Worker bee!

Well, two days down...a "few" more to go, but I am definitely enjoying my time at work! I've had great luck and I think that all of my kids are just darling, each and every one of them. Even after two days I can tell that my time at school going to be wonderful and continue on without any problems. It's nice to keep myself busy, and I think I will enjoy it as my due date gets closer. It's nice to be around all my teacher friends, and it's also kind of neat to have SO many new people in our department!

Here are a few photos showing one of my "tattoo and maternity friendly" work outfits of the week:





and the cute details of the top without the sweater!


So yes, overall today (and yesterday) was really fantastic. On the first day, I do an activity with all of my classes- one of those awkward, getting to know you games that students probably hate, but I really like! :) I have them turn to the person next to them and ask them 10 questions I've already chosen, write down each others' answers, then introduce each other to the class. It's always really interesting to see their answers to the questions I've picked out- especially their favorite band and their biggest wish for themselves. Today was down to business and I literally talked all hour, every hour. We went over the syllabus and all of my rules, upcoming projects, etc. I teach the same exact thing five times in a row so it can get a little monotonous but overall the kids make it fun. Tomorrow we actually start "learning" something and we begin our Native American Lit. unit.

Hank has been so incredibly sweet about me going back to work for a bit while pregnant. For the past two nights he's had dinner ready for me when I walked in the door. He basically told me to take a seat, put my feet up and then fed me such great food. What a man, huh? ;) Last night we had Thai and tonight I came home to a delicious, delicious home cooked spaghetti and "meat"ball/fresh veggie dinner. Yum. If you're curious, our favorite meatless meatballs are the Trader Joe's brand, and that's what he used here. They are incredibly good.





After dinner we headed downtown so Hank could play a show with one of his bands, Hot Skin. I really, really, really LOVE this band. Addison is the singer/guitarist, Pat plays drums, Jordan plays second guitar and Hank plays bass. It's really fun music and always a good time. Plus, I got to see a million people I haven't seen in awhile which is always fun.



If you're curious about what Hot Skin sounds like, here's a video I took awhile ago at one of their small shows here in town. The quality isn't anything special, but you can kind of get an idea of the type of music they play. It's a side project for these guys (all but one of them are also in Hour of the Wolf with Hank), but they're about to record an EP, so I'll post info when they release it.



So, this week is almost half over and I'm looking forward to a nice, relaxing weekend spent with Hank and my friends. On Saturday I'm going to see Eat, Pray, Love with my friends Adie and Becky, and then hooopefully getting root beer floats at the Raven again. So good. (Amber, wish you were here!)

That's it for now, bed is seriously calling my name! I hope you all are having a beautiful week!

xo

Geneva Motor Show

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Geneva Motor Show

The life in automobile industry is marked with some important events such as the Geneva Motor Show. One of the major shows of the year, a lot of new models are introduced in Geneva. And of course, the biggest trend there is "always greener".

But the automakers seem to have understand they can't do these cars without a proper style. Surprisingly enough, people do not like the cubic shapes of the early electric/hybrid vehicles. The car you can see on the picture above is a Lotus Evora 414E hybrid. This car is the perfect exemple of what the makers can do: it goes from 0 to 60mph in less than 4 seconds and rejects only 55g/km of CO2. Or in other words: yes you can have some fun with a hybrid car.

The Audi A1 above is a fully electrical concept. Based on the forthcoming urban car by the German automaker, this concept car proves that even the most prestigious makers are following the green way. We can discuss about the design which I personnally think it is a failure, half way between a Citroën and a Mini. Not the best thing Audi has ever made in my humble opinion.



More to come about the Geneva Motor Show on Car-Scrapyards.

The Car-Scrapyards Team

Citroën Revolte

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Citroën Revolte

The French Citroën is definitely going back to beautifully desgined and intelligent cars nowadays. After a rather dull period, the carmarker is really back to its best. The latest example is this stunning Revolte concept that was unleashed at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Let the pictures speak.

Openly taking after the mythical 2CV, the Citroën Revolte is more on a luxury tone, I would say. Indeed, there is a three-seater cabin, designed to resemble a lounge with seats similar to those found in home furnishings. It does look like comfortable.

The Citroën Revolte has the following features under the bonnet. There is a small-capacity conventional combustion engine that is combined with an electric motor. The driver of the Revolte has the ability to run in all-electric ZEV (Zero Emission Vehicle) mode, i.e. without emissions. Not so bad.

The Car-Scrapyards team

Audi e-tron

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Audi e-tron

You are going to say that I'm talking waaaaay to much of electric cars but the facts are there: a lot of makers are running this race. The latest one is Germany's Audi, which revealed at the Frankfurt Motor Show this e-tron. As you can see, it is basically a R8 -but fully electric. And yes, it's going really fast.

The figures are quite impressive. The 4 electric engines of the Audi e-tron have 313 hp and the car can go from 0 to 62mph in 4.8s. The top speed is limited to 125mph and the autonomy is announced to be of about 156m. The Audi e-tron is clearly a serious rival of the BMW Vision EfficientDynamics.

A fast and beautiful electric car: ecology has suddenly become very attractive to me.

The Car-Scrapyards team

Peugeot i0n

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Peugeot i0n

And yes: this is another electric car coming up. The French carmaker Peugeot has released this picture of the i0n prior to the Frankfurt Motor Show.

And yes: it is ugly.

But the interesting part is shown in the figures Peugeot announced for this little car. The Peugeot i0n has been created in close collaboration with Japanese Mistubishi, a long-time partner of the French make (remember the 4007, which was a Peugeot-labelled Outlander). The i0n is said to go 80 miles on its lithium-ion battery, with a theoric top speed of 80mph. The battery can be charged in six hours on domestic power, but if you have a fast charge system, you'll have 80% of the baterry in just half an hour.

Coming from Peugeot this release is not surprising. Indeed, with the 106 Electric (issued back in 1995), the French firm has sold more zero CO2 emission vehicles than any other maker in the world.

But it's definitely too ugly.

The Car-Scrapyards team

Ford C-Max

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The American giant is going to introduce the latest version of the Ford C-Max at the Frankfurt Motor Show. According to Ford, the new C-Max is derivated from the iosis Max concept that was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year.

The Ford C-Max will used a brand new engine: the 1.6-litre EcoBoost with direct injection petrol. Ford will also introduce a semi-automatic parallel parking and a blind-spot detection system on the behalf of safety.

But there are not much information about the forthcoming car. Ford will announce additionnal details at the press conference of the Frankfurt Motor Show on 15 September.

The Car-Scrapyards team

Toyota Auris Hybrid

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Toyota Auris Hybrid

The world's first carmaker Toyota has released some pics of the Auris Hybrid that is going to be fully revealed during the Frankfurt Motor Show.

Visually, nothing really changes from the regular Auris, except a slight alteration of the front bumper. But following the global trend and the success of its Prius, Toyota is now moving a step forward by making a high-scale produced hybrid car.

150 Auris Hybrid will be launched in 2010 for people to try it in real-life conditions. And with the experience Toyota has in this field, we can expect something really good for the little car.

The Car-Scrapyards team

Volvo XC60 R-Design

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Volvo XC60 R-Design

Another news for the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show with this R-Design version of the Volvo XC60. Basically this will be a sporty version of the current 4-wheel drive.

The sporty look comes from some details all over the Volvo XC60 R-Design. You can see a metal rear skid-plate, side scuff plates, twin chrome tailpipes and 18" aluminium wheels. And the whole body is painted, unlike on the regular XC60. There are a lot of aluminium inserts inside as well to create a sport mood.

This looks more interesting than the XC60. Well, at least I myself prefer this XC60 R-Design, but let's wait for the real thing before judging.

The Car-Scrapyards team