omg...a sandal made from old tires

Am I just completely insane? I felt this rush (I don't how else to describe it) when I saw this link on how to construct your own sandals made from old tires. Maybe it's the slight amount of caffeine flowing in my bloodstream (I'm trying to cut it out completely), or maybe it's the craftsperson itching to get into some project. It has the pattern and a how-to. At the bottom is a really interesting letter by a guy who was growing up in Germany in the aftermath of WWII, and said that he and his friends made this kind of sandal because they couldn't buy real shoes. The Hollowtop website seems like a great resource and will have to explore it further.

Go Solar!

Dang it! I keep talking about things to buy! But I ran across this website looking for a small solar panel so me and DJ could do some expery-ments. Sundance Solar is a business that deals just with solar-based products, and I was fascinated with the relatively inexpensive battery chargers for cell phones and digital camera batteries. They even sell a backpack that has solar panels on the back so you can recharge stuff on the commute to work! Amazing!

Here is an article from UPI on how India is installing solar traffic lights.

Got the above images from peaceproject.org

Gee, your hair smells terrific -- like pickles!

Hi, I'm sitting at the ref desk, about to go on my nightly round of picking up before closing and wanted to comment briefly on washing my hair with baking soda and vinegar.

The first time I washed it this new way it came out looking kind of limp and oily -- it felt clean but looked dull. So, today was day 2 and we were going out with the folks for Father's Day and I decided to try washing it again. This time I enlisted DJ's help to give him some measuring experience (and to get him out of the old man's hair while he tried to listen to his favorite cop radio show). Did everything I did the last time except I rinsed after the vinegar rinse. I think that made a big difference. My hair totally bounced back and looked shiny, curly, and not frizzy. It also added about another gallon to my overall water usage (about 2 gallons for the whole process), but it's still not too bad.

Overall, I think it was a big success. I keep worrying, however, that it's going to take the color out of my hair and Nancy, my hair guru, is going to have a fit.

No more tears because no more shamps!

Righ now I'm experimenting with using no shampoos. DG and I were discussing baking soda and vinegar on your hair instead of shampoo. With DJ (Dude Junior) at the g'rents for a visit today I thought I'd give it a try (and if I didn't have a child, who knows what fool things I would attempt on my own).

I googled "washing hair with baking soda and vinegar" and the top link, a blog called farmlet.co.nz, was probably the most helpful. I followed their directions using baking soda first and then an apple cider vinegar rinse and, well, my hair is taking about an hour to dry so I can't really say if it's working. I closed the drain in the tub so I could guestimate how much water I would be using for the whole wash (it came to roughly one gallon) and the the thing I noticed that the rinse water after applying the baking soda paste to my scalp was really icky. No, I mean REALLY icky. And not just baking soda and water icky. Okay, I've made my point. The vinegar wash was fine and not too stinky -- I actually don't mind the smell of vinegar.

Here is a webessay about the process.

Well, my hair's dried a little more and it seems a bit dull. Well, I'll keep doing it and see what happens.

JanSport rocks

Like I said in the previous post, I really don't like hawking products but I really got to just pause to praise JanSport. JanSport backpacks are reasonably priced and they have the added advantage of coming with a lifetime warranty if they break during normal usage. Twice (for two different packs) I've had to call upon JanSport to make good on their warranty and I'm here to tell you-- folks, they came through. The first time was with my briefcase/messenger bag that I've had for years and the side pouch zipper got all funky. I sent it to them and within two weeks they had sent it back with not only the side pouch zipper fixed, but a new main compartment zipper and new zipper pulls for both. The second time happened with a pack I bought but then never used and passed onto a friend who wore the hell out of it until there was a huge hole on the right. I sent that one to JanSport and they said they couldn't fix it but then replaced it with a brand new pack that was even bigger!

Arm & Hammer Essentials Laundry Detergent

I don't like promoting products (and you're going to totally think I'm a hypocrite when I blog about Jansport in a minute), but I've been using a new Arm & Hammer product called Essentials Laundry Detergent. Arm & Hammer has always seemed, to me, to be the sane alternative to spending a ton of money on Seventh Generation detergent or some of the other "green" products on the market right now. And it has none of the crap in the maintstream detergents, i.e. no petroleum-based cleaners. This picture, by the way, is the only one I could swipe from the A & H site -- the Essentials bottle is a translucent green plastic with a dark green top.

Here's a link to a thread on Mothering.com about the product. The thing that the users on this thread complained about was the overpowering smell -- after using Purex for a long time I'm pretty used to strong, perfumy detergent smells -- and it does have a strong smell that sticks to clothes even after they come out of the dryer, which is something that hardly ever happens. I suppose the people at Church & Dwight will take this hint and start providing a non-scented version.