Sunday July 12th: My big energy saving project of the day was to get the bead ground off the cast iron pan I use for stuff like cooking. I got the thing for free when I ate at Pittypat's Porch in Atlanta, probably in '89ish. It was mostly a shelf decoration until I realized it was a good size for many cooking projects that don't rate a big pan, being just right for the small burner of my electric stove. The only problem was the bead around the bottom, which meant that it wasn't picking up heat efficiently. I had the guy that sharpens knives at the farmers market grind that off. He charged me $5. Now the pan and the stove are going to be more connected when being used! A bonus is that the sound of moving the pan on the burner is less grating, and the motion feels better.