Life

Life

Square is Amazing

Last week when I hung out with my friend Tristan he gave me a couple of Squares. They’re these little white plastic doohickeys (see picture above) that allow you to take credit card payments. You just plug it into your smartphone and then swipe away.

Transaction fees do apply, but really… think of it. You’re at brunch with your friends. There’s always the one friend who doesn’t have cash, but will “get you back next time.” Wouldn’t it be so great to say “Oh no problem, I take cards!” Totally worth the 35 cents or what have you.

As you can see above, I have been putting my new Square reader to good use! I was able to pay Ryan back for groceries pretty much instantly (after he created an account of course).

Life

Do Nothing For Two Minutes

Saw this on Gizmodo I think. One of many peacefulness sites out there, but Do Nothing for Two Minutes is great because if you touch your mouse or your keyboard, you FAIL. From my screenshot you can see that I was totally loading something on YouTube, so a FAIL! was coming my way 🙂

Two other peaceful/hippie sites I find interesting:

SimplyNoise, an online White Noise generater- Useful at work!

Do as One–  It’s a site for learning peaceful breathing techniques that is somehow related to the Dalai Lama? The cool part is that you can join breathing rooms and breath/meditate together with others. Their big goal is to get one billion people to breathe together by Nov 11, 2012. It’s an interesting idea, but altogether makes me feel a little weird!

Green, Home, Life

Handwashing Makes Me Happy

One of my favorite things to do during the weekends when the weather permits is to handwash a few of my “delicate” clothes. I know, it sounds incredibly domestic, doesn’t it? Well I didn’t say that I washed all my clothes this way- that would be too much work !

I like handwashing for many reasons. It saves me laundry money, it preserves my clothes longer (who are you gonna trust with your bras, you or the laundry machine across that street that’s full of gum and hair?),  and I find it very relaxing.

It sounds so corny, but it’s true: pretty much every time I hand wash my clothes I go into an instant zen meditation. I am no longer thinking. I am:

  • Adding a dash of detergent to a kitchen bowl (A sink would take too much water)
  • Filling the bowl with cool water
  • Adding my clothes
  • Swirling the clothes in the soapy water. Maybe they can sit for a minute while I make some coffee…
  • Draining the soapy water
  • Rinsing my clothes with water until the water runs clear
  • Gently squeezing out excess water from my clothes
  • Hanging my clothes outside on the clothesline
  • Saying hi to the cat that lives across the yard -“Hi Milo!”
  • Admiring my clothes fluttering in the wind while I drink my coffee

Try washing your clothes by hand, you might like it! Don’t worry, there’s really no way that you can mess this up.