I’m on furlough. And stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but:
“Unemployment. It’s just like vacation, only unpaid.”
Thanks, I’ll be here all week. Unpaid.
We went to the zoo yesterday. It was fantastic. My new favorite animal is the male gibbon. That critter was swinging all over the place, obviously putting on a show for us. And I could watch the giraffes and lions for hours. I find them to be extremely beautiful, impressive animals. And some of the birds… wow. Just wow.
We had the place to ourselves. It was empty. Early on in our visit, I saw multiple signs advertising the zoo becoming more “green”, whether it be a reduction in energy used, or urging patrons to recycle their garbage, or what-not.
And then we hopped on the tram/shuttle. It was just sitting there, idling, empty. Toby wanted to ride, so we did. We sat up front, where I could smell the exhaust of the engine. We rode it until the first stop, then we got off and hit up an exhibit or 2. When we exited the exhibit, the tram was still there, idling.
I remarked how foolish it was to run the tram on a day in which no one was there, that it wasn’t cost-effective (the accountant in me), and that an empty and idling gas-powered vehicle sure seemed to fly in the face of their “green” awareness (the critic in me).
Robyn, the vegetarian who drives a Corolla, deadpanned: “What do you care? You’re the least ‘green’ person I know.”
Touche. I take long, hot showers. I drive a 4WD truck with a big V8 in it. I consume copious amounts of beef. At least I married a vegetarian with a smaller carbon footprint than mine.










































