Right now, it’s the middle of the summer, and I have a black car — can you say HOT!

I used to get in my car, start it up, crank the air conditioning, and drive away. It always took FOREVER to cool down, and I was miserable the entire time. I couldn’t even hold the steering wheel because it was so dang hot.

Well, I got smart and figured out what I was doing wrong with my auto air conditioning. First, you have to keep your windows cracked a little to keep your interior from heating up so much. Just leave a couple of windows on opposite sides of the car down about a half inch. This makes an amazing difference. Some newer cars have solar powered fans that suck hot air out through a small opening in the sunroof while you are parked – awesome.

Next, when you get in your car, roll all of the windows down all the way — no matter how hot it is outside. Now drive for a block or two to exhaust all of that super-heated air out and THEN turn on the air conditioning and roll the windows up. This works because no matter how hot it is outside, the air inside of your car is even hotter due to the greenhouse effect of the sun coming through the windows and generating heat inside that has nowhere to go.

Temperatures inside of cars parked in the sun have been measured up to 130 or 140 degrees! This is why it is so dangerous to leave kids or pets in your car for any length of time unsupervised.  By getting rid of that super-heated air before you crank the AC you will get a head start on cooling your car, and you will be nice and cool much faster.

When was the last time you wore hearing protection?

Do you even own earplugs or noise-blocking headphones?

I have a constant ringing in my ears (tinnitus) because I never used to wear any kind of hearing protection when mowing the lawn, going to concerts, watching airshows, etc. I was naive, and figured my hearing was invincible — boy was I wrong. Now I have this constant high-pitched ringing / buzzing in my ears and it drives me crazy.

I’ve looked around, and there is no cure for tinnitus, so now I’m stuck.

Do yourself a favor and always use earplugs whenever the noise level seems even slightly loud to you. You absolutely need protection when mowing, using a drill, hammering or construction work, attending a concert, anywhere near a jackhammer, etc. Even cranking the stereo in your car while driving can damage your hearing — it seems funny, but after the damage is done there is nothing you can do to fix it.

Like a lot of things, hearing damage seems like “something that happens to other people” or “that will never happen to me” or “I crank my stereo all the time and I can hear fine”. You don’t realize what is happening until it’s too late, and the damage adds up over time — little by little so you don’t notice it. Protect your hearing now or lose it later.