat is… um… entertaining), and took the casters off the bottom so that it would be comfortable to sit on. That night, when we went to use it as a bed, we found the mattress *highly* uncomfortable! A few weeks later we found another hide-a-bed in the classifieds. This time we were “smart”, and checked out how the mattress was before hauling it all the way to the lake by boat. It was great, so we paid, transported it, and took the casters off so we could sit comfortably. That night, we discovered that the mattress was once again as uncomfortable as the first! What was wrong? It had been fine when we tested it!?!?!!! Then it dawned on us that the casters changed the height not only for sitting, but for the head of the bed when it was pulled out!!!

Come to think of it, maybe we replaced the regular legs with castors so that it would (a) be shorter, and (b) be easier to move around… because now we have lengths of two-by-fours between the couches and casters. (We’re classy folks, especially at the lake.)

If you ever want an uncomfortable night’s rest (or need to deal with an unwanted house-guest), try sleeping on a hide-a-bed whose head end has been lowered by several inches. And no, you can’t just swap head and foot ends, because the foot end doesn’t have much in the way of support. We tried that too.

Soft Stitch Markers

Interestingly, your ideas of "reasonable" correspond roughly to what I wanted to have the retail price be... around $10, so I'd get $5.

Here are some other things that cost around $10:
• a pair of wedding cards not bought at the dollar store (when did cards get so expensive?!?)
• a paperback book
• lunch at a food court
• a set of dpns
• a nice ball of yarn
• a first-run movie ticket
• postage for a tiny parcel from Canada to the USA
• a yard of print cotton fabric
I really don't think $10 is out of line for a set of handmade, snag-free, sturdy, cute, warm, soft stitch markers is really out of line.

Here are the soft stitch markers in use:

I didn't have anything on the needles that would do well at showing off the markers, so I cast on the above. For scale, that's worsted weight yarn on US 5 needles. Now I *finally* have something to send to Knittah for her Botswana project:

(Yeah, I missed this collection deadline, but I'm sure there'll be another. And don't you think those colours will look handsome on a black kid? Or possibly a red-headed kid, but I imagine they're somewhat harder to find over there.) Knittah: Non-machine-washable wool is fine, right? Also, please keep poking me until I *finally* get to the post office. *sigh*

I've now used up nearly all of the orange and Noro yarn given to me by another knitter. Cleaning up leftovers is very satisfying. :)

Yarn From Coffee Filters

It's been rather slow in the help centre (summer term just started), so I'm catching up on things. Today I finally read this knitty article which mentions that you can spin yarn from coffee filters. Cool! I want to give that a try... but I don't drink coffee. (The used filters can also be used, and the coffee gives them a lovely colour... so I'd rather "recycle" the used ones than buy new ones especially for spinning.) I've e-mailed my step-dad, to see if he's still using coffee filters, or if he's 100% French press now. If not him, I'll try my dad, but he can go a bit overboard on the collecting stuff, so I'd rather not get him started on something new.

Crafting with dead umbrellas

Cool! Here's a tutorial for making bags out of dead umbrellas! I just happen to have some rather dead ones kicking around... I wonder if it would be possible to make a swift out of the struts and other pieces? (I already have a swift, but I know people who don't...)

Three Minutes

It just took *three* minutes for my TV to come on.

That's long enough to go to the kitchen, grab a bowl of jello and a spoon, return to the living room, eat said bowl of jello in front of a black TV, return to the kitchen, put the bowl on to soak, munch a few chocolate chips, then go to my office and delete my spam.

Sorry about the run-on sentence there, but I feel that between when I press the power button and when the TV comes on shouldn't be longer than a single sentence.

*sigh* Stoopid TV.

OwieOwie

Neck and shoulders still hurting. :( Advil had no effect last night... I guess I'll try Tylenol now, but I doubt it will be any better. A bath would probably help, but that's not something I really enjoy unless it's cold and dry. (Hot and sticky isn't my favourite feeling.) It's also kind of bad timing for a bath. Plus, it's been... um... well, long enough that I can't remember when I last cleaned my tub. (Teaching takes lots of time... and when I get a break, I catch up on sleep and sanity before cleaning... the tub has suffered. As has the toilet. The dust bison hiding under the bed are now a strong, healthy herd... or perhaps are more accurately described as dust pythons, they way they have formed thick rolls. I do usually have enough clean dishes to eat, though, and I did break down a bunch of small boxes for recycling last weekend.)

Dear TV

Dear TV,

When I press the button labelled "power" (on either the remote or on your box), that means I would like you to turn on. Not only that, but I would like you to turn on immediately. Not thirty seconds from now. Not five minutes from now. Immediately. (I'm okay if it takes you a few seconds to get your picture fully going, but please give me some indication that you are trying to wake up.)

This guessing game you play with me, where I wonder if perhaps you didn't understand me, and I start pressing the buttons again, and then I wonder if you're in the process of turning on, or if you received the signal an even number of times, and therefore think you are supposed to stay off? This game is not fun for me. Especially when I want to try to catch the last few minutes of the news. When there is only ten minutes of news left is *really* not the time for you to play these games with me. Taking five minutes to turn on when there is ten minutes of news left is really frustrating for me.

I realize that you feel neglected, and that you probably enjoy my touch, when I try stroking you to find that magic place where the static electricity seems to convince you that it really is time to come on, but that magic place is getting much harder to find. (It doesn't help that it's unpredictable. I only managed to find it today when I noticed the screen was dirty, and wiped it off. It turns out that today the magic spot was your screen.)

Please stop toying with me. Is it getting time for us to end our relationship? Our time together has been so brief! I would like a lasting relationship with a piece of electronics. My last TV left me after only about a month. Am I cursed? Or had you both been too badly abused in your previous relationships? Is it just that your times were/are up? Perhaps I should simply stop dating older TVs? It seems a shame to pick up a brand new set when when you older, still functioning sets keep falling in my laps. A new set is so expensive, too, whereas you older models are simply content to have a warm end table to call home.

Perhaps that's the problem? Do you feel neglected, and under-appreciated? If I spent some money on you, would you feel better? If you can give me some indication that you'd like a lasting relationship, I'll buy you a new remote... clean, probably colorful, and nowhere near as finicky as your current one. Would that make you happier? Do you not like it when I push your buttons myself? Do I push your buttons too often?

Please let me know your decision.

Yours (for now),
Noricum

PS: What were you trying to tell me the other day, when you were flickering blue? Or was that the antenna trying to communicate?

Was-A-Coat

Was-A-Coat

Is-now-felt-stash. I think it'll make great little felt sheep softies. (It's too thick for Felt Wee Folk, and doesn't "feel right" for making a spindle case... or maybe...)

The coat was given to me to recycle by S.

Death and Rebirth of a Thrift Store Sweater

Two more soft trees...


...and a case for my nostepinne....

...and the sweater is pretty much used up:


So, in total that's two slippers patched (an inner and outer patch for each slipper sole), a nostepinne case, a niddy noddy case, a swift case, and three soft trees. Not bad!

I'm kind of tempted to figure out something to do with what's left. ;)