Next stop 2012 – All Aboard!

When you think of winter most people in the Northeastern USA think about snow , cold and short days. We already had a snow storm that came before leaves changed color and fell to the ground.

What is this ? Snow before Halloween !

So where is it said that things remain the same.
Is this “Climate Change” or a freak of nature.

We can’t blame the stock market !

Even that doesn’t make sense…

More to come…?!?!

We shall see (if there is light enough) !

I care as much about the light at the end of the tunnel as I do the light at the end of the day !

Back to School – Learning to Start Over

If you use Numbers on Mac then this is the Budget Template.

The summer of 2011 is almost over and so I am looking back at the year seven and a half months into the calendar year.
Daily existence is up a notch  as the country and the world struggle over financial balance. This year is more out of balance then any year since 1990 when I left an enjoyable job involuntarily or even back to 1970 when I left high school and started my adult life.
I see the repeating pattern every 2o years. I can compare any source and see the same results. Change the legend on the chart to income of the wealthy , number unemployed , crime rate , or cost of gasoline and it still looks realistic. If you watch the news or read a newspaper the information is the same.

So here are the quick links I like to include…
zFacts -

The graph reflects DOE's weekly survey.

 U.S. Household net worth graphic -

Net Worth graph - 22:13, 11 March 2010 (UTC)03/11/2009

Distribution Wealth (World 2000) -

Follow the Money...

So we began fending and providing for ourselves -

Davy Hollow is a Backyard Farm started 2010

We will see what the next year, decade (or two) yields for us and the rest of the world.

On a Green note , more people are getting into self reliant living.

Too many blogs, too little time !

Blog, Blog, Blog everywhere a Blog !

A picture is worth a thousand words!

 

So where is a blogger to begin ?
I read in the news…
I watch the news…
It all seems to be the same story.
Someone on TV that is doing a reality program about being on a reality TV program ! So at any time there is a reality TV producer looking for the next seasons talent. Singing, Dancing, or professional Actors being everyday workers. Then the news reports a lost child, mother or pet. A story about someone losing control of their vehicle and hitting a person, bus or building somewhere. For a while all cars by the same manufacturer are blamed amidst the ads for that same manufactures products. The next week no one knows what kind of car was out of control that hit the unintended target. So here I am writing a blog each month after being told in the media that “Social Networks” are the best way to get involved with others. This post is almost all words so I expect few replies. My other Blog is getting the current attention. Even there one or two readers after pleading for an audience can’t compete with the games that have thousands of followers that “like” what they see.

If you like what I said, leave a reply.

And please no spamming ! 

Green – Color, Inexperienced, Envy, Golf, Vegetation, Municiple…

Dictionary definition of GREEN !

Green is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 520–570 nanometres.

gREEN eNERGY ?

If any thing is green it has absorbed energy not released it !

Red seems more descriptive of ENERGY !

Wikipedia has a definition of Hypermiling and my system says there is no guess for the spelling error !

Hypermiler is a term coined by Wayne Gerdes to describe a driver who strives to exceed their vehicle’s EPA fuel economy rating.

Go Hypermiling !

Hypermiling as a sport ?

If you are in
Westford, Massachusetts on May 15, 2011 at 11 am
then there will be a Hypermile(sp) rally !

“During the summer of 2005, Wayne led a team and was the first person to break 120 mpg in a stock first or second generation Prius at the Prius Marathon Attempt in Pittsburgh, PA. The Second Generation Prius they were driving is EPA rated at 46 mpg and achieved 1,397 miles on a single tank of fuel at 109.0 mpg.”

So what ? Hidden Answer You  will Figure it out Maybe ! 

Just keep thinking that way !

“Fast Food” – High Speed, Dining and Heifer International

To work with communities to end hunger and poverty and to care for the Earth.

We had breakfast at the Learning Center at Overlook Farm, located in Rutland, MA (62 miles West of Boston). So I am volunteering to help promote their cause.

I see they are involved with Green Mountain Coffee and Starbucks Coffee.

If you read about Heifer International Online Gift Catalog – Goat you will begin
to see why I am increasing my time spent on this cause.

As far as the HIGH SPEED TRAINS part of my energy I am finding encouraging articles

Recent boosts in federal funding have made high-speed, intercity passenger rail a high-profile issue.

about the future and even some current efforts and successes.

It sure seems hard to compare donating a goat to a world entity to getting more support for high speed rail travel but what are we telling ourselves by just waiting for this to happen or biting off more than we can chew.

The state-run company RENFE covers an ample number of domestic lines that connect all the regions on the Iberian Peninsula.

Maybe more of us should be eating sustainable on the run. While in Malaga, Spain in 2008 I wasn’t thinking about world hunger but instead only about having a mid trip meal. Anyone gone to the trouble of asking where their meal came from and is it a sustainable lifestyle ? I am going to try to start to ask more often.

Monte Málaga Hotel: the value of respect for the environment

I expect the hotel would have enjoyed expressing their opinion.

“What’s in your future ?” 

 

When an iDea begins to make sense…

Almost a year ago a group I know had an iDea…

Presentation by © Cool Games Network 2011

This will be part of Green Group Boston‘s lesson in creating a blog !

WiFi Fantasy…

Let’s begin where we are and and catch you up. We have had a busy Summer with the crash of the Prius and getting kids back to college. Now that colder weather is on us we have more time for indoor activities.

In the final days of September I began therapy for back pain. I may be from train modules or wheel chairs or college baggage. Any way there was a day there to drive to Hartford and meet relatives. Along the way I saw a lotr of trains as they are. Once I met relatives I showed pictures of Spain and High Speed travel at 200+ miles per hour. How nice if the Amtrak got me from Boston to Hartford that fast ! It would have been less than one hour trip.

So in November I went to Bedford Boomers and sat with European Train Club next to the host Model Train club. National Model Railroad Association had asked me to evangelize membership ! So I sat in a camping chair and showed kids and parents how to control trains with the “ECoS” controller. I made the trains make sounds and moved them remotely. Many never realized that this was how easy it was to connect Europe and American trains in Scale Model worlds. I could have never put those trains on the large layouts because even at the small scale there are discrepancies. Once I switch to catenary power I will be able to make the connections. That’s what I plan to do and so also the European club.

We both will build a presentation that only needs 15 minutes from one member to display. Then kids and parents will see the future (in scale). Almost feels like a private world’s fair.

Two places to read where I’ve been and where we are going !

AVE S/103 Velaro in Spain

High Speed in Florida

I’ll leave you to find out more about
Trains for America

Not my contribution but still a kindred spirit !

 

See you in September !

After losing a battle with a 1999 Sububan , our 2008 Prius was replaced with a solar panel equipped 2010 Barcelona Red Prius. The significance for me is both the PV roof and the festive color.

Someone on LinkedIn asked “What are you willing to do to save the planet ?”

Still on the lot and transferred as per order.

So I thought about it and sold a couple cars I had as collectables and prestige.

The 1959 Bug Eye Sprite I had in High School during the muscle car era  was sold at a loss !
Also I took the equity in the 2006 VW GLI and when combined with insurance settlement, I was able to almost eliminate the loan payments for the newer Prius.
I’m now increasing activity in Groton Local so as to help cut down travel and meet neighbors with like interests.
I think it is a typical effort that spends a lot of energy looking for others to help without a testimony to ones personal efforts.
Often members of Green Groups are silent  about their own success stories. The most vocal are the activists who  immerse themselves in regulative changes. Then find others to steer the vote. I myself am impressed with their energy but don’t have the charisma to gain a following to my passions. I am labeled as “one of those green guys” which should be a badge of honor but was slung as an insult to a comment to another about an unattended car left running while busy elsewhere.

So when September 2010 starts, I hope others go back to school and teach others about what they know or are doing to make a difference. If you have questions then they need to be asked in order to find an answer. Start something ! Silence is not golden if it means missing an opportunity to make a change in the way others opinions about you and your ideals. You may be labeled as bizarre but at least they will know your view if they begin to look for a local friend when they finally change their own views about what can be done about saving energy.

Not all change occurs from the top down.
Individuals use energy and then they impact communities which become models for regions that get recognized as a bunch of “Green Guys”.
Next milestone is  January 2011 and a New Year.
Will you have changed for the better or wait and see ?
Will the November 2010 elections reflect the “Green Guys” or  the silent majority ?

Vote the way you feel ! It is a silent way to speak loudly !

Solar Energy – The sun shines bright, Lee

When was the last time you saw the sun ?
So today I saw the light.

As I saw the reflected sunny day !

In the window was this logo. In the store were past friends from the chamber!
So the month began with new kids, accidents ,  birthdays and things that  may happen in everyones life.
Occasionally you find a link in life and make a connection that leads to a link online.
It started with my bank, DCU.
The branch manager, Jon  had an Optimus Prime on his desk. So me being Cool Games, I asked about it.
Turns out he sells collectables. That’s not the topic of this post though. I have been practicing networking and found this new approach of elevator speeches, twittering and blogging to be too much learning. It seems every one has a different way of approaching it. So I went back to meeting people face to face and talking one on one. Now things are happening for me.
I just am myself. I talk about Earth Day 1970 and 2010. 40 YEARS! Big circle with the sun and earth as the focus.

Somewhere in the middle of this Jon met Lee then Darren and the three of us connected at many levels !

Zoom ahead to June 11, 2010 at high noon!
Suddenly I am back in the High Life and just being myself.
So the next step will be the next week. Making more connections to people I already know!
Catch you all later !

CKENP – College Kids and the Empty Nestered Parents

How many of us feel that when the kids are off to college we have a changed life ?

Let’s list the ways:

• We can afford groceries and they sometimes last long enough to outlive their appeal.
• We turn off the outside light at night and never find extra lights left on.
• Loading the dishwasher so often that we wonder how two people go through so many so fast!
• Eating out less because there is no need to cook for the small army with different schedules and tastes.
• Planning to sleep late or just travel with a small amount of clothes. Sometimes just skip coming home.
• Learning to use text in short messages like 25 years ago before email clients and laptops.
• Spending time online or reading a book quietly without guilt.
• Seeing old movies on TV and remembering them from the date to see them in theaters after work.
• Driving a car with an empty or non-existent back seat again.
• Playing the radio or music and finding it still tuned next time.

I am sure I could go on and maybe you find this blog and start your own list. I also find myself doing the math to figure the year my parents were my age.

How big is your photo library ?

I realize that I have become my parents. I used to avoid them and have my own life and friends.
If you’re my age then “The Beatles” songs are remimding us of how we felt as teenagers.

This week kids are getting finished with their college classes and moving away from the dorms or into the next step in life.
I wanted to make an entry in my blog to remember this time later but find it is so small an event that it doesn’t warrant much attention. I feel  a writer’s block and leave it to the reader to fill in the story line as though they were writing the list. Go ahead and start your own blog or make an entry as I am leaving this post as is !