Slow Down Save Money

Many people have criticized me for driving slower than an old person (no offense to old people). I've always told them that I'm saving money. Most people don't believe me that driving the speed limit or slightly slower can help save you money at the pump and now there are others who agree with me.

The U.S. Department of Energy says that most cars perform at optimal efficiency at 55 mph. Their research shows that the faster you go, the less fuel efficient your vehicle is: at 60 mph it's 3% less efficient, 65 mph 8% less efficient, 70 mph 17% less efficient and going 75 mph is 23% less fuel efficient than going 55 mph. But what do these numbers actually mean, especially for your wallet at the pump?

A TV station in Florida put the numbers to the test to see what they actually mean for your budget. They drove a route around Tampa twice. One time they drove 55 to 65 mph and the other time they drove 65 to 80 mph and then compared the results. The 94 mile trip going 55-65 used 3.68 gallons of gas and cost $13.63. Going 65-80 mph on the same 94 mile trip was 19 minutes faster but will cost you at the pump. Going faster used 5.53 gallons of gas and cost $20.47, $6.84 more for gas when going 65 or slower. It's not just the highway speed that can save you money at the pump. Also accelerating and slowing down less aggressively will save you money while you are doing city driving.

If you don't believe me, try it out for yourself and keep track of your miles per gallon. You may not think you're saving all that much money but as gas prices keep rising you could be surprised. Maybe not right away but if you commit to driving different and slow down you could end up saving around $1000 on gas a year. And as always be safe when you hit the road.

How Old Is Too Old To Teddy Bear?

"I can't fall asleep without my teddy bear!" One would think that's a common enough phrase when talking about a six year old, but what about a 28 year old guy? Apparently that's exactly what you’d be hearing if you were in Great Britain. According to a survey done by Travelodge around 35% of adults still sleep with their teddy bears. They say that it helps them de-stress and fall asleep. I thought that was a little weird but it gets stranger. Twenty-five percent of men say that they take their teddy bear with them when they go away on business trips. They say the same thing, the bears help them fall asleep because it reminds them of home and helps them cuddle. I understand that they might miss home, and that cuddling can help you fall asleep but couldn't they just use another pillow?

The weirdest thing about the survey was that 15% of guys still consider their teddy bear their best friend and still share intimate secrets with it. Hmmmm? I don't know any guys that still sleep with their teddy bear, or maybe I do but they would never admit it but still talking to it is very weird. Get a dog or cat or something.

That brings up the question, how old is too old to be sleeping with a stuffed animal? I stopped when I was about 12 years old and I thought that was too old. I guess I was wrong. The one thing from the survey that I didn't find weird was that 50% of adults still have their original teddy bear. I've had my teddy bear since I was 6 months old (his name is Scoteph, I don't know why) and I would never get rid of him. No I don't still sleep with him; he's still at my parent’s house in the bass drum for my drum set. I'm the kind of guy that likes to hold onto those sorts of things. However, I'm not still sleeping with him or sharing secrets with him. If you're one of those guys, more power to you I guess, you're probably getting a better sleep than the rest of us.

What's In A Name? Nothing Good

I believe it was Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet who asked "what's in a name?" Good question. Apparently what's in a name these days is nothing but regret and shame. That's because a recent survey done in the UK shows that over 50% of parents regret the names they gave their children. Another 49% of parents don't believe the name they chose lived up to the child’s personality in life.

A couple of points to make here: First off, what the heck does the name not matching someone’s personality mean? What type of personality is an Elizabeth or Ryan supposed to have? Unless you name your kid Jeeves or Ichabod I don't think you’re setting them up for anything too specific down the road.

Secondly, naming a kid is a big responsibility. That's something that stays with them forever, or a at least until they turn18 and can change it (surprisingly enough the number of name changes has gone up from about 5,000 in 2000 to 58,000 last year.) It must be hard to pick a name that not everyone else is going to have, but not one that's so weird and out there that the kid will be made fun of for the rest of their life. I like foreign sounding names but those names can be difficult because they are so different. People might not be able to say them correctly or they might have parts of them that the mean kids would make fun of them for. For example I really like the name Sergei (pronounced sir-gay it's Russian) but you can imagine how middle school would be for that guy.

I personally think my parents did a great job naming my brother and myself. My name is Scot Edward Frassetto or Scot E. My brother’s name is Mike Albert or Mike Al. I also like only having one "T" in my name. I've gotten used to explaining to people that it's different and it gives me a good example for not being able to spell.

So parents, good luck. Your decision on the name will apparently be the determining factor on whether you kid will be a world class lawyer or a dyslexic typesetter.

Urine Trouble If You See Pee Like This

Often times you may hear health experts talk about being properly hydrated. It can help prevent you from getting sick, lose weight, and keep you awake and focused. They tell you how much water it should take to stay hydrated (they recommend 64 oz a day.)

That's great, but most people are doing a million things in a day and aren't going to keep track of how many glasses of water they've had. So how do you know if you're getting enough H2O? You can tell by the color of your urine. This is a chart from the Boy Scouts of America. The lighter the urine, the better hydrated you are. If your pee is yellow or dark yellow, you should drink some water to get yourself hydrated again. A great way to make sure that you get enough water is to always have it around you. Having a cold picture in the fridge has helped me drink more water. Before a couple of summers ago, I never got enough water. Then I started carrying a water bottle around with me. It doesn't have to be a $20 aluminum bottle. I just re-used a plastic bottle I bought at a gas station. Now, I always have a water bottle with me and I'm normally in the clear.

Facebook 5000 Flack aka Me Wearing a Dress

K107.1 is in the middle of our Facebook 5000. What does that mean for you? Well, if you like us in February you're entered to win $107. If you already like us, get your friends to like us and have them tell us on our wall that it was you that sent them our way. As an unfortunate added incentive, for every 100 likes that we get at K107's Facebook page I have to do something stupid and/or embarrassing.

On Monday I had to wear a dress and walk across the street to A&W to get lunch. For me, that was embarrassing and I didn't enjoy the experience. I have caught some flack because I wore jeans under the dress and a zip sweatshirt. I would like it to be known that I did that because it was cold out. I don't mean to call out the voters who made me wear the dress but you should have thought about the situation more. It's winter, and you wanted to have someone wear a dress in the cold. The idea is to embarrass me, not make me sick. Had you waited to have me wear a dress in the summer there would’ve been more skin but because you voters were too impatient, there will be no dress wearing do over.

Lucky for you, I will continue to do embarrassing things for every 100 likes that we get but the dress is out. I will make an exception. If we get 5000 like by Summer, the dress option will come back. Until then here is the video of me from Feb 13, 2012 of me in a dress. Sorry to disappoint and enjoy.

Top 5 Love Songs For Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day everyone! Hope you are all having a great day. Today at K107.1 we tried to get you into the romantic mood with our top five love songs brought to you by Fox Diamond Center and Botanicals. Chuck was our listener winner and walked away with some great prizes including a necklace from Fox Diamond Center and a dozen roses from Botanicals. We all hope you enjoyed the K Crew sharing the love.

My love songs were as followed:
5.) Linger by The Cranberries - I've always liked the Cranberries and this song is used very romantically in the Adam Sandler film "Click."
4.) I Promise You by N*Sync - It's no secret that I'm a huge boy band fan and no love song list is complete without a boy band ballad. I could've gone with "All I Have to Give" by the Backstreet Boys or a different N*Sync song with "God Must Have Spent a Little More Time on You" but I chose to go with "I Promise You." Also, this was the only boy band song that made anyone's list. Come on people.
3.) Your Song by Elton John - A lot of couples have "their song." I've never been one of those couples but my brother and sister-in-law are. "Your Song" is their song and I think they set a great example of what love is supposed to be. Plus, it's use in "Mullin Rouge" is just great.
2.) Can't Help Falling in Love by Elvis - When I think of a love song, for some reason I think of middle school slow dancing. I don't know why but a song you can slow dance to is a great love song and this is a great one by The King.
1.) Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton - I was not alone in thinking that this song is one of the best love songs out there. It was also number one according to our listeners as well. It's a song that's great to slow dance to and Eric Clapton does a great job of expressing how he feels about tonight.

Hopefully you've enjoyed the love songs today and hopefully you have great Valentines Day.

Super Bowl Sunday

For those of you who don't know, I've been a huge football fan since I can remember and ever since 1st grade or so I thought Super Bowl Sunday (and the following Monday) should be national holidays. I mean Super Bowl Sunday is one of the biggest party days of the year behind, New Years, Halloween, and Christmas. It's not just the game that makes the Super Bowl a great day; it's everything that comes with it: the commercials, the halftime show, the pre game festivities and the other types of programming other stations come up with to try and compete with the Super Bowl.

This year, however, stunk! (for lack of a better listener friend term) I strongly dislike both teams but that's how it is most years. I can normally put up with that. I can put up with a bad football game too because I know in a month I'm going to greatly miss my favorite sport taking up all my weekends. But Super Bowl XLVI was anything but super. The pre-game build up was lacking. Maybe that's because as a Packer fan I was bitter about the teams in the game, maybe it's because ESPN doesn't know how to cover sports anymore. Either way it was lacking (besides The Dan Patrick Show.)

The game was ok. Not the worst in memory but certainly not in the top half. But that's fine, the Super Bowl is supposed to offer other means to excite and entertain, mainly with the commercials. This year, they were awful. I only laughed once or twice. The best two commercials this year were the Dodge commercial with Clint Eastwood and the NFL Evolution commercial. One other note, Budweiser, you wasted millions of dollars on unfunny unoriginal ads, you're better than that.

I actually enjoyed the halftime show for the most part. I thought Madonna looked great doing some pretty cool dance moves. The addition of Cee Lo Green and LMFAO was cool too, brining in a more modern feel to Madonna's older songs. The only thing I didn't like was the fact that they were odiously lip syncing but I can get over that.

There were two things that did keep some respect to one of my favorite holidays Kelly Clarkson did an amazing job with the National Anthem. She didn't try to do too much with it but still made it her own. It doesn't hurt that she remembered all the words too. The other thing that was great was Puppy Bowl VIII. If you don't think little puppies playing with each other on a miniature football field isn't one of the cutest things you ever you need to check your pulse, you might be dead. Of course the problem with that is a bunch of puppies playing shouldn't have to save what I think is a great holiday, normally.

FACEBOOK 5000

We're trying to get 5000 Facebook likes at Facebook.com/k107.1 so we need your help! I'm sure you're thinking, “what's in it for me?” How about $107!!! If you haven't liked us yet, go to our Facebook page and like us, you'll be entered to win $107. If you already like us you can still win. Just get your friends to like us. After they like us, have them write on our wall saying that you referred them. The person with the most referrals at the end of the month will also win $107.

I personally think that $107 is enough insensitive for you to get to Facebook and like us but others (Bart) wanted to sweeten the deal a little. Apparently he thinks we'll get likes if I have to do stupid and humiliating things after every 100 likes on are way to 5000. Now you're wondering how you'll be able to see me do these embarrassing things. Well, unfortunately for me we're going to post the videos to YouTube and link them to Facebook and K107.com Some ideas that have been thrown out have been dressing like a dog and barking at passing cars, pie to the face, snow angel in my skivvies just to name a few. If you have ideas you can post them on our wall.

I’d love to get to 5000 likes and giving money away is always fun, I’m just not sure how I get roped into doing shameful things for the station but I’m a team player and I guess I can’t wait to do whatever it is you have in store for me.