Well, so am I. Jenny Persha  was way ahead with her post about the green plans for recovery at Greensburg,Kansas.  REALITY SERIES ON GREEN BUILDING.   As I commented at Jenny's post, there is now coverage of the project in the Kansas City Business Journal with an article by Rob Roberts.

One of the issues with small communities such as Greensburg is needed changes in town/city building codes to include green practices and materials.  Greensburg has addressed some of this with a resolution that city-owned buildings meet the US Green Building Council's highest rating, LEED Platinum.  But there are communities where green building is delayed while town/city councils or aldermen boards recognize, consider and adopt green building materials within the building codes or adjust some consideration for green practices.  Some subdivision plans are 'violated' by the placement of solar or wind power systems which do not fit the appearance rules in the Homeowners plans.  In our area, local power cooperatives are planning incredible rate increases over the next few years which make alternatives more and more appealing.  But, communities, including towns, cities,or subdivisions, could help smooth the way for their citizens to make the most of tools that can end up GREENER and if equally expensive, at least under their control. 

All of it can be changed, but the changes take time.  Bravo for Greensburg and that community's efforts.  I hope it doesn't take tornados to wake other small communities up.  Real estate professionals and those connected with the real estate business can keep up with Greensburg progress at www.greensburgks.org

Green's been a-draggin', but that is changing for the good.  We're a-draggin' Green forward day by day.

Just as I was walking in the door on Wednesday, the phone was ringing. When I answered, someone in a surly tone asked me a garbled question.  "Excuse me?"  

The surly question was asked a bit more clearly.  "Will you be supporting XXXXXX ( a prominent Democratic candidate for governor of Missouri)?  It almost sounded like a threat, so I responded, "What will happen to me if I don't?"  

Growler: "Well, are ya undecided or are ya leanin' toward the Republicans?"  Which, frankly, my dear, is none of  your d--n business.    Not to be bullied and intimidated into silence by a pollster, I gave her my answer and we ended the call.

Dick told me I should be patient; the pollster had probably been calling all day and was tired.  Maybe had a cold.  Or missed lunch and needed supper.  Yada, Yada. 

Then, I had a wonder.  Do you suppose this candidate's support crew has been infiltrated by the Libertarians or the Republicans and is not a believer?  Therefore, is growling at people during calls to subtly  influence voter feelings?   It could have worked if I hadn't already made up my mind about her candidate.  

Customer service is an integral part of how we treat people every day.  If this pollster is any indication of the service mission, what would happen in the Governor's Mansion. It is only a few years, but too many to risk. I am awarding this candidate  a GONG for having a tacky, amateur campaign so early in the race.  Be careful about recruiting jerks who talk to the public in your name!   A second gong goes to the surly caller; your growling was indeed prize worthy.

I do not work for, nor have affiliation for the companies I am going to write about today.  I have just experienced uplifting great customer service from them and their "mail order" or online shopping, this week.  Acknowledgement just wouldn't stay out of my new blog, Chips, at OzarksMountainCountry.com.  where there is more detail.

Customer Service Award for Transformer Tools and Clothing   

  Since their beginnings, we have been proud customers of Cabelas.   When they were in one CROWDED old building in downtown Sidney Nebraska, we were thrilled to be there shopping.  When the first new dramatic store opened at Sidney we were really pleased because Sidney was now an even better place to stop on Interstate 80 in Nebraska.   When more stores opened across the country, we were happy for the business success of people we almost considered to be neighbors.

This week I needed to order some items from a sale catalog and the sales personnel handled my questions with ease, giving me the information I needed.  She helped me pre-order an item that was backordered.  Then, with good business views, she did a little up-selling with a good deal on those little fold-up tools that transform into pliers, knives, etc. etc.  This one had a little LED light and fit the pattern for things I always look for as stocking stuffers.  

My occasion to try out customer service came when the shipment arrived and I was short a transformer tool!   The customer service personnel almost read my mind with my issue, moving ahead of me to get me connected with the staff who could make sure my missing transformer got shipped quickly.  Exactly as they promise, the tool arrived safely and EARLIER than they estimated.

Customer Service Award for Office Supplies

    For over 20 years, I have used Quill as an office supply resource.  The service is quick.  Their supply is ample and the prices right.  There is a regular perk that sets  me off as a 'talker' for word of mouth marketing for Quill.  When I order from this company, with few justifiable exceptions, and spend $45, there is no added shipping. 

This week I had questions regarding an item I needed to order which weren't addressed in the descriptions.  I needed the item to come with a container or have a resource to get containers after the order.  Customer service staff checked deep with tech support at Quill and even tried to contact the packager/distributor in an effort to answer my questions.  All done with incredible patience.

Customer Service Award for Digital Cameras

When I needed a new camera this week, my past experience with an HP camera led me to start shopping there.  The experience, as before, was great for this item.  The customer service is what I am awarding, though.  The salesman was from Idaho and we could converse.  He was informed and answered my questions very well and handled the purchase so smoothly that I felt as if it might not have happened.   When I called the next day for confirmation, the customer service staff at Hewlett Package was again helpful and responsible, answering my questions and even offering me reassuring delivery information that was entirely accurate.  The little red camera arrived exactly when he said it would.

This week the Mansfield Mirror announced the availablity of free centennial calendars to help commemorate 100 years of journalism in Mansfield, Missouri. 

The Mirror plans to note the celebration with a special historical section this Spring featuring Mirror and Mansfield history and vintage photographs. 

There will be a special Mansfield Mirror cancellation marking at the Mansfield Post Office.

The Mansfield Historical Society has had a rich display of publications, but has offered additonal exhibit space to the Mirror this year for specific Mansfield Mirror items.

Not to be left to dusty, musty paper, the Mansfield Mirror is available online with RSS feed; right up there with the big boys.  Mansfield Mirror

At the Mansfield Chamber of Commerce website and my own regional blog: Ozarks Mountain Country/Ozarks Mystique you will find more information during the year regarding this remarkable and admirable milestone for the Mansfield Mirror.  This would be a good year to subscribe to the weekly paper and build a collection of information about the historic Ozarks.

The Ozarks has long attracted people who wanted to live here in the rolling hills that make up the Ozarks Mountains and the Ozarks Plateau where the land is vital and nourishing.  The mounain area with swift rivers which now are tamed by dramatic lakes had attracted tourists for generations.  The people are hardworking, friendly, but appreciate solitude.  If you choose to investigate the Ozarks as a place for your next home, you will find a plethora of talented skilled neighbors who are compassionate and smarter than they may have been given credity for.

In a conversation recently, someone shared they were having trouble with a little thing in email that unfortunately many of us with some experience take for granted.

When, at our house, we were all embracing technology a few years ago, some moved ahead of others.  It was SO tempting, when they asked for help, to just say, "Oh here let me do it." -- grab the mouse and fix it for them.  Or for them to get into the habit of calling the 'know-hows' to their rescue.   And, mouse hogs that we "know-hows' were, frequently, we kept our bit of power.

In our email conversation, a couple of us commented, "Oh, that is SO easy.  Just click this and right click that and there you go."  When I got back to my computer and checked, I found that the little things we were doing unconsciously, are not SO easy.  

This lesson led to the beginning of Chips of Opinion as a simple wordpress blog and part of Ozarks Mountain Country .  The chips won't be limited to computer tips, and I have no clear idea where it is going. It just was time to fill a need for the Ozark, Mansfield,Missouri and scattered readers.

We are becoming more assertive and energetic in Mansfield, Missouri. If you have thought about moving to the Ozarks, you will find creative, ingenuity and resourcefulness among your friendly new neighbors.  

Mansfield Home Center is the new name for the former Mansfield Building Supply.  We are enjoying some creative, but classy new TV commercials for Mansfield Home Center on local (Springfield, MO) television.   We are glad to see aggressive marketing of a good business for Mansfield.  I recommend similar alert marketing for other businesses.  And for those who wonder, Mansfield is alive and well.

Congratulations on the new moves, Mansfield Home Center. I am complimented to be able to acknowledge you at my other blog, Ozarks Mystique on the OzarksMountainCountry.com website.

There are two other stores connected to Mansfield Home Center in Mansfield, Missouri. They are Ava Home Center and Gainesville Home Center. 

If you are thinking of moving to the Ozarks, the smaller towns that are home to the company that owns Mansfield Home Center and the others will be there to greet you and provide you with product and customer service that will match that of any other part of the country.

Those little puzzle boxes that you have to solve or type in the letters when you complete a secure form on the Internet -- know them?  A computer spam spider can't read them; only a human can recognize them because of their presentation and arrangement. Have you seen the ones that seem to have two words that are not always related or seem to make sense?   Recently, I have noticed them and thought that this puzzle thing was just getting more complicated to improve security.  The puzzle thing actually has a name 'captcha'.

Someone figured out that it takes an average of 10 seconds to do the average Captcha puzzle.  Then, they made the rest of the math for how many hours people spent every year solving captcha puzzles and wished for that time to be spent productively for the good of the world.

There is a scanning system used that is supposed to translate letters and words called OCR -- Optical Character Recognition.   The OCR software is vastly wanting.  Just doesn't work.  Sometimes the print is messed up, sometimes the OCR language is just hurting.  So, when books or printed items are scanned, OCR appears to make up stuff. ( I can do that, but I'm not this time)

The funky captcha puzzles are letter combinations that are not translating and need the good old human eye to take a look.  Then, the most frequently repeated 'translations' through the captcha puzzles are compared and schzam, there is the right word!  And before you know it, another book has been digitized properly by utilizing casually spent, if not waste, time.  A fun recycle system!

What does this have to do with the price of onions?   Probably very little, but it did please me to know it even though it appears many others may have known about it earlier.  The topic for me fits the "Damn, I wish I had written or thought of that!"

Remember when a cell phone  was intended for emergencies?   Remember how the phone usually lived in a box or case under the backseat of your car waiting for you to have car trouble or pass someone on the road who had car trouble?

Now we have a computer the size of a candy bar where we can check email, news, and generally play office.  And horror stories of how the services and tools have led to outrageous bills because someone didn't clearly understand details.  Some of the tales may be urban myths, but they have some value if they make us sit up and take notice.

Many of us are still mentally working with the emergency phone  where we had a base rate we paid and were very aware of the high cost per minute of a call on the cell phone.    We are inclined to ignore what could be happening to our bill with text messages and computing.  

The service providers  have managed to stay legal without making it REALLY clear what their little monster is clocking up to your account.  The onus is on YOU to be informed and careful.

Your TEXT plan may not qualify for all numbers, particularly 900#s.  You can be charged for random advertising TEXT MESSAGES and EMAIL that are basically spam.  You can go to your service provider and block spam, but you should expect to have to pay for the messages that you let get past you before you caught on.

Your browser plan that lets you check email and weather on your cell phone may not extend to the idea of using the phone as a MODEM to connect your computer to the Internet.    Because the connections are different,  may is too tentative.  You can be pretty certain that the service doesn't cover your computer connection and that there will be some very high fees for the time you are online.   A few minutes may be very well worth the cost, but using the service all day for weeks will 'break the bank'.

Your plans may be for VOICE or text transmission only.  Or the plans may truly be for the whole basket of fruit. It would be sad to have elements of your service that you neglected to use because you didn't know about that part.  If the fine print is difficult to digest, call the customer support department for your service provider before you begin using a designer service.  Get solid information and write it down.

On Friday afternoon, November 9, veterans, citizens and school children met at the Mansfield, Missouri school for a program recognizing local veterans.

Sixteen veterans in the Mansfield area were recognized with the package which includes a medal, a certificate from the State of Missouri and the United States Government, letters from Governor Matt Blunt (a veteran) and Major General Stillwell.  Two of the awards went posthumously to a WWII veteran and a VietNam veteran. Tech Sgt. Bobby Doss received three medals recognizing service in three theaters of combat: World War II, Korea, and Vietnam.   This presentation project was performed in communities all over Missouri.

Spec.4 Fred Overbeck received, in addition to the Missouri medal, a Purple Heart medal which has been 36 years in the process.  Chester Green, World War II veteran was recognized, but absent as he is in the hospital.  Recently, Green was awarded a Purple Heart medal he earned during service in Italy during 1944 combat.

Excerpts from a speech made by John Doane, member of the Mansfield Legion Post are posted at my other blog-- Ozarks Mystique 

I read a very articulate news item this morning about the power demands for our standby ‘tools' and equipment.   For along time, I have been carrying on about the green issue of leaving a computer turned on all the time.  In terms of our pocketbooks, to leave a computer turned on has been estimated to be about the equivalent of leaving two light bulbs burning all night - not the new low usage bulbs, but the old ones.   This doesn't ruin the economy at our house.  What does get my attention the consideration about having 2 million homes and/or offices leaving their computer on all night.  The cost to each individual is so small as to be difficult to calculate.  But the electricity demand on the power plants is affected by that demand.

The article I saw this morning, written by  does some of the figuring of costs in terms of dollars and cents as well as the cost in terms of unnecessary energy use.   Noah Buhayar, Fellow at the Rocky Mountain Institute wrote  Getting savvy about standby power  calling the equipment Vampire tools which suck at your economy.

I am a fan of alternative energy use such as solar and wind. But, because there is no billing from the local co-op for wind or solar use each month, we need to remember there is a cost.  The delivery equipment such as solar panels or windmills is expensive.  

How much does a household need?  If we want a power supply that will be equivalent of our present ‘no brainer' grid use, the cost for the equipment is high enough to make one blink.   Of course, we can make decisions about power use and change that need.  With today's thinking about what we need for services and creature comfort, those decisions must be carefully considered before jumping off the grid or the experience can be comparable to jumping off of a high cliff.

Who maintains the equipment?  Yep, you and me!   When a tree got into our power line and messed with a small part, we could call the power company and trained people were there In minutes to fix the issue.  They safely removed a broken branch from the power area and gave a mulberry tree a haircut in the dark.  Electrocution from a solar generator or a wind generator is still electrocution.     Electrocution doesn't have any consideration for the ignorant who may be swept into the romantic mission of producing their own power.

Please don't misunderstand.  I am very supportive of alternatives.  I admit a preference passive alternatives such as window placement for solar gain.   Solar tubes and homemade modifications can change the lighting in a dark area so dramatically and eliminate the demand for lights. 

We have a TINY eastern basement window.  Now that the grasses have gone down that were growing behind the water reservoir, I am amazed at the light in the basement.  The first time I saw it, I thought Richard had gone to work leaving the garage door open to invite mice, copperheads and turtles to come in.  All of this light gain is through a VERY dusty window.  When I finish this missive, I'm going down there and clean that window, then bring the plants indoors before we get a nasty freeze tonight.   The light they will enjoy is far from optimal for their growth, but it is good ‘resting' light for them to have a chance of surviving to spend another summer in the yard or on the deck.

Please go over to read the article about our On Demand Equipment Power Use (Vampire equipment). 

http://green.yahoo.com/blog/amorylovins/14/getting-savvy-about-standby-power.html

 The writer says it so very well.  Read and think about things that can be shut down. I like the idea of going around my office and shutting off the surge protector power strips.  I do this when I leave the house, but have gotten presumptive about it when I am here.

JudyAnn Lorenz, Bar JD Communications