Due to the nuclear power plant problem caused by the March 11th earthquake, the government is requesting everyone to not use electricity as much as you can.  In order to help preserve the electricity many people have been restricting their usage of air conditioners, including myself.

To help people succeed with not using the air conditioners, stores are offering a variety of products to help us cool down.  One popular item is a kind-of towel that you wrap around your neck and either you can put ice packs inside or another one if you get it wet it stays cool for up to 7 hours!  Many of my students are using these and I think they are good for a bit.  However, I do see some down side to them.  The ones which you get wet don’t really stay that cool for a long time and the ones with ice packs soon turn into water and actually turn warm under the sun!  Oh no!

Another product that I found is a kind-of spray that contains something like menthol or something to that effect.  So when you spray it directly onto your scalp, it really cools it down.  And it has this amazing popping sensation so it feels like pop rocks on your head!  I love it!

Unfortunately with all these products I still usually turn the air conditioner on right when I get home (I bike home and am so hot!!!).  I usually end up letting the room get cooler and then turn it off and then turn it back on when it gets hot and so-on and so-on.  I wonder if this is helping or maybe even making it worse?