March 16, 2021

by drplasticpicker

OMG my title is so witty this morning. I’m back at the kitchen table after having slept a blissful full night of sleep and realizing it was so deep and restorative. I did half of the YouTube video “Yoga for a Dull Momet” by Yoga by Adrienne, and ceremoniously threw up cell phone out of arms reach when I went to sleep. I was rewarded with a good night of sleep.

For me this journey as eco-avatar Dr. Plastic Picker has had unexpected benefits. One of the first things that miraculously happened is that my sleep improved. As a former research fellow at an NIH group studying sleep, I knew that sleep was important. I had read up on sleep. I had given advice on sleep. I had written about sleep. But I did not understand common sleep issues until I realized that I had them, and I never addressed them and they kept on getting worse. Getting our work iPhone and then becoming Assistant Boss and the barage of text and messages sent my sleep into dangerous dysfunctional category. But now my sleep is better after having picked up a lot of litter. I don’t think it was the litter picking that did it (although the exercise and having to concentrate on little bitty pieces of plastic helped), I think it was being outside under the sun and moon.

But anyway, I had a good night of sleep. We are hoping to go hiking as a family during this afternoon as I’m actually always off on Tuesday afternoons. Why should the department expect work out of me Tuesday afternoons? I don’t expect anyone to answer emails during the weekends. I’m not getting paid for it, so I’ll give that time to my family. I try to be respectful of other people’s on and off times, and I think I’m at the point in life I will ask that they do the same with mine. I had to talk to one of our colleagues yesterday and this particular person is not my favorite in the workplace. I realize the characteristics that irk me are likely those that are amplified in this person, but also reside in me which is why I get irritated. It was quite a profound moment when I went over my conversation with this particular person with Mr. Plastic Picker, and again realizing how flawed as a person I am and indeed we all are. But what I hopefully can be rarely accused of, is speaking to others in quite so a dismissive and demeaning and overbearing manner. So I mulled over my emotions and the conversation ended, and I stayed respectful because that is how I was raised. I recently had a moment when I said something that was not kind to one of my co-workers. I did not mean it as unkind, but it was taken that way. I realized that, and I could see her reaction. I apologized I hope quickly. Real relationships have successful and not-so successful interactions, and those broken interactions and the repair that happens afterwards is what makes those relationships strong. This is not unlike the Japanese art of Kintsugi, the art of repairing broken pottery https://www.nbcnews.com/better/health/how-japanese-art-technique-kintsugi-can-help-you-be-more-ncna866471

I am just realizing that trash art has echoes of Kintsugi. I love doing trash art and have some plans to do some big pieces soon with broken toys from a fellow litterpicker in our area.

Back to the witty title, Good Morning Dear Readers! It’s really a wonderful day and everything got done yesterday and I’m as always super surprised. I finished submitting most of the paperwork I needed to our refinance paperwork. In total in theoretical future network, these three refinances in one will save Mr. Plastic Picker and I a grand total of 377,000 in interest over our financial lives and our primary home will be mortgage free in exactly 15 years. This is when we are set to early retire anyway. We locked in at a 15 year fixed at 2.7%. That is pretty good!!! We still maintain a very good monthyl savings rate of anywhere between 30-50%. We recently paid off our two small car loans, and Mr. Plastic Picker still has a miniscule medical school loan. Eventhough they are all very low percentages, the monthly payments were getting annoying.

Recently Monthyl Cost Eliminated

Car Payment #1	404.69
Car Payment #2	560.52
Mr. Plastic Picker’s School Loan	~200
Total	1165

In total the recent trimming of our monthyl costs equals the increase in our mortgage payment since we are going from a 30 year fixed at ~4.6 percent with 24 years remaining to a 15 year fixed at 2.7%. This was unplanned but really amazing. This makes us appreciate more our fully paid off fuel effiicient hybrid cars and also Mr. Plastic Picker’s education.

And also getting back to our title, what did you do during the dark of night? I hope that you slept. Nothing good happens at night. Evil happens at night. To work of evil and vices and an disorganized mind, it is very important to just go to sleep. So I sleept, but I did do one thing before I went to sleep and I’m super excited to report about it in about 6 hours. It takes about 18 hours total. I never knew it was that easy but I was inspired to turn it on last night and prepare it before I went to bed.

OMG I’m so excited to see if this turns out! We are buying the soymilk is paper cartons at Costco in bulk. I can’t drink that much soymilk and even with vegan baking, we don’t go through that much. I’m lactose intolerant anyway, and recently discovered soy milk and coconut milk yogurt at Sprouts. But they are kind of expensive. Loving the power of Ecosia search engine, supposedly making soy milk yogurt is just pouring a carton of soy milk (hopefully without all the fillers) and 2 tablespoons of whatever non-dairy yogurt you have as a starter. You can also use a probiotic capsule (but they are expensive – thanks drug companies! NOT!). Anyway, for 1 carton of soymilk which is just a little over $1, I think I can make $10 worth of soy milk yogurt!!! I can then add in my own homemade granola.

And that’s what Dr. Plastic Picker did in the dark of night. I made yogurt for the first time. We can save the earth from plastic, save money, restore of gut microbiome all at the same time. It’s amazing isn’t it? But the first step, is to sleep the sleep of the blessed and don’t do bad stuff in the dark of night. LOL. Signing off, Dr. Plastic Picker living my truth and telling the world how I really feel. I think I should run the world? What about you? Just kidding. It’s better to have democracy.