Earth Hour is today from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. your local time. If your city is not participating, it doesn’t mean you can’t.

 To Sign Up and for more information, visit the Earth Hour website.

I am in Mountain View and wondering to myself, why didn’t I move here? The weather is beautiful and the area I am staying is right next to Downtown Mountain View which is a great area with tons of restaurants.

The first night I went Pho Hoa and had the largest bowl of Ph? Tái, Bò Viên in my life.

On the way back to the hotel I stopped to get some snacks and found a bag of Chester’s Flamin’ Hot Fries. FRIES! When did Cheester start making fries? How many variations of Cheeto’s can they make? The bag of Cheeto’s Puffs I bought is just a puffy version of the regular Cheeto’s.

While riding in the cab to and from my training I noticed all the trees were blossoming. It reminds me of sakura… even the Mountain View area reminds of Japan. There’s the train and the stations, plus the crosswalk chirps.

Tonight I went looking for ramen. I didn’t find the place I was looking for but I did find a decent substitute. I went to Maru Ichi Noodle House and had their tonkatsuspecial ramen.

On the way back to the hotel I stopped at Therapy. Interesting store that was half women’s fashion, 1/4 interior design and 1/4 stationary. I found these great paper toys by Monkey Design and bought one of each.

I am going to be a bit depressed leaving this great area, but I am looking forward to finishing up my first floor.

Last year an individual representing themselves from U.S. Energy (Government Agency?) came to my house promising significant savings over my current natural gas provider and setting a fixed rate for five years.

He even offered an opportunity to help the environment by guaranteeing so many therms would be geothermal. That of course costs an additional $5/therm.

Sounded good. Save money now and guarantee a low rate into the future.

Silly me… or shame on U.S. Energy Savings Corp?

It also appears that they are the same or part of Energy Savings Group.

Well, I got my first bill from them and my jaw dropped. Previously I was paying about $40 per month on my providers budget plan which breaks your average usage up so you don’t have periods of large payments.

My budget plan with U.S. Energy Savings Corp is $136 per month plus $20 per month to my billing people. So with a bit of math, I am paying $116 more per month for something that was supposed to save me money.

I immediately called U.S. Energy Savings Corp and was routed to a call center in India. The rep tried to convince me that the markets change and I was better off by staying on the program. Well, for $116 a month, I’ll take that risk.

She finally agreed to cancel my service as a “customer service courtesy.”

(It really bugged me that she asked if she could call me by my first name, I said yes, and she continuously called me Mr. David)

I will be watching my bill closely because what I have read is that the cost is first, not fixed, and second, there may be a cancellation fee which this rep did not indicate to me.

Afterwards, I proceeded to the Better Business Bureau and logged a complaint. They make it very easy to do now.

Then with a little more research, I find out that the Illinois Attorney General has filed a suit against U.S. Energy Savings Corp in February 2008 for deceptive sales practice.

I feel dumb for being duped, but at least I am not alone. I will update this as I get more information.

I washed my clothes. Ran them through the dryer and then wore my freshly washed pants on Monday.

They stunk.

I thought to myself, “Are my pants on fire?”

Obviously the answer was no but, what was that smell? It was definitely coming from my pants and it became so bad, I left work early.

I would describe the smell like burnt rubber.

That lead me to ask myself the following set of questions:

• Did one of my pants get stuck in the dryer and somehow burn?
• Did the motor in my dryer burn out and then pass the smell on to my clothes?
• Did a rag with some sort of oil end up in my wash?
• Is the vent clogged?
• Is it that difficult for you to believe it’s not butter?

After some deep thought and a quick search on the internet, I discovered it was because I have been doing some remodeling.

I used mineral spirits to remove the adhesive that was used for the carpet padding. It was low-odor, but still flamable. Anything flamable, especially the fumes tend burn pretty easily and with it being cold, there was no ventillation.

I thought I kept smelling something funny when doing the laundry and now I know I was. Even when I was cooking (with gas) it smelled a bit funny – almost like kerosene.

A few days later, the smell is finally going away and I am using test clothes to run through the dryer.

You may be happy to know, my pants were not on fire.

On a Airbus A320, seat 13F is a window seat. I love window seats. You get to look outside and see the world from a point of view that you can’t normally.

I had row 13F reserved for my flight back from Minnesota. The flight was delayed an hour and I sure was looking forward to getting home and enjoying a window seat.

Of course if everything went right, I wouldn’t be writing about it.

Got to my row and low and behold, someone was sitting in my seat and it wasn’t Goldilocks.

I asked the guy what seat he had and he in turn asked me what seat I had. I showed him my ticket to which he responded he has 13E. But, there is no way he would have booked anything other than a window seat and it’s only an hour flight.

He told me if I really want, he’ll move. Him, sitting there with his books and bags all about. What to do. Be an asshole and tell him to move holding up the entire line of people waiting to board? I suspect that was his plan from the beginning.

After I get seated I look at him and tell him it obvious he knows how to read and we have all been waiting to take off. His feeble attempt at small talk just gets a little grunt of a response telling him I’m in no mood for chit-chat.

So, if you are really that inconsiderate and really need a window seat – take a car. I look forward to the next time we meet.