Monday, March 23, 2009

Green Meets Frugality

So the communal dryer in our apartment building SUCKS. Even a small load takes two cycles to get completely dry. Have a pair of jeans in there? Forgettaboutit. So out of frustration and frugality because I refuse to spend two dollars to dry a single load of laundry, I've resorted to drying as many loads as possible by air on our collapsible drying racks. We have an apartment so setting up an outdoors drying line is not possible. We don't have a balcony like our neighbors either, so drying a load during the winter/early spring has been a two-day process on average. Two loads can usually dry at once between our three racks, as long as a lot of socks aren't involved. Towels and sheets are still dried in the dryer because they just don't fit on the racks. But all in all, it makes me proud to at least pretend that this is all out of an effort to be more green. Granted, it contributes to our effort to live more green, but the cheap part of my personality rejoices. Even though it takes half our living room.


Sunday, March 22, 2009

Diet by Osmosis

If you ever needed help with motivation to stay on a diet or wanted to be repulsed by grease galore, visit thisiswhyyourefat.com.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Traveling - the Joys

One of both the joys and sorrows of my field is the need to periodically travel. Usually it's during the three summer months. But this week I'm traveling for my thesis research to look at a collection in Western Nebraska.


I left about 3pm Central Time to drive the six and a half hours west. I wish that I had the hootzpah to take pictures as I drive at 75mph, but I don't. Late afternoon is so beautiful when traveling west. This is when I feel the passage of time most accutely. The sun is visibly sinking lower before you as you race toward the light. In the rearview mirror you watch the night falling, traveling on the edge of the day.


One of my favorite parts of traveling is the quirkiness found along the way. In my recent voyages I found a gas station that advertised "classy restrooms." In North Platte, one gas station carries the sign "Welcome to Nowhere." Following a truck on the interstate labeled on the back "Do not hump truck." Seriously. Is this a problem?




And at the end of the road there's the reward. Going from this:

















to this:


80 degrees, sunny, and little wind the first week of March. Doesn't get better than this.
"And thus goes all to the world but I. And I am sunburnt." - Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare.