August 30, 2009 by dave.

As I contemplate the volatility of gas and oil prices over the recent years and also observe the recent ‘Cash for Clunkers‘ program’s attempt to remove some of the very poor-mileage vehicles from our roadways, I am reminded of my first vehicle (and a bit dumbfounded by our ineptness to create good quality, very high mileage mainstream vehicles).

My bright red 1985 Honda CRX-hf (the ‘hf’ stands for ‘high fuel efficiency) listed at about $6,500 new and was rated at 49/54 mpg - and was able to meet those ratings!  It was a peppy little car (yes - lacking many of the safety features of today) but it was my favorite car, best value, and fun to own.  Over the years I’ve laughed at attempts by car companies to improve gas mileage of the vehicles they product and find it humorous when I see a commercial ‘bragging’ that a particular vehicle gets more than 30 mpg!  I give full understanding to the fact the CRX didn’t have all the safety features and probably wouldn’t meet a number of today’s EPA standards but one also needs to consider that technology has evolved over these 24-25 years and should easily be able to make up for these things…..but it hasn’t.  Car companies need to take a very good look at the 1985 CRX-hf and go back to the drawing board with it in mind…to create new, refreshing, safe, and high-mileage vehicles.

I recently stumbled upon an Automobile Magazine ‘review’ comparing my old CRX with a 2010 Honda Insight.

It’s a very interesting article that should really make many of us think.  I only hope some of the car companies read it and contemplate how far they have (or haven’t) come in 25 years.

Posted in Health & Environment, Technology | 1 Comment »

September 25, 2008 by dave.

We have all seen news reports or read articles about mold as an environmental issue.  I’ve never really paid much attention to it until now.  A previous Blog referred to Flash Floods we had in NH about a month and a half ago.  Those floods actually caused water to seep into our new office suite at work.  Our office suite is in the basement of a very old building that was renovated about a year ago at a cost of about $15,000,000.  It’s a beautiful building and our office suite is equally as nice.

The water had soaked all the carpets in all our offices and after efforts to remove all the moisture the decision was made a few weeks ago to remove and replace the carpeting.  This was detcided after a co-worker got really sick from an allergy she has to mold.  In preparation for new carpeting a few of us took a baseboard off the wall as we suspected there may be a bigger issue.  We were correct: there was mold growing behind the baseboards.  This led to further investigation and we then determined that there was mold growing in the walls on the back of the sheetrock (the picture shows the back side of a piece that was removed).

After we nagged a bit more the decision was finally made to bring in a professional company to investigate and resolve the issues.  I’m very glad this happened as they affirmed the concern and will now handle the abatement.

In the meantime I got a Mold Test Kit from a company called Pro-Lab.  In a matter of 2 days my petrie dish grew a very thick coating of mold…..  This environment is not good and thus I feel it’s best to start working at other locations out of my laptop bag ASAP.  This picture shows the mold.  Realize in the picture it looks white but it’s actually more of a gray (I’m not a great photographer)….

The abatement will take about a month.  They will remove all the mold-infested sheetrock, clean all surfaces (including walls and furniture), run air-quality tests, and retrofit the bottoms of our walls with a material that resists mold (should we ever have a similar water problem in the future).  I started packing my office today.

Posted in Health & Environment | 2 Comments »

August 27, 2008 by dave.

I believe a significant percentage of individuals dislike or are unhappy with their jobs.  I run across individuals who often complain about their jobs….dread going to work….and develop negative attitudes about their work place.  When asked why they stay in their jobs they say ‘the money’.  Well….this is horrible.  We spend about 40 hours per week in our jobs so we need to enjoy it.

I honestly am very happy in my job.  Like all individuals, I have days where things are rough….or, due to the type of job I have, I get stressed out.  I used to be a lot more stressed about my job because of the impact it has on my work place.  Some of the things I oversee impact all of the faculty, staff, and students at my workplace and are used 24 hours a day.

I believe I finally was able to shed most of the stress one day when my Director once said “it’s not worth having a heart attack over”.  I am very lucky to work in such a supportive environment and his statement stuck with me and led me to develop a set of thoughts…or philosophies on my work.  If I feel stressed, worried, or annoyed I remind myself of these statements (I have them printed out on a bulletin board).

They are good statements and I hope they assist you - or at least prompt you to contemplate your own.

Posted in Health & Environment, Higher Education, Technology | 1 Comment »

August 11, 2008 by dave.

I’ve lived in NH for most of my life and do not recall any ‘historic’ weather events…..that is until just a few years ago.  It started with some parts of the state getting floods in 2005.  This past winter we had the second highest snowfall on record (we missed the all-time snowfall by about 3 inches.  Realize that the snowiest was back in the 1800’s so it puts the ’second place’ into perspective.  About 4 weeks ago the state of NH had a decent sized tornado. It hit 11 towns, had a 50 mile track, and it had a strength of an EF1 and EF2.  Realize we simply don’t ‘get’ tornadoes here.  Stats show that we do average something like one per year but I believe when they do hit it’s a very minimal one with a very minimal touchdown…..so they are pretty much not expected.  A few weeks before this tornado I was camping with my wife and children and while at the campsite someone came by to tell us we were under a tornado watch.  We simply got under our tarp and rode it out…..knowing that historically we had nothing to worry about.  Realize that was weeks before the real tornado hit.  The most recent weather event (check it out here) was last week (August 7th) when we had flash-flooding as a result of severe thunderstorms move through our area.  The worst of the storm hit the towns of Ashland, New Hampton, Meredith, and Laconia.  I had never witnessed or understood what a flash flood was….but reports stated that we got somewhere around 5 inches of rain in about 1/2 hour.  We now have roads that look like earthquakes hit…..major sections of roads washed out…..and unfortunately a little girl lost her life when her family’s vehicle got swept down into what had been a ‘brook’.  Here are a few pictures of the most recent event (the flash flooding).  Some taken by my wife and some by a friend:

Everyone looks at this and says ‘global warming‘ is causing the odd weather.  Well….I’m not sure and don’t believe in simply jumping on a bandwagon of common thought.  I do believe something has changed.  What next?  I guess we’re due for an earthquake….

Posted in New Hampshire, Health & Environment | 1 Comment »

July 30, 2008 by dave.

I’m a huge coffee drinker and have always wondered about all these teeth whitening products.  My wife came home from a friend’s house and said she really liked a pre-brushing dental rinse that has peroxide in it.  There are numerous name-brand products but we picked up a RiteAid brand similar to Listerine Whitening and I’m very impressed.  You rally notice a difference and it REALLY makes your mouth / teeth feel clean.  At first there seemed to be an odd side-effect; it left some sort of slimy film in your mouth…but after a handful of uses that seemed to go away.

I became concerned and curious about the active ingredient (Peroxide) but after doing some research I discovered there’s really nothing to worry about.  Here’s a few good resources for this information:

Peroxide / Tooth Whiteners

Customer Comments / Reviews (Listerine Whitening)

Posted in Health & Environment | 2 Comments »

May 20, 2008 by dave.

I used to feel privileged to receive solicitations from credit card companies. I also used to enjoy getting the occasional unsolicited catalog, and even junk mail once in a while. Well once I bought a house it got a bit crazy - the amount of unsolicited ‘crap’ that I was receiving. I recall a few years ago my wife and I had looked in to ways to cut down the amount we were receiving and we did succeed…things got better. I recall the solution had a finite time period attached to it. Recently though it seems to have picked up again….so I assume we’ve passed that time period. It also makes me aware of all the wasted paper. Go Green and stop some of the junk…..

Here’s some helpful sites to help you out. Don’t worry - they are not scams:

OPT-OUT of Direct Marketing (junk mail)

OPT-OUT credit card offers (they look at your credit report…don’t let them!)

While you are at it….don’t forget that we all get a free annual credit report. You can get a report from ALL of the 3 major credit reporting companies. You simply start at this web site:

Annual Credit Report

Lastly, since I’m being so helpful - here’s a way to get a ‘free’ long-distance phone number: See….in order to have an unlisted number you need to pay a monthly charge. The simple solution is to put your phone in another name. We use my wife’s maiden name which helps even more when we get an unsolicited call (don’t forget to sign up for the national DO NOT CALL list) and they ask for Mr. <insert wife’s maiden name>. I’ve also heard of others putting the phone in the name of a pet. I’d love to be able to tell a marketer that <insert cat’s name’> can’t come to the phone because they are busy in the litter-box.

Posted in Household Stuff, Health & Environment, Web Sites, Annoying Things, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »