one of the best tricks

Usually I don't like hair-related things in the kitchen, but this is different. I learned a trick.

You can use the heat from a blow dryer to take off stickers from dishes, appliances, shoes, what have you. The heat does something to the adhesive that makes it come right off, so you don't have to peel off stickers in a million pieces, or even soak the stickers. You apply heat for several seconds and they come right off.

I can't tell you how much this little secret has eased my settling in to the apartment.

It's Back!!!

One of my top three favorite shows on TV, "Chuck," was rumored to be canceled. That upset my TV-junkie-ness. I wrote a short note to NBC telling them how much I love the show and telling them why they should keep it on the air.

Then a few minutes ago I saw this headline on the NBC website: "Chuck lovers everywhere rallied around the show--and the efforts paid off. Thanks to your support, TV's quirkiest gang of nerds and spies will return for a third season on NBC."

Sure I have to wait till March 2010, but better next March than never.

Best TV news ever.

Newflash: It's October

Newsflash: it's October now. No need for the 80 degree weather. I have way cute fall clothes that need to be worn.

roommate rant

Is the dishwasher a recent cleaning revolution? Is is one of those things like big sunglasses that didn't become popular until fairly recently? Is there somewhere in the continental United States where dishwashers are the "new" thing, the new appliance which everyone has a hard time figuring out? . . . I didn't think so.

I always thought the dishwasher was a staple appliance for those of my generation. And why shouldn't it be a staple? I mean, all you have to do is rinse off your dishes, put them in the dishwasher, and turn the dishwasher on. It's really that simple: no gimmicks, no tricky instructions, no ridiculous plastic ties like Barbies have to strap them in the box.

So, if the dishwasher is such an easy and user-friendly appliance, then why in the world do people have such a hard time using it? It's a machine that says, "Hey, let me do your dishes for you. All you have to do is load and unload--it's that easy!" It's like we won the dish-cleaning lottery; it's like having a personal maid but not taking advantage of it.

Why can't roommates just load their dishes into the dishwasher? Why?!

Newsflash: Turn off your music at the gas station

So I was putting some gas into the car today, and I pulled up to the pump. As I pulled up to the pump, a ghetto car pulls up next to me and this kid,who was probably only seventeen years old by the looks of him, gets out and leaves his horridly obnoxiously loud music on the entire time he's filling his tank. I felt like I was in a movie where there was this horrid rap soundtrack that played at the gas station. Good grief. Um, newsflash: no one wants to hear your overly loud, profane, tuneless music. So stop playing it ten decibels too loud and get over yourself.