Brookside Apartments

Happy New Year!

New Year's Traditions:

 In many Asian countries, long noodles are eaten on New Year's Day in order to bring a long life. One catch: You can't break the noodle before it is all in your mouth.

 A common good luck food in the southern United States, black-eyed peas are thought to bring prosperity, especially when served with collard greens.

 In Germany, Ireland, and parts of the United States, cabbage is associated with luck and fortune since it is green and resembles money.

 Thought to resemble coins, lentils are eaten throughout Italy for good fortune in the New Year.

 Long associated with abundance and fertility, pomegranates are eaten in Turkey and other Mediterranean countries for luck in the New Year.

 In North America, Asia, and Europe, people eat fish to celebrate the new year. In some countries, people associate fish with moving forward into the new year since fish swim forward. Other people think fish symbolize abundance since they swim in schools.

 

Information provided by www.msn.com

Palin's daughter gives birth

Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston was born Saturday according to news reports.

Jeez that kid has a long name! I've heard worse, don't get me wrong. But whew! You know when your mother yells your entire name, including your middle name, you're in trouble. This kid has it worse. If she uses one middle name, watch out. If she yells TWO middle names, he's getting punished for sure!

Seriously though, I respect Bristol and Levi for having this baby. It's hard enough being parents--these two have just started their adult lives and have to be parents. I respect anyone who doesn't take the easy way out. I hope they do well in life and enjoy that baby boy for the blessing he is.

Leave Obama alone!

Remember that rant Chris Crocker went on when people were picking on Britney Spears? Well how about a rant for Obama? This guy is our next president and all the American public can think about is treating him like a red carpet star or hating his guts.

Let's start with the red carpet Obama. Ok, so I'll admit--yes, he does look good with his shirt off. But we need to remember that this man is still a husband, father and the next president of the United States. Do we really want to treat him like the next star of some action film to be drooled after? I think not. He needs to have some space. The poor guy and his family went from not being well known to, BAM! Stardom. That's got to be difficult. We need to ease up a bit and let his family breathe.

For all the haters: Are you kidding me? Obama has a weird middle name so you accuse him of being a terrorist? I've also read in recent news that some people tried to say he wasn't a citizen of the United States. Is it that hard imagining that we could have really voted a natural citizen into office that is... gasp... black? That's right, America, you are getting a BLACK president for the next four years! He's a real citizen, he's got normal, healthy plans for our country and was taken in by the popular vote. Get over it.

Don't worship and don't hate. I suppose thats the point to my rant here. He's our president-elect. Just give him the due respect he deserves and hope he does what's right to fix our country.

 

 

 

Merry Christmas Snowzilla

Snowzilla

Snowzilla lives in Anchorage, AK. He has been there for the last three years, reaching 16 ft tall in 2005. Billy Powers (homeowner) was served a cease-and-desist order to stop building Snowzilla due to all the traffic coming through causing safety hazards and being a public nuisance. (Per city officials.)

Billy and his children did not build Snowzilla this year but it appears Santa came one night and reserected the beloved snowman. The next morning the Powers family woke up to see a 25 ft Snowzilla in their yard.

What a heart-warming story!

Ragging on Paris

 

I couldn't help myself. Paris Hilton is always in the media and it makes me sick. I don't dislike her because she's rich and beautiful. I dislike her because she's a waste of oxygen.

This immature person is one who unfortunetly, our young girls look up to. I guess that's why it gives me the malicious pleasure of making fun of her large gangly feet. I wonder, when her mom was giving birth did the the doctor have to pull extra hard to get those suckers out?

Why is it that rich kids are usually awful when they grow up? I would think if you are smart enough to make that much money, you would be smart enough to disipline your children and teach them how to be a good member of society.

Think about it. Paris's grandparents and parents spent their lives building this fortune. Why then doesn't she take the time they didn't have and do something good for the world? Volunteer for world hunger projects, helping the people of Africa or something.

The only thing that comforts me on this issue is that I read in news articles that Baron Hilton (Paris's grandfather) is donating 97% of his fortune to charity. He is reportedly embarrassed by his granddaughter. That proves the old saying that what comes around goes around!

 

What a crock of taxes...

Brookside Jingle

Here is the second entry to the Brookside Jingle/Poem Contest:

Voting will take place between now and December 30, 2008 with the winner to be announced on December 31, 2008

15 Ways to Conserve

Home appliances

Turn your refrigerator down. Refrigerators account for about 20% of Household electricity use. Use a thermometer to set your refrigerator temperature as close to 37 degrees and your freezer as close to 3 degrees as possible. Make sure that its energy saver switch is turned on. Also, check the gaskets around your refrigerator/freezer doors to make sure they are clean and sealed tightly.



Set your clothes washer to the warm or cold water setting, not hot. Switching from hot to warm for two loads per week can save nearly 500 pounds of CO2 per year if you have an electric water heater, or 150 pounds for a gas heater.



Make sure your dishwasher is full when you run it and use the energy saving setting, if available, to allow the dishes to air dry. You can also turn off the drying cycle manually. Not using heat in the drying cycle can save 20 percent of your dishwasher's total electricity use.



Turn down your water heater thermostat. Thermostats are often set to 140 degrees F when 120 is usually fine. Each 10 degree reduction saves 600 pounds of CO2 per year for an electric water heater, or 440 pounds for a gas heater. If every household turned its water heater thermostat down 20 degrees, we could prevent more than 45 million tons of annual CO2 emissions - the same amount emitted by the entire nations of Kuwait or Libya.



Select the most energy-efficient models when you replace your old appliances. Look for the Energy Star Label - your assurance that the product saves energy and prevents pollution. Buy the product that is sized to your typical needs - not the biggest one available. Front loading washing machines will usually cut hot water use by 60 to 70% compared to typical machines. Replacing a typical 1973 refrigerator with a new energy-efficient model, saves 1.4 tons of CO2 per year. Investing in a solar water heater can save 4.9 tons of CO2 annually.


Home Heating and Cooling

Be careful not to overheat or overcool rooms. In the winter, set your thermostat at 68 degrees in daytime, and 55 degrees at night. In the summer, keep it at 78. Lowering your thermostat just two degrees during winter saves 6 percent of heating-related CO2 emissions. That's a reduction of 420 pounds of CO2 per year for a typical home.



Clean or replace air filters as recommended. Energy is lost when air conditioners and hot-air furnaces have to work harder to draw air through dirty filters. Cleaning a dirty air conditioner filter can save 5 percent of the energy used. That could save 175 pounds of CO2 per year.


Small investments that pay off

Buy energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs for your most-used lights. Although they cost more initially, they save money in the long run by using only 1/4 the energy of an ordinary incandescent bulb and lasting 8-12 times longer. They provide an equivalent amount of bright, attractive light. Only 10% of the energy consumed by a normal light bulb generates light. The rest just makes the bulb hot. If every American household replaced one of its standard light bulbs with an energy efficient compact fluorescent bulb, we would save the same amount of energy as a large nuclear power plant produces in one year. In a typical home, one compact fluorescent bulb can save 260 pounds of CO2 per year.



Wrap your water heater in an insulating jacket, which costs just $10 to $20. It can save 1100 lbs. of CO2 per year for an electric water heater, or 220 pounds for a gas heater.



Use less hot water by installing low-flow shower heads. They cost just $10 to $20 each, deliver an invigorating shower, and save 300 pounds of CO2 per year for electrically heated water, or 80 pounds for gas-heated water.



Weatherize your home or apartment, using caulk and weather stripping to plug air leaks around doors and windows. Caulking costs less than $1 per window, and weather stripping is under $10 per door. These steps can save up to 1100 pounds of CO2 per year for a typical home. Ask your utility company for a home energy audit to find out where your home is poorly insulated or energy inefficient. This service may be provided free or at low cost. Make sure it includes a check of your furnace and air conditioning.


Getting around

Whenever possible, walk, bike, car pool, or use mass transit. Every gallon of gasoline you save avoids 22 pounds of CO2 emissions. If your car gets 25 miles per gallon, for example, and you reduce your annual driving from 12,000 to 10,000 miles, you'll save 1800 pounds of CO2.



When you next buy a car, choose one that gets good mileage. If your new car gets 40 miles per gallon instead of 25, and you drive 10,000 miles per year, you'll reduce your annual CO2 emissions by 3,300 pounds.


Reduce, reuse, recycle

Reduce the amount of waste you produce by buying minimally packaged goods, choosing reusable products over disposable ones, and recycling. For every pound of waste you eliminate or recycle, you save energy and reduce emissions of CO2 by at least 1 pound. Cutting down your garbage by half of one large trash bag per week saves at least 1100 pounds of CO2 per year. Making products with recycled materials, instead of from scratch with raw materials, uses 30 to 55% less for paper products, 33% less for glass, and a whopping 90% less for aluminum.



If your car has an air conditioner, make sure its coolant is recovered and recycled whenever you have it serviced. In the United States, leakage from auto air conditioners is the largest single source of emissions of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which damage the ozone layer as well as add to global warming. The CFCs from one auto air conditioner can add the equivalent of 4800 pounds of CO2 emissions per year.

Info found on: www.ecomall.com

Weird Christmas Facts

• Three billion Christmas cards are sent annually in the United States.
• The practice of exchanging presents at Christmas originated with the Romans. Every December, the Romans celebrated a holiday called the Saturnalia. During this time the people gave each other good luck presents of fruit, sweets, pastry, or gold. When the Christians began to celebrate their own holiday at this time of year, they simply took over the tradition.
• In Brazil, Christmas is celebrated with fireworks.
• Christmas was once illegal in England. In 1643 the Puritans outlawed all Christmas celebrations, banned the keeping of Christmas trees, and made the singing of Christmas carols a crime. These laws were maintained until the Restoration. Many Puritans in New England also adhered to these regulations, curtailing Christmas festivities to such a degree that even the making of mince pies was forbidden. 
• The custom of using Christmas wreaths can be traced to the belief that the crown of thorns that Christ was forced to wear when he was crucified was made of holly.

Safety Tips to live by

 

Home Security - Safety Measures

Home Inventory List

Keep a "Personal Property Inventory List" in a safe place (fire proof safe, safe deposit). This may help you recover stolen property in the event of a theft of burglary. This helps to recover stolen in the event of a theft of burglary.

The more complete your inventory list the better. In case of a loss by causes other than theft it may help you establish your loss with your insurance company. As an example, if you have a fire in your residence and lose a couch, and end table, and a portion of your carpet in our front room, the accurate listing of when and how much you paid for the items will assist you in establishing your loss.

On the inventory list indicate the room the property was located in. Make the description of the item as complete as possible. Include the manufacturer model and serial numbers, size, color, and material the item is made of. This list might include damage marks, repairs, etc. Make sure to list the manufacture's serial number on the list. Do not confuse the model with the serial number.

Home Safety

If you are bothered by obscene or threatening phone calls, hang up immediately then call the police non-emergency number (618) 457-3206 to report it. Always be observant of your surroundings. Would-be offenders look for that unsuspecting victim. If you live alone don't use your marital status or first name on your telephone listing or on your mail box. Get to know your neighbors. They are your single best means of safety and security when it comes to looking out for your property. When returning home, or to your car, have your keys in your hand so that you can let yourself in without delay. If you think you're being followed, don't go home! Go to a police or fire station, or an open business. If you go to a business, call the police from there to advise them what is happening. Park your car in well lighted areas. Lock the doors and take the keys with you. If you think a prowler is outside, take no direct action yourself. Lock all doors and windows and call the police immediately by dialing 911.

Tips provided by: www.vbgov.com