In fantasies, I can be anyone I want, do anything I please. I can
follow my impulses and indul,ge my wildest desires. Best of all, my
fantasies are oompletely anonymous,especially the dream about stylishplus.
MEGHAN UNPACKEO her suitcases for the second üme that day. 'Well, tt's been
anything but boring 80 far."
"What do you mean?" The charms on Julie's brace1et jingled as she
flipped her hair over one shoulder.
"First, a gnome propositioned me and you made me into this week's
charity case. Then, I had to wrestle my underwear away from a modemday
pirate."
Julie let out a peal of laughter. "A gnome and a pirate? I don't
remember including them in our advertising brochure."
"The gnome isn't importane' She opened a drawer and laid her Ung,erie
inside. "As lor the pirate, he's the gorgeous guy whose suite 1 checked ìnto
by mistakee".
"He wasn't wearing your underwear, I hope. "
"No,he only fondled it." Instantly, she recalled the sight of her bright red
panties draped over Nick.s olive skin-and her burnìng desire to be
wearing the Iìnge the the next time he got his hands on it.
He can only imagine how my straitlaced big sister must have reactedl
What did you say to him?"
Meghan affected a nonchalant tone. Jules was 50 easy to teas'e. ":1
agreed to spend fhe night with him."
"Excuse me?"
"He asked me to have dinner wìth him."
"Oh." She sat back in the chair and reached for another piece of the
almond-crusted brie. "That's a relief. 1 thought you meant一"
I'm planning to take him, for a lover."
"Excuse me?" Julie's voice rose to a squeak and she dropped the
cheese back onto the tray.
"l said-"
"1 heard you." She shook her head, her tone emphatic. You are not
serious."
Meghan planted her hands on both hìps and answered with a steely
resolve . I' m quite serious. He's great-Iooking, charming and very sexy. I
thìnk Nick would be a perfect lover."
"You've never taken a wrong step ìn you:r entire life. I doubt you'lI start
now." Julìe dismissed the idea with a wave of her hand and picked up her
cheese again. I'You need a nice, steady guy with a house and a dog, a guy
who'll be loyal and dependable."
"Based on that descriptìon, I shou.ld just get the dog. I'm not lookjng for
a reJationship, Jules."
The End Of The Marriage
Time progressed and we were all getting along fairly well. Ernie met and married Atma, a girl from the neighborhood Harry's station was in and was one of the regular customers on the shoe store. Harry had a rather expensive hobby. In his living room were two 50 gallon salt water aquariums fìlled with tropical fish. Harry was also an extremely avid fan of the San Francisco Forty Niners football team. Mter watchi11g one of the games with Harry at his house when the team lost， he became irrationally over emotional. He went into fit,and tipped one of the fish tark onto the floor. There was salt water and fish everywhere. i didn't understand why he was acting that way,he hadn't even lost any money on a bet. Erin was too young to remember this incident, but it was not the kind of behavior i wanted her seeing. So Carlene and i decided it was time to find another place.
It didn't take long. Ernie and Atma had found a two bedroom house that was
affordable if we moved in with them and shared a11 the expenses. We a11 got along and they liked Erin, so it was a good arrangement. Time went on and Erin grew big enough that she was getting pretty mobile. She was already crawling around the house at 5 months old, and we had to be careful not to accidentally step on her. So we got her a baby walker. It was about two and a half feet in diameter with the seat inside of a flat, plastic table resembling a doughnut. 4 legs attached it to a thin lower ring that the wheels were attached to. i liked to refer to it as Erin's house saucer. 1t had six wheel suspension and two feet drive! It was kil1d of neat to put Erin in it and watch her scoot around the house. It helped her learn to walk quick and at 7 months she was walking around the house without it.
While living with Ernie and Atula, i stumbled on a couple amazing things.
Everyone knows dogs are territorial. When one dog barks, it sets off one or two more of the neighborhood dogs to do the same. They are talking to each other and it's as if the first dog says, 'Be aware you guys, i'm on duty here". Then the second dog says, "Yeah, well i 'm on the job too". The third dog says, "So what, you guys just keep to your areas, because I'm watching things over here".
Well roosters are the exact same way.When one crows, it sets off others to do the same. I've told you all this to set up something that happened one day. Ernie and At1na had a dog who's 11ame escapes me for the moment. She was a cross between a cocker spaniel and a collie. The dog was blind in one eye, rarely barked, and deaf, or so we thought. But she was smart. Though she couldn't hear us, she would respond to hand signals.
One day i happened to be in the backyard with the dog. She was watching the
birds flying around, and just occupying herself by playing, throwing a tennis ball with her head and chasing it. This is when i discovered that roosters are territoriallike dogs, and something else remarlcable. A rooster on one side of us crowed. This made a rooster in back of us crow, and then one on the other side of us did the same. As i listened to his and watched the dog, she perked her ears and looked in the direction of the first rooster,Then she did the same thing when the second rooster crowed, and again at the third. The dog wasn't totally deaf.it was just limited to hearing sow1ds in a small range. Wow, just a small miracle in itself that i happened to be there and was able to see that she could hear the roosters.
It didn't take long. Ernie and Atma had found a two bedroom house that was
affordable if we moved in with them and shared a11 the expenses. We a11 got along and they liked Erin, so it was a good arrangement. Time went on and Erin grew big enough that she was getting pretty mobile. She was already crawling around the house at 5 months old, and we had to be careful not to accidentally step on her. So we got her a baby walker. It was about two and a half feet in diameter with the seat inside of a flat, plastic table resembling a doughnut. 4 legs attached it to a thin lower ring that the wheels were attached to. i liked to refer to it as Erin's house saucer. 1t had six wheel suspension and two feet drive! It was kil1d of neat to put Erin in it and watch her scoot around the house. It helped her learn to walk quick and at 7 months she was walking around the house without it.
While living with Ernie and Atula, i stumbled on a couple amazing things.
Everyone knows dogs are territorial. When one dog barks, it sets off one or two more of the neighborhood dogs to do the same. They are talking to each other and it's as if the first dog says, 'Be aware you guys, i'm on duty here". Then the second dog says, "Yeah, well i 'm on the job too". The third dog says, "So what, you guys just keep to your areas, because I'm watching things over here".
Well roosters are the exact same way.When one crows, it sets off others to do the same. I've told you all this to set up something that happened one day. Ernie and At1na had a dog who's 11ame escapes me for the moment. She was a cross between a cocker spaniel and a collie. The dog was blind in one eye, rarely barked, and deaf, or so we thought. But she was smart. Though she couldn't hear us, she would respond to hand signals.
One day i happened to be in the backyard with the dog. She was watching the
birds flying around, and just occupying herself by playing, throwing a tennis ball with her head and chasing it. This is when i discovered that roosters are territoriallike dogs, and something else remarlcable. A rooster on one side of us crowed. This made a rooster in back of us crow, and then one on the other side of us did the same. As i listened to his and watched the dog, she perked her ears and looked in the direction of the first rooster,Then she did the same thing when the second rooster crowed, and again at the third. The dog wasn't totally deaf.it was just limited to hearing sow1ds in a small range. Wow, just a small miracle in itself that i happened to be there and was able to see that she could hear the roosters.
VRRROOOOOOOOOOMMM!!
In August of 2004 while Bob and i were running the room, he sent me a private message. "Hey Jay,I'll see you down here next month" Nope Bob" i replied, the barbeque is the month after." Bob said, "i'm not talking about the barbeque, i'm talking about the race. "Bob， like i am, is an avid NASCAR fan, and has his computer room filled with memorabilia. We just have a slight difference. His favorite driver is Dale J r. and mine is Jeff Gordon. It makes for good fun kidding with each other about it.
That year NASCAR was holding the inaugural Pop Secret 500 at the Auto Club
Speedway in Fontana, California, just a 20 minute drive from Bob's house. It would also be the track's very frrst night race. "I'd like to, Bob, but i can't afford that right now.Bob said to me, "You don't need to worry about what it costs. I've already bought your ticket, and you aren't going to have to drive either, i've made plane reservations.If you need to go anywhere, you can use my car." "Geez" i said to Bob, "That is a lot of money， Bob told me, "You don't need to worry about that， it is well within my budget. Besides, i came back allead when i went to Las Vegas a couple weeks ago so i just want to share my good luck with you. Also, you haven't been to a big track yet and it would be my honor to take you. And you'll be doing me a favor too. Bring your handicap parking placard so we can park close to the track." Bob was right about
one thing. When i was a NASCAR driver it was at the hometown short track and i had never been at a super speedway. And though it was a small contribution，the privilege of handicap parking i could provide made me feel better about things, so i agreed to come.
Thursday morning i had Mike drive me to the airport. Then the fun started. At
the airport, i had TSA jumping through hoops. They want you to remove your shoes from stylishplus while going through the metal detector but i informed them that i couldn't do this, my shoes were part of my prosthetics. So they had me walk through the detector anyway,then took me into a private room out of public view and gave me a special screening,They kept apologizing for having to do this, but i told them it was ok, 1 didn't mind because it meant they were doing what they had to so the flight would be safe for everyone.
The flight was uneventful and took less than an hour. Wow, even though i like to drive, it sure was better than the 6 hours it took to get there by car. Bob's son Joe picked me up at the airport. He took me to Bob's and let me in. Bob and Janice were at work, and Joe needed to get going to meet up with friends and told me, "You know where everything is, make yourself at home and we'll see you later." i raided the refrigerator and fixed a small snack, went and turned on the tv and feJl asleep for a bit. There's that nap thing again. Don't you have some memories to look at or something else to do? Hey, i haven't bugged you in a while, it was about time.
Janice got home before Bob. She asked how the flight was, we visited for a bit,then she went puttering about the house. Bob arrived a short time later, and when he asked me how the flight was, i told him i felt like i was in a re-run. "Huh?" Bob said. i told him that was the first thing Janice had asked me also. We laughed, then i told him to tell me about winning in Las Vegas. Bob said it was on a $3.00 keno bet. He had picked 6 numbers, and all 6 numbers came up. His payoff for the $3.00 was $7,500.00. Wow! That was huge. "Yep" Bob said, "and one of the numbers was your take us back, but i was already out of the seat and told Ronno, but thanks anyway for letting me get behind the wheel of a big rig once again. Ron deserves the Medal of Honor for bravely about and beyond the call of duty. Shouldn't you be inspecing somr nerve receptor cells or something? I'm on break. You're always on break.
We got two more special treats at the barbeque that year,Lili's screen name is Iluv2bake2 ，and true to the name she does love to bake. Lili made an assortment of desserts for us, induding a birthday cake for Bob and Elton. Elton was a date that Ann, one of the music room members brought along. Bob and Elton's birthdays came close enough to the barbeque that we celebrated them at the event also.
The other treat we got was watching Elton pelform magic tricks. He was a professional magician and gave us all a great show. There was no professional karaoke dj at the barbeque that year.i rented the equipment and Bob and i dj'd the event ourselves. We even set up a webcam so the people that couldn't attend could watch us. It was as much fun if not more than the first barbeque，and we decided we would do it one more time. Uh.. ...... can we, Janice?
"Ok, but one more is all you get Janice growled. Bob and i smiled at each other, "Yesssss! ! !"
That year NASCAR was holding the inaugural Pop Secret 500 at the Auto Club
Speedway in Fontana, California, just a 20 minute drive from Bob's house. It would also be the track's very frrst night race. "I'd like to, Bob, but i can't afford that right now.Bob said to me, "You don't need to worry about what it costs. I've already bought your ticket, and you aren't going to have to drive either, i've made plane reservations.If you need to go anywhere, you can use my car." "Geez" i said to Bob, "That is a lot of money， Bob told me, "You don't need to worry about that， it is well within my budget. Besides, i came back allead when i went to Las Vegas a couple weeks ago so i just want to share my good luck with you. Also, you haven't been to a big track yet and it would be my honor to take you. And you'll be doing me a favor too. Bring your handicap parking placard so we can park close to the track." Bob was right about
one thing. When i was a NASCAR driver it was at the hometown short track and i had never been at a super speedway. And though it was a small contribution，the privilege of handicap parking i could provide made me feel better about things, so i agreed to come.
Thursday morning i had Mike drive me to the airport. Then the fun started. At
the airport, i had TSA jumping through hoops. They want you to remove your shoes from stylishplus while going through the metal detector but i informed them that i couldn't do this, my shoes were part of my prosthetics. So they had me walk through the detector anyway,then took me into a private room out of public view and gave me a special screening,They kept apologizing for having to do this, but i told them it was ok, 1 didn't mind because it meant they were doing what they had to so the flight would be safe for everyone.
The flight was uneventful and took less than an hour. Wow, even though i like to drive, it sure was better than the 6 hours it took to get there by car. Bob's son Joe picked me up at the airport. He took me to Bob's and let me in. Bob and Janice were at work, and Joe needed to get going to meet up with friends and told me, "You know where everything is, make yourself at home and we'll see you later." i raided the refrigerator and fixed a small snack, went and turned on the tv and feJl asleep for a bit. There's that nap thing again. Don't you have some memories to look at or something else to do? Hey, i haven't bugged you in a while, it was about time.
Janice got home before Bob. She asked how the flight was, we visited for a bit,then she went puttering about the house. Bob arrived a short time later, and when he asked me how the flight was, i told him i felt like i was in a re-run. "Huh?" Bob said. i told him that was the first thing Janice had asked me also. We laughed, then i told him to tell me about winning in Las Vegas. Bob said it was on a $3.00 keno bet. He had picked 6 numbers, and all 6 numbers came up. His payoff for the $3.00 was $7,500.00. Wow! That was huge. "Yep" Bob said, "and one of the numbers was your take us back, but i was already out of the seat and told Ronno, but thanks anyway for letting me get behind the wheel of a big rig once again. Ron deserves the Medal of Honor for bravely about and beyond the call of duty. Shouldn't you be inspecing somr nerve receptor cells or something? I'm on break. You're always on break.
We got two more special treats at the barbeque that year,Lili's screen name is Iluv2bake2 ，and true to the name she does love to bake. Lili made an assortment of desserts for us, induding a birthday cake for Bob and Elton. Elton was a date that Ann, one of the music room members brought along. Bob and Elton's birthdays came close enough to the barbeque that we celebrated them at the event also.
The other treat we got was watching Elton pelform magic tricks. He was a professional magician and gave us all a great show. There was no professional karaoke dj at the barbeque that year.i rented the equipment and Bob and i dj'd the event ourselves. We even set up a webcam so the people that couldn't attend could watch us. It was as much fun if not more than the first barbeque，and we decided we would do it one more time. Uh.. ...... can we, Janice?
"Ok, but one more is all you get Janice growled. Bob and i smiled at each other, "Yesssss! ! !"
Left In The Dark
It's New Year's Day, Sunday January 1st, 2006. A little before 6:30 pm i am sitting at my computer doing uh...... computer stuff and Mike is in the living room watching football. Mike is from Texas and his team, the Dallas
Cowboys,stylishplus, is playing the St. Louis Rams. All of a sudden, blink, the screen goes dark and the lights go out. From the living room I hear a string of obscenities. Mike's an avid football fan and he doesn't like interruptions, especiaUy when his team is playing. A storm here had caused the power outage, or so we thought.
A couple hours later we hear the sound of large trucks outside. It's the power company and they can't find the source of the outage because it also took out their display grid in the control room. So they are manual1y checking power poles. i looked out the back door and saw what appeared to be a downed power line. i showed Mike and he said we should tell the power company workers about it. We went out front and brought one of the workers through the house and showed him. He went running back out front and the crew got in the truck and sped off.
After a bit the crew returned and the one we showed the power line to came up
and told us it was an optica1 illusion. From the angle we had out the back door the line appeared to have fallen, but from another angle it was ok. Aw rats, we thought we had saved the day: i said to Mike that things could have been worse. "How is that?" he asked. i said, "This cou1d be August instead of January and it would be one hundred and ten degrees out with no air conditioning." It was an optimistic view in an unfortunate situation. Mike thought about this for a second and then shook his head and went, "Naahhhhhhhhhh! and walked away. Mike's not one to try and see the good side of things. Oh well, too dark to do anything and no battery operated radio to listen to, so it was off to bed.
There was no power all through the next day. In fact it wasn't restored till a little after 9:00 am on Tuesday morning, just over thirty eight and a half hours later. i rebooted my computer and got online. Des had the day off and saw me come online and wondered what i had been up to since she hadn't seen me for a couple days. i told her there had been a power outage here and we had no electricity. Then as i was looking at the screen, i couldn't believe the words i was reading. Des had typed, "So has your power come back on yet? Uh. . . . . .let me guess,Des is blonde? Hey now,no blonde jokes. i typed back to Des, "Uh.......duhhhhhhhhh." She started laughing and said after she saw it that she couldn't believe she had typed it herself. i just laughed and told her I'd
talk to her later. By the way, yep, Des is blonde. I knew it! Oh shut up!
Any way， we found out the storm isn't what had caused the power outage, failing equipment in a substation on the outskirts of town had been the culprit. Oh well, if this was the worst that was going to happen, then it wouldn't be such a bad year. All of a sudden there's another string ofobscenities pouüng out from .Mike in the living room. He had got online and was checking scores，the Rams had beaten the Cowboys. i chuckled, but to myself, Mike was mad enough already: If this was a sign of things to come， Mike wasn't going to have a very good year. yep, you could say he was off to a rocky start. For once i'11 agree with you.
Cowboys,stylishplus, is playing the St. Louis Rams. All of a sudden, blink, the screen goes dark and the lights go out. From the living room I hear a string of obscenities. Mike's an avid football fan and he doesn't like interruptions, especiaUy when his team is playing. A storm here had caused the power outage, or so we thought.
A couple hours later we hear the sound of large trucks outside. It's the power company and they can't find the source of the outage because it also took out their display grid in the control room. So they are manual1y checking power poles. i looked out the back door and saw what appeared to be a downed power line. i showed Mike and he said we should tell the power company workers about it. We went out front and brought one of the workers through the house and showed him. He went running back out front and the crew got in the truck and sped off.
After a bit the crew returned and the one we showed the power line to came up
and told us it was an optica1 illusion. From the angle we had out the back door the line appeared to have fallen, but from another angle it was ok. Aw rats, we thought we had saved the day: i said to Mike that things could have been worse. "How is that?" he asked. i said, "This cou1d be August instead of January and it would be one hundred and ten degrees out with no air conditioning." It was an optimistic view in an unfortunate situation. Mike thought about this for a second and then shook his head and went, "Naahhhhhhhhhh! and walked away. Mike's not one to try and see the good side of things. Oh well, too dark to do anything and no battery operated radio to listen to, so it was off to bed.
There was no power all through the next day. In fact it wasn't restored till a little after 9:00 am on Tuesday morning, just over thirty eight and a half hours later. i rebooted my computer and got online. Des had the day off and saw me come online and wondered what i had been up to since she hadn't seen me for a couple days. i told her there had been a power outage here and we had no electricity. Then as i was looking at the screen, i couldn't believe the words i was reading. Des had typed, "So has your power come back on yet? Uh. . . . . .let me guess,Des is blonde? Hey now,no blonde jokes. i typed back to Des, "Uh.......duhhhhhhhhh." She started laughing and said after she saw it that she couldn't believe she had typed it herself. i just laughed and told her I'd
talk to her later. By the way, yep, Des is blonde. I knew it! Oh shut up!
Any way， we found out the storm isn't what had caused the power outage, failing equipment in a substation on the outskirts of town had been the culprit. Oh well, if this was the worst that was going to happen, then it wouldn't be such a bad year. All of a sudden there's another string ofobscenities pouüng out from .Mike in the living room. He had got online and was checking scores，the Rams had beaten the Cowboys. i chuckled, but to myself, Mike was mad enough already: If this was a sign of things to come， Mike wasn't going to have a very good year. yep, you could say he was off to a rocky start. For once i'11 agree with you.
A Letter Of Discontent Never Sent
The last eight months living with Mike were a11 but unbearable. i had intentions of moving, but was forced to relocate sooner than i expected. i wrote the following letter to Mike, but never sent it. They say it is thcrapcutic to just write a letter to someone whom you are discontent with and then not send it. Writing the letter gets things off your chest. However, I included it here in my story for two reasons. It lets you know the living hell 1 had to put up with and， sould the book be read by enough people, fulfills the promise i made in the last line. Here is the letter:
Mike;
First let me say that i do appreciate everything you have ever done. i have a car with decent creature comforts, but you financed it at four percent, so you made money on that which means you were doing yourself a favor. And since yOll don't have a banking license, I'm pretty sure it was illegal. You taught me a lot about the computer and got me my start on the internet, but you took advantage of my technical naivety and sold me a llsed computer that was worth no more 由at two hundred dollars for seven hundred dollars. You sold me a used printer d1at was worth about fifty dollars for two hundred dollars. And you sold me a used computer desk for fifty dollars that was worth no more than twenty dollars. It was my falùt for being uninformed as to the equipment's true value, but shame on you for taking advantage and ripping me off, all the while calling me your friend. You maintained my website which everyone said was great and i had always given you credit for it when someone tallced about it. But you changed things as you saw fit without asking my permission. Then after i moved out you hacked the site and destroyed it. And you sent me coundess songs whenever i asked for one although you chose to ignore the last song i asked for. In fact, you didn't
even acknowledge that you received the email. But a sister in Christ, Jeri, is a radio dj with access to over 800,000 songs and told me she could send me whatever i wanted. The first four years there were pretty good. You kept the yard up, and things were livable.But You've changed. You've become lazy.There are things around there that need attention, bllt you sit at your computer all day playing Freecell. When i asked you if you would like to try another computer game called Taipei which is a version of Mall Jong, you said it was nothing but a time waster. Oh, and Freecell isn't a time waster? The yard has become so overgrown and trashy that the neighborhood uses it as a dump. You call yourself a good mechanic, but you are not. A good mechanic fmishes whatever he starts on, and cleans up after himself. You have never fll1ished anything. You tear stuff apart, and that's as far as it ever gets. You bought all the parts needed to make a
HotRod. You sandblasted 出e frame and that's as far as it got . You were going to CllStomize the dash on the Caballero and replace the lights with gauges.
Mike;
First let me say that i do appreciate everything you have ever done. i have a car with decent creature comforts, but you financed it at four percent, so you made money on that which means you were doing yourself a favor. And since yOll don't have a banking license, I'm pretty sure it was illegal. You taught me a lot about the computer and got me my start on the internet, but you took advantage of my technical naivety and sold me a llsed computer that was worth no more 由at two hundred dollars for seven hundred dollars. You sold me a used printer d1at was worth about fifty dollars for two hundred dollars. And you sold me a used computer desk for fifty dollars that was worth no more than twenty dollars. It was my falùt for being uninformed as to the equipment's true value, but shame on you for taking advantage and ripping me off, all the while calling me your friend. You maintained my website which everyone said was great and i had always given you credit for it when someone tallced about it. But you changed things as you saw fit without asking my permission. Then after i moved out you hacked the site and destroyed it. And you sent me coundess songs whenever i asked for one although you chose to ignore the last song i asked for. In fact, you didn't
even acknowledge that you received the email. But a sister in Christ, Jeri, is a radio dj with access to over 800,000 songs and told me she could send me whatever i wanted. The first four years there were pretty good. You kept the yard up, and things were livable.But You've changed. You've become lazy.There are things around there that need attention, bllt you sit at your computer all day playing Freecell. When i asked you if you would like to try another computer game called Taipei which is a version of Mall Jong, you said it was nothing but a time waster. Oh, and Freecell isn't a time waster? The yard has become so overgrown and trashy that the neighborhood uses it as a dump. You call yourself a good mechanic, but you are not. A good mechanic fmishes whatever he starts on, and cleans up after himself. You have never fll1ished anything. You tear stuff apart, and that's as far as it ever gets. You bought all the parts needed to make a
HotRod. You sandblasted 出e frame and that's as far as it got . You were going to CllStomize the dash on the Caballero and replace the lights with gauges.
Want to Leave a Smaller Footprint?
WEAR SMALLER SHOES in the shoe store. Yes, it's a lame joke, but it's the
lame joke that gives this book its title. With all of the
interest we see these days in saving energy and resources, and
all of that talk about one's "carbon footprint" and "going green,"
few people point out the obvious: it works out best if you get by
with less. And that's what this book is all about: it's about living
your life using less energy and fewer resources, without adding
more of both to get by with less. Does that make sense to you?
It sure does to me.
So welcome to the world of living small. It has nothing to do
with height, although, yes, 1 am short, and everything to do with
leading a life of less conspicuous (and sometimes not so conspicuous)
consumption. You need to know this right up front,
though: This is not about sitting there all alone in a damp cardboard
box, reading someone else's discarded magazines by the
flickering light of an earwax candle. (And does that paint a dismal
picture or what?) This is about living your life as you live it
right now, but living it using just a little bit less. That's all I ask.
Yes, you are going to save some serious coin if you do even
a few of the things in this book. It would probab1y take very few
changes in your life to save the price of this book every month.
With a little more effort you might possibly save the price of this
book every week. Dare we hope for saving the price of the book
every day? A daunting task, but who am 1 to rule it out? For
many of us (yes, even me) , savings are first measured by the
money saved, and 1 don't have a problem with that. Money saved
represents both energy and resources saved, and that really is an
excellent way to track your progress.
This book is not about adding more things to your already
fulllife. It's not about having to rush right out and purchase all
the latest and greatest technology, all those wild and wonderful
gadgets - in other words, buying a lot to save a little. Modern
technology is a wonderful thing, but all of that modern technology
takes both power and resources to build, install and run.
(And, yes, to throw it away when it wears out.) This is not about
that at all. This is about the opposite of that. This is about leading
a simpler life. Your life, but simpler. This is more about planting
trees than having to cut those trees down to make room for your
new solar panels. AIso, 1 see no reason to go into debt to save
money. That seems somewhat counterproductive, doesn't it?
And you paid cash for this book, right? If not, we need to talk.
Chances are you can live your life as you're living 让right
now, but use less to get it all done. You can use less power and
water around the house, and use less fuel when you travel. You
can spend less, and still keep your routine. All you need is a
green routine. It takes surprisingly little effort to make a few
changes that will, over time, save you quite a bit of energy, resources
and, yes, money. These are things that take no more time or effort to do, but pay off in the long run because you 're using less as you do things just a little bit differently. And using less is better, right? Absolutely.
I'm not going to send you off to other books or web sites.
You need not write for additional information. These are all easy
things, simple changes, and they are all spelled out right here in
this book. This is it: this is your blueprint for a simpler life and
for saving yourself a bundle of time, energy and money. You can
have your life and save it, too.
Ah, but what about me? How small are my flat shoes? 1 usually
wear about a size 61h or so, but you also need to know that, yes,
1 really do all the things l've written about in this book. This
is my small life as 1 lead it these days, but l'm not doing this
all alone. The lovely }oAnn, my wonderful wife of over twenty
years, is just as zealous about living the smalllife (la vida teenie?)
as 1 am, and she handles our extensive recycling arrangements
with tremendous enthusiasm. And, yes, if you must know, she also wears
smaller shoes.
i ride my bicycle to work,just as my wife both rides and
walks to do much of what she does throughout her day. 飞Ne
also walk and ride for fun and exercise, but bicycles and
foot power get us many of the places we need to go on a
daily basis. That's not to say we don't drive. We do, we just try to not drive everywhere and are always on the lookout for new places to not drive to. Walkingout to dinner is a fun night out for us. (We're just a couple
of crazy wild kids, aren't we?) My best friend called me a reen
freak" a while back, but 1 don't really see it like that. These are
just things we do - sensible changes we have made over time
to live our lives the way we want to, and to save us time, energy,
and money along the way. We still spend the money we save, but
we spend it on things that are more fun. Paying the power bill is
not fun. The less 1 have to pay there, the better.
You also need to know that we do not live all alone out in
a cabin in the woods. We live in a perfectly normal house in
the middle of suburbia. Our house looks like every other house
around here. Well, mostly. There are those two green metal frogs
bolted to the outside walls, and the two big carved Tiki idols. Oh,
and the full-sized wooden bear on the front porch. Did 1 forget
anything? Ah, yes; the big red steel mooring ball by the front
door, a gift from oAnn's brother, Cecil the sailor. Still, overall,
we live in a normal, regular sort of place, surrounded by endless
humanity for miles around. I'm out there mowing the yard and
working in my garage like everyone else. Few people around us
have any idea that our lives are any different from theirs. Few
people know our deep green secret. Maybe they will after this
book comes out. Oh, my.
1 do honestly believe that the key to success in this is to, no pun intended, start small. There's no need to rush around and gut your house, throw out your old life, and start over with everything all at once. We sure didn't. (And we're still changing things in our lives to do better and live smaller.) Pick one or two things to change, easy things, and give them a try. If you like
how that worked out, add a couple more. If you don't like how
that worked out, ask yourself what you can do that you willlike.
We all do what we can, but, yes, likes and dislikes are certainly a
big part of it. Some things might take a little getting used to, but
changes become habit over time. Small changes over time are
the key to success, 1 think. Big changes are a realleap of faith,
and much harder to get used to.
Looking back, 1 think we first started by recycling newspapers.
Then we changed out a few light bulbs. 1 bought a little
folding bike at the pawnshop downtown. Small things all, but
each change led to more change, and now here we are: a couple
of suburban green freaks. (Or so they say.) 1 still say we're fairly
normal, and ifyou met us on the street, you'd have no idea what
sort of lives we lead. 1 like that. 1 don't have to travel incognito.
N ot yet, aQ，vay. Maybe it's not so much suburban green as
suburban camouflage. Hidden green. Green does come in many
shades.
1 will say this, though, right up front: beware of "greenwashing."
Greenwashing is what happens when companies try to sell
you products by making them appear environmentally sensible
("green") when they are not. While you'll see 让in all manner of
commercial products and advertising, greenwashing is the most
glaring these days in the automotive industry and their TV commercials.
Let me just say this right here: as-thousand-pound
hybrid sport utility vehicle is not, in any way, shape or form, environmentally
sensible. lt's not green. lt just isn't, and no happy
woodsy TV commercial with little furry animals and soothing
acoustical guitar music is going to change that. No motor vehicle
is green, not even mine, and it really is green. (A dark, metallic
green.) C'est la vie. The greenest vehicle you can buy is a bicycle,
but even then, it sure used a lot of energy to make and deliver.
About the only way you can truly "go green" is to go walk barefoot.
I'm sorry. I'm not that green. Life is a balancing act. 1 have
my limits. 1 wear fashion shoes. Even if they're small.
You'll see that greenwashing being used to sell everything
from huge cars to the smallest widget spanner. lt seems as though
everyone and their free-range organic sock monkey has something
"green" to sell you these days. Green is the new black.
Green is the new buzz word in marketing just about everything,
and there's little in the way of law or conscience to stop advertisers
from marketing leaking tubs of burning toxic waste as
"green." Caveat emptor? You bet. Sometimes literally. Beware
the greenwash. You've been warned.
lame joke that gives this book its title. With all of the
interest we see these days in saving energy and resources, and
all of that talk about one's "carbon footprint" and "going green,"
few people point out the obvious: it works out best if you get by
with less. And that's what this book is all about: it's about living
your life using less energy and fewer resources, without adding
more of both to get by with less. Does that make sense to you?
It sure does to me.
So welcome to the world of living small. It has nothing to do
with height, although, yes, 1 am short, and everything to do with
leading a life of less conspicuous (and sometimes not so conspicuous)
consumption. You need to know this right up front,
though: This is not about sitting there all alone in a damp cardboard
box, reading someone else's discarded magazines by the
flickering light of an earwax candle. (And does that paint a dismal
picture or what?) This is about living your life as you live it
right now, but living it using just a little bit less. That's all I ask.
Yes, you are going to save some serious coin if you do even
a few of the things in this book. It would probab1y take very few
changes in your life to save the price of this book every month.
With a little more effort you might possibly save the price of this
book every week. Dare we hope for saving the price of the book
every day? A daunting task, but who am 1 to rule it out? For
many of us (yes, even me) , savings are first measured by the
money saved, and 1 don't have a problem with that. Money saved
represents both energy and resources saved, and that really is an
excellent way to track your progress.
This book is not about adding more things to your already
fulllife. It's not about having to rush right out and purchase all
the latest and greatest technology, all those wild and wonderful
gadgets - in other words, buying a lot to save a little. Modern
technology is a wonderful thing, but all of that modern technology
takes both power and resources to build, install and run.
(And, yes, to throw it away when it wears out.) This is not about
that at all. This is about the opposite of that. This is about leading
a simpler life. Your life, but simpler. This is more about planting
trees than having to cut those trees down to make room for your
new solar panels. AIso, 1 see no reason to go into debt to save
money. That seems somewhat counterproductive, doesn't it?
And you paid cash for this book, right? If not, we need to talk.
Chances are you can live your life as you're living 让right
now, but use less to get it all done. You can use less power and
water around the house, and use less fuel when you travel. You
can spend less, and still keep your routine. All you need is a
green routine. It takes surprisingly little effort to make a few
changes that will, over time, save you quite a bit of energy, resources
and, yes, money. These are things that take no more time or effort to do, but pay off in the long run because you 're using less as you do things just a little bit differently. And using less is better, right? Absolutely.
I'm not going to send you off to other books or web sites.
You need not write for additional information. These are all easy
things, simple changes, and they are all spelled out right here in
this book. This is it: this is your blueprint for a simpler life and
for saving yourself a bundle of time, energy and money. You can
have your life and save it, too.
Ah, but what about me? How small are my flat shoes? 1 usually
wear about a size 61h or so, but you also need to know that, yes,
1 really do all the things l've written about in this book. This
is my small life as 1 lead it these days, but l'm not doing this
all alone. The lovely }oAnn, my wonderful wife of over twenty
years, is just as zealous about living the smalllife (la vida teenie?)
as 1 am, and she handles our extensive recycling arrangements
with tremendous enthusiasm. And, yes, if you must know, she also wears
smaller shoes.
i ride my bicycle to work,just as my wife both rides and
walks to do much of what she does throughout her day. 飞Ne
also walk and ride for fun and exercise, but bicycles and
foot power get us many of the places we need to go on a
daily basis. That's not to say we don't drive. We do, we just try to not drive everywhere and are always on the lookout for new places to not drive to. Walkingout to dinner is a fun night out for us. (We're just a couple
of crazy wild kids, aren't we?) My best friend called me a reen
freak" a while back, but 1 don't really see it like that. These are
just things we do - sensible changes we have made over time
to live our lives the way we want to, and to save us time, energy,
and money along the way. We still spend the money we save, but
we spend it on things that are more fun. Paying the power bill is
not fun. The less 1 have to pay there, the better.
You also need to know that we do not live all alone out in
a cabin in the woods. We live in a perfectly normal house in
the middle of suburbia. Our house looks like every other house
around here. Well, mostly. There are those two green metal frogs
bolted to the outside walls, and the two big carved Tiki idols. Oh,
and the full-sized wooden bear on the front porch. Did 1 forget
anything? Ah, yes; the big red steel mooring ball by the front
door, a gift from oAnn's brother, Cecil the sailor. Still, overall,
we live in a normal, regular sort of place, surrounded by endless
humanity for miles around. I'm out there mowing the yard and
working in my garage like everyone else. Few people around us
have any idea that our lives are any different from theirs. Few
people know our deep green secret. Maybe they will after this
book comes out. Oh, my.
1 do honestly believe that the key to success in this is to, no pun intended, start small. There's no need to rush around and gut your house, throw out your old life, and start over with everything all at once. We sure didn't. (And we're still changing things in our lives to do better and live smaller.) Pick one or two things to change, easy things, and give them a try. If you like
how that worked out, add a couple more. If you don't like how
that worked out, ask yourself what you can do that you willlike.
We all do what we can, but, yes, likes and dislikes are certainly a
big part of it. Some things might take a little getting used to, but
changes become habit over time. Small changes over time are
the key to success, 1 think. Big changes are a realleap of faith,
and much harder to get used to.
Looking back, 1 think we first started by recycling newspapers.
Then we changed out a few light bulbs. 1 bought a little
folding bike at the pawnshop downtown. Small things all, but
each change led to more change, and now here we are: a couple
of suburban green freaks. (Or so they say.) 1 still say we're fairly
normal, and ifyou met us on the street, you'd have no idea what
sort of lives we lead. 1 like that. 1 don't have to travel incognito.
N ot yet, aQ，vay. Maybe it's not so much suburban green as
suburban camouflage. Hidden green. Green does come in many
shades.
1 will say this, though, right up front: beware of "greenwashing."
Greenwashing is what happens when companies try to sell
you products by making them appear environmentally sensible
("green") when they are not. While you'll see 让in all manner of
commercial products and advertising, greenwashing is the most
glaring these days in the automotive industry and their TV commercials.
Let me just say this right here: as-thousand-pound
hybrid sport utility vehicle is not, in any way, shape or form, environmentally
sensible. lt's not green. lt just isn't, and no happy
woodsy TV commercial with little furry animals and soothing
acoustical guitar music is going to change that. No motor vehicle
is green, not even mine, and it really is green. (A dark, metallic
green.) C'est la vie. The greenest vehicle you can buy is a bicycle,
but even then, it sure used a lot of energy to make and deliver.
About the only way you can truly "go green" is to go walk barefoot.
I'm sorry. I'm not that green. Life is a balancing act. 1 have
my limits. 1 wear fashion shoes. Even if they're small.
You'll see that greenwashing being used to sell everything
from huge cars to the smallest widget spanner. lt seems as though
everyone and their free-range organic sock monkey has something
"green" to sell you these days. Green is the new black.
Green is the new buzz word in marketing just about everything,
and there's little in the way of law or conscience to stop advertisers
from marketing leaking tubs of burning toxic waste as
"green." Caveat emptor? You bet. Sometimes literally. Beware
the greenwash. You've been warned.
The Sinful Persistence of Racism
This lnelnory becomes even lnore challen ging when we recognize the delnographic shifts taking place both in the United 5tates and in the Ron1an Catholic Church as we enter upon the third millennium. U.5. Census st atistics
present a picture of a very different American societ y and American Catholic
church, one in which persons of color,stylishplus as a whole, are the majority rather than the minority. Afri can Ameri can Catholics will be a part of this lna jorit which can be seen, depending on one's perspective, as threatening to the
ver y stability and identity of both church and state, or sÌ1nply as a sign of the changing times that must be dealt with.
These changes do provide a critical challenge for us as church to day as we
seek to affinn the new understandings of theology, mini strand liturgy that
are elnerging from persons heretofore marginalized on the church's peripher
.The developlnent of a black Catholic theology is only one exalnple of
these shifts in understanding that must be acknowledged and affirmed. This
theology was born out of the struggle to n1aintain both our Catholic faith
and our black culture, in the face of the racisn1 that still besets our church,
institutionally and individually. The Pontical Peace and Justice Commission
noted in 1989:
Today racism has not disappeared . There are even troubling new manifestat.
io ns of Ï.t here and there in vario us forms, be they spon taneo us,officially
to lerated or institutionalized. The victims are certain gro ups of persons
whose physical appearance or ethnic, cultural or religious characteristics
are different from those of the dominant group and are interpreted by the
latter as being signs of innate and definite inferiority, thereby justifying all
discriminatory practices in their regard.
Racisnl is a fact of life that continues to tonnent black Anlericans regardless
of their particular faith. It has its roots in the very fo undations of our
society where, in drafting the Constitution, the enslavement of blacks was
recognized and accepted. The revolutionary phrases of the founding fathers,
proclaiming liberty and justice for all and declaring the equality of all "lnen,"
ignored the condition of black hum a nit,A s the late Supreme Court Justice
Thurgood Marshall 110ted, "the famous first three words of that document,
'We the People,' did not include wonl en, who were denied the vote, or blacks,
who were e nsl aved. The intent was clearly expressed in the notification that
blacks counted as only three-fifths of a white person and then only for the
purpose of white male representation in the new Congress. The Constitution
of the United States of America was developed not as a color-blind document,
but as o ne assuring the hegelnony of white, propertied males over all
others living in the newly formed union.
Racism, today has changed its face. Rather than the blatant, overt racism
of prior year s, today we are confronted with a lnore sinister beca use it
is less visible form of covert racisln. Institutional racisnl "origina tes in the
operation of established and respected forces in the society and thus receives
far less public consideration. "
As such, institutional racisln is more than a fonn "sancti oned by the
Constitution and laws of a country ,I as the Vatican cOlnmission suggests.
For even after that Constitution has been expunged of its color bias and the
laws mandating segregation and second-class citizenship have been removed,
the aura of institutionalized racism still persists. It persists in the very warp
and woof of that society, which h as, for so long, been imbued with an ideology
supported all too often by an erroneous interpretation of the teachings
of sacred scripture.
present a picture of a very different American societ y and American Catholic
church, one in which persons of color,stylishplus as a whole, are the majority rather than the minority. Afri can Ameri can Catholics will be a part of this lna jorit which can be seen, depending on one's perspective, as threatening to the
ver y stability and identity of both church and state, or sÌ1nply as a sign of the changing times that must be dealt with.
These changes do provide a critical challenge for us as church to day as we
seek to affinn the new understandings of theology, mini strand liturgy that
are elnerging from persons heretofore marginalized on the church's peripher
.The developlnent of a black Catholic theology is only one exalnple of
these shifts in understanding that must be acknowledged and affirmed. This
theology was born out of the struggle to n1aintain both our Catholic faith
and our black culture, in the face of the racisn1 that still besets our church,
institutionally and individually. The Pontical Peace and Justice Commission
noted in 1989:
Today racism has not disappeared . There are even troubling new manifestat.
io ns of Ï.t here and there in vario us forms, be they spon taneo us,officially
to lerated or institutionalized. The victims are certain gro ups of persons
whose physical appearance or ethnic, cultural or religious characteristics
are different from those of the dominant group and are interpreted by the
latter as being signs of innate and definite inferiority, thereby justifying all
discriminatory practices in their regard.
Racisnl is a fact of life that continues to tonnent black Anlericans regardless
of their particular faith. It has its roots in the very fo undations of our
society where, in drafting the Constitution, the enslavement of blacks was
recognized and accepted. The revolutionary phrases of the founding fathers,
proclaiming liberty and justice for all and declaring the equality of all "lnen,"
ignored the condition of black hum a nit,A s the late Supreme Court Justice
Thurgood Marshall 110ted, "the famous first three words of that document,
'We the People,' did not include wonl en, who were denied the vote, or blacks,
who were e nsl aved. The intent was clearly expressed in the notification that
blacks counted as only three-fifths of a white person and then only for the
purpose of white male representation in the new Congress. The Constitution
of the United States of America was developed not as a color-blind document,
but as o ne assuring the hegelnony of white, propertied males over all
others living in the newly formed union.
Racism, today has changed its face. Rather than the blatant, overt racism
of prior year s, today we are confronted with a lnore sinister beca use it
is less visible form of covert racisln. Institutional racisnl "origina tes in the
operation of established and respected forces in the society and thus receives
far less public consideration. "
As such, institutional racisln is more than a fonn "sancti oned by the
Constitution and laws of a country ,I as the Vatican cOlnmission suggests.
For even after that Constitution has been expunged of its color bias and the
laws mandating segregation and second-class citizenship have been removed,
the aura of institutionalized racism still persists. It persists in the very warp
and woof of that society, which h as, for so long, been imbued with an ideology
supported all too often by an erroneous interpretation of the teachings
of sacred scripture.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Powered by Blogger.