I think today will be a random hodgepodge of some things I’ve been thinking about lately, but these things wouldn’t necessarily sustain an entire blog.

1. How sad is it that I’m excited that my electric bill this month is only $223? I remember it wasn’t that long ago that I could budget $100 to cover my electric bill. Over the last three years, however, I’ve had to steadily increase the amount budgeted for the electric bill, and for the past year or so, it’s been set at $300 for the month. Most months, that’s more than enough, and I’m always elated when it comes in under that since it gives me a little extra money. Only once or twice in that period has it gone over $300, and fortunately it was only a few dollars over. I’ve heard others talk about their electric bills being over $500 or $600 each month, so I know I have a lot to be grateful for that I can budget only $300 and still pay my electric bill every month. However, it’s been quite a while since it came in this low, so I’m excited, and that’s sad. I’d like to go back to the days when $100 a month would cover it.

2. Why can’t people staple papers in a normal way? The purpose of stapling papers together is that all the pages are related and need to be kept together. Presumably, one would need to be able to see all pages that were stapled; if not, why bother stapling them to keep them together? Given that, I don’t understand why people don’t always just staple in the corner so the pages can be easily flipped. Why must someone staple the pages two inches down and over from the corner? When that happens whoever is reading the stapled pages has to remove the staple and restaple in order to read what’s in the top corner of the pages following the first. Now, not everybody would consider that a big deal, but hey, to me it seems like it would be common courtesy to make reading your papers easy for the reader. It seems to me that anybody who staples two inches down and over from the corner is being deliberately defiant and trying to make things difficult for the reader. What isn’t being considered, however, is that this puts the reader in a bad mood. Why would anybody want the reader in a bad mood? Really, it’s not that hard. Just staple the pages together in the upper left corner. There are better ways to demonstrate defiance.

3. Who is ready for spring? I’ll readily admit I’m not an outdoorsy person at all, but I am ready for spring simply because I am tired of it being cold. I hate going anywhere, especially to work, on cold, dreary days. I’m not crazy about all the thunderstorms we’ve had and are supposed to have this week, but I do like that it’s been a comfortable temperature – not too hot and not too cold. I’d be content if the temperature would stay like that all year round. I do appreciate my snow days, mainly because I don’t have to leave the house when it’s cold. I appreciate summer simply because I am off work and generally get to stay home and don’t have to go out when it’s too hot. When it comes to temperatures, though, I prefer spring and fall. I hate freezing, and I hate sweating. March certainly didn’t come in like a lion today, and that’s OK by me. Let’s keep this lamb-like weather for a little while.