For most of 2009 we kept a list of everything new we purchased. We called this the Red List because we happened to have a red pen that we used to record everything.

Rescue a beloved object.   Our son's favorite shirt had a very short life on account of it being a white shirt and his being 6 years old. He didn’t want to give it up. Mom found a second hand shirt, cut out the graphic and sewed it onto the front of the new used shirt and presto! A new improved, larger, not-worn-out shirt.

Recently, Barbara picked up a new clock for my nightstand.  It wasn't new-from-the-store, but it was new to me, and looks the same as any new-from-the-store clock would look one month after you took it out of its package.  The clock it replaced was purchased used and then donated to a charity.

January 13th, 2010

6:30 AM  Furnace comes on

6:45 Greg gets up for his shower, Barbara lingers in bed

7:15  I get up and raises the thermal curtains.  Then I call Byron for school.

Dear Mr. Scharfman,

Thank you for sending me the planning survey on Universal Paragon Corporation's plans to develop the Brisbane Baylands.  I was unable to complete the survey the first time it was sent out, and I am glad to have a second opportunity to participate.

I have a few comments on some specific items in the survey that were impossible to answer in the format provided.  I'd like to start with what I view is the most important question on the survey.

Greg really wanted our son to have a lawn to on play in the summer.  When we bring out the sprinkler in the summer for some relief on the hottest days, our back yard just turned into a mud bowl so he finally got me to agree on putting in grass.

We went back and forth and back and forth reading all the articles we could find about weather its better to have a synthetic lawn or a natural lawn.  Most of the articles concluded with, "Well, it depends. . ." but none dared to offer even a faulty set of standards to help us make a decision.

Next to food, climate control is usually the next largest area of energy consumption.  This includes heating and air conditioning.  These are the things that keep us comfortable in our homes, workplaces, shopping mall, gym etc.

I don't know what I want for Christmas this year, but I'm starting my 2010 list early.  A few weeks ago I went and saw the Nissan Leaf at Nissan's "Zero Emissions Tour" in San Jose, and I must say I'm pretty excited about it.  It's been a long wait for an all-electric commuter car that can do more than my 80-mile round-trip jaunt to work without the price tag of a Tesla Roadster.  The Nissan Leaf, with an advertised range of 100 miles  for a price somewhere a

According to conventional wisdom, tracking the sun with solar panels took more energy than was gained by optimizing the angle to the sun -- or so I thought.  Meca Solar is selling solar trackers that they claim offer a 35% increase in yield over fixed installations.

Neat!

     - Greg