Some great advice on grounding your Hydro bill. As Quebecers, we’re quite spoiled by our ultra low energy costs. But even those are on the rise, as well they should. Dig into a few simple ideas on how to manage your family’s energy usage on Lifehacker. With the key in learning how much each appliance/gadget really consumes, then relate that to cost savings.
Tags: Belkin · eMonitor · Energy · Hydro · Killawatt · Management · TechnologyNo Comments.
Ste-Adele made a big announcement on how it plans to develop a central location in town. It would make permanent structures to accommodate it’s summer weekend market. Would create spaces for adolescents to hang out, new playgrounds for the wee ones, a ‘natural water park?’ and more. Storm water management will be handled by the use of landscaping and specific plants. A path around the perimeter of the park will be used as an ice skating trail in the winter!
Future plans involve moving the city hall to this location and relocating the town’s library as well.
The plans looks very promising, they are on display in front of the park in question located here.
Tags: City Hall · Development · Laurentians · Park · Ste-AdeleNo Comments.
Sunday May 8th, Parc Lafontaine, Montreal.
MEC Bikefest is a daylong community celebration of all things bicycle related. Our goal is to bring together Montreal’s bicycle community and those new to bikes, to celebrate the wonders of cycling. Come join us and make it the best bicycle bash in Montreal.
We’re going to try and head down to the city for this event! Little guy representing on his SPec Hotwalk!
Tags: Bikes · MEC · Montreal · Parc LafontaineNo Comments.
When confronted with two crumb producing children and a seriously lack of dog, our thoughts turned from kneeling and sweeping to kneeling and vacuuming.
With a sack of points at our disposal, we did a little research and picked up a slick ‘little’ Dyson DC30 handheld.
Of the minimal amount of gadgets we have in our possession this will now rank as the bestest. The first vac to grace our indoor space. Our multiple work horse commercial vacs sleep outside. The house being is carpet free (aside from a few small area rugs) we really have no need for an upright and this seemed like a perfect quick solution to our constant spot cleaning.
After using it daily for the past 5 or so months, here’s the breakdown:
- Great suction, easy trap emptying, easy filter cleaning, quick charging.
- Mediocre battery life (5-6min), horrendous trigger design and a tad loud.
I would easily recommend this vac or it’s more recent incarnations to a friend, if you’re in the market for a spot vac, then you couldn’t do much better then this little guy.
Tags: Cordless · DC30 · Dyson · Handheld · VacuumNo Comments.
Setting the record straight on common misunderstandings…
Just for fun, I’ve rounded up ten oft-repeated statements that are either half-truths or outright falsehoods. I’m sure some readers will disagree with my conclusions; if you’re one of them, don’t hesitate to post a comment.
Tags: GBA · Green Building · Myths1 Comment
Strange that I needed to find out about this accident through a foreign source, 3 months after the fact… but there you go. Thank you internet.
The Alstonvale Net Zero House (in Hudson) burned to the ground late May. Word on the street (i.e. stuff I gleaned from this article) leads people to believe it was caused by an exothermic reaction in the day’s spray foaming party in the attic. Sad… but what a horribly ugly home.
Tags: Alstonvale Net Zero House · Fire · Spray FoamNo Comments.
Something just dropped into my inbox and well I can’t let it just languish there unseen.
Walking westward down Notre-Dame from Atwater just gets cooler and cooler. A new store front, a new neighbour, a new destination for all of you in the Sud-Ouest. Tucked between a landmark (Dilallo burgers) and much sought after first coffee of the day (Lili & Oli) you will now find…
Fait ici is an eco-conscious general store that showcases high quality products primarily made in Quebec.
Fait ici promises to provide you with an option that delivers on quality and sustainability. We’ve done our homework about the products on our shelves. We know who makes them, where they’re made, and how their produced.
It is also a throwback to the days when shopping was an experience. We aim to provide our clientele with a thoroughly modern twist on an old concept, the general store.
Media Event - June 9th at 2pm (Fait Ici Media Event Doc)
Grand opening June 10th at 5pm (2519 Notre Dame O)
And if any of you wonderful readers get to visit the store before I do, give me the buzz.
Tags: Fait Ici · Local Farmers · Montreal · Sud Ouest · Urban General StoreNo Comments.
British Petroleum, not to be confused with “Beyond Petroleum”, not that pretty green, white and yellow flower… this is what BP stands for. Remember this, always.
After 23 days of holding this underwater video private, they were forced to release it yesterday. Nothing like video to bring the magnitude of this disaster into perspective.
- The white plume you see at the start of the video is Natural Gas, followed by Oil…
Tags: BP · Gulf Oil Spill · VideoNo Comments.
Ten years ago, Gale was a builder and flipper of office parks who would eventually become known for knocking down the Boston landmark Filene’s Basement and replacing it with a hole in the ground. But Gale’s fate began to change in 2001 with a phone call from South Korea. The Korean government had found his firm on the Internet and made an offer everyone else had refused. The brief: Gale would borrow $35 billion from Korea’s banks and its biggest steel company, and use the money to build from scratch a city the size of downtown Boston, only taller and denser, on a muddy man-made island in the Yellow Sea. When Gale arrived to see the site, it was miles of open water. He signed anyway.
Tags: Sim City · Urban PlanningNo Comments.
Stop giggling, it’s true, this is indeed my favourite.
Need a new tool in your belt, bag or bucket? Stuck on what to buy grandma? Look no further. This is the Bosch PS20-2A Pocket Driver.
I own quite a number of power tools, this is by far the smallest. So let me tell why I would recommend it to anyone. For 120$ I can’t imagine a more useful and versatile piece of kit. I’ve always said, never buy a cordless power tool that doesn’t come with 2 batteries and a case. This comes with both of those. The 12V (10.8V*) LiIon batteries hold their charge as you pour through the screws in your tool belt.
While this isn’t my daily driver (that honour belongs to my prized Makita) it does come out of it’s case very very frequently. Used in tight spaces, used as my primary power driver, used when I need to drill/drive relatively quietly after hours, used as a second drill for counter sinking to save me from having to switch bits on the Makita. And small enough to fit in a pouch on your belt.
I could go on, but trust me, it’s awesome. Here, read this more in depth review if you want a bit more detail.
Throw this under the tree for anyone who is handy (or just needs a simple and lightweight drill/driver). Maybe even stuff their stocking with a sweet set of bits to complete the package. (ok, the bits are what I want for the holidays…hope someone I know reads this)
Oh, one last bit. If anyone ever laughs at the fact that your drill has an integrated LED, tell them they have obviously never used one. Or better yet, tell them…”What do you use? A Ryobi??” Then start laughing hysterically.
Tags: Bosch · Drill · Driver · LiIon · PS20-2A · Tools1 Comment
Is this guy overreaching yet
Milking the the successful run of Holmes on Homes, Mikie has since built a home in New Orleans, ‘wrote’ a home Inspection Guide, launched a Home Inspection show… and now… a magazine.
I’m a sucker for all things reno, the way I figure, if even one thing in the magazine can save me on the next contract, then it’s 5.95$ well spent. I just want to save you the trouble on this one. Give this first issue a pass. Here’s why.
Pros: It’s shiny and new
Cons:
Basically I’ll stick with Fine Homebuilding for the time being and let the editors work the kinks out in the next installment. This is me, not holding my breath.
Tags: Holmes on Homes · Magazine · RenovationNo Comments.
