April 18, 2010

Today is Sunday. It seems like we might have a beautiful day ahead of us. It's cool outside, the heat is on in our apartment.

But then New York City housing rules prescribe that the landlord must provide heat when the temperature falls below 55° Fahrenheit. Even if it is in July.

That's OK, we can always open the windows if it gets too warm.

A couple weeks ago we went to the beach because there was a sudden heatwave around here. Now, we are impatiently waiting for summer weather to start after getting a taste of it but it just keeps delaying its arrival.

We had also, impatiently decided to summerize our wardrobe. That meant to take out all our summer stuff, have them cleaned, hang them in the closet, put away the winter stuff and throw out what was not needed.

This brings up a funny story.

A couple of years ago my wife saw an ad on TV showing plastic bags for storing clothing. These bags are to be filled, then they are zip locked and with a vacuum cleaner you suck the air out out of them. They shrink to about a quarter size of the original.

They are perfect for an apartment where storage is always a problem. These bags come in different sizes for the various clothing. We bought them and we are using them.

We were very proud of ourselves and were telling everybody about this discovery. It turned out that what was new to us was already known to a lot of people.

An acquaintance told us they already had this in Europe years ago.

Now, the funny part.

This person was moving to the US from Hungary, bought these bags and packed her belongings into them. Shrunk them and then placed the vacuumed bags in the suitcases. She said she was able to pack away a lot more clothing this way than the normal way.

But the surprise, or shock awaited her upon the arrival to Kennedy Airport.

When she collected her luggage she found that all the vacuumed plastic bags opened up. It happened because of the altitude and temperature change and pressure and whatever else that happens in the belly of an airplane. In the process all her luggage got ripped open and obviously damaged.

I can just imagine watching a suitcases quietly beginning to come alive and starting to swell. Straight out of a horror movie.

I can just see The Suitcases that Ate the Jumbo Jet.

But at the end the smart cookie that she was, she blamed the airline and got a set of new luggage. America is a good country!

So what we learned from this is do not take those vacuum bags on a plane!

But nowadays this is a moot subject. Taking a suitcase onto a plane is becoming a luxury almost like going in first class.

We not only will have to pay for every piece of luggage we plan to take on the plane but soon we will have to pay for going to pee, too.

Going back to the pee thing. Will they have variable fees for the toilet depending upon the usage?

I think a number one should be cheaper than a number two. It just makes sense, right? We do live in a capitalist society where the law of supply and demand rules.

Price things according to the demand.