I spent two days shopping and collecting plastic bags. As of January 1, there will be a 5 cent charge for disposable plastic and paper bags for items purchased at grocery, drug and liquor stores in Washington, DC. I happen to reuse disposable bags, so having an adequate stock pile is necessary. Sure, I use my totes and other reusable bags for groceries most of the time. But I don’t carry my garbage or sort my recyclebles in them. But this is to shift behavior and save our Anacostia River. I’ve been to a watershed clean up. I’m not mad about the bag thing.

Parking goes up in the city too come January 1. $2/hour on the meter. Will there be long lines at the bank tomorrow? It’s the end of the month and we have to get an extra roll of quarters for the meter and the laundry. The city’s trying to fill that budget gap that came from where(?) Has anyone told the tourists? You have to feed the meter M-Sat ’til 10:30 PM. New York’s starting to look like a bargain. Seems like in the last 10 years, you don’t get what you pay for.

Freezing rain predicted for the morning. The only thing worth looking forward to this new year’s eve is a once-every-19-years-on-December-31 blue moon.