Got 8?

Have I really not talked to you guys since the 13th! What a slacker! Tune in tomorrow when I will be talking about my new affair with 6am Bikram Yoga. Yes, it will still focus on water issues. Lord knows, I don't want to talk about the sorry state of my flexibility. Who knew pulling on my big toe could be painful enough to make me want to scream obscenities!

For today, I wanted to share this great little video. Fun to watch, informative. Oh, for goodness sakes, just watch it! Then read the comments to know about all the pinheads out there who watched it and worry more about the state of capitalism than they do the environment, our children's future and well, the fact that well, we're getting the pants scammed off of us! Watch.

Retreat!

I'm on a writers retreat. Notice I said writers retreat and not "writing" retreat. Haven't done much writing as of yet, though there has been quite a bit of discussion that has been helpful. Lots of eating too, which is always welcome. Lots of running the water too. The water here is bloody freezing! Like the pipe it in straight off a penguin's ass. Yes, I'm in a cabin. Yes I'm in the woods. But can a girl get a luke warm drip of water? Anyway, without a watering can or bucket that I trust to be clean, I am watching lots of water go down the drain without a useful moment on this planet. My poor housemates are looking over their shoulders constantly trying to read my mind - as if I am thinking less of them for wanting to have feeling left in their hands after washing the dishes. I waited for the shower to heat up, making myself feel better by sticking my toothbursh under the showerhead instead of running the sink. Hey, it's something. Meanwhile, I think I saw a squirrel watching me through the window. He looked pissed. Sorry nature. Maybe I will put in the suggestion box that they should have buckets and watering cans for just this purpose. Might make the owners say, "hmmm." Might make them say, "what kind of UnAmerican crazies rented the cabin this weekend, anyway." Either way, it cant hurt. And at least now I can call this a "writing" retreat!

Silver Jewels

I was going to look up more about the eBay lady who is running for Governor when I came across the California Water Service website and their FREE water saving accessories! Now I can don my apartment in the silver jewels it deserves all for the price of 0.00! Conservation never looked this good! (This entry is now dubbing as my audition piece for the home shopping network.) Don't wait! Order now!

Well, wait a minute... there's a snag.

They want an account number and the name of the person on the account. Ummm... first of all, I don't have that information. I'm a RENTER. I'm assuming it's my landlord. I know her name but the account number. I'm lucky enough to have a landlord that does not charge us for water, so I have absolutely no idea. Um, Cal Water Service, can I ask a question. WHY are you asking for this stuff. If you're sending this stuff to a CAL address, then why of why do you care what my account number is? I'm trying to save water. Why you gotta give me a hard time?

Yes, I will ask my landlord. I hate to bother her with this, but I will do it.

But the way, this all came out of my son's new obsession with running the water at FULL BLAST. He's now old enough to tell me that the soap doesn't all come off when we only run it at half the power. So whenever it's time for him to wash his hands, you hear us bickering. "You're waisting water." "There's more soap!" "You have to rub your hands together." "I am!" Poor kid. Washing your hands should not be stressful with everything else that can stress a kid out these days. This should be on the list of soothing, calming, easy peasy no-brainers. Sorry baby. Mama's fixin to make everything right again. Don't you worry. CWS, you better come through!

Backed Up

I'm alive, I just have been buried. Mostly under a calendar. How does that happen. Well, you know all of those comprehensive magazine calendars you see with a roundup of every friggin thing there is to do in an area. Well, someone has to write that. In the case of a certain publication in my area, that's me. I actually asked the editor to take it off my plate because I'm really not getting much else done. Anyway, it's not an excuse, but I'm having to store all of my water news in my head until I actually get a chance to sit here and write it. Now, of course, the only thing going through my head is how I forgot to pack a pillow case for my son this morning in his school back for nap time. My kid's well-being trumps all, my friends...

I will say that I have been seeing many MANY commercials plugging the eBay woman for governor, and I have been doing a lot of wondering about what her stance is on the whole levy issue. I don't know if you remember a few bloggies back when I posted that 60 minutes segment about the levy's here in CA and how we are less than one earthquake away from them collapsing into oblivion - causing the salt water to mix in with the water in the reservoir. So, I'm going to vote for the person who pledges to fix that as a top three priority - equal to healthcare and education. Anyone who doesn't see it as a top priority is, frankly, a moron. More on this in later episodes. But for now, speaking of earthquakes...

I was up way to late the other night working on, you guessed it, the friggin calendar, when I tuned into CNN. There's nothing like watching a little bit of the boob tube just before I go to bed to shut off my brain and lul me into sleepyland. Now, I should mention that I HATE CNN because I think that all news should be publicly funded. I want to know NEWS, not the version that Gold Bond Medicated Ointment or Viagara or whatever the heck other sponsor thinks is news. I plan on pounding this into my son's consciousness so that he never thinks that the sensationalist crap is news. It's not. It's the new MTV. It's the alternate ESPN. Anyway, I'm flipping through and they are covering the earthquake in Chile. What a nightmare. First Haiti and now this. So powerful that they were saying the rotation of the earth actually sped up a fraction of a second because of the magnitude.

I've never been through a major earthquake. I remember one when I was living in NYC. I remember knowing exactly what it was and going back to sleep. (This was in the late 90's, I believe.) But now that I live here in the Bay Area, I know I'm going to face one. Especially since epicenters have been ping ponging around the globe. I want to have a water supply and thought I would just buy a case of bottled water. Turns out, emergency water supplies come in bags, not bottles. Not sure why. I think it's the responsible thing to do, but is it a little crazy? Am I doing the smart thing or am I doing the Ted Kazinski thing?

My time is up. More tomorrow...