Thursday, July 31, 2008

gas station tips

Gasing up early in the morning is better because the gas is all contracted and you get more for your money. Later in the afternoon the gas has already expanded and you end up getting less for your money. Oh and when you fill up, use the slower setting on the nozzle because if you use the fast setting, you get less gas for your money. I can't remember where I read this--possibly some Consumer Reports article . . .

Whenever possible, while waiting for the tank to fill up, go ahead and clean your front and back windshields. That's an efficient tip I learned from an old roommate.

Monday, July 28, 2008

boba fix

When buying boba (AKA pearl milk tea), it's important to know that if you leave the pearls in the liquid for too long, they get soggy. For maximum chewiness, eat the pearls sooner rather than later.

copy machines

Before making a copy of a document, open up the paper tray to see which way the paper is set, either vertically or horizontally. That way you'll know which way to lay the page on the glass slab.

on hold fix

When making a phone call where you're put on hold for long periods of time, put the call on speakerphone and go work on something else like cutting your nails or typing an email.

shoes

When trying on shoes, veto ones that feel even a teensy bit uncomfortable. As you're shoe shopping, you're only wearing the shoes for a few minutes, but after you buy them, they'll likely be on your feet all day. Imagine that teensy bit of discomfort and multiply it be a whole day. Cannot you really tolerate the pinch on your pinky toe for several hours? Thought not.

purses

I like purses that go diagonally across my shoulder because they're a lot harder to snatch. Consider the purses with straps that don't cross the body: It would be really easy for someone to run and grab it from you.

tape deck fix

I know most people don't have cassettes anymore but here it is anyway.

Recently a cassette got stuck in the tape deck of my car. The adhesive from the sticker label and dried and become unglued which caused the cassette to be unable to eject. Here's the fix: take two plastic cards like credit cards or drivers license and sandwich the cassette between the two cards. With a firm grip, slowly pull out the stuck cassette.

snorkel fix

Instead of getting a standard snorkel mask, consider getting a good pair of goggles and a noseclip. More often than not, snorkel masks leak water, making your snorkeling experience less than stellar. A good pair of goggles is a lot easier to come by than a good snorkel mask. You can purchase a snorkel by itself and use a long rubberband to attach it to your goggles. You'll look like an idiot but I don't think the gorgeous fish will care.

barcode tip

For library books, the barcode is NOT what sets off the alarm. There is a thin strip of metal called "tattle tape" which staff has inconspicuously placed near the spine. This strip gets magnetized and demagnetized when items are checked in and out.

happy fix

If you go to Mexico, get a hammock. They're the best! Be sure to take it down after you use it because leaving it out in the sun will eventually damage it. Also, you lie on it slightly diagonally, not straight in order to distribute your weight.

thirst tip

When you go to a restaurant renowned for bad service but great food, AKA Ray's Sushi, politely ask for two glasses of water per person. That way you don't have to get pissed when you're thirsty and can't flag down a waitress.

how to not catch a cold

A classmate in library school shared this one with me. She used to work at the reference desk at the freezing cold university. At the desk, as with so many customer service professions, many of the patrons coming to ask for help were sick. The secret to not getting sick yourself is to dab a bit of Vaseline and swirl it around your nostrils in the mornings. She said one of the reasons people get sick is because their nasal passages get too dry. The Vaseline helps prevent that. She said that since she's started with the Vaseline, she never gets sick. And there was one time she forgot and she got sick.

baskets

In college I got a basket for the front of my bike and it has been the most useful accessory. It's great for shopping or holding your jacket if it gets too hot. I'm always surprised by how few baskets I see. Maybe it doesn't look cool, but functionality trumps aesthetics in my world.

To add a basket to your moped, steal--oh, I mean find, a milk crate and attach it to the back of your moped with zip ties.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

reference librarian

Shameless self plug . . .
Need quick information but aren't near a computer? Have several libraries' reference desk phone numbers programmed into your phone. I have the numbers for Hawaii and NY libraries to account for time differences. Say I have a question at 8 PM Cali time and the libraries here are closed. Well I'll just try calling the Hawaii libraries for help. Be nice to the librarian and be patient, the websites might be slow to load.

clock watching fix

Every time you look at the clock, valuable seconds are being wasted. Instead, just set your cell alarm for 2 minutes before you need to jet and focus on getting actual work done.

bookmark fix

What do you do when you're in the middle of a good book and don't have a bookmark AND you're too lazy to find a random piece of scratch paper to stick in the pages? Dial the page you're on into your cell phone and hit the send button. Next time you want to continue reading, just scroll thru your recent calls until you find that number--it should be fairly obvious being 2-3 digits long.

visor fix

Recently the visor in my car broke. There's a mount and perhaps due to the heat, it cracked and the visor fell while I was driving. The fix: unscrew the mount and you'll have a hole in the roof of your car. Get a bandana (I went thru a whole headkerchief phase in Taiwan) and fold it to the size of your visor. I used a regular spring loaded clothespin to secure one corner of the bandana to the new hole and I used an office supply clip to secure the other corner to visor's other holder. When the sun isn't in my eye I tuck the bottom middle of the bandana between the top middle of the bandana and the roof. It's not super attractive but it beats going over to Pic N Pull and getting spare parts.