Damn ice dams

Minnesnowta has an epidemic of ice dams. Ice dams form on the roof of a building as the snow melts and then runs down to a colder overhang. The ice builds up in the gutters and then as the melt flows to the dam, it pools and freezes behind, and so on and so on. My dams are about a foot high in places, and there are icicles that could pierce your chest.

Principle among causes are a poorly insulated attic. My house is a common "story and a half" that doesn't have much insulation at all. I postponed replacing insulation because I thought it might take a while to recoup my expenses in energy bills. Now I realize that it must be done to save the roof and the interior walls. I had water dripping in behind a front window.

So, damn ice dams...

What: dam of ice along the edge of roof, usually beginning in a gutter

Remedy:
- You can have them steamed off for about $300-800.

- Many people this year are trying out "salt bombs" - eco-friendly (non-corrosive) salt melt in nylon stockings laid over the dam to melt a channel for future run off.

- Remove loose snow.

Prevention:
- Properly insulate the attic and allow ample air flow.

- Rake the snow from the roof after a snowfall.

- Install heat coils along roof edge.

- Live in a warm climate.

Resources:
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/umnext/news/2010/12/snow-ice-cause-concerns-about-farm-buildings.php

http://www.ehow.com/how_4914834_fix-roof-ice-dam.html

There is no shortage of crooks

Basically I believe that the world is full of good people, and that we good people (if I may be so bold as to include myself in the category) far outnumber the bad people. However, just like a little arsenic goes a long way, bad people have a way of dominating a person's history and time.

I work with very generous people -- benefactors to the institution where I work. People who have no responsibility to donate a thing, but who often donate everything they own to a worthy cause. I was speaking to one such person today, we'll call her Olive, and she has had a run of crooks. It's like they line up at her door. I worry about Olive - she is 80 years old and lives alone. She has had large sums of money funneled away from her from irresponsible sales people representing various mutual funds or other investment opportunities. She even had an actual sociopath in her life.

I diagnosed the sociopath myself. You see, I am now an expert after having read The Sociopath Next Door earlier this year. Seriously, it's not paranoia to say that they are friggin everywhere. The author, Martha Stout, believes that 4% of our population is a sociopath -- I think the number is growing (but we'll talk about that later). Anyway, luckily Olive had a young attorney who smelled a rat and suggested a pre-nup for her and Rat Man, and Rat Man refused to sign it. The attorney also created a trust to protect Olive's assets so that no one else could steal from her. I am happy to report that they did not marry and Rat Man eventually moved on to another victim, God bless her.

And Olive is no dummy. It's just that she has so few people in her life to run things by. You see, there are lots of older folks in our society who have NO ONE. I have had more than a few say to me, "You get to a point in your life where you've outlived everyone else." A project of mine for 2011 is to help Olive find a good attorney and accountant in her community whom she can trust. There are too many complex decisions to be made without solid advice. And although the good people outnumber the bad -- it only takes one to steal everything she has.

Aha moment of the day: Olive said to me, "Never trust anybody." I struggle with trust, but life is a whole lot happier when we have close loved ones. How about instead of Olive's maxim we adopt, Understand that people will disappoint us, but only give decent people the opportunity.

Thumbs

I heard on the radio today that a person can now purchase gloves that are texting-friendly! I think it's always interesting when we reach that tipping point (thank you Malcolm Gladwell!) where something becomes mainstream. See for yourself:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d.html?a=B0031AVBNG

Old Friends and Glitter

So, this morning I asked my cousin what her kids would like for Christmas. Turns out they love ... books! How great is that? And moreover, they enjoy re-reading books! I cannot remember the last book that I read twice. My brother will. An old friend of mine did -- she compared it to walking the same trail more than once and asked, Don't you enjoy it just as much or MORE?

I listen to CDs more than once.
I revisit restaurants.
I've seen every episode of Seinfeld a dozen times.
...I only read books once

So, even though there are so many books left to read, I will select a previously read volume for my next book. I will let you know how it goes.


And, BTW, we are having the sort of snow today where it just looks like diamond dust in the air. It's sort of non-directional and totally sparkly. Just billions of flashes of silver under a bright sky. I love it!

Meditation in the World of iTunes

I've mentioned my Attention and Interpretation Therapy course before. I am working on bringing the concepts deeper into my daily life. Today my focus was on meditation.

I have known in some recess of my mind that iTunes is a treasure trove of resources and information, and today it exceeded my expectations again. There are many free podcasts of excellent quality on ANY topic. Some of the most notable names in education in Western society have channels there -- Oxford, Harvard, or Stanford ring any bells?? -- and also many lesser known scholars and teachers with important knowledge to share.

Today I found my way to two resources I will be accessing for a while. There were several examples, but I settled on a series called "Learn to Meditate" from the Meditation Society of Australia. There are currently 43 classes of varying lengths available for free. In the first class I learned some practical tips for approaching daily meditation, and also a useful candle meditation. The class was 18 minutes long, and during the candle meditation - which promises to open the doors of heaven to a degree that matches your level of intensity on the candle flame - I actually felt the presence of my spiritual guides, including my grandparents Melva and Eddie Parks. I think Sue Daniels was there, too. I felt a slight dark presence, also, but had a strong barrier by the light guides. In watching the candle, we breathe in peace and love, and exhale their opposites. The dark presence I felt was likely those shadow qualities that we all struggle with. I am working overtime to purge them from my heart and mind that I might live my right life.

After that meditation I continued to look at a few other resources and stumbled about a set of music mixes designed for running. They are courtesy of http://www.fitmusic.com/ and are 20-60 minutes long each. You can download the mixes for free and play them as podcasts right from the iPod. Amazing.

We are living at an amazing time overall in human history. With all of the change and opportunity I hope that we can collectively tap into the beneficial potential. How can we not perceive the end of all suffering within our grasp with the power of the technology available to average people? Even if all of us with abundance only gave 1-2% of our time, intellect, and resources to others, we would change the world. Join me in stamping out unnecessary pain, anger, hunger, poverty, doubt, fear, war -- if only by curing the demons within ourselves.

Twelve Days of Minnesota Christmas

12 snow plows plowing
11 geese a fleeing
10(,000) lakes a freezing
9 flights delaying
8 spots of frost bite
7 scarves a missing
6 pair of mittens
5 feet of snow!
4 Tom and Jerry's
3 extra hours of nighttime
2 frozen dogs
And 1 really effin long winter

Why school buses are yellow

The professor of my current graduate course in Attention and Interpretation Therapies shared that instead of sitting behind a school bus cursing that it is holding up your morning commute, you could choose instead to bless the little children getting on the bus or wonder about why buses are yellow. Turns out, buses are yellow because yellow is the easiest color to see in low-light conditions. Moreover, the particular yellow-orange of school buses provides that best view of black lettering in low light conditions.

The color was chosen in 1939 as a standard during a conference on school bus standards. The color is now a federal law.


References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_bus_yellow
http://www.colormatters.com/kids/yellow.html