I DON'T HOARD, BUT I DO SAVE!

I am fascinated by hoarding.  No, I don't hoard, and I don't think I've really ever known a real hoarder….but I've known people who come close!   The way I understand it, when the objects of their hoarding, their "things," cause them to not be able to use their basic necessities in a normal way (like not being able to sleep on their own bed because of so many "things" being stored there, or needing to eat meals at a nearby diner because their own kitchen is not accessible because of "things" – then those are true hoarders.  So just an overblown collection of certain things does not a hoarder make.

However….

Sometimes I wonder about my files. 

I love files.  A file for everything, and everything in its own file.  And whenever there are too many things waiting to be filed, then a single file labeled "To be Filed" will certainly suffice.  My main problem is that I may never see the contents of that file again, because it too easily ends up underneath a pile of folders that accumulate on my desk.

But this blog is not exactly about that.

This blog is where I relocate some of the interesting things I've been saving to use in a blog sometime.  So sit back and read.  You'll just get a small taste of what all it is I have saved in this particular folder marked "To Be Filed."

PROCRASTINATORS

1.  John Perry, at that time and perhaps still, a professor of philosophy at Stanford wrote a good article back in 1996 that explains how we can procrastinate and still get things done.  His premise is that the thing you most need to do should be put at the top of a "to do" list, and following beneath that are a whole bunch of necessary but not critical things that also must be done.  You can be a procrastinator and feel darn bad about it, but if you do a whole bunch of the lesser chores, you can still feel that you are making great headway by getting the closure you have made.  You can pat yourself on the back for a day well spent – and know that you will get to the #1 on the list tomorrow.  That's not exactly procrastination, he says.  Self-deception, maybe.

Read his funny essay in full here:  http://chronicle.com/article/How-to-ProcrastinateStill/93959

COLORBLIND

2.   Political correctness appears to be colorblind.  Some time back Michelle Obama went to a state dinner at the White house wearing a dress described by the Associated Press as "Flesh."  The designer called it a "sterling-silver sequin, abstract floral, nude strapless gown.  Was it flesh colored?  Not Mrs. Obama's flesh, obviously.  Associated Press changed the wording to "champagne."  And is the color "nude" a single color or a relative color?

Which reminds me, many years ago I had a nice tan, and a co-worker asked me if I tanned easily.  I assured him that I had to really work hard to get any tan at all, that actually the skin on my stomach is as white as a snake's belly!  (He wanted to see it, but I declined!). 

But getting back to the color nude, champagne, sand, flesh, or blush, peach, eggshell or cream – or for darker tones chai and darker yet "espresso" (all colors in the decorator's pallet) – I think probably nude and flesh should be retired and let the foods of the world dictate what color a dress is.

Jerry is color-blind; not the traditional red/green that many men have, but he has trouble differentiating between pastel colors.  He does not identify any difference between beige and gold, lavender and light pink, silver and grey, and other tones.  In one of his retirement jobs he worked for a police department following street sweepers and ticketing cars which had not been moved off the street before the sweepers came by.  In several instances people who received a ticket huffed into the Police Department indicating that they got a ticket but their car was not gold/beige/tan/ivory/silver or whatever color it was that Jerry saw and put on the ticket.  His spirit was willing but his eyesight was –well, not weak, but not 100% right on!

MEALY WORMS

3.  Some time back there was a great article in the LA Times about a man in Compton who has made a good living for himself  - in fact, good enough to put both his son and daughter through College, he says.  He indicates that for 50 years, he has been raising colonies of crickets, Madagascar hissing cockroaches – and mealworms – piles of squishy, wiggly, red-orange mealworms.  They are his best product.

He has not suffered at all through any of the recessions.  He has 60 employees, most of whom are related to each other.  He started his business in the early 1960s and is still going strong. 

I guess if one has the stomach for it, one might do well.  As for me, I don't put bait on fishhooks and I don't pick up mealworms or any cockroaches, whether they hiss or spit.  Sure, I'd like a fool-proof way to increase my income a bit, but this is definitely not my project of choice.

ROMANCE-ABLE

4.  If you are looking for something different to do with your honey in tow, I suggest the Hotel Kabuki in San Francisco.  Many years ago, when Jer and I were younger and more romance-able, we went to the then-called Miyako Hotel; the touted draw was a 2-person Japanese deep soaking tub, and it turned out to be a wonderful experience just as the book in which we read about it said it would.  (I think the book was something about 100 Things to do for Valentine's Day.)  This hotel has not been the Miyako for many years now; but the Hotel Kabuki goes a step further than only the deep soaking tub (which it still has):  it has a relationship with the Kabuki Springs and Spa communal bath which is merely two blocks away from the Hotel.  Hotel Kabuki now is part of the Joie de Vivre hotel chain and if you book a hotel visit through the Joie De Vivre chain directly, you receive a complimentary pass to the Kabuki Springs and Spa.

Now understand, I have not visited it under this new ownership.  Romance-able now pretty much involves not having to sleep with the cat on our bed.  So I can't tell you exactly what this all means:

            "The baths are open for women only Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays,

            and open to men Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays.  Tuesdays are co-ed. 

            Bathing suits are required on Tuesdays."

I leave it to you to snoop around on the Hotel Kabuki website and make your own bed & bath, which you will, of course, either lie in or meditate in, Japanese style, with or without Bath Butler Service and soaking salts.

And do have fun!

So I now have cleared out part of one file folder.  That enables me to toss away four papers that I swear I have been keeping at the ready for five years or so.  No hoarder lives at THIS house!  Just a saver!