suspended indefinitely

I have decided to stop adding posts to this blog as I have started another blog and I believe this new one will take up all the time I have for blogging.

pee-ness envy

I get tons of daily emails that are trying to sell me something that is new and interesting. This is by far the most interesting one this year.

It is a device that women can use when travelling or whenever it would seem necessary to avoid sitting on a public toilet seat. It's called My Sweet Pee and basically it is a funnel type object that helps guide urine into the toilet without having to crouch or anything that women normally do to avoid peeing on their panties. It also comes in a reusable variety and a disposable one.

This is so bizarre. I am trying to think of the pitch for this product. Will people actually buy this? Would there ever be an instance where I would buy this? I doubt it, mostly because I was born into a family a crouchers. In fact, I can't even remember the first time my mom told me not to sit on a public toilet seat. Anyway, I know this was dangerously TMI, but I could not resist it. Something like this only comes along once every hundred or so emails...

living in america

i realized today that if i wasn't working joe would be paying half of his salary per month for our mortgage. even with my salary it only brings it down to 30% of our income. that is so scary.

we have been talking about selling our house and renting to try and save money to move to a bigger house (and get away from our psychotic neighbors). it occurred to me that many people rent before they buy, not vice versa.

i guess we got in a little over our heads with this house and the wedding- it totally sucked having to pay for all of it, especially since we had to have it the way we wanted it. but i really think that it would have cost us more to have the wedding here in NJ b/c any place is at least $100 a plate.

anyway, i digress. i'm talking about the housing market.

i read this very interesting (kinda scary) article about the housing market in california. i thought i should document it because it is so crazy that people can afford a $400,000 mortgage with a salary of less than $50,000 a year. how is this possible? when is this housing craze going to slow down?

i am not so much scared for me, especially since we have gone through it and will only be hoping to upgrade in our next purchase. i am scared for people who have never bought a house and are not even close to buying a house. how do you come up with 20% of a $400,000 house? not many weddings profit a cool $80,000!!!

i remember my parents telling me that they bought their house for $19,000. my car costs more than that! granted that was like 1970 or something, but still!! people pay more than that for one year's tuition!

ok, i don't think this is going to cause an apocalypse or something. i just cannot believe that this is happening before my eyes and there is nothing anyone can do about it. houses do not depreciate. they might slow down and interest rates may go up- but pretty much from now on it is only going to get harder. we are going to have to increase our salaries by 5 figures in order to really get in the market.

so i know this stuff is really boring, but when paying the mortgage is the main reason i have a job it becomes a big priority. ok, continue about your business.

The green outdoors

I love Outside magazine. I love to pretend that I am outdoorsy. I'm not, I live in NJ and take walks around the paved pathway in the park a few blocks away at the intersection of two major roads in the town. It is a park that is a replica of a real park somewhere else. Not very scenic, not very backcountry. There is no backcountry in NJ.

This is a state where every town not only touches the next, but kinda intermingles with the next and borders are kinda fuzzy in some places. Not like out in the Pacific Northwest where towns can have 100 miles in between each other and there is such a thing as the Bureau of Land Management. There is no land to manage here, unless you consider developers trying to outbid each other over the next spot for a mini-mall or a smattering of McMansions.

Anyway, I love the idea of wide open spaces and public access (not $8 a day for beach access- CHRIST!). It is a dream of mine to be able to live somewhere that is pristine, natural and undeveloped.

Back to Outside mag- they inspire me because I believe there are lots of people out there who believe the same things I do. They don't want to buy an ugly house in a development, they are outraged by suburban sprawl, they don't want to buy a Christmas tree unless they know 10 new trees were planted in its wake.

In a recent email- I don't subscribe to the actual mag, it kills trees and I get the same info online- they introduced me to a couple of pro-kayakers who live in Colorado and hate the same things I hate. They saw a beautiful piece of land being bid for development of McMansions and totally taking away the public access to awesome white water and fun riverfront play areas. Instead of standing idly by and shaking their heads, they decided to do something about it. The two of them (brother and sister team), along with their dad's cash flow (the bane of an environmental enthusiast is you always need to find some conservative white collar guy to back up the dream) decide to outbid everyone and preserve the property for the greater good. Hooray! Score one for the little guy.

Now, I'd just like to say, I don't kayak. I am the world's most uncoordinated person and I have low blood pressure and get dizzy when I get too much exercise, nonetheless- I still appreciate nature and have the dream of hiking and climbing and rafting with the best of them.

I also do not pretend to be the most environmentally conscious person- I'm an armchair environmentalist and I will probably never really help any legislation go through to make changes for the country. But I have lots of aspirations and I really do think every little bit helps. So remember to recycle, don't leave the water running when you brush your teeth and turn off the light when you leave the room. Every little bit helps.

Summertime Blues

So sometimes I think that maybe I have too much time on my hands. Especially when I spend 15 minutes talking about how funny Liz's blog is to my husband and he looks at me like I'm on crack. But I definitely do not have as much spare time as some people.

Namely, P. Diddy, or Puff Daddy or Sean Combs- or whatever he feels like calling himself these days.

He has made a public announcement that he plans to change his name (again) in the near future. So of course I think this is front page news and google him. This is what I come up with:

An article from the UK in a not so popular periodical. But at least his news made it to the UK, they seem more interested in it than Americans.

Another article from, you guessed it, Canada.

Where are the write ups from US Weekly? Or at least Entertainment Tonight? I guess this is not as newsworthy as I thought.....I don't care. I'm still interested.

Any ideas on what he might change it to this time?

I couldn't even get my husband to discuss it with me. It's apparently as important to him as reading Liz's blog.

So I definitely have too much time on my hands, but this is while I am supposed to be working so technically I have lots of things to do, I am just choosing to use this time to devote to current events instead of something that I get paid to do.

Beach Reading

I tend to be a book snob. I like to read meaningful literature that is not by Danielle Steele or something like that. I don't want to be able to predict exactly what is going to happen, in fact, I hate that. It's boring.

Although I usually grab a book that would have been on my English professor's reading list, I have been anticipating the new Harry Potter book more than the little nine year old next door. So, of course, I bought it Saturday morning and finished reading it Sunday morning (I also helped a friend move and watched a few movies, among other things in between). It's not a slow read. It's also written like the top row of a vision test, and mostly appeals to the little nine year old next door. I don't care. I love it.

This story is like nothing I have ever read and I know there are very few other stories out there that can appeal to the masses the way Harry does. Plus it doesn't hurt that I have a slight fascination with all things British. The book was great, I suggest taking along the saga on your next long weekend at the beach. You will feel totally accomplished (seeing as there are 6 books in the series now) and it might keep your mind off of other not so exciting things to worry about, such as the fact that Fall clothing catalogs are out and so are the Back to School sales.

Keep summer alive. We still have a whole month left.

Make new friends

So I ran into one of my best friends from first grade this weekend. It was so crazy- she looks the same and it was great to see her. I probably haven't seen her since high school. She lived a few blocks away from me and from age 6 to age 10 we were inseparable. Middle school changes everything, especially when you have to switch classes, etc. and we just kinda stopped being good friends. There was never a fight or anything, we just grew apart.

It got me thinking about all of the friends, especially the best friends I have had in my life and what they are up to now. Mostly it made me think about Sarah. She was my best friend from 7th grade until about 4 years ago. We had an awful falling out and it makes me sad to think about it, but I also believe that it happened for a reason.

I know I am very different than my friends, each one of us is unique and that is what makes it so great that we are friends. I learn so much from them and it helps to keep me grounded and aware that not everyone thinks and acts like me. That would be so boring.

I think someday Sarah and I will be friends again, but for now I wish her the best and hope she is as happy as I am.