Content about Psychology

LOS ANGELES — The editorial director for American Drycleaner asked if I’d write this month’s column to match up with one of the edition’s themes: energy efficiency.

“Sure,” I said, “I devote my life to being energy-efficient—although my wife more often refers to it as lazy.” I will admit to keeping the remotes when we get new cable TV boxes so I don’t need to expend the energy just looking for a single remote when there are two in the room. In the summer, we continually feed our dog treats so we can use his tail as a fan.

And I do save the need to fly to Florida by having my wife’s mom live with us. There’s a downside to it: no matter how cold we keep the house in the winter, she doesn’t talk about moving out. Her stride’s a little slower; could be age, may be frostbite.