leafing through » News

Sprinklers

Leaf — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:39:35 +0000

A little past midnight this morning, the fire alarm started blaring. I was in the middle of a nice dream so it felt like I dozed my way out of the building. I remember we briefly discussed bringing the chinchees …

User Tax

Leaf — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 00:24:50 +0000

President Obama recently proposed an airline tax increase ($100 per airliner take off, and a TSA per-passenger increase to $5 per leg of the trip and $0.50 increases each year from 2013 to 2017) to help reduce the deficit. I …

Self-Help

Leaf — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 01:22:52 +0000

Recently, I got two very thoughtful books about how to interact with people. The first, The Five Love Languages. The second, How to Win Friends and Influence People. At first glance they seem like two very different books, one’s about …

Nanny State

Leaf — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 00:13:51 +0000

Last week, Denmark passed a “fat tax” to curb obesity. It’s yet another sin tax, only this time, instead of tobacco & alcohol, it’s saturated fat. The sin is gluttony. The argument is, it’s bad for peoples’ health so taxing it …

Dental Update

Leaf — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 01:55:21 +0000

So you remember back in February, I went to the Virginia Center for Cosmetic & General Dentistry right by the Clarendon Metro station and they were total quacks, trying to tell me I had like 8 cavities or something? Well …

How to unclog a toilet

Leaf — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 01:31:14 +0000

Pour kettles and kettles of boiling water into the toilet until it clears. This one took three kettles to clear. No need for plungers or any equipment.

The Great Earthquake of 2011

Leaf — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 13:13:31 +0000

On Tuesday, we were preparing for this big meeting. I was standing in the hallway with my coworker chatting about our weekend plans with the secretary before going into the meeting room. Yes we think about the weekend on Tuesdays. …

Big Foot

Leaf — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 13:09:53 +0000

The other day I used an online carbon footprint calculator* to figure out just how big of a footprint we cast. It’s dismally large, despite the 1 car, the small residence, the organic eating (though I do that for our …

OMG! OMG!!

Leaf — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 15:16:01 +0000

We’re getting a TRADER JOE’S!!! A TRADER JOE’s! OMG!! Ever since I’ve moved here I’ve been saying “We NEED a Trader Joe’s.” Yesterday, while on our random walkabouts, where we poke into the many random retail spaces under development, we …

To-do’s this weekend

Leaf — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 06:54:58 +0000

I have a gajillion to-do’s this weekend but the one big to-do for me was to tackle my taxes. This year, and I am so embarrassed I didn’t think of this last year, instead of doing and redoing my taxes …