You're changing your oil too often!

The old "rule" about changing your oil every three months or 3,000 miles is just that ... OLD. Most cars and light trucks can easily go 7,500 to 10,000 miles on an oil change. The state of California just completed a two-year, three-million-mile study on Oil Change Intervals which proves that. You can read about it at The 3000 mile myth site.

If you're lucky, you're driving a vehicle which has an oil life monitor. These devices are available on most newer GM vehicles, many Chrysler products and some imports. They calculate the oil life based on the actual use of the vehicle. It's not necessary to change the oil until a message appears on your dashboard that it's time. On the two vehicles I own which are so equipped, the oil change intervals run 12,000 to 15,000 miles!

The simple truth is that both engines and oil have improved dramatically in the last forty years. Changing oil too often is expensive, unnecessary, and (perhaps worst) really, really bad for our environment.

(Please consult your vehicle's documentation for recommended oil change intervals. Some particularly harsh environments or rough uses will require more frequent changes, but 75-90 percent of drivers will fit into the recommendations for normal use.)

Random Quotes

Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; and I want you to remember this, that love... true love never dies. You remember that, boy. You remember that. Doesn't matter if it's true or not. You see, a man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in.
--Hub McCann in the movie "Secondhand Lions"

In the old days, people worried that computers would take over the world. We have now come to a point where computers are intelligent enough to realize that they don't want to.
--Randy Cassingham, thisistrue.com

The Unretired

Business Week magazine, in the December 15, 2008 issue (page 46), has an article on The Unretired. These are people who retired, but due to the economic downturn are now hurting financially, and in many cases going back to work.

A couple of quotes, just a few paragraphs apart, stood out to me:

These aren't just the spendthrifts or sloppy planners you would expect to run into trouble in retirement ... many are people who did everything they were supposed to do -- working for decades and regularly socking money away.

Peter Fay, like many of The Unretired, feels angry and betrayed. The 63-year-old built up a $1 million retirement account as an executive at companies including Chiquita Brands International and then at his own high-end flooring company in Scottsdale, Ariz. But with all his money in stocks, he's lost 50% of that this year, at the same time that his house has tumbled in value. He's drawing down his savings and applying for jobs at Lowe's, Home Depot, and Costco. "All the systems we grew up trusting during all those years of work -- you save your money, you trust in the government -- are no longer valid," he says.

Did you catch that? "all his money in stocks" This is doing "what they were supposed to do?" I know of NO reputable financial planner or advisor who would recommend a retiree (or near-retiree) have all his money in stocks, even in the heady days of the market of the last few years.

Quite the opposite. He (and/or his financial advisors) were apparently driven by pure greed. If history can't teach people that greed is ultimately bad for them, nothing will, I suppose.

Grammar

Grammar is important, but it's not the hallmark of great writing. Rather, it's a tool to help us express ourselves and understand others.
It's what separates "Let's eat children!" from "Let's eat, children!"

--Martha Brockenbrough
Errors that Aren't: 12 Grammar Rules You Can Toss Out the Window

Why they call us a "right-to-work" state

Section 12 of Article 15 of the Constitution of the State of Kansas:

Membership or nonmembership in labor organizations.
No person shall be denied the opportunity to obtain or retain employment because of membership or nonmembership in any labor organization, nor shall the state or any subdivision thereof, or any individual, corporation, or any kind of association enter into any agreement, written or oral, which excludes any person from employment or continuation of employment because of membership or nonmembership in any labor organization.

The cost of college sports

I'm all in favor of co-curricular activities. Students need to be involved in sports, or music, or drama, or other activities outside their area of study in order to be well-rounded. For some students, it is the co-curricular activities that keep them in school. But I think the sense of proportion goes right out the window when it comes to college sports, and in particular college football.

Here are some interesting numbers from the December 2008 / January 2009 issue of Fast Company magazine (page 48):

-- The college football economy is worth an estimated yearly $6,000,000,000. (Yes, that's six billion dollars!)
-- Ohio State University had the nation's largest athletic budget last year: $109,382,222. That's nearly $110,000 for each of it's 980 athletes. (Except that when I do the math, I get $111,614.51 per athlete!)
-- Fox paid $330,000,000 to air all Bowl Championship Series games except the Rose Bowl from 2007-2010.
-- WINS: Merchandise royalties for the University of Texas doubled to $8,000,000 after it won the 2006 national championship.
-- LOSSES: NBC Pays $9,000,000 per year for the broadcast rights to home games at Notre Dame, which went 3-9 last season. Ratings have dropped 47% since 2005.
-- New Orleans got an economic boost estimated at $400,000,000 from hosting last year's national championship.
-- The 619 schools competing in NCAA football in 2007 tallied total attendance of 48,751,861.
-- Last season's 32 bowl games collectively drew 1,700,000 fans. Another 129,000,000 households tuned in to TV broadcasts.
-- Average home-game attendance in 2007 at Texas A&M's Kyle field: 82,207.
Estimated population in 2007 of College Station, Texas, home to Texas A&M: 80,315.

The Poetry of Dorothea Mackellar

I'm not sure how it happened, but my Australian buddy and I got to talking about poetry the other day. He began quoting a poem he'd learned in school. It's called My Country, and was written by Dorothea Mackellar (1885-1968).

I just had to look her up, and what I found amazed me. Frankly, I'm not much into poetry. I've never really understood it, I guess. I'd rather read good prose anytime. But the poems I read from her were so moving, so touching ... it was obvious that she had worked hard to make sure every word was in just the right place to carry the exact shade of meaning she wanted. Her poems don't just paint pictures, they tug at my heart and pull me into her pictures.

I'll quote a couple of her shorter poems here, and if you want more I'll suggest The Official Dorothea Mackellar Site.

The Waiting Life
Since it befell, with work and strife
I had not time to live my life
I turned away from it until
Work should be done and strife be still.

My hands and head for use are free,
Nor does my own life worry me,
But docile as a spaniel waits
Until this present stress abates.

Tranquil it breathes, and waits, I know,
With all its joy contained. But oh
I hope when I have time to play
My life will not have run away!

This next one really surprised me at how much it touched my emotions.

An Old Song
The almond bloom is overpast, the apple blossoms blow.
I never loved but one man, and I never told him so.

My flowers will never come to fruit, but I have kept my pride -
A little, cold, and lonely thing, and I have naught beside.

The spring-wind caught my flowering dreams, they lightly blew away.
I never had but one true love, and he died yesterday.

If you have no time to read any more of her poetry, I hope you can at least read about "a sunburnt country" in My Country, which is probably her most famous poem.