It's truly terrific news that the recent fires in California are mostly behind us. I worry for all the people who have lost their homes in those fires. This isn't at all unlike a hurricane hitting Florida or the Gulf Coast. Disasters like these uproot entire neighborhoods. Some will rebuild. Some will leave and never return. None will ever be the same.

I can't help but wonder how many people's lives will be made even more complicated than they already are because they've lost all contact with their records. Think about it for a minute. How many accounts do you have? You have financial accounts, probably checking, maybe savings, a brokerage account. There's your 401(k), your IRA (maybe a couple of them). You probably have one or more nsurance policies, and a mortgage. Don't forget credit cards.

The list goes on and on. My personal stress level goes through the roof thinking how awful it would be to try to reconstruct all that information literally from ashes. I have three recommended ways to safeguard your personal information in the event of disaster

After I wrote yesterday's article about solving problems in today's greener world, I started to wonder about whether the thought process represented a lasting shift in thinking. And if it did, then what might be the consequences of bringing the green team into the mainstream of our daily lives.

I know that might sound ridiculous, but think about it a minute. Let's use yesterday's article as an example. Suppose one of the listeners to that Sunday morning program picked up on the idea of waiting a few seconds before withdrawing the filling nozzle from the gas tank. As a solution, this well-meaning inventor designs a new nozzle which prevents the user from removing the nozzle from his or her gas tank for 5 seconds after the fuel flow shuts off.

Now despite the fact that you and I, as gasoline consumers, would probably hate such a product; suppose it actually managed to gain acceptance and became a fact of our lives. I know, it's very unlikely, even laughable. Stranger things have happened though.

Driving to meet with friends yesterday morning, I noticed my favorite music station wasn't playing music. In place of the tunes I wanted to hear was the early Sunday morning DJ conducting an interview.

I came in to the conversation somewhere in the middle so I don't know who the DJ was interviewing. I do know the interviewee had something to do with living a greener life. She was going on about all the new plans for walking communities on drawing boards in our metro area and giving tips for listeners to be greener.

One of her tips stuck with me. She said it was important to wait a few seconds before removing the nozzle when filling your car with gas. Her argument was those few seconds would give the last few drops in the nozzle time to drip off into your gas tank rather than onto your car or the ground.

I agree it makes no sense to spill any gas at all. The evaporating fumes are bad for the environment and what doesn't evaporate probably adds up to a mini toxic waste dump. But what got me going was the ineffective solution she was proposing to a problem we, the listeners, know little about.