Scientific American: Should Thursday be the New Friday?

I worked for a federal agency in the summer, 2007. We had the option to be on a standard 8x5 work week, or the CDO - or Compressed Day Off schedule. CDO meant:
Week 1: 9 hours a day, 4 days a week + 8 hours the 5th day
Week 2: 9 hours x 4 days

= Every other Friday off.

Totally awesome. Meant I could get my stupid errands, shopping, appointments, sleeping, laundry, cleaning, etc done on that Friday and then have a whole weekend to just chillax. OR take a nice three day weekend. OR just sleep in and have a lazy day, go for a bike ride, etc.

I do not have that option in my current, customer-facing role at a big company that's like a public agency, only it's not. Booooo.

But... Thursday as the new Friday?!? Sign me up! I'll do 4x10!!!

Transportation next steps

My car and bike hate each other - a column that resonates with those of us who ride and drive (not that I drive in the city very often - it's stressful, I get lost and I'm bad at it)

My solution?
1. get an eye exam (since good distance vision seems like a nice thing to have when going > 20 miles an hour)
2. sign up for a motorcycle class
3. prepare to sell Fido (clean, get past history together, Kelley Blue Book value, Craigslist it)
4. sell my car
5. get zipcar for times when i need a car
6. buy a motorcycle + associated gear
7. continue to ride my bike for my daily commute, when drinking may be involved, etc, but have the additional freedom of motorcycling

Obviously, 5 could come before 3...and if I find any sort of awesome deals on gear (I've seen quite a few lightly used small helmets on CL), I'll get that too. Ideally, I'd like to use the proceeds from the sale of Fido to fund the motorcycle purchase.

Yay! Customer Service! ... oh, and EWG's safe sunscreen DB

*warning - very girly topic ahead. you've been warned. skip to the bottom if you're looking for something really useful*

Make-up isn't generally a huge deal for me. For work, I'm either bare-faced or I wear Bare Minerals foundation and mascara. Lipgloss, if it's already in my bag. To go out, or for events, I do wear eyeliner, shadow, blush, etc... but I'm generally not too creative about it. Sometimes I'll bust out the liquid liner and do a cat eye, occasionally a bold red lipstick, but really... I'm not great at it. My sister is the make-up and hair stylist extraordinaire in the family.

But, I've been loving Audrey's blog posts about fun new make-up looks and, after seeing some of her pics and kind of risky (?) eyeshadow effects in person, I decided to be a copycat.

I took Audrey's advice and picked up the Urban Decay Deluxe Shadow Box and Crayola-esque eyeliner pencils when they were having a sale and have been enjoying playing with color on my nights out on the town. I've heard so many women rave about MAC eyeshadows - and have wanted some new, tamer colors so I ordered some MAC when they were having a friends & family discount. Just four colors (the ones shown here, minus the black one), an eyeliner pencil and a little holder for the shadows.

Imagine my dismay when, instead of Shroom (Soft beige with shimmer), I received Club (red-brown with green pearl)! Oh noes!!! Well, MAC rocks. They're sending me Shroom... and I don't have to worry about returning Club! It makes sense, since they'd end up losing money in shipping and restocking an $11 refill pan (that I actually got for $8.50 with the F&F sale!), but I was thrilled with the ease of the entire transaction and the pleasantness of the rep. Anyway, we all appreciate good customer service and this one deserved some props.

Thanks MAC!

And, if I ever manage to take a decent picture of my eyeshadow, I'll post it. I've been having a blast with the UD set, but my pics are complete suckage.

Also... I'm sure there are all sorts of nasty ass chemicals in these eyeshadows and liners. And I don't really care. It's just an occasional thing for me and my body is already a vessel of pollution, carcinogens and other garbage. Hey! I'm a suburban product of the 70s/80s.

But - I do care about, especially when parents are slathering their kids up in the stuff and otherwise trying to be very cautious with chemicals, is safe sunscreen (We're supposed to be wearing this shizz all the time, yo! And if I was on top of my game, I probably wouldn't be nursing a nasty, now peeling, sunburn from last Saturday's unexpected full-day in the sun.).

Check out Environmental Working Group's sunscreen database and Top 10 Sunscreens. I was disappointed to find Kiss My Face and Alba's products listed with 3s and 4s. :( I'll continue to use what I've got, but then I'll try to use this database for my next sunscreen purchases.