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The good news is no matter how bad your week was, you probably haven't destroyed an entire eco-system. I suppose there is an argument that we all did collectively. In my defense I would have voted for more redundancy in safety equipment and then paid more for gas, but who wouldn't now? Like when someone falls down the stairs and then someone in the crowd says "Be careful!" Hey BP Oil, be careful!
The silver lining here for the liberal Dem's is of course the response to: (Sneering) "So, do you want the Government running health care?" NO, I want BP Oil, no wait, Goldman Sachs, no, no, WA MU. The free market obviously has our best interest at heart and strives to cut no corners.
This is week two of the Plastic Diet. Now that I'm here, let us talk about plastic spoons, and forks. And advertising.
Of course you don't want to use the family silver if you are camping or having an off site picnic, but using plastic seems silly since you can buy pieces of flatware at Goodwill for 20 cents if you're that worried about it. Therefore the sell becomes: if you use plastic you can throw it away! The part that makes no sense is throwing it away. Just toss it back in the bag at the end of the picnic and wash it when you get home for Christ's sake, you can put it in the dishwasher. How did we get to the place where we throw away perfectly functional things and get pissey when someone points out that it's STUPID? (Um, that would be me.)
I will explain. Companies like Dow Chemical (for example) have scientists and engineers and designers and all sorts or people who come up with new products. Most of the time these items aren't especially wonderful, but the Dow Chemical dudes have to make us think they are, otherwise we won't pay money for it. Plastic silverware and paper plates don't really make sense especially if you are in your own house. They are unpleasant to use really. But, if you somehow get it into your head that washing dishes is on par with coal mining or digging ditches, and you deserve better, well of course you are going to throw perfectly good stuff in the ocean, trash, whatever. And where do we get this idea? We become advertised into it.
Watch, the bad stuff happens in black and white, ( close up on a woman with huge icky sink full of dishes she never has good hair in fact she is doing that blow the bangs out of her eyes thing), then *!*!*! Color! Woman throwing plastic forks and paper plates in the trash and she is so GORGEOUS and she is wearing HIGH HEELS and she is YOUNG and her HUSBAND is so HANDSOME and so PROUD of how BEAUTIFUL and SMART she is, why would you not throw perfectly good stuff out!!!
Anyway, washing dishes, especially when there are a bunch of people in the kitchen to help is kind of pleasant, and even if you are all by yourself, it's not that hard. Think about it for a minute.
THINGS WE HAVE NOT PURCHASED THIS WEEK
AT COSTCO
Potatoes
Broccoli
Bananas
Onions
Asparagus
Coffee
Morning Star Farms Sausage
Orchid for Mothers Day, the pot was glass, but it was wrapped in plastic.
Everything else at Costco
Beer
Oranges in a Box
THINGS THAT MAY BE A PROBLEM THIS WEEK
Hair spray. January said she would get me some for Mothers Day, but that would be cheating.
Dish washing liquid. My mother used Cheer laundry detergent to wash dishes when I was a kid, and other than the fact that it will probably take a layer of skin off your hands I think it will work. It comes in cardboard.
On Cinco De Mayo the Comma Editor walked down to a Mexican bar and had a Margarita, which I guess because it was Cinco de Mayo they were serving them in plastic cups. So that was bad. The badder part was that he had another one, so our plastic diet has been cheated on. He brought them home at least, so we can reuse them for something. Turns out this isn't the only transgression. We are saving all the bits. A picture will be published at the end of the month.
The More Jokes and Everything Else Editor told me the whole blog couldn't be about plastic, but I say, I had a hard week, next week we will be more wide ranging.
HOCKEY
I told you I would tell you the two good things about the NHL. OK, the first one is Don Cherry, he is a Canadian announcer who wears the best outfits EVER. They are suits made out of fabric that you would think came from the planet Weird Fabric. He is great. They don't show him on the US channel, you have to tune into channel 99, the Canadian station. I think he was a player at one time, but who cares. It's about the outfit.
The other good thing about hockey is that the goalies each get to have the design they want on their hockey hat things, helmets. Some of them are quite good. Most of them aren't, but it's hockey, so once again who cares. Now I will know if That One and The Other One are reading, there will be blistering comments.
I am getting to the point where I can sort of watch a hockey game. I'm always awed by people being able to skate like that and play a game at the same time, and attempt to beat the shit out of each other in their spare time.
GOOD THING THIS WEEK
The Comma Editor and I were driving down Yesler and there was a kid about 15 or so walking down the sidewalk picking up random trash. He had an I Pod or whatever in his ears, and seemed to be doing it just to be doing it. That's what I want to believe.
Cool
