I get press releases, Volume 7: Gutteral Mandate

In an effort to keep you, the loyal 19 Minutes reader (and in this case, the singular case is apt) apprised of current public opinion, I'm pleased to pass along this important polling data, thoughtfully forwarded my way by the publicity folks at switchboard.com:

As you know, the first day of Spring is on Sunday. I wanted to flag the announcement Switchboard.com released today about who is planning to spring clean this year and what their no.1 priority is. The survey, which was conducted by Harris Interactive, revealed that nearly three in four U.S. adults are planning to spring clean (72 percent). Of those, 42 percent of women said they will focus on cleaning the interior of their home, such as vacuuming and dusting, while 44 percent of men said they plan to focus on spring cleaning for the exterior of the home, such as landscaping and clearing gutters.

First of all, let me reference my March 4th posting, which -- you'll recall -- detailed my own half-hearted efforts at spring cleaning. Apparently, my flaw was not that I'm a slob, but rather, that I didn't join with that clear mandate of guys that focus on the exterior of their homes. Of course, as a proud renter of my home, I think I'll allow my landlady to deal with those features. But as we learn from the conclusion to the press release, I apparently have not had the expertise needed to effectively handle these tasks, anyway:

Porter Knight, the author of "Organized to Last: Five Simple Steps to Staying Organized," offers simple tips to help keep on track to successfully spring clean this year, including start with a plan, make time and use the help of professionals, which can easily be found through [surprise] an online Yellow Pages site such as Switchboard.com.

A quick check of Porter Knight's website reveals she is something of an authority on the world of organization. A more detailed check reveals one of her clients is the folks at Feng Shui Harmony, which is kind of interesting. I mean, here I thought Feng Shui was its own method of organization, and here they are, subcontracting.

Regardless, it means that Sunday is another good excuse for a bath.