• I always make sure the paper coffee cup’s seam (and sleeve fold if there is one) is directly below the sipping hole so I can drink it without looking. This produces a helpless feeling if the cup is made without a seam.
• I always wet my toothbrush before after applying toothpaste. Sometimes that makes the toothpaste fall off.
• When I was a kid, I kept track of how many clockwise and counter-clockwise rotations accumulated while moving around in a room, and always made sure to unwind them by spinning that number of times in the proper direction when leaving. Or, I tried NOT to accumulate any rotations.
• I can’t step on sidewalk cracks. If I do, I have to step on another one, with the opposite foot.
• When I didn’t have a rotary volume dial on my car radio, I always made sure to press the volume up and down buttons in multiples of five. Now I just make sure the digital marker is perfectly centered between digital ticks on the display.
• It bugs me if my Mac’s application windows aren’t all tiled or lined up, with no overlaps and no spaces (or a 1 pixel space, but it depends).
• I always use my turn signal, even when I’m pulling into a parking space or the driveway off our shared driveway. My reasoning is that if I neglect it even once, it could destroy my habit forever and I won’t be able to rely on it. Only slightly tongue-in-cheek.

I think there may be others that I’ve grown out of, or can’t think of right now. Outside observers may know of more.

Update: Today Jennifer caught me using my turn signal in the Wendy’s drive-thru. Yes, I was just following the the drive-thru around the building.

Closed:

Open:

I think I got maybe three real calls from that ad in two years. One was a kid asking if I was hiring. Another was a real client, but it was too little, too late —- they called after I’d decided to stop trying and close down.

Anyway, I had a really nice, easy-to-remember phone number. I had it forwarded to my cell phone, and kept it for a long time after letting O.L.D. slide. It seems that lots of people before me had it, though, judging from the kinds of wrong numbers I got.

To date, I’ve recieved calls from people looking for:

• “Household Financial”
• Oak Lawn Memorial Cemetery (not sure how they got that from Design)
• Some motel (Caller: “Room 214, please.” Me: “What?”)
• Someone named Bridget. Bridget has a lot of friends.
• An animal hospital. An older lady ignored my recorded greeting and left me a message asking if we had any dogs that nobody wanted, because she needed a companion. I’m ashamed to say I didn’t call her back.

And that doesn’t even include all the people that called to ask me to do their landscaping. Next time I start a business, I’m going to do more thinking about what to call it.

I have Time to kill-
What ever shall I do now?
Play some basketball.

So I countered with my own:

My work is postponed.
Sitting at the computer
I am eating lunch.

And the following conversation ensued (edited for punctuation and IM line order issues):

Me: I may do all my away messages in haiku.

Tim:    you do that
Tim:    i'll match you

Me:  Every single one.
    All of them will be haikus.
    You may if you like.

Tim:    ha.

Me:  (that was one, too!)
Me: plural of haiku = haiku?

Tim:    I noticed, I did.
    You are very clever now.
    I don't think so, no.

Me:  I suspect something.
    Are you counting on your hands?
    'Cause for sure I was.

Tim:    Haha, you are right.
    I need to stop this now, yes.

Me:  One more line you need,
    Then your haiku will be done.

Tim:    I play AOE.

Me:  Go play your game now.

Tim:    This is so much fun.
    I do not want to stop, ever.
    But we must sometimes.

Me:  I know. Isn't it?
    I must tell Jennifer.
    She will do it too.

Tim:    She will love it much.
    She won't be able to stop,
    Just like we cannot.

Me:  Stop starting haikus!
    I think you are too smart, my friend.
    You are just like me.

Tim:    I am cracking up.
    This is not good at all.
    I am leaving now.

Me:  I am laughing too.
    I can't keep from making these.
    One more line I need.

Me: There.

Tim:    haha.

Tim:    Enough of that junk.

Me:  AUGH
Me: stop it.

 Me: (after reading this) I want a hamburger.
Tim: So do I, strangely.
 Me: I haven't eaten anything today except a small plate of spaghetti.
Tim: That was good spaghetti, yo.
    (pause)
 Me: So, you should probably go get Big Macs for both of us.
Tim: Yeah, right.
 Me: It would help me get better.
Tim: No, it wouldn't! it would set you back like a WEEK!

When we remodeled our home, we decided to install a dual toilet-tissue holder. Most home toilets have a single holder for a single roll. A single roll, however commonplace, is, well, shall I say, awkward. When the roll empties, then what? As a result, whenever we saw the roll approaching exhaustion, we would place a new roll either on the floor beside the toilet or on top of the toilet tank. In either case, we were defeating the nice orderly arrangement of the facility. Wouldn’t it be far better to have a place to put the roll? Full article

Thankfully, Jennifer and I share the same toilet paper roll orientation preference (FORWARD!). I have heard that this is a cause of tensions in many marriages, so I shall consider myself fortunate. But even when two people do agree that the paper should come off the front of the roll, there is apparently still a lot of thought that can go into how they install and use their roll(s) of toilet paper.

I heartily agree with Don Norman’s findings.

  Mike: Well, if we can get at least 5 people, it's fun.
Daniel: 4's not allowed, but 5's fun again?
  Mike: 3 is a third wheel, or 1 with an entourage of 2.
Daniel:  
  Mike: 4 is just two groups of 2.
Daniel: right.
  Mike: but 5, well, 5 is a party.
  Mike: 6 is a tour group.
Daniel: woooo
  Mike: 7 is a ministry group.
  Mike: 8 is a line dance.
Daniel: 9?
  Mike: 9 is a kegger.
Daniel: lol
  Mike: 10 is a small block party.
Daniel: 11+ just loops from 7-10, maybe.
  Mike: 11 can start a religion.
  Mike: and 12 is the most that you need, though not all that you want.
Daniel: lol
Daniel: did you just make that all up on the spot?  
  Mike: sure did.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTION

1. Read these instructions.
2. Keep these instructions.
3. Heed all warnings.
4. Follow all instructions.
…
15.Warning-To reduce the risk of fire or electric shock. Do Not expose this apparatus to bald or moisture.
16.Apparatus shall not be exposed to dripping or splashing and no objects filled with liquids, such as vases, shall be placed on the apparatus.

I hope I won’t be exposing the apparatus to bald for a very long time. And why would one put a vase on a rack-mountable recording device, anyway?