ECO Craziness......

I understand yesterday was Earth Day, and I understand everyone is all atwitter with glee over Gore's power point presentation....I mean movie but come on!!!  This "being Green" crap is getting to be too much now.  Ever notice when you try and buy "earth friendly" products they aren't "wallet" friendly???  It's the new Beanie Baby collectible market.  Let's cash in on people's guilt.  Sorry folks, these Corporations don't actually give a rat's ass about the environment.....but they will sure market the crap out of their ECO products for you.   Or you will get slammed with "at least once a day Carpool...or take public transit..."  Easier said than done.  Carpooling was great when folks didn't work the crazy hours they have been working for the past decade or so.  If you all worked at XYZ Factory from 8-5, then you piled into Joe's car and all drove to the factory, then went out after and had beers.  Sorry it doesn't work that way any more.  At least for office folk.   Public transportation is great, if they dumbasses worked together.  When I got married the first time, I lived in the East Bay Area.  I worked on the Peninsula so to get from home to work I had to drive across the Bay Bridge and pay a then two dollar daily toll (it's like 5 bucks now....).  Or I could have taken BART ( the Bay Area's subway).  I could get on a BART train as early as 5 AM.  It was an hour and a half walk from the station to my office (trust me I did it once....) and should have been a 15-20 minute bus ride.   I took the 6 AM train.  Got to the station closest to my work at 7.  The bus didn't come until 7:30-7:45......that was the first bus.  Imagine if I had taken the train at 5 am.  I would have been sitting around waiting on the bus for an hour and a half.  As it was it took almost a half hour for the bus to get me to my office....basically at 8am on the dot when I was supposed to be sitting on my duff working.   Yeah that worked out.  So far my ride to work was a good 2 and a half hours.  Or I could drive.  As long as you were at the toll plaza by 6ish you were good.   It would take me an hour and a half to drive.  Hmmm what's better.....that's why there's so many cars on the bloody road.  In Tennessee, we don't have public transit.  Just MTA busses in Nashville proper.  I work on the outskirts of Nashville.....we have a commuter train that goes from home to downtown Nashville.....a ways out of my way to get to the office.  I'd have to hop on a bus that might take a good half hour/hour to get me to the office.  Or, I can commute 30-45 minutes each day.   Hmmm....yeah carpooling works soooo well.  Want to be ECO minded?  Stop buying gas guzzling behemoth vehicles.  It was the fascination with the SUV in the 90's that has us paying almost 4 bucks a gallon for gas.  Thanks Jones and those keeping up with said Jones.......thanks so much.   I was okay with the rash of Mini Vans there for awhile...at least Mini Vans get decent mileage.....much better actually than SUV's......oh, but wait.....it's funny actually, I've gotten so many owners of big SUV's stop me in parking lots, etc and ask about my Scion and how do I like it and what mileage it gets.  I politely answer it's a Toyota for 15 k and it gets 35 mpg (I also smirk a little when I say that because in my head I'm doing the Ha Ha dance).  What I really want to tell these people (but unlike popular opinion I really don't like being an ass) is "oh now you want the fuel efficient vehicle.  After you and all the other SUV drivers in the world have sucked up almost every last drop of fuel and NOW you want to preserve it.......should have thought of that sooner!!!".   I don't say that though; I don't have to.  They realize it.  Don't get me wrong, I do honestly believe that the last 100 years or so of being an Industrialized civilization has sped up the natural progression of a changing climate, but I don't get how bringing your own bags to the grocery store (and Oh God let me tell you how trendy this is getting....oh wait..that was a few entries ago...go read it) is going to keep plastic out of the land fills.  Everything you buy in the grocery store is packaged in plastic.  Yes by not using plastic bags you will not be throwing them away...but you will be throwing out the plastic wrap covering the meat you buy, the plastic bag you put your Organic vegetables in, etc etc.  What exactly are you saving?  All you are doing is giving the store a reason to charge you for their dependence on plastic bags; remember, THEY are the ones that started pushing plastic because paper kills trees.......we tend to forget that little tidbit....the reality of it is the plastic bags cost the store less than paper ones did so that's why they pushed them....they could care less about trees....remember one thing...your friendly neighborhood grocer is run by a CORPORATION.....and all they care about is maximizing profit.  If they want us to be sooo concerned about the environment and wean us off of Plastic bags, then they can start giving us paper or the reusable canvas bags and give us an actual discount.....or not.  I mean if they bagged your groceries in reusable bags...basically gave you your first set of bags for free......then would only bag your groceries in those reusable bags you brought in from now on, they wouldn't have to buy those plastic grocery bags.  Most of these places have Reward cards.  They would scan your card, then enter a certain code that would tell them in the future when you scanned that card again that this person has already received a full set of bags so don't give them additional then you wouldn't get wasteful people.  If they gave me the bags, or at least charged me what they charge me for the plastic (oh yeah.....you didn't know that?  The price you pay for groceries already has the cost of those plastic bags factored in.....) then I'd reuse the things.  What is funny is that most of these reusable bags they sell aren't canvas.  They are plastic coated and cost upward of 4 bucks a bag!!!!  For what?  So you can get 4 cents off a bag??????  OOOOO that's good economics right there.  Or better yet, do like Costco and Sam's, put it all in cardboard boxes.  You know there are tons of empty boxes in the stock room from all the products that are on the shelves.  Instead of some poor sap having to shove all that crap in a compactor and bundling it up reuse it!!!!  What a concept!!!  You get rid of your trash by giving it to someone else!!!!  Around Tennessee, each County has it's own dump.  Guess what, it's free to dump your trash there.  No shit.....it shocked me too.  Back home in Cali you went to the dump it was like 10-20 bucks a carload.  Here there is a place for household trash, recycling bins for plastic, glass, newspaper, magazines/junk mail, a HUGE bin for cardboard plus a bin for crap (broken furniture, old sinks....etc).  Then there is a separate bin for old washing machines/fridges that kind of thing.  Seriously you can go once a day and most of them are open 7 days a week.  So if Kroger "bagged" my groceries in old cardboard boxes, you damn well know they'd end up in the cardboard recycling bin at the dump.  Now isn't that better for the environment and your wallet????  This going "green" has become too freaking trendy and people are feeding the machine to make themselves feel better.....because God Forbid they admit that if they got rid of the H2 and bough a station wagon they'd actually save gas and money.  No we have to bring our own bags to the store...carried there in our Cadillac Escalade.  Yeah save the planet.....You're doing it wrong!!!

Jewish Buddhism

(Posted in the Cardiff Rose's Yahoo Groups Message board....too funny not to share).

If there is no self, whose arthritis is this?

Be here now.
Be someplace else later.
Is that so complicated?

Drink tea and nourish life;
with the first sip, joy;
with the second sip, satisfaction;
with the third sip, peace;
with the fourth, a Danish.

Wherever you go, there you are.
Your luggage is another story.

Accept misfortune as a blessing.
Do not wish for perfect health, or a life without problems.
What would you talk about?

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single Oy.

There is no escaping karma.
In a previous life,
you never called,
you never wrote,
you never visited.
And whose fault was that?

Zen is not easy.
It takes effort to attain nothingness.
And then what do you have?
Bupkis.

Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Forget this and attaining Enlightenment will be the least of your problems.

Let your mind be as a floating cloud.
Let your stillness be as a wooded glen.
And sit up straight.
You'll never meet the Buddha with such rounded shoulders.

Deep inside you are ten thousand flowers.
Each flower blossoms ten thousand times.
Each blossom has ten thousand petals.
You might want to see a specialist.

Be aware of your body.
Be aware of your perceptions.
Keep in mind that not every physical sensation is a symptom of a terminal illness.

The Torah says, Love your neighbor as yourself.
The Buddha says, There is no self.
So, maybe we're off the hook.

The Game of Tag Banned!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Click on the link to read an article about the most ridiculous example of Nanny State-ness in a long time. So apparently a Principal in Virginia wants the game of tag....yes you read that right, Tag as in tag you're it....banned. Why???? Because it's become too aggressive. Of course it is....it's tag!!!! You chase someone and smack them on the arm then run away. The complaint was that too many kids are going to the nurses office. Duh!!! They're....wait for it....KIDS!!!!! You know, crazy, active, running, jumping, climbing doing stupid crap and falling on their arses or scrapping a knee or two. KIDS!!!! This dumbass principal was shocked at the parents reaction.....in other words when she had a PTA meeting to announce this the parents of these kids basically said "Are you freaking kidding me?????". If some kids are being schmucks, then send those kids to the Principal's office and discipline them. Leave the other kids alone. So these kids can't play football, run, or play tag. Hmmmm......and they wonder why kids are so damn fat.

300th Entry

I've finally reached my 300th entry.....woo hoo.....and here it is:

There's apparently a push in my Homestate of Cali to start charging a quarter a bag for groceries bagged in plastic. You know the EVIL plastic bags that they forced on us years ago because of those EVIL paper bags that were killing all the trees.......actually now most paper grocery bags are recycled paper so why we don't use them is beyond me...(oh wait....because the plastic one's are cheaper!!!!). I'm really getting sick of this whole "green" movement....it's becomming an excuse for unsavory types who don't give a shiat about the environment to make a profit off the sheep. They sell these "enviro" reusuable bags which are made of canvas woven with plastic to make them waterproof and have a plastic flip down stablizer thing to make the bottom of the bag flat plus have printing on the (plastic in the ink) and are stiched with plastic coated thread. And you are supposed to bring these into the store with you (at what 2 bucks a bag or something like that) and sometimes the store will give you a dime or so off of each one you use.....of course you aren't saving much money because you are still getting charged for those plastic bags you aren't using (it's in the cost of the food and other crap you are buying......). So the store pays what a nickel or so for those bags? They add the cost of that to the price of items in the store. They may give you a dime back for every reusable bag you bring in......guess what....still not saving money......you are really getting a nickel back for every bag you bring in....but you still are taxed and you still are paying for the plastic bags that I love so much. Seriously, I'm staring at a Kroger bag on my desk right now. I took my lunch in it to work today. When I go home, I will probably scoop cat shit into it and put it in the trash. Can I do that with a reusable grocery bag??? No. What I'd have to do then is to buy more plastic garbage bags instead of recycling ones that I've gotten from the store. Either give me paper bags back or STFU. Why should we have to pay more for something that the stores forced on us to begin with??? I liked paper bags, I used them pretty much for what I use plastic bags for today.....waste basket liners and cat poop receptacles. Heck we used to use them for cheap book covers for school. I agree we need to work on being nicer to the planet, but this whole reusable bag thing is a crock. Think about it. The majority of the items you buy come in some kind of plastic container/packaging. Your bread is wrapped in plastic. There is a plastic film securely covering your meat....which is also on a styrofoam base. Plastic milk jugs, styrofoam egg cartons, plastic packaging for your cheese, deli meats. Yeah you are really saving the environment there Eco Warrior. That's like Jane Soccer Mom driving her SUV to the grocery store but feeling so good about herself because she "brought her own bags....I'm such a Green person Marge...look at me!!!" Yeah you may be keeping your plastic grocery bags out of the landfill, but all that plastic crap that you throw into your big plastic kitchen garbage bag ends up there anyway.

Oh Boo Hoo

So today a bunch of independent Truck Owners and Operators refused to work because they are biatching about fuel prices. They say that the people they contract with aren't giving them enough to cover the rising cost of fuel. Well gee, if you didn't fly down the freeways doing 90 and cutting people off and generally driving like asshead, then maybe I might have some sympathy. Sorry dudes, I don't. For the past several years Semi's have been the menace of the roadways. I remember back home in the Bay Area. Every time I heard a traffic report it was an incident involving a (insert vehicle/object here) and a Big Rig. Always! The Union drivers didn't stop driving nor did the big transport companies. They're smart. My company is working on a rail project that will raise the height of tunnels so that they can double stack freight cars. When this happens, Semi's will only be used for local hauls, from the railyard to the warehouse. Not cross country hauls. Niiiicccceee!! Get these schmucks off the road I say. If I was an independent owner/operator, I'd tack on a fuel surcharge as part of the price I qouted. If they didn't like, then they could hire someone else. When I worked for a Courier Company we had fuel surcharges all the time. Folks just accepted it because it was necessary. If these truck jockeys want some kind of change, try parking your rigs in front of an oil refinery and haulting traffic in and out.......that might get some attention. Making life miserable for the rest of us will only make us despise you more.

Two steps forward three steps back....

Remember back in the late 70's and 80's when TV was nothing but T&A? Then all kinds of folks complained and really what folks wante was a good story and great writing. A little flash of sexy was okay but when it drives the show it gets boring quick. I'm getting the impression that we are back sliding lately. USA has several shows (as does FX) where the main characters are really strong Women. Somehow though, a couple of them feel that for a Woman to be a strong character they have to focus 90% of their attention on her sex life. Why? On Law and Order Mariska Hargety plays a very strong female character, but the show rarely delves into the character's personal life outside the station.....it really doesn't need to as that's not what the show's about. On USA there are two shows: Saving Grace and a new one called In Plain Sight. Saving Grace had an interesting premise: Holly Hunter plays a mess of a cop in Oklahoma who gets visited by a tobacco chewing Angel. Sounds good huh? It's not. I watched three episodes of it and all I remember was Holly Hunter continuing to ruin her Partner's marriage by sleeping with him constantly and drinking and screwing herself silly. Apparently there were crimes to be solved each episode, but I couldn't tell you what they were. It's like the whole purpose of the show is to show borderline soft core sex and nudity.........I get doing it once or twice...but it seemed like every episode. Whatever. Now this new one called In Plain Sight is about a US Marshall named Mary. From the previews, it looks like it's going to focus on Mary naked and screwing everything that moves. Wow.......I personally think this is doing these ladies a great disservice. Honestly, just concentrate on the action and "cop" part of the show and they will last as long as Law and Order. I mean in the FX show Damages they concentrated on the characters and the underlying mystery plus the case they were working on. There were a few love scenes, but it wasn't like the soft core Porn of Saving Grace. Heck they didn't even focus on it much. I mean they stopped doing this crap with Cop shows with strong Male characters, why do they feel the need to do it with Female characters???