I read an article in the Washington Times recently that was premised on some good old fashioned twentieth century thinking - that recycling is actually more costly to communities than if we sent the stuff to a landfill. The article went on to analyze this premise from a dollars and cents perspective - which I don't think is any great revelation. However, being that this was an article from the Washington Times, it completely neglected to compare the concept of recycling versus not recyling for the long-term good of the planet (the Washington Times not espousing far-left views.) Though, to give the author some credit, he did stop short of advocating throwing your empty beer cans into the river when fishing.
In the spirit of Earth Day, Maya's first grade class has been studying the environment and earth-friendly attitudes. In that context, Maya brought home a checklist the other day of all the household items that can be recycled. I was happy to see that Maya had checked off each item on the list (things like plastic, aluminum, glass, paper, compost) and had even added one of her own - bringing food scraps to the chickens at Tauxemont, her former preschool. It's nice to see Rebecca and my influences rubbing off on the girl.
Then I had these thoughts while running past a perfectly good pencil eraser, baby bottle, and red bandanna on the Mall the other day. I could very easily see myself, in fact, I nearly had to prevent myself, stopping to pick those things up. Whether they had been lost or cast away by others, they still had some use. I could take the eraser home and give it to Maya to put on her school pencil. I could run the baby bottle through the dishwasher and post it for free on Craigslist. One hot wash with Rebecca's special homemade dye and perfume free detergent and the bandanna would be perfectly fine to put on my head or mop my brow. At the very least, it could be a rag.
The problem is, once one starts down that path, where does it end? Why not stop to pick every little thing up that someone has lost or cast away that still has some use? I see plenty of pens and pencils on the ground - why not stop and pick them up? All those popsicle sticks could be picked up and stored for neat crafts. Reduce, reuse, recycle is a fine mantra for a junk collector.
And what about items that can be recycled that are left on the ground or deposited in the trash? I could spend all day every day gathering the empty gatorade bottles strewn about. Some of them might be worth 5 cents in NY. How many abandoned newspapers have I seen on the Metro or bus? Don't the Boy Scouts pay cents on the pound for old newspaper? Can I bring it to the animal shelter? It gets to be too overwhelming to think about the waste and ignorance and I have to just carry on and do what I can do.
Of course, while I am running, thinking all of this, I am listening to Van Halen's 1983 album Diver Down on my iPod. Some people would call Van Halen useless junk, yet I've been listening to the stuff for more than twenty years and I still get good use out of it (just try sitting still while listening to the Full Bug). No need to thank me, I'm just carrying on doing what I can do for the Earth.
Sign of the Times
Rebecca read the headlines from the front page of the newspaper to me last night. There was something about the killings at Fort Hood. A mass murderer was executed in Virginia. The chief of police got pulled over on a DUI. Public transportation ran behind schedule. Congress fought. Nothing really uplifting was going on. And today it rained all day and I realized that this country really is going to hell in a wicker hand basket that was woven in China. Think about it. We've been the omnipotent presence in the world for generations and we still have to walk around in the rain with an umbrella that might break any moment the wind blows the wrong way.
I remember my picture bible had a shot of Jesus in Nazareth carrying a Totes model that they still make with the same cheap plastic arms it had in B.C. The Georgetown Yacht Club advertises that it's Cinzano umbrellas were purchased from a cafe in Yalta where FDR, Stalin and Churchill had absinthe before holding the conference that launched the cold war. What kind of world do we live in? In all this time someone hasn't been able to improve the umbrella design so that a gust of wind doesn't turn it inside out?
I've probably gone through more umbrellas in my lifetime than I have pairs of socks (Rebecca can attest to that). Granted, I've seen some folks walking around with those vented umbrellas that look like one smaller umbrella placed on top of a larger umbrella, presumably to give a gust of wind a realease. Is that it? That's the improvement the world is waiting for? It's so ugly. But do they work? I can overlook ugly if it works. I don't know anyone who has one. What do those things cost? Who can afford one? Anyone? Please, restore my faith in the world.
I remember my picture bible had a shot of Jesus in Nazareth carrying a Totes model that they still make with the same cheap plastic arms it had in B.C. The Georgetown Yacht Club advertises that it's Cinzano umbrellas were purchased from a cafe in Yalta where FDR, Stalin and Churchill had absinthe before holding the conference that launched the cold war. What kind of world do we live in? In all this time someone hasn't been able to improve the umbrella design so that a gust of wind doesn't turn it inside out?
I've probably gone through more umbrellas in my lifetime than I have pairs of socks (Rebecca can attest to that). Granted, I've seen some folks walking around with those vented umbrellas that look like one smaller umbrella placed on top of a larger umbrella, presumably to give a gust of wind a realease. Is that it? That's the improvement the world is waiting for? It's so ugly. But do they work? I can overlook ugly if it works. I don't know anyone who has one. What do those things cost? Who can afford one? Anyone? Please, restore my faith in the world.
Secrets of the Future Revealed - Stay Tuned
Now that the Yankees have reached the promised land of their 27th world championship, and there is no more baseball to watch on t.v., my nights lack meaning. I lack direction. and since even i have to admit i've been at the top of my witty, good-humored game lately, i thought it was time to start up this blog again. though, honestly, it's mostly because my kids, maya and jonah are so damn funny and cute that i want to capture the funny and cute things they do and say so they can read them sometime when they are older and say, "damn, we were funny and cute. why was poppy such a goddamn crank all the time?"
well, that's easy enough to explain. rebecca and i never had a fight before we had kids. now all our fights are over the kids, or caused by the kids and their complete inability to do anything the first through the fourth time you ask them to do it. i will never be the husband who is divorcing his wife and giving his kids the platitude, it wasn't your fault. if rebecca and i ever get divorced you better bet it will so be the kids fault. it will be all because of them! but whatever. i'm not going anywhere. rebeccca does have a crush on this guy named hans who lives down the street and rides a bike. so, i'm not sure what her plans are. she's down the street right now. she told me that she was going to a baby shower. it's eleven o'clock. should pregnant moms-to-be be up this late?
just to get you back into the groove with where we are as a family; Maya is almost seven (December 14) and started first grade this past August. In some ways she is so grown up (the way she can tell a story and roll her eyes and make expressive faces and voice inflections makes me think she might have more talent as a story teller than me!) and in others she is still so exasperating (do we really need to cry for twenty minutes because we don't have eggs in the house?). in all ways she is wonderful. but sometimes i have to remind myself of that truth!
Jonah is obsessed with star wars, guns, swords and sometimes plays to the dark side of the force. he bit one of his friends tonight. that's a first. he doesn't bite. usually he will punch, kick or push them. he's also a big sports fan even though he doesn't quite understand the rules of the games (he's four this past August). But he is committed to playing for the Eagles, the Yankees, and an undisclosed soccer team when he's older. Early retirement, here I come!
What can I say about Rebecca? She still makes me smile. She still makes my mouth dry. I still want to please her. She's still a wonder to me. Like, I wonder why she married me. I wonder why she sticks with me. I wonder why I got so lucky. I wonder if I'll get laid after she reads this? Well, that will be our secret (figure yes) but not much else will be. I'm doing this to tell it like it is. if it feels like rain, i'll write it. but when the sun is shining, i will be too.
well, that's easy enough to explain. rebecca and i never had a fight before we had kids. now all our fights are over the kids, or caused by the kids and their complete inability to do anything the first through the fourth time you ask them to do it. i will never be the husband who is divorcing his wife and giving his kids the platitude, it wasn't your fault. if rebecca and i ever get divorced you better bet it will so be the kids fault. it will be all because of them! but whatever. i'm not going anywhere. rebeccca does have a crush on this guy named hans who lives down the street and rides a bike. so, i'm not sure what her plans are. she's down the street right now. she told me that she was going to a baby shower. it's eleven o'clock. should pregnant moms-to-be be up this late?
just to get you back into the groove with where we are as a family; Maya is almost seven (December 14) and started first grade this past August. In some ways she is so grown up (the way she can tell a story and roll her eyes and make expressive faces and voice inflections makes me think she might have more talent as a story teller than me!) and in others she is still so exasperating (do we really need to cry for twenty minutes because we don't have eggs in the house?). in all ways she is wonderful. but sometimes i have to remind myself of that truth!
Jonah is obsessed with star wars, guns, swords and sometimes plays to the dark side of the force. he bit one of his friends tonight. that's a first. he doesn't bite. usually he will punch, kick or push them. he's also a big sports fan even though he doesn't quite understand the rules of the games (he's four this past August). But he is committed to playing for the Eagles, the Yankees, and an undisclosed soccer team when he's older. Early retirement, here I come!
What can I say about Rebecca? She still makes me smile. She still makes my mouth dry. I still want to please her. She's still a wonder to me. Like, I wonder why she married me. I wonder why she sticks with me. I wonder why I got so lucky. I wonder if I'll get laid after she reads this? Well, that will be our secret (figure yes) but not much else will be. I'm doing this to tell it like it is. if it feels like rain, i'll write it. but when the sun is shining, i will be too.
The End of an Era
The other day while I was looking through the medicine cabinet for my nose hair clippers, I came across my hair brush. It's been awhile since I'd seen it. It's been even longer since I've used it.
If you haven't seen me in a while, say about a decade, you might be surprised to know that I am nearly bald.
My hair brush hasn't had much to do lately except act as a stand for our tube of Neosporin. In fact, I can't remember the last time I used it. I got to thinking, have I even used it since we moved into this house? I used to use it, so when we moved here, I likely put it in the medicine cabinet out of habit. But we moved into this house in 2000. That's nine years. I don't think I've used my hair brush in nine years.
Then I got to thinking about all the other things that don't seem like that long ago but are almost nine years old too. I started dating Rebecca in 1998. That's eleven years ago! We've been married since 2000. I've worked for the IRS since 2000. That's nine years! I've been listening to the music I've been listening to for years. I've been wearing the clothes I've been wearing for years. The people I know, I've known them for years.
My life has moved into the "decade" phase. Most of the things that I've done can be measured in decades now.
"I've known her for about a decade."
"We've lived in Alexandria for about a decade."
"Remember that time . . . when was that? About a decade ago."
"Gosh. I haven't brushed my hair in about a decade. There just hasn't been any need."
I'm not a sentimental guy. I realize it's time to move my brush from the medicine cabinet where it is taking up space that can be more productively used by a box of Dora the Explorer band aids to a less intrusive spot in the linen closet. But I haven't done it yet. I feel like there needs to be some fanfare. My hair is gone. Did it have to take my youth with it?
If you haven't seen me in a while, say about a decade, you might be surprised to know that I am nearly bald.
My hair brush hasn't had much to do lately except act as a stand for our tube of Neosporin. In fact, I can't remember the last time I used it. I got to thinking, have I even used it since we moved into this house? I used to use it, so when we moved here, I likely put it in the medicine cabinet out of habit. But we moved into this house in 2000. That's nine years. I don't think I've used my hair brush in nine years.
Then I got to thinking about all the other things that don't seem like that long ago but are almost nine years old too. I started dating Rebecca in 1998. That's eleven years ago! We've been married since 2000. I've worked for the IRS since 2000. That's nine years! I've been listening to the music I've been listening to for years. I've been wearing the clothes I've been wearing for years. The people I know, I've known them for years.
My life has moved into the "decade" phase. Most of the things that I've done can be measured in decades now.
"I've known her for about a decade."
"We've lived in Alexandria for about a decade."
"Remember that time . . . when was that? About a decade ago."
"Gosh. I haven't brushed my hair in about a decade. There just hasn't been any need."
I'm not a sentimental guy. I realize it's time to move my brush from the medicine cabinet where it is taking up space that can be more productively used by a box of Dora the Explorer band aids to a less intrusive spot in the linen closet. But I haven't done it yet. I feel like there needs to be some fanfare. My hair is gone. Did it have to take my youth with it?
The Long, Dirty Winter
I started a new job last week. I am not going to bore you with the details except to say that I now get to go to court for the IRS and get after the folks who are screwing this country out of what is rightfully hers. You know, tax cheats like the octogenarian who had two heart attacks but failed to report the settlement he got from his employer as income on his Form 1040. And the guy who operates heavy machinery but can't stay awake on the job because he's got narcolepsy so he had to retire early and didn't pay the 10% early distribution penalty on the payments he received from his pension plan. And the blind, bed-ridden woman with cancer who never bothered to show up for her court date because she never knew she had received a notice to appear in court because she can't see. And even if she could read it, she can't get up.
Well, those are all true cases and I'm not proud of it. But it is also true that we are going after a multi-millionaire athlete who decided he didn't have enough money and needed to create some offshore accounts to hide his foreign earnings and make it appear as if he was paying expenses from his U.S. accounts to his own foreign accounts to create deductions to reduce his U.S. income. A real American hero.
But the interesting thing about this job is the neighborhood. It takes me away from the downtown area of D.C. that I am accustomed to and where all the government buildings and yuppies are to a less polarized quadrant of our great capital. Sure, there's a fair share of yupsters, but this morning they had to weave their way around the man sleeping or dying or whatever it was that he was doing lying there motionless in the middle of the sidewalk. Careful not to step on him, he might actually be dead and how would that look?
There is always someone standing outside the metro doing something interesting. My colleague saw someone taking a leak there. Not hiding behind a newspaper dispenser or a parked taxicab, but right there. I listened to one wizened soul lamenting all the pretenders who tried to be his friend. He wanted none of it. He let them have it. Last time I say good morning to him.
The best, in my opinion, is the two guys who play a bevy of five gallon paint buckets like a drum set. Talented, motivated, entrepreneurs.
In the other direction from my office, towards the Tax Court, is a homeless shelter. Couple of guys sitting on the curb smoking a joint the other day. Me walking past them didn't seem to matter. I mean, sure, I don't care, but they were the ones who were smoking and they didn't care either.
A woman wearing two or three torn skirts followed us back to our office from the liquor store where we go to get lunch. There's a deli in the back. You walk down aisles of gleaming, rounded bottles for your tuna salad on wheat. She didn't ask for anything. She didn't shout any nonsense. I guess she just liked what she saw; I was wearing a suit that day.
I have a view of Capitol Plaza from my office window. There is a building in the way so I can't see the Capitol. Beyond Capitol Plaza is a triumvirate of Senate office buildings where I had the opportunity last week to go and witness a hearing sponsored by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Permanent, I guess, because temporary just isn't going to get the job done. On the hot seat the day I visited was one of the uber-executives of UBS. He testified in front of a panel of very irate and photogenic Senators that yes, indeed, his company did proactively solicit and assist tens of thousands of U.S. citizens in hiding assets from the U.S. government and the IRS. But, no, we will not give you their names. Here's $728 million to make it better. Yawn.
On my way back to the office I crossed Capitol Plaza. In the Spring time it will be green. The fountains will be full. The homeless people can finally take a bath after the long, dirty winter.
Well, those are all true cases and I'm not proud of it. But it is also true that we are going after a multi-millionaire athlete who decided he didn't have enough money and needed to create some offshore accounts to hide his foreign earnings and make it appear as if he was paying expenses from his U.S. accounts to his own foreign accounts to create deductions to reduce his U.S. income. A real American hero.
But the interesting thing about this job is the neighborhood. It takes me away from the downtown area of D.C. that I am accustomed to and where all the government buildings and yuppies are to a less polarized quadrant of our great capital. Sure, there's a fair share of yupsters, but this morning they had to weave their way around the man sleeping or dying or whatever it was that he was doing lying there motionless in the middle of the sidewalk. Careful not to step on him, he might actually be dead and how would that look?
There is always someone standing outside the metro doing something interesting. My colleague saw someone taking a leak there. Not hiding behind a newspaper dispenser or a parked taxicab, but right there. I listened to one wizened soul lamenting all the pretenders who tried to be his friend. He wanted none of it. He let them have it. Last time I say good morning to him.
The best, in my opinion, is the two guys who play a bevy of five gallon paint buckets like a drum set. Talented, motivated, entrepreneurs.
In the other direction from my office, towards the Tax Court, is a homeless shelter. Couple of guys sitting on the curb smoking a joint the other day. Me walking past them didn't seem to matter. I mean, sure, I don't care, but they were the ones who were smoking and they didn't care either.
A woman wearing two or three torn skirts followed us back to our office from the liquor store where we go to get lunch. There's a deli in the back. You walk down aisles of gleaming, rounded bottles for your tuna salad on wheat. She didn't ask for anything. She didn't shout any nonsense. I guess she just liked what she saw; I was wearing a suit that day.
I have a view of Capitol Plaza from my office window. There is a building in the way so I can't see the Capitol. Beyond Capitol Plaza is a triumvirate of Senate office buildings where I had the opportunity last week to go and witness a hearing sponsored by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Permanent, I guess, because temporary just isn't going to get the job done. On the hot seat the day I visited was one of the uber-executives of UBS. He testified in front of a panel of very irate and photogenic Senators that yes, indeed, his company did proactively solicit and assist tens of thousands of U.S. citizens in hiding assets from the U.S. government and the IRS. But, no, we will not give you their names. Here's $728 million to make it better. Yawn.
On my way back to the office I crossed Capitol Plaza. In the Spring time it will be green. The fountains will be full. The homeless people can finally take a bath after the long, dirty winter.
Snow bunnies!
(By guest blogger, Rebecca)
Here are some pictures and movies of our mini-vacation in the Poconos last week.
Maya geared up and ready to hit the slopes:
Jonah looks like he was born to be on skis:
Maya, Hunter Peterson, his little sister Kaitlyn, and Jonah:
Maya and Hunter had a blast together!
Wow, a family picture!
Maya has been asking to go skiing for some time now, and it turns out the place where we were staying (Split Rock Resort) was next door to Jack Frost ski area. So we had no excuses. On Monday, we took the gang skiing.
We had just put the skis on the kids and they looked to be doing okay going down the beginner slope, so I pulled out the camera to film their first run. Paul, who was a bit rusty after not having skied for almost 4 years, didn't exactly think it was the right time to be filming and instead wanted me to give some sort of lessons to the kids. As you can see here, Jonah didn't really need much instruction:
We started skiing around 11:15am, then took a break for lunch. This next movie is Maya at around 2.30pm. So she's been skiing for around 2 1/2 hours at this point:
This was Maya's last run of the day. She wouldn't stop skiing and we were the last ones on the hill:
As we were leaving the resort that afternoon, Maya wanted to know when we would be going again. The next morning, she woke up and wanted to ski some more, so I took her for a second day:
We got a nice dumping of snow today - great light powder - but it doesn't do us a lot of good here in Alexandria. So we're going skiing tomorrow. When Jonah woke up and saw all this snow, he said, "Are we going skiing today??" He was so excited. Maybe we'll have more movies/pictures tomorrow.
Here are some pictures and movies of our mini-vacation in the Poconos last week.
Maya geared up and ready to hit the slopes:
Jonah looks like he was born to be on skis:
Maya, Hunter Peterson, his little sister Kaitlyn, and Jonah:
Maya and Hunter had a blast together!
Wow, a family picture!
Maya has been asking to go skiing for some time now, and it turns out the place where we were staying (Split Rock Resort) was next door to Jack Frost ski area. So we had no excuses. On Monday, we took the gang skiing.
We had just put the skis on the kids and they looked to be doing okay going down the beginner slope, so I pulled out the camera to film their first run. Paul, who was a bit rusty after not having skied for almost 4 years, didn't exactly think it was the right time to be filming and instead wanted me to give some sort of lessons to the kids. As you can see here, Jonah didn't really need much instruction:
We started skiing around 11:15am, then took a break for lunch. This next movie is Maya at around 2.30pm. So she's been skiing for around 2 1/2 hours at this point:
This was Maya's last run of the day. She wouldn't stop skiing and we were the last ones on the hill:
As we were leaving the resort that afternoon, Maya wanted to know when we would be going again. The next morning, she woke up and wanted to ski some more, so I took her for a second day:
We got a nice dumping of snow today - great light powder - but it doesn't do us a lot of good here in Alexandria. So we're going skiing tomorrow. When Jonah woke up and saw all this snow, he said, "Are we going skiing today??" He was so excited. Maybe we'll have more movies/pictures tomorrow.
Washington, D.C. before the storm
Today, Rebecca and I picked up her tickets for the swearing in ceremony on Tuesday morning. Rebecca was able to snag eight tickets from Senator Bennett of Utah by usurping her Aunt Ellen's and Cousin Scott's names. Her theory, correct as it turns out, was that folks from Red states like Utah couldn't give two shakes of their wives' tails to attend the inauguration. Fortunately, Rebecca has about 80 relatives who live in Utah and two were willing to risk breaking Federal statute and allow her to use their names to secure tickets to the event. Actually, Aunt Ellen and Scott seriously planned on coming to the event themselves. We can't wait for them to get here late on Monday night.
Here is a picture of the Dirksen Senate office building where they would have had to go to get the tickets if they had gotten here today. Instead, Rebecca had to go in and get the tickets for them.
This is what the inside of the Dirksen Senate Office building looks like with Rebecca smiling inside it.
Here is a picture of Rebecca moments after she was handed two manilla folders that had been saturated with ether. We'll have to send a thank you note to the two girls in the background who were able to revive her so she could get the manilla folders that had the tickets in them.
Temperatures in D.C. today were in the low teens. The forecast for Tuesday is low 30's. This picture is of the front of the Capitol where a lucky few will be able to have their buttocks frozen to their chair while they witness the historic moment when Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States, belches into the microphone.
There will be speakers and jumbotrons so the other lucky few who don't have seats and have to stand way back here will be able to see and hear the historic event as well, all while having their arses frozen off.
Here is a picture of Rebecca with her coveted ticket, standing in front of the reflecting pool. Doesn't she look cute? This is where she will be standing on Tuesday with Aunt Ellen and Cousin Scott. Obviously, President-elect Obama has better friends in the Senate than Mr. Bennett.
After the swearing in ceremony there will be a parade along Pennsylvania Avenue, from the Capitol to the White House. The Newseum fronts Penn. Ave and Rebecca purchased two tickets to the Newseum so that she would be assured of "being there" if she wasn't able to score tickets to the swearing in. Because the number of people allowed to view the parade from Pennsylvania Avenue will be limited to 300,000, she is not sure she will be able to make it from the reflecting pool to the parade area before the parade area has maxed out. So, she is contemplating selling the Newseum tickets on Craigslist to support her new ether habit.
Rebecca took this photo of the Newseum while she was driving to the Dirksen Senate office building. She's been a bit over the top about this whole thing, even going so far as to purchase a red carpet to roll out on the front walkway of our house for the Inaugural Ball we are hosting on Saturday night. Today, she had tears in her eyes as she drove along Pennsylvania and saw all the bunting and flags blowing in the wind and contemplated the great moment she will be a part of on Tuesday.
Here is a picture of the Dirksen Senate office building where they would have had to go to get the tickets if they had gotten here today. Instead, Rebecca had to go in and get the tickets for them.
This is what the inside of the Dirksen Senate Office building looks like with Rebecca smiling inside it.
Here is a picture of Rebecca moments after she was handed two manilla folders that had been saturated with ether. We'll have to send a thank you note to the two girls in the background who were able to revive her so she could get the manilla folders that had the tickets in them.
Temperatures in D.C. today were in the low teens. The forecast for Tuesday is low 30's. This picture is of the front of the Capitol where a lucky few will be able to have their buttocks frozen to their chair while they witness the historic moment when Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States, belches into the microphone. 
There will be speakers and jumbotrons so the other lucky few who don't have seats and have to stand way back here will be able to see and hear the historic event as well, all while having their arses frozen off.
Here is a picture of Rebecca with her coveted ticket, standing in front of the reflecting pool. Doesn't she look cute? This is where she will be standing on Tuesday with Aunt Ellen and Cousin Scott. Obviously, President-elect Obama has better friends in the Senate than Mr. Bennett.
After the swearing in ceremony there will be a parade along Pennsylvania Avenue, from the Capitol to the White House. The Newseum fronts Penn. Ave and Rebecca purchased two tickets to the Newseum so that she would be assured of "being there" if she wasn't able to score tickets to the swearing in. Because the number of people allowed to view the parade from Pennsylvania Avenue will be limited to 300,000, she is not sure she will be able to make it from the reflecting pool to the parade area before the parade area has maxed out. So, she is contemplating selling the Newseum tickets on Craigslist to support her new ether habit.
Rebecca took this photo of the Newseum while she was driving to the Dirksen Senate office building. She's been a bit over the top about this whole thing, even going so far as to purchase a red carpet to roll out on the front walkway of our house for the Inaugural Ball we are hosting on Saturday night. Today, she had tears in her eyes as she drove along Pennsylvania and saw all the bunting and flags blowing in the wind and contemplated the great moment she will be a part of on Tuesday.
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