Sore Throat

Probably everyone on earth knows this one, but it has become sadly relevant to me in the past 24 hours. I'm sick with a nasty sore throat, so I'm gargling warm salt water periodically to threat the pain and inflammation. I've been taking ibuprofen to help with the swelling (yup, this helps a lot) and eating garlic toast when I can stand to swallow. Having a sore throat is the worst, but these methods help make it somewhat more tolerable.

More advice:
http://www.ehow.com/how_9506_relieve-sore-throat.html
http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/tc/sore-throat-home-treatment

One worth trying

Never tried this one, but it sounds interesting. According to Hints 'N' Helps Household Dictionary, "an ordinary clean blackboard eraser is much handier than a bulky cloth for wiping steam from your car windows or windshield. When not in use, it fits nicely into your glove compartment." And here's a youtube "quick tip" recommending the same thing. Pretty sure it won't work as well with a white board eraser...

Vacuum Cleaners: A Few Tips

I recently experienced some operational concerns with my vacuum cleaner, so I decided to learn everything I could about how to fix and maintain these essential household helpers.

Turns out, almost all vacuum cleaners operate based on the same basic principles. Somewhere inside the unit is an electric motor that spins when electricity activates the field magnet, causing the rotor to spin. The motion of the rotor turns a fan unit, which pulls air through the intake into the dust bag. (For more information, read this article.)

When your vacuum cleaner goes on the fritz, there are a limited number of potential problems.

If your vacuum cleaner has no juice whatsoever, it may indicate a burned out motor (demagnetized by overheating) or a blown circuit/breaker. You can use a multimeter to check continuity or just use trial and error, replacing these simple components and hoping for the best. If this fails, you may consider replacing the motor, depending on your comfort level.

If the vacuum cleaner makes a sound but doesn't have any sucking power, check to see if the belt has broken. Other than simple clogs, this has to be the most common problem that causes user to purchase a new vacuum cleaner ... unnecessarily. When you open up the vacuum cleaner plate, the big black rubber band looking thing should fit snugly around the brush, cause it to rotate as the fan engages. If the belt is loose or broken, replacing it is relatively simple and inexpensive.

If you're vacuum cleaner sort of works but seems to be under-performing, try checking the agitator brush for obstructions. Unplug your upright vacuum cleaner, flip it over, over, use a screw drive to detach the metal plate, and examine the metal cylinder with bristles (the brush). My vacuum cleaner is a relatively newer, bagless model with a plastic plate instead of a metal one, but it still unscrews the same way.

One drawback to my unit's design is that you have to open up the whole thing and expose the motor to access the brush.

A hair or a loose piece of string can lodge itself between the brush and the belt, which is the big black rubber band looking thingy that causes the brush to spin. (In my case, small and plastic.)

Mine was clear, but as you can see, a buildup of hair and dust around the brush cylinder can have the same basic effect.

You can usually cut the obstruction away with a pair of scissors or remove the brush cylinder entirely to get at tenacious tangles.

My vacuum cleaner hadn't been cleaned in a couple of years, so the tangle of hairs looked more like a thicket.

Upon closer inspection, I opted for the dust mask.

Once finished clearing off the tangle, I threw the ball of hair and dust in the trash and reassembled the unit. Now she's purring like a kitten. Lesson learned.

Other resources:

http://www.wikihow.com/Maintain-a-Vacuum-Cleaner

Much more on motor maintenance and repair: http://www.wikihow.com/Fix-a-Vacuum-Cleaner

Basic repair tips: http://www.ehow.com/how_112391_fix-vacuum-cleaner.html

Save money on your electric bill: pay yourself to help the planet

Saving money on the electric bill is a concern I hear about everywhere I go. I've picked up a several tips, over time, that I'm happy to share with anyone who's interested. Let me just take a moment, however, to stress that the U.S. actually has extremely inexpensive electricity, due in large part to our dependence on fossil fuels, namely coal. Almost half of U.S. electricity comes from burning coal. As of December, the national average per kilowatt hour was about eleven cents. Of course, that rate doesn't account for the true price of cheap power: direct harm to the natural world,production of smog, and emission of climate-change contributing CO2, among others.

Using electricity costs you money, and it also has a hidden cost to the human race, as well as the planet. Ergo, cutting down on your power consumption has an inversely positive impact and represents the first step toward a more energy-efficient tomorrow. In the old phrase, "reduce, reuse, recycle," the word reduce comes first for a reason. Having said that, conserving energy also saves you money; you can literally pay yourself to help the planet.

Ideas:

1. Power strips: Most people don't know this, but many appliances draw power while they are powered down. Plug stereos, computers,

2. Eat raw food: Chances are, your electric range ovens use more electricity than all the light bulbs in your apartment or house. Any excuse to eat raw food means you're not just feeding your body an extremely healthy energy source; you're also saving money on electricity. For some cool recipe ideas, check out this cool blog.

3. Ease off the chilling action on your fridge: Refrigerators use an insane amount of electricity. Just turn the dial slightly so your fridge is slightly less cool. Monitor food to make sure it's not so warm as to cause spoilage.

4. (or) Keep your fridge or freezer in your basement: This one's not for everybody. You have to be pretty committed to the environment, and have a basement, to consider schlepping down a flight of stairs to get dinner. However, the potential of this modification to save you money should speak to anyone with an intuitive mind. In the winter, we pay to fill a room with heat and, in that room, we pay to keep a small box cold. Meanwhile, year round, your basement's resting temp is about 50-55 degrees. To go even further, check out these articles on the benefits of a root cellar and how to install one.

5. Toilet: If your utility bill is affected by water usage, a fast way to save is to place a brick (yup, a brick) in the upper deck of your toilet. This technique will affect the fill level of the toilet, using less water with each flush.

6. More transformational options: If you've tried these low impact options with mixed results, you may want to consider replacing appliances with more energy-efficient versions, or pursuing other large-scale household upgrades. Try this article for some more ideas.

Quick Idea: String Dispenser

This one's an oldie but a goodie. If you need to use string for a craft project (or in the garden, or anywhere around the house) a quick, simple string dispenser can help you manage that ball of twine and avoid tangles. Make a basic funnel out of a sheet of paper and some tape. (Something durable like poster board might work best, depending on how long you want to use it.) Add a loop or hook to the side of the funnel for mounting, or just tack the funnel to your bulletin board while you work. Place your ball of string inside the funnel, making sure the end up the string is peeking out of the cone. The shape of the funnel should allow the ball of string to fit snugly and dispense string without risk of bunching or tangles.

The Cleaning Power of Coca-Cola

This one's all over the interweb, so maybe you've heard it before, but I'm surprised how often it comes up, and how many people are shocked when I tell them of the amazing yet true-as-monkeys cleaning properties of Coca-Cola or other malt-ish carbonated beverages like Pepsi and RC Cola (Does this still exist?). Coke is listed as a great way to accomplish the following:

1. To clean a toilet (pour into toilet, bowl, let it 1 hr, flush.)

2. To remove rust spots from chrome car bumpers, clean rust off car battery terminals, or loosen a rusted bolt. (Apply to surfaces with a gentle pour or a wet rag ... with bumpers, used crumpled up aluminum foil)

3. To remove grease from clothes, or gasoline smell. (Wash clothes with half a cup of coke mixed in)

4. To clean out a nasty stained cooking pan (pour, soak, rinse)

5. Antique your photos (Use a small pan and pour 1/2 inch of Coke in it. Dip the photo, let soak for a few minutes, remove and drip dry.

The word on the street is that Coke will dissolve a T-Bone steak, or even a tooth if you leave it soaking overnight. The other word on the street is that this is a myth. See for yourself at Snopes.

For even more reports on the crazy amazing uses of Coca Cola, click here.

FINAL NOTE: Exercise extreme caution when ingesting carbonated beverages. It's linked to diabetes, obesity, and kidney disease. And it turns out diet soda may not be such a great choice either.

TIP: windshield wipers

Had a couple of drinks with some friends last night and he got to talking about his mechanic's never-ending efforts to replace his relatively new but not-quite-doing-the-job windshield wipers for a brand new 45 dollar a piece replacement set. "Whatever," he said. "A windshield wiper can only do so much." No! I yelled and proceeded to tell him that the number one reason for poor wiper blade performance has to do with the natural accumulation of dirt and grease. A good way to clean them off is to use baking soda sprinkled on a damp sponge and run the sponge up and down the full length of the wiper blade. Vinegar is also supposed to work wonders.

Life Hack: Morning Mix

I got the idea from The Next Web to make a morning mix for my I-Pod and set it as an alarm clock. The idea is that the mix, from start to finish times out your morning and sets the tone for your day. If you get distracted checking your e-mail, suddenly "Don't Stop Believing" clicks on, reminding you that you have ten minutes to get out of the house in time to catch your bus. I decided to give this a try, as I am always falling into the trap of wasting away my morning or losing track of time and skipping breakfast, shaving, etc. to compensate. My version of the mix escalates in tempo as you proceed and uses movement periods--classical, oldies, rock, and indie--to further emphasize how much time has passed. It's about 90 minutes long. With the holiday weekend coming up, I'll have time to try it out and make tweaks. Here's my playlist so far.

1. Eric Satie, Gymnopedies 1, 2, 3; Gnossienne 1, 2

2. Tchaikovsky, "Sleeping Beauty," Introduction, La Fee des Lilas

3. Johnny Nash, "I Can See Clearly Now"

4. Procol Harum, "Whiter Shade of Pale"

5. The Foundations, "Baby, Now that I Found You"

6. The Four Tops, "Bernadette"

7. Dean Martin, "Kick in the Head"

8. Chuck Berry, "Johnny B. Goode"

9. Jackie Wilson, "Higher and Higher"

10. Spencer Davis Group, "Gimme Some Lovin'"

11. The Arcade Fire, "Tunnels"

12. The Flaming Lips, "Fight Test"

13. Beck, "Cold Brains"

14. The New Pornographers, "Letter from an Occupant"

15. Beatles, "Getting Better"

16. The Kinks, "Sunny Afternoon"

17. David Bowie, "Oh! You Pretty Things"

18. Talking Heads, "Stay up Late"

19. Bruce Springsteen, "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out"

20. Prince, "Let's Go Crazy"

If you have a morning mix you'd be willing to share, post your track list here.

TIP: Ballpoint Pen

Got a ballpoint pen with a gooped up tip? If you're out and about, in the middle of something, or just don't want to waste a pen, try inserting the tip into a filter-end of a cigarette butt and twisting a few times. The material inside the filter is purported to be, hands-down, the best material to clean a pen tip.

Warnings: Don't try this with a fountain pen. Also, don't smoke a cigarette that's already been used to clean a pen tip. That would be gross, unlike inhaling what's already in a cigarette:

Cigarette smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals, including 43 known cancer-causing (carcinogenic) compounds and 400 other toxins. These include nicotine, tar, and carbon monoxide, as well as formaldehyde, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, arsenic, and DDT.

From http://www.quitsmokingsupport.com/whatsinit.htm