Green

I finally found a link to info about signing up for PSE (Puget Sound Energy)'s Green Power Program. Right now I'm funding 1MWh/month of renewable electricity; that was my estimate of my average use, but we'll have to see when I give in and start turning the heaters on when winter sets in.

In case you hadn't heard, next year's Burning Man theme is The Green Man. Serendipitously (of course), I just started hanging out with ecologically-minded people... we're already thinking about what cool piece of tech/art to do for next year.

Car work

Today I went to get a replacement headlight bulb for my car. My year/make/model combination wasn't listed in the Book of Headlights the auto parts shop had, so I went to the counter to ask, and the guy suggested to just look at the light, and I thought this was a fine idea. We went out... and it took me a good 30 seconds to find the hood release. That was only the second time I'd opened the hood, and it's not actually marked. It also took me probably 5 minutes to get the new bulb back in (the shop guy had taken the old one out). I was going to take my car in to a mechanic to get the oil changed tomorrow, but now I feel the need to do it myself to restore my dignity. Pesky fancy car. But I love my car, really - it's terribly fun and ever so comfy.

Yuppiness is a warm beamer.

Grownup

All I have to say is... yes! :-)

Grownups

This reminds me of something I meant to post a while ago...
(I almost guarantee, before I start to type this, that I will revise it, so if you care, check back after a few days.)

being a grownup means you can
eat ice cream for dinner
chocolate for breakfast
leave clothes all over your floor
never vacuum or do your dishes
never make the bed
spend more than your allowance
stay up late
wake up later
only go to class when you feel like it
skip the optional meetings at work
not ask anybody's permission when you have a sleepover
play in the rain even when you have a cold

But it also means
Eating broccoli because it might make you feel better when you're 80
Skipping dessert because you'll feel better after dinner
Putting all your things away neatly because it annoys you when you can't find them
Keeping the house clean because you paid enough attention to realize that's why you were sneezing
Making the bed because you found it makes it more convenient to sleep in
Balancing your checkbook and paying your credit cards off every time because you realize you don't have any more money in the long term when you don't
Going to bed in time to get enough sleep...
... To go to that morning meeting, even though you don't technically *need* to
Telling your housemate that your friends are coming over, even if she isn't going to, and really can't, say no
And still, occasionally, dying your hair funny colors, playing loud trance, and lighting things on fire...

Now, I'm going to go eat some organic chocolate and italian gelato.

Satanic Messages

This was pointed out to me by Michael:

Backmasking

Most of them (except for the one that was actually done backward) sound pretty forced.

I wonder what you would get if you played some of our meetings backward.

I'm still alive. And the parking people are still after me.

It's like getting a long handwritten letter. You feel so obligated to respond right that you never get around to answering at all.

So it is with this blog. I have so much to say right now that I don't know where to start. It's like taking a bite out of something that's big and completely smooth: there's no place to get your teeth into it.

Anyway, here are a few random quotes. As the title of this blog advertises, I must include random stuff regularly... or somebody will get mad at me for false advertising.

Dilbert, 2006.09.20:
"There's really no point in listening to other people. They are either going to be agreeing with you or saying stupid stuff."
[I had found this in a comment on the Dilbert Blog, not realizing this is where it had come from.]

Me: "Put the trash in the round can in the garage. Put the recycling in the square can next to it. Hmm. Now that you now my house's waste disposal API..."

Email thread at work:
"Sorry, didn't mean to beat a dead horse."
"Don't worry; the road to <product code name> is littered with dead horses."

Beating a child is like using the !important statement in CSS: you do it when you don't have any better ideas to handle the situation and you're frustrated. It seems to work at first, but soon you start using it too much, and things get messy on the inside.

The traffic gods love me. The parking gods hate me. The laundry gods are giving me a funny look.

I have to take my van in for inspection tomorrow. If it passes, said inspection will be a very good thing, because then I can finally get it registered, and then maybe the condo complex will stop harassing me about it. I am a little worried about the inspection page saying damage to vehicle needs to be repaired, and I need to have receipts saying it was. Well, there's not actually anything functionally wrong with it. But then, my idea of a luxury unit is anything with walls that aren't blue tarps.