Reaping the "Green" Benefits

Hello All,

I'm back to tell that you the Geothermal project is ALL DONE. Final installation was completed in the middle of May 2009 and I am happy to say that the costs weren't surprisingly what one might think. With all of the Energy incentives available, it was basically the same as a traditional HVAC system but proving to be more efficient. I can't believe new home builders aren't offering them as a viable option when a homeowner will benefit in the long run especially with the rising utility costs associated with heating and cooling a home.

We've been living with the Geothermal Heating/Cooling for just under 3 months and it is defininitely proving to be a plus. Take for instance during the summer of 2008, I would normally set my thermostat at 74 degrees F during the day and then down to 68 degrees F at night which was "somewhat comfortable" for me. Now I keep the house cooled during the day at 70 degrees F and when sleeping at night, it is dropped down to 65 degrees F which is VERY comfortable for me and my pets. To top it off, my electric bills have been lower than in 2008 with less electricity consumption, and I no longer complain to my other half about being warm all the time. The house is alot more quiet inside since the unit is placed in my basement and not outside the house exposed to the elements.

Another benefit of having had wells dug to supply the water to the Geothermal System is that we had them hooked up to our irrigation system. Our water consumption has dropped tremendously resulting in a decline in our monthly water bills which means our savings continue to escalate.

I couldn't be more happier with our Geothermal conversion and I am really looking forward to our next project - Solar panels for our roof which is coming sometime in September 2009.

Ciao,

Vinnie

GO GREEN - 5 Easy Energy-Saving Tips

I came across an article in a local periodical called "South Jersey House & Home" that gets stuffed in our mailboxes each month and found these 5 easy energy-saving tips that I thought I'd share with everyone. Tip #5 is my personal favorite because we are currently in the process of doing just that which will make our home one step closer to being more GREEN. The article was written by Joe Willix and here are his tips:

Tip #1. TURN IT OFF

Somewhere along the line, we decided it would be great if appliances or devices would be on at all times ready for us to use at our every whim. That uses a lot of electricity. Save a little money each month by turning off computers, cell phone chargers, TVs and battery chargers.

Tip #2. INVEST IN A KILL A WATT

Save hundreds by investing a few bucks in a Kill A Watt monitor. Plug anything into the Kill A Watt and it will measure how much electrical energy anything in your house is using. It's a great way to find out if your old refrigerator needs to be replaced.

Tip #3. DO NOTHING

The "Do Nothing Strategy" calculates how much homeowners will spend on electricity and gas if they keep doing the same thing for the next 25 years. Remember the number $160,804.92. That is how much you will spend if your home uses an average of $200 per month on electricity including the average 7 percent annual electric rate increases over the next 25 years. It's time to think about generating your own electricity with solar or wind power.

Tip #4. PRODUCE YOUR OWN ELECTRICITY AT HOME

Invest in your own solar energy or wind energy system. A 2-kilowatt solar energy system or a 2-kilowatt turbine will produce about 3,200 kilowatt-hours a year. You can install either of these sytems for less than $20,000, and they will produce energy for the next 25 to 40 years. Start small: You can easily expand the solar energy or wind energy system size later. both solar and wind energy are clean energies with zero emissions.

Tip #5. NEVER REPLACE YOUR AIR CONDITIONER

When your air conditioner dies, don't replace it. Invest in a geothermal cooling and heating system, which will reduce your electric usage and your cooling/heating electric bill by more than 50 percent. Air conditioning and heating typically represent 60 percent of your total monthly electric bill. Geothermal uses the moderate temperature of the earth, which is 55 degrees to 72 degrees 6 feet below the surface, to cool and heat your home. These machines are up to four times more efficient than an air conditioner. They are also so quiet that they are installed indoors away from the heat and cold. A geothermal cooling system will pay for itself in a few years.

I mentioned earlier that we are in the process of having a geothermal cooling and heating system installed in our home. Not only am I looking forward to being more GREEN, but saving a substantial amount of money each month on cooling and heating bills are welcomed. Just last week, we had 2 wells (source and return) dug in our backyard which will supply the underground air and water for the system. An added bonus is now that we have our own wells, we will be able to tap into this well water to supply our underground irrigation system taking a strain from our township water supply. Later this week, the actual geothermal cooling and heating unit is to be delivered to our home. PVC pipes still need to be installed in the ground that will connect to the actual system. We are able to use the existing duct work in our home, however some minor tweaking will be needed as well as insulation of the basement ceiling to make it as efficient as possible. We were told that it should take about a week to install the unit, make changes to the duct work and run pipes to our home so the installation date will happen probably in late April. This was our decision because we didn't want to go without heat during the winter months.

As you can see I'm very happy to be able to do my part for Mother Earth by adopting GREEN technology. In the future, solar panels are also on our "To Do" list but first we must get the geothermal project done. I'll let you know how things go once it's done but enjoy the photos of the well being dug which is our ground breaking into a GREENER way of thinking.

Ciao,

Vinnie

Rubber Bracelets: Pop Culture or Awareness?

I recently read a short article from the October 13th issue of Time magazine titled "A Brief History of Bracelets" and it fascinated me. The article mentioned many types of bracelets including stainless steel, black metal, bronze metal and rubber silicone. Since I wear a rubber silicone bracelet myself, I figured I provide you some history on bracelets.

Memorial bracelets have been around since the Vietnam War when a student group, Voices in Vital America (VIVA) began a campaign on behalf of missing American soldiers and prisoners of war using silver bands with soldier information imprinted on them. Senators Barack Obama and John McCain both wore stainless steel bracelets during the Sept 26th Presidential Debate.

Rubber bracelets originated as a punk rock anti-fashion statement when punks would put black rubber o-rings around their wrists and wear them as bracelets in the late 70's and early 80's because the rubber had practically no value compared to traditional jewelry materials. Madonna and Cindy Lauper helped with mainstream popularity in the 80's when they wore o-rings (often in many colors) in their videos and performances.

In the late 90's, the colorful o-rings (or jelly bracelets) reemerged among trendy youth and got some bad press when a rumor scared many parents decreeing that the different colors of the bracelets represented different sexual acts one was willing to perform. Later into the 90's, Rubber Band Bracelets became popular after people would take the thick rubber bands that you get wrapped around broccoli and asparagus at the grocery store and wear them as bracelets. Some companies began making and selling these types of rubber band bracelets printed with a variety of commercial messages although the trend didn't last very long.

The Rubber Band Bracelet trend did last long enough for NBA players to start sporting them and Nike with their keen eye on basketball fashion improved the trend by using the silicone rubber they previously used on sports watch bands and created the Nike Baller ID Band Bracelets. These bracelets came in specific team colors and had sports messages embossed or imprinted into the rubber which many NBA players wore on and off the court.

The first consciousness wristband was shaped by the Lance Armstrong Foundation in 2004 which was essentially a Baller ID Band in yellow and imprinted with "LiveStrong", the motto of Lance Armstrong's foundation for cancer research. The bracelets were sold for $1 each to raise money for cancer research.

Rubber silicone bracelets are even more popular today as many other charities, organizations, schools and accessories producers create them in a wide array of colors and with all kinds of messages, some just for fun. Below are some of the more popular representations:

• Red: Usually for HIV AIDS, Diabetes and Heart Disease awareness and prevention.


• Orange: Signify support for Multiple Sclerosis, American Cancer Society, Asperger's Syndrome and The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).


• Yellow: Lance Armstrong's support for general Cancer research and support for our troops.


• Green: Ecology support, Leukemia, Muscular Dystropy and Kidney Disease awareness in addition to Darfur awareness.


• Blue: Autism, Crohn's disease, Fighting Childhood Bullying in the UK, Violence and Child Abuse prevention and Cystic Fibrosis.


• Purple: Alheimer's, Lupus and Domestic Violence awareness.


• White: Anti-poverty and to support Christian themes.
  
• Black: Melanoma research and Anti-Racism messages in UK (Black and White together).


• Pink: Breast Cancer research.


• Other: Red, White and Blue for American Pride, Rainbow for Gay Pride, Camouflage for troop support and multicolored for major NBA and MLB teams.
  

Now that you see how popular these rubber silicone bracelets are, you can decide for yourself if you'd like to jump on the bandwagon whether for fun or to show support. My challenge to you is to guess which band I personally wear on an everyday basis.

Ciao,
Vinnie

Anne Caputo of Dow Jones Enterprise Media Group is 2009 President-Elect of SLA

Alexandria, Virginia, October 2, 2008- The Special Libraries Association (SLA) announced the results of its Board of Directors election today. Anne Caputo, CTS Executive Director of Learning & Information Professional Programs, was named President-Elect of the 12,000 member global association of researchers and information professionals. When her term begins in January 2009, Anne will participate in the development of strategy and outreach for this key professional association which represents researchers and other information professionals within enterprise settings around the world. Members of SLA form a core group of purchasers and influencers for key CTS products such as Dow Jones Factiva, Dow Jones Insight and taxonomy solutions.

Anne said, “I am honored to be elected to this position by my professional colleagues. This is a wonderful testament to the respect Dow Jones holds in this important market and to the opportunity for me to work with my global colleagues on issues important to research and information functions within organizations.”

All of her colleagues at Dow Jones congratulate Anne on this significant recognition of her dedication and support of SLA and the information professional community.

Teenagers - Vagrants or Misunderstood?

Believe it or not this coming weekend is the last weekend before Labor Day here in the US which means the teenagers will be heading back to school and not a moment too soon. Even though some of you are in different regions, you may experience the same thing with the summer months ending and school beginning.

You see, I live in a pretty nice neighborhood down here in South Jersey that is about 12 years old. Our subdivision connects to a couple other ones and it seems as if the young teenagers were quite bored this summer as they caused havoc to some of the neighbors. It's pretty much the teenage vandalism sort of things (knocking over mailboxes, stealing bikes and lawn furniture, etc.) but I guess when it's happening to you it's not minor. To top it off, our township has a 10:00pm curvew for minors under the age of 18 but it's not enforced that strongly. To fuel the fire, there's this area behind one of the other subdivisions that they call "The Pit" which consists of dirt mounds where people ride their 4-wheel quads and dirtbikes. But at night, it becomes a hangout for the teenagers and the cause of many phone calls to the police authorities. So much, that our community has now formed a neighborhood watch program to keep an eye out for anything that is peculiar. My partner and I do patrols after 10pm each night while we're walking our dogs so it's a perfect opportunity to be the eyes and ears for the police. In the 3 weeks since we started patrolling the neighborhoods, we personally have only had to telephone the police once when it was well past 10:00pm on a weeknight. This was because we came across a group of about 6 - 8 teenagers making lots of loud noise and tossing glass bottles across one of our streets in our neighborhood. So the police were called and that was the end of that.

By no means am I an advocate of vandalism, but I have to be honest and say that if I had had a place like "The Pit" to hang out in when I was a teenager, I would have taken advantage of it also. The difference is that I would have respected my elders as well as their property and would never have caused damage or made too much noise. So in a way I feel sorry for the teenagers who don't seem to have anything to do to keep them busy. Heck, with the extremely high property taxes that we pay to live here, I think our township should offer activities that could be both eductational and stimulating to keep the teenagers occupied and off of the streets at night. So...are the teenagers true vagrants or are they sadly misunderstood?

I'm sure everyone has their own opinion and perhaps it depends on the degree of vandalizm that they cause. In any case, if they ever start to vandalize MY property I'll lump them into the vagrant category and they'll become my public enemy #1.

Ciao,

VINNIE

A Day Trip Steeped in History and Danger!

A few weeks ago we took in a French exchange student named David, who incidentally is a wonderful temporary addition to the family. While he has gone on a few day trips with the other students and visited New York, he did not get to go to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island and as a result we planned a day trip to remedy the situation. The fortune tellers at Weatherscan predicted a 60% chance of severe thunderstorms, but as they are far from accurate the vast majority of the time I thought we could chance it as this was our last opportunity to take a day-long excursion. It's a good thing I'm not a gambling man, but I'll come back to that in a bit...

We made a late start and navigated our way to Liberty State Park, where we would take the ferry to the appropriate ports of call. With a minimum of ceremony we arrived and purchased our tickets and wandered around killing time until the next ferry was due to dock, and it was only when we attempted to get in line to board that a ranger told us we needed to go through security before queuing up. We trooped along back to the building and got into a fairly short line that led to an airport-style security checkpoint. I noticed the various signage that warned about the various items on the restricted list and thought momentarily of the small Swiss Army knife I have on my key ring, but being the optimist I dismissed my insignificant single-bladed friend to the army of Europe's most noteworthy neutral country as a trinket barely worth notice.

Arriving at the metal detector and x-ray machine, I put my various items into the plastic bin and proceeded through the arch, setting off the alarm when my Swatch triggered the alert. Second time through was the charm and I emerged on the other side of the checkpoint unscathed. I should add that the older gentleman in the adjacent line had his oversized plaid shorts fall to his ankles after he relinquished his belt, which was pretty entertaining for the rest of us. I should also add that the first security officer commented on my sideburns and tattoos and asked if I was a fan of Danzig before giving me his unflattering opinion of MTV and the state of the music industry. His parting words to me advised me to look up the two-headed girl on YouTube... It was a surreal moment, but as he was polite and talkative I figured it never hurt to exchange pleasantries with a member of the security staff. You never know when it will come in handy...

So now I am waiting to collect my watch, wallet, belt, sunglasses, keys, gum, camera and phone from the bin when a second security officer holds up my overburdened key ring and points to the small knife. I instantly realized that he was not the friendly type I'd encountered moments earlier, and instead was a belligerent fellow with power issues. He informed me that my knife was deemed a weapon and I had two choices facing me: I could return my keys to the car and return sans knife, or I could leave the trinket with him. He then cautioned that if I left it with him, it would be gone forever as they don't hold these items for returning passengers. I looked at him nonplussed for a moment as my gears slowly turned and I evalutated my options.

At this point a previous security checkpoint survivor returned to ask about his cell phone, which he believed was not retrieved from one of the bins. The reaction of the security officer was so venomous and nasty I downgraded my opinion of him further. I opted to return to the car and leave the offending object safely in the center console, and as the reincarnated Nazi prison guard roughly pushed aside a couple of six-year-old children and ushered me through a door I tried to be philosophical about the whole thing and let him off with a single muttered obscenity directed at his back as the door closed. The next hour saw me return to the parking lot some two-hundred meters distant, drop off my key ring (I kept only the single key for the car), return to the security line where I stood for 20 minutes trying to attract the attention of an employee so that I did not have to wait in the queue (which had quintupled in size in my absence) and eventually make it past the baleful glare of the security officer who had been instrumental in my tribulations. We made it onto a departing ferry and were only an hour behind schedule.

In my mind Ellis Island was pretty much the same as it was 15 years ago, though they may have changed much and my memory compensated for my poor recall by making it seem that way. David opted for a French language audio tour, and Alek for an English one. We started in the middle of the main floor and slowly wound our way through the various rooms and exhibits. Ellis Island is a fairly interesting place, and they do a great job of providing you with oodles of historical background in the form of images, quotes and a variety of detritus collected over the years of operation. While Alek wanted to listen to each section completely and constantly held up his finger in a "Just a second" gesture, David wanted to move quickly from one room to the next. The result was one of us shadowing one charge while the other followed the second. We eventually made it to the end of the tour and rendezvoused back at the main area before heading out to catch the Liberty Island Ferry. Let me add that for the immigrants coming to the US back in the days of Ellis Island's busiest years conditions elsewhere must have been appalling if the experiences awaiting them here were seen as a momentary dislocation with some short term discomfort. But back to the story at hand.

Outside the main building we found the line for the Liberty Island Ferry and managed to secure a position maybe 30 meters from the dock where we watched the antics of several children who ignored their parents and ran about like free-range chickens. At this point I happened to look over to the south of the New York skyline and noticed that the sky was looking a bit dark and stormy. In truth, the sky was a turbulent mass of battleship-gray clouds slowly advancing in our direction. Occasional flickers of lightning licked the skies and the winds began to pick up dramatically. It seemed that the race was on and it would be a close shave whether or not our ferry would arrive in time to protect us from the coming storm. Each boat that passed bay was greeted with stares of longing as the crowded masses looked hopefully across the growing swells. It was like some strange apocalyptic film where the final transport was picking up the remains of the human race before the final storms arrived to ravage the Earth's surface. Nervous glances and furtive attempts to move forward in the line sparked some mild shoving matches and if it were not for the advancing wall of terror, there would probably have been an outbreak of violence somewhere in the mob. The ferry rounded the bend and we all surged forward until we eventually made our way onto the lower deck of the tossing vessel. We'd managed to beat the rain and the lashing wind by moments and had only suffered some wind-tangled hair and a few drops of precipitation on our clothes. We watched the skies grow darker and the lightning activity increase as we made our way to Liberty Island.







By the time we arrived at our destination, the waves were enormous, the rain was splashing down, the lightning was putting on an incredible display and the winds were reaching gale-force intensity. Throughout the final leg of the trip to see Lady Liberty we could see the mighty statue staring balefully forth through the stormy skies, and it was not a very heartwarming look... She looked menacing and annoyed as we drifted under her gaze, and I had an eerie thought that she would at that moment decide that she'd had enough and turn into an angry Talos-like figure of wrath and retribution. Instead she just looked grimly on as the lightning illuminated her pale verdigris complexion.

The docks, upon our arrival, were overburdened with people fleeing the storm. Masses of churning bodies huddled under the huge covered loading bay, their $10 green rain ponchos clinging like a second skin. After disembarking and walking past hundreds of fleeing refugees, their eyes shadowed with desperation and fear, we slipped and slid towards the towering behemoth only to find out that you needed to purchase your tickets a week in advance... We stood for a brief moment in the tented concession stand/gift shop as David made a purchase, and then it was off to the docks for the ferry ride back to Liberty State Park.

We made it to the ferry just as it was preparing to leave, but it was so crowded we were forced to wait for the next one. It was actually somewhat exhilarating to watch the waves crashing against the walls as we observed the passengers on the departing ferry watching us. Within a few minutes I understood why they looked at us in a manner that said "You're having fun now... wait till the ferry leaves and the protection of the boat no longer shields you from nature's wrath."

Sure enough, the ferry pulled away from the dock and the gale-force winds tore through the roofed boarding dock with the ferocity of a dozen Hollywood wind machines. The spray from the ocean, mingles with the rain pelting down from the heavens swept across the miserable crowd drenching anyone unfortunate to be standing in the front lines. Those cowering behind their human shields scrunched lower in an effort to maintain a stitch or two of dry clothes for the ferry ride back. The minutes ticked by as the winds and water continued to harass us while we looked into the distance for the arrival of our ferry. You tend to lose track of time when you are single mindedly focussed on watching for any signs of rescue. The boat rounded the bend and eventually we made it aboard, wet and windblown but otherwise in good shape.

Our return trip was fairly uneventful as we navigated our way out of the storm to arrive at Liberty State Park bedraggled and looking like we'd just escaped certain doom. Anything else I add at this point would be anticlimactic as the walk to the car consisted of a 200 meter jog punctuated by yelps of pain when a small rock from the gravel driveway managed to attempt to stow away in our Crocs or sandals. The day was an adventure to say the least. We were not only treated to some amazing history about a pivotal point in our nation's history, we also stared death in the face and laughed as the thunder crashed and the poison arrows fell from the sky and the pillars of heaven shook.

I hope you enjoyed my dramatic and lengthy tale...  I should look for some side work with the Travel Channel.

Thanks and Regards,

Thomas

How was YOUR time in Seattle?

I actually have about 400 images that I took, though most of them are from the city and surrounding environments as I used every millisecond of my time not in the convention center doing something fun or interesting...

  

 
  

 

Seattle was a blast and a great time was had by one and all.  Our Dow Jones Tech Zones went off with minimal typical technical issues (little browser tweaks and adjustments for the most part), and were well received.  From Taxonomy and Sharepoint to eLearning and Social Media in the Enterprise, we delivered our lectures to sold out crowds on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  By the way, if you did not get a chance to attend the very popular "Taxonomy and Sharepoint" Tech Zone during SLA, sign up for our Sept. 11th webinar today!

 

I'll set up a slideshow of all my SLA images soon, but in the meantime feel free to send us YOUR images from the Seattle conference and we'll put together a big image collection.  If you haven't read Vin's account of his excursion to Mount Ranier, please take the time to...  It is a hoot!

I'll end this post with a few images from our customer event at the Space Needle.  I already can't wait for 2009 and Washington DC!

  

Thanks and Regards,

Thomas