Look So Easy

Such a simple thing with such far reaching consequences. Your hardly think about it. You grab a soda out of the fridge for a refreshing cold drink or you order it with your meal. It just about comes with every fast food combo out there, even comes with the hot dog from Costco. “The average American today drinks over 600 servings of pop a year“.

I must be way below that average but it’s still a frightening statistic, particularly after listening to a podcast by Katy Lee interviewing a health educator, Grace Soeter. The impact of all that sugar and caffeine can be devastating on our health. We hardly give it a thought when our kids drink lots of soda. Healthy eating habits start early and we need to be aware of our part in establishing a good environment for making good choices when it comes to food.

When I started look for more stats on drinking soda from the web, I came across a few resources. There is an educational site that gives some quick answers to questions about sugar and caffeine content, effects on weight and tooth decay. You can find charts on the acid and sugar content of common sodas and drinks including orange juice and gatorade. The site also discusses ways to minimize the damaging effect on your teeth. You can even find a chart on caffeine content of common beverages and ways caffeine withdrawal can affect you.

But all this great information is of no use unless we are convinced enough to make life-changes in our daily habits. When I was young man working in a restaurant kitchen, the soda was flowed freely from the tap and I was constantly sipping throughout the day. When you are in good health we shrug off a lot of these concerns, not realizing that potential dangers are forming within our own bodies.

For a long time, I really didn’t think it would be such a grave issue. I would order soda when I eat out and have it at home after a hot afternoon at some physical labor. But, today we only keep soda in the house for guests and I have already cut down quite a bit. Old habits do die hard, but when there are so many benefits to cutting down on soda - it’s time to just do. Come on, it Looks-So-Easy.

Getting hot water looks so easy. Turn the faucet, on and out it comes - we take it for granted. What happens when it stops working.

You want your hot water and you want it now. Don’t you hate taking a shower in the morning and end up constantly adjusting the hot water valve. Or, you get stuck at the end of the queue … everyone takes a shower before you and you’re out in the cold - literally. A good water heater is a trouble-free water heater.

Water heaters should last about 10 years, but if you don’t maintain them that can be cut short. Did you know you should drain your water heater every year. Have you ever done it? If you’re like me, it never happens and you just hope for the best. Guess what! If you haven’t done it regularly, it may not be a good idea to start now. If that drain valve is not used often, it could get stuck. Rust and sediment can gets jammed there and if you open that valve, you now have a leaky valve.

It’s obvious you need a new water heater if there is no hot water or it starts to leak, but you may not want to wait for that to happen. If the recovery rate slows down, like it takes a long time to heat water, or it gets noisy when operating, tt may be time to start planning. When it does break down, you don’t want to be frantic to get a new one immediately. At that point, you may not be so rational about cost and selection when the family is anxious to take a shower. Before rushing out to replace it with a similar model, take a look at the tankless water heaters.

That’s right. No tank of hot water to keep hot. You get instantaneous hot water on demand and the system will never run out of hot water as long as they stay within the range of the heater purchased. I’ve seen them in operation in the Asia over a decade ago and I hear they use them in Europe.

So what are the benefits of a tankless water heater, besides the endless supply of instant water. You save money by cutting energy costs. The U.S. Department of Energy says replacing a standard electric storage tank water heater with a tankless one can save consumers up to 34 percent of their bill; you can see an energy savings of 27-50 percent if you install a tankless water heater at each hot water outlet. A tankless system will typically last 20 years, double the life of a standard system. And if you upgrade, you may be eligible for a tax credit of $300, through the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

There you go. Good for consumer … good for the environment and save lots of money. Sizes vary to fit your needs and can be powered by natural gas, liquid propane or electricity. Dump that old water heater tank and you also gain some space. The tankless ones can be installed in places from tiny bedroom closets to outdoor installations.

The next time your hot water tank show signs it’s nearing the end, consider going tankless. Getting hot water when you want it will then look so easy.

Look so easy to start a blog, right? Just register a domain name, find a host, and start blogging. Well, on my very first attempt, my chosen domain name was stolen right from under me. Things are not always so clean and transparent when you get on the net.

After contemplating possibilities of interest, I narrowed my chosen domain name to www.WantItEasy.com. Next, I checked name availability on GoDaddy.com, where I have registered other websites. It was available. Then I chose to host it on DreamHost.com instead because of a discount from my son, Elliot. They offered both services. Great, I signed up for both domain name registration and web-site hosting. DreamHost acknowledged receipt (confirmation of order/payment) on Wednesday, August 22, 2007. Checked on the 23rd … no name yet, account was “pending approval”.

On Monday, August 27th at 4:51pm, Dreamhost.com sends me e-mail approval of my new domain, saying it would be activated within 30 minutes and gave instructions on using the new website. Did it work — NO! I checked and found that www.WantItEasy.com, was now registered by DomainDoorMan, LLC. as of Sunday, August 26th. That’s Right! The day before I get final approval from DreamHost, it was stolen by someone out prowling on the NET.

How did these “Wolves” find out? Was it at someone at GoDaddy or DreamHost, or did they intercept online traffic? Was there some report generated on domain names searches that alerts these predators? Kinda scary, isn’t it. Definitely not fair.

When I complained to DreamHost, they said:

Unfortunately it looks like someone else registered the domain name. This
is entirely possible until a domain is registered through someone else.
We had not registered it for you as your account was not yet approved.

You can add a new domain to your account (for no charge) through the
control panel here:

https://panel.dreamhost.com/?tree=domain.registration

Please don’t hesitate to write back if you need help with anything else.

Thanks!
Mike S

When I called them to ask about the delay in approval of my account and registration of my domain name, the service rep told me they had suffered a power outage. Not very satisfying responses.

So today, I checked out my old chosen domain name, www.WantItEasy.com. Guess what, it’s still available. Some “Wolf”, grabbed it because it was “pending approval” under my registration. When nobody approached them to buy this domain name back, they lost interest and dropped it. Wonder if they ever paid for a month of name registration - is that even possible? Watch out… there are such things as tech “Wolves” they are on the prowl for easy prey.