Happy Little Trees

I went to see my dentist. She is a Russian dentist, and is really tough on me. Since I take great pride in my dental care, I like having a dentist that demands excellence.
 
She complimented me on my tooth care, but also said I need to make sure I drank enough water, took vitamins, and calcium. Like a soothsayer (or toothsayer, hee-hee!), she could tell that I was a gum chewer. And she recommended that I not chew gum as much, but if I did, chew gum with xylitol. She also said to limit my chewing to 15 minutes. After that, it can wear away enamel.
 
I asked her if she was that one dentist--you know, the 1 out of 5 that doesn't recommend stuff.
 

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Read this article: Vampire Electronics.
 
I've been turning off more appliances that shamelessly suck power when not in use. My electric bill was only $30 this month.
 
Okay! Okay! I also did not have power for an entire week due to Ike. And, my electric company is taking an average of my bills, and then will charge me more later because they are the head vampires of my wallet.
 
Anyway, the point is to look out for things that you can turn off. I've got my t.v., dvd, vcr (still have one), and stereo plugged into a power strip, and I just turn the whole thing off during the day. I'm pretty excited about seeing if this makes a difference on my power bill. Because I'm a geek, but at least I'm not a vampire!

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My co-worker is feeling ill, so I recommended Airborne, which led to us talking about Wal-borne, which led to us thinking about the guy who has the job of naming all the generic Walgreens' products.

We found this list on line. My favorite name is Wal-Phed, but Wal-itin is pretty good, too. I was disappointed there is not a Wal-enol.

Jeep,
I think I already wrote you one good-bye letter, but here's another. I remember when I first test drove you with Mac, and he said, "Act like you don't like it when we get back to the lot." And as soon as we got back, he said, "It was great!" to the sales guy. Dr. Mac wasn't buying the thing, but I forgave him, because he helped give me a guy's opinion on it, and you were great.

Jeep, I have loved you as my wheels. I apologize for letting old boyfriends drive you from time to time. And thanks for letting my mom drive you despite the intermittent pedal-pressing thing she does. And thank you for not breaking down on me except for that one time in Austin where Kelley rescued me: "Kelley, I'm in Austin. I drove in for the day. Now I am stuck on the road--I guess I'll rent a car. I needed someone to know where I was." "Beth. Can I talk now? I'm in Austin. I'll come get you."

You were a great hauler of stuff, too. Remember when I was at IKEA and called T-Lo to see if he needed anything, and he had me pick him up a bookshelf because he knew I had a jeep?

And I apologize for all the times I called you "car." I didn't really know what to identify you as. My car. My truck. My jeep. I always thought that if I said "jeep," people would picture me as Daisy Duke (sans Bo/Luke/short shorts/brown hair/Uncle Jesse).

Thanks for being a good ride to haul Young Life kids around town these last few years. You looked just pimping enough to pass through any unknown neighborhood I needed to go in (or got lost in) with some authority.

You've been a good jeep. Please be good to your next owner. I can see it in his eyes that he likes driving you. Sorry you didn't get to retire in Colorado, but it gets cold there, and you are used to Texas.

So long, blue Jeep. It's been a good ride.

love,
Beth

Brenda introduced me to a new Starbucks option: the breve misto. Not only is it fun to say, it's cheaper.
 
So far, I've tried it like this:
- Short, breve misto with one pump of caramel
result: a bit too coffee tasting
price: just under $2.87
- Short, breve misto with two pumps of dulce de leche
result: just right
price: just under $3
- Short, soy misto with one pump of cinnamon de leche
result: needs to be sweeter
price: $2.17
 
 

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Sometimes I feel weird eating strawberries.
 
Berry weird.

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My cell phone usage has been counted incorrectly. I normally don't really pay much attention to the call detail, so I got out my trusty calculator and did some figuring. I was told via the online system that my cell usage was 450 of my daytime minutes, plus my 7 rollover minutes, plus 90 additional minutes (at 45 cents a pop). The number had jumped in a huge way from one day to the next, so that's why I thought something must be wrong. I am a talk-aholic (with some friends with the same disease), but those conversations are always on night and weekend times.
 
I figured up that I had only used 389 of my 450 minutes, plus 0 rollover, plus 0 additional minutes. After talking over the discrepancy will my cell provider, they said the system should correct itself, but they would put a special note on my account. Also, they said they would give me 500 rollover minutes to cover any other mishaps. Hmmm...
 
This morning I checked the previous month's statement. Last month, I was left with only 7 rollover minutes. But when I added all my daytime usage, I found I had only used 328 minutes, which means I should have been left with 122 rollover minutes last month. And who knows how my other bills have been jacked up!
 
Maybe my rollover minutes got milky. Whatever the case, the experience has left me soured.

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