thank god for coffee

argh! i woke up at 5 a.m. (actually 5:17, but same difference, right?) and started reading my AP style book. while very interesting and surprisingly informative, it's still like reading the grammar nazi's version of the dictionary. then i left san antonio (the north side, i might add) at 6:35 only to be stuck in the blinding rain for forty-five minutes (when it usually takes me about 30 minutes flat to get from my place to his). what is it that makes texas drivers suddenly become extra-retarded when driving in the rain? i don't know, but your usual slow-people-in-the-fast-laners and fly-out-of-your-blind-spot-only-to-cut-you-off-and-slow-downers seem to come out of the woodwork when the weather gets a little (or alot) fowl.

then i ran up to my apartment to grab a rain jacket and swap out my flip flops for boots and these wardrobe adjustments took me approximately 6 minutes to complete. i hopped in my car and raced down the hill to the first apartment complex on the bus route (so i wouldn't have to deal with getting passed by full buses (yes- that's how you spell the plural of bus, according to AP) and while driving to my stop, i got passed by three buses en route to school! upon arrival at my seemingly clever stop, i had to wait twenty minutes for the next one to come! argh!

on the sunny side of things, a girl who came out to wait for the shuttle had an umbrella and offered to share it with me so that i wouldn't get as soaked as the girl standing far away from us in a cotton sweatshirt. it was rather fortunate that she offered to share the space, because my textbooks (unbeknownst to me at the time) were soaked.. so it clould have been worse! i could have left puddles on my desks throughout the day!

i got to class 15 after 8 (after nearly two hours since my departure from san antonio) and missed the current events quiz by the skin of my teeth. blah blah blah my morning sucked UNTIL -lo and behold- i saw the SPJ "coffee lounge." this is in reality a little common room between to professors' office doors with two coffee pots, a basket of snacks and a donation can on a table next to a small couch that looks like it got swiped from a dentist's office in the mid 1980s. i could have been reading my soggy AP style book, but i realized that for once i was carrying cash. i had some cinnamon crumb cake-flavored coffee in an unusually large styrofoam cup for the measly price of $1 and sipped it on the couch, enjoying some much-needed peace and quiet.

in walks a really tall, really skinny grad student who sits down next to me and starts rubbing his arms like i have been known to do in the stock room at work (where they keep it at a steady 69 degrees.) so i struck up a conversation with him and cordially commanded him to get some coffee so he wouldn't have to suffer. this seemed a novel idea to him (even though the two pump pots are the first thing you see when you walk in) and then he opened his wallet and announced, slightly disappointed, that he only had a five. so i did my good deed for the day and handed him another george washington out of my purse and we chatted about the AP style book until i had to go to class.

who cares if the tip of my tongue is still rather sensitive and a bit itchy from the burns... i survived my morning classes. yay!

after i got out of victorian lit at 2, i promptly went to the animal shelter, fell in love with a golden tabby who shall be named sunny upon the completion of her shots, checks for any illness/disease and spaying. i hate that she has to undergo surgery just to be permanently removed from her metal box, but it's the law, and she's a doll who deserves a loving home. i set up a payment plan for the pet deposit at my apartment and paid the $85 in vet fees and then went to walmart to stock up on kitty supplies. now it's time for a nap.

sigh.. it was a full day, but in the end, a good one.

talk about a smaller (carbon) footprint...

chron.com has a blog called "sciguy" on their website. i stumbled upon one of the articles and decided i had time to read it because of the amusing title: "Oh No! We're getting fat! It's horrible!" but i thought i'd share the article he posted for the next day, august 30th.

August 30, 2006

Why aren't these bulbs in every American home?

Tired of changing lightbulbs and worrying about the price of oil? The age of compact fluorescent lightbulbs -- no longer the clunky, unattractive bulbs of old -- should be upon us. Consider the changes since the mid 1980s:

Now every one of those problems has been conquered. The bulbs come on quickly; their light is bright, white, steady, and silent; and the old U-shaped tubes--they looked like bulbs from a World War II submarine--have mostly been replaced by the swirl. Since 1985, CFLs have changed as much as cell phones and portable music players.

And how can you change the world today?

Compact fluorescents emit the same light as classic incandescents but use 75 percent or 80 percent less electricity.

What that means is that if every one of 110 million American households bought just one ice-cream-cone bulb, took it home, and screwed it in the place of an ordinary 60-watt bulb, the energy saved would be enough to power a city of 1.5 million people.

One bulb swapped out, enough electricity saved to power all the homes in Delaware and Rhode Island. In terms of oil not burned, or greenhouse gases not exhausted into the atmosphere, one bulb is equivalent to taking 1.3 million cars off the roads.

Prior to reading this article I was vaguely aware that there were more efficient lightbulbs out there, but had never investigated the matter. But this seems like such a no-brainer. Sure, the bulbs cost a little more, but they end up paying for themselves. So why haven't we switched? Good question. I'm going to Home Depot tonight.