I wonder where all of those half filled bottles of shampoo and conditioner and slightly used bars of soap go and I hope the answer is not the landfill.
We once went to a hotel that not only had recycling but also used refillable dispensers for the shampoo and conditioner – how environmentally friendly is that? Maybe you only find that in California.
Best wishes for your new year from Oliver, Lucy, Julius, Laura, and me.
2009 was a good year and 2010 is looking to be very interesting.
In the mean time, I think Julius is ready to sleep through 2010 as well:
I was only made aware of the existence of the Subway veggie patty just last week, but I have now had it twice and enjoyed it both times. Trying (somewhat unsuccessfully) as I am not to eat meat, I have often been foiled at lunch time as what to get when I don’t bring a lunch with me. This is something that I would eat once a week and not get tired of.
In another note, I had to take a cold shower this morning. While the plumber did return to fix the leak and did in fact fix the leak, it was not obvious at the time that the temperature control was limited to cool, cold, and frigid. According to the manual for the new fixture, left on the counter and which I decided to read after showering, this is caused by an adjustable temperature limiter. Why anyone would want a shower limited to cool as a maximum I am not certain. The instructions are straight forward as to how to reset the limiter except for how to access it. The diagram shows a set screw to remove the cap over the limiter, but sadly there is no set screw. Maybe I will be able to figure it out when I get home because I really don’t want to take another cold shower.
Many years ago, when I first mentioned to someone that I was buying a house, I was asked why I wanted a money pit. I was regaled with stories of repairing roofs, the costs of painting, and most often of all, plumbing problems ranging from broken heating systems to frozen pipes. When doing a walk around with my sellers agent, we found a leak. I called a plumber to fix the problem and they tried to quick and (not so) cheap method which did not stop the leak. So they came back. Now I have a hole in the wall, new fittings in the shower and sink and, you probably guessed it, a leak. Worse than it was before. But the plumbers promised they would be back to fix it.
I really didn’t want new fitting. I like the old fittings from before water flow restrictions. It may seem contrary to green philosophy, but I say bah to that. It is a closed system here. Not killing any fish. And the local system is far from taxed by the local needs. Which is why I live in an area suitable for human life and not in a desert where I would feel bad about using so much water.
In the mean time I have been receiving a lot of attention from the pets. Julius fell asleep in my lap. Lucy even comes to me (normally she meows from another room to get the attention she requires). I think it is because I am a heat source and it is winter. Or it could be because of the fish I gave them for the Holidays.
I also played over 24 hours of Wii in the last couple days. Laura got me a game called Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn and I am addicted to it. Playing both sides is a little weird. If you don’t know the game then that last sentence was probably confusing.
Many news outlets report that all the Republicans voted against the bill, but that is not exactly the case.
“I am adamantly opposed to this $2.5 trillion government run health care system with its half a trillion dollar increase in taxes on Americans and nearly half a trillion dollars in cuts to Medicare to help pay for it,” Inhofe said in a statement released on his Web site.
If Inhofe is so against the bill, why didn’t he vote against it?
Also interestingly, the Republicans voted for many amendments to the bill. Such as “To protect middle class families from tax increases”, “To protect home health benefits”, “To ensure that there is no reduction or elimination of any benefits guaranteed by law to participants in Medicare Advantage plans”, “To promote fiscal responsibility by protecting the Social Security surplus and CLASS program savings”, “To protect and improve guaranteed Medicare benefits”, and so on. Nearly every Republican voted for these amendments. And they try to say they had no input into the bill.
I wish they would stop playing politics and just try, for once, to govern the nation for the benefit of the nation.
Wikipedia says that “Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.” is a grammatically correct sentence. Even if it is a grammatically correct sentence, it does not make any sense. I think that even Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo doesn’t make any sense. Buffalo buffalo buffalo might make sense till you realize that Buffalo [Bills] does not in fact buffalo anyone.
It has been a long pause since my last post, work and other factors have kept me away. In the mean time, Oliver and the cats have been getting along much better. I think as soon as the cats realize Oliver produces heat they will get along even better.
It was a happy Hanukkah this year. Laura got a Wii Fit Plus which it turns out we both enjoy. In the middle of Hanukkah, my boss sent me on a cross country/international trip which I did not enjoy. I have a bit of break here till Laura and I go to find a place to live in the Chicago suburbs.
Last night’s results not withstanding, I guess I did fairly well at the bridge club this past year as I won the Spitzer trophy for best average performance for a non-life master. I think. At least that is what I was told it was for. They calculate this based on “Master Points” won versus games played and only include those who have less than 300 Master Points at the beginning of the year. I had around 50. Now I have around 90.
Anyway, I think it is more important that I had fun all of those games. Also, I certainly could not have done it without good partners.
I was once mistaken for a local food critic, the one who does Eating Ithaca, but I am by no means a professional. Still, I recently visited two new local restaurants and they were almost polar opposites in every way.
The first place was Northstar. It was hopping and we thought maybe lets go somewhere else. The host convinced us otherwise saying, well summarized here by me, you will be seated here before you could get somewhere else. And we were. The menu had a host of very promising vegetarian friendly dishes. They also have a very wide selection of alcoholic beverages. On the other hand, no where on their many menus do they list any non-alcoholic drink choices. The table was very interesting, in the unique not expected in a restaurant but not in a bad type way. We ordered drinks and an appetizer. The appetizer came quickly and was tasty – it was an upscale version of tofu wings which was the main reason we went there. When the waitress came to collect the plates from the appetizer she then realized our drinks were missing. A couple points deduction for forgetting our drinks but she got many of them back for eventually remembering. The dinner was also very tasty and I look forward to going back and trying the other entrees we didn’t get.
The other establishment took the place of a very nice restaurant that we miss. It was recently opened but we were the only guests the entire time we were there. They offer a variety of repackaged upscale comfort food that is all the craze right now. Kind of a reaction to economic depression I guess. Neither of us liked the food. One dish was neither hot nor melty as had been advertised. The other dish contained only a few kernels of the advertised corn. Neither of us left feeling that comforted. We have no plans to go back.
So I was trying to figure out how the government could make new jobs that don’t threaten existing jobs while resulting in real output. Street cleaning and other similar ideas came to mind but all seemed rather limited in actual output. Then I thought, what if the government had some of those collecting unemployment farm government land to produce food to feed those living below the poverty line. They could farm using old fashioned methods, no fertilizer, no pesticides, no herbicides, no irrigation, no heavy farm equipment, just hand planting, weeding, watering, and harvesting. Then the goods can be distributed to food pantries to help them feed the hungry. I always heard we could feed the hungry if we tried, now here is an opportunity. Too bad it will never happen.
