How many Michael Ts does it take to change a Light Bulb:

I got a call from my wife. she was distressed and I had an emergency stop to make on the way home. Julian had come running into the room to tell her that Josh had broken the light. She went into the room and sure enough playing with a ball in the house still results in an occasional breakage. I recall a lamp or two that I broke and countless sitcom episodes featuring attempted cover ups. so, I think I'm not in denial when I say that my kids aren't necessarily or especially bad. Although I'm sure there are more than a few who might offer other evidence, I'll leave that to them and their blogs.

So my wife wanted me to stop and get enough light bulbs to replace every light in the house. "I want these fluorescents out of my house!" she cried. Because a co-worker who is a student had to right a report recently, my wife was aware of some not so commonly known facts about compact fluorescent light(CFL) bulbs. She knew for instance that it's no simple clean up operation:

-Open a window and leave the room for 15 minutes or more.
-Shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning system, if you have one.
-Carefully scoop up glass pieces and powder using stiff paper or cardboard and place them in a glass jar with metal lid (such as a canning jar) or in a sealed plastic bag.
-If clothing or bedding materials come in direct contact with broken glass or mercury-containing powder from inside the bulb that may stick to the fabric, the clothing or bedding should be thrown away. Do not wash such clothing or bedding because mercury fragments in the clothing may contaminate the machine and/or pollute sewage.