Toilets and Pagers

I just read "No Impact Man" and it was very good. He was really earnest and yet easy to relate to. And he did some things that made me think. I don't plan on turning off my electricity anytime soon, but I realized that I ought to start making small improvements one by one, because that way I'll actually get to a way of life where I use a lot less than now. (it's worked for some areas of my life: daily language practice and "no desserts alone" have stuck.)

So, small improvement number one (no pun intended): I won't flush if I pee. Eww, right? No! It's not really gross. "Gross" is arbitrary and self-reinforcing, and so the more people who don't flush when they pee, the more commonplace it'll become, and the less "gross" people will think it is.

Small improvement number two (pending): find a straight razor! Save a few disposable plastic things, and become a badass in the process.

On another topic, I think I've been quite a whiner about pagers, so I'd like to formally man up and quit sniveling. (backstory: I'm going to start having to carry a pager 1/5 of the time for work, so I was complaining a lot.) I ended up standing only on principle. I maintain this principle, I maintain that I'd rather not carry a pager and it should be doable to live without pagers, and I maintain the right to retract this whole post in the future, but the actual downside in my particular case will be probably pretty small. And I've never even tried it! Maybe it is kind of satisfying.

I think a big mental block is that I saw it as somehow shameful. Like "this idiot is working too hard, he's got his work/life balance out of whack" or "this poor shmoe carries a pager because he doesn't value his free time enough". Maybe. Or maybe they're putting in the work for a project they care about.

Finally, the rest of the job is pretty good, so I can't really complain. Bring it on! I'll keep your Google Analytics coming to you 23.999/7! I'll let you know how it goes.