April 2009

Accidental Poetry

Everyone at my office was recently given a sheet of cardstock on which is printed "emergency procedures." They're all common-sensical enough, but the way in which the whole is written with some things called out in bold, some in a different color ink, three different fonts - everything you're told not to do if you want to make something readable. And yet, it's oddly compelling. There's a sort of poetry to the words they've chosen to capitalize.

Updates or building status following any significant incident
Do not use the elevator
Do not
Do not return

Shift on the Fly

Yesterday, our household had a little mishap. No big deal - a miscommunication that led to someone not being where they were expected. The "someone" was our 17-year-old, who realized that going home rather than staying at the orthodontist meant that she would *not* be going out to dinner with us, and who was put out by being told that she would have to make dinner for herself.

Bird Brain

Today's Day Without Electricity was one of the most relaxing days I've had in a long time.

When Bills Are Good News

As I've mentioned in previous posts, one of things we wanted to see in our "Day Without Electricity" experiment was how much we'd save by doing without electricity for one day each week.

The way that our rates are structured, the more electricity you use, the more you pay for each kilowatt hour (Kwh). Here's how it breaks down for us, according to our latest bill:

  • Baseline Quantity = $0.11531 per Kwh

  • 101-130% of Baseline = $0.13109 per Kwh

  • 131-200% of Baseline = $0.25974 per Kwh

Guerilla Gardening

I've been having some subversive thoughts. And when I say "subversive," I mean "cool, but could get you arrested."

The Best Laid Plans

Yesterday's day without electricity was a day of getting stuff done. The Pirate had vowed to have plants in the ground by end of day yesterday, and true to his word, he's got kale, chard, lettuce, beans, and something that ends in "choy" that isn't bok choy.