JCTownsley.com

J24, originally uploaded by JCTownsley.

The boat is almost ready to be splashed. Bottom and deck are painted. Just need to finish reattaching the deck hardware. Hope to splash next week sometime. Click on the picture for more, including the two person mast raising using the gin-pole!

In case you missed it, Barack Obama’s victory speech from North Carolina:

I mentioned in the last post about the Rural Reserves Committee- here’s the details if your interested. Courtesy of the Portland Business Journal.

Monday, April 28, 2008 - 2:51 PM PDT
County appoints 19 land use committee members
Portland Business Journal

Multnomah County, in planning to more closely study its unincorporated lands, has named 19 citizens to a panel that will study land use issues.

The county has appointed the 19 volunteer members to a committee that will advise decision makers as the county, over the next 18 months, explores how unincorporated lands will take shape. The group will explore whether it should designate some land as urban reserves and others as rural reserves.

The Multnomah County Urban and Rural Reserves Citizens’ Advisory Committee will study such issues as farming, conservation, home building, real estate, neighborhood and property owners’ associations, planning and transportation.

The group’s first meeting will take place May 1.

“I think they will do an excellent job of representing diverse interests in Multnomah County and that will help us create good policies for the future, said County Commissioner Jeff Cogen, Multnomah County’s representative in the regional planning effort.

The county believes creating such land reserves will provide greater predictability about expanding the urban growth boundary over the next 50 years. The tactic could also protect some farmland, forestland and natural areas from urbanization.

Metro representatives will work with the county on the land use plan.

The county’s committee members include Patricia Anderson, Peter Finley Fry, Greg Hockert, Mads Ledet, David Persons, Joe Turner, Zelijka Carol Kekez, James Thayer, Laura Masterson, Katie Pearmine, Dale Burger, Kria Lacher, David Treadwell, Carol Chesarek, Lora Creswick, George Sowder, Josh Townsley and Robert Wiley.

Driving a Prius is like playing a video game - throughout the whole drive you are trying to manipulate the “go pedal” (can’t really call it a gas pedal if it doesn’t always use gas!) in order to maximize fuel economy. Words like “pulse and glide” and “warp stealth” are common terms between Prius drivers who want to maximize their mileage.

As I played with my mileage today (I’m still only averaging 48-50 mpg, but getting better) I thought about the BMW M Roadster I used to own. It was a blast to drive, let me tell you. Even if the top wasn’t down, just going around the corners and feeling so much power underneath your feet was incredible. But there was one major flaw with the car - big enough to convince me to trade it- you could not use the full potential of the car.

Driving it was like a child being locked in a cage, with their favorite toy just out of reach. I would drive the speed limit down the highway, dreaming of being attacked by a helicopter, racing away in mind-numbing speed. Sitting in traffic was the worst- as you knew you had the fastest car around, but you had to go 2 mph just like everybody else. Owning it left you frustrated, not exhilarated.

So if the utility or practicality of a car is in using its full potential- the Prius wins hands down. Driving down the road in electric mode is incredible. Sure you aren’t going faster than anybody else on the road- but you have the satisfaction of knowing you are reducing your carbon footprint. And as the computer flawlessly switches back and forth from the Internal Combustion Engine to the Battery Powered Electric Engine, you effortlessly glide down the road. I can’t tell you how many people I have scared in parking garages or downtown as they don’t even know you are there in electric only mode. Who knew that driving a car could be so much fun?

Today is Saturday, it is bright and sunny outside, and I am sitting in class all day. You can imagine I am not too pleased with the situation, but in my continuing quest to get my “ticket to life,” I am stuck here. I could have been out racing on a J24, planting my freshly tilled garden at home, or hiking with the dogs, but instead I am here trying my best to concentrate on “Creating Collaborative Communities.”
The last few months have been a competition for time. Work and school is enough to keep me busy, but newly added responsibilities on the Board of Directors for the fire department, the budget committee for the Soil and Water Conservation District, and now on the Rural Reserves Advisory Committee for Multnomah County - I can’t keep up. In between my moments of insanity, I’ve been able to get out on the water a few times. Racing with “Free Bowl of Soup,” another J24 sailboat in town, I’ve been able to experience what it means to sail again. My boat continues to wait in the back yard for some love and attention, but at least I’m on the water. I even managed to sneak away for an entire weekend to do some scuba diving in the puget sound.
Come August, I should be done with school. I’m excited for the extra time I will have, but imagine I will find other hobbies and responsibilities to fill it up with. Maybe I should add a time management class before I’m done at PSU!
I am going to attempt to blog more often. I seem to have lost my regular readership. If you have used my RSS feed in the past for notification, note that it has changed. Here is the new one.

An update for all of you folks- I did buy the Prius. I wrestled with it for a few days, played with my car dilemma database, and eventually decided it was the right choice. Even though I lost a good deal of money by trading in a car that was only a few months old, I’ll make it up in the gas savings. In the last two weeks I would have spent 164 dollars for gas in the truck. Instead, I have spent 54 dollars. If I continue saving an average of 50 dollars a week, then I will save 2600 dollars a year!
But in the end, it is not really about saving money. It’s about reducing my carbon foot print. About a year and a half ago I started offsetting my carbon usage with the Climate Trust. Check them out if you don’t offset already.
I’ve also switched the entire house to fluorescent bulbs, turned down the heat at night, and generally tried to make a difference.
Sometimes that is not enough though- check out Al Gore’s new presentation at Ted.

Barn Owl, originally uploaded by JCTownsley.

A barn owl got stuck inside the pump house the other night. Got a few good shots before I climbed up the 60′ ladder and opened the roof hatch. Sometime during the middle of the night he figured it out and escaped…

Courtesy of Prezvid.com

It’s been a while since I have blogged. As much as I would like to be blogging regularly, I just haven’t had the time. I’ve recently added a nice plugin for iphone support, perhaps that will allow me to access the page more often and update my few readers left.
Tonight though- I’ve got a dilemma on my mind. As many of you know, I have owned a multitude of cars in the 9 years I have been driving. In fact, today is my birthday, so I have been driving for exactly 9 years legally. ( i won’t count all the times I went driving pre-legal-age while the parents weren’t home.)
Just for kicks- here’s a list of cars I have owned over the years as I can remember them (chances are I have forgotten one or two):

1. 1973 VW Camper Bus
2. 1986 Lincoln Continental
3. 1970’s? Surburban
4. 1989 Honda Hatchback
5. 198X Motorhome
6. 197X Jeep CJ5
7. 1981 Fiat Spider
8. 1979 Fiat Spider (Parts Car)
9. 1985 Yamaha Virago (motorcycle)
10. 197X Chevy 3/4 ton pickup
11. 1982 Yamaha Maxim (motorcycle)
12. 1997 Ford Aspire
13. 1980 Ford Pickup
14. 197X Fiat Spider
15. 198X Chevy Diesel Pickup
16. 2000 BMW M Roadster
17. 1979 Buick LeSabre
18. 2007 Dodge Dakota Pickup

This list does not account for all the cars I have driven regularly over the years. Whether it was a friends car in high school for a month or two, or the cars here and there that were used regularly. If you included those I would be over twenty and counting. And granted, 2 or 3 of the cars listed were project cars that may or may not have ever been used much.
With that said, of all these cars, the Honda Hatchback and Ford Aspire were the least damaging to the environment. They also lacked said qualities of air conditioning, stain-free seats, etc. I drove the Aspire for over 50k miles, hating every single moment of it. When my driver window shattered to pieces simply by closing the door, I finally gave up and rejected my simplicity- hence the BMW convertible.
As dogs and boat projects took over my life, I realized the BMW was not cutting it. Taking a dog to the vet, transporting somebody home from the airport, or picking up lumber necessitated borrowing a car from a friend. So in December I broke down and traded in my baby for a brand new pickup truck.
While the truck has been great the last few months- especially for the mid-winter trips to Montana and Lake Tahoe, it has lacked in one important quality- fuel mileage. On good days I can squeak out 20 mpg, but its nowhere near the 40 mpg I got in the Aspire. With fuel prices over $3.50, and our world’s dependence on fossil fuels, can I really keep driving it?
When I was car shopping in December, eventually deciding on the Dodge Dakota, I created a spreadsheet that rates numerous cars on several qualities, then calculating each quality by its value to me- finally coming up with a final number for each car. I cheated in December, the Jeep Rubicon actually won in the final points over the Dodge, but I couldn’t afford one.
Tonight I revisited that document and added a few new cars: mainly the Toyota Prius, and the Toyota Highlander Hybrid. While I cannot afford the latter anyway, the Prius of course knocked all the other cars off the chart. While “Fun to Drive” and “Sexiness” were on my list, “Fuel Economy” is valued such that the Prius won hands down.
So that leaves me in my current dilemma. I’m sure to lose a few thousand by selling my truck so soon. I’m sure to save 2-3k in fuel costs if I do it anyway and buy the Prius. However, Hybrid technology is definitely going to improve in the next 2 years, (including the Prius. Rumor has it that the next generation one in 2009 will be both a better car, and considerably cheaper.)
So what say you fine readers? Do I make the socially conscience move now and reduce my carbon foot print? Do i sit on the truck another year and hope the blue book value doesn’t drop too much? Or should I sell it all and just ride my bicycle an average of 350 miles a week? (I’m hoping you recognize this one isn’t feasible at this time!)

Live at the Obama event!, originally uploaded by JCTownsley.

Earl blumenhauer is up now. Rumor is gov Richardson will be here to
endorse Obama today! Thousands of people here!

J24, originally uploaded by JCTownsley.

I sold the Islander this week, after 5 years of owning it. Two days later I purchased this J24 racing boat out of the Seattle area. I’ve got a couple projects to do on it, but hope to be on the water racing on Thursday nights sometime in April.
Click on the picture for more views.

It’s been a while since I have posted- and frankly this probably is not a “I’m back” kind of post. With Super Tuesday tomorrow, I wanted to take a quick opportunity to share this excellent piece on Obama and Clinton by George Lakoff. This article sums up entirely why I will vote for Obama over Clinton, and why you should too.

100 pictures from the last few weeks-
Click on the photo for the entire set!