There’s a pond north of the Kroger in BG that is on the property of some company. On Wednesday as we were heading out of town up to pick up my tailored suit from the Men’s Warehouse, we noticed 2 Great Egrets. On the way back into town, I took a glance to see what was there, and there happened to be a Great Blue Heron.
While these are necessarily rare birds, I have never really seen much at this location aside from Canada Geese or Mallards.
A couple weeks ago, my wife and I purchased a couple CFL bulbs for the apartment. We already had one in our hallway, and we got two 13 watt (60 watt equivalent) and a 15 watt (65 watt equivalent) flood light for a standing lamp. The two 13 watt lights are Daylight CFL bulbs, and the color of the light they display is different and takes some getting used to, but for where they are used, it works rather well.
I went to the URL located on the package, http://www.lamprecycle.org/, and was looking for information about disposing the lights in the case that they burn out or break. Either case is technically unlikely, as I’m not sure if we’ll be in that apartment for longer than the projected life of the bulb (5 years), and they are either in globes or positioned in a way that they can’t accidentally be broken, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Anyway, after jumping between different URLs and pdfs, I came across a pdf about lamp recycling, which I found on http://www.epa.state.oh.us/dhwm/guidancedocs.html#fluorescent. It listed two places that accept lamps for recycling in Ohio, one of which is located in Bowling Green.
When I visited the website for Environmental Recycling, I found some information about recycling lamps for commercial facilities, but couldn’t find information regarding the recycling of consumer bulbs. An e-mail to the contact person listed in the pdf about lamp recycling yielded prices and types of materials they accept from homeowners, which I now present below. I’d like to point out, that these are only as current as I know them to be, and could change at any time or even differ completely.
So it’ll cost money to recycle the CFLs and computers, but considering the benefit to the environment and the money I’ll technically save in the process, it’s worth it.
Some may say that the threat of exposure to mercury in the CFLs if they break is a hazard that isn’t worth the net gain of them lasting longer or lowering lighting costs. The amount of mercury that is present in the CFLs is about 4mg, which is 100 times less than the of a typical mercury thermometer. The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) has a pdf regarding the mercury in CFLs, and Snopes.com has a good article about rumors and facts with CFLs as well.
So there you have it: information about CFLs and how to recycle CFLs and computers in Bowling Green, OH.
Every now and then, I see something interesting in the BG News. In this case, it’s an article titled BG Wi-Fi. From the article:
More parts of Bowling Green will soon have access to a rapidly advancing Internet technology: broadband over power lines. The technology, which turns power lines into network cables, was first introduced to BG by Dacor Internet Services two years ago. In an agreement with the city of Bowling Green, Dacor launched a test line on parts of West Evers Avenue, West Wooster and North Grove streets in 2005.
The article goes on to explain the issues encountered, areas covered, and planned improvements to the system. My boss and I appreciated the following:
The old service connected customers at 11 mbs, much faster than dial-up, but paling in comparison to other high-speed Internet, like the University’s fiber optic Ethernet.
What I also liked was Wi-Fi Hotspot map they included:
Note: I did not create this flash file.
A stray click led the Bowling Green, Ohio, Police Department to publish the wrong report to the agency’s police blotter Web site on Oct. 21, according to operations Lt. Brad Biller. Instead of posting a sanitized blotter, with all the personal information redacted, the agency published what is known as an “end of day report.”
I found this on the same page that I found about about the previous post about servers in Wickliffe being hacked. Sure, it’s almost two months old, but I somehow missed this before.
Rumor has it that the Gamers Lounge in Bowling Green is going away. Make that two less places for gaming in BG in the last month.
Something I had noticed earlier this month while walking down Main Street in Bowling Green was the 2Play had closed suddenly. I didn’t think much of it, but then I read an article in the BGNews about it titled Area video game shop closes doors. According to what I had heard, 2Play was part of the reason R&B Newstand had closed up, which had caused there to be no table-top gaming store in BG that I would go to for a while, until New Frontiers opened.
I had never really been impressed with 2Play, so I wasn’t that unhappy to see it go. I think the only purchase I ever made there was to get some SNES controllers, but they ended up being non-Nintendo knock-offs, and they were worthless after only a couple months of use. On a side note, being able to get games for the SNES on the Wii through the Virtual Console is one reason I’d like to have a Wii, provided they actually release some games I want, such as Secret of Mana. However, I doubt that one will be there anytime soon.
The only thing that caused me concern in regards to the article was the mention that there might be a GameStop comign to BG sometime soon. That’s too bad, as I’d rather deal with a local company to get something that a corporate chain, especially when there isn’t a huge difference in the cost.
And, if you happen to read the BGNews article, the correct link to the Bowling Green Gaming Society is http://www.bgsu.edu/studentlife/organizations/bggs/, which uses the correct spelling of organizations.
There’s a new gaming store in Bowling Green called New Frontiers. I stopped in earlier today to see what they had available in the store, since I had heard from Jenny, Meghan’s sister, that the store had opened earlier this week. Really, the only reason I had heard about it was because the store owner had stopped into Finder’s to talk to the owner there, because he had worked at Finder’s while he attended undergrad at BGSU, and Meghan had spoken with him.
New Frontiers has materials for tabletop wargaming, miniatures, roleplaying, collectible card games, a small selection of your non-standard board games, and a Xbox 360 center. One of the main reasons I stopped in was to see if they had any Settlers of Catan items, which they did. So, to help out, I bought the Seafarers of Catan expansion box and a set of dice; Blue translucent with white numbers if you must know.
I also signed up for the New Frontiers Gaming Club, which cost $20 and is good for a year. The benefits include:
Now, I’m not sure if I will utilize many of those perks, but considering that I could, in the next year, purchase the Cities and Knights of Catan and expansion, as well as a handful of gaming books and other games, I’ll probably save over $20, so it’s worth it.
I also may go occasionally to the board game night. I was told that it is for people to bring their board games in, so I would probably take Settlers of Catan with me and get a game or two going. After all, I want to be that person who collects games and teaches family, friends, and strangers how to play them. I might as well start now. I might occasionally see if Meghan wants to go, as this would give us a chance to play some more Settlers.
New Frontiers is located at 125 N. Main St, Bowling Green, OH. If I recall correctly, it’s between the Clazel and Trotters.
After work on Thursday, I went to Cycle Werks, which is just down the street from the apartment, to look at the bicycles they had available. I spoke with one of the sales people and then the owner, and decided that the Hybrid Trek 7200 would be the bicycle I’d like to try/purchase. They didn’t have one in the frame size I needed (22.5″), but they would build one the next day for me to try.
Once I got out of work on Friday, I went back to Cycle Werks, and they had the bicycle ready. I took the bicycle out for a spin in the parking loot behind the building (the Sky Bank parking lot). It took me a moment to get used to riding a bicycle again, but only a moment. It had been about 3 or 4 years since I rode my previous bicycle, mainly due to poor maintenance and storage of the bicycle on my part. After riding it for a while, I determined that it felt like a good ride. I went back in, and purchased it, the total cost with tax being under $400.
The hybrid style of bicycle is relatively new, and incorporates the features that have made mountain bicycles popular into a model made for use in urban areas. (Wikipedia – Hybrid bicycle) Attributes taken are the comfort (upright riding position) and gear from the mountain bicycle, and from the road bicycle the lightness (weight). From the looks, the tires are the most noticeable difference, being wider than a road bicycle but thinner than a mountain bicycle.
I took the bike out on both Saturday and Sunday to get used to it and determine how long it would take me to get to campus/work in the mornings, as the main reason I wanted a bike was to use my car less, considering the $2.50+ it costs for a gallon of gasoline. There’s also the fact that I am slightly out of shape. Ok, I’m more than slightly out of shape, but I can lie to myself, right? Anyway, I plan on using my new bicycle to remedy this. My quads were sore after my first ride, and immediately complained on Sunday when I started pedaling again, but they’ll get used to is soon enough. At $400, I’m going be riding my bicycle whenever I can.
Now I cannot wait until I’m out of work so I can finally be outside again.