I’ve been working on a project lately that has me interacting with a number of different professionals. I use the term “professionals” loosely as most of these fuckers can barely return a phone call or show up on time. 
I measure a man by his word. Where I come from, when you say you are going to do something, you do it. Anything less is unacceptable. 
Despite a punctuality-softening stint in California, I arrive on time to professional appointments. I don’t hire late bitches. 
Show up on time and do what you say you are going to do. Sounds simple, right? Then how come these grown-ass men can’t seem to manage it?
Unless you have a fleet of housekeepers like Joan Crawford, even the most well-kept homes have areas where filth inevitably accumulates. Doors are often overlooked. While germaphobes have made wiping the door knob de rigueur, the door itself retains its unsightly grime. The best part of cleaning your door is that it is super easy. For most doors, a good wipe down with a surface-appropriate cleaner produces gleaming like-new results. You’ll be surprised how much funk you dislodge during this oddly gratifying tidy moment. 
Is there anything more annoying than a vessel sink? I think not. Vessel sinks may look good in the store, but in actuality they are the most impractical and messy of all the sink options. Sinks are like a proper fuck, you want them big and deep not perched, precious, and puny. 
Water splashes everywhere from this style of basin. Many of the wide and shallow versions aren’t banked properly, so gross water collects on one end always failing to properly drain. I’m repulsed. 
Like most home decorating trends that come on hard, fast, and ubiquitous, the vessel sink will soon be considered a dated vestige of a quainter time like wallpaper borders or shag carpet. 
Like many of these Demeter Clarc Manners Moments, some of you will be like, “duh”, and some of you will claim you’ve never heard of the custom before. Let’s talk about tipping housekeeping when you stay at a hotel. We all know that for the most part, cleaning up after others is a boring, thankless, and often disgusting job. Why not express gratitude for your housekeeper’s service with a tip?
So how much is right? Well it is all up to what you feel comfortable with, but I would say certainly no less than $1-2 per day and no more than $5 a day, unless the service is nothing short of spectacular and then the sky is the limit. Frankly, in this age of dismally mediocre service, exemplary conduct should be profusely rewarded. What wouldn’t I tip to avoid an encounter with a dubious pube? 
Don’t even start with the “I don’t have cash” bullshit. It is your OBLIGATION to carry cash while traveling for this very purpose. It is just as important as your ID and suitcase. 
This book Heads in Beds: A Reckless Memoir of Hotels, Hustles, and So-Called Hospitality by Jacob Tomsky has been getting a lot of shine, so I Kindled it to see if it indeed included any salacious insider gossip. Let me save you the trouble – this tell-all doesn’t tell much about the hotel industry or human nature that you don’t already know.
Tomsky started in hospitality at the bottom of the valet pile in New Orleans, and eventually made his way up to third-in-command at a mid-to-high-end Manhattan hotel he calls “Bellevue” to protect its identity. 
Tomsky works primarily as a front desk clerk. The self-serving thesis of this book? Heavily tip the front desk clerk with “bricks” ($100s) or “baby bricks” ($20s) to score under-the-table upgrades. Throw some money around at the desk and you too can enjoy a $4 comped bottle of shitty pinot. How Fancy.
The inverse is also true. Mistreat your wife, make a racist comment to the cabbie, or fart downwind from the all powerful desk clerk and find yourself key bombed. Tomsky will stick you with a bunk key card, book you in the shittiest room, or one that gets all-night phone calls because the room number matches 1+ the local area code and every ninny in the hotel forgets to dial 9 for an outside line. Remember to be on your very best behavior or the desk despot will punish you!
Tomsky promises park views, late check outs, and express check-in if you slide him some cash. But I don’t really want or need any of that. Fuck the view. I’m sleeping here. Can you get me a clean room with that $20? Probably not. Even the finest hotels suffer from inconsistent housekeeping. 
I don’t care about stealing from the mini-bar. If you do, Tomsky says go wild; the hotel will comp the oft-disputed charges. 
I add an extra bucket of water to my high efficiency washer because I don’t think it fills up enough. 
I wash down supplements with Diet Coke. 
So I mentioned before that it may not be clean if it has a ring on it, and that just isn’t always true. Hard water causes mineral deposits no matter how liberally you bleach. 
Fear not, you needn’t appear filthy when hard water is the true culprit.
For some of you, this will sounds like a skeevy suggestion. If the idea of sticking your hand in the toilet, gloved or not, makes you want to heave, delegate this task to someone less squeamish. 
Cut the water flow to the commode. Use a bucket of water to gravity flush the water level below the ring. Use fine sand paper, or I’ve also heard folks recommend a pumice stone to scrape the mineral ring away. It should chip right off. 
there’s a ring around it
there’s a layer of dust on it
there’s a pube
there are water spots
it hasn’t been washed between visitors
it’s smelly in the pits
it’s growing slime
After some healthy snowfall, I stayed in today and spent several hours organizing. As much as staring at a heap of clutter induces anxiety, cleaning up the mess feels equally, if not more, stress relieving.
Today I focused on the office. To the extent I can, I try and go paperless, for the trees and to reduce the management of physical paperwork. However, one cannot transact all biz electronically. Set up a home filing system so you have a place to put the records that must be kept. 
Deal with paper as it comes in by sorting it into categories for recycling, shredding, requiring action, and filing. Invest in a filing cabinet. Document storage furniture can be pricey new, but there are always an abundance of options on craigslist and 2nd hand stores that are more economical. If you do want to spring for a new one, these from CB2 are pretty enjoyable.
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