Did you get your Valentine's Day gifts and cards done before today?   Well, as usual, I didn't, but I've discovered a new phenomenon.  I think stores are starting to cater to people (procrastinators) like me.  Maybe they are raising prices to justify it or maybe sales were just abysmal, but it seemed to me that anything I wanted was at my fingertips; nothing was out of stock and I got multiple people all taken care of in about an hours.  It was cool and uncrowded.  Welcome to retail targeted at slowpokes.  I love it! 

No, this isn't some bizarre sex article, you swine!  Get your filthy mind out of the gutter and read on.  Many months ago, I started replacing the incandescent light bulbs in my home with CFLs (compact fluorescent lights).  Now I'd love to claim that this change was solely motivated by environmental consciousness, but that was not the case.  What really motivated it was laziness. 

I get tired of changing the light bulbs all the time and when we moved into the river house, it seemed like every bulb in the place was on the rapidly increasing downside slope of planned obsolescence.  It seemed like every day or two - another one blinked out.

We had a small supply of new bulbs when we moved in, but they started running out and when I went to the big box hardware store, I went looking for long-life bulbs.  While I was there, I saw some of the new swirly looking fluorescent bulbs and they said they'd last a really, really long time and I was immediately hooked.

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I was awakened this fine Sunday morning by a cacophony of sound emanating from my electronic minions alerting us that the power was out. The UPS in the office was chirping and all three wireless phone systems were offering a lovely serenade of beeping and wailing . It was just interesting to lie there and listen.

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