I left my full-time software engineer position at Digital Chocolate a couple weeks ago to jump into the brave new world of consulting.  I plan to basically be doing the same work (web/server engineering, particularly Ruby on Rails or J2EE), but from home and possibly for fewer hours.  My main reasons for doing so are to greatly reduce/eliminate my commuting and have greater time flexibility (generally: more time with my family, and less in my car and at work).  I expect the ozone layer will breathe a sigh of relief... the gas and emissions added up even while driving a hybrid.  I'm also excited about the chance to work on some interesting new projects.

Since making the change I've been working on some of the minor consulting projects I previously took on, such as a major rework of my brother Peter's film review site, Groucho Reviews (which will be much more nifty once it re-launches).  This site should also get a much-needed revamp.  I've also been taking time off, and trying to give Ann a break.

I am beginning to evaluate new projects to take on in June or later. I'm currently only considering contract work that I can perform primarily at home, but that hasn't stopped a lot of recruiters from trying to change my mind.  If you're interested, feel free to read more about my consulting aspirations or career background.

Before updating you on the goings on of our flock, here is some other relevent chicken news:

• Alameda Magazine has an article in its latest issue on backyard chickens in our city. The print edition even has a photo of Joy, one of the Rhode Island Reds we previously owned and passed on to another family last year.
• Of our many friends who have told us that they also want to raise chickens someday, the first has followed through.
• If you haven't noticed, the price of eggs is soaring.  That's because the price of chicken feed is soaring.  And that's because corn prices are soaring.  And that's because so much of it is being used to make ethanol and save the planet (except that we burn seven barrels of fossil fuels to produce eight barrels of corn ethanol, not to mention all the other reasons it's a bad idea).  Sigh.

Closer to home, our new chickens have finally moved from their digs in the tub in Madeleine's bathroom to a coop of their very own outside.  They're fenced off so they can free-range in a good-sized corner of our yard and so we can try to grow some grass on the other side for Maddy to run around on.  Eggs will probably start arriving in June.

Before we moved them outside permanently, we were putting them outside (in our backyard) during the day and bringing them in around dusk.  After doing so for about six weeks, we had a scare the first time we forgot to bring them in before dark.  I was the one who forgot, as Ann and Madeleine were spending a rare overnight away from home (precluding the need to bring the chickens in before Maddy's bedtime). 

Once I realized it was dark and I hadn't brought them in, I rushed out the back door and heard something big scamper up the redwood tree (probably a raccoon).  I found two very scared chickens huddled up against our front fence and no sign of the others.  After bringing them in, I spent another half hour unsuccessfully looking for the others before calling Ann to tell her the bad news.  I decided to look some more and after an hour found two more, each hiding up against the fence in far corners of the yard (one behind our compost bin).  I kept looking for our last chicken—"Quiche, our Ameraucana—"even checking our front and side yards to no avail.  I looked again at 6am the next morning and finally found her nonchalantly walking along the other side of the street (yes, for the first time in our experience as hen farmers, we did have a chicken cross the road).

The chickens were all freaked, but apparently uninjured except one.  We noticed that Scramble, one of the Rhode Island Reds, appeared to be blind (with both eyes closed all the time).  One seems to have recovered completely after a few days, while the other remains closed and sunken in.  We're watching her closely. We thank Ann's veterinarian aunt and uncle for tips on treating traumatized chickens.

Hopefully the future will be less eventful for this flock.

It's hard to get them to pose, but formally introducing them with the photo on the left (clockwise from the top), are new chickens are: Quiche, Sunny (as in sunny-side up), Soufflé, Frittata, and Scramble.

It seems like it was just a few months ago when we sadly found new homes for our chickens.  That's probably because it was a few months ago.

I don't entirely understand why Ann suddenly decided in the past week that we should start a new flock right now (after deciding to send the previous ones to greener pastures), but it apparently has to do with:

• her recent reading of Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (highly recommended),
• dissatisfaction with store-bought eggs after being spoiled with 1,900 fresh ones over the last three years,
  
• concern that we should take advantage of our coop "before it rots,"
• sadness that Maddy still asks about the where-abouts of the chickens, and
  
• speculation that our daughter would really, really appreciate seeing chicks grow up.

So this morning we piled into the car and drove to the Alamo Hay & Grain Company to peruse some ducks, rabbits, and homing pigeons, and to pick out our new chicks.

On my encouragement, we got five this time around (really no more work than four).  We also went with a little more variety, choosing four different breeds:

• Rhode Island Reds: We got two of these solid layers of brown eggs (we had three last time).
• Ameraucana: We again got one of these beautiful hens that lays blue-green eggs, although not as regularly as other varieties.
• Plymouth Barred Rock: We're trying one of these brown egg layers that supposedly continues laying through the winter.
• Golden Sexlink: We don't know much about this variety, but it's the one other they had.  We're not even entirely sure what it will look like when it matures.  However, you may want to refrain from plugging this breed name into a Google image search.

As you can see, Madeleine is proud of being a one and a half year old. She  enjoys  having more mobility, which includes the ability to run in the opposite direction very quickly when she hears a diaper change is in the offing.

She is quite the little imitator these days, and shows an affinity for cleaning: sweeping while we sweep, drying dishes (even if they were dry already), raking, searching the floor for spills to wipe up, etc. She has her first baby doll now and loves to feed it and put it to sleep as she does with all of her stuffed animals.

Madeleine's second Advent and Christmas season was a delight. She loved reading her bedtime book by the light of the Advent candles and loved even more trying to blow them out. On Christmas day, she enjoyed receiving the attention as the only grandchild and only niece. If she was opening presents but couldn't fully rip the paper off them, she would stop everything, get up, and look around with keen focus saying "Sciss, Sciss" as she searched for a pair of scissors.

Just before the New Year, we freed up room in our freezer by finally planting her placenta under a new rose bush in our front yard. Madeleine was pretty intrigued by the whole affair. Since then, whenever we go outside she makes a beeline for that rose bush, points at the ground, and with arms upraised, asks with her eyes "Where is it?" See photos here.

I was an early adopter of Honda's Civic Hybrid, purchasing the initial 2003 model in May of 2002.  I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I have already put 100,000 miles on it after only 5 1/2 years.  But that was part of the point, as I bought the car soon after taking a new job where I would have to commute about 60 miles round trip each day.

I diligently kept track of the true miles per gallon based on my odometer and the number of gallons I pumped into the car at each fill-up.  The following are the results of this tracking so far and some of my conclusions.

Statistics

At each fill-up I recorded the date, total miles on the odometer, number of gallons of gas, and price per gallon.  The majority of my driving was freeway commuting to work, initially between Alameda and Fremont/Newark and later between Alameda and San Mateo.

The Civic Hybrid features a real-time MPG meter, as well as two trip meters that track number of miles driven and MPG for the current trips.  I generally reset one of the trip meters pretty much whenever I started my car.  In late 2004, I started regularly resetting the other when I filled up on gas and adding the reported MPG to my log. 

I uploaded all this data to the website swivel.com, which generated the nice graphs you see previewed below (they're even nicer if you click through).

As an added bonus, they noticed my nice graphs and one of them is currently their featured graph, front and center on their home page.  Sweet.

Estimated MPG vs. Actual

The above graph shows the actual MPG (the lower line, based on odometer and gallons of gas)  as compared with the reported MPG (the higher line, based on the trip meter estimate).  While they do track together, you can see that the car's real-time estimates are optimistic by generally 3-5 MPG.

Variability in MPG

There can be a big difference in MPG from fill-up to fill-up, and I think that's largely because a Civic Hybrid driver can greatly affect the MPG based on his or her driving technique.  Driving fast and aggressively makes the MPG plummet.  If you drive behind a tractor-trailer truck at 58 MPH, you can do very well.

The trip meter and real-time MPG gauge are great motivators.  Adam, one of my co-workers when I worked in Fremont, bought a Civic Hybrid about the same time I did and we shared a similar commute.  For a while we were competing to get a higher MPG on our daily commute (we were regularly getting MPGs in the mid-60s).

Unfortunately, I did not often maintain the patience to get the best bang for my gasoline buck.

Major trends in MPG

You may notice that my MPG increased over time, presumably as I learned to drive the car more efficiently (and perhaps as I broke it in?).  My initial commute was a particularly flat route from Alameda to Fremont via I-880.

In May 2005, I started commuting to San Mateo which had some negative impact on my MPG.  Potential culprits include climbing the incline on the San Mateo bridge, winds on the bridge, and more back-ups (stop-and-go traffic).

My overall MPG has so far been 42.97, but it is continuing to trend up over time. 

MPG by month

While not dramatic, the winter months of January and December had the lowest average MPG.  That could be a factor of the battery being less efficient when it is colder, or the impact of wind and rain.

Cost savings

I was very curious when I bought my car what the payback period might be at which the cost difference between purchasing a hybrid over a conventional car ($3000 over a standard Civic) would be paid back by gas savings (not that that is the only reason for buying a hybrid, mind you).  Gas prices did go up more than I thought they would over the early lifetime of the car.  This is what I paid per gallon:

Ah, remember the days of $1.50/gallon?

My previous car (a 1989 Civic Hybrid) was getting about 28 MPG when I sold it.  I have so far saved about $2,900 over what I would have spent filling up a car of that efficiency.

Compared to the 31 MPG a new standard Civic would have gotten (if it actually met its claimed MPG), I would have saved $2,100 so far.