livingdeb | Entries tagged with logistics

Bad Idea

Everyone knows that mindless eating is a bad idea because you eat way too much without noticing, plus, since you're not paying attention, you don't even enjoy it as much.

Good Idea

However, I have found an excellent use for mindless eating: cantaloup that turned out not to be very good. In fact, I'd say it's a good idea for any food that's healthy but not very tasty (though not horrible) and that is easy/neat to eat mindlessly while doing something else.

We had a section in our text about Spanish names, but it's described very well and somewhat amusingly in a few paragraphs in James Michener's Iberia so I'll give you that quote below. (I'm adding more paragraph breaks to make it easier to read.)

A word about Spanish names. To explain the tradition fully would require many pages, for it is unbelievably complicated, but ideally every Spaniard, male or female, has two surnames [last names], the first and more important being the father's and the second the mother's. Thus Pedro Pérez Montilla can properly be referred to as Señor Pérez Montilla or simply as Señor Pérez, but to refer to him as Señor Montilla would be a real gaffe.

Spanish also has the handy little words Don and Doña, which have no equivalent in English and cannot be translated; they are used only preceding a given name [first name], allowing one to refer to a man or woman by the given name with no presumption of intimacy. Thus our friend can be called Don Pedro or Señor Don Pedro Pérez Montilla.

When he [our friend] married, let us say to Leocadia Blanco Alvarez, his wife did not surrender her surnames but merely added his, preceded by the preposition de (of), so that her name became Señora Leocadia Blanco Alvarez de Pérez Montilla, and she may properly be addressed as Doña Leocadia, or as Señora Blanco, or as Señora Blanco Alvarez, or as Señora Blanco Alvarez de Pérez Montilla, or as Señora de Pérez Montilla.

Frequently the paternal and maternal surnames are joined by either a hyphen or an y (and), which means that Don Pedro’s son could be named Antonio Pérez Blanco, or Antonio Pérez-Blanco, or Antonio Pérez y Blanco, although in recent years the last has become less frequent.

Many Spaniards today, in common usage, simply omit the maternal surname entirely or abbreviate it to a single letter. On the other hand, if Don Pedro and Doña Leocadia belong to the nobility or the aristocracy (or if they want to put on airs) the son will adopt the name Señor Don Antonio Pérez Montilla y Blanco Alvarez.

The problem is further complicated when a man has a family name which is unusually common and a maternal name which is less so, for then he becomes known by the more distinctive of his two names, which is only sensible. The five most common Spanish surnames, in order of frequency, are García, Fernández, López, González and Rodríguez, and just as the Englishman named Smith or Jones is accustomed to adding a hyphenated second name, such as Smith-Robertson, so the Spaniard becomes García Montilla, sometimes with the hyphen.

It is in conformity with this custom that the great Spanish poet Federico García Lorca is so often referred to simply by his maternal name. Anglo-Saxon readers encounter difficulties with the names of such historical figures as Spain’s two cardinals who exercised political leadership, Mendoza and Cisneros; in history books you will find many pages about them, and they were at least as famous as Richelieu in France and Wolsey in England, yet if you try to look them up in a Spanish encyclopedia you will find nothing unless you happen to know that the former was born Pedro González de Mendoza and the latter Gonzalo Jiménez de Cisneros. In each of these instances, however, the distinctive name is not maternal but merely a place name added in hopes of making a common name distinctive.

So far I have discussed only the simple cases; the complicated ones I had better skip.

In a small Spanish city to which a friend had sent me a postal money order I had a rueful introduction to this problem of names. My friend had assured me by phone that the money had been sent, and the post office had advised me that it had arrived and that upon presentation of my passport it would be paid. Accordingly, I went to the post office, but before telling the clerk my name, handed him my passport. He studied it, consulted his file of incoming money orders and said, ’Nothing here.’ I explained that I knew it was in hand, so with much politeness he searched his papers again and said, ’Nothing here.’ This time I noticed that he was looking at the A file, so I suggested, ’Perhaps if you look in the ...’

'Please, Señor Albert,’ he said. ’I know my business.’

In my passport he had seen that my name was James Albert Michener and he was smart enough to know from that who I was, and he had no cash for any Señor Albert. When I tried to explain what my name really was he became angry, and I was not able to get my money until Spanish friends came from the hotel to the post office and explained who I was. When the money was paid, the clerk took my passport again, studied my name and shook his head. When he handed back my papers he said, ’I am sorry for your inconvenience, Señor Albert.’

--Michener, James A. Iberia: Spanish Travels and Reflections. (1968) Random House: New York, pp. 41-42.

Our text describes many countries rather than just Spain and was published in 2012. It says the the double-surname tradition is practiced in many, but not all, Latin-American countries. The way this is described does not perfectly match what Michener wrote.

For example, "When a woman marries in a country where two last names are used, legally she retains her two maiden surnames. However, socially she may take her husband's paternal surname in place of her inherited maternal surname. For example, Mercedes Barcha Pardo, wife of Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez, might use the names Mercedes Barcha García or Mercedes Barcha de García in social situations. ... Adopting a husband's last name for social purposes, though widespread, is only legally recognized in Ecuador and Peru." - Blanco, José A. and Philip Redwine Donley, Late. Vistas: Introducción a la Lengua Española (4th ed.) (2012) Vistas higher Learning: p. 86.

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_naming_customs, 6/4/16) says that in Spain, "gender equality law has allowed surname transposition since 1999, subject to the condition that every sibling must bear the same surname order recorded in the Registro Civil (civil registry), but there have been legal exceptions." And then "In an English-speaking environment, Spanish-named people sometimes hyphenate their surnames to avoid Anglophone confusion or to fill in forms with only one space provided for last name."

The article also says they might have a first and middle name like we do (and go by either informally), though that would be called having a composite (vs. simple) forename rather than two names. "Legislation in Spain under Franco legally limited cultural naming customs to only Christian (Jesus, Mary, saints) and typical Spanish names (Álvaro, Jimena, et al.)." But now "the only naming limitation is the dignity of the child, who cannot be given an insulting name. Similar limitations applied against diminutive, familiar, and colloquial variants not recognized as names proper, and 'those that lead to confusion regarding sex." Wow. But "[a]lthough the first part of a composite forename generally reflects the gender of the child, the second personal name need not (e.g. José María Aznar)" and they can go by either name, so maybe their second name can be gender neutral.

Another interesting thing in the article is that -ez endings can mean "son of" (Hernández = son of Hernando, Sánchez = son of Sancho), implying things were done differently in the past.

Today at a party I ended up asking someone if he had a plan for if his property taxes got too expensive. He had a very interesting idea on how to find a new place.

He said he'd read that our city is becoming too expensive for musicians to be able to afford to live here. So a lot of them are moving to Lockhart. New cafes and other places are being built there, so it's becoming a nice place to live, but you can still get back here for gigs.

Interesting philosophy: pay attention to where the musicians are living.

Although I've been quite lucky in my good health throughout my life, I've now decided it would be a good idea to start keeping track of all my many doctors. I have eleven I can think of right now:
* general practitioner
* eye doctor
* dentist
* oral surgeon - because I eat sugar and my wisdom teeth don't fit properly
* endocrinologist - for past thyroid issues
* the surgeon who did my half thyroidectomy
* radiologist - for mammograms
* gastroenterologist - for colonoscopies
* physical therapist - for past ankle and shoulder problems
* dermatologist
* Mohs surgeon - for the new basal cell carcinomas on my nose (this is the non-scary kind of skin cancer)

That's not to mention my insurance companies (health and dental), my pharmacy (and mail pharmacy), and the people who deal with blood work.

Just keeping track of their names is good so I can find them again if needed, though I'm also including contact information. Adding notes about them like who to talk to about various issues (like the insurance expert at my dentist's office) and whether and why I like them is also good.

Many of y'all probably have me beat on the number of doctors and other health workers you see and you have my condolences. The human body is amazing, but it can often use some help. I'm glad we have so many experts available to counsel on and provide this help, especially when they actually understand our problems and know how to fix them or at least relieve them.

When buying homeowner's insurance, the recommendation is to insure your house for the amount it would cost to re-build it.

So how much is that? I started with the default amount my insurance company suggested the first year. And then every year you can keep insuring for the same or for a higher value they add, and I've been choosing the higher value about half the time.

Actually, that's probably just flood insurance. It looks like my homeowner's insurance is adjusted upward each year automatically.

Personal finance blog advice

Personal finance blogs say you might be over-insuring because construction costs could be much less than the market value of your house which includes both the value of the buildings and the value of the land (location, location, location).

My tax office actually sends out notices of the appraised value of the property and they even break it down into categories. The relevant categories for my house are "structure and improvement market value" and "market value of non ag/timber land." So I could choose the value given for the "structure and improvement" part only.

However, an interesting thing happened between 2013 and 2014. Apparently they realized that gentrification was happening, so they raised the land value from 55K to 100K. And at the same time they lowered the structure value from 110K to 95K. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that construction costs did not plummet during this period.

I've tried googling construction costs in my city. If I could find average construction costs per square foot, that would be very helpful. But no. I can't find any such metric, and people asking this question always get answers that say it depends, with either no numbers or ranges so huge as to be worthless.

But at my last neighborhood association meeting, I picked up some meeting minutes from the Austin Neighborhoods Council that says "the total cost of new housing units in Austin is now averaging at least $245 per square foot (construction by itself representing $175 of that cost)." Score!

Suddenly I want to do comparisons:
* Latest appraised value of my house (last July) = $125K structures
* Square footage of my house times $175/square foot average = 960 x 175 = $168K.
* Amount of insurance I'm actually paying for = $133.5K dwelling + $13.K other structures = $146.5K
* Amount of flood insurance I'm paying for = $150K

And what about last year?
* appraised value = $95K structures
* homeowner's insurance = $144.7K
* flood insurance = $150K

So I seem to be paying between the appraised value and this researched amount--so maybe not enough, but not as little as it could easily be.

Anyway, this quote was summarizing something a guy named Wendler said based on a study his development firm made on housing affordability. Well, he won't be doing a study every year. And how much can I trust a development firm--I don't know if his is one of the slimy ones, or even if there's such a thing as non-slimy development firms. Oops, my bias is showing. Sorry, decent development firms!

Interestingly, this time when I googled construction costs in Austin I found the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board's Construction Costs Standards. These show "New Construction Average Cost per Square Foot plus One Standard Deviation" for various types of construction such as labs, food service, and parking lots. No telling how much a standard deviation is or even why they would just add that on. But they update these every year. They don't list houses, but they do list "Housing, Apartments," which should be a little cheaper. And the amount they list is $179, very close to the $175 value in the study.

So I could look here each year to keep up with inflation. (Last year the figure was $171.) I can always look up inflation in general, but construction inflation may be very different.

Of course this is for the whole state; I'm not sure how well other college towns are correlated with mine. I'm pretty sure Houston and Dallas used to be more expensive and now they are less expensive.

Insurance company advice

According to Forbes:

Insurance experts say failing to have enough insurance to cover the cost of rebuilding your house if it’s destroyed is the biggest mistake homeowners make. Amy Bach, executive director of the consumer advocacy group United Policyholders, says one 2009 study found that two-thirds of U.S. homes are underinsured.

Why? For one thing, many homeowners buy only enough insurance to cover the amount of their mortgage. But the mortgage may be, at most, 80 or 90 percent of the value of the house, depending on the original down payment (less, if the home has appreciated in value).

For another, some policyholders insure an amount equal to the current value of their homes. But this figure may be far less than the actual cost of rebuilding your house, including labor and supplies (and both of those may rise sharply after a storm when there’s big demand and short supply).

What should you do? First, calculate how much it would cost to rebuild your house.

You could ask your insurance agent, but Bach encourages you to use a professional home-replacement cost estimator, who’d likely provide a more accurate number. The fee can run about $300, but some insurers offer this service for free to their high-value customers.

Ugh, and double ugh. Of course I expect insurance companies to say you should buy more. But they have a real point about everything costing more right when you need it. (Well, it's probably worse for hurricanes and earthquakes, that we don't get, than floods and tornadoes and fires.)

For the second ugh, I am not paying $300 per year to get this estimate; that's many months worth of premiums. Nor am I willing to be a high-value customer to, well, anyone.

Vaguely related information

According to those same meeting minutes, Wendler's study defined affordable as "a price of no more that $312,000 which is said to be what a family making 150% of the median family income might be able to afford." That implies that a family making the median family income "might be able to afford" a $208,000 house. Half the population can't even afford that. So $312K is a pretty whacked definition for "affordable."

The minutes continue: "In the 78704 area the study found that the prices of housing ranged from a low of $300,000 to $750,000 with the lower end all being what he called 'tiny' units of 500 sq. feet or less. In the 78702 area, the prices ranged from $300,000 to $600,000 with again the lower priced being 'very small.' In both areas Wendler said his study found that the closest thing to 'affordable' housing units were either existing older single family houses or older apartment units--both of which are being torn down to make room for newer higher cost housing."

I used to think that new housing means more supply which means lower prices. But the new housing I see is ALL "luxury" housing and I'm rarely in the two zip codes mentioned above. Market economics means those things should stay empty until the prices come down and people should quit building that stuff, or at least the prices of the older stuff should go down, but that's not how it's working. I mean, if things aren't affordable, where are people living? They don't all have millions of roommates like in NYC. Do they just spend 1/2 or 2/3 of their income on housing? Thus making it harder for other businesses to get customers?

So how about you guys? Those of you who are home owners, have you thought about the amount to insure your house for and, if so, how do you make your decision?

Empirical Question posted a link to Honestly Modern's Spark Joy: One Simple Change to Organize Your Space. The author recommends storing things vertically. This way they are easier to see and to get at. They also have a smaller horizontal footprint.

One problem with storing things vertically is that they might not balance very well. Looking around my house, I see various strategies for helping things stay vertical.

Rigid Things

When things are rigid, just having something to lean against can be a big help. For example:

* Bookends and edges of bookshelves - Good for books, notebooks, CDs, and DVDs of course. We also use this strategy for some games and some toolboxes.
* Containers - We use mugs for pencils and scissors and a pitcher for kitchen utensils. Some people use cups for paintbrushes or make-up brushes or silverware. Sometimes you can find just the right sized box to store your plastic lids in vertically. The author of Honestly Modern now uses magazine holders for papers.
* Racks - We use plate racks to hold cutting boards, cookie sheets, and serving platters. I use a mail rack to hold envelopes into which I put receipts (one envelope per month). We also have pot lid racks.
* Walls - You can lean pictures or a cutting board against the wall. I also used to do this with my books before I owned bookshelves; I just lined them up against the baseboard like it was a bottom shelf.

Floppy Things

One strategy for dealing with floppy things is to make them less floppy. I think that's part of what bookbinding is all about, or even scrolls from the olden days. You can definitely prop scrolls up to store them. In fact, we roll our napkins and put them in a basket like flowers in a vase.

This is part of what people like about Marie Kondo's Spark Joy book. She shows you that you can fold things into smaller, more cubical shapes that can stand on their own better. I do now actually fold my knee socks into squares that can be lined up in my drawer.

Another strategy is to put floppy things in a space that's so small, they can't fall over. This is problematic when you actually use some of things, because then the other things can fall over into the vacated space. But a little slouching might not be a big deal--some people like magazine boxes, for example. The boxes that envelopes come in are like that. Or you can put dividers in so that nothing can take the spot of other things.

Another strategy is to hang floppy things so that gravity works for you instead of against you. For example:
* Hangers - Of course shirts, pants, and skirts are commonly hung, but you can also hang things like towels and tablecloths.
* File folders - The ones with the hanging rails are especially nice because you don't have to rely on stuffing the file drawer to keep things upright. You can use files for papers, but sometimes other things can work, like seed packets (especially if you have some way to keep them from falling out the sides).
* Towel bars - Robin uses one for ties and belts. We also have some in the kitchen with hooks to hang pots from.
* Tie racks - I hang accessories from these (mostly necklaces and glasses).
* Furniture - Many people drape clothing over chairs or exercise machines. I've also see people who do cross-stitch and needlepoint draping yarn lengths over a chair (or tying them to a hanger).
* Dark rooms and laundry lines - people clip things up to dry, and I've seen people string something like this against a wall to display greeting cards or their children's art.
* Laundry racks - Probably not too handy for storage because the bottom back rungs aren't very accessible.

Tiny things

Little things and liquids don't make very neat piles. So it's nice to put them in containers. And some things like cereal boxes are ideally suited for vertical storage--they're labelled on their sides and even stand alone. Glass jars are nice, too, because you can see the contents, and they also stand on their own.

Ideally it's easy to get the contents into and out of the containers. Spice jars are often designed to be able to either shake out the spices and/or use a measuring spoon. Some paper clip containers have a magnetized edge so it's easy to get one paper clip at a time.

Then you can line up the containers or corral them into bigger containers (like travel shower stuff).

Horizontal Storage

Of course sometimes horizontal storage is fine. When things stack well and they are identical, like plates, or functionally identical like different colored hand towels or library books ready to be returned, it's no problem that the bottom ones are easily accessible. And sometimes things nest well and it's pretty easy to get things even out of the middle of the nest.

And sometimes it's just best to store things flat. I have a stack of scratch paper that is wrinkle-free because I can store it flat. Printers store printer paper pretty flat, too. I've seen stacks of "in" boxes like bunk beds to let you be able to access different kinds of papers without going through the kinds of papers you don't want.

Do you have any favorite ways you store things vertically (or otherwise)?

It's good to learn how to cook your favorite foods. Especially ones that you can't get in restaurants. Bizarrely, I have not been happy with any biscuits I've had in restaurants for a long time. Some are really rolls, some are full of sugar or otherwise trying to be really fancy. Also they should be served hot with salted butter that can be melted on them and this is hard for restaurants to do.

Unfortunately, on the way to finding that perfect recipe, there are, well, the other recipes. Some of them may even be perfectly good except for the user error. But, for the same reason I have only house plants that can handle being watered only once a week, I also collect only recipes that don't require me to do icky stuff that I refuse to do.

So, for your amusement, I submit my latest try, "Rolled Biscuits," from Prevention's The Healthy Cook. I've been looking for a good recipe for biscuits that is not full of a million calories. Because no matter how rich it is, I'm going to slather it in butter anyway. At first I was trying drop biscuits because they seem quicker than rolled biscuits. But they ones I tried were not quite right. So I've started trying rolled biscuits, which is what my mom makes, and they really aren't much more trouble.

The recipe will be shown below in italics and my thoughts and actions in regular font.

We cut the fat but retained the flaky texture of classic rolled biscuits by replacing butter and whole milk with margarine and buttermilk.

But margarine has the same fat as butter. Hmm, only 3 tablespoons, though. I'll try it.

2 cups all-purpose flour - which I don't have; I'll be using white whole wheat flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons nondiet tub-style margarine - ick, no, I'm using butter
2/3 cup buttermilk - Robin keeps that--yes, he has enough for me to use some

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Can do. Coat a no-stick baking sheet with no-stick spray. - I mostly coated a regular aluminum baking sheet with no-stick spray. In case it's not needed, I left one end free of spray--it's good to experiment. I don't have a no-stick baking sheet but I love my aluminum baking sheet, so that's what I use for things.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder an baking soda. Medium bowl? I'm using my big bowl I use for mixing stuff. And a wire whisk.

Using 2 table knives or a pastry blender, cut in the margarine... Knives? I don't even know how to do that. I'll use a fork. Maybe I should try melting the butter first. No, I'll try that trick I heard where you grate the butter. Hmm, works nicely! Except that the butter that sticks to the grater does not want to come off. Well, this probably works best in winter. Wait! It IS winter. ...until course crumbs form. Course crumbs? That's not happening. I'll just stir it the same amount as I usually stir cookie dough, and that will probably be enough.

Gently stir in the buttermilk until a dough forms. Gently? Okay. Hmm, no dough. I'm going to add more buttermilk. And more. And more. Okay, that seems better.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead for 1 minute. How do you gently knead a dough? I'll just knead it normally until it's all nice and smooth. While it's still in the bowl, because it's still hard to get all of it together. And with no extra flour because it's barely moist enough as it is.

Using a floured rolling pin, gently roll the dough into a 1/2"-thick rectangle, or flour your hands and pat into shape. Gently roll? Again, I have no clue how to do that. I'm mashing it down with my unfloured hands on the unfloured counter until it's mostly flat, which turns out not to be a rectangular shape at all. Warning--I have very dry skin, so if you have normal skin, this strategy may not work for you.

Using a 2" biscuit cutter, cut the dough into rounds, rerolling as necessary to cut 12 biscuits. I've heard that the more you handle the dough, the tougher the biscuit gets. But in the cookie-decorating class I took, the instructor said you could re-roll the cookie dough as often as you want with no bad side-effects because you're not adding flour, just rolling between parchment paper pieces. So, no flour. And I used a juice glass. It was pretty easy to get the dough off the unfloured counter top. I ended up with only 10 biscuits.

Place the biscuits on the prepared baking sheet. Done. Lightly coat the top of the biscuits with no-stick spray. Oops, forgot. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the bottoms of the biscuits are browned and tops are lightly golden. Like I can see the bottoms of the biscuits. I guess I could use a spatula.

After 12 minutes the tops looked the same and the bottoms were lightly golden. After about 15 minutes, the bottoms were medium brown and the tops looked the same. I declared them done.

They did not stick at all to any part of the cookie sheet, even though they were made with so little butter. Score!

And they are a pretty good texture. Robin declares them yummy. I think they're close. They are the closest I've come to re-creating Mom's biscuits. But they might be a little boring.

When I couldn't get my oatmeal recipe right, it turned out it was because I wasn't including salt. And when I leave all salt out of my chocolate chip cookies, I merely quite like them instead of really liking them. So I decided to look up other biscuit recipes--they all have salt. Most have 1 teaspoon, one has 1/2 teaspoon. Next time I'll try 1/2 teaspoon.

Also, I'll try 1 cup of buttermilk (easy to measure), though maybe I won't pour it all in right away, just in case that's too much. And maybe I'll remember to spray the tops before putting them in the oven.

Hey, a victory for once! I really didn't think that would happen when I first stuck the biscuits in the oven and started on this entry!

I got an interesting letter in the mail today from my pension fund. It says that due to changes in the 2016 federal income tax withholding tables, my net pension amount will increase next year.

I guess that makes sense. Whenever the government admits there's inflation, they do things like raise the income levels for each tax bracket.

As a result, I'm bringing home an extra 23 cents every single month next year. Yeah, baby!

Blog Entry of the Day - Northern Expenditure's Fill-the-Bucket List - "Life is full of opportunities, changes, and unpredictability.... Instead of making a list of things you would like to see happen in your life, a fill-the-bucket list focuses on the opportunities you have had and the things you’ve taken a chance and done."

That fits in with my urge to add things to my bucket list after I've done them. Things that were never a goal, but the opportunity came up and I took it. We don't always know ahead of time what's going to be great or even what's going to be possible.

So things on my fill-the-bucket list include:
* teach someone to read - I loved reading, and as soon as I learned how, I passed on the information to my little brother, who was a handy victim
* learn embroidery (thanks, Mom)
* learn ceramics, canoeing, and how to make things by lashing (thanks, Girl Scouts)
* learn to ski (thanks Bill and Dave et al.)
* learn ballroom dancing (thanks Bill, Mary, and Richard et al.)
* visit cool places where family and friends have invited me

Happily, there were some additions to both kinds of lists last year.

Bucket list:
* retire
* learn more Spanish
* enjoy media from multiple countries
* learn how they make taco meat in such tiny pieces (cook it in liquid such as broth or water)

Fill-the-bucket list:
* re-write song lyrics to help with Spanish and share it
* learn to frost cookies using the flood frosting technique
* learn a better way to fold my knee socks

Time to end the suspense. (What? There was no suspense? Yeah, I noticed that.)

Last Year

Last year I apparently resolved to learn some Spanish, tutor math, and declutter 52 spaces.

Learn Spanish - Done. I took Spanish II and III, did a lot of reviewing in a similar book, did a fair amount of DuoLingo, and read 12 children's books written in or translated into Spanish. I also learned where all the major Spanish-speaking countries are and, for a little while, their capitals, presidents, and two of their major (legal) exports.

Tutor math - Nope. I half-heartedly researched ways to do that and decided I didn't yet want the responsibility.

I wasn't completely self-centered, though. I did donate blood three times. And I donated the sick leave I had acquired though my career (about three months worth, I believe). (People with major problems who go through all their vacation and sick leave can apply to use this donated stuff. When you're working, you can donate a maximum of 24 hours = 3 days per year. But when you leave you can donate all the rest.) And I contributed to charitable groups and signed a lot of petitions.

Declutter - Ha. I decluttered nine spaces but mostly forgot about it or didn't feel like it.

1-travel shower supplies (1/1)

2-headboard (2/13)

3-dining room dresser/gift wrap stuff (2/28)

4-spice rack (3/10)

5-sock drawers

6-flash cards (~5/15)

7-purse (June)

8-office shelves

9-light bulb box (10/8-9)

What I mainly did was learn Spanish, play video games, and read. I'll write more about my idea to consume media from all the countries (but not all in one year) next.

Next Year

I have a few ideas on things to do next year like more decluttering, more exercise, and trying some sort of five-a-day (fruits and vegetables) challenge. But there's nothing I'm willing to commit to at this time beyond taking Spanish IV. I don't even want to say that I want to really learn Spanish. (Because waaah. It's haaard.) But here's what I feel quite confident that I'm going to do:

a) Follow along in Spanish IV with my Spanish III classmates who are taking the course in the spring. All the people in my Spanish III study group have said they want to stay in the study group. Four of the people have signed up for three different classes in the spring and are excited to share cool things their teacher tells them. One is right now visiting her boyfriend in Argentina for a couple of months. And Robin and I will take it in the summer as a study-abroad class if it makes.

So I will follow along, doing all the exercises in the book, making flashcards, researching additional resources, sharing my notes on vocabulary and good resources I find, and getting e-mails from my former classmates about cool things they're learning.

b) Take Spanish IV in the summer if the study-abroad class makes. If it doesn't make, no worries, I'll have given myself the home version of the class.

Other ideas I like include:

1) Review the rest of the chapters in the other textbook I found that's like mine.

2) Do (or re-do) all of the cultural and listening exercises in my online text.

3) Finish DuoLingo for Spanish.

4) Keep reviewing my old flashcards.

5) Keep reading other Spanish, like more children's books and the Spanish weekly newspaper I like.

6) Listen to La Vida Loca again.

Unfortunately, I'm starting to realize that although I'm getting to where I know a few things, I am not fast. I cannot listen well and I cannot talk without fumbling all over the place--I'm much more comfortable reading and writing. So I may try to address that as well, though it sounds utterly un-fun.

Due to continuing underemployment at my house, I am looking into short-term jobs. First I applied again for jobs scoring teacher certification tests.

How to job hunt

Step 1: Apply for jobs
Step 2: Nothing happens

Oh, ahem, surely there are other scenarios.

So I decided to hunt for a seasonal holiday job. There's a Target in walking distance of my house, so I walked over and asked them what kinds of seasonal jobs they had. Floor worker and service desk worker.

I applied online, where I was told that zero of these jobs are currently available, but they let me apply anyway.

Another weird thing is that they have a drug-free policy. One of the requirements is that employees are not allowed to buy or sell drugs or alcohol on the premises. I'm pretty sure I've seen wine for sale at Target. It would be interesting telling them that I already signed something promising not to do one of my job duties.

They have a lot of drug tests. They are allowed to test you if there are suspicions--I don't mind that. They test you before they hire you. I'm not as fine with that, but my old druggie friends used to say anyone should be able to pass a drug test with a week's notice. So if they're okay with that, I guess I can be. But they also do random testing. That just seems wrong. If the person is doing their job well, who cares if they're on drugs?

Similarly, they do background checks and credit checks both on prospective employees and on current employees who are getting a promotion or transfer. Again, why collect data that is only imperfectly correlated with doing a good job once you actually know how good a jog they're doing.

Robin points out that they don't actually know.

It's not the public sector, so they don't have to tell you what the salaries are, and they don't. They say simply "competitive."

I'm imagining them asking me what kind of wages I want. Irrelevant. They have a certain range.

Or they might ask what kind of wages I'm expecting. Pretty bad wages. By which I mean I expect the entire range to be pretty bad. "Competitive" probably means slightly above minimum wage. Minimum wage is $7.50/hour here these days. A living wage in my county for a single person is calculated by MIT to be $10.97. But various findings on Glass Door imply just less than $9 for low-level Target jobs.

The MIT estimate shows their calculation for a living wage. They calculated $3022/year for a single adult for food. That's $252/month which is about double what I spend. Admittedly I am small.

For housing, $8352 = $696/month. I think that's about right if you live alone in a cheap one-bedroom place in a non-dangerous part of town. Though it includes utilities, too, so that might be rough.

You only get $2253 (188/month) for things other than food, housing, transportation, and medical. So that is what they think people spend on toiletries, pets, clothes, tools and supplies, and fun. Less than they spend on food. Wow.

That is all.

Certain appliances are usually used at that same setting but occasionally other settings. In our house, those appliances are the toaster oven (usually set to toast) and the washer (usually set for a large load).

But sometimes we bake things in the toaster oven or wash a small load of laundry. What should happen the next time we want to use the appliance in the usual way?

1) The not ideal situation: You bake your slice of bread and it doesn't turn into toast so you have to kind of start over. Or you try to wash a big load and it makes a lot of noise and doesn't have enough water and you run and switch it back to the large-load setting so the washer stops sloshing and starts filling some more.

We are toying with two alternatives. They are not even mutually exclusive, so you don't have to just pick one.

2) Always set the appliance back to the default setting when you're done. I have much more success remembering this strategy with the toaster oven than with the washer.

3) Always check what the settings are before using the appliance. I'm good with this strategy for appliances where I don't usually use the same setting (the oven), but I stink with this strategy for other appliances.

Hmm, I'm realizing that emptying pockets before doing laundry is similar:
1) You could wash things accidentally left in pockets and hope everything turns out okay.
2) You could return pockets to the default setting (empty) before throwing them in the laundry basket.
3) Or you could always check that the pockets are empty before putting them in the washer (or dryer).

I am a well-rounded and complex person and thus do all three. Let me warn you that just because you pulled something out of a pocket does not mean that the pocket is now empty. You must keep checking and re-checking the pocket until it is empty.

Anything else like this? Maybe keys:
1) When you need your keys, try to remember where you last saw them.
2) Always return your keys to the same place when you are done.
3) Hmm, this one's harder. Always check before closing a locked door that the keys are on the same side of the door as you?

Do you have a favorite strategy for this situation?

I think I'm finally getting to the point where I can deliberately add fixed activities to my schedule and then look forward to them instead of feel stressed by them. Until very recently (perhaps two weeks ago?), I really didn't want anything on my schedule except Sunday brunch (and maybe Spanish class).

For example, I went to craft night on Friday. We ate out on Sunday. I went to the gym today and probably will again on Wednesday if we're not aching too much and Robin has time. Tomorrow I'm having lunch on campus and checking out some library books. Thursday I'm going to try out a Spanish conversation activity at the public library with J and maybe R. Saturday I'm going to party before which I will be making and decorating some appropriately themed cookies, which I learned how to make at a recent cookie decorating class (which I attended mostly for socializing) and which I experimented a bit with in time for the craft night. So many things! I'm only a little worried that I'll forget something, not have time, or sleep through something.

I've also figured out that although I don't have a job, I do have a "mission," a default activity for when I find myself with some free time, and that's (duh) learning Spanish. And a minor mission, which still needs work, has been exercise. Also, I've run out of (non-Spanish) books recently, but am about to have a new pile.

Related blog post of the day - Root of Good's Early Retirement Schedule - see what another retired guy does with himself all day. 'I put “adventure time” on the schedule and this is intentionally vague and open ended. Sometimes we’ll hit the road for a walkabout, visit the park, library, and community center, stop at a restaurant, and get back home a few hours later. Or we’ll walk the 3.5 mile round trip to drop the kids off at Grandma’s house. Or drive to one of the city parks or nature preserves and enjoy a fun afternoon exploring along trails and creeks while hoping to see some deer, hawks, or fish. Other times we’ll attend a festival in downtown (living in the city, there’s always something going on downtown).'

We'll be taking Spanish III in the fall which means we have the entire summer to forget everything. I've already forgotten most of chapter five, for example. That's not good. And that's even though my classmates and teacher think I'm a straight-A student (ha!) and my last teacher even gave me the highest possible grade (102). (She is very big into rounding up.)

It's quite disheartening.

I have lots of ideas for things to do that will help me remember (and re-learn) this Spanish so that I can jump into Spanish III ready to absorb more. So many ideas that I probably don't have time for them all and should probably prioritize them. So here goes.

Flash Cards

Reviewing my flash cards is the single most important thing I can do. I also hate doing them. Every time I pull out a deck for a new chapter, I immediately see that I have no clue what some of the words are. Admittedly, I keep the hardest ones in front so that if I don't have time to go through the whole deck, at least I've looked at the hardest words (and concepts).

My 1.12-mile walks each take enough time to go through even the worst of decks (which I hope is chapter five) once, and most decks twice. So these walks will help me kill two birds with one stone. I plan to review one chapter per day.

DuoLingo

I'm still not the biggest fan of DuoLingo, but I like how I get a little exposure every day and actually am learning a few new words. And it's set up to reward you for doing at least something every day. And it doesn't have to take much time.

Puntos de Partida

I found this other text in the library that is bizarrely similar to the text we're using. It's as if someone gave two companies the same instructions, and out came Vistas and Puntos de Partida.

So even though I feel like it would be super boring to go through my own text again, it's actually kind of fun to go through this other one instead. And the library also had the accompanying workbook with most answers in the back. So I'm doing that, too.

And there are online tutorials which, unlike those for our book, are available to anyone. These are for a later edition than for the book I have, so they don't match up perfectly, but since it's just review, that's okay. The tutor is not as fun as the online tutor for my book, but she's basically good and, again, it's nice to hear things a slightly different way.

So long as I'm enjoying this, it will stay near the top of the list.

That's almost all I'm making time for now, but some additional things also seem like good ideas.

Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish

I've started going through this book many times on my own. It does many things fabulously but does them very differently than normal textbooks. For example, it starts with past tense. Now that we've studied past tense in class, I'd like to start this again and see how I fare compared to the other times I've gone through it. It does have some weird things, too, though, like it doesn't teach you second person verb forms until the very end of the book!

So long as I'm enjoying Puntos de Partida, I'll stick with that first because it seems more relevant for my current goal of remembering Spanish I and II content.

Children's books

The last two children's books I checked out were picture books with both the English and Spanish. It is quite disheartening how much of children's book Spanish I just don't get. Probably because the most common parts of language are the parts that get most mangled and make the least sense. (Most of the most common verbs are irregular, for example.) Still, it's a good idea to expose myself to real (baby) Spanish so that it can seem more familiar.

Spanish language movies

My last Spanish teacher highly recommended watching Spanish movies in Spanish while reading English subtitles. I don't think she quite understands my powerful ability to completely ignore what I'm hearing (except for the expression) when there are English subtitles. But she thinks it's good for helping us get used to what Spanish sounds like. And hey, I like movies.

Other learning websites

I've listened to a lot of Sr. Jordan's videos, but there are quite a few more I could listen to. I'm not wild about his songs I've heard so far, though Robin has found his indirect objects song and especially his preterite irregulars song to be helpful. Sr. Jordan teaches American high school students and so is very aware of which things are confusing and he explains well.

Barbara Kuczun Nelson has some lessons with really good practice attached, and we learned about this resource fairly recently, so there are many things left to check out. I've already gotten a lot out of the preterite versus-imperfect exercises I've done and plan to re-do those and do the others as well.

And there are plenty of others I've heard of but not tried out, plus googling for specific topics can lead to more.

Other books

Yea, libraries! I'll keep poking around libraries, seeing if anything looks interesting. For example, I recently checked out Charles E. Kany's Spoken Spanish for Flying Cadets and Our Armed Forces (1942). It has the most thorough description of how to pronounce Spanish (all in three pages) I've ever seen. I think I'm gong to make some flash cards! And part one is general (not just for folks in the Air Force) and only 13 pages--probably I can make it through that as well.

I also found Dwight Bolinger's Essays on Spanish: Words and Grammar (1991). I love that author:

"How could I persuade [my beginning Spanish students] not to be put off by the seeming strangeness of a language that was new to them? One way was to exploit what they already knew--often without knowing that they knew--about their own language. The trick was to find the parallels. I had the flicker of a hypothesis--that any phenomenon in any language will have, somewhere in its meaning or structure, a matching phenomenon in any other. We would see this as a rash form of 'universalism' nowadays, but my vision was not quite so grand; I merely believed that I ought to be able, when a student resisted something because of its oddity, to say, 'Look: you do this yourself every day; you just haven't recognized it,' and proceed to peel off the disguise.

"Any teacher faced with a 'why?' is compelled to test this hypothesis or fall back on the rapturous Whorfian copout that reads, 'Every language is a world to itself; accept it for what it is.' The sink-or-swim method. Of course we all must sink or swim eventually, and not every attempt to help someone across will succeed. But I think one is entitled to say, "I offer you a bridge; just don't expect me to carry you over it.' So there were some modest successes, and they are the main sources for this book, and putting them in one place is the main excuse for it."

Why, yes, he is a linguist. (Note to self: must resist urge to ask future teachers, "Must you fall back on that rapturous Whorfian copout?")

Sadly, I fear much of the book is over my head. However, I did understand the first essay, "En efecto Does not Mean In Fact." In spite of what virtually all textbooks say (including mine, in the evil chapter five). It means something more like as expected or indeed.

I at least want to look at the essays on topics we've covered. And I'm on the lookout for other works by him.

Dear Companies,

You would think people would know their own e-mail addresses. Sadly, this is not always the case. Also, typos happen.

So please do not let customers tell you their e-mail addresses by typing them in or telling you over the phone rather than by sending you an email (at least not without confirming that they received an e-mail sent to the address that they supplied). But if you must, don't then proceed to supply them important information only via e-mail from a no-reply address.

When you accept wrong e-mail addresses and then don't even allow the recipient you are bothering to let you know about the error, that's not nice. Especially when you are also sticking things on a calendar that is attached to that address, American Airlines.

And especially when your e-mail yells at me for looking at private information that's not mine, doctors.

It's not even good business.

Here's a bonus hint: If someone hasn't been to your clinic in over two decades, you might want to confirm that the snail-mail address you have for them is correct. Especially if that's where you're mailing your bills.

Sincerely,
The Wrong Debbie

P.S. Providing me a long-distance number (which I'm going to assume will bring me to a non-human) is not encouraging me to get back to you on this, either.

Blue Bell News of the Week

Poor Blue Bell is out for the count. It's going to be "several months at a minimum" before ice cream is again sold to the public. They are going to extreme lengths to make sure nothing like this ever happens again. For example, they are cleaning everything including air conditioning systems and "Eliminating possible contamination pathways, including redesigning work spaces to re-route traffic in production areas, placing barriers between work areas, installing additional foot washers at doors into production areas, and discontinuing use of outside materials such as wood pallets in sanitary areas."

As you may know, I-bonds have a two-part interest rate. One part is based on the rate of inflation over the past six months; this gives you protection against inflation. It changes every six months. The other part is a fixed rate that is basically added to the other part. (The actual, slightly more complicated formula is explained on Treasury Direct's IRA Rates and Terms page.) Finally, if inflation is so negative that it wipes out your entire fixed rate, you actually just earn 0% instead of losing money (more inflation protection!). So, since I was raised partly in the 1970s, I can't help liking these.

In general. Not this month.

New I-bonds for the next six months will have a fixed interest rate of 0%. Sadly, this is common nowadays, but so long as inflation is above normal bank interest rates, you might still be interested.

Except that inflation over the last six months has been measured as -0.8%. So your total interest rate will be zero.

So, I guess our government doesn't need to sell any of these? Or somebody's buying them anyway?

The only reason to buy them now is if you are maxing out your purchases every year to keep this portion of your portfolio in line with the other parts of your portfolio. Even so, I'd wait until November when there will be new numbers. Even if those numbers turn out to be just as bad, you'd have to live through them anyway if you bought I-bonds now. (You have to wait at least one year to cash them out.)

As soon as the 0% fixed-rate I-bonds I already own have earned 0% for three months, I will sell them (and pay the penalty of three months of interest, which by then will be no penalty at all) and move the money into my online savings account, at least for a little while. I'm willing to give up the time I've put in towards the five years you need to own an I-bond before you don't have to pay a penalty. That's because I've been buying these with money I would normally have put into savings anyway. (I've been focusing my investments in my Roth IRA, figuring I could build up my I-bonds later.)

If you have US savings bonds, you can find out what the story is by entering your information at Treasury Direct's savings bond calculator. The interest rate they show is the combined rate you are earning that month. The value shown is the amount you could cash them for that month (the three-month penalty is already taken into consideration).

You also can enter the date for future months through November 2015. Three months after your interest rate goes to 0, you can see your value stop increasing.

I like to think of wealth as savings, by which I mean things that you have that you can save for later use. If you already have things, you don't have the stress of trying to get them. For example, after a shopping trip, you may have enough food to last you for a week.

Of course some things don't save well. For example, bananas turning black are about to stop being wealth, unless you turn them into baked goods in which case you can save them a little longer. But plenty of things do save well.

The most common measure of wealth is net worth. Typically, you add up the current value of anything you own and subtract your debts. You do not look at whether the value of these things is constant, appreciating or depreciating--it's a point value. Today, those bananas are perfectly good.

You also don't typically look at maintenance costs or costs that would be entailed in actually acquiring the market value of a good. Also, only things that in your name count, not other things that you also have access to like library books or water fountains.

And money is not the only asset. So are tools. And stockpiles of supplies. And skills. And social networks.

And money can be involved directly, indirectly, or not at all. For example, to get exercise, you can pay for a gym membership, join a sports club, exercise along to online exercise videos, power your own transportation, or get it as a side effect of your job other other interests.

What about socializing? Maybe you like the cash flow to go to bars and restaurants. But if you have a family or roommates (and you are at home the same time as they are) you can have easy access to regular socializing.

Of course relationships can shrivel up or go bad. Or the relationship can be fine, but one person has to go (evil jobs, grim reapers).

And not just relationships. All kinds of things can be destroyed. Or your tastes can change (thus reducing or negating the value of your assets to you.)

And you can't really save up enough of everything to be all done. You want to have new experiences, accomplish new things, meet new people. But having some savings can be very nice.

Having a low-stress, physically easy job can leave you plenty of energy and excitement for your personal life from which you can then recover a bit at work. A stable home life can make it easier to take risks out in the world.

Some people have to start over in just about every way--alcoholism can lead to loss of job, house, and spouse; imprisonment can take away youth and connections and make your experience out-of-date; trauma can change your personality and make you question everything you thought you knew; you can escape a fascist regime or natural disaster with just your life.

Here's wishing you enough wealth of the best kinds to help you in your endeavors.

Currently, car owners where I live must get an annual inspection and also pay an annual registration fee. In the past, these have been two separate requirements, each with their own windshield sticker. And if you were late in getting your inspection, the one-year clock got restarted. So, as long as you didn't get a ticket, you were rewarded for putting off your inspection. Especially since there was a grace period the following month during which you would not get a ticket.

Those days are over. Now you have to show evidence of your inspection (as well as insurance) when you renew your registration. And there will be only one sticker.

But those whose inspections and registrations have already gotten out of sync get one last bonus during the transition period.

I am one of those people (not totally my fault--I got my car used and it was already out of sync). This time when I got my inspection, they did not give me a sticker--just a receipt with the results. Even though my next registration is not due for several more months, I can show them this receipt, and I'm good. Then I can wait an additional year before getting my next inspection. Meanwhile they also took off my old sticker, so I am not signalling to the police that I am overdue.

Two muffins and some bubble wrap were lurking in the street near our trash can yesterday. There's something about how our trash is collected that often results in some of the trash remaining uncollected, either still in the trash can or on the ground nearby. In addition, the system has led to our lid getting broken.

I have seen how it's done. A large trash compacting truck pulls up next to the can. Two mechanical arms come out, grab the can, lift it up over the opening at the top of the truck, flip it upside down and shake it. The lid is hinged so it opens automatically. Then the trash can is flipped right side up and put back on the ground.

This certainly sounds like a reasonable procedure, but there are flaws. We have learned a few strategies for dealing with these flaws, but obviously we need more:

* Put heavy things on the bottom of the trash can. These can help push out the light things on the top.

* Make sure nothing is jammed in too tightly or it won't come out. If you're not sure, put it on the bottom so that at least the other stuff doesn't get trapped. (Unfortunately, the bottom of the trash can is narrower, so the items are more likely to get wedges in down there.)

* Make sure lightweight things are in bags with heavier things so they don't blow away in the wind instead of dropping into the truck.

* Close the bags tightly; that bubble wrap was outside of any bags, but I know those muffins were in a bag.

* And obviously: Don't forget when trash day is. We only get one chance per week to get it right!

I am not currently a normal cell phone user.

Cell phones are not REVOs.

I'm still sore about cell phones not being as good as my old REVO. That's a hand-held device from the Palm Pilot days which I originally got because it had a small keyboard. Reviews said it was too tiny to use like a typewriter, but I have tiny fingers, so I tried it.

I also couldn't type as fast as on a regular keyboard but it was because the keys were too sticky. Still, I didn't have to learn a fancy script. And I came to love that thing, mostly because of databases. I made databases for everything. I had lists of prices everywhere. I had lists of sizes of things (like air filters). I can't even remember all the stuff I had anymore, but I sure did love that thing. Except for the part about how it's made out of electronics and therefore cannot last forever, even when I don't accidentally get it wet by walking home in a flash flood event during which bus service has been stopped.

Modern cell phones have gone in a different direction, which I finally figured out a couple of years ago. My REVO was all about my data. Smart phones are all about other people's data. They do all the work, so you don't have to, but it's their data and you can only manipulate it in ways they have thought up. Which is not much. As a result, smart phones aren't great at even things like cutting a pasting. Di is the only person I know who has this same complaint.

Currently, I use my laptop for everything and carry around pieces of paper and still mourn the loss of my REVO.

I have a smart non-phone.

I do have an I-Pod Touch, which is just like a smart phone except there's no phone. It turns out that I have rarely used it. I don't know why not. I've used it a lot to play "Plants versus Zombies." I've used the timer to time my jogs. I have taken some notes on it at parties for things to look into later. Pretty minimal.

I have a cell phone.

The first smart phones came with really expensive monthly plans, so I resisted. Finally I broke down and got a TracFone, a pre-paid plan that cost me about $8.50 a month. However, I rarely gave out my cell phone number and warned people that my phone was never on. I used it for long distance calls with my parents and for when Robin and I split up at festivals or stores. Then I lost it. It's been lost for several months now.

Even when it wasn't lost, it wasn't very user friendly. The volume was too low and took me years to find any information on how to increase the volume but it didn't work for me. Also, it was hard to deal with my messages, so I ended up just never checking them.

I still never want to turn into a person who keeps checking my phone when I have friends right with me. But I'm now ready to make the switch to something new.

I'm likely going with Republic Wireless.

Many of my favorite personal finance bloggers recommend Republic Wireless. For example:

* Mr. Money Mustache - Republic Wireless: $19 for an Unlimited-Everything Smartphone Plan?! (5/30/13), Republic Wireless: Old Phone, New Phone, and a Tempting Competitor (11/16/13) and Republic Wireless becomes 50% More Frugal with the Moto G: A Review (5/13/14)

* Saving Money in Your Twenties - Republic Wireless: the first week (12/18/13) and An Update on the Cheapest Phone Plan Ever (2/12/14)

* Budgets Are Sexy - How I’m Saving $100/mo on Our Cell Bill! (7/14/14)

Here is a choice quote:

"At this point, I realized we’re dealing with a different kind of mobile phone company here. It’s run by real, intelligent people who are excited by the chance to change this country’s entire communications landscape" - MMM, 5/30/13

Here's how it works:

1) Service is cheap because if you can find a wi-fi network, it connects you through that. But if not, they use Sprint. And if Sprint isn't available, they switch to Verizon. (In Canada they use Bell Canada. In other countries, you need to look for wi-fi.)

2) You have a choice between Moto E, Moto G (1st generation), and Moto X (1st or 2nd generation); these are Android-based smart phones.

3) There are four plans; all include unlimited texting and calls; none require a contract; all have added taxes. For $5/month, you can just use it through wi-fi (an excellent landline replacement). For $10 you can also use it via Sprint and Verizon. For $25 you also get nearly unlimited 3G data as well. For $40 you get 4G data. You can easily switch back and forth between the plans up to twice a month.

Currently, I think I'll get the Moto G or maybe the Moto X 1st generation and start with the $10 plan until I find aps that make me want to switch to the $25 plan.

A few of my favorite personal finance bloggers have published their spending, by category, for 2014. As a result, the other day I found myself thinking, "Why are we spending $53/month to let telemarketers bother us?" (Also, poll takers, charities, and people who want to tell us how to vote. And clicking devices.)

I'm not sure. So now, even though I actually asked one of my friends not to do this, I'm re-thinking the landline. So why, exactly, do we have one?

* Because we've always had one (yes, I can face the truth).
* Because sometimes you want to call a household and not try to pick which person to call.
* Because, although I heard that the phone company did studies to find the worst possible reception that was good enough and offered that, the reception really is good enough. By which I mean good.
* Because landlines work when other things don't work (like when the electricity is out).

Yet most young adults don't even have landlines. Surely, they're not all crazy. After doing research, it seems like there are only three reasons that bloggers admit to keeping their landlines: 1) they are bundled with something they want, 2) they are for the kids to use (and not rack up terrible charges), and/or 3) when you call 911 they automatically know your location. Our landline is not bundled with anything, we don't have any kids, and I've already been trained that when you call 911, the first thing you tell them is your location, so it didn't even click with me that this is no longer necessary for landlines.

So, now that times have changed, how are we actually using our landline? Here's what I can recall:

* To receive unwanted phone calls.
* To have something to fill in on forms where a phone number is required without having to give out our cell phone numbers.
* To get calls from my mom, dad, and brother, and occasionally my sister (my sister prefers chatting online and has also requested that I get Skype).
* To get calls from our mutual friend D, mainly when she can't reach us on a cell.
* To get calls from Robin's friend, JA.
* To get reminders we don't need about doctor and dentist appointments and prescriptions that are ready.
* To call our internet company when the internet is down.

Basically, we get about one call a day that we don't want and just a couple of calls per month that we actually want on the landline. We are happy giving out cell phone numbers to the people from whom we like receiving calls. And those people, except for D who is generally trying to get a hold of either of us, do generally have a particular person in mind when they call, though I suspect JA doesn't mind getting the wrong person. We also don't worry about needing to slip in a 911 phone call in just a few seconds before losing consciousness.

In fact in these modern times, I prefer e-mail for long-distance communication. I still do want to be reachable by phone, though. Just maybe not enough to pay $53/month. The obvious alternative is to just use cell phones.

I've heard that most college students today do not like talking on the phone. They prefer texting. When I first heard that, I thought it was an interesting cultural phenomenon. Now I suspect that it's because cell phone reception is so terrible. This is one of those things one would hope I would be out of date on--that these days reception is much better than in ancient times. Or that the bad reception I get when certain people call me is due to them calling me while driving in and out of good zones. However, many, if not most, phone calls I got from students at my last job had very bad reception. My last job took place entirely in the year 2014, which even young people will admit was not all that different from modern times.

So, I have questions for you, dear readers.

1) If you don't have a landline, how do you deal with businesses insisting on getting a phone number? Do you just give them your cell phone number? Can you give a fake 555 number? Are there phone number sharing services out there where a bunch of people can give out the same phone number for businesses that should never need to call them? Probably it's not really a problem because they don't actually call.

2) If you use a cell phone (ha! that's all of you!) how is your cell phone reception? In really bad cases, I can understand what people are saying if they just say each word two or three times. No one ever stoops to this, though, do they? You just say "what" a lot, right?

3) Any other comments or advice on the issue of whether to have a landline?

Bumper Sticker of the Day - If the environment were a bank, it would already have been saved.

Yowsa.

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Note of the Living Deb

Entries tagged with logistics

On Mindless Eating

On Spanish Names

Affordable Housing Strategy

Doctor List

On Homeowner's Insurance

On Vertical Storage

How to Try a Recipe: Biscuit Edition

Not Quite Fixed Income

Resolution Update 2015/2016

Job Hunt: Target, Living Wage

Defaults or Checking

Doing Stuff in Retirement

Spanish Review

E-mail Etiquette for Businesses

Not a Good Time for I-Bonds

A to Z Challenge: Weird Thoughts on Wealth

A to Z Challenge: Inpection Frequency for Cars

A to Z Challenge: Collection of Trash

Rethinking Phones, Part II: Cell Phones

Rethinking Phones, Part I: The Landline