"I'm kicking the Habit..." 'Douglas Dunn' (Cosmic Tuesday's)

Welcome guest blogger Douglas Dunn, On Stage with Barack Obama
California Democratic Convention
April 2007

Douglas Dunn runs a small publishing consulting business in which he works with individuals who are self-publishing books. Doug has been a certified American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter (for Deaf people), and  last but not least he has also been a Democratic Party media spokesperson for San Diego County, and has appeared at numerous forums in which multiple parties were represented. Please enjoy as Doug blogs about kicking the addiction of petroleum... To be continued when Doug's new car is delivered to him.

Doug welcoming Hillary Clinton to the San Diego Democratic convention in 2007  as she consults with him about kicking the petroleum  habit..Check out the You-tube of Doug signing Hillary Clinton's speech!
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=DDWiz27#p/u/1/k3UsCQWOHSg  

Time to kick the habit. Time to “just say no.”

I’m tired of pulling into gas stations and pouring dollars and oil-based energy bought from terrorist pushers down the hatch.

Definitely time to move beyond the gas guzzler. Yep, that gas-guzzling Prius and been a sweet ride for lo these eight years (and 160,000 miles) but time to upgrade to the 100% electric Nissan Leaf.

Did the test drive.
Placed the order.
Got the home charger installed.
Got some nifty “I kicked the habit” stickers sent to me by Nissan USA.

Now just waiting for a car to stick ’em on — waiting impatiently for the dealer to call and say my car has finally pulled into port and ready for me to come in and pick it up. Delivery is scheduled for the first week in September. If any variation, hope it is because the car got here early.

Looking forward to the day when I can plug the Leaf into my solar panels and drive off, powered by sunshine -- the free gift of energy from Apollo the sun god or whatever other deities there may be.

Looking forward to the day when I can just say NO.

NO gas.
NO oil changes.
NO tune-ups.
NO valves, rings, pistons, timing belt.
NO radiator or coolant to maintain.
NO regular power train maintenance.
NO smog checks ever.

Of course, the biggest drawback to an all-electric car, especially here in auto-addicted Southern California where we drive long distances routinely, is “range anxiety.” (For my friends in Kaua‘i, where short local trips are more the norm, this might not be as problematic -- and, yes, Hawai‘i is one of the 9 roll-out states.) But the Leaf is designed to go 100+ miles on a charge, and “rapid charge” stations are now being installed throughout the roll-out areas so that one can get almost a full charge in only about 20 minutes. It would still be inconvenient stopping for a 20-minute recharge every 100 miles or so on a cross-country long-distance drive, but for routine driving it meets most needs, and we’ll be keeping the trusty Prius as a second car and backup.

Delivery of the car is still several patience-challenging weeks away. But I eagerly wait my turn to climb into the sleek, smooth silence and ride off into the sunset ... or plug into it.

Check out DougsDoug's websites below...
Politics website:
http://www.wordwiz72.com/dem.html
Sign language web pages:
http://www.wordwiz72.com/interp/
http://www.wordwiz72.com/interp/aslvideos.html