5-31

1) groceries at Ukrops:
Brianna homestyle salad dressing
a bunch of beets
hearts of romaine
nf yogurt
ice cream sandwiches
orange and cream bars
dove miniatures ice cream treats
2) UVA student loan direct debit cleared today

5-30

1) hibachi $5.99 at CVS
2) charcoal
3) baking soda toothpaste
4) almay mascara
5) razor blades
6) nail polish
7) USPS postage for package for Father's Day
8) Utz salt & pepper chips
9) hot dog buns

I feel strongly that one ought not shop on holidays. And yet, this holiday I bought a number of items. I can only say that in working the holiday myself I felt less terrible about purchasing. While I wish I had not promoted stores being opened on holidays, I enjoyed my grilled mem day meal. It is unusual for me to have shopped on a holiday. I'm going make sure this holiday experience stays an anomaly.

* I also paid my cell phone bill online today and forgot to record it here. Stupidly, I clicked the "only-click-once" button twice and therefore paid my next month's cell phone bill as well.

5-29

no purchases.

5-28

1) strawberries from College Run Farm at the Williamsburg Farmer's Market
2) spinach at the Williamsburg Farmer's Market
3) fresh peas at the Williamsburg Farmer's Market
4) Rx from CVS
5) Black Box wines Monterey Chardonnay
6) lemon-lime seltzer water

5-27

1) lg. iced coffee

5-26 supplementary

It turns out that I can't really keep up with the thoughtful commentary everyday. I've tried and failed from the beginning. It is frankly a lot of work just to keep the running journal of all purchases. Adding a narrative is often impossible given time constraints. I will now aim to have a commentary about my purchases, American consumption, or company practices once a week. I'll still keep the running log of purchases because I'm finding it to be an interesting exercise and I think that the aggregate of that could be interesting as well – perhaps that will one day be one of my comments, a summation of a month's purchases.

5-26

1) chocolate-covered strawberries: 5 for the price of 4
2) a sandwich from The Cheese Shop

5-25

no purchases of any kind.

5-24

1) NF latte at Starbucks
2) copay to see Dr. T's nurses for allergy shots.
3) $5 contribution to work gift for janitor
4) small DQ sundae -- chocolate for those wondering

5-23

1) Grocery shopping, again.

9-grain whole wheat bread
pasta
olive oil
bulk pecans
bulk walnuts
organic baked beans
organic kidney beans
organic black beans
organic salsa
grapenuts
organic yogurt
free-range eggs
organic milk
feta cheese
2 lb. strawberries
fake lime juice
an avacado
1 lb. butter
bottled water
tamari sauce
tortilla chips
fresca -- because i've heard good things about it's refreshing-ness and it was on sale for $2/12pk.

swing on by for dinner if you're inclined. i have enough food.

5-22

1) 2 ice cream cones

5-21

1) a skirt from Bittersweet: New and Vintage Clothing
2) gas -- $2.08/gal
3) beer and fries for Saturday happy hour (to which several prom couples made an appearance. since when does sports bar = prom date?)
4) sheets
5) socks -- for Father's day. He always wants socks for holidays. Don't ask, I can't explain.

5-20

1) latte, NF
2) money to American Express
3) money to ACLU
4) butter toffee peanuts for Father's Day

5-19

1) copay to see Dr. S.
2) 3 Rx from CVS
3) bottle of Aquafina water

almost forgot the bills:

4) netflix subscription
5) Dominion power bill
6) Working Assets phone bill

5-18

Triumph.

I purchased nothing today. To paraphrase a great character: I didn't sell anything, buy anything or process anything today. I didn't sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought or processed.

What bliss.

5-17

1) A graduation card for J.'s sister (who's just completed her MA in education)
2) A Father's Day card
and
3) Stamps with which to post them.

This seems like as good a time as any to discuss the United States Postal Service. It's widely held (and apparently true) that there is a postal crisis (e-mail, online billing, commercial carriers, the recession, increased security, and the telecommunications industry are routinely blamed). The projected break-even point for mail delivery will rise 33% in the next 10 years... before increases in labor costs are factored in, before determining how rate increases will affect mail volume. I believe this crisis is a result of the USPS no longer being subsidized by the federal government (as of 2002 when the cost of stamps rose to 37 cents for first class mail and theoretically matched the cost of delivery the postal service stopped receiving federal funds).
While it is true that the American postal system is the cheapest in the world, in part because postal costs have risen less than the rate of inflation in the last 30 years, it is also a system that is failing. The United States Postal System is a model for what a government agency should be and should provide—convenient, polite, reliable service at an affordable price that unites the country. Instead of this government organization being treated like the national infrastructure it is and its work subsidized, it is being run on what is consistently determined to be an unsustainable business model. Rumors that home delivery of mail will have to be cut back or terminated persist and often delivery is unavailable in rural areas because of cost.
Here's a thought: subsidize the damn post office. They are providing a national infrastructure without which the country would be irrevocably harmed. Yes, we'll pay our 37 cents for our stamps and more when the rates are hiked again, but subsidize the post office. Don't look at it as throwing money down a well, think of it as paying for a national system. The federal government subsidizes interstates highways, farms, paper companies, the airline industry, Amtrak (which I believe they should continue to do) and any number of other organizations and agencies and you're telling me that we can't subsidize an actual government agency providing a service to the vast majority of the people in the country?

5-16

Another attempt to catch up with my purchases over the last few, neglected, days without commentary or insight. Entries will improve shortly.

1) Mudhouse latte
2) Mudhouse coffee cake (not great)
3) Groceries:
frozen pizza
special k red berries (on sale)
yellow bell pepper
spinach
diet coke (lime)
apples
broccoli
feta cheese
linguine
newman's own marinara
extra sharp cheddar
english muffins
molson canadian
4) gas
5) dry cleaning (2 pr. pants $10)

5-15

1) chai tea
2) ginger scones
3) lunch at Hawk and Dove: 1 veggie burger, 1 meat burger, 1 cheesesteak, fries and cokes all around

5-14

1) tank top at Patagonia. Patagonia now uses all organic cotton.
2) dinner: asparagus ravioli and a brownie sundae

5-13

1) 2 plain croissants
2) 1 almond croissant
3) 1 key lime tart all from the Albemarle Baking Company
4) gas (on the way to DC)

5-12

caught up, finally. and yet this post will be just as utilitarian as the last few because i simply can't add interesting information because i'm wrecked.

1) Rx
2) long distance phone bill (to working assets)
3) postage for a package (USPS)
4) veggie burrito and small pop from Chipotle. Owned by McDonalds but still managing to adhere to a fresh food, (relatively) free-range philosophy.
5) gas

5-11

wednesday retrospective

1) drinks out with friends -- cheese fries and beer

5-10

tuesday retrospective

1) paperback book
2) lunch
3) dinner
4) parking

5-9

monday retrospective

1) coffee
2) croissant
3) paperback book
4) direct debit of consolidated student loan

5-8

sunday retrospective

1) sandwiches
2) gas

5-7

satruday retrospective

1) hose
2) 2 t-shirts (one of which I returned)
3) portfolio
4) potting soil
5) cleaning cloths
6) milk
7) corn nuts
8) nuts and chocolate mix
9) cinnamon bread
10) dinner out -- pizza, salad, and beer

5-6

friday retrospective


1) latte
2) suit -- brown
3) shoes -- brown

5-5

cinco de mayo retrospective

1) chips -- three bags in white, yellow, and blue corn
2) tomatoes -- orange and red
3) chiles
4) cilantro
5) limes
6) kisses
7) starbursts
8) tortillas
9) cheese
10) mango
11) red pepper

5-4

nothing purchased. victory over thoughtless consumption is mine for a short while.

5-3

1) pinata

2) rubber bouncy balls

3) pizza

5-2

1) Rx entirely not covered by my insurance company.

2) deodorant

3) gly-oxide

J. and I are splitting the cost of birth control now and while technically it's J.'s turn to foot the bill, I'm picking them up at the pharmacy. Here's a break down on what that means:

For 84 pills (63 active) we're paying a 60 dollar copay, which works out to about 71 cents per day (or 95 cents per active pill). An outrageous copay for a drug therapy that was developed in 1951.
However, when compared to the cost of babies, I manage to reign in my outrage. The 2004 Census report shows that the real median income for American families is still $43,318. Families earning between $41,700 and $70,200 spent $184,320 to raise their children to the age of 17. For those of you wondering, that's an increase of spending on children of $5,730 from 2003. And the real median income has not changed at all in the same amount of time.
This in a nation where 29% of children do not have health insurance.
Of course, that's not taking into account the real cost of children. The National Poverty Center wrote their own paper determining the real cost of children and factored time in as one of the variables.

5-1

Buy nothing day!

For me, there's no inherent reason that Sunday should be the buy nothing day. I'm less interested in religious expression than in community and family bonding. A rotating closing day would be my ideal, something like in provincial Italy. More on that another day.