Category Archives: Life

Bow Biters

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My shoes regularly come untied. Twelve books on knotting in my bookcase and I can’t tie my shoes such that they stay tied all morning, much less all day.

I can’t figure it out. I’ve used the “under” maneuver as well as the “over” maneuver (and I can’t explain either one). One doesn’t seem to be better than the other for me, as the results are the same: untied shoes by noon. About the only thing that works is double-tying the laces.

That works okay for running shoes that have long laces. Some of the shoes I wear to work are lace-ups, but their laces are much shorter and waxier. I often find myself walking down the hall, noticing that little tap of a sound that lets me know my laces are undone and flicking onto the floor with each step.

Work shoes with bow biters

All dressed up!

Bow biter close-up

Yummy laces!

I found one solution: Bow Biters. I think they are for kids, but they are the only thing that has worked for me. They say you are supposed to dress for the professional position you desire. That must mean that I want to be a professional happy . . . (I’ll get back to you when I decide what I want to be when I grow up).

Closing Time

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I can’t remember ever going out and then “closing down the house” even in my former life, when I could stay up late.

But that all changed. On Monday I was out and about meeting some friends and we were the last patrons to leave an establishment at closing time.

I could say it was late Monday night, but that’s not true. To imply it was Monday evening would be wrong, as well. Alas, it was Monday afternoon. It was at The Omelettry, a restaurant in Austin. I was meeting my two friends there for an early supper.

As I parked, I noticed that there were no cars in the parking lot. None. Maybe they are between rushes, I thought. It’s early for the dinner crowd, anyway.

Chairs on top of tables, ready to close the restaurant

Almost time to mop

I walked in. I noticed there were no customers and all the chairs were stacked on top of the tables. The cook peeked out of the kitchen. I asked if they were open and he said yes. Then I noticed their hours. They close at 5:00 p.m.

Our meeting time was 4:30 p.m. I had arrived a little early (as usual), about 4:15. I was hoping that my friends would arrive early and really hoping they would not be late. They were on time. We took advantage of the time we had available to us, sat in a booth, ate and paid our bill without dilly-dallying. They locked the door right behind us.

I finally managed to close down the house somewhere! All it took was (accidentally) finding a place that closed early. And I was home before sunset. Brilliant!!

A Room Of One’s Own

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I saw a sign yesterday, advertising a house for sale. Five (5) bedrooms and seven (7) bathrooms; 6,200 square feet for only $249,000 or best offer.

Five bedrooms and seven bathrooms. Really? What kind of lifestyle, I wondered, leads to such a house design. Ah, I thought, maybe they are a very sociable family and entertain a lot. That could be a reason for having more bathrooms than bedrooms.

Maybe the owner is a germaphobe and doesn’t want to share a bathroom with anyone else. I imagine a Keep Out! sign on the door of the bathroom that he chose for his own. The only other person allowed in would be the maid, of course, who would come in twice a day to clean it and then the owner would clean it again after she left.

The price: $249,000 or best offer. It was just one of those little signs stuck into the ground without any room for an explanation, but I’m sure it’s not really “or best offer.” It probably means “or best offer” above a certain price level.

I just wonder how many people are lined up with their piggy banks, trying to put in the best offer they can afford. The idea of having A Room of One’s Own is definitely attractive. (with apologies to Virginia Woolf)