..Drink Beer from Oversees?

Had dinner yesterday and ordered a Stella. I knew this is an imported beer but never really paid attention to it. It says "Imported" and "Leuven", which is a city in Belgium. When taking a closer inspection, it indeed says: Brewed in Belgium.
I thought that Stella had breweries in the USA and that "my" Stella was brewed "locally"...

So for me to have "my" Stella, it if first brewed in Belgium, bottle in Belgium (probably), then shipped to the US and distributed and chilled until I order it. There is really no difference between buying a bottle of Evian (see my other post: http://changeitupalittle.blogspot.com/2008_02_01_archive.html) and buying an imported beer; they're both shipped half way across the world.

Fortunately there's good alternatives, I think I'm trying Wolaver's...

http://www.thegreenguide.com/buying-guide/beer

Drink responsibly!

Restrooms

Luckily I'm not the only one who has problems with many of the restroom setups:

This blogger words my frustration very well:

"There are three things that bug me tremendously in the United States bathroom world. First of all, the spaces everywhere! Seriously... what is up with the holes between the door and the wall; between the walls and the floor; and between the walls and the ceiling???"

http://claudiaschiepers.typepad.com/claudias_blog/2008/10/3-american-toilet-things-to-hate.html

Why do we design these restrooms this way? Why don't we build them the way they do in Europe, with a proper door and some privacy! Anybody?

Why do we not eat healthier foods?

Why do we know so little about food? I started reading about the food we eat and where it comes from and the more I read about it, the crazier it gets.


I eat tomatoes that taste like water and seasonal vegetables that are now available all year round. I drink milk from cows that provide 6 times more milk than 50 years ago, milk from cows that are fed corn instead of grass cornflakes, cows that have to be slaughtered after a few years because their bodies can't keep up with all the milk that had to be produced.
Then you switch to "organic milk" or "free range chickens" which might be a little bit better, but still does not makes any sense.

If you get a chance, rent the documentary Food Inc and be amazed.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1286537/

Corn-fed versus grass fed cattle:
http://stanford.wellsphere.com/healthy-eating-article/you-ask-i-answer-milk-from-corn-fed-cows/296899

http://www.vegsoc.org/info/cattle.html A cow’s natural lifespan is 20 to 25 years. By the time the dairy cow is just five years old she is worn out by the strain of constant milk and calf production and is slaughtered as she is no further use to the industry.

Driving your kids to school...

Life is all about learning. That goes for me, and also for all the kids living in my neighborhood.
Before starting to work I usually go for a short 15 minute walk, enjoying the sunrise and the blue sky. I can walk around our gated community in about 15 minutes and walking from the one side to the other probably takes about 5 minutes. (I used google maps to calculate the walking time and I cannot get passed 5 minutes...unless I have to do multiple loops..) Nevertheless, I see parents driving their kids to the front gate where they wait for the kids to be picked up by the school bus! Kids would probably walk slower that I do, so let's say parents have to walk 7 minutes (worst case) to take their kids to the front gate...
Kids will learn that it is "normal" to take the car to drive 0.2 miles, parents miss their morning walk and their free exercise, wasting gas because most parents let their engine running while they wait for the bus and wave their kids goodbye..

Stop driving, start walking... sigh

Chatting with a company is not always what it seems!

Hi folks,

Just wanted to share me thoughts. Recently, more and more companies have online sales agents. I think it's convenient to ask them a question directly, instead of mastering a website's contents. I was recently helped by an online sales agent at a Toyota dealership's website and at a Telecom provider I asked about SIM cards.
Today I tried to close a window in my internet browser (from First Premier Bank, looking at credit cards) but when I did, I was asked to hold on because a sales rep wanted to chat with me. Fine, I thought, let's see if she can tell me why they use ridiculous fees. But after asking two questions, I found out it was a "virtual" sales rep. I felt like somebody had played a trick on me. Don't tell me there's a sales rep that wants to talk to me if there's a computer trying to answer my questions! The IT guys who created the system put some fun jokes in there though. See below....

Try to ask weird questions to find out if there is a computer on the other side, or whether it really is a sales rep! Let me know if you found any funny answers to your questions..

Why do we... buy bottled water?

Why do we... buy bottled water?

Recently I have been reading about bottled water and I’m trying to answer why we buy so many bottles of water each year. (estimate is about USD 4 bnl.)

Yes, I am ware of the advantages of having 8 glasses of water a day. Yes, I know it’s good for your body, your blood, etc. The downside however is that it’s just not very good for my wallet or for the environment. Here's an easy tip to save money and the environment: read this blog, watch the video below, and you'll be convinced.

My wallet:

I use to to to this lunch place where I buy a sandwich and a bottle of water. Last week I came there again but I did not have enough cash on me to buy the bottle of water (USD 1.29). So just a sandwich this time. However, a friend of mine told me I can get some water out of the beverage dispenser. When I asked the cashier she told me it was only 20 cents to fill any cup. So bottled water is 600% more expensive!!! I didn’t know it was possible to get water out of an ordinary beverage dispenser. I checked at Panera, Ikea, etc, most of them do offer tap water.

The environment:

When getting the water of the beverage dispenser I thought about the huge difference for the environment between getting tap water from the water dispenser or buying a bottle of water. Let’s say you buy a bottle of Everest Water . It comes from an industrial area in Texas. (the same goes for e.g. Aquafina (by Pepsi company), basically it’s the same as a regular Pepsi, without any cola flavours!) So, let’s see what happens when I buy a bottle of Everest Water here in Florida:

1. water gets bottled in Texas.
2. water gets transported to a hub in Florida
3. water gets transported from hub to every single lunch place in Florida
4. I drink the water
5. I throw away the plastic bottle that has to be recycled.

Now let’s see what happens when I buy the water from the dispenser:

1. I drink the water
2. I throw away the carton cup that has to be recycled (keep in mind that I use a reusable water bottle most of the time)

There is a huge diffe rence in energy usage to drink the same amount of water!!

Now I know that there are people who believe that bottled water taste’s better than tap water (this would still not explain the 600% premium they charge though!!!). Have a look at this video from Penn&Teller: The craze of bottled water is a national obsession but tap water is usually safer for you, and often better tasting too. Using a hidden camera, Penn & Teller will take a look at the obsession. (see below)

Using a hidden camera they showed that in NY, 75% people liked tapwater better than the bottle, it’s hilarious.

They also explained the fact the public water is more heavily regulated than bottled water. Additionally about 33% of the brands selling bottled water, violated the industry standards.


Well, I’m definately going to stop buying bottles when possible, save money, save the planet and doing things that make sense...

CeeJay


Below are some pictures of how to get water out of a beverage dispenser