So its over... Survived... had some great long stretches with the girls (just the little two) this weekend. The rainy day was a bit of a drag (sunday)... but we got a lot of errands run. The stop at Prov Bike was fun. There was a little horn on one of the kids bikes and the two of them completely annoyed one of the owners with the incessant honking of the horn (maybe he's just generally annoyed by kids in general). We poked around, i tried to look at a few things, but well... chasing the littlest around the store was more important... and the wiggle monster wouldn't come close to being held in my arms. Try wrestling with a 30# kid with no fear of gravity... Then we finally left and sniff... sniff... just before loading into the car seat... Did you Poop? Big toothy grin!... man... i need a changing table in the car and in case anyone's reading - man did it stink!!!
Oh and coffee. Crusing home the littlest has just fallen asleep - so i decide to drive down to warren to hit the sip and dip drive through for an iced coffee (tastes WAY better than DD iced coffee when black - those of yall who put milk and sugar in there... will NEVER understand the REAL difference between a good cup of coffee and a bad one)... anyway i drink my iced coffee black. And well i got a nice 24oz (medium) and thought- hell there's one heck of a lot of ice... shit - 1/2 the damn cup was ice. I got 12 oz of coffee and 12 oz of ice (i let the ice melt and checked the cup level). That pisses me off... I should go back to ordering a small iced coffee and a separate cup of ice. Its what i used to do in Michigan and Seattle. 'Round here though, you can get iced coffee all year, everywhere.
This past week, with the few hours of sleep Wed night and the catching up from that and the not riding all weekend except for a small jaunt on the bike path... i've prolly lost a few watts... and a little big of base... One email from the brown list was: "Just wanted to say how sorry i am for going down today. i'm really sorry"
That's not good...
Oh and the Penn and Teller show... its a bit right leaning i guess... but the recycling thing sure seems a bit well constructed... funny too... but maybe at some point i'll start digging stuff up about it.
It DOES though strongly support the more important value: Reduce first. Yes, reduce. Like that unintelligent design web log brought up, why buy water in a billion little bottles when ya can get it in a 3 gallon plastic thing? Oh its not as convenient? Bullshit ;) oops - show rubbing off. Thats one example of reduction. Packaging is the biggest waste issue out there. Sticking with those bottles of Poland Spring water that ya can get at target or where ever (haven't been in a walfart to know if they stock that stuff). The 3 gallon things.. no packaging. Pick it up take it home. Bottles. Need first a cardboard base (usualy), then ya stick each bottle in there, with the label and cap, then ya wrap it in plastic thick enough to pick up the 'case' with. Okay somepeople re-fill them. Um- yeah - GREAT idea. lets buy water... then fill it with tap water. WHY NOT USE A WATERBOTTLE THAT YA CAN WASHOUT? Ya know like a bike one, or the trendy gotta have Nalgene ones all the kids are carrying?
While the second tenent of waste Re-use sort of screws up the whole beef i had above with re-using the bottles. But if ya did the first ya wouldn't have to do the second step: Re-use.
This i like. why? Look on the bottom of the HawethorneValley Yogurt quarts. What does it say: "Dishwasher Safe, Microwave Safe" Its not much different feeling than any other Yogurt container. And Yes i'll admit to hording them. But here's the deal. They are awesome to take to the beach. They look cool. They work to store left overs (for lunch). Ya can put that homemade soup i was talking about months ago in there and freeze it. Totally re-usable stuff. Better than buying new Tupperware/rubbermaid 're-useable' plastic crap for your food.
Reduce, reuse.
Recycle. Still extremely skeptical about it all. is it a good thing? Are my city tax dollars well spent on that whole Recycling system? I seriously doubt it.
Oh well...
Its how it is... how it is... what to do about it? Most importantly Reduce and then Reuse.
Oh and on the Volvo, if you let the serpentine belt tensioner roller get dry it is crazy squeeky loud. Fix? Well i'd wager most people would replace it. At some extravagant cost. Alternatively - a bit of dissasemble and a dust seal popped off - filled with some nice grease - hooked all back up... Boom. Quiet. (except for the rear brake pads that needs some more grease in the backing... and the glove box that won't close... and the wipers that on the driver's side don't touch the windsheild after abotu 45 degrees)...
Coffee break is over... (can ya tell i've had lots of jobs where they hammer in the fed working requirements the whole 4 hours need break... 8 hours gets lunch... on and on stuff... which doesn't seem to apply many places anymore)...
Okaydokay
Peace
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speaking of reducing...I read a post a while back, I believe on KL's blog about how this family had bought only organic materials and such and would compost everything, within a 6 month period or something crazy like that they'd only have one garbage bag full of trash. if only we can get more people into stuff like that. Heck, I wouldn't mind going more into that but it seems doubtful, especially while living with my parents.
Mrs il Bruce and I generate about 1 small bag (15GL kitchen size)per week. Some weeks less rarely more.
Most of the houses on the street put out 2 or 3 barrels a week. Excluding yard waste bags.
Where does all the shit come from. We are not terrilbly careful. We recycle the in the ble and green bins. That's it.
Next year begins the composting...
Reducing on the front end.
There seems to be a direct correlation to the amount of packaging 'consumed' to waist size. Foods that are fesh, good for you, healthy and all that tend to have much less packaging than the junk.
Reduce doesn't have to mean solid waste. Or packaging. It applies everywhere to everything.
The whole composting thing is great. But you are robbing the landfills of the Methane. And, begs the question: are WE better off if we all fill the landfill with organics that emitt methane so that it can be collected and used for electricity production instead of just being made in our backyard compost piles where it contributes to the global air pollution?
All I want is compost for my tomatoes.
bah!! You just confused me now Geoff. See...even if you think you're doing the right thing...are you REALLY doing the right thing...that is the question :P I wish all the global warming and environmentalists and etc would all get together ,get their shit together, and write up one big thing to send to everyone that explains what to and not to do. I don't mind doing research but I don't want to be backstepping.
Dave,
If they all got their shite together none of them would have jobs. These science types only exist because of conflict and statistical error.
Hawthorne Valley Yogurt.....now I am dissapointed GW. I will need to speak to my packaging engineer about our quart containers...I will tell you though you have it right. My house is swarming with yougurt containers for the kids to play with....just my companie's....no one else;()BTW I like JJ 3R song, always in my nog'n...
Nah See Bruce, ya got it wrong... its not the scientists that are conflicted...
its the hippie emotional environmentalists ;) and the agenda types... the real scientists are pretty much in agreement. We don't seek conflict, we seek resolution. Conflict clouds the discussion. Its the psuedo scientists outside the real fields that are all mumbo jumbo... if your paycheck depends on you supporting a position - you are not a real scientist. Hence the required freedom of academia for the real advancement of the human understanding of the world and its surroundings....
asking for a cup of coffee and a cup of ice will get you one pissed-off counter clerk.
Just say "only a little bit of ice, please" and you'll get what you want.
It pisses em off around here maybe, but i haven't tried that - doesn't seem to make em mad out west...
they are just confused...
and that's good (as a customer)...
or if ya are clever, ya ask for a cup of icewater with lots of ice... and then DRINK the water... and ta-da: cup of ice.
Its like asking for a little bit of ice when ya get a soda... sometimes they give ya a little ice and all the soda... other times they put the same amount of soda and less ice and your cup ain't full...
drive up windows are a pure ripoff for the consumer and massive money maker for the biz...
maybe O-Natural should have a drive up window ;)
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