In keeping up with my new rules theme, Here is another for the list.
When available, try to eat lunch in a park. If you can find one with few benches and a lake, then you have hit a home run. At a minimum, you just need a place to park, or a place to sit.
It may sound funny to make this a rule, but believe me, it has many benefits.
You save money by bringing your lunch and not going to a restaurant, it’s probably healthier too.
Sitting in the park gives you time to slow down and relax and recharge without external stimulus.
It is nice to just get out of the workplace and to be surrounded by nature. For instance right now, the leaves are changing/falling, and the wind has a nice chill.
I like to use this time to reflect, on what is going on around me, and to help me realize what is important to me.
It is a great time to study your Masonic ritual, I think the geese in Medford already know the MM exam.
Since it was such a nice day yesterday, and I need to get rid of my “spare tire”, it was time to rock four new geocaches. Sadly, I only found two of them first. Then again, I was being nice! The first cache was semi-important to me as I had been unable to find it previously. So that was a nice little victory. Pictured below are some ducks from the third one, they really had great colors on them. It is just a shame that my phone kinda sucks for taking pictures, and I left the pocket digital camera in Delaware.
As we draw to the end of 2008, and I look toward 2009 it is that time to reevaluate my goals, and decide where I want to be this time next year. As much as I say “when I win the lottery” I know that is not going to happen, well at least I shouldn’t plan for it. I have been spending the past week thinking about everything that has happened to me in the past year. Including but not limited to the decisions that I have made, others have made, and how they have affected me. Some decisions which I thought were minor, ended up turning out to be fairly major.
As a result, I have pretty much created a document which has a major goal on it, which is more of a general guideline. Next I’ve written down a few minor goals, which blend into the steps to achieve those goals. Which can be thought of as a set of realistic resolutions. Just a few of my many small steps include:
Cutting back on the dark cola’s, and eventually commercial/chemical filled soda’s all together.
Following up on the path I have been on to eat better, healthier and more organic food.
Increasing my cardiovascular health, something I have been working on since quitting smoking last January.
Increase my flexibility through my morning yoga sessions, followed by a few minutes of meditation.
Keep in mind that my resolutions are realistic, not delusions of grandeur such a save every penny, reinvest and make a mint in the stock exchange. After all, I have a better chance of breaking even with the money I invested in Crox than I do of seeing a dime of that lottery money.
For those of you who were around me in the past week you will know that gift wrapping paper has been my gripe of the week. I guess you could say that it grinds my gears. So as of now, I give up on this whole wrapping paper thing created by the hallmark’s and the CVS’s of the world! As of right now, 90% of the gift wrap is not recyclable due to the inks/gloss/foils, and naturaly it is not made with any recycled paper. So yes, it makes the earth cry.
To top it off, it is expensive. I figured I spend on average about $4.00 per roll of paper, I usually use about -6 each and every xmas season. That does not include the ribbons, tape, bags, tissue papers, etc. So therefore next Christmas season, I will be making at least a $25 donation to another charity. Perhaps for my 2010 Pinups for Pitbulls calendar, since the 2009 one is HOT and for a great cause.
Next year, you can expect to see gifts wrapped in the brown paper that amazon.com uses a some package filling. Or comics from the newspapers, or if I’m feeling really spunky the color ads they send out that are generally tossed. Got some paper scraps laying around? Here is an neat way to make your own gift bag.
If you think I’m out of my mind, please post a comment and tell me why.
Google impressed me again today with their freshly updated iGoogle personalized homepage layout. While I like tabs on the top, cleaner selectable tabs on the side are much more efficient when you have multiple pages setup. With the new gmail plugins I’m able to scan/delete/respond to my mail without having to jump around too much.. It is worth checking out..
So we were discussing our travel arrangement at the last “Pre -Meeting of the Minds” meeting and it the price of checking luggage was mentioned. Of course, we know that some people are going to check bags regardless of the price and or horrific wait times which always seem to accompany flying back into Philadelphia International Airport. I feel as if a challenge was issued to travel down using just a carry on. I think I can do this, as I’ll only be there for a week after all. These are the reasons I think this is a good idea/challenge:
I can save at least $30, well not really save, I’m sure I’ll drink it down.
One less bag on the plane, that much more fuel will be saved, the Earth won’t cry as much.
I can’t stand to wait in airports, esp when I’m arriving. I’m planning on getting to Alabama Jack’s quickly.
There is a washer and dryer in the house, I can have plenty of clean undies even if I only pack a pair (ewe)
Really though, it is Key West, as you can see from last years pics, I don’t wear much more than a few tank tops and some tshits/shorts. The place is a great example of escapism, what more do I need besides a few articles of clothing and my wallet/phone? Most of the time, barstools are even optional! Besides, trimming the fat and cutting away the crap is a great way to see how much I really can do without.
Of course, my phone still won’t check my email, but there is no way I am taking a laptop with me. I can update my pics and this blog from the condo.
p.s. Today still appears to be a woot off, with some bad ass shirts too.
A gas war in Gloucester County seems to have created the lowest gas prices in the country. As of about 10 a.m., the price was $3.169 a gallon for regular at two stations on Mantua Pike (Route 45) in Woodbury Heights. According to Mapquest.com, that was the lowest price in the country, a nickel better than places in Tennessee and Georgia.
Well, not exactly. That’s because WaWa No. 19 quickly dropped its price by a penny to $3.15.9. Cash or credit card. And that wasn’t even the lowest price. The nearby Pioneer had $3.149 a gallon (cash only), as of shortly after 11 a.m.
That is what’s up people, that’s MY Wawa, and the place where I get my propane filled for the supergrills. And if you mess with my cousin who works at the Wawa. I’ll have to beat ya.
Old news? Sure, I’m a little slow. So it looks like Discovery Home is now going to become Planet Green. Which I think is kinda cool, they already have a pretty neat site. Although, it is currently broken, and I am unable to leave comments on the articles.
First-ever 24-hour television network in the United States: Beginning in 2008, Discovery Home Channel will re-brand as the first 24-hour green channel in the United States. The network, expected to debut in over 50 million U.S. homes, will be dedicated to the highest quality programming for a green lifestyle. The network’s content will provide entertaining, authentic and quality information for such categories as eco-design, organic food and green architecture.
$50 million Original Programming Investment: Discovery is investing $50 million to create the highest quality content focused on sustainable development, conservation, organic lifestyles and healthy living across the company’s portfolio of 14 U.S. television networks. The priority will be on core genres such as science and technology, transportation and ecotourism, engineering, home greening and organic living. The first major content initiative will be Discovery Channel’s new special series, TEN WAYS TO SAVE THE PLANET. This ambitious series, premiering 3Q08, will be a global effort to find solutions to the planet’s most serious environmental threats, and will work with the world’s leading eco-scientists to test innovative and ground-breaking ideas, including wrapping glaciers in thermal blankets to stop their melting, dropping thousands of saplings from planes to provide mass reforestation, and painting entire towns white to reflect the sun.
$50 million in original programming? I an full of ideas, and I know the people to get it done. Anyone want to be in a show? JR?
And to celebrate post 100, as you may notice, that I now have a list of people to smack, no longer a list of people to kill. I think as I’m getting older and (cough) wiser, I think it better to smack them instead. Hey, it’s progress.
A few weeks ago Starbucks closed all of their stores for 3 hours so that they could “retrain” all of their employees. Well that opened the flood gates for plenty of free or steeply discounted coffee for the same 3 hour period. Which, fueled the hell out of the bloggers, and there was plenty of free publicity. So that’s about all I’m going to say on that one. But I will get on a bit of a rant here. Now I love Starbucks, not as much as I love Dunkin’ Donuts, but I do love them. I just hate that I can’t order a “large coffee”, actually I can because I kinda want “iIl Will” style one day at my local Starbucks and now I don’t get any shit about my coffee. As I digress, I have to be honest I can’t stand the pretentious coffee experience at Starbucks. As far as the coffee is concerned, I like Dunkin’ Donuts better, even if it is in a crappy styrofoam cup.
Dunkin’ Donuts does have some big balls though, just look at one of their commercials from 2006 (this is still one of the funniest ones). How could you hate anyone that has John Goodman doing a voice over? Then again, Dunkin’ Donuts is a private company, and let’s be honest it is not an American company any longer. So once again, our dollars are leaving as fast as we plunk them down on the counter.
Although it may seem like I’m bashing Starbucks, well I guess I sorta am, I still like them. They give me free coffee! Well free coffee grinds that they have used and would otherwise toss out because no one in Medford would even think of reusing something. But again, I digress. Starbucks has a really nifty program called “Grounds for Growers“. Which is exactly what it sounds like, they give you the used coffee grounds and you can use them to compost.
Coffee grounds make a great “green” to mix with your “browns” aka leaves. So I now have two hot compost piles which I’m experimenting with. The first is a BioStack system that I purchased for $20 from Lowes because it was dirty and they were willing to play “Let’s make a deal”. The second, is a trashcan which I have drilled holes along the sides for aeration. I was originally going to try running this as a closed system, but discovered that even the expensive commercial tumblers have a lot of air flo.
My garden is going to kick even more ass this year than it did last year. If all goes well, I’m going to be up to my ears in fresh salads and veggies all while paying nearly nothing for maintenance. I also have another idea for the grounds which I plan to enact before the winter months, but I’ll explain that when I get more details worked out.
