Had Jay Z’s records on shuffle and struck by this: “Orange juice style, beat niggaz to the pulp.” Without context, this bar is horrifying, especially with the current police brutality. Jay, however, is licensed to use it. Though it’s the wordplay intrigued me—not the context. Can’t wait to listen to his new album 4:44.
The neighbor texted me:
I gather u must be on vacation. But wanted to let you know that apparently you left your garbage on saturday night in a box And some animal destroyed it at night. It was spread on your sidewalk. The truck picked up some of it on monday. But there is still plenty on the ground.. smelling..
I asked him to help me clean up and offered to buy him some beer. He texted back:
I picked up what I could. But trash is still on the ground as Everything is loose, not even in plastic bags, papers, cans, napkins, food.. Just plain gross!
Oh, no need for beer or anything.
I made a dumb mistake. I should have used the trash can. Since we will be away for two weeks, I didn’t want to leave the trash can on the sidewalk for that long. In addition, we only had two trash bags. I didn’t think about the damn animals.
In his New Rules segment from episode 430, Bill Maher joked:
If you happpen to meet one of the seven percent of the American adults who believe chocolate milk comes from brown cow. You must tell them that nonfat milk comes from skinny cows, and condensed milk comes from constipated cows, and skin milk comes from cows from the Mafia.
In her inspiring and musing TED talk, “12 truths I learned from life and writing,” Anne Lamott shares her number two:
[A]lmost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes—including you.
Books I want to read this summer:
I went to Popeyes located at 9661 Fairfax Boulevard to pick some mash potatoes for my kids. I ordered two large sizes with gravy on the side. I received two large containers for the mash potatoes and a tiny container for the gravy. I asked for extra gravy and the cashier would not give it to me. I was willing to pay for it, but he rang up almost $3. A regular side of mashed potatoes cost $1.79, and yet an extra gravy cost $3. I cancelled my order and the manager didn’t look happy. He tossed the entire bag in the trash right in front of me before provided me my refund. I went to 29 Diner and ordered 4 portions. They gave me plenty of gravy too. I love Popeyes chicken, but I won’t go back to this location until the manager gets retrained in customer service.
I went to Boston Market and ordered a large size mash potatoes. They gave me generous gravy with no extra charge.
I have been visiting George Mason Dental every six months for general cleaning in the past six years. Dr. Duy Q Võ runs a very organized schedule. I never had to wait long. In fact, if I come early he would squeeze me in as soon as he can instead of letting my wait until my appointment time.
The office is clean and comfortable and the staff members are friendly. Dr. Võ examined and performed the cleaning himself. The best part is that he doesn’t rope me into other services. In the past, I dreaded going to the dentist because they would find all the things wrong to get to to come back for more services. In six years, Dr. Võ only recommended two crowns. He always encouraged me to brush softly to prevent bone loss and gum recession.
In addition to being a caring and efficient dentist, Dr. Võ appears to be technological savvy. Making online appointment and getting text message reminder are an ease. I highly recommend George Mason Dental if you want great dental service without all the extra costs.
I have visited True Eyecare three times in the past six years. Although I can’t recall my first experience, my first impression of Dr. Mỹ-Hạnh Triệu was friendly and professional. My second visit was in 2014. She and her staff helped me pick out a pair of Polo (made in Italy) I still wear today. In my twenty years of experience of wearing glasses, I found that only glasses that are made in Italy last the longest. My previous pair, also made-in-Italy Polo, lasted over ten years. I had a handful of pairs made in China broke within a year.
A few days ago, my sons played with my glasses and misplaced it. I thought it was lost so I made an appointment to visit Dr. Triệu. Luckily I found it underneath the couch a day before my appointment, but I kept it anyway since it has already been three years. Yesterday I went in for an exam and browsed the collection to find a new pair with the help of her technician Hiếu, who is also nice and helpful. While trying out the glasses, a teenage girl walked in with some issues in her eye. Although the girl has insurance, her deductible would be extremely high. As a result, Dr. Triệu only charged her for a small fee—even less than my deductible. I found that to be very generous of her.
After I decided on a new pair of Versace with anti-scratch, anti-reflection, and transition lenses, the bill came quite high. She gave me some discounts, but I decided to take out the transition. Today I changed my mind and would like to switch to the transition lenses. Even though I thought it was too late, I gave her a call anyway. It didn’t hurt to ask. Fortunately she is willing to do it for me. I just have to pay the difference for the transitional feature.
True to its brand True Eyecare truly cares. I highly recommend Dr. Mỹ-Hạnh Triệu if you live in Falls Church and Arlington.
Every morning, Kevin Federici pulls on a head lamp, sterilizes a sewing needle and prepares to prick his baby girl all over her tiny body. She fights him with everything she has, kicking, screaming, writhing as Kevin’s mother-in-law tries to hold her granddaughter still. This process can take three hours, sometimes four or five.
The video is also heartbreaking.
I have worked for all sorts of people since then, geniuses and morons, quick-witted and dull, bighearted and narrow. I’ve had many kinds of jobs, but since that conversation with my father I have never considered the level of labor to be the measure of myself, and I have never placed the security of a job above the value of home.
Great advice.