Mr T's rants and ravings

Iowa settled nothing. In fact I think things are less settled than ever. This is a good thing. I hope things are still unsettled after New Hampshire too. I think that the things get interesting if they are still up in the air longer. Though in the end I think New Hampshire generally does a very good job of picking the right candidates. That is because we do take it so seriously here. In my ideal world the conventions would start without a winner already determined. Now that would be fun. Unlikely but fun.

The results in Iowa make New Hampshire more important in many ways. For Clinton she really needs to beat Obama here. If not she has to come a close second. If Edwards wins (unlikely but who knows) or comes in a strong second (no matter who is first) he moves on with an air that he could win it all. Second for Obama is fine although if he comes in first it will be difficult to beat him later. Third for Obama (unlikely I think) would really confuse things. Likely finish? Obama and Clinton to close to call with Edwards third. Although I was very tempted to change my registration so I could vote for Edwards. I read Obama on guns last night and I’m not sure I could vote for him now. A final straw not just because of that.

On the Republican side Romney really needs a big win. While he was not that popular in Massachusetts NH is a more conservative state. If he can’t win here where can he win? Huckabee needs to show that Iowa was not a fluke. There are not as many evangelical Christians here to boost him though so he has an uphill fight. It is probably enough for him to be in the top three to continue into the next round. He will have to win somewhere else though and soon.

McCain just might win in NH. If he does that gives him a huge push going forward. Rudy really needs to do well in NH. Top three at least. I think he is betting on catching up in the next round but he has to have some success in NH or he will lose credibility.

Giuliani does not seen to do well outside large cities. And of course we don’t have any large cities. My Dad likes him and he lived in NYC while Giuliani was mayor. My Dad is very clued in with how things work in NYC so that means a lot to me. Giuliani is off on a number of issues I think are important but as a manager he’s got proved skills. In any case if he doesn’t do well in NH he has to prove himself in Nevada or South Carolina. Things get risky for him if he doesn’t win in the first four events.

My prediction for NH is McCain first, Romney second and Huckabee a surprise at third. Giulani will be playing catchup and Huckabee with see an increase in attach adds against him. I think the attach ads against McCain are going to hurt Romney more than McCain BTW.

This is ironic. That’s a lot of security holes to patch at one time. But I understand how hard getting security right in an OS. So I feel sort of bad. At the same time I’m glad I didn’t buy the hype they keep trying to sell me.

So I’ve been looking for ways to save money and energy. One of the most obvious things to do about the house is to replace conventional bulbs with lower power bulbs. For the longest time I have been replacing conventional bulbs with compact florescent bulbs. There are two problems with this.

One is that they just don’t work very well in a fixture with a rheostat such as our ceiling fan. There are some bulbs that claim to work with them but the ones I have seen are too low in lighting power. I’ll keep looking though. Those are the big power eaters in our house.

The second problem is that they don’t work well outside in winter.  They take a while to warm up and the light you get is not so hot (minor pun) until they do warm up. So I can’t use them every where.

A seasonal expense has long been lights on Christmas trees. Put several strings of 9 watt bulbs on a tree and you quickly get up to some serious wattage. Even the little bulbs require a lot of power. Ah but this year I think I have the answer – LED Christmas lights. Yes, both Wal-Mart and Home Depot (probably other places as well) are selling LED Christmas lights for both indoor and outdoor use. I figure I am using about 1200 fewer watts of lights this year. A savings on between 80-90%. And best of all I really like the way the lights look so I am not giving up anything.

The LED and compact florescent bulbs cost more to buy but they should last long enough that between using less power and lasting longer they should save money in the long run. If enough people buy them maybe the costs will come down as well.

What I really want to look into next is alternate energy. Perhaps solar to power the light bulbs? It could work couldn’t it?

So the family went to Vermont for Thanksgiving. Mostly it went ok but there were a couple of issues with the hotel. On the counter was a sign saying the hotel was under boil water order. In short the water was ok for washing but not for drinking. Not a happy thought. They did supply bottled water for drinking and brushing of teeth.

Also the restaurant was only open for breakfast most days. It was open for Thanksgiving dinner and it was good but we had planned on eating at the hotel more than that. And did I mention that there hotel is being renovated? People moving heavy equipment and pounding on the roof (it is being re-roofed)  in the early hours of the day. Not fun when you are planning on sleeping in late.

On the plus side wi-fi was free and strong. And it was close to Killington – we made it out to snowboard two days.

Well Mrs. T was a little displeased with the hotel. The staff was nice and we’d probably stay there again once the renovation is done and the water is cleaned up. but still. So as soon as we got home she called Expedia and complained. The first person she talked to was less than helpful and then she was disconnected while waiting for a supervisor – amazing how often that happens. Not one to give up she called again and this time got someone who really wanted us to be happy customers. They were able to get us 25% off what we paid and a credit for future use of Expedia.

Frankly that was good customer service and because of that we are likely to use Expedia again. I wish more companies were that willing to make things right.

I admit that I feel the price of gas for the car at the gas pump. I’ve gone to using a credit card over paying cash which I am not really happy about. But it was taking too much cash and I’d be making trips to the ATM all the time otherwise. But that isn’t where I feel it the most.

I just ordered a delivery of heating oil. I last ordered oil back in the spring sometimes. That last spring fill up lasts me for months. But the cold weather is here and I’ll be ordering oil about once every 4-6 weeks (depending on the weather) for a while now. As painful as filling up the car is that is nothing compared to getting 250-275 gallons at a time. It wasn’t that long ago when I was paying about 90 cents a gallon. The oil coming tomorrow is $2.899 a gallon. Do the math – I did once and don’t want to do it again.

I’ll be writing out a big check tomorrow (I save money by paying cash) and that will continue through the winter. How do people who lousy jobs do it? Scary really.

During the gas crunch of the 70s when the price went up over a dollar (which was big money back then) for a while we did some things to make the house more energy efficient. This past spring we finely replaced the last of the old windows and they all have double panes. I’m not sure there is much more we can do to keep the heat in. I think it is time I started looking at alternative energy for heating. Wind? I’m not sure we have enough wind even with a really big tower. Wood stoves are our because of allergies and breathing problems they would make worse – we know this from experience. Solar panels? Perhaps as we have a south facing roof. Maybe I need to look into that one. Things are getting easier to justify on costs.

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So I thought I would see if this works now that the blog software and Windows Live Writer have both been upgraded recently.