H&R Blech.

Not only did I get another DVD from H&R Block, I got an e-mail. As you may recall, they *assured* me that my email address would not be used for purposes of solicitation.

Cripes.

An app to promote mindful consumerism

You might have heard some of the ridiculous crap that's been going on with the Stop Online Piracy Act, otherwise known as SOPA.

If you don't know what this is: this is an act that will break free speech on the internet as we know it. SOPA is the House version (the Senate's being called PIPA), and it would

grant copyright holders sweeping powers to force websites hosting allegedly-infringing content offline without the need for a trial or even a court order.

(ExtremeTech)

Which is really sort of freakishly scary. No trial, no court order? (My mind's defense against freaking out completely has been to imagine SOPA and PIPA as Pokemon.)

Anyway, some brilliant folks developed an Android app which assists in this technological protest. It's called, simply, "Boycott SOPA." Most smartphones now have a feature that allows you to scan barcodes and QR codes, which may be links to websites, text, whatever. It's a standard feature. Boycott SOPA allows you to scan the barcode of any product and find out whether its maker supports SOPA or not.

I'm excited because of the implications this has on consumerism. With a simple little app (on a massively sophisticated phone, yes), you can go to the store and figure out, easily and quickly, how to vote with your money. Brilliant. Elegant. Love it. I'm waiting for the versions that tell you who supports big oil and who's racking up massive fees in pollution fines.

Follow up (Stop Sending Me Crap)

Well, you may remember that I went on a rant about H&R Block and how tricky it was to stop their junk mail (which I'm still not convinced; I'll believe it in 6 months).

It inspired me to get a little more aggressive with junk mail reduction. (I tend to do this roughly once a year.) It usually goes like this:

• Receive junk mail.
  
• Let junk mail pile up for months.
  
• Chuck it all in the recycling.

Now, though:

• Receive junk mail.
  
• Open junk mail and look for an appropriate number to call (or discontinue website! bonus points for Geico!)
  
• Chuck it in the recycling.

It's one simple step. It takes less than five minutes a day, AND it'll help long-term. Booyah.

The scorecard so far:

• Geico, yay for you for including an online discontinue option.
  
• Wells Fargo also gets a yay because they're actually doing a "go paperless" thing. If you go paperless statements, they enter you to win prize money (thousands of dollars here). (Little known to them, I'm looking to switch to a local credit union though.)
  
• Amica (my car insurance company) was sending me life insurance mailers. I called them up and I got help from the nicest old lady.
  
• Verizon, decent. No comment, but they did it.
  
• ING Direct. I've stopped receiving credit card offers (www.optoutprescreen.com or call 1-888-5OPTOUT (1-888-567-8688)), but they've been mailing me savings account promotions. They get a gold star because I called at 8:50 in the morning and got helped by a guy who was really cute on the phone and made me laugh.

What?

Orange Seedlings, 3 months.

They're now 3 months old.

I noticed a little mold on top of the dirt in some of the cups. I took them out of the upside-down-reused-store-bought-cake cover, and cut a few more drainage holes in the bottom of a few of the cups. (Remember, all these containers are re-used.)

I looked it up online, and it turns out that a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and water is both

1) a mold-killer and
2) a plant food.

Go figure.

I watered them a week ago with a mixture of 1c water to 1.5 tsp 3% hydrogen peroxide, and they seem much healthier and happier. The new leaves have been growing in even faster.

This is the same plant as the one pictured in my last orange seedling blog entry (direct link to the photo)


This is the biggest of the new generation of leaves:


I just like how this one looks like a dancer:

Stop sending me crap

Let's assume, for a second, that you're an environmentally conscious person. You care about ecosystems, and you understand that everything, ever, represents energy or resources taken from somewhere else. Junk mail makes your blood simmer. You recently did a bit of housecleaning. You try to re-use almost everything before it goes in the trash or recycling. It's part of your care for the planet. It's what you do.

You've noticed that in the last year or so, you've received no fewer than six promotional CDs from H&R Block. These get mailed to you periodically in a plastic DVD-sized case. You scratch your little head, you get a little angry. Why did you need six CD's to be sent to your house for no reason? You didn't. Why do they feel the need to use your personal information this way? 'Cause they might make a buck.

You're perturbed by now. But you're a nice person. You conduct business in a civil manner. You have dealt with junk mail before and are aware of some of the frustrations involved. There was also the time when The News Journal wouldn't stop delivering newspapers to your house. You gave them your information, over and over and over. They took your e-mail address and started sending you JUNK E-MAIL. And then didn't stop sending newspapers to your house. Despite half a dozen irate phone calls.

To your credit, you did fix the problem by taping a giant sign to the garage that said "DON'T DELIVER NEWSPAPERS HERE." It was only about 2'x3' and didn't make the neighbors think you were crazy at all. BUT IT WORKED.

Did I mention that you are also someone who runs off on wild tangents sometimes?

Anyway, being the civil-minded environmentalist that you are, and truly believing in the good intentions of people (if not the corporations by which they are employed), you call up H&R Block. Arbitrarily choose some of the options from the automated menu. Explain that you want to be taken off their mailing list. Get asked some mumbled question about W-2's. Re-explain about the mailing list. Hear a mumbled response. Say nothing. Get connected to someone else. Re-explain.

This person seems to know what you want. And you can understand what they're saying, which is a huge plus. They ask for your e-mail. You say that they don't need your e-mail, since you're trying to get OFF their snail-mailing list. (You're also paranoid, thanks to The News Journal.) They put you on hold for 2 minutes. They come back. They ask for name and address. You supply these. They ask for your e-mail. You explain again. THIS TIME, they respond. We need your e-mail, because otherwise how will we know where NOT to send things?

...

...

...

Despite your best efforts, you are really not getting through. But you oblige.

Finally, they think they're done with you. They see the finish line, gleaming up ahead. They can finally get rid of this weird person who hates CD's so much.

You have the ace.

"Well, it's gonna be difficult for you guys to stop sending me things, because you didn't take down my town or state. Do you have that information in your database?"

"...no, ma'am."

They also ask you to spell Delaware.

Which makes you considerably nervous.

Luckily, since you're paranoid, you recorded the whole thing. So when you get the next CD, you can be even more irate.

You know, in a civil kind of way.

Feelin' clever

I've learned a few things in the last few weeks that made me feel pretty clever.

• Flax seeds can be ground in a coffee grinder and added to oatmeal. Great way to get some omega-3's into me.
  
  
• Extra virgin olive oil can be used to grease baking pans AND can be used as a hand moisturizer.
  
  
• Not only can salsa jars be reused as drinking glasses - if you keep the lids, you can use them to store extra smoothie. All you have to do later is take the lid off and drink.
  

Time audit: first full week

Despite any claims I make about being a hermit, I spent 23 hours just hanging out with people last week.

16 hours on social media, 12 hours on driving.

14ish hours on doing music stuff. (Record-keeping or open mics or anything inside or out of the house.)

8 hours just preparing for things (like, to go to work in the morning or whatnot).

5 hours vegging or journaling.

5 hours dancing... ^^ (I think that includes the potluck.)

That's 83 hours. Of the 168 hours that are in one week. Non-work, non-sleep hours. 50% of my week.


Then there are about 7 categories that are less than 3 hours: church; eating; cleaning; errands; etc. 7% of my week.


Then there's work (27, I am only part-time during non-summer months) and sleep (46). 43% of my week.




Reactions:

In general, I probably do not have 23 hours each week to hang out. It was an odd week. Plus the hanging out does include some time that should have been allotted to "church" because it's a kinship group.

I also don't have 16 hours to be on social media. F'cripesake. But I think what I'll do is step myself down. Try to get it to an hour a day instead of 2. I've tried cold turkey and other stringent methods and I just go right back. To be honest, just logging the time has helped me to at least stop being on Facebook after midnight, which is pretty huge.

I need to start thinking of prep time for work as part of a time block that also includes work and the driving time. It's so strange how my mind currently isn't wired this way.

Time and how I perceive it

Well, my experiment in auditing time was a failure for last week, because, HOLIDAYS! I'm starting anew with the new year.

Here's some preliminary findings, though:

• Social Media time averages 2 hours EVERY DAY
  
• My mind thinks that it takes no time to get ready to go somewhere. So I was confused when I had to categorize blocks of time I spent preparing to go places. It's still weird.
  
• I only spend about a quarter of my time asleep.
  
• During Christmas week, zero hours were allocated to practicing, 16 allocated to hanging out, and 12 hours on social media. Hmmmmm.