We’ve had a lot of construction going on around the house in the last few years. I really wish I was as active in recycling & conservation as I am now when it was going on, because I probably would have been able to heat my house for a couple of years.

During the last project, I asked the guys to pile up all the scrap wood near my fire pit in the backyard so that we could burn it over the summer. But last week I got the idea to borrow a table saw & cut up a lot of it so that I could burn it in the house. After weeding thru the top of the pile (it’s a big pile) for things that I shouldn’t burn (stupid plastic) I skull dragged it up to the house & cut it into pieces that will fit into my fireplace. I ended up with just over 1/2 cord of wood.

Am I right in thinking that this is a form of recycling? I’ve always believed that the most basic form of recycling is finding another use for something that would usually only have one use. Of course, multiple uses would be better, but one extra use has to help things.

As far as the energy conservation angle, by using this free wood to hear my house, I’m cutting down on my gas bill.

YIPEE! The Stanley Cup Playoffs start tonight!

Of course, I’m torn as to what channel to watch it on.

Both CBC (complete Round 1 Schedule is here) and Versus (complete Round 1 Schedule is here) have Pittsburgh vs Ottawa and Dallas vs Vancouver. I want to watch the games in High Def, which means I’ll want to have CBC on. But I also want to support hockey here in America, which means I should watch the games on Versus.

I think the solution to this is to turn all my cable boxes to Versus & then just watch the games via the antenna on CBC

Ok - the regular season has wrapped up for the Sabres & the playoffs start this week. I’ve got my 1st & 2nd Round tickets in hand, I’ve got my Miller jersey washed & I’ve shaved for the last time.

I’m not a big fan of shaving anyway & I rarely use a razor. I just take the trimmer, put it at the lowest setting & have at it. So today as soon as the Sabres/Flyers game ended, I grabbed the trimmer. I will not shave again until the Sabres have won the Stanly Cup! (or loose, but let’s not talk about that)

I did this last year as well, but I’m not sure exactly when I shaved for the last time. It might have been the day of or the day after the last game, but I know it was not immediately following the conclusion of the last game - and maybe that’s why we didn’t go to the finals.

(I know that my shaving habits have ZERO effect on how the Sabres do, but just shut up & let me pretend)

I am really starting to hate NBC.

In the Jury out on Sabres, NBC deal column by Alan Pergament in Saturday’s edition of The Buffalo News, it was mentioned that once again, NBC Sports will only be airing 9 regular season games for the 2007-08 NHL season. 6-1/2 months of games & the one major network that broadcasts the NHL will be showing us less than 1% of the games.

They did say that they would be adopting a flex schedule (like they have with the NFL) and I agree that that is a step in the right direction. It also means that the Buffalo area will be seeing less of the Rangers & Islanders, because based on the 9 “regional” games I saw this year, NBC thinks that New York City is near Buffalo & that the NY teams are in our division.

NBC will be airing 2 games a week during the playoffs and they will be airing games 3 thru 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, which is kinda big for them seeing as I can’t remember the last time I saw an NHL game on NBC during the week. I also noticed on the NBC Sports website that they will be moving their 30 minute pre-game show from the internet to the television for their 1st playoff broadcast April 14th. I really hope that the local stations don’t loose too much money by airing the pre-game show instead of an Infomercial.

Now some of you will say that Versus is a national channel, and I agree. But it’s not NBC. It’s not even close to ESPN. And, as you know, I can’t find it in High Def. They have the main TV contract for the NHL, but they only air 2 games a week - and those are on Monday’s & Tuesday’s! Apparently, Bull Riding is a higher priority since it has the usual Saturday night prime time slot.

I’d like to thank my parents for raising me close enough to Canada so that I can watch the High Def broadcast of CBC’s Hockey Night In Canada. NBC & Versus should really watch how they cover the NHL (as well as the Olympics) because they both have a lot to learn.

Try to follow my logic on this one.

I’ve been thinking about my hot water heater because we got a new one & it has a handy little temperature knob on the top of it. When we 1st got it, I set it to what the dial said was the standard & the water was plenty hot.

That got me thinking about what the house uses hot water for. For the last year or so, I’ve been washing all my clothes in cold water (and I can’t tell the difference) So other than bathing/showering/washing, I can’t think of a need for hot water, let along really hot water (and if you can think of one other than a baseboard heating system that’s hooked up to the hot water tank please post it)

So I’ve been adjusting the temp down after each shower & I think I’m to the point where when I shower, I don’t need to mix in a lot of cold water to have a comfortable shower.

My thinking on this is that:
A - I’m saving water by not mixing the hot with a lot of cold (yes, the pressure is a little less in the shower, but it’s not bad)
B - I’m saving on gas because the hot water tank does not have to maintain such a high temp.

Does this make sense?