Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down

I want to point out a comment on the last post. Katie, the author of one of the posts that was irking me, wrote a masterful comment, especially in light of our recent conversations about argument/debate. She started off with one brief thing that managed to say, "FYI, I'm reading and I have thoughts about you too" then followed it up with a question about another, much less controversial, post which lent the entire exchange an air of non-combative conversation. It was the sort of thing that the internet could use more of since we're all staking out our own spaces for our opinions but still want to share.

The thumbs down is for me. Way back when I said that I wasn't going to dignify these BP spikes with posts. Instead I was going to write more about my ideas about sustainability. The extreme anger I'm still feeling about a number of other things helped me to forget that promise. Whoops. Look for more sustainability posts and (slightly) less ranting.

On the sustainability topic, Miflohny and I had a good day of it today. She belongs to a famous-in-Brooklyn food co-op and every couple of months they have a clothing swap. I don't know if it's open to the public or if I get to go because she invites me but I've been once a year for the past couple of years and it's a great thing. Any participant can bring up to 15 items and choose whatever they like to take home. You can go throughout the day so there are always new people and new items coming in. Miflohny and I usually do a pre-swap with each other's items, too, which is fun. I put in the full 15 items and took out only 3 or 4 which was just the way I wanted it to be. When I combed through my closets for my 15 items I found way more than 15 so I'm also ready to do a Salvation Army/Good Will/Wherever run very soon, something I've needed to do for a long time. I am unreasonably proud of myself for this.

She also had a head's up on a big stoop sale benefiting a local charity (can't remember which one or I'd link, sorry, perhaps Miflohny will in the comments) so we wandered over there checking out other sales along the way. I came away with a beautiful vintage cloche hat for only $2! You'll see pictures of it soon. I've been looking for a good cloche for ages.

Feeling pretty good about my sustainability efforts today. Which is a good thing because next up is water conservation, the city just raised water rates over 11%.