Someone sent me an interesting article called The CFL Mercury Nightmare, about a woman from Ellsworth, Maine, and her recent ordeal.

Essentially, she broke one of those new fangled "compact flourescent lightbulbs" (CFL) in her daughters bedroom.  She'd heard they contained hazardous materials and called Home Depot (where I assume she got it).  They told her that the CFLs contain mercury, and advised her to call Poison Control, who in turn recommended that she contact Maine's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).  The DEP sent out a specialist who took some measurements in the bedroom and discovered "mercury levels in the bedroom in excess of six times the state's "safe" level for mercury contamination".  The DEP agent suggested she contact an environmental cleanup firm, who gave her a cleanup estimate of $2,000.

OUCH!

These bulbs are supposed to save you money.  But they're DANGEROUS!  Damn, I don't want a bulb in my house that can cost me $2,000 to clean up if I break one - or pose serious health risks if I don't clean up a broken bulb properly.

Worst case scenario for a broken light bulb should be a few cuts on your feet or hands, not birth defects.

I wanted to share some more about Brian Vander Ark, and I found the following on YouTube... there's quite a bit more where it came from too....

245.0:  -22.2 pounds

Well, I haven't posted one of these in a while! To be honest, I haven't really been dieting or exercising.  Well, I started dieting again last Monday, and I lost 5.5 pounds this week.  I could've done better but we had a cookout Saturday night, at which I had a burger with a bun, macaroni salad, chips, and cookies..

I did go see the podiatrist on Friday, and since I wasn't actually experiencing any pain she was unable to diagnose anything.  She suggested that REAL walking would probably be less stressful than doing the treadmill.  Well, yesterday Emily and Adrienne went for a 3-1/2 mile bike ride (not bad for a 5 year old on a 16" bike with training wheels!).  I tagged along on foot, walking and jogging when necessary. 

And my foot hurts.

I really like the trail though.  I'm going to have Adrienne's co-worker Al keep an eye out for a good bike for me.  He got Adrienne's bike at a garage sale for $50 or so, and I think she's got a bike that retailed for over $500.  He's got a good eye for finding good bikes at garage sales.  I don't want to pay $500 for a bike, but $50 might not be too bad!

so anyway, I'm going to continue the low-carb, no soda thing this week.