LEAPlolcats!

i farts in yor gen’ral direkshun!

See the whole post.. get some more lolcats.

Once a week strange containers full of garbage line the streets. Trucks pick up the trash and then it all gets piled somewhere. Every day piles of garbage get bigger and bigger… and 99% of people probably don't ever think about it or don't really care. It's just something we take for granted.

I don't create much garbage, but it's still more than I'd like to be contributing to the problem. I can go weeks before putting out my garbage bin, and even then it's not even half full. But there are people that consistently have bins with lids that won't even shut because they're so full. Some even have piles of garbage sitting next to their bin.

There has to be a way to get people to think more about cutting down on how much waste they actually create. Right now garbage pickup is a flat fee, but is changing that the best solution? Is charging people based on how much stuff they add to the colossal garbage piles the most effective way to slow down our virus-like destruction of the planet? Someone.. one of you.. come up with a really good idea. Quick!

Blogs don't eat carrots

Last weekend, when I was in Chicago, we visited Whole Foods Market.. and I was greeted by another reason to move to Chicago. I mean, that's the way a grocery store should be – a great selection, fair prices, friendly people, healthy stuff, and – most importantly – prepared food, healthy prepared food, sold by the pound. Nom. If I lived within walking distance of such a creature, or had one near a bus/train stop I'd be set.

Did I mention "buffet style" food sold by the pound?

At the checkout I grabbed one of those recycled plastic tote bags for $0.99. It's a decent sized bag, probably 2-3 times larger than the ones that the grocery store in town sells for $1, plus it has a huge Whole Foods logo on it. My new coat has a pocket that fits my magic new planet-saving bag nicely once it's folded up, so I've pretty much got it on me at all times.

So far I figure I've saved 5-6 plastic bags already. Not much, but it's a start.

Since I don't have a landline phone anymore (and have never really had one in my name) I don't have to deal with telemarketers very often. The last time I was bothered was probably over a year ago, but it really got under my skin – trying to sell me something by calling my cell phone.. a call that most people would end up using precious minutes by answering. It was just frustrating and annoying – I don't care if I really did win a cruise, I don't want to be told about it while I'm in the middle of dinner.

There's always the "do not call list" but that just seems too passive. A bit more satisfying is the FCC's online form for reporting telemarketing calls and faxes. Next time you get interrupted while eating dinner, or just trying to relax, try filling out FCC Form 1088 "Junk Faxes and Telemarketing" and see if it help vent some of that frustration.

If spudart can pull together enough people, and get the logistics figured out before I get there.. I may be participating in this years Chiditarod.

Running around Chicago pulling/pushing a shopping cart seems a little random for even me, but, what the heck. The more ridiculous the better.

Come check it out.

voices tell me things.
evil things.
See the rest

My "to do" list is pretty long right now.. or it would be if I didn't keep putting off making the list of things that I'm putting off doing.

The first thing I need to get done? Cleaning my apartment, or rather, cleaning it out. I've got too much junk, and it needs to go. The last two times that I moved I ended up just throwing a lot of stuff away, things that I've held on to for no good reason. It made packing easier, but I still ended up hauling a lot of useless stuff around. By next weekend I plan on having my second bedroom completely sorted into "trash", "sell", and "keep" piles. By the end of March I'll hopefully have only the "keep" stuff, which should be packed and stored in my closet. The same procedure needs to take place in my bedroom.

Right now I'm really big on the idea of becoming a Chicagonaut. I need to scale down my stuff, and scale up my life a bit. I'm currently stuck in a rut where I'm just working to pay off bills, and at the current rate thing like going back to school are pretty much impossible. So, if you have any leads on a decent paying job in the Chicago area for someone with an associate degree in Computer Information Systems (preferably something to do with programming, networking, web design, etc.).. send it my way. It'll make my search much easier.