8/23-  Do you guys remember the old, non-zip-lock storage bags, the ones that come with twist ties?  Where are they now?  I need some.

Twist Tie

They are cheaper and you get 3 times as many bags in a box, at least.  I don’t always need a zip-lock.  Sure, they are thicker, better quality, and usually do seal up better than those old twist tie type, but many times you can get by just as well with a twist tie.  And a lot of times they are a hell of a lot faster to close up.  How many times have you battled those fucking zip-lock tracks, trying to line them up just right so the bag actually seals.  I bet most of you have had to sponge down the inside of your refrigerator a couple times a year after one of those tracks you thought you had closed tightly really wasn’t and  later you noticed the meticulously prepared liquid you were marinating your chicken in had been seeping out of the bag for three hours.

Refrigerator with No Storage bag Mishap

Refrigerator with Storage bag Mishap

Speed Method Clean-up of Refrigerator Storage bag Mishap

Of course you should never use a twist tie bag to marinate anything in.  That’s just too risky.  It’s going to leek all over the place.  But there are plenty of other reasons to use a twist tie bag.  I just can’t think of one right now.  But that’s not the point.  You can’t find twist-tie bags anywhere.  What I really want them for is to balance out all the spare twist ties I have with no bags to use them on because you can’t find the damn things anymore.  It used to be when you got a box of twist tie bags, they gave you extra twist ties. At least I think so.  I’m not sure because a lot of times I would use one twist tie on two bags.  It was one of my clever ways to economize, and I think somewhere down the line it’s environmentally sound thinking also.  So I did the smart thing and saved all those extra ties.  Now I have a shit load of ties all tucked away in a sandwich size zip-lock bag, and no bags to use them on.  Shit that pisses me off!

8/24- God damn it another light bulb went out in my bathroom.  I have diligently replaced most of my incandescent bulbs with fluorescents all over the house.  I was all set to upgrade to LED bulbs, but have you seen the price tags on those damn things?  Like I do with electronics, I’ll just wait it out till the market gets saturated and there’s a dramatic price drop.  Till then those bastards at GE can just stick those high priced bulbs up their ass.  Did you know those douchnozzels don’t pay any corporate income tax?  I hope they loose their shirts on those damn bulbs.  So I am sticking with my fluorescents.  At least that’s environmentally more acceptable than reverting back to incandescents.  But I’m tempted.  Have you looked at the fluorescent bulb section at Lowes?  There are 2 or 3 width sizes of spiral ones, some short and longer spiral ones, spiral ones that are kind of in the shape of half a tennis ball, some tube type ones, some that are fairly close to looking like a typical incandescent bulb, and some that look like an incandescent bulb that needs to go on a diet.  And then you

Are You Kidding Me?

have to worry about lumens.  Pick up a bad batch of lumens and it throws off your entire lighting structure.  Too many lumens and you have created a space that has the aura of the lobby of a cheap motel.  The trick is to go low with the lumens, I am pretty sure.  If I remember right, stick with low lumens and you get light that’s close to your old incandescents- soft and natural.

8/25-  I’ve finally had it.  I’m off to Lowes to get a new liquid soap dispenser for the bathroom. This will be the 4th one in two years.  Awhile back we had a metal one, I thought it was stainless steel, but I guess not because it stained.  Then I bought a plastic one.  It was cheap, but at least it didn’t grow nasty stains all over it.  But the pump quit pumping after 3 months.  Then I picked up a glass one.  It’s color was not exactly complimentary to our bathroom, but that sort of thing never bothers me.  Two months later  I found it in the garbage, all busted up and shattered in pieces.  My wife says she dropped it, but it looked to me like someone beat the shit out of it.  She never did like it, so I suspect it was just her way of getting rid of it.  I don’t ask questions when she’s in a bad mood.  So I got another stainless steel one, hoping the one I bought earlier was simply of inferior quality stainless steel.  That seems to be the case.  It hasn’t really developed any type of orange hue, but when the soap squirts out, it squirts out at you.  If you’re not paying attention you will have an embarrassing soap stain on the front of your pants.  Who has time to be constantly on the look out for that?  So I am off to Lowes.  I’m going back to glass, and I saw one I like at Lowe’s last week.  I have to pick up some fluorescent bulbs anyway, and I might as well look for some twist tie baggies.

8/26-  I didn’t have any luck with the twist tie baggies, but I think I found a set of bulbs that will match the other three that still work in the bathroom.  That’s another thing.  You have to buy fluorescent bulbs in sets, like boxes of four. That’s why lumens are so important.  If you screw in one of the new ones you just bought and the light it emits doesn’t match the light coming from all the other bulbs in the room, that’s a tip off you probably messed up on your lumens.  You might as well get rid of all the old ones and install all new ones.  I have to get my step ladder out of the basement, so I don’t have time right now to deal with my lumens.  I think I did score with my new glass soap dispenser though.  It looks pretty sweet.  I think my wife will give it a big thumbs up.

8/27-  The new bulbs are shit-blindingly harsh and a total lumen mind-dicking.  And these things are supposed to be saving me money?  Damn it I hate lumens.