Home net adjustment

Been real busy with work and work around the home, so very little time lately to post. BUT... I was doing a little tuning on our home network, and decided to change the name. So in honor of His Noodly Appendage, our home network is now named fsmnet, in reference, of course, to the Flying Spaghetti Monster. It brings a little smile to my face every time I see that fsmnet on my screen :)

55mph speed limit and energy sense

I like driving fast. Here in Florida, if you're not doing at least 10-15 mph over the speed limit, you're almost a hazard on the road. Quite often, I'm driving 75-80 mph.

Well, as much as it pains me (for multiple reasons), I must admit that Nixon was correct in implementing the 55 mph national speed limit. Driving more slowly save gas, and saves lives. If we are serious about conserving fuel, reducing pollution, restoring at least a little sanity to our lives ...we will drive more slowly. So I've taken a first step of trying to hold my speed limit to no more than 5 mph over the limit. Believe me, that is not very cool during the morning commute! For the parts of the drive during which traffic is flowing, I have to be very careful. Folks get pretty pi$$ed - even with me in the 'slow' lane - if I'm 'only' doing 5 mph over the limit.

Well, most people are self-absorbed enough that I do not think we'll achieve more sensible driving without legislating it. OK, so who out there among the elected officials has the balls to take a stand and make a positive difference?

In a related vein, many are touting bio-diesel, ethanol, and/or hydrogen fuel. Well currently, it takes more energy to produce these fuels than the energy we get out of them once produced. So the process needs attention. How about using renewable energy sources - solar, wind, wave, geothermal - to supply the energy needed to produce these fuels for transportation?

We're taking baby steps here at home. Solar-powered battery chargers that I don't use often enough (I tend to not plan ahead enough and use a plug-in charger more often); a solar powered attic fan, which has reduced the attic temperature by 10 degrees, but we need to add another fan yet; keeping the thermostat adjusted to 78 or so to help reduce cooling; converting the back yard to mostly xeriscaping to minimize the water and fertilizer that a traditional lawn would consume; slowly converting the indoor and outdoor lights to fluorescent; taking advantage of my employer's allowance and telecommuting a day or two a week and carpooling some of the other days. And I'm going to call the company that did our solar pool heat and see what they can do for us with photovoltaic on the roof. We already pay a small extra charge each month to get 25% of our power from renewable sources, but we need to take advantage of being in the SUNSHINE State and generate some of our own electricity. No, it won't 'pay for itself' in 5 years or whatever using current economic models, but that's not the point. The point is that we all need to do what we can to make some progress. If I'm just sitting on my a$$ hoping things will change, then I'm not really helping anything.

So we'll see what we can get the local and national government to do, and I'll report back on progress here at home. Cheers :)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was "Arrrgh!"

Yes, we have been thirsting for the truth for too long, so tonight we purchased The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. OK, the truth is that I'm disgusted at Bush and so many other hypocritcal, greedy, deceitful, deceptive, heartless, so-called religous people claiming to have some monopoly on truth, and cramming their agenda past millions of people who support the neo-con agenda solely because Bush and others claim to be 'Christian'. Whatever the heck that is supposed to mean anymore. Starting a war that kills tens of thousands of civilians (the number is most probably much higher), intentionally implying a connection between 9/11 and Saddam, then finally stating that he'd never actually said that the 2 were related ...spouting off about being 'pro-life', yet not seeming to give a hoot about sending so many to their deaths, raping the economy to benefit the few at the top while constantly eroding the opportunities for those at the bottom, preaching against abortion but not fighting to ensure the needed support services for the 'saved' children born into poverty ....these are most certainly not the actions of a follower of the teachings of Jesus, Buddha, and so many prophets and guides through the ages. And it makes me sick.

While the FSM book provides a bit of humor to help get us through the disgusting actions of the Bush administration and the ongoing Culture of Corruption, on a more serious note, I've also recently begun reading American Theocracy. This book is written by Kevin Phillips, a life long Republican, member of the Nixon administration, and totally disgusted with what Bush and his ilk have done to the Repulican party and the country. He points out, with very thorough supporting references, just how insanely terrible a president George W. Bush is, and why we need to WAKE UP and not let the country continue any further down this path of self-annihilation. More to read... lots more. I've heard the author speak and what I've read so far of the book does give me hope. Hope that there are millions of Republicans who do still remember when Republicans knew something about fiscal responsibility, and actually supported the Constitution, rather than viewing it as a hinderance. There is still hope, but both major parties are, to a very real degree, owned by the money of corporations, and Bush is the worst - absolutely the worst - president this country has ever seen. Far worse than I ever imagined in 2000.

Lime trees and compost

Lime 'trees' We go through a lot of limes, what with Corona, mojitos, Mai Tais, and various other libations. Strictly for the health benefits of course. The other day we picked up a couple of lime 'trees' at Lowe's, and they will be getting planted approximately where they are shown here. Eventually, they will be full-sized lime trees (well, we'll keep them pruned so they stay easy-picking height). In the background you can also see our compost bin, which is really a pretty cool invention (purchased at our local Worm's Way store). Just open either end, toss in the yard waste or vegetable scraps or coffee grounds or whatever, and give it a turn once a day. The stuff all cooks down to beautiful compost for the garden.

What's really cool is that one of these little guys even has our first lime getting ready for plucking :)

Guess it helps to clean the filters

Air return in hall The pollen in Florida this year is especially heavy. There's been no rain for over a month, and the trees seem to have been almost snowing down a yellow-green blanket of pollen. Cars have been coated, and many people, Shirley included, have had a real tough go of it. Well, we finally realized that we'd neither replaced nor cleaned the filters in our air returns for close to a year. For those who don't know, they should be cleaned or replaced every month! We have this large 18x30 inch unit in the hallway ceiling, and a 12x12 inch filter goes in the air return in each bedroom.

First Shirley started to vacuum the incredible amount of dust and yuck from the large filter. But then we decided to go to Lowe's and buy some new electrostatic filters and just replace the lot of the cheap filters. Shirley's still suffering a bit from the pollen, but at least we know that we're not wasting as much energy on heating / cooling, and we're not recirculating as much crud through our home's air.