Does that leave an opening big enough to drive a garbage truck through, or what...
Looking through this mornings USA Today this evening, I came across an article with the above title. I made the mistake of reading it. Just your basic, everyday "We're not only just as good as you are, we're better in some areas" type of article. This is how it should have read.
Hearing the obvious clattering of "things not being used for their intended purpose", followed by piercing cries of pain, moms always run to see if everyone is okay. "Is everyone Okay?" Dads have this inherent understanding of logical reasoning that goes something like this: if there is crying involved, everyone is very likely still alive, and we wait for the survivors to find us and provide a report. I don't believe that I've ever had to go back and clean up spilled blood after awaiting the news.
If you can close the lid, the washing machine is not overfilled.
But the whole thing with "house work" is somewhat beyond our comprehension. The article mentioned that SAHM's (Stay At Home Moms) on average spent 1.61 hours per day on housework and 1.41 hours per day on food prep and clean-up. SAHD's (I think you can figure that one out on your own): .42 and .64 respectively. What I want to know is who in the hell counts the hours that they do either of these things! It's bad enough that we have to do them at all. I don't want to know how much time I wasted on their behalf.
Yes, I said waste. Some things are required in life. Food. Water. Bombay Saffire Extra Dry Martinis with bleu-cheese stuffed olives. (Gorgonzola will do in a pinch.) I don't remember seeing dusting on the list.
Some of you long-time readers have seen a picture or two of my office posted on the pages of this blog. It is not neat. Actually, I probably shouldn't tell you this, but it is not clean. We have a cleaning service that comes by once a week on Wednesday mornings. They know not to go into my office. It's just better that way. I don't have dust bunnies, dust rabbits, or any other variety of dust rodent. I have dust elephants. Seriously kick-ass dust elephants. I've learned to stay out of their way and leave them alone.
Everybody living in harmony.
Except Joplin.
Joplin is our cat, for those of you that didn't know. Joplin's litter box is in the garage, which is where Joplin sleeps at night. For those of you that think that this might be cruel, Joplin would wake us up very early in the morning doing something that happened so long ago I don't think any of us remember what the infraction was. But he did it on a regular enough basis that he got banished to the garage at night. Which is where the aforementioned litter box resides.
Because the litter box resides in the garage, it occasionally suffers from the "out of sight, out of mind" mindset. Not to throw Theresa under the bus, but this happens more often when I am traveling than when I am home. (Hey... you try to manage a full-time job, three kids in school, and an online business that sucks almost every other available moment from your life and see how well you do at emptying the cat box!)
When Joplin's box suffers from inattention, Joplin gets pissed (duh) and has (rarely) been known to go into my office and crap on my training materials that are scattered on the floor. See! Floor protectors! That's a good thing! (Note to self: take Joplin with me next time I go to a Train-the-Trainer session.)
I'm sure there is probably plenty more that moms can learn from dads, but perhaps we'll save those for another time. I think I saw Theresa going into the garage to get something to throw at me. Good thing I'm not home.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Dishwasher - The Resolution
One would think that giving away a valuable item would be a rather simple thing to do. Find out who might want it, and arrange the way for them to have it.
The unfortunate part of this tale begins with the first half of that equation - nobody wants a used built-in dishwasher. I called the aforementioned St. Vincent de Paul center, Goodwill, and Amvets. None of them would accept our used dishwasher as a donation. This left us with no recourse other than to take it to the city's recycling center.
The city of San Diego has established a recycling center at the entrance to the San Diego City Landfill. This center accepts a variety of recycling items. So I loaded up the dishwasher in the family van, along with a beat up old rusted bicycle with flat tires that one of our generous neighbors kindly deposited in our front driveway. (I'm sure they thought it looked better there, than in their back yard.) The boys and I then headed to the recycling center.
Exiting the van, one of the boys opined "Disgusting trash!". But they were thoroughly entranced, nonetheless, with the recycling goings-on. We paid our $12 so that the recycling center operators could then make even more money by recycling the components of our old dishwasher. And joy of joys, they even took the old bike! (I was thinking that we would need to find someone headed into the dump from the recycling center, and give them five or ten bucks to take our bike with them.)
Flush with the excitement of ridding the household of one piece of clutter, we stopped off at Baskin-Robbins on the way home for a victory celebration. The boys each selected different flavors of multicolored sherbets (more for the look than the potential taste explosion they were about to experience), and we headed home, satisfied with doing one small thing to help save us from ourselves.
The unfortunate part of this tale begins with the first half of that equation - nobody wants a used built-in dishwasher. I called the aforementioned St. Vincent de Paul center, Goodwill, and Amvets. None of them would accept our used dishwasher as a donation. This left us with no recourse other than to take it to the city's recycling center.
The city of San Diego has established a recycling center at the entrance to the San Diego City Landfill. This center accepts a variety of recycling items. So I loaded up the dishwasher in the family van, along with a beat up old rusted bicycle with flat tires that one of our generous neighbors kindly deposited in our front driveway. (I'm sure they thought it looked better there, than in their back yard.) The boys and I then headed to the recycling center.
Exiting the van, one of the boys opined "Disgusting trash!". But they were thoroughly entranced, nonetheless, with the recycling goings-on. We paid our $12 so that the recycling center operators could then make even more money by recycling the components of our old dishwasher. And joy of joys, they even took the old bike! (I was thinking that we would need to find someone headed into the dump from the recycling center, and give them five or ten bucks to take our bike with them.)
Flush with the excitement of ridding the household of one piece of clutter, we stopped off at Baskin-Robbins on the way home for a victory celebration. The boys each selected different flavors of multicolored sherbets (more for the look than the potential taste explosion they were about to experience), and we headed home, satisfied with doing one small thing to help save us from ourselves.
Sunday, June 01, 2008
So what have you done to help humanity lately?
We have had a used built-in dishwasher sitting in our kitchen for about two weeks now. (Yes. I do have the most wonderful wife in the world. She hasn't asked me once "When are you going to get rid of that thing in the kitchen?")
So, why is it sitting in our kitchen? Because I haven't rented a truck to take it to the dump yet. There always seems to be something more important to do (like blogging, for instance). And, being the frugal individual that I am, I wanted to maximize the rental truck opportunity by clearing some of the overgrown landscaping, and the dead plum tree that sits in our front yard welcoming all who pass. "Hi, I'm a dead plum tree. Who are you?" (Jim, I meant to ask you if I could borrow your chainsaw when we were there last weekend, but I forgot.) So there it sits in front of our least used cabinets and the oven (which we don't use often).
And if you were wondering why they didn't take it away when they installed the new one, it is because I installed the new one myself. Saved $165! (I'm pretty sure the rental truck will be less than that.)
Last Friday, I finally got around to checking on rental trucks. And just today I went to the San Diego Landfill website to find out their hours. I found out that there is a recycle facility at the entrance to the dump. The web site stated that large household appliances should be taken there for recycling. It also mentioned that if the appliance needed only minor repair, or was still functional, that it could be donated. And while we were not pleased with the cleanliness of our dishes after they had been through a cycle in the dishwasher, it is still a functional dishwasher. If one were to actually rinse dishes prior to placing them in the dishwasher, rather than letting food dry for who knows how long before placing them in this labor saving device, it might prove to be more acceptable than having no dishwasher at all. So I Googled "thrift stores poway", which is where the nearest thrift stores might be found. I saw that the Society of St. Vincent de Paul had established a thrift store there. (If you've never heard of the St. Vincent de Paul centers, you may wish to check out that link.)
While there, I saw a link (to a blog as it turned out - Cage Free Family) about a family that was "Giving it all away". That second link will take you to the blog entry that discusses them giving it all away. The first will take you to the blog index page.
Fair warning: should you go and read the blog, you may be drawn into their story. I started with the entry about donating their belongings to the St. Vincent de Paul center. A relatively brief entry, but it made me wonder why were they giving their possessions away. So I started reading the blog.
The young woman who writes it is well spoken (written?). Her writing, while not particularly cohesive at times, the more that you read, the more you can perhaps understand why. I will let you form your own opinions as you read, but if you wish to discuss your opinions with me, you know where to find me. In essence, she and her family are looking for a better life. What I found most interesting about it, is that they are not only looking for a better life for themselves, but a better life for humanity. And as you read through the blog, you will find that they really are fairly unprepared. In the month that the blog has been extant, their plans have changed many times already.
No matter. The reason that they have chosen to take the path that they have is laudable. To make life better for others, and in doing so, make life better for themselves and more importantly (to them, not to me), their children.
Many of you know that I read a wide variety of both fiction and non-fiction. I read as much to educate myself as I do for entertainment. Possibly more so. This family is on a quest to educate themselves and their children, by living. While one can learn quite a bit by reading, I would venture to say that one can learn more by doing. And the reason that they want to educate themselves is to help others.
While many will look at their endeavor and scoff, I am going to wish them well. And continue to visit their blog. And maybe even to provide some financial support along the way. While trying to personally change the world to benefit humanity might seem a far-fetched idea to many, it brings to mind any number of sayings that would be appropriate. The one that I believe that I will insert here is this: A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. (I also like "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time." But that seems a little light for such a serious topic, don't you think?)
So what have you done to help humanity lately?
So, why is it sitting in our kitchen? Because I haven't rented a truck to take it to the dump yet. There always seems to be something more important to do (like blogging, for instance). And, being the frugal individual that I am, I wanted to maximize the rental truck opportunity by clearing some of the overgrown landscaping, and the dead plum tree that sits in our front yard welcoming all who pass. "Hi, I'm a dead plum tree. Who are you?" (Jim, I meant to ask you if I could borrow your chainsaw when we were there last weekend, but I forgot.) So there it sits in front of our least used cabinets and the oven (which we don't use often).
And if you were wondering why they didn't take it away when they installed the new one, it is because I installed the new one myself. Saved $165! (I'm pretty sure the rental truck will be less than that.)Last Friday, I finally got around to checking on rental trucks. And just today I went to the San Diego Landfill website to find out their hours. I found out that there is a recycle facility at the entrance to the dump. The web site stated that large household appliances should be taken there for recycling. It also mentioned that if the appliance needed only minor repair, or was still functional, that it could be donated. And while we were not pleased with the cleanliness of our dishes after they had been through a cycle in the dishwasher, it is still a functional dishwasher. If one were to actually rinse dishes prior to placing them in the dishwasher, rather than letting food dry for who knows how long before placing them in this labor saving device, it might prove to be more acceptable than having no dishwasher at all. So I Googled "thrift stores poway", which is where the nearest thrift stores might be found. I saw that the Society of St. Vincent de Paul had established a thrift store there. (If you've never heard of the St. Vincent de Paul centers, you may wish to check out that link.)
While there, I saw a link (to a blog as it turned out - Cage Free Family) about a family that was "Giving it all away". That second link will take you to the blog entry that discusses them giving it all away. The first will take you to the blog index page.
Fair warning: should you go and read the blog, you may be drawn into their story. I started with the entry about donating their belongings to the St. Vincent de Paul center. A relatively brief entry, but it made me wonder why were they giving their possessions away. So I started reading the blog.
The young woman who writes it is well spoken (written?). Her writing, while not particularly cohesive at times, the more that you read, the more you can perhaps understand why. I will let you form your own opinions as you read, but if you wish to discuss your opinions with me, you know where to find me. In essence, she and her family are looking for a better life. What I found most interesting about it, is that they are not only looking for a better life for themselves, but a better life for humanity. And as you read through the blog, you will find that they really are fairly unprepared. In the month that the blog has been extant, their plans have changed many times already.
No matter. The reason that they have chosen to take the path that they have is laudable. To make life better for others, and in doing so, make life better for themselves and more importantly (to them, not to me), their children.
Many of you know that I read a wide variety of both fiction and non-fiction. I read as much to educate myself as I do for entertainment. Possibly more so. This family is on a quest to educate themselves and their children, by living. While one can learn quite a bit by reading, I would venture to say that one can learn more by doing. And the reason that they want to educate themselves is to help others.
While many will look at their endeavor and scoff, I am going to wish them well. And continue to visit their blog. And maybe even to provide some financial support along the way. While trying to personally change the world to benefit humanity might seem a far-fetched idea to many, it brings to mind any number of sayings that would be appropriate. The one that I believe that I will insert here is this: A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. (I also like "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time." But that seems a little light for such a serious topic, don't you think?)
So what have you done to help humanity lately?
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