Jun 29, 2008
new phone!
So tomorrow will be the last day that Westfield will be paying for my "work" phone. Yesterday, I had to run out and figure out what to do - since we weren't told until last week that it was definitely going to happen - all of this while I was in CA! Anyway, I knew I wanted Verizon because the family in NY has it and that if we don't talk on the phone we will at least text. Here's the phone I got!
enV2 by LG
I still need to finalize the switch as I didn't have all of the info (account ) to make the switch. I should be able to do the rest over the phone.
(and their human parents)
This blog started as The adventures of a D.I.N.K. family where the two "kids" are four legged and how we are going to retire early. Now it's a 1 income, 1 entrepreneur, and 1 pup getting closer and closer to retirement.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Santa Monica trip - so far
Jun 26, 2008
Santa Monica trip - so far
It's Thursday - 7:30 PST - and time is going fast! I'll probably add more to this when I get more time!
******
Monday
Well – can't get away one day without work. I had to stop in and "download" a couple of things. Luckily, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
The flight was good. I sat next to this guy, Frank, who was really nice and not annoying at all with this talking (like some people might be) – we had a good conversation.
Finally landed at 8:30 (5:30 PST) or so and got to the hotel at 9:30 (6:30 PST). I met up with Anna, from our Orlando office and we had dinner together at the hotel restaurant.
My hotel room is nice and has a balcony – not a great view though (check out the pictures)! LOL!
Tuesday
My morning didn't start well. I was trying to get my travel hairspray to work. It hasn't been used for a while, so I used my tweezers to poke the hole – and ended up pricking my index finger on my left hand. The weird thing – it's turned purple like the circulation has been cut off! YIKES! It actually feels a little better today, but still feels weird.
The training is going well. I have done the one "testing" before for your style patterns. I am an Analyzer/Stabilizer. The training is helping just because it is reminding me what/how I need to deal with the other personalities. One thing that was said was "you should always refer to this manual – at least weekly for 10 minutes a day" I think I will start doing that and maybe life at work will be easier.
Last night 5 of us went down to 3rd Street which is where all of the action is – it's basically an outside shopping center. Man – the diversity you see down there! We ended up going to Barney's which was a bar. Great food! I didn't want to stay out too late – and wanted to do some shopping, but ended up getting back here around 10 p.m. (late!) and no shopping done at all – I'm hoping to go down there tonight to get some shopping done. It'll probably be alone. I think everyone else wants to go to dinner/drinks.
One thing that is cool at 3rd Street is the greenery that is there – they are shaped like animals. There is also a lot of street musicians. I'm hoping to get some pics of the greenery.
Today the training was about dealing with the other styles and how they react to situations.
Thursday
So yesterday, Mycokerewards.com had double points on 12-pk. Of course, I didn't get to input the codes until 9 p.m. PST – so it was showing at 10 points! AAAGGGGHHHH!!!! I've e-mailed customer service and explained I'm on the west coast this week – so we will see!
We ended up going to 3rd street again last night, but I still didn't any shopping done. I definitely need to get some done today! I'm thinking of maybe going to the pier/beach. The van driver last night drove us down by there. He had picked me up the night before and we had a good conversation.
Santa Monica trip - so far
It's Thursday - 7:30 PST - and time is going fast! I'll probably add more to this when I get more time!
******
Monday
Well – can't get away one day without work. I had to stop in and "download" a couple of things. Luckily, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
The flight was good. I sat next to this guy, Frank, who was really nice and not annoying at all with this talking (like some people might be) – we had a good conversation.
Finally landed at 8:30 (5:30 PST) or so and got to the hotel at 9:30 (6:30 PST). I met up with Anna, from our Orlando office and we had dinner together at the hotel restaurant.
My hotel room is nice and has a balcony – not a great view though (check out the pictures)! LOL!
Tuesday
My morning didn't start well. I was trying to get my travel hairspray to work. It hasn't been used for a while, so I used my tweezers to poke the hole – and ended up pricking my index finger on my left hand. The weird thing – it's turned purple like the circulation has been cut off! YIKES! It actually feels a little better today, but still feels weird.
The training is going well. I have done the one "testing" before for your style patterns. I am an Analyzer/Stabilizer. The training is helping just because it is reminding me what/how I need to deal with the other personalities. One thing that was said was "you should always refer to this manual – at least weekly for 10 minutes a day" I think I will start doing that and maybe life at work will be easier.
Last night 5 of us went down to 3rd Street which is where all of the action is – it's basically an outside shopping center. Man – the diversity you see down there! We ended up going to Barney's which was a bar. Great food! I didn't want to stay out too late – and wanted to do some shopping, but ended up getting back here around 10 p.m. (late!) and no shopping done at all – I'm hoping to go down there tonight to get some shopping done. It'll probably be alone. I think everyone else wants to go to dinner/drinks.
One thing that is cool at 3rd Street is the greenery that is there – they are shaped like animals. There is also a lot of street musicians. I'm hoping to get some pics of the greenery.
Today the training was about dealing with the other styles and how they react to situations.
Thursday
So yesterday, Mycokerewards.com had double points on 12-pk. Of course, I didn't get to input the codes until 9 p.m. PST – so it was showing at 10 points! AAAGGGGHHHH!!!! I've e-mailed customer service and explained I'm on the west coast this week – so we will see!
We ended up going to 3rd street again last night, but I still didn't any shopping done. I definitely need to get some done today! I'm thinking of maybe going to the pier/beach. The van driver last night drove us down by there. He had picked me up the night before and we had a good conversation.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
pain in the neck, Iron Maiden, shopping, TYDTW Day, and I’m a cheapskate
Jun 19, 2008
pain in the neck, Iron Maiden, shopping, TYDTW Day, and I’m a cheapskate
Oh – my neck is killing me! I think it's from carrying all of the bags yesterday at Tysons – I had a bag from CVS that had about 4 drinks in it – they get heavy! I'll be heading to the chiropractor tonight.
Dan went to see Iron Maiden last night – he said it was definitely worth the $90. I finally told him about the Sunset Strip Festival when I'm out in LA. I'm excited about it.
The price survey yesterday went well. Of course, I did some shopping for myself. Bath & Body had a GREAT sale and I stocked up for Christmas. Borders had a Sudoku book for ½ price - $4 – and it's HUGE (for Dan)! I also got a Better Homes & Gardens book for $4 which I'm pretty sure I looked at before, but didn't buy.
Take you dog to work day (Washington Postpoints tip of the day)
I mentioned to SP that this was tomorrow – she was like – if you're up for it! And added – would we get any work done? I'm like "no, but Esa would love all of the attention" We have a retirement party that we have to go to tomorrow afternoon, so it would be out even if I could bring her. I would love to work at a place where I could bring her.
Tomorrow, June 20, is Take Your Dog to Work Day. This is the tenth year this event has been held to raise awareness of pet adoption.
The event, originally created by Pet Sitters International, hopes to show more people that dogs make great companions. Although there has been no official registration for either office or individual participation according to event spokesperson Beth Stultz, last year over 125,000 people clicked on the website for information. (Their new website for 2008 is www.takeyourdog.com.)
According to a survey by the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, one in five companies allows pets in the workplace. If you want to take your dog to your cubicle tomorrow, here are some tips from the organizers:
· First and most importantly, check with your management about doing it.
· Poll co-workers to see if anyone is allergic or afraid of dogs or opposed to your bringing your pet to work for one day.
· Make sure your dog has a bath.
· Prepare a doggie bag of treats, toys, bowls, clean-up bags and pet-safe disinfectant - just in case.
· Have an exit strategy.
Keeping in line to be a cheapskate (from Everyday Cheapskate newsletter)
I don't call it Cheapskate – I call it smart with your money. There are still some tips that I need to work on here.
Think You Might Be a Cheapskate?
Not many people enjoy being called a cheapskate. But I do. I don't think of it as an insult but a commentary on how far I've come. I was born a spender and I took that tendency to a horrible extreme at one point in my life. The changes over the years that bring me to where I am today offer an amazing contrast. If "spendthrift" is at one extreme, I guess "cheapskate" is at the other. And given the choice, I'll embrace the latter any day.
To me a cheapskate is simply one who gives, saves and doesn't spend money she doesn't have. Not long ago a very lively discussion took place at DebtProofLiving.com. Everyone wanted to weigh in on signs you know you're a cheapskate. Here are some of my favorites:
You know you're a Cheapskate when ....
… your spouse hides things in the house because he or she is afraid you're going to sell them on eBay to raise money for your emergency fund.
... you plan meals like your 8th grade Home Economics teacher (if only she could see you now).
... the checker tells you that she has never in her 10 years of working in a grocery store sold a bar of Fels-Naptha soap.
... you call your credit card company's 800 number just to hear your balance going down.
... you use more envelopes to hold your money than you use to mail your bills.
This is how I first started our budget – I had envelopes for each category (eating out, gas, water, etc.). I've gotten away from it, but I probably should get back to it – at least for eating out.
... your ceramic piggy bank has a spotlight over it.
... you go online to check your savings account balance first thing in the morning on the first day of the month even if it means you have to get up early ... then you sit there and giggle with glee.
... you get $60 cash from the bank and it lasts longer than $100 cash used to last.
... you buy something with your credit card and immediately go online to transfer the exact amount from your checking account to pay it early, just so you will never show a balance.
I'm not this extreme, but do pay off the credit card monthly
... every month you take your saved change to the bank, deposit it, then head straight to the nearest computer to transfer that amount to your credit-card balance!
I do need to cash in that change that has been sitting there……
... friends ask you to go out to eat Mexican food and you say you're making tacos at the house if they'd like to come by and join you.
... you're faced with losing your job and you don't lose any sleep at night because you have six months of living expenses in your emergency fund and no credit-card debt!
... you hear about a good book and rush online to put it on hold ... at the library!
I sort of do this – I'm trying to get through the books I have now, post them on paperbackswap.com and get other books that I want to read. I do use Amazon.com to keep a list of books I want to read.
... you discuss your finances with your spouse and you are both SMILING because you know the balance of three bank accounts—to the penny!
YUP – this happens at our house when I print out our "balance sheet". Dan's always happy at the results (so am I!).
pain in the neck, Iron Maiden, shopping, TYDTW Day, and I’m a cheapskate
Oh – my neck is killing me! I think it's from carrying all of the bags yesterday at Tysons – I had a bag from CVS that had about 4 drinks in it – they get heavy! I'll be heading to the chiropractor tonight.
Dan went to see Iron Maiden last night – he said it was definitely worth the $90. I finally told him about the Sunset Strip Festival when I'm out in LA. I'm excited about it.
The price survey yesterday went well. Of course, I did some shopping for myself. Bath & Body had a GREAT sale and I stocked up for Christmas. Borders had a Sudoku book for ½ price - $4 – and it's HUGE (for Dan)! I also got a Better Homes & Gardens book for $4 which I'm pretty sure I looked at before, but didn't buy.
Take you dog to work day (Washington Postpoints tip of the day)
I mentioned to SP that this was tomorrow – she was like – if you're up for it! And added – would we get any work done? I'm like "no, but Esa would love all of the attention" We have a retirement party that we have to go to tomorrow afternoon, so it would be out even if I could bring her. I would love to work at a place where I could bring her.
Tomorrow, June 20, is Take Your Dog to Work Day. This is the tenth year this event has been held to raise awareness of pet adoption.
The event, originally created by Pet Sitters International, hopes to show more people that dogs make great companions. Although there has been no official registration for either office or individual participation according to event spokesperson Beth Stultz, last year over 125,000 people clicked on the website for information. (Their new website for 2008 is www.takeyourdog.com.)
According to a survey by the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, one in five companies allows pets in the workplace. If you want to take your dog to your cubicle tomorrow, here are some tips from the organizers:
· First and most importantly, check with your management about doing it.
· Poll co-workers to see if anyone is allergic or afraid of dogs or opposed to your bringing your pet to work for one day.
· Make sure your dog has a bath.
· Prepare a doggie bag of treats, toys, bowls, clean-up bags and pet-safe disinfectant - just in case.
· Have an exit strategy.
Keeping in line to be a cheapskate (from Everyday Cheapskate newsletter)
I don't call it Cheapskate – I call it smart with your money. There are still some tips that I need to work on here.
Think You Might Be a Cheapskate?
Not many people enjoy being called a cheapskate. But I do. I don't think of it as an insult but a commentary on how far I've come. I was born a spender and I took that tendency to a horrible extreme at one point in my life. The changes over the years that bring me to where I am today offer an amazing contrast. If "spendthrift" is at one extreme, I guess "cheapskate" is at the other. And given the choice, I'll embrace the latter any day.
To me a cheapskate is simply one who gives, saves and doesn't spend money she doesn't have. Not long ago a very lively discussion took place at DebtProofLiving.com. Everyone wanted to weigh in on signs you know you're a cheapskate. Here are some of my favorites:
You know you're a Cheapskate when ....
… your spouse hides things in the house because he or she is afraid you're going to sell them on eBay to raise money for your emergency fund.
... you plan meals like your 8th grade Home Economics teacher (if only she could see you now).
... the checker tells you that she has never in her 10 years of working in a grocery store sold a bar of Fels-Naptha soap.
... you call your credit card company's 800 number just to hear your balance going down.
... you use more envelopes to hold your money than you use to mail your bills.
This is how I first started our budget – I had envelopes for each category (eating out, gas, water, etc.). I've gotten away from it, but I probably should get back to it – at least for eating out.
... your ceramic piggy bank has a spotlight over it.
... you go online to check your savings account balance first thing in the morning on the first day of the month even if it means you have to get up early ... then you sit there and giggle with glee.
... you get $60 cash from the bank and it lasts longer than $100 cash used to last.
... you buy something with your credit card and immediately go online to transfer the exact amount from your checking account to pay it early, just so you will never show a balance.
I'm not this extreme, but do pay off the credit card monthly
... every month you take your saved change to the bank, deposit it, then head straight to the nearest computer to transfer that amount to your credit-card balance!
I do need to cash in that change that has been sitting there……
... friends ask you to go out to eat Mexican food and you say you're making tacos at the house if they'd like to come by and join you.
... you're faced with losing your job and you don't lose any sleep at night because you have six months of living expenses in your emergency fund and no credit-card debt!
... you hear about a good book and rush online to put it on hold ... at the library!
I sort of do this – I'm trying to get through the books I have now, post them on paperbackswap.com and get other books that I want to read. I do use Amazon.com to keep a list of books I want to read.
... you discuss your finances with your spouse and you are both SMILING because you know the balance of three bank accounts—to the penny!
YUP – this happens at our house when I print out our "balance sheet". Dan's always happy at the results (so am I!).
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
money and shopping
Jun 18, 2008
money and shopping
The yardsale was a success. A LOT of people participated - more than I expected/knew of. We made about $175 - not bad. People are looking to just get things for free and all of the prices that I had marked were LOW. Next time it's double the tag so then I'll get the price I want.
The one bad thing that happened during the yard sale - I fell off of the steps! So my toe was hurting and I have scrapes all over my shin from the cement. Nice - just in time for shorts in LA! LOL.
Yesterday afternoon, I started doing price surveys for work (again). Price are going up so we need to get our prices in line. Of course, that means a little shopping too!
Today, it's Dulles Town Center (again), 7-11, Exxon and Shell. Maybe Tysons corner depending on how well the first 4 go. Otherwise, it'll be Tysons tomorrow.
Oh - more money - I got a rebate check from New York (thanks to my sister-in-law, Joanne and her searches on missingmoney.com!). A big $60 that we didn't have before. BTW - where is that tax refund check - we have yet to see ours - I think it gets sent out on Friday, but we'll see.
The little bit of shopping I did yesterday - stopped at Five Below to get more balls for Esa and then Linen n' Things for a cabinet organizer. I found a dog treat ball there for half price and a little blinking key chain to put on the dog's leash or collar for night walking. Got to love clearance!
money and shopping
The yardsale was a success. A LOT of people participated - more than I expected/knew of. We made about $175 - not bad. People are looking to just get things for free and all of the prices that I had marked were LOW. Next time it's double the tag so then I'll get the price I want.
The one bad thing that happened during the yard sale - I fell off of the steps! So my toe was hurting and I have scrapes all over my shin from the cement. Nice - just in time for shorts in LA! LOL.
Yesterday afternoon, I started doing price surveys for work (again). Price are going up so we need to get our prices in line. Of course, that means a little shopping too!
Today, it's Dulles Town Center (again), 7-11, Exxon and Shell. Maybe Tysons corner depending on how well the first 4 go. Otherwise, it'll be Tysons tomorrow.
Oh - more money - I got a rebate check from New York (thanks to my sister-in-law, Joanne and her searches on missingmoney.com!). A big $60 that we didn't have before. BTW - where is that tax refund check - we have yet to see ours - I think it gets sent out on Friday, but we'll see.
The little bit of shopping I did yesterday - stopped at Five Below to get more balls for Esa and then Linen n' Things for a cabinet organizer. I found a dog treat ball there for half price and a little blinking key chain to put on the dog's leash or collar for night walking. Got to love clearance!
paying off the mortgage before retiring.
Jun 18, 2008
paying off the mortgage before retiring.
So, one goal that Dan and I go back and forth on is paying off the mortgage. Right now, it's a great tax deduction, BUT it's our biggest expense. My paycheck pays for the house. If we didn't have the mortgage, I wouldn't have to work (or should I at least say one of us wouldn't have to work).
So the last time we went to our financial planner, we mentioned about once everything is paid off (car & student loan), we were going to put extra money to the mortgage. There's two thoughts on this. Either pay the mortgage now or invest the extra money and then once we get to retirement, have the investment pay for the mortgage.
I enjoy Michelle Singletary's columns every week, so when I saw the below article, I was happy to see what her advice was on paying off mortgages.
*****
Don't Drag That Mortgage With You Into Old Age
By Michelle Singletary
Sunday, June 15, 2008; F01
It would have shaken my dear, deceased grandmother to her financial core.
The headline read: "Mortgages No Longer a Stigma in Retirement."
That was the finding of the third annual "Affluent Boomers at 60" survey conducted by Bell Investment Advisors. Baby boomers, the survey revealed, are in no rush to pay off their mortgages.
This attitude of keeping a mortgage years or even decades into one's retirement is a major shift from what Big Mama, a child of the Great Depression, taught me. She always stressed that I should aim to pay off my mortgage before I retire, getting rid of the most significant expense in my budget.
There was a time when people would throw parties to celebrate being released from the bondage of a mortgage. But now more than 55 percent of boomers who have mortgages do not plan to pay their mortgages off until their 70s, if ever.
"Contrary to conventional wisdom, mortgages can actually be a wealth-building tool for boomers throughout their retirement years," Jim Bell, founder and president of Bell Investment Advisors, said in a statement about the company's survey. "In addition to their tax benefits, mortgages help free up funds that otherwise would be tied up in property ownership for investment in equities."
For those seniors, wealthy or not, who are inclined to believe it's a good financial move to drag a mortgage into their old age, I've got two words for you: Ed McMahon.
McMahon, Johnny Carson's sidekick on "The Tonight Show" for three decades, is trying to save his multimillion-dollar Mediterranean-style mansion from foreclosure. The Beverly Hills estate has a $4.8 million mortgage and, according to a default notice, McMahon, 85, is more than $644,000 in arrears.
I wanted to ask McMahon what went wrong. I wanted to know how someone who reportedly earned millions in his lifetime peddling the American dream of instant fame and fortune as the pitchman for American Family Publishers' sweepstakes and host of "Star Search" could fall so far financially.
But Howard Bragman, McMahon's spokesman, said his client was tired of talking about his situation. McMahon would be willing to talk to me only about developments in his career, Bragman said.
In an interview with CNN's Larry King, McMahon did acknowledge his poor handling of his money. "Well, if you spend more money than you make, you know what happens. And it can happen," McMahon said.
McMahon, wearing a neck brace and sitting beside his wife, Pamela, also blamed his multiple divorces and the economy for his money woes. His troubles got worse when he broke his neck in a fall. His injury has prevented him from working, he said.
Pamela McMahon told King: "You always want to take great care of all of your friends and your family and everybody, and you do. We didn't keep our eye on the ball. We made mistakes."
While tragic, McMahon's plight is an example of what happens when you live too large. As I wrote in my first book, "Spend Well, Live Rich," Big Mama believed in a simple principle: It's not how much you make that matters, but how you make do with what you have. If you don't have much, you scrimp and save to make sure it stretches far enough. If you earn a good living, you scrimp and save to make sure it lasts long enough.
If you always spend more money than you earn, you can't possibly earn enough.
McMahon's biggest mistake was taking on such a large mortgage in his senior years. How much longer did McMahon think he could work and earn the millions it would take to satisfy that debt and his living expenses, even without an injury? Clearly he didn't have enough savings as a backup.
Some investment advisers keep trying to convince baby boomers and the rest of us that we are smarter than the Depression-era generation. Don't pay off your mortgage, they say. Invest that cash, they urge. But they're just trying to sell you something.
The fact is, the wisdom of Big Mama's generation about mortgages was right. They understood the risks. If you pay off your mortgage before you retire, you have more financial flexibility. You have a better chance to withstand a major illness or injury, a downturn in the economy or a drop in the stock market.
Of course you need to save and invest, too. You don't want to be in the position of having all your money tied up in your home. If you do, you'll have to sell the home or borrow against it.
Don't listen to the knuckleheads who say keep a mortgage forever. Look forward to the day when you can celebrate the retiring of that debt.
paying off the mortgage before retiring.
So, one goal that Dan and I go back and forth on is paying off the mortgage. Right now, it's a great tax deduction, BUT it's our biggest expense. My paycheck pays for the house. If we didn't have the mortgage, I wouldn't have to work (or should I at least say one of us wouldn't have to work).
So the last time we went to our financial planner, we mentioned about once everything is paid off (car & student loan), we were going to put extra money to the mortgage. There's two thoughts on this. Either pay the mortgage now or invest the extra money and then once we get to retirement, have the investment pay for the mortgage.
I enjoy Michelle Singletary's columns every week, so when I saw the below article, I was happy to see what her advice was on paying off mortgages.
*****
Don't Drag That Mortgage With You Into Old Age
By Michelle Singletary
Sunday, June 15, 2008; F01
It would have shaken my dear, deceased grandmother to her financial core.
The headline read: "Mortgages No Longer a Stigma in Retirement."
That was the finding of the third annual "Affluent Boomers at 60" survey conducted by Bell Investment Advisors. Baby boomers, the survey revealed, are in no rush to pay off their mortgages.
This attitude of keeping a mortgage years or even decades into one's retirement is a major shift from what Big Mama, a child of the Great Depression, taught me. She always stressed that I should aim to pay off my mortgage before I retire, getting rid of the most significant expense in my budget.
There was a time when people would throw parties to celebrate being released from the bondage of a mortgage. But now more than 55 percent of boomers who have mortgages do not plan to pay their mortgages off until their 70s, if ever.
"Contrary to conventional wisdom, mortgages can actually be a wealth-building tool for boomers throughout their retirement years," Jim Bell, founder and president of Bell Investment Advisors, said in a statement about the company's survey. "In addition to their tax benefits, mortgages help free up funds that otherwise would be tied up in property ownership for investment in equities."
For those seniors, wealthy or not, who are inclined to believe it's a good financial move to drag a mortgage into their old age, I've got two words for you: Ed McMahon.
McMahon, Johnny Carson's sidekick on "The Tonight Show" for three decades, is trying to save his multimillion-dollar Mediterranean-style mansion from foreclosure. The Beverly Hills estate has a $4.8 million mortgage and, according to a default notice, McMahon, 85, is more than $644,000 in arrears.
I wanted to ask McMahon what went wrong. I wanted to know how someone who reportedly earned millions in his lifetime peddling the American dream of instant fame and fortune as the pitchman for American Family Publishers' sweepstakes and host of "Star Search" could fall so far financially.
But Howard Bragman, McMahon's spokesman, said his client was tired of talking about his situation. McMahon would be willing to talk to me only about developments in his career, Bragman said.
In an interview with CNN's Larry King, McMahon did acknowledge his poor handling of his money. "Well, if you spend more money than you make, you know what happens. And it can happen," McMahon said.
McMahon, wearing a neck brace and sitting beside his wife, Pamela, also blamed his multiple divorces and the economy for his money woes. His troubles got worse when he broke his neck in a fall. His injury has prevented him from working, he said.
Pamela McMahon told King: "You always want to take great care of all of your friends and your family and everybody, and you do. We didn't keep our eye on the ball. We made mistakes."
While tragic, McMahon's plight is an example of what happens when you live too large. As I wrote in my first book, "Spend Well, Live Rich," Big Mama believed in a simple principle: It's not how much you make that matters, but how you make do with what you have. If you don't have much, you scrimp and save to make sure it stretches far enough. If you earn a good living, you scrimp and save to make sure it lasts long enough.
If you always spend more money than you earn, you can't possibly earn enough.
McMahon's biggest mistake was taking on such a large mortgage in his senior years. How much longer did McMahon think he could work and earn the millions it would take to satisfy that debt and his living expenses, even without an injury? Clearly he didn't have enough savings as a backup.
Some investment advisers keep trying to convince baby boomers and the rest of us that we are smarter than the Depression-era generation. Don't pay off your mortgage, they say. Invest that cash, they urge. But they're just trying to sell you something.
The fact is, the wisdom of Big Mama's generation about mortgages was right. They understood the risks. If you pay off your mortgage before you retire, you have more financial flexibility. You have a better chance to withstand a major illness or injury, a downturn in the economy or a drop in the stock market.
Of course you need to save and invest, too. You don't want to be in the position of having all your money tied up in your home. If you do, you'll have to sell the home or borrow against it.
Don't listen to the knuckleheads who say keep a mortgage forever. Look forward to the day when you can celebrate the retiring of that debt.
saving gas
Jun 18, 2008
saving gas
Even though we all tease my bro for being a grandpa driver, he can drive over 300 miles on a 1/2 of gas and that is in a 8-cyclinder Caprice Classic.
I'm getting about 13.5/gallon. on the jeep. Basically because of the stop and go traffic to work. That's about all I drive it for. I'd be happy to get 15 MPG. I'll be checking this website more (http://www.fueleconomy.gov/mpg/MPG.do?action=mpgData&vehicleID=20312&browser=true&details=on)
******
Adventures in Hypermiling
By Nancy Trejos
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, June 15, 2008; F01
I hate driving. I hate it even more now that I can't afford it.
With gasoline topping $4 a gallon in many places, there's no shortage of advice from the financial experts: Try carpooling, biking or walking. Cut costs in other parts of your life. Eat out less and stop shopping. Carefully choose the brand and type of gasoline you use because some are more cost-efficient than others. Or just get rid of your car.
Then I heard about "hypermiling," which involves changing your driving behavior to coax better gas mileage out of your car. Hypermilers do such things as drive slowly, brake as little as possible and limit their use of the air conditioner to save fuel.
Not eager to stop going out to dinner with friends and unable to sell my car, I figured I would see what hypermiling was about. Perhaps whatever savings it might produce would be enough to cover the cost of fixing my broken passenger-side window, courtesy of a drunken reveler in Adams Morgan, where I live. (Did I mention how much I hate having a car in this city?)
I googled hypermiling and found no shortage of Web sites offering tips. There's Ecomodder.com, HyperMilingForum.com and CleanMPG.com, among others. I contacted them all in search of someone to teach me how to hypermile and ended up with an e-mail introduction to Kent Johnson, a consultant for an engineering company who lives in Carroll County, Md.
After a brief phone conversation in which he asked me the size of my engine -- Is that really something I should know off the top of my head? -- Johnson and I arranged to meet on Wednesday at a parking lot at the University of Maryland at College Park. He appeared in his red 2005 Chevy Aveo with his wife Mary, who sells Mary Kay cosmetics. He brought along tons of material he had found on the Internet about my silver 2001 Volkswagen Beetle, putting me to shame, as I didn't even know where my driver's manual was until I found it in a bookshelf in my apartment that morning .
"With an automatic, you should get 29 miles on the highway, 22 in the city and 25 combined," Johnson said. "So on average, you should be around 25 miles per gallon."
"Is that bad?" I asked. I have to admit, I didn't think about mileage when I bought my Beetle used a couple of years ago. All I thought about was how cute it would be to have a Bug. (A child of the 1980s, I played the "Punch Buggy" game with my friends, which involved punching each other when we came across a VW Beetle on the street. "Punch Buggy Yellow!" I would shout with glee.)
"I'm betting we can do 10 percent better," Johnson answered.
According to FuelEconomy.gov, he said, it costs me about $4.59 to drive 25 miles.
"Thanks, hon," he said to his wife of 29 years -- they had just celebrated their anniversary, they giddily told me -- as she ducked into their car and reappeared with a calculator.
"So every mile, you've got to chuck in 18 cents, if you wanted to think of it like that," he said.
"Do I have to?" I asked.
Johnson does, all the time. Fed up with high gasoline prices, he decided to become a hypermiler in September. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, he should be able to drive 30 miles per gallon in the city and highway combined in his Aveo. According to FuelEconomy.gov, it should cost him about $3.74 to drive 25 miles. With techniques he has learned on CleanMPG.com, he has routinely been able to eke out 10 more miles per gallon, a savings of about 4 cents a mile, by his calculations.
Johnson knows all this because he bought himself a contraption called a ScanGauge. It's an electronic box that plugs into a port connected to your car's computer and tells you how fast you're going, how many miles per gallon you're getting and much more. Johnson climbed into my car and plugged in the device somewhere underneath the steering wheel. Then he pulled it over to the passenger side as I settled into the driver's seat.
"We'll pull it over my way because we don't want you to see what you're doing," he said.
"Okay, that's fine. I usually don't know what I'm doing," I said.
Upon hearing this, Johnson turned around and asked his wife, sitting in my tiny back seat and munching on cereal bars, to buckle her seat belt.
Johnson planned a trip that would take us through the campus; east on Route 193; south on Route 1; back into the campus; around a rotary; through several stops, crosswalks and lights; across Route 193; then back into campus and into a student parking lot.
"How fast should I go?" I asked.
"How fast do you normally go?" he asked.
"I never really pay much attention," I said.
"You just drive your normal way," he said.
It turns out that my normal way is slow. I will admit it. I am not a good driver. And that makes me nervous, especially when I have other people in the car with me. When it comes to driving, and probably nothing else, I'm simply too scared to go fast.
And that makes me a good hypermiler. Hypermilers advocate going at or below the speed limit. Johnson and a few other hypermilers I talked to also avoid braking heavily and idling excessively. When they get into their cars, they put on their seat belts and adjust their mirrors before turning on the engine. If they know they're going to be at a red light for a long time, they turn off their engines. When they're going downhill, they put their cars in neutral or simply glide down.
Critics say some hypermilers take these practices to the extreme. They say that driving too slowly on, say, the Capital Beltway, is dangerous. Driving too slowly on a one-lane road, they say, is simply rude. There are other controversial hypermiling techniques, such as drafting, which involves closely following a tractor-trailer to reduce wind resistance.
"Many of the techniques that the hypermilers use can prove rather effective in cutting gas consumption, but you have to think about not only your safety but the safety of others first," said John Townsend, a spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic. "Some of the things they do can be rather dangerous."
When asked about such criticisms, Wayne Gerdes, the owner of CleanMPG.com, gets emotional. "I get e-mails, just hate mail, you wouldn't believe it," he said.
What's wrong with driving at the speed limit? he asked me.
Back in my Bug, I could see why Gerdes gets so worked up. As I drove 40 miles per hour, the speed limit, cars either honked or drove so closely behind me as to try to intimidate me out of the lane.
The car behind me finally drove around me and accelerated but did not make it past the red light. As I pulled up slowly to the light, I noticed he was one car ahead of me.
"Look how much farther ahead of me he is after he chased me down the road," I said.
"That's part of hypermiling: to understand that going slow is better than going fast," Johnson said. "Just be the smooth operator."
I was pretty smooth, Johnson said upon returning to the parking lot. "You already have a very nice, gentle technique," he said. That said, I kept modulating on the gas pedal, that is, applying pressure then easing up. I also spent too much time at stop signs and sometimes accelerated to a red light.
He showed me the readings on the ScanGauge. I had driven 6.9 miles at a rate that would get me 23.9 miles per gallon. The trip cost me 87 cents.
He looked at my tires. "When was the last time you checked your tire pressure?"
"Um . . . well . . . hmmm," I responded.
He knelt down and checked each of my tires. The front two were fine. The back two were not. This was important, he said, because the higher the pressure, the lower the rolling resistance and the better the fuel economy.
Johnson asked me to drive the route once more, this time applying some of his tips. During our first trip, as Johnson let me do my own thing so he could study my driving, I had spent more time asking the two about themselves -- they met on a blind date -- than about the driving.
This time, I was in deep concentration. When I got to the first stop sign, I did not linger too long. When I saw a red light, I took my foot off the gas pedal and let the car coast. Sometimes, I didn't even have to stop because the light turned green as I glided to it.
Then a biker appeared, seemingly out of nowhere.
"You saw that?" Johnson asked.
"Hardly," I said.
"We don't want to get too much into the mode of driving that we forget we're driving," he said. It was a line that would have made the AAA Mid-Atlantic guy proud.
Then we got to a stop light, and we knew from driving it the first time that it would be a long one.
"Now turn your engine off," Johnson said.
This made me nervous, but I complied. I turned it off and pulled the key out.
"No, keep the key in," he said.
When the light turned green, I wasn't ready for it. It took me too long to get the key back into the ignition and restart the car. The car behind me honked. I accelerated.
Despite my best efforts, I did a little bit worse the second time. Miles per gallon: 23.6.
Now it was Johnson's turn.
Before climbing into the driver's seat, he did something really bizarre. He took off his shoe. Mary giggled. I gave him a puzzled look. Driving in a sock allows him to better feel how much pressure he's applying to the accelerator, he explained.
We proceeded as the light turned yellow. "There's probably no way I can slow down long enough or far enough to make it through this light," he said.
We stopped. When the light turned green, he pulled away. Our miles per gallon dropped to 24. Then we went downhill. He took his foot off the gas pedal. Our miles per gallon went up to 75.
Next we got to the long light where I had fumbled as I tried to shut off the car. Johnson was eager to show me how it's done. But his cellphone rang. He had to answer it. As he talked, we sat there with the car idling. By the time he was done, the light was about to change. He lost his chance.
"Another reason for not talking on the phone when you're driving," he said. "Yeah, that probably cost me."
It did. We returned to the parking lot to read the ScanGauge. Mary handed him the calculator. "I did 4, almost 5 percent better," he said. "That's not the best."
Still, he proved that some of his techniques work. Do I plan to use everything he taught me? Probably not. I'm simply not comfortable with turning off my engine at a stop light. Am I going to stop using my air conditioner when it's hot out? No way. Townsend of AAA Mid-Atlantic gave what I think is good advice on hypermiling: "You need to study it. You need to school yourself. And you need to determine which tools work for you."
saving gas
Even though we all tease my bro for being a grandpa driver, he can drive over 300 miles on a 1/2 of gas and that is in a 8-cyclinder Caprice Classic.
I'm getting about 13.5/gallon. on the jeep. Basically because of the stop and go traffic to work. That's about all I drive it for. I'd be happy to get 15 MPG. I'll be checking this website more (http://www.fueleconomy.gov/mpg/MPG.do?action=mpgData&vehicleID=20312&browser=true&details=on)
******
Adventures in Hypermiling
By Nancy Trejos
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, June 15, 2008; F01
I hate driving. I hate it even more now that I can't afford it.
With gasoline topping $4 a gallon in many places, there's no shortage of advice from the financial experts: Try carpooling, biking or walking. Cut costs in other parts of your life. Eat out less and stop shopping. Carefully choose the brand and type of gasoline you use because some are more cost-efficient than others. Or just get rid of your car.
Then I heard about "hypermiling," which involves changing your driving behavior to coax better gas mileage out of your car. Hypermilers do such things as drive slowly, brake as little as possible and limit their use of the air conditioner to save fuel.
Not eager to stop going out to dinner with friends and unable to sell my car, I figured I would see what hypermiling was about. Perhaps whatever savings it might produce would be enough to cover the cost of fixing my broken passenger-side window, courtesy of a drunken reveler in Adams Morgan, where I live. (Did I mention how much I hate having a car in this city?)
I googled hypermiling and found no shortage of Web sites offering tips. There's Ecomodder.com, HyperMilingForum.com and CleanMPG.com, among others. I contacted them all in search of someone to teach me how to hypermile and ended up with an e-mail introduction to Kent Johnson, a consultant for an engineering company who lives in Carroll County, Md.
After a brief phone conversation in which he asked me the size of my engine -- Is that really something I should know off the top of my head? -- Johnson and I arranged to meet on Wednesday at a parking lot at the University of Maryland at College Park. He appeared in his red 2005 Chevy Aveo with his wife Mary, who sells Mary Kay cosmetics. He brought along tons of material he had found on the Internet about my silver 2001 Volkswagen Beetle, putting me to shame, as I didn't even know where my driver's manual was until I found it in a bookshelf in my apartment that morning .
"With an automatic, you should get 29 miles on the highway, 22 in the city and 25 combined," Johnson said. "So on average, you should be around 25 miles per gallon."
"Is that bad?" I asked. I have to admit, I didn't think about mileage when I bought my Beetle used a couple of years ago. All I thought about was how cute it would be to have a Bug. (A child of the 1980s, I played the "Punch Buggy" game with my friends, which involved punching each other when we came across a VW Beetle on the street. "Punch Buggy Yellow!" I would shout with glee.)
"I'm betting we can do 10 percent better," Johnson answered.
According to FuelEconomy.gov, he said, it costs me about $4.59 to drive 25 miles.
"Thanks, hon," he said to his wife of 29 years -- they had just celebrated their anniversary, they giddily told me -- as she ducked into their car and reappeared with a calculator.
"So every mile, you've got to chuck in 18 cents, if you wanted to think of it like that," he said.
"Do I have to?" I asked.
Johnson does, all the time. Fed up with high gasoline prices, he decided to become a hypermiler in September. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, he should be able to drive 30 miles per gallon in the city and highway combined in his Aveo. According to FuelEconomy.gov, it should cost him about $3.74 to drive 25 miles. With techniques he has learned on CleanMPG.com, he has routinely been able to eke out 10 more miles per gallon, a savings of about 4 cents a mile, by his calculations.
Johnson knows all this because he bought himself a contraption called a ScanGauge. It's an electronic box that plugs into a port connected to your car's computer and tells you how fast you're going, how many miles per gallon you're getting and much more. Johnson climbed into my car and plugged in the device somewhere underneath the steering wheel. Then he pulled it over to the passenger side as I settled into the driver's seat.
"We'll pull it over my way because we don't want you to see what you're doing," he said.
"Okay, that's fine. I usually don't know what I'm doing," I said.
Upon hearing this, Johnson turned around and asked his wife, sitting in my tiny back seat and munching on cereal bars, to buckle her seat belt.
Johnson planned a trip that would take us through the campus; east on Route 193; south on Route 1; back into the campus; around a rotary; through several stops, crosswalks and lights; across Route 193; then back into campus and into a student parking lot.
"How fast should I go?" I asked.
"How fast do you normally go?" he asked.
"I never really pay much attention," I said.
"You just drive your normal way," he said.
It turns out that my normal way is slow. I will admit it. I am not a good driver. And that makes me nervous, especially when I have other people in the car with me. When it comes to driving, and probably nothing else, I'm simply too scared to go fast.
And that makes me a good hypermiler. Hypermilers advocate going at or below the speed limit. Johnson and a few other hypermilers I talked to also avoid braking heavily and idling excessively. When they get into their cars, they put on their seat belts and adjust their mirrors before turning on the engine. If they know they're going to be at a red light for a long time, they turn off their engines. When they're going downhill, they put their cars in neutral or simply glide down.
Critics say some hypermilers take these practices to the extreme. They say that driving too slowly on, say, the Capital Beltway, is dangerous. Driving too slowly on a one-lane road, they say, is simply rude. There are other controversial hypermiling techniques, such as drafting, which involves closely following a tractor-trailer to reduce wind resistance.
"Many of the techniques that the hypermilers use can prove rather effective in cutting gas consumption, but you have to think about not only your safety but the safety of others first," said John Townsend, a spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic. "Some of the things they do can be rather dangerous."
When asked about such criticisms, Wayne Gerdes, the owner of CleanMPG.com, gets emotional. "I get e-mails, just hate mail, you wouldn't believe it," he said.
What's wrong with driving at the speed limit? he asked me.
Back in my Bug, I could see why Gerdes gets so worked up. As I drove 40 miles per hour, the speed limit, cars either honked or drove so closely behind me as to try to intimidate me out of the lane.
The car behind me finally drove around me and accelerated but did not make it past the red light. As I pulled up slowly to the light, I noticed he was one car ahead of me.
"Look how much farther ahead of me he is after he chased me down the road," I said.
"That's part of hypermiling: to understand that going slow is better than going fast," Johnson said. "Just be the smooth operator."
I was pretty smooth, Johnson said upon returning to the parking lot. "You already have a very nice, gentle technique," he said. That said, I kept modulating on the gas pedal, that is, applying pressure then easing up. I also spent too much time at stop signs and sometimes accelerated to a red light.
He showed me the readings on the ScanGauge. I had driven 6.9 miles at a rate that would get me 23.9 miles per gallon. The trip cost me 87 cents.
He looked at my tires. "When was the last time you checked your tire pressure?"
"Um . . . well . . . hmmm," I responded.
He knelt down and checked each of my tires. The front two were fine. The back two were not. This was important, he said, because the higher the pressure, the lower the rolling resistance and the better the fuel economy.
Johnson asked me to drive the route once more, this time applying some of his tips. During our first trip, as Johnson let me do my own thing so he could study my driving, I had spent more time asking the two about themselves -- they met on a blind date -- than about the driving.
This time, I was in deep concentration. When I got to the first stop sign, I did not linger too long. When I saw a red light, I took my foot off the gas pedal and let the car coast. Sometimes, I didn't even have to stop because the light turned green as I glided to it.
Then a biker appeared, seemingly out of nowhere.
"You saw that?" Johnson asked.
"Hardly," I said.
"We don't want to get too much into the mode of driving that we forget we're driving," he said. It was a line that would have made the AAA Mid-Atlantic guy proud.
Then we got to a stop light, and we knew from driving it the first time that it would be a long one.
"Now turn your engine off," Johnson said.
This made me nervous, but I complied. I turned it off and pulled the key out.
"No, keep the key in," he said.
When the light turned green, I wasn't ready for it. It took me too long to get the key back into the ignition and restart the car. The car behind me honked. I accelerated.
Despite my best efforts, I did a little bit worse the second time. Miles per gallon: 23.6.
Now it was Johnson's turn.
Before climbing into the driver's seat, he did something really bizarre. He took off his shoe. Mary giggled. I gave him a puzzled look. Driving in a sock allows him to better feel how much pressure he's applying to the accelerator, he explained.
We proceeded as the light turned yellow. "There's probably no way I can slow down long enough or far enough to make it through this light," he said.
We stopped. When the light turned green, he pulled away. Our miles per gallon dropped to 24. Then we went downhill. He took his foot off the gas pedal. Our miles per gallon went up to 75.
Next we got to the long light where I had fumbled as I tried to shut off the car. Johnson was eager to show me how it's done. But his cellphone rang. He had to answer it. As he talked, we sat there with the car idling. By the time he was done, the light was about to change. He lost his chance.
"Another reason for not talking on the phone when you're driving," he said. "Yeah, that probably cost me."
It did. We returned to the parking lot to read the ScanGauge. Mary handed him the calculator. "I did 4, almost 5 percent better," he said. "That's not the best."
Still, he proved that some of his techniques work. Do I plan to use everything he taught me? Probably not. I'm simply not comfortable with turning off my engine at a stop light. Am I going to stop using my air conditioner when it's hot out? No way. Townsend of AAA Mid-Atlantic gave what I think is good advice on hypermiling: "You need to study it. You need to school yourself. And you need to determine which tools work for you."
Monday, June 16, 2008
Smile! and the Airport shortcut
Jun 16, 2008
Smile! and the Airport shortcut
Humor for the day
TWENTY NINE LINES TO MAKE YOU SMILE
1.. My husband and I divorced over religious differences. He thought he was God and I didn't.
2.. I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it.
3.. Some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them
4.. I used to have a handle on life, but it broke.
5 . Don't take life too seriously; No one gets out alive.
6.. You're just jealous because the voices only talk to me.
7.. Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.
8.. Earth is the insane asylum for the universe .
9.. I'm not a complete idiot -- Some parts are just missing.
10.. Out of my mind. Back in five minutes.
11.. NyQuil, the stuffy, sneezy,why-the-heck-is-the-room-spinning medicine.
12.. God must love stupid people; He made so many.
13.. The gene pool could use a little chlorine.
14.. Consciousness: That annoying time between naps.
15.. Ever stop to think, and forget to start again?
16.. Being "over the hill" is much better than being under it!
17.. Wrinkled Was Not One of the Things I Wanted to Be When I Grew up.
18 Procrastinate Now!
19.. I Have a Degree in Liberal Arts; Do You Want Fries With That?
20.. A hangover is the wrath of grapes.
21.. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a cash advance.
22.. Stupidity is not a handicap. Park elsewhere!
23..They call it PMS because Mad Cow Dise ase was already taken.
24 He who dies with the most toys is nonetheless DEAD.
25.. A picture is worth a thousand words, but it uses up three thousand times the memory.
26 Ham and eggs...A day's work for a chicken, a lifetime commitment for a pig.
27.. The trouble with life is there's no background music.
28.. The original point and click interface was a Smith & Weston.
29.. I smile because I don't know what the hell is going on.
A day in the life at the Airport
Just NOW this is making it into the newspaper? Where have they been? OMG, I see this EVERYDAY! In the morning and the afternoon.
When 'Airport Business' Is a Ticket to Less Traffic
Loophole Gives Drivers Shortcut Through Dulles for Access Road Commute
By Eric M. Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 16, 2008; A01
John Van Vliet commutes from Harpers Ferry, W.Va., to Alexandria every day. And almost every day he stops at Dulles International Airport, not to catch a flight, but to buy a 99 cent cup of coffee at the sole gas station on airport property. He makes sure to get a receipt.
That receipt, according to Van Vliet, allows him to drive on the nearly traffic-free Dulles Access Road, avoiding the tolls and traffic of the parallel Dulles Toll Road. It shaves about 50 minutes off his morning commute.
"It's legal if you do business with the airport," Van Vliet said with a smile. "I have my receipt with me."
Van Vliet is taking advantage of a loophole that allows drivers on airport business to use the access road, which was designed to funnel airport passengers to the airport from the Capital Beltway. Since there is no official definition of "airport business," Van Vliet and hundreds of others drive their vehicles through the giant loophole every day.
In the traffic-clogged Washington area, every commuter is looking for an edge in the daily battle to get to work and home. The tips are passed across the dinner table and over cubicle walls. It could be a secret shortcut, using inflatable dolls to get around high-occupancy vehicle restrictions or stretching the definition of airport business.
"It's like commuter science," said Danielle Delgado, who uses the Dulles shortcut about three times a week. It saves her about 40 minutes in her commute from Purcellville to Old Town Alexandria. "You're thinking on the fly when you're hitting the gas," she said while stopping off at the airport one recent morning for a cup of coffee, a snack and a trip on the access road.
Because drivers on airport business are also allowed to use Interstate 66 during HOV-only hours, the loophole allows single drivers an easy ride into the District or out to the airport 35 miles away. During rush hours, only vehicles with two or more passengers are allowed to use I-66 inside the Beltway.
Although drivers have been using the airport loophole for years, airport police say the increasing number of long-distance commuters, the explosion of residential growth beyond the airport and worsening traffic on the Dulles Toll Road, which opened in 1984, have made the detour more attractive.
Police say they have even found Reston residents cutting through the airport, meaning the time savings is such that it makes sense to travel west to the airport to ride east on the access road.
The problem with what police call "backtrackers," a generic term that includes all commuters who cut through the airport, is likely to get worse when the Dulles Toll Road raises its rates to help pay for the planned Metrorail extension to the airport.
State Transportation Secretary Pierce R. Homer said backtracking is just one result of too many cars on too few roads. It is also a testament to the craftiness of drivers.
"The Washington area commuter is by far the most ingenious," Homer said. "They use loopholes, inflatable dolls . . . they get into cars with complete strangers and go west to go east. They do what they have to do to survive."
Commuters have a variety of ways of proving they have conducted airport business. Some drivers top off their tanks at the Exxon, others buy a newspaper at the convenience store or a muffin at the airport Marriott's gift shop. And always, they save their dated receipt as proof in case they are pulled over by police.
"They spend 26 cents and they ask for a receipt. I don't know why," said Tigi Zewdie, a cashier at the On the Run convenience store attached to the Exxon.
Another popular stratagem is to rent a post office box at the small airport post office in the back of an office building. The keys are guarded like a get-out-of-ticket-free card. Others commute daily with a FedEx box, police say, ready to tell officers that they were at the airport picking up a package.
On a typical day, by 7 a.m. the Exxon station on the airport grounds is rocking with business. All the pumps are in use and lines in the convenience store are often six or seven people deep. It is a strange scene, because the station is on a small road in an industrial part of the airport. And gas stations on airport grounds, near car rental return areas, are hardly known for cheap prices.
"The question is: Do you want to sit or keep moving?" said Jim Kennedy, who commutes from Leesburg to a sports club in Tysons Corner and stops at the airport for a cup of coffee to use the access road. "I can't be late."
Although airport officials do not seem overly concerned about backtrackers, airport police occasionally conduct stings in which they use borrowed rental cars to follow drivers through the airport. If drivers don't stop and continue onto the access road, they are stopped and ticketed. (So as not to scare people concerned about police impersonators, officers do not attempt to pull people over using the rental cars or minivans. The undercover officers radio the backtracker's plate and vehicle description to officers in marked police cruisers.) These operations usually nab about 70 to 90 violators a month. Tickets come with a $40 fine and three points on a driver's license. Ticket revenue goes to Fairfax or Loudoun county, not the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.
"If they are not stopping, they are not there on airport business," said airports authority Police Chief Stephen L. Holl.
Van Vliet said that several co-workers use the airport cut-through and will notify each other by text message or e-mail if there is an enforcement action underway. If so, he makes doubly sure to stop for his coffee.
Despite the extra airport traffic and added hassles brought on by the backtrackers, Holl said he doesn't believe a more formal definition of "airport business" is needed.
"That's up to a judge to define, and we're fine with that," he said.
But the extra cars on the nearly empty airport access road create headaches down the road. The Virginia State Police are charged with enforcing HOV rules on I-66 and say they routinely get the "airport business" excuse from HOV violators.
So troopers wind up having to play Solomon on the side of the highway, deciding whether to believe the FedEx box was picked up that morning or whether $5 in gasoline counts as airport business.
"We interrogate them," said state police 1st Sgt. James E. DeFord Sr.
There was one case in which a woman dropped her husband off at the airport at 5 a.m., then returned home to shower and change and then headed alone on I-66 hours later. When she was pulled over, she said she was on airport business. The trooper wrote her a ticket, but a judge dismissed the case because he had no legal definition of airport business, DeFord said.
State transportation officials say that defining what exactly is airport business is up to airport officials.
Joan Morris, spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Transportation, called the phenomenon "an unintentional loophole in the system. But that would be up to the airport to change."
Smile! and the Airport shortcut
Humor for the day
TWENTY NINE LINES TO MAKE YOU SMILE
1.. My husband and I divorced over religious differences. He thought he was God and I didn't.
2.. I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it.
3.. Some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them
4.. I used to have a handle on life, but it broke.
5 . Don't take life too seriously; No one gets out alive.
6.. You're just jealous because the voices only talk to me.
7.. Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.
8.. Earth is the insane asylum for the universe .
9.. I'm not a complete idiot -- Some parts are just missing.
10.. Out of my mind. Back in five minutes.
11.. NyQuil, the stuffy, sneezy,why-the-heck-is-the-room-spinning medicine.
12.. God must love stupid people; He made so many.
13.. The gene pool could use a little chlorine.
14.. Consciousness: That annoying time between naps.
15.. Ever stop to think, and forget to start again?
16.. Being "over the hill" is much better than being under it!
17.. Wrinkled Was Not One of the Things I Wanted to Be When I Grew up.
18 Procrastinate Now!
19.. I Have a Degree in Liberal Arts; Do You Want Fries With That?
20.. A hangover is the wrath of grapes.
21.. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a cash advance.
22.. Stupidity is not a handicap. Park elsewhere!
23..They call it PMS because Mad Cow Dise ase was already taken.
24 He who dies with the most toys is nonetheless DEAD.
25.. A picture is worth a thousand words, but it uses up three thousand times the memory.
26 Ham and eggs...A day's work for a chicken, a lifetime commitment for a pig.
27.. The trouble with life is there's no background music.
28.. The original point and click interface was a Smith & Weston.
29.. I smile because I don't know what the hell is going on.
A day in the life at the Airport
Just NOW this is making it into the newspaper? Where have they been? OMG, I see this EVERYDAY! In the morning and the afternoon.
When 'Airport Business' Is a Ticket to Less Traffic
Loophole Gives Drivers Shortcut Through Dulles for Access Road Commute
By Eric M. Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 16, 2008; A01
John Van Vliet commutes from Harpers Ferry, W.Va., to Alexandria every day. And almost every day he stops at Dulles International Airport, not to catch a flight, but to buy a 99 cent cup of coffee at the sole gas station on airport property. He makes sure to get a receipt.
That receipt, according to Van Vliet, allows him to drive on the nearly traffic-free Dulles Access Road, avoiding the tolls and traffic of the parallel Dulles Toll Road. It shaves about 50 minutes off his morning commute.
"It's legal if you do business with the airport," Van Vliet said with a smile. "I have my receipt with me."
Van Vliet is taking advantage of a loophole that allows drivers on airport business to use the access road, which was designed to funnel airport passengers to the airport from the Capital Beltway. Since there is no official definition of "airport business," Van Vliet and hundreds of others drive their vehicles through the giant loophole every day.
In the traffic-clogged Washington area, every commuter is looking for an edge in the daily battle to get to work and home. The tips are passed across the dinner table and over cubicle walls. It could be a secret shortcut, using inflatable dolls to get around high-occupancy vehicle restrictions or stretching the definition of airport business.
"It's like commuter science," said Danielle Delgado, who uses the Dulles shortcut about three times a week. It saves her about 40 minutes in her commute from Purcellville to Old Town Alexandria. "You're thinking on the fly when you're hitting the gas," she said while stopping off at the airport one recent morning for a cup of coffee, a snack and a trip on the access road.
Because drivers on airport business are also allowed to use Interstate 66 during HOV-only hours, the loophole allows single drivers an easy ride into the District or out to the airport 35 miles away. During rush hours, only vehicles with two or more passengers are allowed to use I-66 inside the Beltway.
Although drivers have been using the airport loophole for years, airport police say the increasing number of long-distance commuters, the explosion of residential growth beyond the airport and worsening traffic on the Dulles Toll Road, which opened in 1984, have made the detour more attractive.
Police say they have even found Reston residents cutting through the airport, meaning the time savings is such that it makes sense to travel west to the airport to ride east on the access road.
The problem with what police call "backtrackers," a generic term that includes all commuters who cut through the airport, is likely to get worse when the Dulles Toll Road raises its rates to help pay for the planned Metrorail extension to the airport.
State Transportation Secretary Pierce R. Homer said backtracking is just one result of too many cars on too few roads. It is also a testament to the craftiness of drivers.
"The Washington area commuter is by far the most ingenious," Homer said. "They use loopholes, inflatable dolls . . . they get into cars with complete strangers and go west to go east. They do what they have to do to survive."
Commuters have a variety of ways of proving they have conducted airport business. Some drivers top off their tanks at the Exxon, others buy a newspaper at the convenience store or a muffin at the airport Marriott's gift shop. And always, they save their dated receipt as proof in case they are pulled over by police.
"They spend 26 cents and they ask for a receipt. I don't know why," said Tigi Zewdie, a cashier at the On the Run convenience store attached to the Exxon.
Another popular stratagem is to rent a post office box at the small airport post office in the back of an office building. The keys are guarded like a get-out-of-ticket-free card. Others commute daily with a FedEx box, police say, ready to tell officers that they were at the airport picking up a package.
On a typical day, by 7 a.m. the Exxon station on the airport grounds is rocking with business. All the pumps are in use and lines in the convenience store are often six or seven people deep. It is a strange scene, because the station is on a small road in an industrial part of the airport. And gas stations on airport grounds, near car rental return areas, are hardly known for cheap prices.
"The question is: Do you want to sit or keep moving?" said Jim Kennedy, who commutes from Leesburg to a sports club in Tysons Corner and stops at the airport for a cup of coffee to use the access road. "I can't be late."
Although airport officials do not seem overly concerned about backtrackers, airport police occasionally conduct stings in which they use borrowed rental cars to follow drivers through the airport. If drivers don't stop and continue onto the access road, they are stopped and ticketed. (So as not to scare people concerned about police impersonators, officers do not attempt to pull people over using the rental cars or minivans. The undercover officers radio the backtracker's plate and vehicle description to officers in marked police cruisers.) These operations usually nab about 70 to 90 violators a month. Tickets come with a $40 fine and three points on a driver's license. Ticket revenue goes to Fairfax or Loudoun county, not the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.
"If they are not stopping, they are not there on airport business," said airports authority Police Chief Stephen L. Holl.
Van Vliet said that several co-workers use the airport cut-through and will notify each other by text message or e-mail if there is an enforcement action underway. If so, he makes doubly sure to stop for his coffee.
Despite the extra airport traffic and added hassles brought on by the backtrackers, Holl said he doesn't believe a more formal definition of "airport business" is needed.
"That's up to a judge to define, and we're fine with that," he said.
But the extra cars on the nearly empty airport access road create headaches down the road. The Virginia State Police are charged with enforcing HOV rules on I-66 and say they routinely get the "airport business" excuse from HOV violators.
So troopers wind up having to play Solomon on the side of the highway, deciding whether to believe the FedEx box was picked up that morning or whether $5 in gasoline counts as airport business.
"We interrogate them," said state police 1st Sgt. James E. DeFord Sr.
There was one case in which a woman dropped her husband off at the airport at 5 a.m., then returned home to shower and change and then headed alone on I-66 hours later. When she was pulled over, she said she was on airport business. The trooper wrote her a ticket, but a judge dismissed the case because he had no legal definition of airport business, DeFord said.
State transportation officials say that defining what exactly is airport business is up to airport officials.
Joan Morris, spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Transportation, called the phenomenon "an unintentional loophole in the system. But that would be up to the airport to change."
Friday, June 13, 2008
yardsale and books
Jun 13, 2008
yardsale and books
Well – almost ready for the yardsale. Yesterday, Esa and I put up 3 signs in the neighborhood and Dan is putting up signs also today. Tonight will be pulling all of the tables, signs, and stuff close to the door. Hopefully, we'll have a good turn out. At least it sounds like the weather will be nice.
One of my goals is to read more. I just finished "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People". I wasn't really impressed with it. I think I expected more because of the push it always got at the seminars that I went to. It was an easier read that what I expected too. A person (at one of the seminars) told me that it was better (to understand) on the audio than the book.
I've started "Into The Wild". I've already seen the movie. SPOILER ALERT: I didn't realize the guy was going to die in the movie and I expected the book to be him/his journal.
3:30 p.m. – well – let me just say my neighbors who are participating in the yardsale are very dependant on me doing this. I'm just waiting for the "there were no signs directing people to our house" comment.
I created a map and posted it on the yahoo group, and people either can't figure it out or are just too lazy. I've asked that people print it out and at least have it at their house to forward the people to the next place. We'll see how it goes.
yardsale and books
Well – almost ready for the yardsale. Yesterday, Esa and I put up 3 signs in the neighborhood and Dan is putting up signs also today. Tonight will be pulling all of the tables, signs, and stuff close to the door. Hopefully, we'll have a good turn out. At least it sounds like the weather will be nice.
One of my goals is to read more. I just finished "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People". I wasn't really impressed with it. I think I expected more because of the push it always got at the seminars that I went to. It was an easier read that what I expected too. A person (at one of the seminars) told me that it was better (to understand) on the audio than the book.
I've started "Into The Wild". I've already seen the movie. SPOILER ALERT: I didn't realize the guy was going to die in the movie and I expected the book to be him/his journal.
3:30 p.m. – well – let me just say my neighbors who are participating in the yardsale are very dependant on me doing this. I'm just waiting for the "there were no signs directing people to our house" comment.
I created a map and posted it on the yahoo group, and people either can't figure it out or are just too lazy. I've asked that people print it out and at least have it at their house to forward the people to the next place. We'll see how it goes.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
shopping results for the week, child before the internet, green tip, and one step at a time
Jun 11, 2008
shopping results for the week, child before the internet, green tip, and one step at a time
Shopping results of this week
So I went to CVS on Tuesday to get the weekly bargain. One was get $4 Extra bucks when you buy at Fusion razor – cool – I had 2 $4 coupons – I'll get them for like a $1! Well, I look at the receipt yesterday – and only got $4 back – DAMN! I looked at the ad – one extra buck reward per household – DOUBLE DAMN that fine print! I've learned my lesson. Damn – I hate when that happens!
Humor for the day (or should it be thought of the day)
Those Born 1920-1979
READ TO THE BOTTOM FOR QUOTE OF THE MONTH BY JAY LENO. IF YOU DON'T READ
ANYTHING ELSE---VERY WELL STATED
TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's!!
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't
get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, no t to mention the risks we took hitchhiking.
As infants &children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts, or air bags. Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, white bread, and real butter and drank Kool-aid made with sugar, but we weren't overweight because, WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes. No video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or chat rooms.......
WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers, and inventors ever!
The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!
If YOU are one of them... CONGRATULATIONS!
You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good .
While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave (and lucky) their parents were.
Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn'tit?!
The quote of the month is by Jay Leno:
'With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?'
For those that prefer to think that God is not watching over us...go ahead and delete this. For the rest of us...pass this ON!
Green Tip (from IdealBite)
Need to fuel your stomach, but don't have time for a long pit stop?
The Bite
Make it fast, and keep on truckin'. When you're on the road, fast-food restaurants aren't usually the greenest or healthiest option - but no matter where you stop, you can make your meal a little bit better for you and the planet.
The Benefits
· A tidier big rig. Take just what you need; how many of the 11 billion Heinz ketchup packets sold annually are just collecting dust in your glove box?
· Three honks for less gas use. American drivers use more than 2 billion gallons of fuel each year while idling (in drive-throughs and otherwise) - and idling creates twice the emissions of a car in motion.
· Truck-stopping global warming. Some major fast-food chains are switching to wind power for their energy, use only sustainable wood for stores, and incorporate organic ingredients.
Personally Speaking
At LAX on business, a starving Heather caved and went to McDonald's for fries (sans big bag and ketchup) for the first time in at least five years...and she has to admit they were better than she remembered.
Wanna Try?
1. Go inside. Your legs will get a stretch, and you'll use less fuel than driving-through. It's often faster too.
2. Order "for here," even if you're taking out to avoid the bag and excess napkins.
3. Grab just what you need. How much mustard do you want on your burger, anyway?
· Au Bon Pain, Chipotle, and Starbucks - better options when you're on the go, featuring some local and/or organic ingredients, recycled paper products, and more.
If 10,000 Biters take one fewer napkin at fast-food restaurants, in a year we'll conserve the total annual paper use of 25 Americans.
A Reminder that little by little, you'll get to your goal
I've heard this story before, but it's a good one and one that comes at a good time. From Everyday Cheapskate.
A Little Bit Here, A Little Bit There
I love to knit. That is not to say that I am a fast knitter or even that good at it. Mostly I make things that turn out marginally well; then I tear them out and start over on something else. But here's the funny thing: It's not the finished product that I find so enjoyable. It's the process. It's the gentle rhythm, the pulling of one loop of yarn through another, over and over again.
Curiously in all of knitting—and I'm talking about the most complicated and breathtakingly beautiful works of knitted wear—there exist only two stitches: knit and purl. That's it. And no matter how fast I knit, or how slow—how intricate or ordinary the pattern—one thing is sure: I can make only one stitch at a time. And one stitch makes absolutely no visual difference in whatever it is I'm working on at the moment.
Now and then I come to the last stitch, bind it off and surprise even myself by what I've created. How did that happen? It's remarkable really that just one stitch at a time can bring such pleasing results.
I love the story author Jaroldeen Edwards (Things I Wish I'd Known Sooner, Pocket Books, 1997) tells of the trip she took with her daughter one bleak and rainy day. She wasn't that thrilled to drive more than two hours to see flowers some woman had planted. But her daughter was insistent—"You're going to love this, Mom!" And tell me what mom could resist going along with that kind of enthusiasm.
They drove along the Rim of the World Highway, inching their way toward Lake Arrowhead through fog and drizzle. Jaroldeen now was certain she was being kidnapped by her daughter! Eventually Carolyn parked next to a small stone church and announced they would need to walk along a path, through huge, black-green evergreens and over a thick blanket of old pine needles.
Just as they turned the corner of the path, Jaroldeen stopped dead—literally gasping in amazement. "There before me was a most incredible and glorious sight! So unexpected and unimagined."
From the top of the mountain, sloping down several acres across folds and valleys, between the trees and bushes, following the natural flow of the terrain, were rivers of daffodils in radiant bloom. Every color of the spectrum of yellow—blazed like a carpet before us. Why? How? Her mind flooded with questions for how this could be.
As they approached the mountain home situated in the sea of yellow, she saw a sign posted clearly by someone tired of answering the same questions:
"Answers to the Questions I Know You are Asking: One Woman, Two Hands, Two Feet, and Very Little Brain. One at a Time. Started in 1958."
A little bit here, a little bit there.
Today I received a photo of the most darling little boy, Joshua Michael, who is approaching his first birthday. He's the first grandchild of my college roommate. Almost as adorable, is the hat he's wearing. Why? How? One woman, two hands, two needles and very little brain. One stitch at a time. Started about ten months ago.
shopping results for the week, child before the internet, green tip, and one step at a time
Shopping results of this week
So I went to CVS on Tuesday to get the weekly bargain. One was get $4 Extra bucks when you buy at Fusion razor – cool – I had 2 $4 coupons – I'll get them for like a $1! Well, I look at the receipt yesterday – and only got $4 back – DAMN! I looked at the ad – one extra buck reward per household – DOUBLE DAMN that fine print! I've learned my lesson. Damn – I hate when that happens!
Humor for the day (or should it be thought of the day)
Those Born 1920-1979
READ TO THE BOTTOM FOR QUOTE OF THE MONTH BY JAY LENO. IF YOU DON'T READ
ANYTHING ELSE---VERY WELL STATED
TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's!!
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't
get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, no t to mention the risks we took hitchhiking.
As infants &children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts, or air bags. Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, white bread, and real butter and drank Kool-aid made with sugar, but we weren't overweight because, WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes. No video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or chat rooms.......
WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers, and inventors ever!
The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!
If YOU are one of them... CONGRATULATIONS!
You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good .
While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave (and lucky) their parents were.
Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn'tit?!
The quote of the month is by Jay Leno:
'With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?'
For those that prefer to think that God is not watching over us...go ahead and delete this. For the rest of us...pass this ON!
Green Tip (from IdealBite)
Need to fuel your stomach, but don't have time for a long pit stop?
The Bite
Make it fast, and keep on truckin'. When you're on the road, fast-food restaurants aren't usually the greenest or healthiest option - but no matter where you stop, you can make your meal a little bit better for you and the planet.
The Benefits
· A tidier big rig. Take just what you need; how many of the 11 billion Heinz ketchup packets sold annually are just collecting dust in your glove box?
· Three honks for less gas use. American drivers use more than 2 billion gallons of fuel each year while idling (in drive-throughs and otherwise) - and idling creates twice the emissions of a car in motion.
· Truck-stopping global warming. Some major fast-food chains are switching to wind power for their energy, use only sustainable wood for stores, and incorporate organic ingredients.
Personally Speaking
At LAX on business, a starving Heather caved and went to McDonald's for fries (sans big bag and ketchup) for the first time in at least five years...and she has to admit they were better than she remembered.
Wanna Try?
1. Go inside. Your legs will get a stretch, and you'll use less fuel than driving-through. It's often faster too.
2. Order "for here," even if you're taking out to avoid the bag and excess napkins.
3. Grab just what you need. How much mustard do you want on your burger, anyway?
· Au Bon Pain, Chipotle, and Starbucks - better options when you're on the go, featuring some local and/or organic ingredients, recycled paper products, and more.
If 10,000 Biters take one fewer napkin at fast-food restaurants, in a year we'll conserve the total annual paper use of 25 Americans.
A Reminder that little by little, you'll get to your goal
I've heard this story before, but it's a good one and one that comes at a good time. From Everyday Cheapskate.
A Little Bit Here, A Little Bit There
I love to knit. That is not to say that I am a fast knitter or even that good at it. Mostly I make things that turn out marginally well; then I tear them out and start over on something else. But here's the funny thing: It's not the finished product that I find so enjoyable. It's the process. It's the gentle rhythm, the pulling of one loop of yarn through another, over and over again.
Curiously in all of knitting—and I'm talking about the most complicated and breathtakingly beautiful works of knitted wear—there exist only two stitches: knit and purl. That's it. And no matter how fast I knit, or how slow—how intricate or ordinary the pattern—one thing is sure: I can make only one stitch at a time. And one stitch makes absolutely no visual difference in whatever it is I'm working on at the moment.
Now and then I come to the last stitch, bind it off and surprise even myself by what I've created. How did that happen? It's remarkable really that just one stitch at a time can bring such pleasing results.
I love the story author Jaroldeen Edwards (Things I Wish I'd Known Sooner, Pocket Books, 1997) tells of the trip she took with her daughter one bleak and rainy day. She wasn't that thrilled to drive more than two hours to see flowers some woman had planted. But her daughter was insistent—"You're going to love this, Mom!" And tell me what mom could resist going along with that kind of enthusiasm.
They drove along the Rim of the World Highway, inching their way toward Lake Arrowhead through fog and drizzle. Jaroldeen now was certain she was being kidnapped by her daughter! Eventually Carolyn parked next to a small stone church and announced they would need to walk along a path, through huge, black-green evergreens and over a thick blanket of old pine needles.
Just as they turned the corner of the path, Jaroldeen stopped dead—literally gasping in amazement. "There before me was a most incredible and glorious sight! So unexpected and unimagined."
From the top of the mountain, sloping down several acres across folds and valleys, between the trees and bushes, following the natural flow of the terrain, were rivers of daffodils in radiant bloom. Every color of the spectrum of yellow—blazed like a carpet before us. Why? How? Her mind flooded with questions for how this could be.
As they approached the mountain home situated in the sea of yellow, she saw a sign posted clearly by someone tired of answering the same questions:
"Answers to the Questions I Know You are Asking: One Woman, Two Hands, Two Feet, and Very Little Brain. One at a Time. Started in 1958."
A little bit here, a little bit there.
Today I received a photo of the most darling little boy, Joshua Michael, who is approaching his first birthday. He's the first grandchild of my college roommate. Almost as adorable, is the hat he's wearing. Why? How? One woman, two hands, two needles and very little brain. One stitch at a time. Started about ten months ago.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
stuff that went on today....
Jun 10, 2008
stuff that went on today....
Postpoints Health Tip
So this is the e-mail I received today from Postpoints. Funny, last time I went to the eye doctor, she said the floating dots are normal for getting older (OUCH!). I guess I just need to watch for an increase in floaters.
Fast action could save your sight! Get to an ophthalmologist quickly if you see any of the following signs, which could be a signal of a detachment or tear in your retina:
· Floaters that drift in your vision as your eye moves. They may look like dots, veils, cobwebs or strings. Pay particular attention to a sudden increase in the number of dark floaters.
· Flashing lights, especially in peripheral vision. They may ripple or flicker.
· A shadow or curtain that comes down across your field of vision.
-- Health section
The things you find when you're not trying
So we are assigned to do headshots and bulletpoint bios for future RFPs (request for proposal). I type in template for bio and find this website: http://blog.lodewijkvdb.com/about - How to be an original. Pretty cool. Amazing all of the different blogs out there and that are interesting.
I'm not in to throwing everything out there for everyone to read though (even my friends), hence the (many) diary posts. My goals are my goals and only I can achieve them.
stuff that went on today....
Postpoints Health Tip
So this is the e-mail I received today from Postpoints. Funny, last time I went to the eye doctor, she said the floating dots are normal for getting older (OUCH!). I guess I just need to watch for an increase in floaters.
Fast action could save your sight! Get to an ophthalmologist quickly if you see any of the following signs, which could be a signal of a detachment or tear in your retina:
· Floaters that drift in your vision as your eye moves. They may look like dots, veils, cobwebs or strings. Pay particular attention to a sudden increase in the number of dark floaters.
· Flashing lights, especially in peripheral vision. They may ripple or flicker.
· A shadow or curtain that comes down across your field of vision.
-- Health section
The things you find when you're not trying
So we are assigned to do headshots and bulletpoint bios for future RFPs (request for proposal). I type in template for bio and find this website: http://blog.lodewijkvdb.com/about - How to be an original. Pretty cool. Amazing all of the different blogs out there and that are interesting.
I'm not in to throwing everything out there for everyone to read though (even my friends), hence the (many) diary posts. My goals are my goals and only I can achieve them.
Monday, June 9, 2008
hockey, house inventory, another movie at the airport, tomatoes, Janet!, and LA
Jun 9, 2008
hockey, house inventory, another movie at the airport, tomatoes, Janet!, and LA
Hockey
This is a sin -
Stanley Cup OK after slight dent at eatery
DETROIT (AP) - The Stanley Cup is OK after taking a tumble during the Red Wings' celebrations in Detroit.
NHL spokeswoman Bernadette Mansur says Saturday the Cup got a slight dent Friday after some players took the trophy to Cheli's Chili Bar, a downtown restaurant owned by Red Wings defenseman Chris Chelios.
Mansur says dent was smoothed out, and the trophy was expected to keep making the rounds.
Thousands of Red Wings fans cheered Friday during a parade and rally in downtown Detroit where the Cup was shown off. The Red Wings clinched the Cup on Wednesday night in Pittsburgh.
Once again – It's about time, hopefully this time it's for good.
Red Wings' Hasek retires after Stanley Cup win
Updated: June 9, 2008, 10:31 AM EST
DETROIT (AP) - The Dominator is done.
Dominik Hasek announced his retirement during a news conference in Detroit on Monday, only days after the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup in six games over Pittsburgh.
Sixteen years is a long time in life that has unfortunately gone by too fast," Hasek said.
The six-time Vezina Trophy winner as the NHL's top goaltender and two-time Hart Trophy winner as the league's MVP leaves on a mixed note.
Hasek, the only goalie to win the NHL MVP award twice, lost his job during Detroit's run to the Cup. The 43-year-old from the Czech Republic was benched during the opening-round series in favor of Chris Osgood and never regained the starting job.
Hasek won 389 games with the Red Wings, Ottawa Senators, Buffalo Sabres and Chicago Blackhawks, who drafted him in the 10th round in 1983 and had to wait until the 1990-91 season to get him on the ice. Chicago kept him just two seasons, then watched him become one of the game's greats in Buffalo.
Hasek ranks 10th on the career list in wins, 10th in goals against average, 18th in games and is tied for sixth in shutouts, according to STATS.
He won 65 playoff games - including 16 in 2002, when he won his first Stanley Cup with Detroit - and gave up an average of just two goals in the postseason.
House Inventory
So I was thinking about Buy By Brian's blog (http://www.buybybrianblog.com/). Why couldn't I do that for our house inventory? That might be easier than any software program that's out there. Take pictures of items as they are bought and post the info about them in the picture comment. If I need to, I can scan in the receipt and put in the "photo album". I can save all of this online and not have to worry about getting it out of the house in case of an emergency.
Let's see how I do.
Movie Production at the Airport
I heard last week from the Airports Authority Fire Marshal that there was a movie production going on at the Smithsonian down the road from the Airport, but found out today from him that it was Transformers 2! Anyway, I did a search regarding Transformers 2 and found a blog on the production of the movie. Here are two entries about the production at the Smithsonian:
http://transformerslive.blogspot.com/2008/06/images-from-smithsonian-set.html
http://transformerslive.blogspot.com/2008/06/more-pictures-from-udvar-hazy.html
Like I would get to meet any of the actors anyway!
I can get sick from tomatoes?
I'm sure tomato haters are loving this! I'm not since that's about 1 of the 5 vegetables I'll eat! The weirdest thing about this – we went to Chipotle and they had already pulled their tomato salsa because of the Salmonella outbreak. Chipotle is part (or was part) of MickeyD's so why did it take so long for MickeyD's to pull the tomatoes?
McDonald's pulls tomatoes from U.S. sandwiches
By Lisa Baertlein 1 hour, 3 minutes ago
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - McDonald's Corp said on Monday it has temporarily stopped serving sliced tomatoes on its sandwiches in the United States as health officials work to pinpoint the source of a Salmonella outbreak.
"This is a precautionary measure only. McDonald's has not experienced any related issues to date," the company said in a statement.
The move from the world's largest restaurant chain came after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned U.S. consumers on Saturday that the Salmonella outbreak was linked to the consumption of certain raw red plum, red Roma, and red round tomatoes, and products containing these tomatoes.
On Saturday, FDA said there had been 145 reported nationwide cases, including at least 23 hospitalizations, related to the outbreak. The infections were caused by Salmonella Saintpaul, an uncommon type of the bacteria.
Salmonella bacteria are frequently responsible for food-borne illnesses. Symptoms generally appear within 12 to 72 hours after eating infected food and include fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.
Infants, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems are more likely than others to develop severe illness, which can be deadly unless treated with antibiotics.
The FDA has said that it is safe to eat cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes and tomatoes sold with the vine still attached, or tomatoes grown at home.
McDonald's said it will continue to serve grape tomatoes in our its premium salads.
Earlier on Monday, grocer Winn Dixie Stores Inc said it had stopped selling tomatoes that the FDA warned should not be consumed.
FDA has published a list of tomato producers whose product is not associated with the outbreak. It is available at http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/tomatoes.htmlretailers.
(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein; editing by John Wallace, Richard Chang)
JANET!
The biggest news of the day – Janet Jackson is coming – October 15! I am so there.
Travel
So I was looking at what was happening in LA when I'm there and found this http://www.sunsetstripmusicfestival.com/ ! WOOHOO! BONUS – the hotel is about 5 blocks from the ocean! DOUBLE WOOHOO!
I tried to get Dan to go out there with me – now the tickets are too much. - $659! His lose.
hockey, house inventory, another movie at the airport, tomatoes, Janet!, and LA
Hockey
This is a sin -
Stanley Cup OK after slight dent at eatery
DETROIT (AP) - The Stanley Cup is OK after taking a tumble during the Red Wings' celebrations in Detroit.
NHL spokeswoman Bernadette Mansur says Saturday the Cup got a slight dent Friday after some players took the trophy to Cheli's Chili Bar, a downtown restaurant owned by Red Wings defenseman Chris Chelios.
Mansur says dent was smoothed out, and the trophy was expected to keep making the rounds.
Thousands of Red Wings fans cheered Friday during a parade and rally in downtown Detroit where the Cup was shown off. The Red Wings clinched the Cup on Wednesday night in Pittsburgh.
Once again – It's about time, hopefully this time it's for good.
Red Wings' Hasek retires after Stanley Cup win
Updated: June 9, 2008, 10:31 AM EST
DETROIT (AP) - The Dominator is done.
Dominik Hasek announced his retirement during a news conference in Detroit on Monday, only days after the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup in six games over Pittsburgh.
Sixteen years is a long time in life that has unfortunately gone by too fast," Hasek said.
The six-time Vezina Trophy winner as the NHL's top goaltender and two-time Hart Trophy winner as the league's MVP leaves on a mixed note.
Hasek, the only goalie to win the NHL MVP award twice, lost his job during Detroit's run to the Cup. The 43-year-old from the Czech Republic was benched during the opening-round series in favor of Chris Osgood and never regained the starting job.
Hasek won 389 games with the Red Wings, Ottawa Senators, Buffalo Sabres and Chicago Blackhawks, who drafted him in the 10th round in 1983 and had to wait until the 1990-91 season to get him on the ice. Chicago kept him just two seasons, then watched him become one of the game's greats in Buffalo.
Hasek ranks 10th on the career list in wins, 10th in goals against average, 18th in games and is tied for sixth in shutouts, according to STATS.
He won 65 playoff games - including 16 in 2002, when he won his first Stanley Cup with Detroit - and gave up an average of just two goals in the postseason.
House Inventory
So I was thinking about Buy By Brian's blog (http://www.buybybrianblog.com/). Why couldn't I do that for our house inventory? That might be easier than any software program that's out there. Take pictures of items as they are bought and post the info about them in the picture comment. If I need to, I can scan in the receipt and put in the "photo album". I can save all of this online and not have to worry about getting it out of the house in case of an emergency.
Let's see how I do.
Movie Production at the Airport
I heard last week from the Airports Authority Fire Marshal that there was a movie production going on at the Smithsonian down the road from the Airport, but found out today from him that it was Transformers 2! Anyway, I did a search regarding Transformers 2 and found a blog on the production of the movie. Here are two entries about the production at the Smithsonian:
http://transformerslive.blogspot.com/2008/06/images-from-smithsonian-set.html
http://transformerslive.blogspot.com/2008/06/more-pictures-from-udvar-hazy.html
Like I would get to meet any of the actors anyway!
I can get sick from tomatoes?
I'm sure tomato haters are loving this! I'm not since that's about 1 of the 5 vegetables I'll eat! The weirdest thing about this – we went to Chipotle and they had already pulled their tomato salsa because of the Salmonella outbreak. Chipotle is part (or was part) of MickeyD's so why did it take so long for MickeyD's to pull the tomatoes?
McDonald's pulls tomatoes from U.S. sandwiches
By Lisa Baertlein 1 hour, 3 minutes ago
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - McDonald's Corp said on Monday it has temporarily stopped serving sliced tomatoes on its sandwiches in the United States as health officials work to pinpoint the source of a Salmonella outbreak.
"This is a precautionary measure only. McDonald's has not experienced any related issues to date," the company said in a statement.
The move from the world's largest restaurant chain came after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned U.S. consumers on Saturday that the Salmonella outbreak was linked to the consumption of certain raw red plum, red Roma, and red round tomatoes, and products containing these tomatoes.
On Saturday, FDA said there had been 145 reported nationwide cases, including at least 23 hospitalizations, related to the outbreak. The infections were caused by Salmonella Saintpaul, an uncommon type of the bacteria.
Salmonella bacteria are frequently responsible for food-borne illnesses. Symptoms generally appear within 12 to 72 hours after eating infected food and include fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.
Infants, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems are more likely than others to develop severe illness, which can be deadly unless treated with antibiotics.
The FDA has said that it is safe to eat cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes and tomatoes sold with the vine still attached, or tomatoes grown at home.
McDonald's said it will continue to serve grape tomatoes in our its premium salads.
Earlier on Monday, grocer Winn Dixie Stores Inc said it had stopped selling tomatoes that the FDA warned should not be consumed.
FDA has published a list of tomato producers whose product is not associated with the outbreak. It is available at http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/tomatoes.htmlretailers.
(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein; editing by John Wallace, Richard Chang)
JANET!
The biggest news of the day – Janet Jackson is coming – October 15! I am so there.
Travel
So I was looking at what was happening in LA when I'm there and found this http://www.sunsetstripmusicfestival.com/ ! WOOHOO! BONUS – the hotel is about 5 blocks from the ocean! DOUBLE WOOHOO!
I tried to get Dan to go out there with me – now the tickets are too much. - $659! His lose.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
my major fear and things I should already know by now...
Jun 8, 2008
my major fear and things I should already know by now...
One of my biggest fears is losing everything (via a fire or a tornado). All the materialistic items that I have worked so hard to accumulate - never mind the irreplaceable items (photos, family tree, etc.). The plan has always been to create a household inventory. A big project that I really want to accomplish, but start here and there and then it's outdated and need to start again.
Anyway, in the Treehugger newsletter today, there was a link to a guys blog that he created – he lost everything – it was stolen. Here's the link: ::Buy By Brian He's blogging about everything he is buying – funny thing, now he really thinks before he buys anything (non disposable).
Humor for the day
25 Things You Should Learn By The Time You Reach Middle Age
If you're too open-minded, your brains will fall out.
Don't worry about what people think; they don't do it very often.
Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.
It ain't the jeans that make your butt look fat.
Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.
My idea of housework is to sweep the room with a glance.
Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious.
It is easier to get forgiveness than permission. :)
For every action, there is an equal and opposite government program.
If you look like your passport picture, you will probably need the trip.
Bills travel through the mail at twice the speed of payment.
A conscience is what hurts when all of your other parts feel so good.
Eat well, stay fit, die anyway.
Men are from earth. Women are from earth. Deal with it.
No man has ever been shot for doing the dishes.
A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.
Middle age is when broadness of the mind and narrowness of the waist change places.
Opportunities always look bigger going than coming.
Junk is something you've kept for years and throw away three weeks before you need it.
There is always one more imbecile than you counted on.
Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.
By the time you can make ends meet, they move the ends.
Thou shall not weigh more than thy refrigerator.
Someone who thinks logically provides a nice contrast to the real world.
If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you've never tried before.
Copyright © DWLZ, Inc. - 2008, all rights reserved.
my major fear and things I should already know by now...
One of my biggest fears is losing everything (via a fire or a tornado). All the materialistic items that I have worked so hard to accumulate - never mind the irreplaceable items (photos, family tree, etc.). The plan has always been to create a household inventory. A big project that I really want to accomplish, but start here and there and then it's outdated and need to start again.
Anyway, in the Treehugger newsletter today, there was a link to a guys blog that he created – he lost everything – it was stolen. Here's the link: ::Buy By Brian He's blogging about everything he is buying – funny thing, now he really thinks before he buys anything (non disposable).
Humor for the day
25 Things You Should Learn By The Time You Reach Middle Age
If you're too open-minded, your brains will fall out.
Don't worry about what people think; they don't do it very often.
Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.
It ain't the jeans that make your butt look fat.
Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.
My idea of housework is to sweep the room with a glance.
Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious.
It is easier to get forgiveness than permission. :)
For every action, there is an equal and opposite government program.
If you look like your passport picture, you will probably need the trip.
Bills travel through the mail at twice the speed of payment.
A conscience is what hurts when all of your other parts feel so good.
Eat well, stay fit, die anyway.
Men are from earth. Women are from earth. Deal with it.
No man has ever been shot for doing the dishes.
A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.
Middle age is when broadness of the mind and narrowness of the waist change places.
Opportunities always look bigger going than coming.
Junk is something you've kept for years and throw away three weeks before you need it.
There is always one more imbecile than you counted on.
Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.
By the time you can make ends meet, they move the ends.
Thou shall not weigh more than thy refrigerator.
Someone who thinks logically provides a nice contrast to the real world.
If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you've never tried before.
Copyright © DWLZ, Inc. - 2008, all rights reserved.
weekend coming to an end (again?)
Jun 8, 2008
weekend coming to an end (again?)
Oh to be on vacation again.....One month and a day to go.
It has been so hot this weekend - the thermometer said 100 degrees on the porch. I've been walking Esa early in the morning (like 7 am) and we both are panting by the time we get home!
Friday night, I left work at 4 p.m. and volunteered at Furry Friday for the Loudoun Animal Shelter. One Friday a month they are going to be at the Sterling Community Center. It's so much easier than going to the shelter out in Waterford. I was surprised that they actually had a dog with them. Her name is Zoe and she is a Italian Greyhound (8 years old). What a sweet dog – she loved all of the attention. Supposedly the owners couldn't take care of her anymore. She's really low maintenance. There were about 9 kittens – oh – what a temptation! Anyway, it was great to be able to volunteer again and see the employees that I know.
Saturday was grocery shopping, Esa's class and finishing up/cleaning the guest room (going through things for the yard sale next weekend). Esa did GREAT in her class. Dan taught her to weave between his legs. She did great with the distractions this week – kids running by, loud noises, weird objects. We finished up going through all of the boxes in the guest room closet and found 3 scrapbooks that I did – 2 for Dan when we were dating and then one for our wedding (shower, rehearsal, gifts). I forgot I did them. After Esa's class, Dan's mom and hubby brought more boxes for Dan to go through. There is a lot of stuff at Dan's mom's house – games and toys mostly. It's nice that at least she lets the family choose to look at the stuff before just getting rid of it. Then it was off to CHIPOTLE! FINALLY after 3 weeks! I was dying for it! Then shopping, shopping, shopping. We went to Walgreens and found a bunch of stuff on clearance (dog bone, notepads, and camera batteries). Harris Teeter had a couple of good sales.
Today just been hanging around home trying to stay out of the heat.
weekend coming to an end (again?)
Oh to be on vacation again.....One month and a day to go.
It has been so hot this weekend - the thermometer said 100 degrees on the porch. I've been walking Esa early in the morning (like 7 am) and we both are panting by the time we get home!
Friday night, I left work at 4 p.m. and volunteered at Furry Friday for the Loudoun Animal Shelter. One Friday a month they are going to be at the Sterling Community Center. It's so much easier than going to the shelter out in Waterford. I was surprised that they actually had a dog with them. Her name is Zoe and she is a Italian Greyhound (8 years old). What a sweet dog – she loved all of the attention. Supposedly the owners couldn't take care of her anymore. She's really low maintenance. There were about 9 kittens – oh – what a temptation! Anyway, it was great to be able to volunteer again and see the employees that I know.
Saturday was grocery shopping, Esa's class and finishing up/cleaning the guest room (going through things for the yard sale next weekend). Esa did GREAT in her class. Dan taught her to weave between his legs. She did great with the distractions this week – kids running by, loud noises, weird objects. We finished up going through all of the boxes in the guest room closet and found 3 scrapbooks that I did – 2 for Dan when we were dating and then one for our wedding (shower, rehearsal, gifts). I forgot I did them. After Esa's class, Dan's mom and hubby brought more boxes for Dan to go through. There is a lot of stuff at Dan's mom's house – games and toys mostly. It's nice that at least she lets the family choose to look at the stuff before just getting rid of it. Then it was off to CHIPOTLE! FINALLY after 3 weeks! I was dying for it! Then shopping, shopping, shopping. We went to Walgreens and found a bunch of stuff on clearance (dog bone, notepads, and camera batteries). Harris Teeter had a couple of good sales.
Today just been hanging around home trying to stay out of the heat.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
planet green channel & website
Jun 5, 2008
planet green channel & website
It's not easy being green?
Planet Green started yesterday, so last night I was watching it. I like it – I'm always looking for tips for turning green.
Green tip for today (from the Planet Green website):
if you already own your home and are trying to go green with your next set of renovations, don't feel like you have to tear down a bedroom or a bathroom to green your property. There are many steps you can take to downsize your lifestyle and to shrink your eco-footprint in the process:
· Don't Duplicate. You can downsize in more ways than one. By selling or giving away anything you've got more than one of (or that you'll never use) you're keeping another person from going out and buying a newly manufactured version of that product, which helps the environment tremendously.
Working on it!
· Out of Sight, Out of Mind. If you've got one or two rooms in your home that hardly ever get used, downsize your home and its eco-footprint by shutting off the heating and cooling to these areas and keep the windows and door shut with the cracks sealed. Even if it's just a seasonal shutdown (like an unused sunroom in the winter), by pretending like the rooms aren't there your energy bills will be much lower.
The vents are closed in the guest room – that's about the only room we don't use.
· Stop Buying. One more way to downsize is to stop filling your home with more stuff! Do you really need all those plastic and battery-filled electronics that you may use once and then ignore? If you must have something, purchase used or rent the item… your wallet and your storage closets will be relieved.
I try to get used items when I can. This is something that I really need to work on. I've signed up for paperbackswap.com – I actually have a book coming to me this week! No one is interested in my books (yet).
· Go Digital. Downsize your paper trail and go paperless by requesting electronic statements, by paying your bills on line, and by using a computer-based fax machine. Tons of trees will thank you as you shrink your eco-footprint.
I have been trying to go paperless for awhile – I'm so tired of all of the paper files that I (feel like I) have to keep. I've been scanning in paper after paper after paper to reduce the files. It's a never ending job, but is getting better. I have been paying our bills online for awhile and love it. And we also receive bills online – there are still a couple that I need to sign up for.
planet green channel & website
It's not easy being green?
Planet Green started yesterday, so last night I was watching it. I like it – I'm always looking for tips for turning green.
Green tip for today (from the Planet Green website):
if you already own your home and are trying to go green with your next set of renovations, don't feel like you have to tear down a bedroom or a bathroom to green your property. There are many steps you can take to downsize your lifestyle and to shrink your eco-footprint in the process:
· Don't Duplicate. You can downsize in more ways than one. By selling or giving away anything you've got more than one of (or that you'll never use) you're keeping another person from going out and buying a newly manufactured version of that product, which helps the environment tremendously.
Working on it!
· Out of Sight, Out of Mind. If you've got one or two rooms in your home that hardly ever get used, downsize your home and its eco-footprint by shutting off the heating and cooling to these areas and keep the windows and door shut with the cracks sealed. Even if it's just a seasonal shutdown (like an unused sunroom in the winter), by pretending like the rooms aren't there your energy bills will be much lower.
The vents are closed in the guest room – that's about the only room we don't use.
· Stop Buying. One more way to downsize is to stop filling your home with more stuff! Do you really need all those plastic and battery-filled electronics that you may use once and then ignore? If you must have something, purchase used or rent the item… your wallet and your storage closets will be relieved.
I try to get used items when I can. This is something that I really need to work on. I've signed up for paperbackswap.com – I actually have a book coming to me this week! No one is interested in my books (yet).
· Go Digital. Downsize your paper trail and go paperless by requesting electronic statements, by paying your bills on line, and by using a computer-based fax machine. Tons of trees will thank you as you shrink your eco-footprint.
I have been trying to go paperless for awhile – I'm so tired of all of the paper files that I (feel like I) have to keep. I've been scanning in paper after paper after paper to reduce the files. It's a never ending job, but is getting better. I have been paying our bills online for awhile and love it. And we also receive bills online – there are still a couple that I need to sign up for.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
no power and tornado warnings
Jun 4, 2008
no power and tornado warnings
So last night I woke up to a flash and then realized no electricity. I got up to find out what time it was – luckily my watch has a glow in the dark feature! 1:30 a.m. – I look out the window and see that Dan's home, walk downstairs and we sat in the dark for about 30 minutes. Dan was so upset. He had just gotten home, made a sandwich, went downstairs turned on the TV and then no power. Dan called to report the outage and said that it would be about 4 a.m. before the power came back on. Luckily, the Esa alarm goes off about 6:30 a.m. so I wasn't worried about getting up in the morning. When I went back to bed, the radio said about 5000 homes were without power – wow.
YIKES – excitement today with the weather. One of the concourses actually closed down due to tornado warnings. All of the passengers and employees were evacuated from the concourse. Then reopen about 30 minutes later. Come to find out the tower was closed for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
no power and tornado warnings
So last night I woke up to a flash and then realized no electricity. I got up to find out what time it was – luckily my watch has a glow in the dark feature! 1:30 a.m. – I look out the window and see that Dan's home, walk downstairs and we sat in the dark for about 30 minutes. Dan was so upset. He had just gotten home, made a sandwich, went downstairs turned on the TV and then no power. Dan called to report the outage and said that it would be about 4 a.m. before the power came back on. Luckily, the Esa alarm goes off about 6:30 a.m. so I wasn't worried about getting up in the morning. When I went back to bed, the radio said about 5000 homes were without power – wow.
YIKES – excitement today with the weather. One of the concourses actually closed down due to tornado warnings. All of the passengers and employees were evacuated from the concourse. Then reopen about 30 minutes later. Come to find out the tower was closed for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
websites, shopping, coupon trains and dumpster diving?
Jun 3, 2008
websites, shopping, coupon trains and dumpster diving?
Websites
Thought this website was interesting – I'm hesitating on signing up – just because of getting more e-mail – I get enough daily stuff! BUT will need to check out the book.
http://www.first30days.com/
Shopping
I stopped at Target on the way home from work to purchase an air purifier filter for work (and to hopefully help with my allergies) – I ended up spending $25 on me. The SPOT had a bunch of dog rope toys for $1 and camping/emergency stuff for $1. I also got some candles for $2 – regularly $8! The coolest thing – retractable marshmallow sticks! We are all set for ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Canada and the bonfire!
Coupon Train
I'm on a 2 week coupon train right now – I send out 8 envies and get 8 envies. I've got to work on my 4 envies for this week tonight and also get a CD ready for mailing that I sold on Amazon. One of the envies I received yesterday had a rebate on a grocery purchase of over $50. Luckily I hadn't thrown the trash out yet and still had a receipt! I'll be getting $25 back!
Dumpster Diving
So I log in to the internet and one of the highlighted topics hits a nerve, so I need to go check it out! The reason it hit a nerve – our neighbor was dumpster diving in our patio dumpster. Kind of ticked me off since we paid for it and he's pulling it for free and right in front of us. I'm kind of over it now and told Dan, well at least we know where we can get some extra ones.
Anyway, I'm reading this article and this is just GROSS – FOOD OUT OF A DUMPSTER? You really need to time that one right otherwise you are going to get sick. The other stuff, ok – you can't get sick from it. I'm all for reusing and keeping it out of the landfill, but these people are extreme (and gross).
For frugalists, bargain hunting is a lifestyle
For these extreme anti-consumers, your trash is their food, furniture
By Allison Linn
Senior writer
updated 12:32 p.m. ET, Tues., June. 3, 2008
It's an unseasonably cold day in Seattle, and Rebecca is standing in her kitchen, preparing for her regular Sunday afternoon outing. As she gathers her backpack and grocery bags, her dog sniffs around excitedly, anticipating the long walk and treats that await.
In the course of their errands, Rebecca and her dog will visit several stores and coffee shops, a bakery and a chocolate factory. But instead of walking in the front door, she plans to head out back and go Dumpster diving.
Rebecca, 51, owns a small duplex and has a job running an art program for a health care organization. She's also an artist in her own right whose accomplishments include a piece that hangs in the Seattle Art Museum.
And she gets 99 percent of her food from the Dumpster.
"It's so easy to eat for free," she says. "The only things I buy are butter and milk."
It's no secret that American culture is a consumer culture. We like big cars, big houses and big bags of things bought at big malls and big-box retailers. On the opposite end of the spectrum are the few people who call themselves anti-consumerists, freegans, frugalists or just plain Dumpster divers. Whatever the moniker, these people delight in drastically reducing their consumer spending, finding life's essentials at bargain prices or paying nothing at all.
"I like getting stuff free. It's like a treasure hunt," says Ran Prieur, 40, who lives in Washington state and whose extremely frugal life includes occasional Dumpster diving. "It's kind of similar to what you get from gambling."
It's hard to say how many people are trying to live this way, but frugal communities say they are seeing more interest. A couple years ago, a group of friends in San Francisco made a compact to try not to buy anything new for a year; now there are "Compactors" all over the world. The Freecycle Network, through which people give away stuff they no longer need rather than trashing it, boasts thousands of participants.
Freegans — whose efforts to live outside the conventional economic system may include hitchhiking, foraging for food and eschewing regular jobs — say there is growing interest in adopting at least parts of their philosophy.
"A lot of people are recognizing that there are a lot of ways that people can provide for their needs," said Adam Weissman, a spokesman for the main freegan Web site.
Being thrifty
Rebecca, who asked that her real name not be used because she worries she could lose her job if her employer knew about her Dumpster diving, doesn't need to get food for free.
She says she likes the thrill of the chase, and the surprising bounty of good food she finds. And despite holding a steady job and having grown up in an affluent family, she says she sometimes worries she won't have enough money. She also likes to "save a little here, save a little there," so she can afford splurges like a laptop computer and keep funding her art.
For Rebecca, browsing Dumpsters also is a way to protest the country's rampant consumer culture. She has salvaged furniture, clothes, art supplies and even appliances. Still, even she isn't totally immune to the culture she avoids — feeling blue recently, she went in for a little retail therapy and bought a new pair of sneakers.
Rebecca grew up in Greenwich, Conn., the daughter of an ad man. As early as high school, she remembers searching through garbage while walking the streets of New York City. Her mother would walk ahead, pretending not to know her. Nobody else bothered her.
"That's when I really started liking things cheap," she says.
After high school, Rebecca went to art school, but in 1979, she decided to drop out and head to Seattle. Her artwork includes materials she's found in the garbage or on the street.
To many first-time Dumpster divers, the most surprising thing is how much good stuff is out there.
Prieur, for example, says his trash bin excursions have netted him smoked salmon, high-end bacon, olive oil, plenty of produce and other goodies. Prieur, who owns a piece of land but has no permanent home, estimates that when he's staying with his sister in Seattle, he gets 20 to 30 percent of his groceries from garbage bins.
His habit elicits mixed responses. A favorite item at his sister's house is "Dumpstered" apple pie. But he'll sometimes invite people over for dinner and get the cautionary response: "Just promise not to put any Dumpster food in it."
Says Prieur: "There's a big emotional thing attached to not eating out of the garbage."
Baby squash, popcorn and granola
When Rebecca reaches the grocery store, she moves with purpose across the parking lot to a fenced-in Dumpster. With practiced nonchalance, she opens the gate and walks in, closing it behind her. On the ground, she immediately finds a bag of baby squashes. They go in the backpack to be steamed up for dinner.
Next, she hikes herself up and peers in the Dumpster itself. Out comes a bag of popcorn, a bag of granola and a package of rice. All are torn, but the contents appear clean.
"Aw darn," she calls from within. "A box of chocolates — but they're empty."
Rebecca passes up pasta and a few other items, explaining that she prefers ready-made food because she doesn't like to cook.
The granola isn't her taste, either — she's a self-described picky eater — but she can give it to her boyfriend.
She also passes up a bag of flavored potato chips, explaining, "I don't like salt and vinegar."
Climbing out of the Dumpster, Rebecca opens the gate again and heads out.
In 10 years of serious Dumpster diving, Rebecca says she's never gotten sick eating food from the trash.
She has only occasionally been hassled by a store manager, but she will usually talk her way out of it by spinning a story that she recently lost her job. People sometimes lecture her, telling her eating out of a Dumpster isn't good for her. She generally plays along with the spiel, "because most people assume that's who you are — either homeless or mentally ill," she says.
'I hope that Starbucks has some decaf'
As she heads further into Seattle's University District, Rebecca's on the lookout for coffee.
"I hope that Starbucks has some decaf because I'm out of decaf," she says.
But after rifling through several garbage bags, she only comes up with a pile of breakfast sandwiches. She feeds one to her dog.
In her escapades, Rebecca has found CDs, a $100 bill, an answering machine and a five-pound bag of coffee. It often amazes her to come across perfectly good things in the trash, and she will find herself speculating about what personal decision — a fight with a boyfriend, maybe? — would cause someone to throw out something like a CD.
Around the end of the school year, Rebecca will spend more time in the neighborhood near Seattle's University of Washington to forage for things that people throw out when they move — art supplies, coffee makers, that sort of thing. She also likes to hit the fraternity houses.
"Good God," she says, "they'll throw out everything."
251 million tons of trash
The same could be said for Americans in general. Americans produce about 4.6 pounds of waste per person per day — or nearly a ton a year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
For many who get their essentials secondhand or for free, one motivation is that they are disgusted by such waste. But their lifestyle is dependent on the consumer culture that they reject.
If Americans didn't demand pristine produce and bread baked fresh daily, there would be little for Dumpster divers to find. And if we didn't lust for new couches long before the old springs had gone soft, and new jeans months before their current ones had developed holes, there would be little for thrift store aficionados and garage sale lovers to buy.
Frugalists say they there are plenty of places to find stuff, if you know where to look. They get things on the sidewalk, through Internet posts and at organized giveaway events.
Laura Thompson, 57, does most of her "shopping" in the bathtub, with a stack of catalogs that she never orders from. When she really needs something, she either goes to a thrift store or tries to find it for free. Recently she lamented that she needed a raincoat, and a friend who likes secondhand shopping gave Thompson the one she was wearing.
Thompson is most meticulous about one thing: paper towels. She's had the same roll of Costco paper towels since March 2006, and she estimates that there's still about an inch left. If a houseguest asks for a paper towel, they most likely will be turned down.
Thompson only uses paper towels for "icky" jobs, like getting oil off anchovies. She relies on rags and cloth napkins for most other needs. She does have a little bit of a cheat, though: If she goes to a restaurant and is given a stack of paper napkins, she will take those home and use them.
Thompson, who also lives in Seattle, has been trying to conserve paper towels for about 10 years, motivated by a combination of environmental activism and lifelong frugality.
'Down to the underwear'
Jacqueline Blix and David Heitmiller once held high-powered telecommunications jobs and were self-professed yuppies. Then in the mid-1990s, they read a book called "Your Money or Your Life" and had a revelation: They could just stop working.
Since then, they have lived on investments, occasional sales of Blix's crafts and, in recent years, Heitmiller's part-time work as a handyman. They are so enamored of their simple lifestyle that the Seattle couple even wrote their own book about it: "Getting a Life."
One day in early spring, Blix was dressed in a pink sweater, turquoise turtleneck, khaki pants and knit socks. Everything she was wearing had come from a secondhand shop, "down to the underwear," she noted — except the socks, which were knit by a friend.
When Heitmiller asked his wife whether everything he was wearing had come from a secondhand shop, too, she looked him over quizzically and said she didn't know what underwear he was wearing.
Blix and Heitmiller started their post-regular work life living on about $30,000 a year. Lately, their budget has crept up to about $45,000, largely because of rising costs for health insurance and a decision to eat more organic food. They also travel more often to California now to visit their grandchildren.
To maintain their lifestyle in a comfortable three-bedroom, two-bathroom duplex, the two have become avid secondhand shoppers, as well as what Blix calls "curbside shoppers." That means that they find things, like their coffee table, sitting outside with a "free" sign on it. Other items, including a television and kitchen table, were inherited.
The hardwood floor in their house was salvaged from another house, and Heitmiller bartered his handyman skills in exchange for some leftover carpeting they used elsewhere in the house.
Blix keeps a list of things that they would like to have, and she says she's often surprised at how things fall in her lap. Recently they were considering buying some items for their front yard when a friend called with some mulch to give away.
"If you put a need out there in the universe, you'll be surprised," she said.
Blix doesn't think she spends more time shopping than most Americans spend at the mall — the very mention of which makes her physically shudder. The couple goes out for a meal about once a month, and they'll occasionally visit a coffee shop. Heitmiller has a cell phone for his handyman business; Blix does not want one.
'A leftover from previous thinking'
Blix, 58, and Heitmiller, 62, say that, in deciding to live simply, they also are forced to talk honestly about money, something many couples don't do. Still, like any couple, they have the occasional financial disagreement. The difference is that their most memorable disagreement is one that most couples wouldn't remember at all.
What happened is this: Blix took a Costco gift card she'd received and bought a new set of flatware, to replace the set Heitmiller had had since his first marriage in 1968, without so much as a word of discussion beforehand. To Heitmiller, it was an "oddity" that she would buy something new to replace something that worked just fine. To Blix, it was her money and she wanted new flatware.
On the rare occasions Blix has spent money like that, she calls it "a leftover from previous thinking," when she was more beholden to money.
The idea of not working sounds great to a lot of people, but there are downsides. Health care costs have risen substantially, and without an employer the couple is left to foot the bill themselves until Medicare kicks in. They have a high-deductible policy that doesn't cover prescription medication.
Over the years, the couple also has noticed that they have grown away from many of their old friends, although now they have a new group of friends who think more like them, including those active in what is called the Voluntary Simplicity movement.
Blix says another problem she has is "time management," meaning what to do with all the time she has because she doesn't work. "You really are faced with, 'What am I going to do with my life?' " she says. "It's something that I definitely work on."
Three Dumpsters of bread
It's looking more and more like rain as Rebecca walks along the water and through a park, pausing briefly to admire the view of Seattle's downtown. The aroma of rosemary and yeast fills the air. She is nearing one of Seattle's favorite artisan bakeries.
Behind the bakery sit three tan Dumpsters, each filled with nothing but bread — every type you can think of, bagged and looking as mouth-watering as they do on the shelves at Whole Foods. It doesn't even smell bad here — the store's other Dumpsters, containing actual trash, are around the front of the store.
Rebecca pulls out a loaf of ciabatta for herself, and then roots around for a whole-grain loaf for her boyfriend of 18 years. He's not much of a Dumpster diver himself, but he will eat some things she finds.
A white hatchback pulls up and three young guys get out and head for the Dumpsters. Methodically, they begin gathering bread for themselves and their friends. They pause, arms and mouths full of bread, to discuss the merits of ciabatta vs. olive bread. No one comes out of the bakery to bother them.
Next, Rebecca heads toward an outpost of the local food co-op. Behind the shiny new building are two large Dumpsters, and next to those someone has set aside produce boxes. Rebecca says the good fresh fruits and vegetables are usually in there, but today they are empty. No matter; hiking herself up on the large Dumpster, she finds the mother lode — a breakfast burrito, samosas, pulled pork sandwiches and vegetarian burgers, all individually wrapped in tinfoil and some still warm. They aren't set to expire until the next day.
"This is a nice catch today," she says.
It's raining as she begins the long uphill trek back to her house, her backpack filled with enough food to last a couple of days, until her next trip through the city's Dumpsters.
"I'm a working girl," she says. "I have a job. I own my own house. And I Dumpster dive. So there you go."
© 2008 MSNBC Interactive
websites, shopping, coupon trains and dumpster diving?
Websites
Thought this website was interesting – I'm hesitating on signing up – just because of getting more e-mail – I get enough daily stuff! BUT will need to check out the book.
http://www.first30days.com/
Shopping
I stopped at Target on the way home from work to purchase an air purifier filter for work (and to hopefully help with my allergies) – I ended up spending $25 on me. The SPOT had a bunch of dog rope toys for $1 and camping/emergency stuff for $1. I also got some candles for $2 – regularly $8! The coolest thing – retractable marshmallow sticks! We are all set for ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Canada and the bonfire!
Coupon Train
I'm on a 2 week coupon train right now – I send out 8 envies and get 8 envies. I've got to work on my 4 envies for this week tonight and also get a CD ready for mailing that I sold on Amazon. One of the envies I received yesterday had a rebate on a grocery purchase of over $50. Luckily I hadn't thrown the trash out yet and still had a receipt! I'll be getting $25 back!
Dumpster Diving
So I log in to the internet and one of the highlighted topics hits a nerve, so I need to go check it out! The reason it hit a nerve – our neighbor was dumpster diving in our patio dumpster. Kind of ticked me off since we paid for it and he's pulling it for free and right in front of us. I'm kind of over it now and told Dan, well at least we know where we can get some extra ones.
Anyway, I'm reading this article and this is just GROSS – FOOD OUT OF A DUMPSTER? You really need to time that one right otherwise you are going to get sick. The other stuff, ok – you can't get sick from it. I'm all for reusing and keeping it out of the landfill, but these people are extreme (and gross).
For frugalists, bargain hunting is a lifestyle
For these extreme anti-consumers, your trash is their food, furniture
By Allison Linn
Senior writer
updated 12:32 p.m. ET, Tues., June. 3, 2008
It's an unseasonably cold day in Seattle, and Rebecca is standing in her kitchen, preparing for her regular Sunday afternoon outing. As she gathers her backpack and grocery bags, her dog sniffs around excitedly, anticipating the long walk and treats that await.
In the course of their errands, Rebecca and her dog will visit several stores and coffee shops, a bakery and a chocolate factory. But instead of walking in the front door, she plans to head out back and go Dumpster diving.
Rebecca, 51, owns a small duplex and has a job running an art program for a health care organization. She's also an artist in her own right whose accomplishments include a piece that hangs in the Seattle Art Museum.
And she gets 99 percent of her food from the Dumpster.
"It's so easy to eat for free," she says. "The only things I buy are butter and milk."
It's no secret that American culture is a consumer culture. We like big cars, big houses and big bags of things bought at big malls and big-box retailers. On the opposite end of the spectrum are the few people who call themselves anti-consumerists, freegans, frugalists or just plain Dumpster divers. Whatever the moniker, these people delight in drastically reducing their consumer spending, finding life's essentials at bargain prices or paying nothing at all.
"I like getting stuff free. It's like a treasure hunt," says Ran Prieur, 40, who lives in Washington state and whose extremely frugal life includes occasional Dumpster diving. "It's kind of similar to what you get from gambling."
It's hard to say how many people are trying to live this way, but frugal communities say they are seeing more interest. A couple years ago, a group of friends in San Francisco made a compact to try not to buy anything new for a year; now there are "Compactors" all over the world. The Freecycle Network, through which people give away stuff they no longer need rather than trashing it, boasts thousands of participants.
Freegans — whose efforts to live outside the conventional economic system may include hitchhiking, foraging for food and eschewing regular jobs — say there is growing interest in adopting at least parts of their philosophy.
"A lot of people are recognizing that there are a lot of ways that people can provide for their needs," said Adam Weissman, a spokesman for the main freegan Web site.
Being thrifty
Rebecca, who asked that her real name not be used because she worries she could lose her job if her employer knew about her Dumpster diving, doesn't need to get food for free.
She says she likes the thrill of the chase, and the surprising bounty of good food she finds. And despite holding a steady job and having grown up in an affluent family, she says she sometimes worries she won't have enough money. She also likes to "save a little here, save a little there," so she can afford splurges like a laptop computer and keep funding her art.
For Rebecca, browsing Dumpsters also is a way to protest the country's rampant consumer culture. She has salvaged furniture, clothes, art supplies and even appliances. Still, even she isn't totally immune to the culture she avoids — feeling blue recently, she went in for a little retail therapy and bought a new pair of sneakers.
Rebecca grew up in Greenwich, Conn., the daughter of an ad man. As early as high school, she remembers searching through garbage while walking the streets of New York City. Her mother would walk ahead, pretending not to know her. Nobody else bothered her.
"That's when I really started liking things cheap," she says.
After high school, Rebecca went to art school, but in 1979, she decided to drop out and head to Seattle. Her artwork includes materials she's found in the garbage or on the street.
To many first-time Dumpster divers, the most surprising thing is how much good stuff is out there.
Prieur, for example, says his trash bin excursions have netted him smoked salmon, high-end bacon, olive oil, plenty of produce and other goodies. Prieur, who owns a piece of land but has no permanent home, estimates that when he's staying with his sister in Seattle, he gets 20 to 30 percent of his groceries from garbage bins.
His habit elicits mixed responses. A favorite item at his sister's house is "Dumpstered" apple pie. But he'll sometimes invite people over for dinner and get the cautionary response: "Just promise not to put any Dumpster food in it."
Says Prieur: "There's a big emotional thing attached to not eating out of the garbage."
Baby squash, popcorn and granola
When Rebecca reaches the grocery store, she moves with purpose across the parking lot to a fenced-in Dumpster. With practiced nonchalance, she opens the gate and walks in, closing it behind her. On the ground, she immediately finds a bag of baby squashes. They go in the backpack to be steamed up for dinner.
Next, she hikes herself up and peers in the Dumpster itself. Out comes a bag of popcorn, a bag of granola and a package of rice. All are torn, but the contents appear clean.
"Aw darn," she calls from within. "A box of chocolates — but they're empty."
Rebecca passes up pasta and a few other items, explaining that she prefers ready-made food because she doesn't like to cook.
The granola isn't her taste, either — she's a self-described picky eater — but she can give it to her boyfriend.
She also passes up a bag of flavored potato chips, explaining, "I don't like salt and vinegar."
Climbing out of the Dumpster, Rebecca opens the gate again and heads out.
In 10 years of serious Dumpster diving, Rebecca says she's never gotten sick eating food from the trash.
She has only occasionally been hassled by a store manager, but she will usually talk her way out of it by spinning a story that she recently lost her job. People sometimes lecture her, telling her eating out of a Dumpster isn't good for her. She generally plays along with the spiel, "because most people assume that's who you are — either homeless or mentally ill," she says.
'I hope that Starbucks has some decaf'
As she heads further into Seattle's University District, Rebecca's on the lookout for coffee.
"I hope that Starbucks has some decaf because I'm out of decaf," she says.
But after rifling through several garbage bags, she only comes up with a pile of breakfast sandwiches. She feeds one to her dog.
In her escapades, Rebecca has found CDs, a $100 bill, an answering machine and a five-pound bag of coffee. It often amazes her to come across perfectly good things in the trash, and she will find herself speculating about what personal decision — a fight with a boyfriend, maybe? — would cause someone to throw out something like a CD.
Around the end of the school year, Rebecca will spend more time in the neighborhood near Seattle's University of Washington to forage for things that people throw out when they move — art supplies, coffee makers, that sort of thing. She also likes to hit the fraternity houses.
"Good God," she says, "they'll throw out everything."
251 million tons of trash
The same could be said for Americans in general. Americans produce about 4.6 pounds of waste per person per day — or nearly a ton a year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
For many who get their essentials secondhand or for free, one motivation is that they are disgusted by such waste. But their lifestyle is dependent on the consumer culture that they reject.
If Americans didn't demand pristine produce and bread baked fresh daily, there would be little for Dumpster divers to find. And if we didn't lust for new couches long before the old springs had gone soft, and new jeans months before their current ones had developed holes, there would be little for thrift store aficionados and garage sale lovers to buy.
Frugalists say they there are plenty of places to find stuff, if you know where to look. They get things on the sidewalk, through Internet posts and at organized giveaway events.
Laura Thompson, 57, does most of her "shopping" in the bathtub, with a stack of catalogs that she never orders from. When she really needs something, she either goes to a thrift store or tries to find it for free. Recently she lamented that she needed a raincoat, and a friend who likes secondhand shopping gave Thompson the one she was wearing.
Thompson is most meticulous about one thing: paper towels. She's had the same roll of Costco paper towels since March 2006, and she estimates that there's still about an inch left. If a houseguest asks for a paper towel, they most likely will be turned down.
Thompson only uses paper towels for "icky" jobs, like getting oil off anchovies. She relies on rags and cloth napkins for most other needs. She does have a little bit of a cheat, though: If she goes to a restaurant and is given a stack of paper napkins, she will take those home and use them.
Thompson, who also lives in Seattle, has been trying to conserve paper towels for about 10 years, motivated by a combination of environmental activism and lifelong frugality.
'Down to the underwear'
Jacqueline Blix and David Heitmiller once held high-powered telecommunications jobs and were self-professed yuppies. Then in the mid-1990s, they read a book called "Your Money or Your Life" and had a revelation: They could just stop working.
Since then, they have lived on investments, occasional sales of Blix's crafts and, in recent years, Heitmiller's part-time work as a handyman. They are so enamored of their simple lifestyle that the Seattle couple even wrote their own book about it: "Getting a Life."
One day in early spring, Blix was dressed in a pink sweater, turquoise turtleneck, khaki pants and knit socks. Everything she was wearing had come from a secondhand shop, "down to the underwear," she noted — except the socks, which were knit by a friend.
When Heitmiller asked his wife whether everything he was wearing had come from a secondhand shop, too, she looked him over quizzically and said she didn't know what underwear he was wearing.
Blix and Heitmiller started their post-regular work life living on about $30,000 a year. Lately, their budget has crept up to about $45,000, largely because of rising costs for health insurance and a decision to eat more organic food. They also travel more often to California now to visit their grandchildren.
To maintain their lifestyle in a comfortable three-bedroom, two-bathroom duplex, the two have become avid secondhand shoppers, as well as what Blix calls "curbside shoppers." That means that they find things, like their coffee table, sitting outside with a "free" sign on it. Other items, including a television and kitchen table, were inherited.
The hardwood floor in their house was salvaged from another house, and Heitmiller bartered his handyman skills in exchange for some leftover carpeting they used elsewhere in the house.
Blix keeps a list of things that they would like to have, and she says she's often surprised at how things fall in her lap. Recently they were considering buying some items for their front yard when a friend called with some mulch to give away.
"If you put a need out there in the universe, you'll be surprised," she said.
Blix doesn't think she spends more time shopping than most Americans spend at the mall — the very mention of which makes her physically shudder. The couple goes out for a meal about once a month, and they'll occasionally visit a coffee shop. Heitmiller has a cell phone for his handyman business; Blix does not want one.
'A leftover from previous thinking'
Blix, 58, and Heitmiller, 62, say that, in deciding to live simply, they also are forced to talk honestly about money, something many couples don't do. Still, like any couple, they have the occasional financial disagreement. The difference is that their most memorable disagreement is one that most couples wouldn't remember at all.
What happened is this: Blix took a Costco gift card she'd received and bought a new set of flatware, to replace the set Heitmiller had had since his first marriage in 1968, without so much as a word of discussion beforehand. To Heitmiller, it was an "oddity" that she would buy something new to replace something that worked just fine. To Blix, it was her money and she wanted new flatware.
On the rare occasions Blix has spent money like that, she calls it "a leftover from previous thinking," when she was more beholden to money.
The idea of not working sounds great to a lot of people, but there are downsides. Health care costs have risen substantially, and without an employer the couple is left to foot the bill themselves until Medicare kicks in. They have a high-deductible policy that doesn't cover prescription medication.
Over the years, the couple also has noticed that they have grown away from many of their old friends, although now they have a new group of friends who think more like them, including those active in what is called the Voluntary Simplicity movement.
Blix says another problem she has is "time management," meaning what to do with all the time she has because she doesn't work. "You really are faced with, 'What am I going to do with my life?' " she says. "It's something that I definitely work on."
Three Dumpsters of bread
It's looking more and more like rain as Rebecca walks along the water and through a park, pausing briefly to admire the view of Seattle's downtown. The aroma of rosemary and yeast fills the air. She is nearing one of Seattle's favorite artisan bakeries.
Behind the bakery sit three tan Dumpsters, each filled with nothing but bread — every type you can think of, bagged and looking as mouth-watering as they do on the shelves at Whole Foods. It doesn't even smell bad here — the store's other Dumpsters, containing actual trash, are around the front of the store.
Rebecca pulls out a loaf of ciabatta for herself, and then roots around for a whole-grain loaf for her boyfriend of 18 years. He's not much of a Dumpster diver himself, but he will eat some things she finds.
A white hatchback pulls up and three young guys get out and head for the Dumpsters. Methodically, they begin gathering bread for themselves and their friends. They pause, arms and mouths full of bread, to discuss the merits of ciabatta vs. olive bread. No one comes out of the bakery to bother them.
Next, Rebecca heads toward an outpost of the local food co-op. Behind the shiny new building are two large Dumpsters, and next to those someone has set aside produce boxes. Rebecca says the good fresh fruits and vegetables are usually in there, but today they are empty. No matter; hiking herself up on the large Dumpster, she finds the mother lode — a breakfast burrito, samosas, pulled pork sandwiches and vegetarian burgers, all individually wrapped in tinfoil and some still warm. They aren't set to expire until the next day.
"This is a nice catch today," she says.
It's raining as she begins the long uphill trek back to her house, her backpack filled with enough food to last a couple of days, until her next trip through the city's Dumpsters.
"I'm a working girl," she says. "I have a job. I own my own house. And I Dumpster dive. So there you go."
© 2008 MSNBC Interactive
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