The happiest day of my life so far was either the day I paid off my student loans (which were so high that my then-boyfriend broke up with me, for fear that he would somehow end up having to help pay them) or the day I quit my “real” job and started freelancing full time (which happened to be 1 January 2000). One might think that my wedding day would be the happiest, but since we’d already been together for 6 years, the wedding was just a formality.

The happiest day of my life yet to come will be the day that I move to France (which is still completely up in the air – no response to my visa appeal yet). 🙁

What was the happiest day of your life?

This post was inspired by Scott Adams

Stands for Laura Kismet Lawless, of course! But what else? A quick search on Google reveals that “my” initials are used by quite a few people, places, and things:

• Laeko-Libuat (language of Papua New Guinea)
• Lakselv Airport, Banak (airport code)
• Lietuvos krepšinio lyga (Lithuanian Basketball League)
• Larry King Live
• London Knowledge Lab (social software)
• Loring, King and Loring (UK agricultural recruitment company)
• Lynn, Kiecke, Lackey & Eason Insurance (Texas)

And here are few other uses, but I can’t figure out what LKL stands for:

• LKL Advance Metaltech Sdn Bhd. (Malaysia)
• LKL Oceantrade, Inc. (Netherlands)
• lkl is “a userspace keylogger for x86 architecture”

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow initially minimized the [former Representative Mark Foley] scandal in an interview with CNN: “Look, I hate to tell you, but it’s not always pretty up there on Capitol Hill, and there have been other scandals, as you know, that have been more than simply naughty e-mails.”
Source: The Mercury News
Foley checks into rehab as Republicans seek cover

I don’t know, that just has a certain “sh*t happens – deal with it” ring to it that isn’t exactly what you would expect the White House’s official position to be.

And in news of the weird:

Chinese education officials have scrapped a job cut plan that allowed single-parent teachers with children to stay in work after it prompted a rash of divorces… 41 teachers at a single school file[d] for divorce in a week… In comparison, their town divorced a total of 34 couples in the whole of 2005.
Source: Single-parent job plan fuels divorce frenzy

What I can’t figure out is what the point was in the first place. Was it that only married teachers would be let go? Very strange way to deal with unemployment.

A couple of years ago, when I’d finally paid off my student loans and starting building up a bit of a savings account, I thought it would be nice if my money did some good. I did a bunch of research and found Wainwright Bank, a bank in Boston with a social and environmental agenda. It may not seem like much, but I feel good knowing that my savings are being used to promote community development and a sustainable society.

And it looks like I made an even better choice than I’d realized, as Wainwright is included in SustainableBusiness.com’s list of the top 20 publicly-traded sustainable companies: The 2006 SB20: Companies Changing the World (for the better!)

Last week I drove down to South Carolina with my husband and mother. Since it was a 12-hour trip, we rented a car and drove in two-hour shifts. Like many drivers, my husband and mother both tend to be a bit lead-footed on long trips, commonly going 15-20 miles over the limit. As for myself, I go no more than 7 over the limit – even if that means spending an extra hour in the car – to avoid having to pay a $100+ speeding ticket. (Yes, I stay in the right lane to allow all of the speeders to pass me.) Both of my travel companions were rather annoyed about my relative slowness, mocking me good-naturedly and trying to convince me about how much more fun it is to speed. Do you have any idea how odd it is to be peer-pressured into doing something “bad” by your own mother? 😉