Top ten energy post from R-Squared

An excellent post from R-Squared about the Top Ten Energy Stories of 2008. The list at-a-glance:

1. Unprecedented volatility in the energy markets
2. Oil price volatility fallout
3. Barack Obama elected
4. Ethanol producers struggle
5. Somali pirates hijack supertanker
6. 2nd generation ethanol is delayed
7. Peak oil becomes fashionable, then unfashionable again
8. Gas stations in the southeast run out of gasoline in the wake of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike
9. "Drill here, drill now"
10. Record profits by US energy companies

Microfiber towels

In order to decrease the use of paper towels in the kitchen I've finally purchase a set of 3M branded microfiber towels. I hope these replacement towels will last a looooong time. Like paper napkins, I find paper towels an evil, yet necessary waste. In addition, we use Mrs. Meyers All-Purpose Cleaners to wipe the kitchen counter area and dining room table. As an added bonus, Mrs. Meyers product are biodegradable and phosphate-free!

Nice Coldplay photo...

A photo from the recent Coldplay concert that I attended...BUT it was not a photo that I took. The image is from a friend's daughter who was also at the concert. The photo is of the band when they wandered to the our end of the arena and played The Scientist and Death Will Never Conquer (according to my son). We were one section above the band while this image, as you can see, is just a few rows away from the band! Thanks Stan!

How long will they last?

Now that we have an ample supply of cloth napkins I want to know how long will our bag of paper napkins last. These napkins were purchased about 2 weeks ago and it is still more than 90% full. Any ideas out there?

Reusable napkins...

Theresa has been making cloth napkins from leftover fabric. I like these napkins because they prevent use from using paper napkins, which we go thru quite quickly. The cloth napkins are great because they are reusable and we simply wash them with the laundry as they really do not add that much.

Another item that I have been thinking about getting rid of (really decrease its use as much as possible) are paper towels. I want to know if you have had any experience with products such Shamwow (read they are a ripoff) as a kitchen counter towel...or some other product that I can use/reuse and wash. I currently use a combination of paper towels and sponge...

Bye, Bye ITMS??

This past week I have decided to no longer purchase music from Apple's iTunes Music Store because of its insane DRM license to satisfy RIAA. I love iTunes to manage my music and to browse music but to purchase DRM music is just painful. I know that ITMS has some DRM-free music but I just do not have time and do not want to figure out which song is DRM'd and which is DRM-free.

Although I have an iPod and can move purchased music there, I wanted to move MY music to my Blackberry so that I do not have to carry 2 devices. Well, it took me over an hour to create a playlist, burn the CD, rip the CD, get song titles and finally move music to Blackberry. Ouch! that did it! I'm done.

To be honest its been quite a while since I've purchased music from ITMS and have instead been buying music from Amazon because it is DRM-free and I can move the music to my Blackberry or iPod without the burn/rip thingees. I like Amazon's digital music service because it's easy to use and they have REAL deals and free music is always free, not just for one week like ITMS.

What do you think? Am I nuts?