All told, the windmills turned out to be more profitable and quieter neighbors.

Name: Laura Northrup

Age: 29

Where do you live?

Pine Hills, Albany.

Why?

This neighborhood combines my favorite things about living in a city and living in a small town. There are kids riding bikes and friendly neighbors, but I can be at the Capitol in 10 minutes.

What’s your work?

I live the dream and blog for a living, at the TU and at Consumerist. com. I also work in a college library.

What’s your state worker background?

I worked as a student assistant at the state library for three years in grad school, and as a data-entry temp at another agency after that.

What do you do when you’re not working?

I knit, sew, romp in the local dog parks with my cocker spaniel, Zoe, shop thrift stores and garage sales, and bake.

High school and college? What did you study in college?

I’m a proud product of the Baldwinsville (near Syracuse) public schools. I studied English literature and French at Hamilton College near Utica, and came to Albany for a graduate degree in Information Studies (or: library science).

Why do you blog?

Well, it’s my job. But before that, I blogged to have a public record of

what I was up to at a given time, and to share cute animal pictures.

What’s the best/worst thing about blogging?

The best and worst are the same thing: the almost instantaneous torrent of feedback. This is a bad thing because there’s something about blog comments that make some people pedantic, thoughtless, and cruel.

What’s surprised you the most about blogging?

How generous people can be with their experiences. As long as they’re anonymous, of course.

Your favorite blog comment?

Too many to recount — Pass

Whose blog would you love to read?

Thomas Jefferson.

What advice would you give to other bloggers?

Pay attention to what your commenters and readers say … but don’t take too much to heart, or it will destroy you.

What’s the last book you read?

“Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets” by David Simon. Tip: do not make this book your before-bed reading.

Favorite pizza?

Broccoli and mushrooms.

I bought the an mp3 album of the latest (and first) album by Broken Bells.

Favorite local blogger?

I’ve loved reading Rob Madeo from the earliest Albany Eye days.

Favorite movie?

“Edward Scissorhands.”

Favorite dinner?

Ravioli, meatballs, and garlic bread.

Favorite place to get away from it all?

Beaver Lake Nature Center in my hometown, Baldwinsville.

Coffee or tea?

I can’t function without espresso.

Favorite ice cream?

Mint chocolate chip.

Favorite late-night snack?

Cheese and Triscuits.

Your hero?

Pass.

AJ: That’s right. Cats have pointy ends.

Me: Five of them.

AJ: Exactly.

Me: You know that if they could, they’d evolve spikes on their tails. Like dinosaurs.

AJ: They’d also want to fly. And shoot fire out of their mouths.

A few days later, someone from the group called. The dog I was interested in was adopted, she told me, but what kind of dog was I interested in? I explained that my family has had cocker spaniels since I was eight years old, and that was about the size and temperament of dog I was looking for.

Well. “Did you meet Zoe, the little cocker we had at the clinic?” she asked.

“Yes. She’s so sweet! I loved her.”  Ten days later, I brought her home.

Here’s her description from the brief time she was on Petfinder and the rescue group’s page:

Zoe
Cocker Spaniel

Size: small
Sex: female
Age: adult

Notes: Zoe is a five-year-old, spayed female, black Cocker Spaniel. She is just about the perfect dog–sweet, well-behaved, and great with everyone.

She’s housebroken and crate trained. We’d like to see Zoe be adopted by someone who knows and loves this breed of dog. Zoe lost her home due to a divorce in the family.

I have to agree. She’s the perfect dog for me, at least. We’re a good personality match.

“Loves everyone?” Yes. To a fault.  It’s a struggle to keep her from running up to everyone she sees on a walk. People we meet on the sidewalk, people sitting on their front porches, people gardening…. She’s getting better about this, but she’s friendly to a fault. Not everyone likes dogs, and a few toddlers have been scared of her. (All 16 pounds of her.) She is especially eager to run up to kids–her previous owners were a family with three of them. This bad but not as bad as it could be–I’ve interacted with more of my neighbors in the last four weeks than I did in four years living in my old apartment.

I’ve learned that she’s obsessed with fruit. I think you could put a plate of steak and a plate of watermelon in front of her, and she’d go for the watermelon. I haven’t tested this, though. She peeled three bananas with her paws and teeth and ate them last night.  Talent.

She doesn’t bark much, which is a good quality for an apartment dog. She loves to cuddle and sit in my lap, which I enjoy.

We’ve had a happy month together.

Do I look kind of  yellow? Yeah, I look yellow. My tan, like, looks yellow as it fades if I used a tanning bed. It’s really funny because when it’s actually like sunny outside it’s too hot and I’m too lazy to like go outside in the sun. So I just use the beds.

The most effective thing was a simple tube of green clay that I bought at Monoprix in France while studying abroad. (I rationed it carefully, but ran out. I’ve never found another face mask as good as that simple €2 tube of clay.) So I was stuck, until I gave up and tried the Oil Cleansing Method. Along with switching to powder foundation, it saved my skin from perpetual ickiness.

OCM is based on the idea that certain kinds of oils, applied to a dirty face full of dirt, dead skin, and skin oils, will yank the dirt out of your pores without stripping out the oils that are supposed to be there. At first glance, it sounds like a bunch of homeopathic nonsense, but it works. And indeed, there are a lot of oil-based skin cleansers out there. You can find them at Sephora. They just cost a whole lot more than a few bottles of oil do. That’s the beauty of it.

I currently use a mixture of 75% castor oil to 25% grapeseed oil, and I have brought my cleanses down to once or twice a week. I try to do it more often in the summer, since my pores don’t understand hot weather. I used the advice on this page, and there are other places online where people can discuss their blends and other fine points, but there’s not much more to it than that.

So, yes, Consumerist readers. I do make my own facial cleanser at home.