Environmentally friendly
I love it when Big Business tries to do the right thing… there just always seems to be something a little bit off in the execution. This year, the company I work for decided to start a green initiative, and to kick it off, everyone in our 1200-employee facility got a tote bag and a travel mug. Which would have been great, except the travel mug was made in China, and I highly doubt it’s phthalate- or BPA-free. I threw it away - it wasn’t even recyclable! They could have done better, I think - even Nalgene bottles would have been better.
The bags are also made in China, but at least they fold up to a small, portable size - I’ve already taken mine to the grocery along with my Envirosax.
Now if we could just get them to buy into telecommuting as part of this green initiative…
Working from home
A couple of weeks ago there was an article on MSNBC about how telecommuting just one day a week can make a big difference in your weekly fuel bill. I drive about 25 miles round-trip every day to work — I do try to run errands after work so I don’t have to make extra trips on the weekend, but it sure would be nice to save a little gas each week. So… my colleagues and I pitched it to the boss. We made a schedule where the three of us would each work from home one day a week, available via forwarded telephone and email, just not physically in the office. I really thought it would go over; each of us works from home as needed anyway. Alas, he did NOT go for it. His first “inclination” was to say no, and knowing the boss, that’ll be his only inclination.
That’s fine. This week I got to work from home anyway… the parking lots at work were so flooded that only essential personnel were required to stay in the building. Everyone else was sent home, and since I have the ability to log on remotely, I won’t have to take a PTO day. For now, until he agrees, we’ll just keep operating the way we have been.
Filed under blues, nablopomo, work | Comments (3)I’m still here!
Yes, I’ve been away from blogging… but I have good excuses. One, I’m feeling uninspired. The only subject I can really think to write about is how unhappy I am at work, but who wants to read about that? Nobody, that’s who.
Second, I have a sick bunny. Hazel had surgery almost 3 years ago to open his floppy, loppy ear canals to combat recurring ear infections, but somehow he managed to develop one in the last month that caused some facial nerve damage, leaving him unable to chew properly. He got to the point where he would eat a soft mush on his own, but in the last few days he’s having a harder time with that so I’m syringe-feeding him again. He doesn’t mind it, but it’s just a lot of extra work. Life is much easier when he eats on his own, and fortunately he seems to be back to it as of yesterday.
Third, I’ve been landscaping! I started Thursday night by spreading 18 bags of topsoil on the flowerbed. Naturally it rained on Friday, so I spent the day driving around buying plants and more dirt. It doesn’t sound like I did much those two days, but when I think about the fact that I, personally, moved almost 2000 lbs. of dirt… it’s a wonder I’m still standing! Saturday I got up early and added cow manure and peat to the flowerbed, then turned it all under. The soil here is such heavy clay, it really needs a lot of work. I also bought mulch, and then spread some of it around some existing spots. Sunday was D-Day… I spent the entire day adding another 22 bags of topsoil to the flowerbed, raking it smooth, putting down landscape fabric, planting all but 5 plants, and mulching. I finished at 8:30… just 1/2 an hour before sunset. Phew! My goal was to get it done over the weekend, and it is mostly done. I have a few more plants coming from White Flower Farm, and I’ll be visiting Soules Garden in a couple of weeks to pick out some daylilies to fill in the big bare space. I’m planting all perennials, and most of them are not mature plants, so I’m excited to see how it looks in the next couple of years.
I may join NaBloPoMo for June… just waiting to hear what the theme is. I’m hoping it’s something I can be creative with, but I can say for certain that it’s a lot easier for me to post when I have to… it’s easier having a reminder of sorts.
Filed under blog, dream house, rabbits, work | Comments (3)
