My Year of Meaningful (2011)

I'm so glad Sarah & I do this mp3 swap challenge that we do every week. The game has really been the "gift that keeps on giving" throughout it's wee lifespan, already... So far it's managed to reacquaint me with at least 3 or 4 artists/bands/tunes/etc. that have managed to fall by the wayside of my life. Particularly the challenges that begin with "song that reminds you of ______" or "song that you heard when ____" or something along those lines.

This week I had the blessing of being forced to get out an old John Prine album that probably hasn't gotten any attention since the late 90's. Yeah there's the associated memories I'd always think were too uncomfortable to get out & dust off, which must be stared down in order to release the CD out of the old CD cupboard. But overall, it's an awakening of a corner of my brain that has lied dormant for so long, so long that those memories I thought I was too scared to stare down actually appear pretty silly and pathetic.

It's been so nice to have (90's)John out of retirement (I already had "old" John Anthology in the mp3 garage, but that's different). I realize I've missed him dearly. This week's challenge even inspired me to get out multiple retired-90's-Johns and upload them in their entirety onto GOD & iTunes. We've been bonding significantly over the last 48 hours. It's nice. Like reuniting with an old friend and remembering why you like them so much. Not eerie and uncomfortable at all*.

"And I find it real surprising
for myself to hear me say
that everything is cool,
everything's o.k."
--JP

*Now if I can only get the Jayhawks and Allman Brothers back into that category, I'll be set.

Bottled water: pouring resources down the drain


This note was published by the Earth Policy Institute a few months ago, raising the level of discussion over tap versus bottles for water. Incidentally, the current issue of Ethical Consumer contains a useful feature on bottled water (transporting bottled water in the UK is said to produce 32,300 tonnes CO2 equivalent each year).

The global consumption of bottled water reached 154 billion liters (41 billion gallons) in 2004, up 57 percent from the 98 billion liters consumed five years earlier. Even in areas where tap water is safe to drink, demand for bottled water is increasing-producing unnecessary garbage and consuming vast quantities of energy. Although in the industrial world bottled water is often no healthier than tap water, it can cost up to 10, 000 times more. At as much as $2. 50 per liter ($10 per gallon), bottled water costs more than gasoline.

The United States is the world's leading consumer of bottled water, with Americans drinking 26 billion liters in 2004, or approximately one 8-ounce glass per person every day. Mexico has the second highest consumption, at 18 billion liters. China and Brazil follow, at close to 12 billion liters each. Ranking fifth and sixth in consumption are Italy and Germany, using just over 10 billion liters of bottled water each. (See data. )

Italians drink the most bottled water per person, at nearly 184 liters in 2004-more than two glasses a day. Mexico and the United Arab Emirates consume 169 and 164 liters per person. Belgium and France follow close behind, with per capita consumption near 145 liters annually. Spain ranks sixth, at 137 liters each year.

Some of the largest increases in bottled water consumption have occurred in developing countries. Of the top 15 per capita consumers of bottled water, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, and Mexico have the fastest growth rates, with consumption per person increasing by 44-50 percent between 1999 and 2004. While per capita rates in India and China are not as high, total consumption in these populous countries has risen swiftly-tripling in India and more than doubling in China in that five-year period. And there is great potential for further growth. If everyone in China drank 100 8-ounce glasses of bottled water a year (slightly more than one fourth the amount consumed by the average American in 2004), China would go through some 31 billion liters of bottled water, quickly becoming the world's leading consumer.

In contrast to tap water, which is distributed through an energy-efficient infrastructure, transporting bottled water long distances involves burning massive quantities of fossil fuels. Nearly a quarter of all bottled water crosses national borders to reach consumers, transported by boat, train, and truck. In 2004, for example, Nord Water of Finland bottled and shipped 1. 4 million bottles of Finnish tap water 4, 300 kilometers (2, 700 miles) from its bottling plant in Helsinki to Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia can afford to import the water it needs, but bottled water is not just sold to water-scarce countries. While some 94 percent of the bottled water sold in the United States is produced domestically, Americans also import water shipped some 9, 000 kilometers from Fiji and other faraway places to satisfy the demand for chic and exotic bottled water.

Fossil fuels are also used in the packaging of water. The most commonly used plastic for making water bottles is polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is derived from crude oil. Making bottles to meet Americans' demand for bottled water requires more than 1. 5 million barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel some 100, 000 U. S. cars for a year. Worldwide, some 2. 7 million tons of plastic are used to bottle water each year.

After the water has been consumed, the plastic bottle must be disposed of. According to the Container Recycling Institute, 86 percent of plastic water bottles used in the United States become garbage or litter. Incinerating used bottles produces toxic byproducts such as chlorine gas and ash containing heavy metals. Buried water bottles can take up to 1, 000 years to biodegrade. Almost 40 percent of the PET bottles that were deposited for recycling in the United States in 2004 were actually exported, sometimes to as far away as China-adding to the resources used by this product.

In addition to the strains bottled water puts on our ecosystem through its production and transport, the rapid growth in this industry means that water extraction is concentrated in communities where bottling plants are located. For example, water shortages near beverage bottling plants have been reported in Texas and in the Great Lakes region of North America. Farmers, fishers, and others who depend on water for their livelihoods suffer from the concentrated water extraction when water tables drop quickly.

Studies show that consumers associate bottled water with healthy living. But bottled water is not guaranteed to be any healthier than tap water. In fact, roughly 40 percent of bottled water begins as tap water; often the only difference is added minerals that have no marked health benefit. The French Senate even advises people who drink bottled mineral water to change brands frequently because the added minerals are helpful in small amounts but may be dangerous in higher doses.

The French Senate also noted that small, localized problems with tap water can cause a widespread loss of confidence in municipal supplies. In fact, in a number of places, including Europe and the United States, there are more regulations governing the quality of tap water than bottled water. U. S. water quality standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency for tap water, for instance, are more stringent than the Food and Drug Administration's standards for bottled water.

There is no question that clean, affordable drinking water is essential to the health of our global community. But bottled water is not the answer in the developed world, nor does it solve problems for the 1. 1 billion people who lack a secure water supply. Improving and expanding existing water treatment and sanitation systems is more likely to provide safe and sustainable sources of water over the long term. In villages, rainwater harvesting and digging new wells can create more affordable sources of water. The United Nations Millennium Development Goal for environmental sustainability calls for halving the proportion of people lacking sustainable access to safe drinking water by 2015. Meeting this goal would require doubling the $15 billion a year that the world currently spends on water supply and sanitation. While this amount may seem large, it pales in comparison to the estimated $100 billion spent each year on bottled water.

Yesterday we got an offer on our house. It basically amounts to 2.5k over what we said we would be our "demand" price.

They're also interested in buying some of our furniture.
Well that could save us up to a grand in shipping costs...
and give us up to an extra 5k that we didn't expect... Multiply that by about 5, and that's how much we'd have to spend on NEW stuff in Botswana....

And if this is as open + shut as it sounds, we could have done this all without even putting a sign up, and only registering with 1 website.
And only having 2 walk-throughs...

Hm.

That was almost too easy?

I'm nearly... speechless?

I'm stumped. That's all I can say. Stumped.
Stupified.

What's even weirder, is I actually like the look of the pair that wants it. I'm not sure why that's relevant, but it's what keeps going through my mind. It's nearly what's keeping me from listening to "The Greedies" and keeping it on the market for a few more weeks just to see what would happen....

weirdness continues to abound.

Last weekend we bought a real live juicer.

We're the most hopped-up-on-Vitamin-C couple in the known universe these days. It's all about the carrot/ginger/orange/grapefruit/parsley/apple/mint/lime juices in this house.

Last night we went to the rugby game with the posse and then to Cleavers after with Kevvy + Gemma.

I had a day full of eating crap. I haven't done something like this in, I have no idea, over 2 years? --->
Morning: Cake (someone's going away cakes at work)
Lunch: Chinese (our friday tradition now)
Dinner: Hamburger (stadium food)
After: Beer (Cleavers has Erdinger on tap)

It's a juice day today.
Now I gotta go play my last Irish Tag Rugby games ever.

My eyeballs are dry and weary. From working hella late at the office and then coming home and working consistantly on the computer right up til bedtime. The Mr. has been so good-- making dinner 3 nights in a row, cleaning the house top to bottom for the strangers we have walking through during the day while we're at work (great! Like buy it already!), helping me read documents when it's possible, etc.

Unbelievable how out of nowhere I get crazy deadlines at the office AT THE EXACT SAME TIME we have to get this airport EIA out down in Gabz-city. What are the friggin odds of that?! I haven't had to stay late more than 10 days all YEAR at the office, and all of a sudden, whammo. The exact same week Theo wants me to have all this extensive work done for him, down there.

Anyway I came to this computer this morning to work some more, before I actually leave the house to go to.... Work. But I just couldn't bring myself to click on "Documents --> Open...".

Munster vs. Leicester game tonight. [feeble "yippee"!]
We're going with Steve, Madongles, Kevvy, Gemma, and AlanL.

If I can stay awake.

And then we have the big end-of-summer rugby blitz tomorrow. Well, 4 games, actually. My last hurrah with the mighty Scrumbags EVER. ~sniff~

~sigh~

Must.
go.
to.
work.
NOW...

Sunday we were childminders.

Our dear friends S&L have 4 children. Those children are aged 1,3,5, and 7.
Those are NOT good ages to have 4 children at the same time.

The 7 y.0. is either pouting because she's being ignored, or screaming because he who screams louder than the 1 year old, gets the grease.

The 5 year old is (mildly) autistic, allergic to every liquid and solid on the planet, and has the most heartbreakingly severe case of eczema ever. Not to mention the little guy has about a 2 minute attention span. Talk about getting dealt a bum hand in life...

The 3 year old was always the scream machine til now. Seems to be simmering down a little bit and turning into a sweet kid, but still WAY too used to getting everything he wants at all times, by screaming.

The 1 year old, just screams. And gets everything he wants, because he's the baby.

Anyway. The office had a big family day at an extremely ghetto-ass family fun park (think county fair+Six Flags combo, without the rides) and the only way S&L would get to go would be if the Mr. and I would come along too, and each take a whippersnapper. They just wouldn't have been able to do it otherwise. Hell, they fed my dogs for 2 weeks while we were in the states at xmas, of course we'd lend a hand.

I don't even know where to begin.

Lawd.

I got 7 y.o., and Hannes got 3 y.o.

Of course the "highlight" for S&L would be "to see all the kids playing and having fun together". OK this was just NOT COOL for me. Myself and 7 y.o. really wanted to go off and do our own things. I mean playground equipment that is 1 y.o. friendly is just NOT fun for 7 y.o. Hey at least she&I have similar interests: "anything away from the little brothers!!!" As far as I was concerned, S&L get to see the whole mob in one place every single day at home, why don't they take advantage of this 2-Childminders-For-Free opportunity to whittle the 6-man-band down to 4, and get a little down-time with less kids?! I just don't get it.

Finally after much negotiating, the Mr., 3 y.o., myself, and 7 y.o. managed to weasel our way into an hour or so of mini-golf, away from the others. That was pretty good. OK, 3 y.o. sucked at hitting the ball, but with some help from me & H., he even got a few holes in less strokes than the rest of us!

Then when it came time for the swimming centre, thank GOD that I was able to whisk 5 y.o. away to the arcade, rather than spend an hour wading around in kiddie pee getting barked at about what the precious packages ARE allowed to do and AREN'T allowed to do in the pool (i.e. "that's too dangerous for 3 y.o... don't let 7 y.o. go there, she can't swim... 1 y.o. won't want to come with you, he's not good with 'strangers' yet...") Poor Hannes... I launched myself and 5 y.o. out of there so fast it would make one's head spin. And left the darling mancakes to the wolves. Before you could say "floating poopie", they had him in a swim cap and threw him in with the fat hairy gold-chain wearin' toothless bogans from up the country. Oh my poor baby!

It was 600 hours long.
Er, uh, I mean 6.

For lunch we ate greasy McBurgers + soft squishy fries at the amuso-cafe and sat at sticky tables in the stink of dirty diapers and the din of SCREEEEEEEEAMING thug children (other people's children, OBVIOUSLY) throwing balls out of the ball pit. There were 4WD Triple-Xtreme strollers crashing into us from all directions. Drinks were spilt. Chicken nuggets were thrown.

Rode home in the van.
But not before we had to look at houses. Oh yes, they need a bigger house. So let's look at some after SIX HOURS OF KIDDIE FUN PARK HELL with the 2 DINKS in the back who just want to go HOME. As far as I'm concerned we've done our good will for the next year at least. PLEASE don't drive me all over hell and half of Georgia to listen to complaints about how "this one is too close to a dangerous bridge", or "that one doesn't have a footpath extending all the way down the block".

Hopefully we weren't too obvious when we literally FLEW out of the van when it pulled up to our house. I love S&L. I don't even mind their rugrats that much. But 4? Kiddie Fun Park Hell? Constant screaming? oh man, not for me, please.

(And please drive the price up a little more.)

This is the link to the online brochure that the general public will be seeing from here on out.
(More photos to be seen by clicking the "more photos" tab)

We have 4 months left to shift this baby, and so far it's been 2 days and we've had 1 interested party who looked at it yesterday. But that was an accountant looking for an office option, so that particular interested party was doubtful from the beginning. But regardless, that was before the advertising even started so we're keeping our fingers crossed that it'll go this easy for the rest of the marketing period.

Hannes thinks we'll get 320 for it, and so upon suggestion by the estate agent, we put it on at 305 because the way things work in Ireland, offers are only accepted "in excess" of the printed price and it pretty much goes as an auction up to your expected price. I don't get it, but that's just the way it works here. Whatever. Just drive the price up please. (Either way not bad for the little shithole we purchased for 185, 3 years ago.) Seeing it advertised online makes me proud of our little hole in the middle of the ghetto. I'll miss it indeed. ~sniff~

OK first,
My best friend from 9-11th grade is going to be on TV tonight (in the US of A) Well, technically, it debuted on July 3rd but the production company forgot to tell them so they weren't able to let anyone know! However, it is being re-aired tonight (Friday) at 6pm USA CST. It's only 5 minutes in the second half of the show, but it was very cool to have a national show pick them, to invade their house on account of the fact it's so unique for a typical mid-western town. (They designed every nook & cranny themselves, and there's a real fire engine in the studio, complete with slidey-downey pole from top to bottom floor, etc.)
Channel: HGTV (53 on MediaCOM cable)
Show: Offbeat America
Time: Friday, 6:00pm
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/shows_hoba/episode/0,2496,HGTV_22456_43004,00.html

Second,
Vincey is so funny. He has a blog now. I put it in my links. (He still doesn't know I have a blog though, as I still can't tell anyone in this country... so SHH!) He's the only friend whose blog I follow whom, well, I actually SEE in the physical person.... nearly every day. Which begs the question "why should I even bother reading his blog?" but it's funny. So I do. Will be handy next year as well!

Third,
I am so busy it hurts. But I like it. But I don't. But I'm schitzo. Way too much work down in BW, Way too much work at my jobby-job here in Eire, Tag Rugby training Thurs., Yoga Tues., and a whopper of a pub night on Wednesday (but that was just incidental). So far this week I haven't had a break. But at least I'm not losing sleep. Yet.

Fourth,
Ireland got absolutely KILLED by Holland on the Wednesday International Friendly football game (refer to afore-mentioned Wednesday pub night). It was BRILL-IANT. Me, the Mr., Kevvy, PW, Pádraig, Tadhg, Alan L. and Brian went to Costigan's for the game because it wasnt on the normal tv package of channels, to watch. NL killed 'em 4-0. We quietly, politely, and reservedly clapped and I gave out a few tiny squeels, much to the dismay of the mainly (duh) Irish crowd. Had fun, had a few gins, went home on time. Loved the win. FANTASTIC.

Finally,
I need a really good name for my Premiership League Fantasy Football team.

I just had a really fabulous date with my husband.
We went to La Boqueria in the middle of the day. And spent like 3 hours there drinking wine and eating tapas, etc.,

but now I'm waiting for him to go to the bathroom.

Then we're going to rent a movie,

so I'm just killing time til it's time to go.

but it was a
friggin.
fantastic.
saturday.
day.

oh yeah, and we went to the market and bought all italian stuff for a re-creation of our weekend in italy. for enjoyment in ireland.
parma ham.
melon
goats cheese
fresh basil
organic tomatoes
olives
mmmm....

tomorrow.
yum.

we put our house on the market.
ah.

Rome was cool.

Crazy Ellen behaved herself pretty much.

I did everything on my checklist i.e. saw the 5 points on the "Path of Illumination" and spotted all sorts of cool Illuminati symbolism everywhere we went. sweet. in kind of a "I-know-I'm-pathetic" way.

Ate gorgeous food (expensive) drank pretty good wine (expensive) and enjoyed the sun beating down on us at all times. Ellen's flat is swank and she has TWO count 'em TWO balconies upon which we ate delicate local parma ham, gorgeous goat's cheese, perfect pasta, and fresh melon, while drinking prosecco and red wine til we were stuffed. What more could one ask for in a weekend?

Castle Sant' Angelo (Emporer Hadrian's Mausoleum) was amazing by night... we just happened to be there during the (August) annual summer festival. It's right between the Vatican and the city center & is open for night tours every night, where you can go inside & roam around til well after midnight, where it's transformed from a simple daytime tourist destination (refuge of the Pope) into an omni-theatre of nightlife activities. Drinks, views over the city, bands, quartets, art exhibits etc. GREAT atmosphere at night. Plus all the spooky mausoleum stuff by the light of a full moon.

Saturday we saw it all. Pantheon, Colosseum, gelato, ruins, the forum, etc., etc. Thought the feet were gonna fall off but whatever. We had slept til noon or something, so loads of energy to burn. Oh yeah and the most amazing pastries & espresso ever, to burn. In one sitting, me & the Mr. ate gelato, cannoli, streudel, and some sort of chocolate-stuffed pastry that I nearly passed out with extacy, from taking a bite of. And I'm not even a chocolate-kinda-gal.

Saturday night after a major bus ride out to the suburbs of Eur, we found ourselves at a special rave-type club which had moved OUT of the night club and UP onto the roof of a major building in the city (public library? Expo centre?). There were top DJs, dancing, drinking, even a dangerous expidition (uninvited) into the VIP "room" (outside... on the same roof as the "non_VIP" section... but the drinks were 50% more expensive). Danced til 4am, got a ride home with nice mysterious sober Italian boy, Michela (sp?).

Sunday we were so hungover no one could get into each other's personal space. Or death would be consequential. So we ate a pizza, drank a coke or 2, and stumbled around the ruins of Rome. Ate another fabulous meal at nighttime, and came home and watched the friggin ARMED FORCES NETWORK. it was a hoot.

Piazza del Popolo Monday, I bought a swank-ass holy-cow dress (for the office xmas party-- well planned out) at a boutique with the best racks of clothes EVER (& the best metrosexual sales clerks EVER). Flew home that night.

The end.

That's it. . . . Our ticket out of here.

Let the record show that 23 December 2006 will be our last day in Ireland. If you come hunting down the wayward w's. . . .
. . . we won't be here!!!!

It's officially official. And I feeeeeeeeeel fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine....


Side note:
Tomorrow.
Me & The Mr.
One Aer Lingus plane.
2 Tickets to Rome.
3 Days.
The Colosseum.
Food.
Wine.
Crazy Ellen.

I intend on following the Illuminati trail depicted in Dan Brown's book Angels and Demons and admiring places and things and everything pagan and conspiratory-related that I can find.
Starting out at Piazza della Popola (where E. works!) and moving on to the Extacy of St. Theresa, and of course everything Bernini.

I also intend on getting rip-roaring drunk on good Chianti and wearing very little clothes. It's like 300 degrees there right now.

I just hope we survive the 3-day Ellen immersion. This could get messy.

TBC...

Nothing like the lonnnnnnnng 3.5 hour drive up to Dublin (and back) in a day, to make you introspective.

Today's drive was filled with the magical music of GOD and his glorious mp3s to keep me company as I ponder my life in Ireland, what it is, what remains left of it (less than 5 months now), and what it's been all about.

Today's musings: my current status of having a posse of mainly boy (space) friends. Again.

Again I find myself at the tea-time table every morning at 10:30, the only girl surrounded by a gaggle of boy-type-beings. It's damn deja vu from my whole first 23 years on earth.

Without dribbling on about it, I'll raise two points and leave it at that. I'm trying to be more concise and less blerrr-dee-blerrrr-dee-blerrrr, this week in the bloggage.

1.) This is more a retreat back to the "old Jill". Throughout high school I had several friends of the girl persuasion, but my heart seemed to belong to the friends of the boy persuasion. Something about being able to open up easier, and worry less about petty girly things that just lurk under the smiley-lipsticky surface. Then it stopped at some point around, oh I don't know, Grad school. S.Africa, 2000. Correllation between meeting the Mr. at Grad school = less friendy-boys??? I say yes. The jury may still be out on that one. BECAUSE:

I technically started getting more friendy girls a few years BEFORE Grad School. It's not just like I met the Mancakes and all of a sudden started getting friendy girls. Oh no. I remember having my first REAL like LOVE-HER friendy girl back in Wyoming, and then they just seemed to multiply upon joining the rugby team in.... '98. yeah. '98, that's when I first got absorbed into a big girly posse.

2) The Mr. and I have had several long and intellectual (ROFL) discussions on the theory of "there's no such thing as a REAL boy (space) friend, when you're a girl". Believe it or not, he actually pulled me over to his side of the fence on that one. Probably the fact that after my WEDDING I found myself without one single dear friendy boy from my past, left by my side. Well, except Martin. Whatever. Anyway he managed to change my mind. After I'd spent my WHOLE LIFE preaching the opposite. Naturally. I mean, if I DIDNT preach the opposite, then what the hell was I doing with all these friendy boys?? So yeah, I had a break in my THEORY for a few years there. Several years, actually. So now what. So now what do I do with my dear Irish darlings? The boys... The Kev and the Pádraig and the Steve and the Tadgh and the Scott and the Vincey and the Kal and the 2 Alans....

I'm stumped and I am not really sure what I believe anymore. But I know one thing, I'm really desperately going to miss them.

We had 16 year olds in the house this weekend.

2 x 16 year old girls. Man what a trip! Solidifies my belief in thinking first... reeeeeeeeeeeal hard......... before getting pregnant.

The Sister In Law, and her little friendie-pie.

They actually, curiously enough, weren't too far off the mark from what I was when I was 16. Silly, boy-crazy, loud-mouthed, opinionated, semi-naive, and prone to spastic fits of giggles at random occurrences. Over what, I have no idea.

What I WAS happy about, however, was that they had an acceptable level of naivity about them. Something that Cork girls of age 16 most definitely do NOT have. Walking around town with these 2, seeing them hand in hand, arm in arm, giggling to the Nth degree... and then seeing a pack (or shall I say "gang") of hardened, cigarette-puffing, beer-swilling, obese, overly-made-up, sleezy, J-Lo-hoop-earring-wearin' girls pushing baby buggies, loitering around on street corners.... ugh. The pair we had in our house this weekend are more my kinda 16 year olds.

Oh yeah, and this pair drink sweet white wine. ROFLMAO.

We took them to a thai restaurant (their first ever) and after locating something bland enough to not freak them out, they actually enjoyed it. Ahh their first trip out into the big world.

And one is a vegetarian. But she's not really sure why. She just is.