When last month’s energy bill passed, there was a provision that called for traditional light bulbs to be phased out over the next 4 to 12 years so that new, compact fluorescent light bulbs can take over the market. As reported in USA Today:

Under the measure, all light bulbs must use 25% to 30% less energy than today’s products by 2012 to 2014. The phase-in will start with 100-watt bulbs in January 2012 and end with 40-watt bulbs in January 2014. By 2020, bulbs must be 70% more efficient.

Compact fluorescent bulbs already meet the 70% efficiency standard. A compact fluorescent costs about $2, vs. about 50 cents for an incandescent.

While an incandescent lasts about seven months, a fluorescent burns six times longer. It also saves about $5 a year in electricity costs, paying for itself in as little as four months, says Steve Nadel, head of the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE).

This looks like a win-win situation for everyone involved. We have a compact fluorescent bulb over our stove in the apartment and it’s been there for a few years. My Mother recently switched over to mostly compact bulbs and they’re working fine at the house and saving a few bucks each month in electricity. It looks like government may have figured something out the right way for once!

While I was at the Opportunity Finance Network’s conference last month, I picked up a free sample of the Tanka Bite. As their website states, “The 70-calorie Tanka Bar delivers a slow, powerful protein punch by mixing two primary ingredients: low-fat, high-energy American buffalo meat and tasty cranberries.” This little piece of beef jerky was delicious!

I’m looking into the possibility of buying a 96-case of these little bites and keeping them as a part of my daily lunch at the office. These things are so good that I’m willing to spend the $100 or so it will cost to purchase them (it’s about $1 per bite, which is a reasonable price).

There is an added positive to this product. It is made by a Native American tribe out in the Midwest. This is what you would call a socially responsible purchase since the profits are used to benefit the tribe (the Lakota tribe). It’s a great bar, check it - you’ll love it!

And when you’re done chomping on the Tanka Bar, check out New Jersey Carpet Cleaning for the best carpet cleaning in the Garden State!

The Daily Record ran a story this morning about the Headquarters Plaza Fitness Club abruptly shutting down in Morristown. This echoes the same out-of-the-blue closing of the Ocean Fitness Company - both gyms were owned by The Fitness Company, a group out of Holmdel.

There is something up with The Fitness Company organization. They aren’t returning phone calls and they aren’t refunding membership fees even if you joined an expensive plan the day before they closed up shop. It would appear that a bunch of greedy punks are running the show over there - or at least a bunch of greedy punks took over the company and are now running it into the ground. This is a shame for many reasons, not the least of which is the community aspect of health clubs. The Ocean Fitness Company was more of a place-based company than it was a branch of the The Fitness Company. In fact, two years ago it changed its name from “The Fitness Company” to “Ocean Fitness” to reflect that fact.

The same is true of all gyms and health clubs. The people who go to these places form friendships and expand their personal networks. To see such innate community building torn apart because of some person’s greed is a shame, yet par for the course in New Jersey.

Here’s hoping that someone investigates the sudden closing of these clubs and that those who have been screwed out of a great deal of money join together and sue those who took that money.

Great post-Christmas gifts are still available on eBay! One of the best, cost effective gifts you could pick up for a friend or loved one is a Harmony Ball. I have three of these little Harmony Ball figurines in my room - Plato, an Owl, and Jesus Christ. They’re pretty cool.

My Mother sells these things at a great price on eBay so I highly suggest that you check out which figurines she has on sale if you’re still looking for that good post-Christmas gift. Enjoy!

This is BS, damn it! The entire northern part of New Jersey is covered in ice and snow and here I am living in Deal and working in Trenton with NO snow OR ice! It’s winter time, damn it! I want snow!

One of my clients called me today and said he was surprised I was able to get to work. This client lives in Morris Plains. When I told him that not only did it not snow, sleet, or ice over the weekend, but that it was somewhat temperate for this time of the year, he couldn’t believe it. He has a foot of snow and 3 inches of ice on top of it!

Is it global warming that is causing there to be a foot of snow about an hour north of where there is nothing at all? Who knows (likely yes!), but all I know is that it’s winter time, it’s the Christmas season…and I want some damn snow!

On Saturday mornings, I generally try to get a lot of “work” done whether it be cleaning my room or cleaning up the kitchen or doing work for my job or the website business, etc. Generally, I have a show or two on that does a recap of the week’s events in the business, social, and global worlds. The other morning, I overheard some of the talking heads have a conversation about eliminating homework for young people.

The argument was that young people are saddled with two or more hours of homework each night and it is too much for them to complete the homework and develop a cogent social image. The talking heads went back and forth with all of the usual arguments in this debate (blame the teachers’ unions, blame the “teach to the test” mentality, blame parents, blame the kids, etc). Lots of blaming going on.

Then one of the guests said something along the lines of, “Kids become smart by getting engaged in math, reading, the arts, physical education - all of it!” And that made me think about what - in my view - makes a young person grow “smart.” I think I figured it out.

In my book, reading is the base of intelligence. I’m sure that most of you would agree that being literate is the base of the learning experience, but in terms of growing and expanding your knowledge on all issues, I think reading is the stimulant. However, reading is not alone in this effort. There are two other necessities which I believe are closely related to reading that ultimately lead to an increased intelligence - comprehension and writing ability.

It does no good to read all of the books in the world if you’re just acting as a computer and processing words on a page. This is where I believe teachers have their greatest impact on young minds. On the very same dime, this is a scary part of the education process as teaching comprehension is one of those areas where an inherent bias from a teacher can shape a child’s future views. Very scary.

The writing process is also one that encourages learning because it takes reading and comprehension to a different level. In other words, students can learn how to read (and read a lot) and then learn how to understand what they are reading, but going through the process of writing a piece that someone ELSE will have to read is putting all of these intangibles together. Writing is the culmination of this process (though at the professional level, getting published is the culmination!).

That’s how I believe a student can become smart - reading (a lot) and understanding what the student is reading and then ultimately producing a written work that others will read and have to be able to understand. And, for the record, this applies to literature, math, science, arts, etc. I would also think it is obvious that students should be engaging in this process both in and out of the classroom (in other words - YES, there should be some homework for students).

As I was driving across the state the other morning, I noticed a lot of people on their cell phones. This got me thinking that maybe there were other places that these folks would rather be (perhaps where they were headed). During one of the extended Howard Stern commercial breaks, I started to move this thought around in my head and I assumed that the people on their phones, no matter who they were talking to, were trying to make something happen that would benefit them and/or their companies.

Before I take this post in a direction where I don’t want it to go, let me redirect a bit. I began wondering what I would be able to accomplish in life if I didn’t have any of the generic responsibilities that people are saddled with today. In other words, could I make my classes more interesting for my students if I didn’t have to spend 10 hours per day away from my home office? Further, would I be able to really explode my small website business if, again, I didn’t have those 10 hours each day away from my home office and if I could spend that time selling my services around my community?

Let’s flip it the other way around. What if I lived closer to my day job and I didn’t have the Adjunct Professor position or the small business? What would I be capable of accomplishing at the office if all I had to worry about was my occupation? Further, since I work for a small nonprofit where there is no real upward mobility, wouldn’t I be able to hyper-focus on my current set of clients and really learn their needs as well as the overall business more?

But the thoughts that really led me to write this post are really more artistic in nature. Imagine if a part-time writer didn’t have any bills or any familial responsibility and could focus on being creative. How about a great artist that holds a job he or she hates during the day, but makes magnificent paintings in his or her spare time? This applies to anyone - a musician who is a weekend singer because she has to work during the week, an artisan who does world-class woodworks at night because he has to hold a 9 - 5 to pay the mortgage, a budding scientist who is researching a new phenomenon in his spare time, etc.

My thoughts went further (it’s a long drive to work, folks!) and then I turned the argument in on itself. Are there people who have this type of situation? Absolutely. Those with no real-world responsibilities (families, jobs, bills, etc) have all of the time in the world. However, these are often the most inexperienced people out there or, worse, many of these are pampered people who turn to drugs to fill a void in their life. Not the group of people that you want beginning a new creative wave in the population!

But there are folks who have this amount of freedom in their lives. Those who do not have to take on the burdens of debt to afford a society-required education; those who make a good wage and are in financial control or financially free; those who have worked for a few decades and raised a loving family and are now getting ready to retire. Our world has the possibility to be very creative and for people to be in control of their own lives.

Then the asshole in front of me hit the breaks when no one was in front of him (idiot!) and I had to hit the breaks really quick! In a split second I was brought back to 195, headed to Trenton, on a cold December day, with 10,000 things to do before I could get back in my truck (after night has fallen) and head back to Monmouth County to teach my class.

Ah…life!

Below is a link to an article posted at the New York Times website this morning. I’m not sure why, but I found it very powerful. The gist of the story is that a woman who was very private decided to stop talking to people in the early 1990’s. People last saw her alive in 2005. The police forced their way into her home a few days ago and found her skeletal remains - complete with winter coat on ready to go out.

The assumption is that she had been dead for between one year and eighteen months.

Anyway, the story is linked below. Again, I found it very powerful for some reason.

Neighbors Reflect on A Death No One Noticed

Since I haven’t had time to put together a coherent post in the last few days, here are some random thoughts from the last 5 - 7 days. As you’ll see, this is about as disjointed as you can get for a blog entry, but hey - if millions of other blogs can do it daily, then why can’t I do it once in a blue moon?

• You ever watch a football game and the wrong team wins? For those of you who have played football at any level - have you ever been in a game where you are obviously the better team, but you don’t win the game? I watched the Colts take on the Patriots last night and even though the Patriots had a 24 - 20 victory over the Colts, Manning and his teammates are obviously the better football team. At least in my view, that is. And I take nothing away from the Patriots (who are amazing), but after watching yesterday’s game it just seemed clear that the Colts are a better team. I could be wrong, though…
• On the subject of sports, I’m still baffled that the baseball season is over. You know when the football season is over because there is this massive Super Bowl where over 100 million people watch. It just seems like baseball ended this year and no one took notice. How many people even know that the Red Sox won the Series? How many people even care?
• You may recall that I went out over the summer and bought myself a Nintendo Wii. I have a lot of fun playing it, though I certainly don’t play it as much as I used to play video games when I was a little kid. But still, a quick game or two of bowling before I go to bed at night is fun. Anyway, part of the excitement of owning a cutting edge video game system is getting the new game as soon as it’s released. I really don’t have the time for that any more, but I figured what the hell and bought Guitar Hero III the other night. Wow. Talk about a fun game! You get to use this guitar controller to play all of these rock songs. It’s a lot of fun! Though I do take issue with the “Legends of Rock” subtitle…some of the folks in that game are brand new to the music industry and are by no means legends yet. Hell, some aren’t even footnotes yet!
• Last weekend I went up to Roxbury and while I was there I tried to play his XBox 360. Lucky for me, the machine was just having all types of problems. Think about it in terms of how your computer gets all goofy on you when Windows doesn’t work correctly. We eventually got the problem handled and I played a little Halo 3 (which lasted all of 20 minutes because the guy on the screen was hard to control). I just found it funny that Microsoft has managed to not only bring a high-tech gaming system to the masses, but they brought along the bugs and bs with it!
• I don’t know if you heard, but the Hollywood writers went on strike. I’m heartbroken…
• There were a lot of reports this weekend of King Tut being on display to the public for the first time ever. I really don’t like this move. Besides the fact that Tut’s body is petrified at 3000+ years old, putting him on display is just inappropriate (in my view). How many of us would want our petrified, blackened bodies put out on display in the year 5007? I don’t think this is the right thing to do at all.
• Have you guys seen the female wrestler named Awesome Kong? She’s in TNA right now and she’s a beast! And she is easily one of the best aspects of the show right now.
• Finally, I watched the Giants and Dolphins go at it in London last weekend. I understand the NFL’s desire to spread their market and to reward those NFL fans who ARE in other countries, but I wasn’t the biggest fan of the atmosphere. Besides the rain and crappy field, the fans weren’t the typical, rowdy American football fan. All you had to do was watch the extra point and instead of fans standing up and cheering so the kicker sees them going nuts behind the goal post, you had a group of a very nice, very proper Brits sitting there awaiting the result of the kick. Very proper, indeed!

I just wanted to share those random observations and thoughts with you. Have a good one!

Alright, that’s enough. Last week California was on fire. This week there is an earthquake rocking the state. For my friends and colleagues in California - get the hell out! NOW!!!

I don’t know what you did to anger God or Mother Earth or L. Ron Hubbard or whoever you guys believe in, but that deity is pissed! It’s time, my friends. Pack up your crap (those of you who are lucky enough to have anything left after last week) and get your asses over to Montana. There isn’t a damn thing going on in Montana. Leave California alone with the fires and earthquakes and everything else and go away!

NOW!