October 19, 2003
erhaps
it is a reflection of my new found home here in California, the land of
fruits and nuts, but I have become increasingly fascinated by efficiency.
Now mind you, it has always been a fascination, but as technology increases,
I find even more attraction to places where functionality causes form
due to efficiency issues. And this attraction covers multiple areas of
my life, fueling my enjoyment for window shopping and data gathering.
One of my current fascinations is in automobiles. I drive 25 miles, give or take, every day to work. Usually, in the morning, it takes about between 45 minutes to an hour. In the evenings, depending on what time I leave, it can take anywhere from 35 minutes to an hour and a half, if there's an accident on I-15. Now my current vehicle, a Toyota RAV-4, gets just around 24 miles to the gallon, and I tend to be filling my tank at least weekly, and an average cost of $20 per fill. I looked around quite a bit before I bought that car, and have been quite happy with it. In fact, Suz and I drove the old body style in St. Louis, and while I liked the way it drove, I had to wait for the new body style to come out before I could feel comfortable in owning one. Now, the new Toyota Prius is capturing my attention. When I bought my RAV-4, they loaned me a Prius to drive until they could get the RAV-4 into deliverable state. While it was a fascinating thing to drive, the pregnant guppy look and relatively meager performance turned me off. In the new Prius, they've made the thing look a whole bunch better, and increased the power and gas mileage a significant amount, and I find myself drawn to it. I'm still wavering between a Miata, a Mini, and a Prius, but fortunately, I have several years to go before I find myself in a position to be forced into making a purchase, but I have to admit, the allure of over 50mpg certainly lends some weight to the Prius. In the past, performance was a much more significant issue in my purchasing decision, but now that I spend 90% of my driving time in commuting in a state where gas tends to hover around the $2.00 mark, it seem like the miles per gallon and comfort level are going to be considered much more than before. In fact, my biggest issue with the Mini is that it requires premium unleaded. Were it to take regular, with its miles per gallon, it would certainly be a hard choice, as I do covet the looks of that car.
I'm also still fantasizing about redoing my kitchen with more efficient and attractive appliances. My current issue is the side by side fridge, which is unfortunately smack up beside the pantry wall, which makes the freezer very difficult to open all the way. So, I'm looking at some cool stuff (pun intended) at the SubZero web site, so cool that I actually asked them to send me some information. Turns out that they own Wolf Ovens, so I had them send both brochures. I've got this wild idea that I'm going to redo my kitchen in a fashion that it will make sense, but I think it will require more than just drooling over the neat and nifty replacement appliances. Somehow, I need to figure out how to fit the fridge in there without one side of it being against a wall...and then I'll need to beat the ideas of expanding my dining room out 6 feet by building on to the house out of my head. Ah well, as soon as I hit the lottery (fat chance, as I don't play the lottery!), it'll all be fine.
Another week of work ahead, although I'm praying it won't be another 80 hour one. Hope this post finds you in good health and happiness...