Jul 19

Another Reason to Mothball That Car

Posted in Blog | By Serena Tasso Comments ( 0)

According to data recently released by the Census Bureau, Colorado has both fewer vehicles per capita and fewer obese adults than any other state in the nation (the data was reported in today’s Denver Post). Is that a coincidence? I doubt it! Coloradans go without vehicles in part because we prefer to use some form of self-propulsion — usually either walking or biking — when we decide to go someplace.

If you live close enough to your workplace, grocery store, and/or local school to walk or bike there, give it a try. You’ll be lowering your carbon footprint, improving your physical fitness, and reducing traffic congestion — all in one fell swoop. Yes, there are occasions when you really need a car, like when you are driving your teenager to college in the fall, along with all the stuff he or she plans to move into a dorm room; when you need to pick someone up at the airport; or when you have cleaned the clutter out of your home and need to drive a large load of newspapers and e-waste to the appropriate recycling sites. For those occasions, it’s good to have a car on hand, but you can keep it parked in the garage, or in a secure self storage unit, the rest of the time. (The money you save on gas might very well defray much of the cost of storage.)

If enough Coloradans put their automobiles on ice, maybe Colorado will move into another category — the state whose residents have the lowest likelihood of developing heart disease. Right now Colorado is the first runner up in that category — let’s go for the gold, Denver!

Tags: automobile, bike, car, carbon footprint, Census, clutter, Colorado, Denver, heart disease, obesity, physical fitness, recycling, self storage, storage, walk

Jul 13

Bicycle Wars: A Modest Proposal

Posted in Blog | By Guillermo Morales Comments ( 0)

The bicycle bellyaching is making me crazy. I don’t mean the bicyclists. They take up all of three feet on the road, bless their souls. I mean the drivers who are complaining about them.

There are so many bicyclists who keep their cycles in self storage units over the winter. You know what I’d like to see? Car owners who put their vehicles in storage for the summer. Why can’t our roads change seasonally? Storing cars over the summer could bring many benefits to Denver. Let me list them:

Summer construction traffic jams would dwindle — bicycles take up far less space than cars and trucks do.
A road full of bicycles could be cleared much more easily and quickly than a street jammed with cars can, when emergency vehicles need to get through.
Bicycles do not produce air pollution to reduce Denver’s summer air quality.
We would all be much more physically fit.
Denver would develop a reputation as a pedestrian-friendly city.
Denver would develop an even stronger reputation for being a family-friendly city — kids love bicycles.
Denver’s economy would be stimulated, as people take the money they used to spend on gas and instead spend it on goods and services.

Let’s stop bickering and solve this problem the way our kindergartners do — we’ll take turns: bicycles in the summer, cars in the winter. What do you think, Denver?

Tags: air pollution, bicycle, car, construction, Denver, family, local economy, pedestrians, physical fitness, seasonal, self storage, storage, traffic, vehicle

Jul 11

One Good Reason to Save Old Appliances

Posted in Blog | By Cassandra Peterson Comments ( 0)

Every so often people come in to raid their self storage units looking for old appliances, old printers, old motors — anything that a kid could take apart to get parts that could be used for a science project. Reading yesterday’s Denver Post, I suddenly realized that one of those kids may actually invent something useful someday — just like Stephen Katsaros did. Katsaros used to be one of those kids — when he was 7, inspired by a hot summer day, Katsaros took apart his bedroom box fan and put it back together using a motor that was bigger and stronger than the old one.

“It sounded like a B-52, but I was cool,” Katsaros told the Post. “I was always breaking stuff open and never really fixing it.”

In case you missed yesterday’s Post, Stephen Katsaros is a local inventor — yes, an inventor, just like Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Potts was a fictional character, of course, but Katsaros is real — and so is his invention, a solar-powered light bulb.

You may be thinking, don’t we already have solar-powered light bulbs? Well, indirectly, yes, if you get electricity from a solar panel, and use that electricity to provide power for an ordinary light bulb.

But Katsaros’ bulb is no ordinary light bulb. It is made of impact-resistant plastic, and contains special computer chips to prolong the life of the solar-powered battery inside. With those chips, the bulb will last about five years, charged by four solar panels. It needs to be charged again about once every four hours.

While people in industrialized countries who are used to having electricity may see no advantage in the new bulbs, they aren’t really intended for mass consumption here. Instead, the solar-powered bulbs can provide light for people who do not have an electrical system to hook a bulb up to. Worldwide, that’s 1.6 billion people, who typically use candles or kerosene lamps. (The kerosene used in kerosene lamps is expensive, emits tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year, and worst of all, slowly poisons the lungs of people in the household who must breathe polluted air.)

Katsaros’ bulbs, which were invented only a few months ago, are already beginning to be distributed in 33 countries, and are about to be introduced to Liberia, where there is no electrical grid. The bulbs will be distributed by a new West African company called Africana SunPower.

In his lifetime so far, Katsaros has invented dozens of gizmos. Reading his story, all I could think of was that his parents — or someone else in his life, friends, relatives, neighbors? — must have been incredible hoarders. How else could he have found mechanical parts for all the tinkering he must have done while growing up?

Parents, if your child likes to tinker, don’t remonstrate. Katsaros’ tinkering led him to a mechanical engineering degree at Purdue. After he invented the solar light bulb, Katsaros was able to quit his day job (working as a patent agent at a legal firm — which had to be terribly tedious compared to inventing things!) and dedicate himself full-time to the new bulb. He hopes to bring the bulb next to India, Pakistan, Indonesia and Nigeria.

In case you were wondering, Katsaros is not the only inventor out there who is doing this kind of work. For the next three weeks, 50 inventors from 20 countries are gathering at Colorado State University for the fourth International Development Design Summit. The conference is dedicated to finding innovative ideas that also have business and distribution plans that will help new inventions to be brought to people in impoverished, rural areas who particularly need innovative technology.

Tags: Africana SunPower poverty, air pollution, candles, Colorado State University, electricity, household air pollution, India, Indonesia, International Development Summit, inventor, kerosene lamps, mechanical engineering, Nigeria, Pakistan, Purdue, rural, solar energy, solar-powered light bulb, Stephen Katsaros, west Africa

Jul 10

Why is Everyone So Pessimistic?

Posted in Blog | By Serena Tasso Comments ( 0)

The Denver Post reported last week that mortgage rates have fallen to their lowest point in 50 years. Doesn’t that mean they have fallen to well below pre-recession rates? The last time mortgage rates were this low was in the 1950s. But experts say that the falling mortgage rates will not improve the housing market much — too many people have either lost their jobs or are afraid that they will lose their jobs — so they are afraid to commit to a mortgage.

Well, what do the experts know, anyway? In March John Koskinen, the interim chief executive for Freddie Mac, was quoted in the Post saying that mortgage rates were about to bottom out — he said they had gone as low as they were going to get, and people should buy houses while they could get those rates. Well, he was wrong — mortgage rates dropped even further, to the rates they are at today.

But that isn’t the end of the pessimism we saw in last week’s Post. Yesterday an article picked up from the Associated Press argued that even though the number of unemployment applications is beginning to drop, and even though first time applications for unemployment benefits are at their lowest level since early May, we shouldn’t get too excited — it’s probably not a trend.

Maybe, but what if it is a trend? What that says to me is that the people who aren’t buying new homes now because they don’t have jobs may feel differently in another year or so, when they have gotten back to work and have another year of job history under their belts.

Why do we assume that things are going to get worse and not better? In Denver, of all places — where did our confidence go? What ever happened to that old American tradition called hope?

Tags: economy, housing market, job trends, mortgage rates, pre-recession, recession, unemployment

Jun 30

Celebrate Social Media Day by Following Us on Twitter

Posted in Blog | By Guillermo Morales Comments ( 0)

Mashable.com, a website and blog dedicated to social media, has declared today, June 30, Social Media Day. I am not sure what is so significant about June 30, but I am all in favor of a day dedicated to learning more about social media and how to use it. If you are not sure where to start, why don’t you try following this website on Twitter? We are listed under the name StorageWriter — by following us, you can receive a tweet every time this blog is updated.

Wondering how to use the new social media networks without sacrificing your privacy? Follow these guidelines:

Don’t post private information. Don’t post your address, your birthday, pictures of yourself and your kids, and the like. If you are very concerned you can even use fake information to register your account.
Don’t turn on the “tweet my location” feature in Twitter if you are not comfortable with total strangers knowing exactly where you are and whether or not you are at home.
Use the privacy controls at each social media site you join to specify who can see your profile information and who cannot. For example, you can restrict views of your profile to only those people who know you or who you have approved to see your profile.
If you are worried about privacy on Facebook, try following Lifehacker’s “How to Quit Facebook Without Quitting Facebook” guidelines. These guidelines explain how to use Facebook to keep up with the statuses of your friends and family members, without posting private information, and without linking your Facebook account to other applications that might use it for marketing purposes.
Try using privacy scanners. Some developers have started to offer privacy scanning software for Facebook. You may want to try it — these programs claim to be able to scan your Facebook settings to determine whether or not you have them set to give you the maximum amount of privacy possible.
If you are VERY worried, you could also try using one of the new services that has sprung up to safeguard online privacy, such as Reputation Defender.

Tags: Blog, Facebook, Lifehacker, marketing, Mashable, privacy, private information, Reputation Defender, social media, Social Media Day, social networking, StorageWriter, tweet, tweet my location, Twitter

Jun 28

How Do You Protect Stored Documents?

Posted in Blog | By Serena Tasso Comments ( 0)

On Saturday, I wrote about the obligations of businesspeople to protect the privacy of their clients and customers, by keeping records that contain personal or private information safe and secure, by returning those records to the client or customer, or by disposing of the records safely by shredding them prior to disposal or recycling. On Sunday, I added some guidelines for individuals, urging you all to apply an equal standard of care to your own documents, rather than simply tossing them in a dumpster where anyone can find them.

Today, though, I want to talk about how to secure documents that you need to hold for a period of time, such as tax returns, which the Better Business Bureau says that you should keep for up to eight years, along with all the supporting documents that go with those returns, and medical records, many of which you may well want to keep for a lifetime. In addition, you will want to take care of certain documents that you may never have to show to anyone, but that have some sentimental value, such as school diplomas and certificates, letters and correspondence, and children’s artwork and drawings. All such documents can benefit from proper storage. When not properly stored, documents are prone to becoming yellow and brittle with age.

First of all, when you are storing legal and financial documents, check with your lawyer and accountant to find out what your legal obligations are with regard to those documents. Specifically, find out how long they should be stored and what your obligations are. You may want to make digital copies of your archives and files before you put them into storage, just in case. If so, you’ll want to be certain to password-protect your digital files, in addition to putting your hard copies into a safe, secure facility such as a self storage unit.

Secondly, consider the storage conditions of the location where you plan to keep your records. A climate-controlled storage facility is almost always your best choice, especially for documents that you intend to store for a lifetime, such as letters and journals that have a lot of sentimental value or that are important in your family. The same is true for family photos. Wet, humid air can cause documents to become damp and moldy, while dry air can cause them to turn yellow and become brittle or curl. A climate-controlled facility will help you to avoid both those scenarios.

Once you have chosen a secure, climate-controlled location, you will want to turn your attention to the containers in which you plan to store your archives. If the documents in question are just your tax returns, and you plan to toss them out after eight years, protecting them from turning yellow may not be so critical. In the case of financial documents, you may be more concerned with security than with storage conditions. Be sure to label your files clearly so that you can find whatever you need later, and, if possible use locked file cabinets or fire safes for your most sensitive documents.

On the other hand, if you are storing old, historical family papers or other delicate documents, you will want to pay some attention to your overall storage conditions. Fragile documents should be stored in acid-free containers to protect them and slow down the aging process. Documents that are particularly delicate may need to have acid-free sheets between pages, or may be better off stored in plastic sleeves.

Whether you plan to store your archived records, or sentimental papers and photos, you should use airtight packaging whenever possible, and place boxes on pallets to lift them up off the floor. Cover boxes with a tarp to keep dust out.

There — now, if the IRS does audit you, you will be prepared to provide them with a set of meticulously maintained records — and if, on the other hand, the next person to look at your documents is your grandchild, the documents will be well preserved and will not fall apart the moment they are taken out of storage. With luck, your documents will not face any dangers or hazards until the day you take them out of storage again.

Tags: acid-free, archives, audit, family photos, financial records, historical documents, IRS, medical records, obligations, personal documents, recordkeeping, records, retaining records, security, sentimental value, shredding

Jun 27

Tenants: Protect the Privacy of Your Documents

Posted in Blog | By Serena Tasso Comments ( 0)

Yesterday, I wrote a post to this blog urging small businesses to be careful to protect the privacy of their clients or customers who have trusted them with private information, such as financial information, medical information, and any other personal, private information that might be contained in the files of a small businessperson.

Today, though, I want to turn to individuals and urge you, as well, to take the time to protect your own records. I find that often when people are trying to declutter their homes, they are fed up with living with mounds of paper. The temptation is simply to throw out or recycle all of your old papers, and save your self storage unit for special items of sentimental value, such as old family heirlooms, or for valuable or seasonal items that you do not want to keep out in your home every day.

Take a moment, though, to sift through any papers that you throw away or recycle. It’s one thing to recycle old newspapers or children’s school papers (although sometimes those can be quite interesting to look at, 20 or 30 years down the road). When the papers that you are getting rid of contain your records or archives, though, think again. First of all, if you are disposing of financial records, consider whether or not you have kept them for long enough. The Better Business Bureau advises people to hold onto any tax-related documents, as well as tax returns and any attached schedules, receipts, copies of W-2s, and copies of 1099 forms for the self-employed, for up to eight years. Many of us do not do that, but saving those records can be important if you are ever audited by the IRS. You may want to scan them into computer files, and save them digitally, while archiving the hard paper copies in a storage unit.

The same is true for medical records — I would advise you to hold onto certain medical records, such as children’s immunization records, forever. No child wants to repeat a booster shot just because the record of the shot he or she already had has gotten lost. Personally, I think you should also retain records that have to do with allergic reactions, broken bones, chronic recurring diseases that tend to flare up, and anything else that could contain information that might be pertinent to your health (or that of a family member) at a later date.

But there comes a time when you do have records in hand that contain personal, private information which you feel no need to retain. You may have records that are more than 10 or 20 years old, papers that you simply want to get rid of. You may have old diaries and journals to throw out that you feel would be embarrassing if your family ever happened onto them. Whatever the nature of the sensitive information contained in your personal papers and records, be aware that if you simply toss them in a dumpster, or in a recycling bin, it is always possible that someone else will come along later and take them out again.

If you are disposing of papers that contain information that you feel it is imperative not to share with random strangers (not to mention your family members), then your best bet is to shred those papers before recycling them. Small shredders are not expensive and might be a worthwhile investment if you go through the process of sorting through sensitive old papers regularly. Otherwise, however, check with the Better Business Bureau and see if you can find a shredding day to attend. You can get all your shredding done at once, and you’ll feel much better.

A last caution, though — don’t shred any documents that you feel there is any chance you might need later. I don’t envy you the task of trying to tape back together a document that has been shredded — that’s harder than putting together any jigsaw puzzle. Don’t rush the process, go carefully, choosing what to store and what to shred. You’ll find that the time you spend is well worth it.

Tags: archives, Better Business Bureau, booster shots, children's school papers, clutter, decluttering, diaries, digital copies, documents, dumpster, family heirlooms, financial information, hard paper copies, immunization records, individuals, IRS, journals, medical records, old newspapers, organizing, papers, personal documents, personal information, privacy, records, recycling bin, scan, seasonal items, self storage, sensitive information, sentimental value, shredder, shredding, sorting, storage

Jun 26

Businesses: Protect the Privacy of Your Customers

Posted in Blog | By Serena Tasso Comments ( 0)

If you are worried about identity theft, there was quite a chilling article on the ABC7 news site yesterday evening. A woman in Aurora, cleaning out an apartment that she rents, found a file cabinet in it. The apartment had previously been rented by a bail bondsman, and the filing cabinet contained documents from people who had bailed someone out of jail at some point, dating back to the 1990s.

“They all have birth dates, names, Social Security numbers, driver’s licenses,” said the landlord, Hermine Putman, in yesterday’s ABC7 article. She went on to comment, “That could create an identity theft for some of these people….If I throw it in the trash, this can get into the wrong hands.” Putman was absolutely right. But she was just getting started.

She went on, “I don’t have the time, in my age, to stay out in that heat out there to sort all those papers out, what should go to a shredder. Why was it left up to me, to do this?…I could have taken them and just threw them in the trash for all I care, but I do care.”

Putman, unlike the bail bondsman who abandoned the records, was determined to do the right thing. This made me think. Putman is a landlord for an apartment building. But the same thing could easily happen to a self storage facility manager or operator, and perhaps it is more likely here, because many businesses use our units to store their old, archived files. Of course, if we find any personal records, we will do just what Putman did–turn the files over to the police, in case they related to any ongoing identity theft investigations.

But, like Putman, I want to point out that the original responsibility for safeguarding those records lies with the business or organization that originally generated those records. If your archives include sensitive information belonging to your clients or customers, it is your responsibility to see that those records, when you no longer need them, are either returned to to the client or customer to whom they belong, or are shredded. I cannot say what your legal obligation is — I suggest you check with a lawyer to find out for sure. But morally, I have no hesitation in saying that you cannot ever simply abandon records, whether they contain financial information, medical information, information that could be used for identity theft, or even sensitive personal information such as might be contained in old diaries or student essays.

Frankly, there is no need to throw files into a dumpster, even if it is a recycling dumpster. Shredding the files does not stop them from being recyclable. It is not hard or time-consuming. If you cannot afford a shredder, check with the Better Business Bureau, and they may be able to let you know of a free shredding day.

Take the time to protect your customers. We do — we take tenant records very seriously. I urge all my business tenants — and even those businesses who don’t use self storage — to give some thought to your record disposal practices. Someday, the thoughtfulness of a small business owner may be the only thing standing between you and identity theft — and when that day comes, believe me, you will realize how serious a matter this can be.

Tags: ABC7 News, apartment, archives, Aurora, bail bondsmen, birth dates, business, cleaning, Colorado, driver's licenses, files, financial records, Hermine Putman, identity fraud, identity theft, landlord, medical records, names, organizing, personal information, personal records, privacy, private information, recycling, rent, rental, sensitive documents, sensitive information, shredding documents, small business, Social Security numbers, tenant

Jun 19

In Honor of Our Veteran Tenants

Posted in Blog | By Cassandra Peterson Comments ( 0)

I was so pleased to see that the Sea to Shining Sea bicyclists made it to Denver yesterday. This group of 20 disabled veterans are riding all the way across the country. They started in San Francisco on May 22. Yesterday was day 28 of the ride from Sea to Shining Sea.

The ride is partly sponsored by State Farm and partly by Soldier’s Angels, a group that tries to support veterans in unique and effective ways. Soldier’s Angels also has an Adopt a Soldier program. If you can make it out to Lone Tree (on the way to Fort Morgan), or even to Fort Morgan itself, to watch the veterans roll in, State Farm will donate $1 to the program on your behalf. That’s not very much, but you can always donate more on your own…

Tomorrow, the veterans will move on (no rest for the weary, not even on a weekend!) and ride to Fort Morgan, a distance of 93 miles. In one day. By the time they reach Virginia Beach, Virginia, the vets will have ridden 4,000 miles.

Well, if they weren’t determined, hardy, and resilient, they wouldn’t be veterans.

For more information, including the bike route, go to www.s2ssbikeride.org.

Tags: Adopt a Soldier, Afghanistan, bicyclists, Denver, donation, Fort Morgan, Lone Tree, San Francisco, Sea to Shining Sea, Soldier's Angels, State Farm, Virginia Beach, Virginia veterans

Jun 18

Denver: Rocky Mountain Yuppie Haven

Posted in Blog | By Guillermo Morales Comments ( 0)

We never hear anything about yuppies any more. What happened to them? Well, according to Forbes, wherever they are, yuppies should head for Denver (and a few other cities). The Denver Business Journal reported today that Forbes has listed Denver as the 8th best city for yuppies (young urban professionals).

What cities outranked Denver on the list? Well, Houston, Washington, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York, Boston, Dallas, and Seattle. But I look at it this way. Only two of those cities have great coffee and the Rocky Mountains. Yes, I’m talking about Denver and Seattle. I have to admit that if you had to choose between Denver and Seattle, it would be a hard choice. On the other hand, though, it does rain an average of 150 days per year in Seattle. Not that there’s anything wrong with that! But to my mind, that brings Denver right to the top of the list…

Oh, and according to Forbes, we also have low unemployment, higher than average incomes, a reasonable cost of living, and a fair number of local companies looking for new hires.

So, if you are a young college graduate, looking for a place to make your way in the world, think about relocating in Denver, the Rocky Mountain Yuppie Haven.

Tags: Boston, coffee, college graduate, cost of living, Dallas, Denver, Denver Business Journal, Forbes, hiring, Houston, incomes, low unemployment, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York, rain, Rocky Mountains, Seattle, Washington, yuppies

GET THE FEED