When Automation Is Annoying: A Tale of Toilets (and Sinks and Soap)

Here's the thing, I am a fan of modern conveniences, fun new trinkets, and the latest in technology.  I'm currently a little weirded out by the touch pad in my rental car this week, but that's a different post for a different day.  Today I want to talk about the bathroom.

Here's the thing, it's swell they figured out how to automatically flush a toilet.  It's not swell that they always seem to flush when you're still sitting on them, and yet either don't flush at all when you go to exit the stall or they flush too quickly and you're all "EW, this just spewed on the back of my clothes, backpack, purse, etc."

So you vacate the stall and walk to the sink, only to find the soap and water are also automatic.  And they don't work.  Or maybe the soap works at the sink you've approached, but the water won't spit out.  So you're walking around trying to find a sink that will give you water.  While balancing a backpack and a carry on.  And if you're really lucky in order to activate the sensor you have to practically touch the back of the sink to get the water to come.  UGH...not cool, automation people, not cool.

Finally you have clean hands...and now you have to wave them in front of a paper towel dispenser to get something to dry them with. And 99.9% of the time this actually works.  Thank you paper towel companies for being superior to toilet and sink companies.  Oh, and Dyson, your hand dryers are so futuristic and awesome, but I wonder if you aren't blowing dirty, germy, unclean air onto my just cleaned hands.  Please tell me you're using a filter and that it gets cleaned regularly, unlike the air filter in my house or at the laundromat.

Note: Props to O'hare for having automatic toilet seat covers.  I wave my hand, the seat cover spins around and my bum sits on a nice clean piece of plastic.  I hope.  

Friday Funny

Anyone who knows my family knows that my dad is the king of practical jokes, stories, and any such antic involving the above.  He and I have been known to scheme, but we rarely try to pull things over on him.  So this morning, Doodlebug had a friend over, and was playing a joke on her.  My parents recently made some changes to their cable and now have two remotes.  Doodlebug told her friend that if she talked to the TV it would turn on, change channels, etc.  However, there was a remote hidden under a blanket that Doodlebug was using to control everything.  My dad walked in while this practical joke was occurring and started saying channels as well and the TV went where he said.  Later, my mom walks into the living room and my dad is standing there saying "TV on."  And of course nothing happens.  He said "C, did you change anything on the TV?"  And she said "No, what are you doing."  So he replied "The voice commands aren't working now."  So they yell for Doodlebug to come downstairs and he asks her what she did to the TV to make the voice commands stop working.  I promise, if my parents had hidden cameras, I would pay them $50 a viewing to watch my dad standing in front of the TV commanding it to come on followed by Doodlebug explaining how she was playing a trick on her friend (which ended up making the friend mad.)  The best part is, she had no idea she was pulling one over on him too...just an innocent trick against a 10 year old friend ended up getting the best of a 63 year old man.  Made. My. Day.

Friday: A Good Day for a List

1.  I can't stop making (and eating) this dish by How Sweet Eats: Carmalized Chicken with Mushrooms and Onions.  So far my two favorites were with a nice Biltmore Pinot Grigio and a Barefoot Wines Chardonney that would not have made for good drinking, but made a delectable sauce.  I also made it for a family with a new baby and used chicken broth rather than wine, if you don't want to indulge.  Best part: it's done, start to finish in less than 15 minutes.   That includes me getting the ingredients out of the fridge and chopping the onion.

2. Tuesday night I was making the above and didn't feel like dredging the chicken in flour because a) I always feel guilty for wasting the flour and b) I didn't want to have to get a plate out of the china cabinet so I wasn't sure where to put the flour to even dredge the chicken if I wanted to.  So I got a small strainer out (maybe 3 inches wide) and put a bit of flour in and lightly dusted each side of the chicken.  Worked like a charm.  And that saved more flour for..

3. BISCUITS!  One of the top gifts I have ever been given (Thanks S!) was the book Southern Biscuits.  So far I have only made one recipe, but I've made it many times.  Last time I made it my dad said he had thought I used  Grands.  That was a compliment because he prefers my mom use grands as to make biscuits.

4. Wedding Planning.  Thankfully YOJ Events is handling a lot of the big stuff for me (Candice is a dear friend and a kick butt event (not just wedding) planner.)  However, I've done things like book venues, find dresses (eek, I'm in LOVE with mine), work on invitations, etc.

5. Here's the future Mr.  Well, I guess technically he's already a mister, but he's the Mr. half of the future Mr. &  Mrs.   Thankfully my future MIL took this picture because the above Mr., who is the official photographer of the two of us, failed to take any pictures when the actual event occurred.

6. I need to write a post on why I don't do Facebook.  MoreLucy wrote why she doesn't Pinterest which reminded me I need to write why I don't Facebook.

7. I do Pinterest.  It's where I store the link to the recipe for #1.  And where I store all the ideas I see for inspirations.  I think my favorite thing is storing the recipes.  And then having a place where I can store the ones I've tried that are keepers.  If they aren't a keeper, they just get deleted.  All I can say is I accomplish 5% of the crafts on my boards, I'll have a darn cute house for Christmas and a similarly spooky one for Halloween.  Also, my family will eat a nice balance of healthy and not so healthy food.

8. Today marks 99 days left of being a single girl.  I have not been counting down, but was updating a registry yesterday and they told me 100 days so I assume today would be 99.  Don't ask me 3 week from next Thursday how many days because I won't be able to tell you.  I'm excited, but I'm not obsessed.

9. Happy Friday and Happy Weekend!  May all 3 of you who read this have a great weekend full of wonderful Summer memories.

The Longest Day of my Life

Today is the longest daylight hours of the year.  I am in Canada.  The days are longer here than in the Southern United States.  Therefore today is the longest day of my life.  And the shortest night.

I have just confirmed for all my random readers exactly how much of a dork I am.  You are welcome.

Thursday Thankfulness

This morning I sent an email to my music BFF with the subject line "Food."  It has encompassed my craving for an amazing Mediterranean restaurant near her, bacon of the month clubs (Praise the LORD for the New Testament), and finally this recipe which is on repeat at my house.  I suggest a Pinot Grigio.

Really, what's not to love about an email chain related to food.  Unless you back up to yesterday where we had an email chain about "Les Miserables", actresses who do controversial roles to get Hollywood's attention, and our love of all things Broadway.

Of course then you could back up two days to our chat where her boss made her pack up her things, walked her to a coffee shop, bought her drink and told her to work there the rest of the day.

So, today I am thankful for gmail.  And friendship rooted in music, food, theater, and a deep love of our Lord.  And for the fact that this friendship was grown and strengthened through gchat when we were living half a world a way from each other and keeps us in contact now that we are in the same time zone.  

Quick Update & Intentional Giving #2

Yes, I'm alive.  Very much alive, very much ENGAGED, but more to come on that.  I promise not to bore you with details you don't care about, but I will give you some details.  Like I bet you want to see a picture of the Mr.  Am I right?  Yeah, I thought so.  You'd probably also like to know that I no longer live in the low country.  Yeah, updates, updates, updates.  However, it is more imperative that I do an intentional giving update first because you can participate and have a chance to win an ipad 2!

In my last post I talked about supporting my friends who were adopting internationally.  This time I want to focus on a couple who are adopting domestically.  I love that I have people in my life that God is guiding down the same road but through different paths.  It's always amazing to see Him work out who He wants to raise the baby in China and the baby down the street.  Like Peter & Tanya, I met Matt & Tricia through church.  Tricia is a rock star when it comes to helping with the children's ministry and she has now taken over my beloved job of scheduling the volunteers.  (Saying extra prayers for you Tricia!)  Even if you can't make a donation now, take the time to stop and pray for those families who are waiting on babies with paper pregnancies and even lift up those who have just brought new ones home as they acclimate themselves to a new environment and lifestyle.

So until the next post be thinking of ways you can pay it forward, with even the simplest thing like holding open a door for someone.  

Intentional Giving - #1

One of my goals for this year is to be more intentional with my giving.  I want to be able to share what I have with people and organizations I feel passionately about and believe in what they are doing.  I will be giving to organizations who use their money wisely and don't contribute the funds into other organizations in which I do not support.  In an effort to be accountable for this, I plan on blogging about 24 of these opportunities.  I want to share opportunities that may encourage you to give or make you think outside the box on options for helping out your neighbors near and far.  I realize that in the grand scheme of life in the United States and even more so in the grand scheme of life on planet Earth I am blessed.  I have the privilege of working in an industry that provides me with a paycheck that I feel should be shared.  My life goals are not to be a millionaire, but to be able to provide for myself and give above and beyond what the standard is.  So without further gibberish, here's the first of my 24 opportunities.

I love kids!  I don't have any of my own nor am I in a position in my life where I want or need a kid.  However, my friends are having them left and right and I LOVE IT!  But I also have friends who are adding to their families through adoption.  And let me tell you, knowing someone who is adopting will change your life.  The first intentional donation I am making for this year is to the Bring Will Home fund.  I met Peter and Tanya through my church and their passion for orphans and adoptions is almost contagious.  Spend any time around them and you will be changed: you may not want to adopt but you'll want to help someone adopt.  So I would challenge you to this: find someone you know who is adopting and help them out.  Whether it is through contributing items to a yard sale fundraiser they are having or just skipping that $5 latte and giving that money to them, you will be blessed, they will be blessed, and a family-less child will be blessed.  And if you don't know anyone who is adopting, but you want to help someone out in this way check out Peter and Tanya's journey here.  I'm sure once they are done fundraising they'll also know more families who are working their way toward adoption and every penny counts.