After receiving my last National Grid bill, I just have to brag, ahem, I mean share how much we are saving on our heat and electric. (The above average temps have helped too.)
"This past month we used 375 kWh and 76 therms, down from 105 therms and 562 kWh last year (also after the energy efficiency upgrades).
Dec 09: 122 therms
Dec 08: 153 therms
So we are at about 1/2 of our usage from 3 years ago. Not too shabby!
En-tech Associates handled all our upgrades: furnace, hot water heater, sealing, insulation (cellulose in walls and attic).
Ed note: I saw that someone had recently accessed this post, thought that it was worth reposting. Also, after having been back to school for several years, I am happy to report that SUNY-ESF still bears the hallmarks of a quality college education - good professors, students with no money, strong brother (and sister-) hood, and a great sense of community. No deluxe dorms here, well maybe not yet... we'll have to see how the new dorms look from the inside.
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Posted originally in 9/07:
As I prepare to head back to school, I've been thinking about how interesting it will be to interact with the next generation of students. Many of them will have grown up with the ability to log on to the internet and gain instant information, the ability to contact friends and family at a moments notice, and an overall different perspective on life. Not that I am that much older that they will be, but 10+ years is difference enough to grow up with a completely different set of ideas, beliefs and interests.
I came across a blog post that gives me pause, however. I wonder how many of these students will have spent a lifetime being groomed to grow up and be consumers.
This past weekend I had the occasion to visit a dorm at George Washington University. I hadn't been in a dorm in years and was shocked at how nice it was. Each room in this particular dorm had its own kitchenette and bathroom. Some rooms have their own washer and dryer.Apparently, this is the norm. When I was in college we were crammed into tiny rooms with no amenities and sharing a bathroom with 6 other girls was the norm. We shared the laundry room with the entire dorm.
Apparently, today's college students have grown up with certain standards and aren't going to lower them just because they are in college and away from the comforts of home. In fact, they expect those comforts to follow them there. When deciding where to go to college, dorms and dining halls play as much a part as do the classes and football team.
(emphasis mine)
Not that I can deny being on the cusp of some consumerist ideas when I was in college (free gift for signing up for a credit card!, etc.), but the trials and tribulations of college are what made it part of growing up into an adult. You had to share a bathroom and kitchen with others on your floor, you had to keep it reasonably clean, and you had to wait in line to do your bi-monthly load of laundry (yes - we were gross in college).
Just to make your blood boil a little more: (via LA Times)
The trend toward the four-star dorm is a convergence of several factors: a generation of students who have grown up sharing neither the bedroom nor the bathroom with siblings, parents who are accustomed to high tuition costs and don't object to paying a few hundred more per month for better accommodations, and universities competing for enrollment and using posh new residence halls as marketing tools.
Callaway Villas, in College Station next to Texas A&M, is a gated ACC complex of three-story town houses plus a 16,000-square-foot clubhouse, a resort-style pool, basketball courts, a sand volleyball court and shuffleboard. Living units have faux-hardwood floors, ceiling fans and, for those light sleepers, white-noise generators.
And take a high blood pressure pill before this one: (Washington Post)
Some have given single rooms to students not used to sharing. Others have offered maid service and microwaves. Now they're giving them a larger space on which to lay their heads. At AU, the move toward double beds came after complaints by students that the twins were too small and too childish, said Rick Treter, director of residence life. When a dorm designed with suites of larger single bedrooms was built, the double beds were the ticket.
Yeah, yeah, I know that I am a little too young to sound like Grampa, "in my day we walked 4 miles uphill to school both ways..." But I can only imagine that these amenities add to the yearly increases in tuition, and a few months on to the students loan payback time frame. It also adds to the phenomenon of "I don't care how, I want it now!" The unrealistic view that we can have something for nothing.
The Las Vegas-i-zation of the American mind is a pernicious idea in itself, but it is compounded by another mental problem, which I call the Jiminy Cricket syndrome. Jiminy Cricket was Pinocchio's little sidekick in the Walt Disney Cartoon feature. The idea is that when you wish upon a star, your dreams come true. It's a nice sentiment for children, perhaps, but not really suited to adults who have to live in a reality-based community, especially in difficult times.
The idea - that when you wish upon a star, your dreams come true - obviously comes from the immersive environment of advertising and the movies, which is to say, an immersive environment of make-believe, of pretend. Trouble is, the world-wide energy crisis is not make-believe, and we can't pretend our way through it, and those of us who are adults cannot afford to think like children, no matter how comforting it is.
Combine when you wish upon a star, your dreams come true with the belief that it is possible to get something for nothing, and the psychology of previous investment and you get a powerful recipe for mass delusional thinking. As our society comes under increasing stress, we're liable to see increased delusional thinking, as worried people retreat further into make-believe and pretend.
College is supposed to be difficult. It's supposed to be uncomfortable. It is supposed to be a community event. Yes, it's supposed to be fun too. But most of all, it has to get you ready for the real world. The real world where you might not be able to afford an apartment with a washer and dryer in it, maybe not even in the building! The real world where you might have to live on mac and cheese and peanut butter sandwiches to get your start. The real world where it's easier to collaborate with family friends and neighbors to tackle a problem, rather than on your own. Where it's better to solve disputes rather than retreating to your solitary room.
But I guess that is the "real world" that I entered out of school. The "real world" of today is more about ringing up a new flat screen TV on your charge card at 24 1/2 percent, living in an apartment that you can't afford, on a salary that barely pays your student loans, even though you've stretched them out for 20 years.
A note to anyone who still might read this. I'm still alive. You know - Just life happening.
Enjoyed a beautiful day with the family yesterday outside in the sun. Went to see some doggies at the dog park with Anna. Thinking about getting a boxer.
Had my first major speaking gig this week. I talked peak oil to a bunch of (mostly stunned) Air and Waste Management people at their annual conference. Working on a Ph.D. at SUNY-ESF... (deck chairs on the Titanic? Maybe - but I love the research, and as long as I can afford to do it...) Doing research for a non-profit based out of Switzerland. Still trying to fully recover from my ankle surgery. Trying the pool, and raking old stuck-on leaves as therapy. Gave up Facebook for lent for the second year in a row. I really only miss the ability to share my random thoughts. Otherwise, the only time I realize it's gone is when I take my cell phone out and stare at it absent-mindedly for no reason before I put it back in my pocket.
A little late to this party, but this is the music that keeps me moving lately...
Arthroscopy for OCD. No, the other kind. Laid up for a few weeks. Man I am bored with the couch. Too spaced-out from the meds to do much real thinking. Just spaced out enough to consider starting up my blog again.
I'll turn off the TV It's killing us who never speak There's a radio in the corner It's dying to make a scene So give me soft, soft static With a human voice underneath And we can both get old fashioned Put the brakes on these fast, fast wheels Oh let's get old fashioned Back to how things used to be If I get old, old fashioned Would you get old, old fashioned with me?
Put the wall clock in the top drawer Turn off the lights so we can see We will waltz across the carpet 1-2-3-2-2-3 So give me the soft, soft static Of the open fire and the shuffle of our feet We can both get old fashioned Do it like they did in '43 Oh let's get old fashioned Back to how things used to be If I get old, old fashioned Would you get old, old fashioned with me?
So give me soft, soft static We won't need no electricity If we both get old fashioned We won't have to rely on our memories Oh let's get old fashioned Back to how things used to be If I get old, old fashioned Would you get old, old fashioned with me?
I am conducting a survey for my Social Science Survey Methods class on participation in green energy programs offered through your utility. This survey is completely anonymous, and takes only a minute or two to complete.
Whether or not you participate in this type of program, I'd appreciate your help:
1) Stop investing in exploration and development now to save money when the price of oil is low. 2) Create increased shortages in oil production 3-5 years out. 3) Reap record profits as oil prices skyrocket.
Hmmm... this peak oil thing doesn't sound too bad for oil companies. (At least initially.)
When oil prices spiked last summer to $147 a barrel, the biggest corporate casualty was oil pipeline giant Semgroup Holdings, a $14 billion (sales) private firm in Tulsa, Okla. It had racked up $2.4 billion in trading losses betting that oil prices would go down, including $290 million in accounts personally managed by then chief executive Thomas Kivisto. Its short positions amounted to the equivalent of 20% of the nation's crude oil inventories. With the credit crunch eliminating any hope of meeting a $500 million margin call, Semgroup filed for bankruptcy on July 22.
But now some of the people involved in cleaning up the financial mess are suggesting that Semgroup's collapse was more than just bad judgment and worse timing. There is evidence of a malevolent hand at work: oil price manipulation by traders orchestrating a short squeeze to push up the price of West Texas Intermediate crude to the point that it would generate fatal losses in Semgroup's accounts.
[snip]
Meanwhile the futures markets had gotten wacky. On June 5, with no news catalysts, oil futures spiked $5 a barrel, the biggest one-day jump since the outbreak of the first Gulf war. The next day, on no news, the price jumped another $10 to $138. Traders say that in the days leading up to the $147 peak on July 12 there was the smell of blood in the water. "We just kept bidding the market higher," one trader says.
The level of "alleged" corruption by these "too big to fail" banks and Goldman Sachs (which seems to be a government sponsored enterprise) is staggering. Even peak-oilers have to admit the price rise was not solely due to supply/demand issues.
She's getting bigger each day. She's starting to make a lot of cooing sounds.
Today was the first day that she "found" her right hand. It immediately went in her mouth. She loves her stuffed animal friends, and her kicking-bopping gym (don't ask!)
She is such a blessing. We couldn't be happier.
School is going well. I've started work on my thesis. About ten months to go.
I'm looking forward to spring and getting outdoors. I can't wait for Anna to lounge in the green grass and check out the trees, the sky, and the great big world out there beyond our four walls.
FYI, we went with the g-diapers with the flushable inserts. So far, so good.
As the hulking monstrosity that is the Carousel Mall expansion grows from a pile of steel beams to a structure with more discernible features, this article comes out in the NY Times:
In larger shopping malls, operators have not yet had to resort to giving away their space to attract tenants, but most landlords are facing mounting challenges these days. Vacancies are up, retail sales have been disappointing, and long established chains like Mervyn’s, Linens ‘n Things, Boscov’s and the Sharper Image have filed for bankruptcy protection, raising the specter of more dark spaces with fewer potential tenants to replace them.
Some 6,500 chain stores are expected to close this year, the largest number since 2001, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers, a trade group. When stores close, neighboring stores may be entitled to exit or to have their rent lowered.
Congel has kept tight-lipped about who or what would be going into the expansion space. Which store will anchor it? How many other clothing or specialty retailers are out there? Will a majority of the space sit with plywood covers painted in murals of DestinyUSA dreams? Will Congel figure out a way to attract good restaurants, and keep them profitable?
More from the article:
The vacancy rate for regional malls is 6.3 percent, the highest since 2002. Though mall rents rose by 0.2 percent from the first quarter to the second, all retail rents are down when inflation is taken into account, Mr. Chandan said. New centers that opened in the first half of this year were just 62.8 percent occupied, on average, compared with 72.1 percent for those that opened last year, he said.
(emphasis mine)
I won't spend too long pointing out the obvious - that workers real wages are stagnant while food and energy costs are soaring. Consumer confidence in the economy is poor and keeping people at home. Even the dollar, which is strengthening, is bad news for Carousel. Canadians' reduced purchasing power and high fuel costs may keep them north of the border.
All bode poorly for the new space.
Bob Neidt of the Storefront column and blog at the Post-Standard writes on the same topic. Answering a letter from a reader, he supposes that some of the retailers in cramped spaces may want larger digs in the new expansion (Apple Store, Best Buy, etc.) But he worries about those "holes" too.
We've been so frustrated with the lack of detail about anything new possibly coming to the expansion -- I haven't been calling it "Destiny," either -- we've been dwelling on the potential vast emptiness of the expansion. Maybe focusing a little too much on that...
Will Carousel turn in to a microcosm of the Central NY area? Little to no growth but additional sprawl? Will tenants flee the central (older mall) to the new eastern burbs, like city residents fleeing to Fayetteville/Manlius? Will we see Driscoll and Congel offering redevelopment funds for the vacated core of Carousel?
Surely this is tongue in cheek. But one does have to wonder what the future of Carousel Mall holds.
As long as they get a Ruth's Chris in there, I'll shut up about it. (heh heh)
This is not investment advice, only rambling thoughts from a economic ignoramus.
I wanted to buy in to the gold rush. I kept reading it on all of the doomer websites, and from other conspiracy theorists. I just never made the call to my broker or joined an online gold purchasing site. I pictured having physical gold on hand (for emergencies).
The goldbugs got screwed over the past few weeks. The market is buying dollars again, after the Euro zone has started to contract. Some kind of intervention may or may not be taking place. Regardless, this chart gave me pause.
Looks very bubblicious to me! I am no economist (believe me, other than listening to CNBC on Sirius, and reading Mish, I have absolutely no training in economics), this is not investment advice. I do know what a "double top" in a market is, and I think that that is a picture perfect version of it.
Like the X-Files, I still want to believe. Perhaps there is a magic number on that chart that will start to look attractive to me and to other investors. I'll let you know if I hop on the gold bandwagon. I just feel bad for the few doomers out there that might have been suckered into dumping a fair bit of their life savings in gold, only to watch 21% of it evaporate since March.
Yeah, yeah, I know that I am a little too young to sound like Grampa, "in my day we walked 4 miles uphill to school both ways..." But I can only imagine that these amenities add to the yearly increases in tuition, and a few months on to the students loan payback time frame. It also adds to the phenomenon of "
