GettingUnplugged

6 ways to get unplugged from the days stress and grind

2010-09-05T16:45:00.001-04:00

Have you noticed how our lives have gotten more stressful? We tend to add to our stress each day with more to do or getting more done in less time. Our jobs demand it, our family’s demand it and we don’t consider what it is doing to us or our bodies. Stress affects our bodies that the medical community doesn’t quite understand. It is blamed for so many ailments without any way to medically cure it. Here are some ways to reduce it.

1. Meditate. Meditation can take several forms; you don’t have to formal about it or do it for very long. Just sit in solitude. Any thoughts that come in let them go by and get back to solitude, focus on your breathing. When focusing on your breathing, notice how the air fills your lungs and then when it leaves your lungs. You won’t be thinking or stressing out. You are getting unplugged from the daily stress.
2. Reading. Instead of turning on the TV or the computer that keeps you plugged into the daily stresses of the world, open a book and don’t forget to turn off your cell. Better yet turn on your ebook reader and save some trees. Ebook readers are far better than books in a few ways. Most ebooks are cheaper than books; you can download and start reading in a few minutes. You don’t have to travel to the book store or have one ordered and sent burning fossil fuels to get something to read.
3. Hiking. Hiking or walking is a great way to unplug and is one of my favorites. Being outside around nature can be a wonderful way to reconnect to ourselves. This can be just a day hike or even an overnight backpacking. Notice all the trees, flowers, birds and any other animals that might be around. A park is a great place to just be outside if there is one close by. You soon forget what was so stressful. It clears your head so you can think better and make better decisions.
4. Writing. There are a couple of different ways you can write to get unplugged. Doing a journal of the day’s events is one or a journal of the days events and your thoughts and feelings about the days events. Just taking the time to write it down is therapeutic and can be stress reducing.
5. Yoga. Yoga or any exercise is not only a way to deal with the day but helps with getting healthier. This can be done for 15 minutes and still get all the benefits. This can be said for walking or hiking.
6. Massage. Can I say more, than the incredibly obvious. If you don’t feel comfortable with a full massage, just do a chair massage, it will cost less and you will be able to relax without taking off your clothes.

We don’t have to do each one every day but doing one each day will benefit us. Any way to get unplugged from the daily stress is a good thing. Let me know your way of getting unplugged.

A look at getting unplugged from everyday stuff

2010-08-22T15:13:00.001-04:00

Inspired by Be More with Less and Live Bold and Beautiful, I was wondering how much I can get unplugged from everyday things. On Be More with Less blog Courtney asked if you packed a suit case to leave and never come back what would you take, was a hard but fun way for me to really look at what I would leave behind and what I wouldn’t. There wasn’t much that I would take with me if I did this. Other than clothes and my car (which wouldn’t fit in my suitcase, the car, not my clothes) I listed my laptop with external hard drives, my Nikon camera, my kindle, my crystals, a Lee Bogle painting Stirrings of the Heart, IPhone and my hiking gear. I would include my son and grandson with this but I didn’t want to put them in my suit case so they will have to be in my car instead. I focused on what I loved and not what would be a necessity. This to me is amazing that I have so much that I don’t love. This makes me wonder why I have them. In Live Bold and Beautiful Barrie suggested that we go through our house and look at what we have and examine why we have it. If it isn’t something you love then why have it. Does it feed your ego or make you feel better about yourself? Then there isn’t a reason to have it, she also went into buying mindlessly and listed what she thought buying mindlessly meant. All to simplify our lives.

Both were very good in making me think about minimalizing what I have and simplifying my life and getting unplugged to mindless buying. Because of this I didn’t buy piece of work out equipment that I would use for a month or two and let it sit collecting dust until I decided to get rid of it for much less than I bought it for. If I would have done this years ago I would be better off financially, would have a smaller place to live in which would save money and energy. I am all for that. I have been after my mom to declutter and go through all of her stuff and I think I have finally gotten through to her. She has donated quite a bit of stuff after a garage sale. So she has made some money and allowed a nice tax deduction for next years tax filings.

Now the hard part comes, allowing myself to get rid of the rest of my stuff that didn’t fit in my suite case. I will donate clothes that I no longer wear and will sell what I can and the rest will get recycled or thrown away if it isn’t donatable. For me this is all about getting unplugged. There is more to do but it doesn’t have to happen over night. Remember it is a process, some things will take time to let go of what ever attachment we have put on them. Let me know how you are doing with Getting Unplugged from everyday stuff.

Why aren’t we able to grow Industrial Hemp?

2010-08-18T18:53:00.002-04:00

I am talking industrial hemp and not recreational hemp. Even though there is medical benefits of it, but that would be for another time. Industrial hemp is long been used for so many things. The government agencies that enforce the laws concerning hemp refuses to recognize that it isn’t marijuana. Until then the federal government will trample once again on states rights. North Dakota has made it legal to grow hemp but farmers are not allowed because of the federal government.

Hemp can be used for clothing, food, crude oil substitute, pharmaceutical, paper, building materials (hemcrete or hempcrete) and so many other type of products. Hemp seeds are one of two most nutritious foods know to us. It is fast growing, virtually organic; it doesn’t need herbicide since it is its own weed control and very little pesticides. It improves soil with its deep root system and it releases nitrogen back into the soil. It produces more oxygen than carbon dioxide it would produce if burned. Quick growing and renewable makes it eco friendly. 1 acre of hemp produces more pulp than 4 acres of trees; we could save so many trees from being cut for the sole purpose of making paper. So why are we not using hemp more? Why is the government keeping it on the illegal list? In WWII it was advertised to be patriotic and what is best for the country to help win the war was to grow hemp. Thanks to President Nixon it is on the illegal to grow list and the agency’s that profit from destroying this ditch weed instead of marijuana doesn’t want to give up all the funding and confiscated property. There are more cops and more high tech equipment that they now have to perpetuate this unconstitutional law. I find it incomprehensible that this is allowed to even exist; we are not talking about a narcotic. In fact there is no way that hemp seed or hemp oil plants could get you high. The THC is low and CBD is high which blocks the THC effect. In other words you could smoke it all day long and not even get any effect from it.

Hemp is one of the strongest natural fiber and it was used to clean up the soil around Chernobyl by sucking up radioactive toxins from the soil. How many places in the United States that we could use this to clean up toxic soil?

Thomas Jefferson once wrote “Hemp is of first necessity to the wealth and protection of the country“
U.S. president George Washington once wrote, “Make the most of the Indian Hemp Seed and sow it everywhere!“
What do you think, should the United States repeal this law keeping us from growing industrial hemp?

Fuel Cells powering our future?

2010-08-11T19:14:00.002-04:00

I was talking the other day about “Getting Unplugged” using alternative energy and electric cars with a friend of mine and we got on the topic of Fuel Cells and its use in our vehicles. I thought I knew a lot about how Fuel Cells worked until he said that there are Fuel Cells that actually use water as the fuel. Separating out the hydrogen and oxygen, then use it to burn in an ICE (internal combustion engine) that would only have water as its only emission. He went on to say that if you recapture that water and fed it back to the Fuel Cell you wouldn’t have to fill up as often.

I found that fascinating and decided to research this and make it my next article. I didn’t think he was right and figured he was talking about a different method of separating water and not a Fuel Cell. So far I was right. The Fuel Cell was first discovered by a German scientist Christian Friedrich Schonbien and demonstrated in 1839 by a Welsh scientist William Robert Grove. Fuel Cells use hydrogen fed through the anode and oxygen fed through the cathode which produces about .6V to .7V during the electrochemical process. Unlike batteries that actually store energy and are considered a closed system and lose its charge the longer you use them. Fuel Cells will keep on going as long as fuel is supplied. We should be used to that.

Honda and Toyota put their vehicles out in 2002, with Honda’s FCX that started to sell in the United States in 2008. The problem with hydrogen fuel cells vehicles is a readily available hydrogen fueling stations that are open to the public. There are only a few in California and the infrastructure needs to be more in place before this is widely available and accepted. This seems to be the theme with zero emission vehicles. There could eventually be home fuel stations available that would make it more convenient for us.

We have heard of a Fuel Cell powering our laptops for a few years now and even though it hasn’t caught on very much there is a methanol cartridge that does supply the laptop with power. They are disposable Fuel Cell cartridge that uses methanol and gives a longer lasting charge.

I will leave this with a question, will eventually Fuel Cells power our homes? It could anything is possible.

Electric Vehicles paving the way to the future of driving.

2010-08-08T09:57:00.003-04:00

I am a fan of electric vehicles EV’s, they are simple, clean and efficient, more efficient than an internal combustion engine ICE. Simple because it is just a battery and an electric motor, of course there are other components that are in an EV but it isn’t near the amount of its counter part. Clean because it does not emit any emissions directly. Indirectly there is still emissions from the grid and not if using solar or wind to do the charging. If we had more EV’s on the road we would be able to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and maybe help break our addiction to it. The cost per mile is very nice 2¢ vs 15¢. With the tax incentive of $7500 helps with the TCO and helps people get into one. The prices are coming down for EV’s, where they were 6 figures, are now closer to $40k to $50k and some below that.

Service is another plus for EV’s over ICE’s. With ICE’s you need to come in for an oil change every 3k miles, which is over a gallon of oil to replace. Another way of getting unplugged from oil is to get an EV.

The problem with EV’s, for me, is range. 50 to 100 miles is the average, not very far for my taste and granted that it fits within most driving distances for most peoples everyday commute. Since I travel often outside of this range, it isn’t very practical. The other is charging time; most are over night for 110v and 4 to 5 hours for 220v. The exception is the Chinese BYD E6 FE that can give you 50% charge in 10 minutes. This limits me to using an internal combustion on a road trip. Unless you are in a Volt or Velozzi you won’t get very far fast, especially since there isn’t an infrastructure for charging stations outside of California and not that many in California. Unless you like spending 4 to 5 hours at the charging station to go another 50 to 100 miles it isn’t very practical other than as a commuter.

The other concern I have is battery life and replacement. How long will the batteries last before we have to replace them and what will that cost. I have yet to find an answer for that even for the hybrids out there. I am afraid it will be a wait and see answer, when we have enough EV’s out there and time to see how long they will last and feedback from when they get replaced.

None of these concerns or problems deters me from being a fan. In time all will be addressed and adjusted to fit an ever changing lifestyle that we seem to have. As technology advances so will the EV’s, batteries will get better and so will how we charge them. Studies show that the public is accepting EV’s more than they used to, which is showing the trend toward changing our ways of car travel. Will we see EV’s in Nascar or on the Brickyard? Time will tell.

Below are a few of the up and coming models that show some promise of coming out soon and is in no particular order and is in no way a complete or in-depth list. The ones I didn’t list of the major car makers is Toyota and Honda that are working on EV’s but are not ready yet and are embracing somewhat of the Nickel Metal Hydride battery instead of the Lithium Ion.

Tesla

Price: $101,500 for the Roadster, $49,000 for the Model S

Battery: Lithium Ion 6831 Ion cells, storing 56kwh of energy

Range: 245 miles for the Roadster, 300 miles for the Model S

Charge time: 4 hours from empty, charger built into the car which can plug in anywhere 110v or 220v.

Availability: Both models available now.

Coda

Price: Comparably priced to other mid-sized sedans of its class

Battery: Lithium Ion Phospate, 728 Ion cells, storing 33.8kwh of energy

Range: 90 to 120 miles

Charge time: 6 hours on 220v, has 110v backup charger

Availability: Preorders Summer 2010, delivery late 2010 in California only.

Nissan Leaf

Price: $25280

Battery: Lithium Ion, 48 modules having 4 Ion cells each storing 24.7kwh of energy

Range: 100 miles

Charge time: 8 hours on 220v, 20 hours on 110v and 30 minutes to 80% for 480v quick charge station. House charging station available.

Availability: Available now, have to reserve though.

BYD E6 FE

Price: No set price yet.

Battery: FE battery, 12v highly safe

Range: 186 miles

Charge time: Couldn’t find a charge time but dc380v/100a charging system. They do say that you can have 80% charge in 10 minutes.

Availability: No set date yet.

Focus Electric

Price: Not available

Battery: Lithium Ion

Range: 100 miles

Charge time: Not available

Availability: 2011 Fords Website isn’t forth coming with a lot of information yet