my eco life has been flipped upside down

I have had my fair share of reusable bottles. I just can't justify buying disposable bottles of water when you can fill up for free or almost free. Just think of how much energy is being saved just by filling up with a reusable bottle instead of drinking from a plastic bottle that gets thrown away and then more energy goes into making the next one you're going to drink from. So I used to use these cheapie plastic ones I got from China just because I could just refill and be all eco friendly and such and then the whole leaching problem arose. I was probably especially affected because I used my bottles to drink tea because they had this cool little strainer thing in the top part of it. It was said that a huge indicator was if you could smell the plastic of your bottle, it probably was not very safe to drink from. Sure enough, my bottles smelled heavily of plastic when there was hot tea in it. Sigh.

Last summer, while gallavanting through Lucerne, I decided it would be awesome to get a Sigg bottle from Switzerland. I bought a one-liter bottle and carried it the rest of our trip, refilling wherever it was safe to and saving my Euros while doing so. Just now, I found out the sad truth about said bottle, that its lining contains BPA. Cry. They have been working their way around this for a very long time by not denying that their lining has BPA in it but stating that it does not leach BPA. Very fishy. Any brand new bottles that don't have that brassy look on the inside but are lined with a beige color are safe but mine unfortunately was purchased just before they started producing those (August of 2008). But I have no idea when they even actually started selling them. I just feel so very lied to right now. Sure, maybe it doesn't leach BPA and my babies won't be growing extra limbs but all the denial just makes me sad. On top of that, I have learned that apparently cheaper aluminum bottles do leach BPA, though still not as much as plastic. Wahhh!

Anywho, if you are a Sigg owner, supposedly you can e-mail them your info and they will send you a new one for trading in your old bottle. There are also stores, such as this one that will give you a big discount when you exchange your old Sigg for something BPA-free like Klean Kanteen, which seems to be the bottle of choice as a Sigg alternative.

this hits close to home, literally

So, I'm driving around the block looking for parking after having had a very enlightening car ride back (about people being in cages we call cars) from work when I see an unmarked news van on my street. I turn the corner and then there's two more local news vans. I look at my front door and there are people in suits blocking the entrance. Then there are cop cars. This was all very alarming but what made me even more nervous was the fact that news vans seem to be above the law and are allowed to park in the middle of the road causing me to drive around it into the opposite side of the road. I circled the block and walked up, expecting the worst. As I trekked up the ramp, I asked a man walking his dog if he knew what was going on. What he told me almost made me piss my pants. You can read the story here but basically a woman in my building, Jasmine Fiore, went missing this past weekend and then her body was found in a dumpster in Buena Park and was ID-ed this morning. WHAT THE HECK?!?!? Her husband, who was the one who had reported her missing, is the main suspect and coincidentally is nowhere to be found.

Internetless

I realized I really don't do a whole lot online but it's one of those things that is nice to have, especially when someone tells you to check something out and you say you will and then you realize you can't. Then said person thinks you're a pathological liar and never makes another suggestion to you again and is ashamed to even look your way. It isn't totally tragic because I do have internet a couple times a week like when I go to school and when I come back to the parentals.

By the way, 500 Days of Summer totally rocked my face off. The trailer is very up front about what it is and even though it makes me sad that it isn't a love story, it's a very cute movie. Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, I heart. The clothes they wore were so cute. I especially loved her purses. If only I could pull off her look! I also love that it took place in L.A. because I totally recognized places. Wee!

Paranoia

I have always been a somewhat paranoid person. Any stare that lasts uncomfortably long, any car that slows down behind me, any footsteps I hear coming up from behind, any movement of shadow on the ground, is met by my suspicion and me glancing around erratically. BUT, my sister is even worse. Being frequenters of the MTA bus and rail system, we have every reason to be this way. There are always crazies on public transportation. I am not as paranoid as her and have ridden the system with a little bit of fearlessness because I figure no one would try anything when there's so many people around, but my sister remains skeptical. It's getting off and on the buses and rails that freak me out, especially at night. I have made many a trip to her work via the 720/920 Rapid bus at night and as soon as I get off, I speedwalk on over. I get off near the Vermont Red Line station, which is a hustling and bustling place but once you start heading east of there, the streets are pretty empty. Luckily there is a security guard on site at the entrance I go through but for those couple of blocks that I walk, my heart is racing. I have made this trip so many times and been okay, but due to the kidnapping/murder that has recently happened, I am pretty scared, especially for my sis. She is especially afraid because she walks over to the post office right around where this kidnapping took place so often AND it happened in broad daylight. If we can't even feel safe in broad daylight, then when can we?

So, what transpired next was a step toward our safety. My sister and I went to Big 5 yesterday and bought pepper spray. There was a sheriff that came to her work this past week to talk about safety measures. The best thing to do is out-crazy them and make a scene so as to get people's attention around you. Not only will I be doing that but I will be pepperspraying the crap out of them! The brand he recommended was Sabre (which is what we bought because Big 5 doesn't carry anything else anyway) and according to the packaging, NYPD carries the same. What I thought was great was that there were color choices. I bought the pink one because I think it would be most surprising for my attacker. "Hey what's that pink thing in your hand? AHHHH MY EYES!" We also chose the one that not only is a pepper spray but also includes tear gas and invisible UV marking dye because I fully intend to make any attackers cry and have them be shamefully marked to be easily identified later on. I don't suggest that you spray anyone you are suspicious of (especially because it is illegal to use it for anything other than self defense and defending yourself from awkward stares isn't really self defense, I feel), but it would be nice to keep it on hand when walking alone anywhere.