As I wrote about earlier this year, my old phone had developed some kind of malignant growth on its display, and it was only a matter of time before it rendered the phone useless. But what do you want for $10? Virgin Mobile phones aren't the greatest out there, but they, like the service itself, are cheap and get the job done. So Santa brought me a nifty new Wildcard phone. It's designed for those who do a lot of text messaging, with its flip-open QWERTY keyboard and secondary display, and it has a decent 1 megapixel camera built into it.

I recycled my old phone using Virgin's recycling web site, which allows you to print a postage-paid mailing label and send your old phone back instead of sending it to a landfill. This is a great idea, but I have to question Virgin's level of commitment to environmental issues when every phone they sell is packaged in the dreaded and evil clamshell plastic that requires a plasma cutter to open. Make sure you remember to erase all of your personal data from the phone before you ship it back!

Santa was good to me this year. At the top of my wish list was this model from Garmin's very popular Nuvi series of GPS devices. The most notable feature on the 260w is its ability to say street names, which allows you to drive without taking your eyes off of the road. The touch screen has very good resolution, is remarkably easy to read (even in daylight), and it can display both 2D and 3D maps. Your position on the map is indicated by a customizable icon, and I like that you can choose from many different vehicles on their site and download them into the internal memory. I went with the "Burb Mobile."

This unit is excellent is for navigation while you are driving, but I was also interested in getting one that could be used for geocaching as well. I haven't actually done it yet, but it appears to be capable of this as well, with a few minor tweaks of the user preferences. Some older Garmin units need to have their firmware upgraded to allow entry of raw latitude and longitude values, but this one has that functionality right out of the box.

Lastly, I would recommend the purchase of the optional friction mount that allows the unit to sit on your dashboard, rather that suction-cupped to the windshield. The word on the street is that residue left on your windshield is a telltale sign for thieves looking to relieve you of your GPS gadgetry.

I hope you enjoy the third annual Pipes family christmas card. You may also view last year's card. After you watch it, please leave a comment so I know who has visited. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Back in July, I wrote about having a solar water heater installed. About the same time, I also had solar-powered attic vents installed by an outfit called The Energy Savings Store, and I wanted to document my experience with them for the benefit of anyone else that might be considering their services.

Overall, I was not pleased. I arranged an initial site survey with them via email. Some critical information was left out of our exchange as I was not informed ahead of time that the survey by itself would cost me $350. Now, that money would have been applied to the cost of a photovoltaic (PV) system, had I chosen to purchase one, but since I decided not to, I essentially paid $350 for them to inspect my house and tell me things I already knew. Like I had air leaks around my exterior doors, and I could use some insulation in my basement and attic. Some people might find this information worth the money, but for me, it just felt like I had been scammed. Subsequently, I made the decision to install some kind of vent fans in my attic, and I thought I might be able to apply that $350 to the cost of the install and at least get something for my money. I should have asked about that in advance, however, because as it turns out, attic fans are not eligible for that discount.

I elected to have two Solatube fans installed to replace my two existing ridge-mounted vents. A local handyman was hired to do the actual install, and he mistakenly removed the vent above our hallway bathroom. This was a stupid mistake and with a little more attention to detail it could have been avoided. But to make things worse, he did a terrible job of resealing around the vent when he put it back, so a week later when the remnants of Hurricane Ike blew through the midwest, it was raining in our bathroom, causing moderate damage to our bathroom ceiling. At roughly the same time, I noticed one of the two fans they installed was no longer working.

To their credit, they responded quickly to my report of the leak and fixed it the next day, and a replacement for the faulty fan was ordered and installed within a couple of weeks. But these issues did little to improve my initial feeling about the company, and my overall first impression of them is not good. The entire episode cost me well over a thousand dollars and my bathroom ceiling still isn't fixed. I would not recommend anyone use The Energy Savings Store.