Save the Earth with a Laundry Rack

Hopefully my readers will not feel that I have reduced this blog to a Heloise's Hints. I have another product review.

I've read that clothing dryers are the most energy-hungry of all home appliances(ref). So, I'm trying to cut back. I bought a retractable clothesline from Stacks and Stacks for $12 plus shipping. When I got it home I found that there was no good place for it in my apartment, so I am giving it to a friend.

Last night I was at Mitsuwa, the legendary Japanese department in the suburbs and I spotted the Japanese plastic laundry racks there for $10/each! It was an exciting moment. These racks are really common in Japan but impossible to find here. I found something similar on Stacks and Stacks. The clothespins are attached to the rack and you can hang it anywhere. One problem with the clothesline is that I was too lazy to buy clothes pins. The pins are attached to the Japanese-style rack. Long live Nihon, master of energy savings!

Flock to the Dorms-

We get older; they stay the same age. On the eve of another semester, Laramie is bustling with students buying shower caddies, drinking heavily, and workin' those flip-flops. Here's to another year of education-however manifested.

Soba Salad Delight

Last night we went to see The Dark Knight and packed this as dinner before the movie: Sesame Soba Noodles with Cucumber, Bok Choy, and Mixed Greens. Delicious! Unfortunately we left the car on while eating and when we returned to our Gotham city after the movie, the battery was dead. Don't let the smooth flavors of this dish distract you into doing something absent-minded like we did!

There's a lot of ingredients, so I made the sauce the day before to speed up preparation. If you can't get bok choy, substitute with another crunchy vegetable or just skip it. Lime, orange, peanut, soy sauce, red pepper, fresh greens...

I live in Cincinnati now...

Cincinnati, Ohio - The Queen City...

Home to Graeter's Ice Cream, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, a very odd style of chili, and now me.

After a grueling 5 week tour of duty on inpatient hematology/oncology, I am taking a break and doing an Advocacy and Injury prevention rotation.

First Up... Car seats.
Injury is far and away the leading cause of death in children and adolescents, and of all causes of serious injury, motor vehicle collision is the most common.

A recent study out of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia looked into the cold hard economics of providing Medicaid patients (low income families) with a car seats and compared it to the very successful Vaccines for Children Program. Not only did they find a car seat program to be cost effective, but it was more cost effective than every vaccination covered by the Vaccines for Children program. Not to mention the fact that these savings were realized entirely because LESS CHILDREN WERE BEING INJURED IN CAR CRASHES. Medicaid currently does not provide/reimburse for car seats. The cost to do so would be $13 per child per year. Go figure.

The Best Movie Reviews

When I was a wee freshman at the University of Dallas, I was assigned to work in the History/Theology department as part of the work/study program. There I would occasionally make photocopies for Dr. Frank Swietek. He was known as a very tough grader and only taught his history classes at 8am. I never took his classes but I have been enjoying his movie reviews online for years now. He assigns grades to all movies and he's rarely wrong, in my opinion.

Some films from his A-List:

PRINCESS AND THE WARRIOR, THE (KRIEGER UND DIE KAISERIN, DER)
YOU CAN COUNT ON ME
SHREK
O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?
PAN'S LABYRINTH (EL LABERINTO DEL FAUNO)
REAR WINDOW
AMERICAN SPLENDOR