Whales!!

sorry, hit submit too quickly



but seriously....whether the Fed Res/gov't want to admit it or not, I myself believe we are in a recession.

metaphorically, "saving the sperm whales" has come to mean "save our precious __________" (resources, money, energy, blah blah blah)

before you become baffled as to what I am talking about, please let me share a little story with you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

few days ago, I sat at my puter desk, depressed to the max. I had told myself earlier that day that I was going to go out and take a walk. But I sat and I sat and I sat and just messed around on the computer until it was beginning to get dark

it had rain on and off that day and the wind was a bit on the speedy side. But still, it would still be comfortable enough to walk.

Just as I thought I'd just forget about walking. Electricity went out...not just my house but I think our part of the town...

I could still see pretty well so I got myself off of my lazy butt and I got myself out of the house and I started to walk.

We live pretty close to the river so I made that my destination.

the moon was just getting close to being full as it hung from the East and sky was beautifully tinted grey on the moon's side while in the west the golden lavender sunset was waving good bye where the river met the sky....

I think it was Venus toward the sunset side and just a little past the middle was Mars and no stars were visible yet.

In the River (this is a sound, really) Porpoises and Dolphins were frolicking and their fins were dancing...

I stood there and forgot what time and space meant and I was just in awe of the wonder of mother nature and that I was lucky to be alive to be seeing that...it really lifted my spirits....

soon, it was dark and the stars were out...as if someone crushed diamonds and tossed them into the sky...I could still tell the town was out of electricity but it was bright enough to walk in the dark...

as I walked back into town, I could see a lot of candle lights...and through a lot of the windows I could see families gathered together...I could even hear laughters here and there and it helped made me smile...

somehow, my conversation with our friend, Mike, a year ago came to my mind. He had mentioned something about how we waste 80% to 90% of the electricity during the grid transfer before it even reaches our home.

That means that if we were to use, let's say, Nuclear power energy. 80% to 90% of that would be lost and we're actually only using 10-20% of the electricity that's being transferred...

that's a lot of waste on a daily basis...

then I thought about the lights out project, where Sydney and other cities decided to turn off the lights off for one hour (or four hours, I can't remember, too lazy to google. LOL) for a day...

then, it dawned on me....what if, we can just leave the lights out for an hour, once a week...

just the lights...

one of my new clients have become a good friend of ours....and he owns a few buildings in the center of the town. He donated one of his building as a headquater for the new candidate for Mayor.

This hopeful candidate is a New Wave kind of guy. And it got my noodles flowing a bit....

on Monday, I saw my client and I proposed to him about this idea, I know it is not new and I know it is not unique. But I know it is NOT done in our area...

I asked him on how I could make this idea work...but I don't want to be pushy. I told him about how I saw the families together talking and laughing in the candle lights...and I wonder if that could be a new way to push this idea vs the conventional we must save our energy idea...

maybe something that can go hand in hand....something that not only promotes family togetherness, or maybe even getting folks to go out and take a walk...and just have their lights turned off for ONE hour..once a week...

he asked me to come up with a proposal plan....

this is where I ran into a wall...

so, I am coming to you, my dear NT family...would you be interested in helping me create a proposal plan? And your input, the pros and cons?

And please know that this is NOT an original idea...so I cannot take credit for this...so if anyone that is interested in this and would like to pursue it, please feel free to do so...

I need to explain a few more things:

1) I may be bitten off more than I could chew. But I am at a place in my life where I have a lot of questions...

I have been truly blessed with many things in life. Yes, I grew up a rough life, but through it all, I've been given many many times, by strangers and by friends....

I am also blessed with a wonderful wife and it looks like soon our grandchildren will be joining us...
my mother is healthy and she lives with us and she and I are in the best relationship in our lives...

I have awesome friends, friends physically and friends on the net...

I cannot ask for more in this life...and maybe, that's why I feel like I need to do something valuable, to give back, or to just do...

2) In questioning self-worth, I have asked myself, who am I...what, am I....

I am still searching although I now have a better picture of myself...I know that I truly want to make a difference...

we recycle, sure...

we do our little parts, sure...

and that's good enough, really...cause we ARE doing something..

I used to do a lot of volunteer service when I was younger..but I did it for the wrong reasons back then, I did it because I was young and I was single and I was bored...and while I enjoyed the benefits of how I felt after I did something good, it left me empty as well because I went about it the wrong way...

but now, I want to start doing some kind of quality service again..something that will benefit everyone...

I just want to help make a change...some kind of change...I am not sure if it is a good idea or a bad idea...but I am hoping it will be a positive one...

will you help me? Inputs, ideas, thoughts, for it, against it, doesn't matter...

how would I put this together...I have given it thoughts...but I have never done anything like this before....anyone with experience??

Thank you...

let's save those sperm.....

"Whales"

cool idea..and wow what a wonderful walk you had...the water the moon...the candle lights....what a nice walk...you shared with us..hugsssss

I dont have proposal ideas..my mind isnt working quite right yet....just trying to get back into life, your description of your walk made me smile...thanks...hugssss,sarah

Here's a little information about "Earth Hour" where people agreed to switch off their lights for one full hour in a bid to help the fight against global warming.

Sydney was the first major city to begin "Earth Hour", when in 2007 the lights went out across the city, including landmarks like the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. With approx. 2 million residents taking part, it was estimated that energy usage was decreased by more than 10% in that one hour, and in Bangkok this year, 73.34 megawatts of electricity which would have produced 45.8 tonnes of carbon dioxide, was saved.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7319929.stm

This year more than 50 million people around the world, in more than 35 countries across seven continents, including Antarctica, and across more than 18 different time zones turned off their lights for "Earth Hour". http://www.earthhour.org/

I'm thinking that people in positions like Mayors and Senators are often more easily swayed towards new ideas if they think they're saving money.

Maybe you could present a proposal based on the pinciples of Earth Hour. I'd suggest that you do a little research as to the amount of energy that would be saved using figures already estimated by other areas across the world that participated in Earth hour. The Energy savings could then be converted to $$ saved for your council, county or municipality. Empty buildings don't need light, but I'm sure you'll see many hundreds, or even thousands, of empty buildings lit up like lighthouses at night.

With a proposal such as this which covers energy saved, monetary savings, and benefits to the environment, not forgetting the benefits to the family structure, hopefully your Mayor might look favourably towards it.

Hi.

You said:

"I am also blessed with a wonderful wife and it looks like soon our grandchildren will be joining us...
my mother is healthy and she lives with us and she and I are in the best relationship in our lives...

I have awesome friends, friends physically and friends on the net...

I cannot ask for more in this life...and maybe, that's why I feel like I need to do something valuable, to give back, or to just do..."

What you have, well, words can't describe it. I have only Alan. Not much close connection to family, my son is gone from our lives. And my best friend of 46 years betrayed me.

But then I get up in the morning, (like I did this morning), I went to breakfast meeting up with some good friends, and we laugh, and then I went to get my flu shot AND I WALKED HOME FROM MY DOCTOR'S OFFICE.

5 Avenues by the way. Don' know how to explain how far this is, but IT'S A LONG LONG LONG WALK. I just looked at the beauty that was in nature and I enjoyed the walk. I'm just HAPPY I CAN WALK.

I've learned to stop and smell the roses and not sweat the stuff I can't change. It's really all any of us can do. We make choices. Some of us make bad ones and some of us make better ones.

I have learned the benefit of making good choices.

Now you indicate you want to give back.

Let me tell you something.

When you write the stuff that you write, WELL YOU GIVE BACK.

We all learn, and we all feel a bit better from that. At least I do.

I try and conserve electricity as much as I can. Turn off this when not in use, turn off that when not in use.

That's about all I CAN DO FROM MY END.

Just know that you DO make a difference.

And that's important.

Melody

hi sarah, I wish I would've brought my camera, it was awesome...we live on the coast so it would go from rain to sunny within minutes...and the artist in the sky paints awesome paintings all the time..(((((HUGS)))))

hi Anne, thanks so much for the info, that's it, Earth Hour...

I will look it up and I like the proposal of the converted savings for the council. I have been very fortunate to run into my current friend/client. He is a very deep thinker and when we get together, we bounce off ideas off of each other...

he is also a brilliant man who is self-made...and I am learning a lot from him...



thanks very much for your input, mel...

I think a lot of us truly caring citizens such as yourself do the little things that really make differences. And I think by recycling, by doing our little thing such as changing all our lightbulbs to the energy bulbs help also...

and really, that is all we can do, especially when a lot of us are in pain both physically and mentally and really...we ARE making a difference..

I'll admit, I think I may have bitten off more than I can chew...

yet, the opportunity has presented itself to me...I consider myself lucky...I am in a position where I know someone who is in power to make a difference. He's actually interested in my inputs...

I think we all walk different paths, right or wrong, we have to take a chance sometimes...

this is a chance that currently, I'd like to take...because I felt that if I hadn't gone out for a walk that day, if the electricity hadn't gone out, I would still be sitting infront of the computer sulking...

it opened my eyes that day...it helped brought me out of a rut that I had been in for awhile now...

so, I am going to take advantage of that...

with that said...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I really have been thinking about this for awhile now...

I have looked up how energy is wasted vs how it is being used.

For example (I am going to give out quasi numbers just to make a point and it is not actual figures)

let's say an electric plant is about 30 miles from you. Let's just say that it makes 30 miles of grid line (to make the math easy).

let's say that for every second that you have one light bulb/lightbulb on, 3watts of energy are being used.

However, it took 80 watts of energy for this energy to get to you.

Sure, we only pay for what we use (supposedly) but there are 80 watts being lost...

that 80 watts ARE LOST...

(if any engineers can correct me and give me exact figures, that would be awesome)

lost energy means lost of money...and that's where I think we can save...

one hour...once a week...

and I was thinking only promoting this during the months where it is comfortable.

I wouldn't try this year long especially during summer time, that might create more fire...

I was also thinking of promoting this more along a line of long term vs. fad.

We all know how fad gets caught on and then it just dies...I've seen many ideas that were great and they'd come and go...

what I am thinking is long term...planting a seed into the younger children...

that years from now, when they move somewhere else, and they think about the quality time they have spent with their families sitting by the candle light...that it would make them want to turn off the lights with their kids...

saving energy and spending quality time together...

and it doesn't even have to be lighting up the candle. Perhaps going out for a walk...or whatever activity...

I know, big task...that is why I love the inputs...



thanks everyone...

Bravo bro!!!

One day I was standing on a mountain top with Mr. Las Vegas (Steve Wynn), and we were looking out over some area that was proposed to be a hotel/casino complex.

Before he decided if it was going to go into a written proposal we had the challenge of looking at everything. Everything that we could think of that could go wrong, and all the benefits. We also looked at what it would take to to get the project going, labor, promotions, road widening, dirt removal, or just dirt moved around.

We made a long list of each category, and our proposal was nearly done right there. It was all about selling the idea by showing the benefits, and shooting down the challenges.

Just remember to end on a positive, painting this beautiful picture that the mind can see. I know you have it in ya, and we will be reading about this in the news

hey bro!

thanks a bunch for the input...

I really am pretty shy so I'd rather not see my name in the papers...LOLOL

It is just that I got tired of sitting here being depressed in my little world...

I get inspired when I see folks like you and others here...doing things when you have so much to deal with...

I get inspired by those that I have read about in the news or in the papers....mostl of them always would say, "everyone told me it was impossible" or "I was told this was ridiculous"

but they didn't give up...

I think that's the key...

I want to try this out...as much as I can take it and all I can do, and see what will happen..

thanks a bunch for the tips and the vote of confidence booster!

Wow you sure know how to use an attention grabbing thread title don't you?

Seriously, though, I love your idea. I will have to think on this for a bit to see if I can come up with ideas for you. My neuro keeps telling me that I am not dumber, but just that my brain works slower now. So, I have to wait for the neurons to catch up with me to think of ideas....

No problemo bro!!

You have helped me in my attitude tremendously, and would go as far to guess im not the only one.

I learned that getting others to see your vision is half the battle. So painting that positive beautiful picture will win the hearts of most, and you will see fruition of your dream.

What you are proposing is sooo easy even my grandkids would get into it. Plus it begs to be put in the category of saving the environment, a winning deal there.

That is the very thing that Steve Wynn lives by. Just a few minutes with this man could change your whole outlook on your potential in life.

If you need any help at all jest holler

this is going to be a lump in my throat day...but that's OK...I am known to be sappy....and I don't care... LOL

would LOVE any input, holly. Take your time. If this thing takes a few years I will keep at it....
and you are NOT dumb at all...and a slow brain is like fine wine..it gets better as it slows.

dude, YOU and OTHERS are the ones that have helped me...I am just a clown...LOL

boy, you all are getting me excited...I've been jotting things down left and right...now I just need to put it together....