Dolphin’s Dock » 2008

I got a call on my way to work this morning from the realtor who showed us the rental house I posted about yesterday. Our application (which we faxed her last night) has been approved and so the house is ours if we want it. Good news, right? Well sorta. Our application has been approved but was HASN’T been approved it the July 1st move-in date. The owner has proposed a June 15th move-in date, but with our current lease not ending til July 15th, that would put us paying rent for two places for 30 days (and that’s a fair bit of money). But whatever we decide we have to do it quick because I absolutely have to tell our current landlord whether we’re renewing or vacating ASAP (technically I’m already a hair late with our notification). The way I see it we have 3 options:

Option 1: We can suck it up and pay the extra month’s worth of rent. That’s not gonna leave us starving, but it’ll mean tightening our belts alot tighter than we’d like for a month. On the other hand, we’d get the house, and we’d have a full month to casually move as time allowed.

Option 2: Forget the house, and renew our current lease. That means we’d be paying what we consider too high of rent for a townhouse (in this area, in other parts of the country, it’d be a bargain), and we wouldn’t have the more flexible leasing options that would come available after just a year in the house. On the other hand, monthly rent would be $50/month less than the house, and we wouldn’t have to go through the headache of moving.

Option 3: We could give vacating notice, but wait to put a hold on the house until closer to the end of our current lease. Of course that means hoping nobody else comes along and rents the house while we’re waiting, and if they do it means frantically trying to find a new place before our current lease runs up. We probably wouldn’t end up homeless, but if somebody rented out the house from under us, we might be forced to move in to wherever we could find, even if we really didn’t like it at all. (This one is a little too risky for me, so I really probably only have the first two options)

Haven’t talked to TheBoyfriend™ about it yet, I called him earlier but he didn’t answer his phone so he must be with a client, so we’ll see what he thinks…

Update: Talked with TheBoyfriend™ at lunch and he wanted to sleep on it. But then I got a call, while still at work, asking if we’d made up our minds because someone else wanted to see the house and if we wanted it, she wouldn’t bother showing it to them. So I made the split second decision to say we wanted it, lest the other people she was about to show it to, decided they wanted it and claimed it before us. Not sure TheBoyfriend™ was overwhelmingly thrilled I made such a decision without him, but hey, he always says he wishes I’d make more decisions, and I didn’t want to lose the house. So we move in on June 15th (though since our current lease doesn’t end til July 15th, we’ll probably move over bit by bit at a leisurely pace), and now that it’s decided (though technically I still have to swing by by Wed of next week to sign he lease before it will truly be a done deal), my impatience is kicking in and I want to move NOW.

posted by dolphin at 10:59 am | 1 Comment

One Response to “Well, We Got It If We Want It”

KipEsquire on May 28, 2008 at 11:05 am

The first rule of rational economic behavior is to ignore fixed costs whenever possible and make decisions only at the margin.

Alternatively: Estimate the total time you expect to live in the new place and divide the one month of double-rent by the total number of months you will live in the new place. Consider that amount as part of the new monthly rent you will be paying. Is the new house still worth it?

And I expect an invitation to the housewarming party.

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Fingers Crossed

May 27, 2008

Filed under House Updates

Today during my lunch break, I met TheBoyfriend™ and a realtor to look inside a rental house we had our eye on. I’d had a good feeling about this house since the first time we drove by it but we hadn’t managed to get a tour yet. Originally, we’d called on it, thinking our townhouse lease ended in June, but once we realized that the lease didn’t end until July we opted not to tour the house assuming it would be rented by the time we could move in. Fortunately for us (though, prior to the tour it was also a bit worrisome), it is still available and so we scheduled a visit. This is still the most worrisome part as saving it for use would mean it’d have to sit another month unoccupied, but the realtor didn’t seem to concerned about that assuring us that if our reference with our current landlord checked out (and it should), most owners will wait for a good tenant.

Not surprisingly it has some pros and cons, but on the whole, we both really like it and are quite excited as it is the first house we’ll be living in together as well as the first house either of us have lived in since living with our parents.

Con – Rent’s $50/month higher than our townhouse would be if we renewed our lease there.

Pro – it’s a HOUSE.

Con – The walls in the living room are kind of a funky color right now. Not unlivable, but certainly not something either of us are crazy over.

Pro – We’ll probably be allowed to paint the walls, but even if we can’t, at least the walls aren’t white!

Con – Bizzare kitchen layout. The first thing you notice when you walk in the kitchen is that there is no fridge or stove. That’s because they are in a small room connected to the kitchen instead of in the main kitchen itself.

Pro – Alot more counter space in the kitchen. We’d actually both be able to cook in there at the same time without tripping over each other.

Con – Both bedrooms are pretty small. In fact I somewhat wonder if we’re going to have to crawl into our king-size bed from the bottom instead of being able to walk up the sides.

Pro – Total square footage is 20 more than our townhouse, plus we’ll have both an unfinished basement and attic space to store things in. We have NO storage in our townhouse, so that will open up even more space.

Con – No obvious place to put the litter boxes where they are out of sight but easy access for the cats.

Pro – One time $100 pet fee. That’s it.

Pro – A working gas fireplace in the living room.

Pro – Off-street parking.

Pro – Big backyard.

Pro – Air-conditioning (which we have in our townhouse but alot of the other houses we looked at didn’t have it).

Pro – After the first year we can lease in two month chucks for $25 extra a month. That will be great since after the first year, timing will be dependent on the progress of the house we’re building.

We don’t have it yet, but all looks good. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

posted by dolphin at 2:46 pm | Comments Off

Have Your Say

McCain on Marriage

May 22, 2008

Filed under Gay Rights, Politics

As best I could find, there’s been crickets chirping on marriage equality from the McCain camp since California’s Supreme Court decision the other day. It took Ellen to get him to speak on it (ever so briefly) on her talk show. So how exactly does one sit in front of a living, breathing human being and tell them that they do not deserve the same civil rights that you yourself enjoy?

Apparently very quietly and mostly into your lap. Reading the comments under the video clip was interesting. Seems some people thought bringing it up went too far because they “watch Ellen because she’s funny, not to find out her politics” (and how dare a talk show host bring up politics while interviewing a politician?). Most of the negative responses boiled down to this: “It was uncomfortable to watch.” And that’s not surprising. It’s easy to attack gay people when they are some nebulous abstract group. Its a very different thing to do so when you’re face to face with a real, living, breathing, and outright likable gay person. When you put a human face on the issue, it forces you to recognize that you are intentionally and seriously harming people for no reason. Because most of us like to think of ourselves as good people, the recognition that we are doing something so evil is hard to take.

Would McCain have voiced his opinion with such visible shame were he giving a speech to a rally of bigots? Not likely. It could be most any gay person, but in this case it was Ellen who acted as a mirror into McCain’s heart and it was pretty obvious he didn’t like what he was seeing. Apparently, many of the “uncomfortable” viewers also didn’t like what they saw of themselves in that particular mirror. If I’d been Ellen, I’d have polished the mirror a bit more. I wouldn’t have allowed any of this “we disagree” crap. I’d have asked McCain to state directly to my face the words “You don’t deserve the same civil rights that I do.”

As a bit of an aside, McCain’s response is yet another reason that this just won’t be that big of an issue in the coming election. The Republican candidate’s position is really not all that different from the Democrats (and shame on the two Democratic candidates for that being the case). It’s hard to mobilize an army of voters on a topic you more or less agree with your opponents on.

posted by dolphin at 2:06 pm | 1 Comment

One Response to “McCain on Marriage”

KipEsquire on May 22, 2008 at 2:41 pm

“It’s hard to mobilize an army of voters on a topic you more or less agree with your opponents on.

Not to mention the fact that California is not competitive in the Electoral College race, so the broad-based conservative advocacy groups will not devote resources to it — only the gay-specific ones like FoF will.

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Weekly Fortune

May 22, 2008

Filed under Fortunes, Splashes

A healthy way of living is be good to your health.

Bad grammar and redundant. It’s a two for one.

posted by dolphin at 12:36 pm | Comments Off

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But the View is Stunning

May 19, 2008

Filed under Splashes

There is not enough money in the world for me to take this job.

posted by dolphin at 3:34 pm | Comments Off

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NRA: Leave Your Guns at Home

May 15, 2008

Filed under Politics, Splashes

While I don’t own or want a gun, I’ve never been one to support any but the mildest of gun restrictions (for instance I don’t think a minor ought to be able to purchase a gun), but it would be delicious irony if the “gun nuts” would launch a campaign against the NRA for prohibiting guns at one of their events (scroll to the bottom).

posted by dolphin at 3:46 pm | Comments Off

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Another Marriage Equality Victory!

May 15, 2008

Filed under Gay Rights

The California Supreme Court just ruled that the state’s ban on civil marriage rights for same-sex couple is unconstitutional, making them the second state to establish marriage equality for it’s citizens. ~~It’s not 100% clear from what I’ve been able to track down if this means gay couple can now wed in California or if it just removes the biggest obstacle to marriage equality in the state.~~ (See update)

There’s still an effort in the works by the California religious right to add an amendment banning marriage rights for same-sex couples to the state constitution, but I’m thinking it will find little success if it even makes it to the ballot. Especially if this decision leads to a sudden boom of same-sex marriages. If Massachusetts and foreign countries which have established marriage equality are any indicator, once people see gay couples marrying and realize the sky isn’t falling, they tend to stop opposing it.

Of course, the question remains as to what effect this might have on the Presidential election. In the last presidential election, anti-gay sentiment gave the GOP a big bonus, but I’m not so sure it will be as big of a deal this year. First of all, most of the states in which a anti-marriage amendment could pass, have already passed them, so there won’t be that incentive for the bigots to hit the polls like there was last time around. Second of all, we have had legal gay marriage in this country (in Mass.) for years now. As I noted above, fear tactics don’t work when the target is revealed as just not really being all that scary. It will however almost certainly make the candidates lay out their views on marriage equality, but if the scare tactics have indeed lost their teeth, will the majority of straight America even care?

Update: It appears that the decision does in fact make California the second state to establish marriage equality. The courts reasoning is the same that I’ve stated numerous times:

“There can be no doubt that extending the designation of marriage to same-sex couples, rather than denying it to all couples, is the equal protection remedy that is most consistent with our state’s general legislative policy and preference,”

That is to say that the only decisions a court can possibly make about marriage laws without contradicting equal protection clauses is to either strike the marriage laws from the books completely (nobody can marry) or strike gender-specific language from the laws. Clearly, the preferred method is the later and that’s just what the CA Supreme Court has done.

posted by dolphin at 1:48 pm | 7 Comments

7 Responses to “Another Marriage Equality Victory!”

Qazi on May 15, 2008 at 3:20 pm

DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT SODOMY (HOMOSEXUALITY)?
Genesis 19:5-8
5And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.
6And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him,
7And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly.
8Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.

Exodus 22:19

19Whosoever lieth with a beast shall surely be put to death.

Leviticus 18:22

22Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.

Leviticus 18:23

23Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion.

Leviticus 20:13

13If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

Leviticus 20:15

15And if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death: and ye shall slay the beast.

Leviticus 20:16

16And if a woman approach unto any beast, and lie down thereto, thou shalt kill the woman, and the beast: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

Deuteronomy 1
1These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain over against the Red sea, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab.
2(There are eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadeshbarnea.)
3And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the LORD had given him in commandment unto them;
4After he had slain Sihon the king of the Amorites, which dwelt in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, which dwelt at Astaroth in Edrei:
5On this side Jordan, in the land of Moab, began Moses to declare this law, saying,
6The LORD our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount:
7Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates.
8Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them.
9And I spake unto you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone:
10The LORD your God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude.
11(The LORD God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as ye are, and bless you, as he hath promised you!)
12How can I myself alone bear your cumbrance, and your burden, and your strife?
13Take you wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you.
14And ye answered me, and said, The thing which thou hast spoken is good for us to do.
15So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes.
16And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him.
17Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.
18And I commanded you at that time all the things which ye should do.
19And when we departed from Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness, which ye saw by the way of the mountain of the Amorites, as the LORD our God commanded us; and we came to Kadeshbarnea.
20And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the LORD our God doth give unto us.
21Behold, the LORD thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged.
22And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come.
23And the saying pleased me well: and I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe:
24And they turned and went up into the mountain, and came unto the valley of Eshcol, and searched it out.
25And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which the LORD our God doth give us.
26Notwithstanding ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God:
27And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because the LORD hated us, he hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.
28Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there.
29Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them.
30The LORD your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes;
31And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place.
32Yet in this thing ye did not believe the LORD your God,
33Who went in the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to shew you by what way ye should go, and in a cloud by day.
34And the LORD heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware, saying,
35Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers.
36Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the LORD.
37Also the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither.
38But Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.
39Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it.
40But as for you, turn you, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea.
41Then ye answered and said unto me, We have sinned against the LORD, we will go up and fight, according to all that the LORD our God commanded us. And when ye had girded on every man his weapons of war, ye were ready to go up into the hill.
42And the LORD said unto me, Say unto them. Go not up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest ye be smitten before your enemies.
43So I spake unto you; and ye would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD, and went presumptuously up into the hill.
44And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even unto Hormah.
45And ye returned and wept before the LORD; but the LORD would not hearken to your voice, nor give ear unto you.
46So ye abode in Kadesh many days, according unto the days that ye abode there.

SODOMITES
1. 1 Kings 14:24
And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.
1 Kings 14:23-25 (in Context) 1 Kings 14 (Whole Chapter)

2. 1 Kings 15:12
And he took away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.
1 Kings 15:11-13 (in Context) 1 Kings 15 (Whole Chapter)

3. 1 Kings 22:46
And the remnant of the sodomites, which remained in the days of his father Asa, he took out of the land.
1 Kings 22:45-47 (in Context) 1 Kings 22 (Whole Chapter)

4. 2 Kings 23:7
And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove.
2 Kings 23:6-8 (in Context) 2 Kings 23 (Whole Chapter)

More from King James Version
1. SODOMITES
2. BLINDNESS » Miraculously inflicted upon the Sodomites (Genesis 19:11)
3. JUDGMENTS » Sodomites (Genesis 19:23-25)
4. SODOMY » See SODOMITES
5. ADULTERY » INSTANCES OF » Sodomites (Genesis 19:5-8)
6. DEATH » AS A JUDGMENT » Sodomites (Genesis 19:12,13,24,25)
7. LASCIVIOUSNESS » INSTANCES OF » Sodomites (Genesis 19:5)
8. OBDURACY (HARDNESS) » INSTANCES OF » Sodomites (Genesis 19:9,14)
9. SIN » INSTANCES OF » The Sodomites (Genesis 18:20)
10. WOMEN » INSTANCES OF » The sodomites of the southern kingdom (Judah) (2 Kings 23:7)
Brandon on May 15, 2008 at 3:22 pm

AWESOME! Its about time these families have the same rights as everyone else! They have children and huoses and everything else, why deny them the same rights! This has nothing to do with straight peoples marriage agenda, but it should make straight people think about getting divorces as much as they do at a rate of 79% in America!! Maybe the straight people can learn and see what its like to have true meaningful love for one another have to fight for it! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
Brandon on May 15, 2008 at 3:24 pm

Dude your quotes are bullshit! Leviticus 20:13

13If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

IT SAYS MANKIND!!! NOT ANOTHER MAN!! LEARN ENGLISH MANKIND Means all men so you are taking all of these out of text!

It also says in the bible not to wear RED! IT also says not to touch pig skin It also says ” ITS AN ABOMINATION TO EAT SHELL FISH! BUT THAT DONT STOP YOU FROM EATING THEM AT THE CHURCH FISH FRY , OR PLAYING FOOTBALL OR WEARING WHAT EVER COLORS YOU PREFER!!

H Y P O C R I T!!!!
Brandon on May 15, 2008 at 3:26 pm

MANKIND MEANS MEN AND WOMEN ALL HUMAN BEINGS SO ITS BS BS BS BS BS.!

AND GOD DIDNT WRITE THE BIBLE HE DIDNT FAX IT DOWN TO US!

IT WAS WRITTEN BY 7 PEOPLE , MEN , HUMAN BEINGS HOMOSAPIENS! NOT GOD HIMSELF
SHUT UP!
California Love: Gay Marriage Approved In Second State : Post Politics: Political News and Views in Tennessee on May 15, 2008 at 5:50 pm

[...] ALSO: Dolphins Dock Woman’s Health [...]
Quasi on May 15, 2008 at 7:50 pm

If you look at the cat blogosphere, you’ll see that Karl and Ruis of the Cat Realm are finally tying the knot on the 30th. They must have been psychic, because they announced their nuptuals before the ruling came down.
Perry on May 21, 2008 at 6:03 pm

Just love one another. Just love one another. Just love one another. How much simpler can it be. One day the rest of the world will wake up to compassion.

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Reversing the Bell Curve

May 15, 2008

Filed under General

I’ve been noticing something lately that I don’t really know what to think of. I don’t know if my observations are truly accurate or if it’s just the way the world appears through the limited view of my eyes and ears. If they are accurate, I don’t know what significance, if any, it holds. Still, examples seem to pop up around every corner so I suspect I’m supposed to be getting something out of it, yet I still haven’t fully formed my thoughts around the idea.

What I’m talking about is what seems to be the polarization of the population in just about every major aspect of life. It’s like the bell curve is reversing. The number of middle-of-the-road’ers is decreasing while the number of outliers is spiking. The obvious example is of course politics where it seems there really is no such thing as a “swing voter” anymore, and those on the left are REALLY on the left and those on the right are REALLY on the right. Not only that the the number of mutally agreed upon issues is getting smaller and smaller. But it’s not limited to politics (perhaps the polarization of politics is as much a symptom of a larger phenomenon that anything else). Look at spirituality. People have been flocking to spirituality and not just the mainstream religions (though for the most part they have been growing too). The so-called “casual christian” (I’m using the common christian term, but I really think it can be applied to any spirituality) is dying out, while people of every spiritual path are starting to more actively incorporate their respective paths into their daily lives (whether or not they are appropriately interpreting or executing their claimed belief system is a separate question). Meanwhile, atheism is growing nearly as rapidly and the atheists are staying quiet any more. And true agnosticism is a rare find with most “agnostics” being atheists who don’t want to call themselves atheists. For the record, I’m not casting judgement here on anybody, simply noting my observation.

Any of the GOP faithful will be quick to tell you that we’re not technically in a recession, and yet average folks can’t afford to feed their families. If the market is busy making rich folks even more money, yet even most white-collar families are having to tighten their belts, then where exactly is the “middle-class?” Seems that the paychecks that used to make folks “upper-middle class” are now only barely bumping them into the “lower-middle class” range, if they are lucky. Gas and food prices don’t show any signs of dropping, which is just going to price more and more folks out of the middle class. Yet those prices are in part the very thing lining the pockets of the rich.

Healthy habits are doing the same thing. Grocery stores shelves are lined with the latest organic foodstuffs, health food stores are expanding, vitamin and supplement sales are increasing and people are learning how their bodies work, what they’re bodies need and how to stay healthy. Yet at the same time, McDonald’s is packed with people who eat there 7 days a week and restaurant portions are enough to feed a small country. Even intelliegence seems to be flipping the bell curve. The smart people I know are incredibly brilliant, where as those who aren’t so smart, well, just leave it at them being not so smart.

So there it is. Don’t know what it means. Don’t know if it’s right. Don’t know why I keep noticing it here and there.

posted by dolphin at 11:11 am | 1 Comment

One Response to “Reversing the Bell Curve”

Adrian on May 21, 2008 at 4:27 pm

Hey! I feel as if America is becoming more polarized toward the parties as well. As a moderate I feel as if I’m a minority! I was browsing through a bunch of political websites and blogs (mostly liberal ones) and I came across your blog and find it to be very interesting. There are a bunch of others I like too, like huff post, and other news sites like politico. Do you know of any that cover politics and the environment? I saw earthlab.com which has mostly environmental info but some politics. I took EarthLab.com’s carbon calculator (http://www.earthlab.com/signupprofile/). It was pretty easy to use (and it doesn’t make me feel guilty after I take it). Are there any other blogs you would recommend? Can you drop me a link to your favorites or any ones with green info?

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