why don’t I write anymore?

The internet is so seductive.

Anyway, I’m home.

The musical was fantastic, especially given some of the circumstances.

Oh Facebook Honesty Box, how you beckon. But on the other hand, you actually got some real information out of me and someone else. Relationship improving information.

MSN + webcam = long distance face-making at someone special. Once he gets his ass to Future Shop, we may start Skyping so we can SAY inane things while making faces, instead of just typing them.

Once you start thinking about being profound, it gets much harder.

I don’t even journal a lot anymore.

This must be fixed.

I am never babysitting for my parents again.

I can’t do it.

I don’t have enough authority with my brother.

Screaming fights are no fun.

And I’m a small girl, and he’s growing up, and he’s big enough to hurt me.

the dangers of lightbulbs

(Possibly it’s actually just the dangers of 9-year-old boys.)

Yesterday my brother decided to dropkick a couch cushion, for reasons known only to him. It was an excellent kick. The cushion went flying across the room and knocked the lamp off the piano, breaking the light bulb. The compact fluorescent light bulb. CFLs contain a (small) amount of mercury. Which made cleanup . . . fun. Don’t you just love opening windows in January?

So what do you do?

“How should I clean up a broken fluorescent bulb?

The following steps can be performed by the general public:

1. Open a window and leave the room for 15 minutes or more.

2. Carefully scoop up the fragments and powder with stiff paper or cardboard and place them in a sealed plastic bag.

- Use disposable rubber gloves, if available (i.e., do not use bare hands). Wipe the area clean with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes and place them in the plastic bag.

- Do not use a vacuum or broom to clean up the broken bulb on hard surfaces.

3. Place all cleanup materials in a second sealed plastic bag.

-Place the first bag in a second sealed plastic bag and put it in the outdoor trash container or in another outdoor protected area for the next normal trash disposal.

- Note: some states prohibit such trash disposal and require that broken and unbroken lamps be taken to a local recycling center.

-Wash your hands after disposing of the bag.

4. If a fluorescent bulb breaks on a rug or carpet:

-First, remove all materials you can without using a vacuum cleaner, following the steps above. Sticky tape (such as duct tape) can be used to pick up small pieces and powder.

- If vacuuming is needed after all visible materials are removed, vacuum the area where the bulb was broken, remove the vacuum bag (or empty and wipe the canister) and put the bag or vacuum debris in two sealed plastic bags in the outdoor trash or protected outdoor location for normal disposal.” -energystar.gov

Kinda weird that the “cool environmental” light bulbs become hazardous waste, huh?