cook top cleaner

I like this cooktop cleaner that Snowflake has. It's pretty awesome. Check out this shiny stove!



That's Snowflake, showing off his good work.



Closer view of the shiny shiny stove.

No before pictures, sadly, but... well, you wouldn't have wanted to see it. It was pretty gross. And cooked on, obviously.



This is the cleaner in question. I don't know where it came from, but it's pretty sweet.

Alfred

In the continuing theme of liking my car, I'll point out that I like my car.



His name is Alfred, after the character in Batman, and because he looks so good in black. I got him about a year ago and he has served me well ever since. 2007 Honda Fit. Seats up to 5, four doors plus hatchback, fog lights, truck-caliber windshield wipers, cruise control, tons of airbags, iPod/Aux jack.



This is the inside. The most notable part is the stick shift: I learned to drive a manual for this car. Or I bought a manual so that I would learn to drive it. I derive a great deal of pride from the fact that I can drive a manual now.

Another really great thing about this car is the amazing amount of stuff you can fit in it. Stuff I have fit in this car include a kayak, skis, a giant dish chair, a bike, and ridiculous carloads of furniture. Here's the most recent feat, a carload of stuff I brought to western Mass from the Catskills.



That's a dresser, a bookcase, a chair, a rocking chair, a deconstructed table, a carroms board, a VCR, a small collection of lamps, a sleeping bag, a full messenger bag, and other small things as well. And I could see out the windows!

I'm not trying to sell these cars, really. But I would recommend them.

Fuelly

Today's offering is a website: Fuelly.

Approximately one year ago, I bought Alfred, my car. He's a black 2007 Honda Fit Sport with manual transmission. Being as I learned to drive on a Toyota Prius, drove that Prius and another Prius as my primary vehicles through the end of college (well, to the extent that I was driving in high school and college), urged my fiance to get a Prius, and drove my parents' third Prius whenever I was home, fuel economy has been a very present concern for me whenever it came to driving. The Fit doesn't tell you how well you're doing as far as mileage, but as an instinct, I kept every gas receipt I got and wrote on it the number of miles I had driven since the last fuel-up. My heart told me that I needed to keep these receipts, but it didn't tell me why.

I have finally discovered the reason for all this: the reason is Fuelly. It's a website where you can log your fuel-ups and it will make graphs for you and calculate averages and things. Furthermore, it will let you compare with other cars that are out there. Really neat.

If you'd like to see how I'm doing, I think you can see Alfred's profile here. I'm averaging 34 mpg over the past year. Pretty good for a non-hybrid, I think.

my new water bottle

I recently learned that plastic water bottles are no good for you. They leach bad chemicals into your water, apparently. (Did anyone else notice that here leach is almost an antonym of leech?) So I was thinking about buying a new reusable water bottle when I stumbled across this gem at Whole Foods.


That's right, that's a freaking Samurai on a water bottle. You thought that was awesome...



Oh yes. That's a SILVER TIGER fighting a SILVER DRAGON. Pretty badass. There's one on the other side of the samurai too.

It's aluminum, so I'm a little afraid of it getting beat up, but then again, clearly it can handle itself in a fight. Aluminum is supposed to be bad for you too, but this one is lined, so I think I should be ok.

Think your water bottle is anywhere near as badass as mine? Post a comment and they can fight it out.

drawstring pants

Loose-fitting drawstring pants. Amazing.



Forgive the crappy picture. I didn't want to wake up my roommate and so I had to do what I could with a mirror. Love this mirror too, by the way.

I got these particular drawstring pants from Victoria's Secret. I know, not the first place you think of for loose-fitting clothes, but they were on sale for cheap. Yay!

bathroom curtain

I've decided to make a blog of things I like. It should be easy. I like lots of things!

Number 1 is a bathroom curtain I made this week. It is my hope that when my roommate returns from whatever he's been doing this summer, it will irritate him greatly. Take a look at this awesome fabric. It's a print of frilly lingerie items.



Excellent curtain.