Appreciation

When I have a cold, I often promise myself that when I can breathe normally again I will appreciate breathing more. But alas, when the cold goes away I just start to take my non-snot-filled nose for granted.

I am now thinking the same thing about the hourly billing system. If I got a job in which I didn't have to bill, would I take joy every day in the fact that I didn't have to write down "9:35-10:23--draft initial disclosures"? Or would I just quickly go back to taking the delicious freedom for granted?

One thing I do consistently appreciate, I think, is air conditioning--but that's because when you're all hot and you come into an air-conditioned place, the contrast makes you appreciate it. Does that mean I'd have to spend part of each day billing my time, or breathing through my mouth, in order to appreciate it when I got to stop? That doesn't seem like a reasonable plan.

Anyhoo, happy Friday, and if you don't have to bill your time, try to spend a few minutes (maybe up to 0.1 hours!) appreciating your good fortune.

Tragic non-chart o' unreasonable work schedule

In: Work taking over life
Five Minutes Ago: Looking for "life's work"
Out: School

In: Missing the daylight
Five Minutes Ago: Missing the cherry blossoms
Out: Missing TV

In: Take-out Taxi
Five Minutes Ago: Frozen pizza
Out: Eating dinner with other people

Final car haikus (sniff)

It's all over between me and the Geo. This bittersweet occasion calls for a buttload of haiku:

Good night, sweet Geo!
We've had good years together.
This one, not so much.

Your alternator
Died in '99, '06,
And again now. Christ.

Also, your muffler:
Always about to fall off.
What's that all about?

But I always liked
Your distinctive growl, and the
Two missing hubcaps.

Out there in the street
Without your tapes, maps, bike rack
You look so lonely.

I hope you don't mind
Being donated, not sold
Hope they don't melt you.

Nooo!

Hasbro and Mattel are trying to quash my attempts to become an awesome Scrabble player by making Facebook take down its fake-Scrabble application, Scrabulous .

Surely there is some mutually agreeable way to fix this? Like, say, Scrabble lets Scrabulous use its name in exchange for a small fee or some free ad space, with the realization that a Facebook member playing 5 simultaneous games of Scrabulous (me, for instance) is only going to become more fond of Scrabble, to buy Scrabble dictionaries, and to spread the gospel of Scrabble far and wide?