Category Archives: doing it wrong

Every time I look in the yard I cringe because there is so much work to do out there and it seems like I’m never here when the weather is decent.

I just got back from 4 days in LA at a hotel by the airport doing a writing workshop than ran from 9am to 7pm.

It was amazing and exhausting and I’m glad I went.

Here’s a terrible photo from my room which shows my view of the runways facing toward the ocean. I could barely hear any airport noise at the hotel, but noise from the hallway at 3am: loud and clear.

I hear I missed an earthquake by less than 24 hours.

What a shame.

I had a great time but didn’t sleep super great.

I took today off to regroup.

Another busy few weeks ahead.

I have these on all my spice jars. I never shake my spices.

Every time I use a spice I take this thing off, pour or measure out the spice I want, and then put this thing back on.

Last weekend I had about 4 spice jars out and was wrangling all these stupid things and I thought, “Why do I even keep these?”

So I took them off and washed them and put them in a drawer in case I change my mind later although really it’s just going to be something to throw away someday.

Remember the 150 bulb project? Very soon we will be enjoying the benefits. Check out these nubbins.

That’s not supposed to be all 150, I planted them in batches in the front and back. Although there is one area where I thought I planted a bunch and there is not a nubbin to be seen. This year I will photograph the results and keep track for next fall.

AIK Fotboll

It’s February 15 and that means at your local grocery store they’re putting away the Valentine’s candy and breaking out the Easter candy.

I just had my first Cadbury egg of the season! To be honest, I was a little disappointed. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that it’s been in a warehouse since last season. It wasn’t the best Cadbury egg I’ve ever had. Meanwhile, I’m on a huge sugar high right now. That’s going to feel great when I crash in 15 minutes.

Let me tell you about the best tv channel in the history of anything ever.

I like to keep the TV parked on a particular station so that when I turn it on I don’t have to see a snippet of any kind of show that I don’t like. For a long time the channel was the Syfy channel but they sometimes show Saw or some other gross horror thing and I don’t like that. Then I had it on Fox Soccer for awhile and that wasn’t too bad except I’d get sucked into soccer.

Then I discovered the Science Channel. It’s channel 272 at our house.

They have this series called: How It’s Made. They show you how stuff is made: clothespins, cough drops, swords, highlighter pens, water skis, laundry soap, taco sauce. The list goes on and on. Do you know how cool it is to see how things are made? Conveyor belt pr0n for days.

I think this show should be mandatory on airport TVs. Also any place that does car-related work.

Still lots of crows downtown. They weren’t around yesterday but back at about half-force this morning.

The NYT Dining section seems to be in an endless race to out-stupid itself. A couple of weeks ago there was an article about people who seriously injure themselves when putting their fingers into the sharp bits of their immersion blenders.

Then there was an article about the overweight chef who likes to eat a lot including a pizza and bucket of wings when he gets home from work. He goes to the extreme step of hiring a ‘food strategist’ who churns out so many ludicrous quotes I’m going to go ahead and link to the article so you can read it yourself. (Sneak preview: “Let me put you on the Concorde to thin.”)

Then there was the article this week about dinner kits. All the various ingredients are measured out and packaged together. You cook it yourself. Let me point out that I am not mocking the idea. There will always be a need for simplified meal preparation. Why not this? It seems like it would be especially valuable for people who eat away from home often because of travel and work obligations and don’t have a well-stocked kitchen.

But this is a quote from one entrepreneur who runs such a service, “When we started jobs in New York, we realized that cooking dinner is really, really hard.” He goes on to say, “There’s not enough time in modern lives to recipe-select or grocery-shop.”

Why not say, this is a great alternative for folks who don’t prioritize cooking or find themselves bringing home a pizza and bucket of wings because they’re too tired at the end of the day. But “really, really hard?” He sounds like a second grader. I’ve got a bazillion activities that I’m juggling and I manage to recipe-select and grocery-shop. Is it that my life isn’t modern?

Let’s think of some articles to pitch to the NYT. They’ve already covered kitchen danger, food makes you fat and cooking and shopping are hard. What else? Washing dishes is no fun! Ethnic foods have weird ingredients! Sometimes couples don’t like the same foods!

Leave your ideas in the comments.

This is the quick version of what I was going to say about the Superbowl:

During the insanity that is the world during Christmas time, I sometimes think about people who don’t celebrate Christmas. What would it be like to have to deal with the crowds and the chaos when it has no connection to your life?

Even when you do celebrate Christmas do you ever find yourself thinking, “I need to deal with “X” but if I do it now I’m going to have to flog myself into rage dealing with traffic/parking/maniac shopping so I’ll just wait until January?”

That’s how I feel about the Superbowl. I’m not a hater, I’m just not interested and I was amazed at the endless chatter about it.

Here are two quick doing it wrong items.

#1 Book Publisher – I was thinking about trying the first book of one of those series with the same character solving mysteries. I think there are over a dozen out by now. The first one was written over 10 years ago and would cost $9.99 for my Nook. The store said they also had a packaged deal where you could get the first five for $49.99.

How is that a package deal? If it had even been $47.99 I might have paused over it, although I think $39.99 would have been the way to price it. I’m pretty sure I can find a used copy of the paper book for $5. Now I bought zero books. Way to go book publisher.

#2 Health Clinic – I went in for a check-up and had my co-pay ready. The check-in desk told me it would be easier to bill me after the appointment. Two weeks later I received via mail, a bill for my co-pay. How is this easier?

I’ve had another post that includes now past due thoughts about the Superbowl half-started for over a week but I still don’t have time to finish it so I’m doing this quickie.

This used to be a planter at the building next door.

It was a pitiful planter and I felt bad for the two woeful little plants trying to stay alive among the cigarette butts and neglect.

I always hoped that the building should put some more plants in to let the existing plants know that they were meant to be there.

Some homeless kids started sleeping there with their dog. About a week after they started I noticed the plant bed looked fresh, like they’d put bark dust and I was happy for those poor plants. But upon closer inspection, I realized it was gravel.

A few days later it was all concrete. No one sleeps there now.