At least we're not in New York

I've been spending most of the last couple days trying to remember why I used to like staying in hotels. There's just not a room big enough to make staying in one room with two hyper, out-of-their-routine little boys a pleasant experience. There is humor in the TV, which reveals the ridiculous "news" channel practices that get even more ridiculous during an event like the current east coast Snowpocalypsmagedon. While working out I watched a guy standing in a snow bank with the words "In the Eye of the Blizzard" on the screen. There did not appear to be any snow falling at that moment.

And just now I glanced over at the TV here in the hotel lobby, which is showing the Weather Channel, of course, and the current temperature here is 8. EIGHT. FAHRENHEIT. Naturally, I forgot to pack something we actually need (the three-year-old's swim trunks) so I'll have to venture out later to procure those. At least it's sunny.

Who needs tastebuds?

Faithful readers of this blog will recall that I have long struggled with a diet soda addiction. Fortunately I've been able to replace most of my soda consumption with coffee. At least at home. When I'm out, I default to pop, mostly because of the temperature. Every time I have coffee (non-iced) from a shop or restaurant I experience severe tongue damage. Yet I see people get a steaming cup from Starbucks and immediately sip all the time. Have these people so damaged their tongues that they are desensitized? Or do have a particularly sensitive tongue? I really would love it if someone could explain this to me.

A little less evil in the world this morning

Something magical and wonderful has happened in San Jose of all places. Yes, I know San Francisco banned plastic bags a while back, but that sort of action is expected from them, despite their unforgivable sinfulness. Marin is going for it, too. One county and city at a time, I guess.

I actually have a lot of plastic bags in my house right now, on purpose, since I learned how to crochet them into durable, reusable bags from a crafter/teacher in Redwood City. I saw these bags at the county fair over the summer and was so blown away, now I'm trying to collect the bags that are crochet-able and get more people to learn the craft.

Of course, all the crocheters in the world won't get a hold of the billions of plastic bags circulating, polluting land and water, threatening animals of all kinds and using petroleum. So hooray for places like San Jose and Marin. Until then, try making some plarn! And send me your plastic bags. I'm really hoping to get some of those big, bright red Target bags...

(At right is my first attempt at one of these bags; I still need to figure out how to do handles. And yes, it's a bit small; the lego man is there for perspective.)

PSA

If you are planning to rent a house any time soon, hire a home inspector. You may think this is only necessary if you are purchasing a house, but you would be wrong.

When we signed a lease a year ago, we were in a bit of a hurry, since we wanted to unload our old house and the rentals we were seeing were mostly hideous and overpriced. The home we ended up choosing is hideous and overpriced, but it's also huge and in a great location.

On our first walk-through after we got the keys, we noticed a little pile of what looked like wood shavings in the downstairs bedroom. Being California homeowners, we immediately identified them as termite droppings. Fab.

In January, shortly after moving in, the rains came. And so did The Drip. In the craft/guest room. Not far from my scrapbooks. Double fab. Our landlord had some guys come and clean off the flat roof and maybe do a bit of patch work, and the dripping stopped. When the rains started again this fall, the drips came right back, one in the same place and one in another. After several patch jobs (landlord has a number of lame excuses for not replacing the roof) it seems the roof is in sufficiently shored up. There have been no more drips.

The point is, all would have come to light with a reputable inspector and we would have continued our house hunt. Next time...

Where did I go wrong?

This guy and this guy have written books. Not just books, but successful books that people read. They don't necessarily like them, but they read them and make TV shows and movies out of them. Books made into TV shows and movies, for the love of pete.

Maybe I just need to pick something and write a book about it. There are always people on the Daily Show who wrote books about random stuff. Like waves or Cleopatra, and that's just in the last week!

Surely someone can help me come up with a book idea. Anyone? Bueller?