I believe in service to others.
I believe in caring for my neighbor.
I believe in doing. Not just sitting and watching, but doing.
I believe in being patient until things happen, and nudge 'em along when needed.
I believe that a smile is the best gift to give to others.
I believe that life is full of surprises and without them, life would be awfully dull.
I believe in holding friends close, and family closer.
I believe that joy comes to those who share joy.
I believe in Santa: his magic, his spirit, and his love.
And yeah, I believe in love. Love is the only thing you get back more of the more you give it away.
I believe that God loves all of us, and we should demonstrate our faith by showing our love through actions we take.
Life is short: show those you love that you love them.
Do you remember the "cone of silence" that never worked in the TV comedy Get Smart? Well in Washington, DC, we have the "Cone of Dumbness." It sits right over the beltway that surrounds the city. Every time the weather forecasters predict a "snow event," the cone comes down and without a doubt, everyone inside it goes brain dead.
Today "they" predicted one inch of snow to fall during the day. By the reaction to the prediction, however, one would think the end of the world is here.
This morning, I forgot about the snow prediction, and dropped by the grocery store to get some things for my aunt. Ooops... shouldn't have done that. It looked like the store had been decimated. I kid you not, one guy was standing in line juggling milk, butter, eggs, diapers, and a bunch of other stuff, while cradling a cell phone in his ear, whining to his wife about the store not having whatever he wanted.
The TV news isn't any help at all -- they hype it up so much that it's no wonder everyone goes nuts. They envision "Snowzilla" on its way! AAAAK!
And you'd think: a large number of residents of the DC area come from "snow country." That is, they came here from places that would get lots of snow every winter. They handled it just fine. They dressed properly for it, too. But not those who now live or work within the "cone of dumbness."
This morning, the SUVs were on the road, in 4-wheel drive mode -- and it was not snowing (yet). This little snippet from a local news source just had me rolling on the floor laughing:
Bill is making plans for getting out and getting to work today. "If it shuts a few things down, it probably won't shut down that much. And I have four-wheel drive, so it's about time I got to use it."
I just betcha he's the type of guy who gets in his 4WD and tries to drive on ice like it's a dry road on a sunny day. I'll see him (or his kind) in a ditch on the side of the road, standing next to his vehicle, out in the snow, yapping on a cell phone. It happens all the time.
Salt trucks are idling in the parking lot, waiting for the "go" signal. When I dropped Chuck off at the Metro subway stop this morning, I observed the yuppies in their tassled loafers or dress wingtips, thin socks, suit jacket, no hat, no gloves. I betcha the minute they see a flake of snow in the air, each and every one of them will be trying to rush home before they get snowed in for the rest of the century.
I'm so glad that my employment situation is different now, in that I am not on a list of "essential personnel." I can just sit back, watch, and have a good laugh at the "cone of dumbness" doing its thing: causing the yuppies to "lose it" and get hysterical over a dusting of snow. When I have to go out later, I'll do it carefully, but dressed appropriately with tall, warm boots, cord pants and longjohns, several layers on top, a coat with a hood, and mittens (which are warmer than gloves).
And for those of you from snow belt areas, don't laugh too hard at this. It's just a part of the local DC culture -- forget everything you learned and rush into mass hysteria all for a few flakes of snow.
Life is short: enjoy the blizzard!
I was reviewing the bills and our household budget for the past year, preparing a new budget for next year in comparison with our income and expenses. I used an on-line calculator that compared "normal" household expenses with ours. I realize that what some people consider to be "normal" is not normal for us. Our "unnormal" spending habits resulted in an estimated annual savings of $8,450.
Here is how we have not spent $8,450 this year:
1. We prepare our own meals and eat at home. Breakfast, lunch, dinner -- all prepared from groceries that I cook and serve daily. We just don't eat out. A reliable source indicates that the average US middle class couple spends $279 each month on eating dinner out. Since we don't do that, our savings is $3,378.
2. Preparing our own meals includes making lunch to take to work. We do not eat lunch out. Another reliable source indicates that we save $2,080 a year based on the assumption of eating lunch out at the average cost of $8.50 each lunch x 2 of us x 5 days/week LESS $8.50/week for the cost of what we buy to make our lunches for the whole week. (Yeah, it costs about the same to make and bring lunch for a whole week as it does to buy lunch out on one day.)
3. We don't go nuts with media. That is, while we subscribe to services that provide television and internet, we have no-frills, basic services. We get the full range digital & HD channel line-up, but do not pay for subscription services like HBO, etc. We do not pay for "on demand" movies and sports packages. We have high-speed internet, but locked in a three-year agreement that saves about $25/month from what it could have cost us. Therefore, I estimate the savings on television media is $576/year (not paying avg. $48/mo. for extras) and $300 for internet = a total of $876/year. (But don't get me started on the vagaries of dealing with Verizon and their absolutely horrible so-called customer service.)
4. We don't go nuts with cell phones. I have one plain old regular cell phone. That's it -- no other cellular devices in the household. I do not have a data package on my cell, by choice. Therefore I do not text nor receive text messages, or have web-access on a mobile device. I once had that (when my former employer required it). My monthly savings for going "cell only without data" is $68/month, or $816/year.
5. We mow our own lawn and maintain it ourselves. Neighbors spend $900/year on lawn mowing services while we enjoy the exercise and the cost-savings. We also use compost as fertilizer, and spread it ourselves. We rake, aerate, and weed-whack. Yes, it takes time from other things (such as riding my Harley) but it's good exercise, much better for the environment than spreading chemicals, and is cheaper than what some of my neighbors pay $400/year for a lawn service company. So what if our lawn isn't perfect -- it's a lawn, not a golf course.
All-in-all, the savings by eating at home, choosing to reduce media and cell phone costs, and mowing our own lawn totaled $8,450 this year alone.
There are many other intangibles that affect our annual budget. For example, we have zoned heating and cooling, so we only heat or cool parts of our house as needed in certain rooms. We have active solar, which produces electricity and hot water. We estimate our annual savings for solar alone to be about $3,000 in reduced electric and natural gas bills. But that is hard to estimate directly since I cannot measure what we do not consume and some of the savings are offset by increased costs of maintenance on this complex household system. Nonetheless, "going green" does save us a lot of money in the long-run, and saves the planet a little bit, as well.
Life is short: be financially sound.
