Get With It Guys: Wash Your Own Clothes!

I've been washing my own clothes for years. I got used to it from attending a boarding high school. When I got married, I happily let my wife wash all the clothes until the day i was out of shirts and realized with a bit of a shock that she had quit washing them. I was a bit ashamed, realizing how ridiculous it was that she would be washing my clothes in the first place, so I resumed that task.

It isn't a lot of work. I usually put a load in when I'm out of any particular item, like underwear yesterday. When you're not overloaded, washing is no harder than putting on your underwear. It gets tough when you have to wash every day, like some moms.

I fill the washer when I'm washing shirts, but only dry 6 or 7 at a time so they don't wrinkle. I also take my shirts out one at a time, and keep the dryer tumbling while I hang one up. Permanent press wasn't invented when I was in high school, so I had to iron all my cotton shirts with starch. Now I avoid ironing like the plague.

Back then, I still threw my towels in my wife's laundry basket (daily) until she the day she said "Why do I get to wash all the towels?". So I added my towels to my clothes pile. In high school I used to wash my stiff towel about once a month, so it felt like a luxury to have a new towel every day, just like in a hotel. But when I started washing my own towels, I decided once a week was often enough. No surprise there, right ladies?

So, men, if you aren't washing your own clothes, get off your butts and get with it. You need at least a week's worth of clothes. After unloading a bunch of pink underwear, I learned to wash whites separately. Shirts can all be together unless they are new red or blue (especially cotton t-shirts). Colored socks I wash alone so it is easy to sort them.

You have no idea how much your darling will appreciate this.

Teachers YES! Tunnel NO!

Washington State is laying of thousands of teachers because of a 2009-2011 budget deficit expected to be 6.8 billion dollars, while the governor and the legislature sign a bill to dig a tunnel under Seattle at an estimated price of $4 billion dollars. Governor Christine Gregoire promises that it will be built on time and under budget.

Gregoire has nothing to say to the children whose education will suffer because she would rather pay diggers than teachers. Maybe we should give all the kids shovels, and march them downtown to help dig the tunnel. As the sweat drips in their eyes, they will learn that we don't live in a democracy any more. The majority of voters said we don't want a tunnel. The state leaders said "Tough beans."

I suggest three changes in the state constitution:
1. That teachers are the last to be laid off in a budget reduction;
2. That school building maintenance be the last cut from the maintenance budget;
3. That all state projects costing over one million dollars be approved by a majority vote of the people.

While Washington's budget woes are largely due to a shortfall in sales tax revenues, none of Oregon's shortfall is. Why? Simple. They have no sales tax, so they don't depend on that undependable source of income.

Oregon's shortfall is expected to be only 2.2 billion.

Oregon spends $9,126 annually, per pupil.
Washington spends $8,480.

Maybe we should get a clue.

No Smell Deodorant

I've done some stupid things in my life, but a recent purchase is right up there. I like Tom's natural products, and use their toothpaste and deodorant. I usually buy the peppermint toothpaste with no fluoride, and the apricot-scented deodorant.

When I ran out of my deodorant, I decided to try a different scent. I went to the store and noticed one labeled "for sensitive skin", (hey, aren't guys supposed to embrace that?) but more remarkable was that it was "scentless". I was intrigued. How could a deodorant be scentless? I had to buy it to find out.

I found out. The scentless deodorant does nothing. Duh. It covers up stink with somebody's imagination. What a joke.


No Smell Deodorant, Part II
Guys don't read the instructions. Or fine print. Well, I finally did look at the back of the deodorant, figuring there had to be a reason for no scent. It turns out that the stuff contains hops, which is supposed to prevent bacteria from growing (yuck, an armpit full of bacteria?) of which I have no proof, but I'm still using the deodorant, and I don't think I stink much. At least my wife hasn't complained!