Men & Bathrooms

Ok for those of you who don't know I work in an old mansion that has offices for a couple of local environmental groups. My actual office is upstairs and is an old linen closet and while its not that big, its very cute and the cabinets are painted and designed beautifully. Its got a large window that looks out onto trees and is a pretty view. Overall the office is alright.

The building itself is quite beautiful, as are the grounds. I do have some sanitary issues however with this place. The kitchen has many issues but thats really a story for another day..... today the bathrooms. There is a bathroom directly across from my office, its a one person bathroom thats its good shape. Mainly the people who use it are myself, a couple of men who work in the office next to me and the occasional visitor. Being that they really only have a cleaning crew come through once a week (and some weeks not at all) I like knowing the bathroom is shared by few people. Even when there are weddings here only the bridal party is allowed upstairs all the other guests must use the downstairs bathroom. And then they usually have a cleaning crew.

Anyways being the main woman that uses the bathroom, really puts me in charge of making sure there is enough toilet paper, soap, paper towels etc. Because if I dont keep up with these things they would never be taken care of. Despite the fact that the men that use the bathroom are in their 50s or older, these are not tasks they are capable of accomplishing. I dont really mind keeping up with these things, and I prefer that its done and things are kept as sanitary as possible.

I have been working out of this building for about a year now and the men that I share the bathroom with are really pretty considerate. They always put the seat down, they dont pee on the seat, they wash their hands. In the last couple of months there has been a new guy who has started working out of here. This week he seems to be having some kind of problem- while he is not peeing on the seat, he is dribbling on the rim of the toilet. Now if this happens once, you forgive it, he was zipping up too quickly. He was in a hurry- these things can happen. But it has happened every day this week, and more than once a day. And now I’m really aggravated and disgusted. How difficult is it to ensure you pee in the toilet bowl? Women dont have this problem. And he knows he is sharing a bathroom with a woman.

There is another bathroom, a womens bathroom, downstairs, that has two stalls. Occasionally if I am down there I use it, but one stall doesnt lock and tons of people use this bathroom. Once summer camp starts it is the main bathroom for the kids. I went down there today to use because I was grossed out about having to wipe the toilet yet again and that bathroom was a mess. One stall had no toilet paper and there was toilet paper all over the floor. So maybe its not just men, but at least no one had peed on the toilet bowls. Nobody upkeeps this bathroom, which is more of a problem with the whole building in general.

Its just not as convenient to have to go downstairs everytime I have to pee and once the kids start coming it will really be a sanitary mess down there. And I shouldnt have to do that, I should be able to go to the bathroom in the one across the hall from me that is shared by adults and not have to worry about who is peeing on the toilet. Im not asking for brain surgery just watch it when your zipping up and if you dribble a little wipe it up yourself, you're a grown ass 50 yr old man. How does his wife live with him? Maybe they have separate bathrooms.

Unfortunately there really is no way to bring this up to him. Maybe as Im passing him in the hall one day I can say hey asshole stop peeing on the toilet. But thats probably not a good solution. If anyone has an idea on how to tell a grown man to pee in a toilet let me know.

The good news is I posted a blog two days in a row and Im working out of the office on Friday so he can pee on the toilet all he wants that day.

Worm Poop

It's been a while since I posted on here, I always say I will do better with keeping up with posting but then other things take priority or nothing particularly interesting is happening. It has been an exciting couple of months, filled with a lot of campaigning, conventions, busy weeks at work, a trip home, a cousins graduation, and my plants.

A couple of months ago I started growing strawberries from seeds at home. For quite some time I didn’t think anything was going to grow and I had somehow messed them up (despite diligently watering them every day), until finally little seedlings popped up. Now I have 4 plants that are growing pretty strongly, in fact I need to re-pot them into their own pots this week and 1 brand new seedling that just popped up last week. Very exciting! I am not sure how long it will take them to actually produce strawberries. Some people say that strawberry plants do not produce fruit the first year but the package of seeds I bought said they were the forever producing kind, so I think they should.

I also have 2 tomato plants that are doing extremely well. One is Amish style tomatoes that are the size of grape tomatoes. This plant is doing really well and already has several baby green tomatoes on it. The other will produce larger heirloom tomatoes that are yellow and red. That one has the flowers but not the baby tomatoes yet. I have them in pots on my deck, so no large garden (unfortunately!) this year. But my tomatoes and strawberries keep me busy every morning.

I found the best fertilizer for my tomatoes and plants- Worm Poop. It’s by a company called TerraCycle. A friend and I were looking for organic fertilizer for our tomato plants and surprisingly I found this right at Home Depot. Basically worms are fed organic matter or compost and their poop is turned into fertilizer. And the company sells it in recycled soda bottles, so its cutting down on waste too. They have a special fertilizer for tomato plants and then others for other types of plants too. The whole idea of worm poop is really very amusing but it actually does work! And when I went to visit Liz, I spotted a lot of worm farms in her area, something I had never noticed before. So if you are growing anything this season you should seriously look into getting some worm poop for your garden.

Shampoo Woes

Since at least the middle of college, if not before, I have been using Herbal Essences shampoo and conditioner. They used to be really cool and use organic ingredients and all that good stuff. A couple of years ago they changed almost all their products to not have the focus on organics anymore which was highly disappointing. I guess they were trying to be hip with the new style bottles and names like "long term relationship" or "shimmery nights". But at most places you could still find one of the original scents and although it wasn't organic anymore I kept buying it. Well this week at Target they didn't have it! Having waited till I was down to nothing at home I had to try something else.

I decided I wanted to go back to an organic shampoo and conditioner that doesn't have sodium lauryl sulfates and the rest of that junk. Those options being rather limited at Target I decided to go with Garnier while looking for what I really wanted. Today was the first day I used Garnier and my hair feels very soft and manageable. What I am not sure about is the smell. I am really not sure I like the scent of Garnier, it seemed ok in the store but now sitting here all day its seems overwhelming. I don't think there is much you can do about that either. Its disappointing cause my hair does feel very nice.

I guess its extra motivation to do the research and find a brand that is earth/animal friendly and smells good! Any suggestions??

"I'll be back" Ohio---maybe

So I know in the past I have not had many good things to say about Ohio. But this past weekend I went out to Columbus to volunteer on Obama’s campaign and was pleasantly surprised.

As we were driving out to Ohio we started calling hotels to find a room for the weekend. The normal thinking would be – it’s Ohio, what else could be going on, we should have no problems. Well we call multiple places and every place is booked and finally we ask what is happening in town?? Apparently the Arnold Classic was happening in downtown Columbus. That’s right a bodybuilding show. Columbus is where Arnold Schwarzenegger won his title so he brings the show back there every year. After several laughs about the whole event we did find a room for the weekend, we just had to switch hotels every night.

When we arrived on Friday, after a long trip due to the snow, we immediately got a packet and were sent out to German Village in Columbus. The neighborhood had great architecture, cobble stone streets and great shops and restaurants. It was fun walking around and looking at all the houses, and the people were nice but not many were home. Saturday morning again we were sent out to German Village. While it was quite cold, we could see neighborhood better because of the daylight.

As we were walking down this narrow cobblestone alleyway a line of black SUVS passes by and one of the women said Arnold was in the SUV. I didn’t believe her at first but then someone else said they saw him too. Not that I am a huge Arnold fan (or one at all really) but I thought it was pretty cool. Our day of canvassing in the cold continued and in the afternoon we were sent to the High Street area also called the Short North. This part of Columbus I had been to a couple of times after the 2006 elections but it was only to go to the bars. I didn’t realize how cool and trendy the whole area was and again had some really nice places to live. We decided to get stop by Starbucks later in the afternoon to warm up and as we are walking up to it we see all these people around. Someone tells us, “You can’t go in Starbucks, Arnolds in there.” So we decide to hang out and watch him come out. After a few minutes he comes out, shakes a few hands (not mine, but one of the other volunteers), and gets into his SUV. Security drives him away as he smokes a cigar.

I have to say he looked pretty stuff as he walked around and he was shorter than I expected. The guy that was with us was 5’11 and he said Arnold was a couple of inches shorter than him. But either way it was fun and something you wouldn’t expect to happen in Ohio.

The rest of the weekend after the Arnold sightings went just fine. We did a lot of canvassing and met some interesting people. Sunday was warmer thankfully. We went to Bob Evans for breakfast Sunday and they gave us so much food I really thought I was going to throw up. We ate breakfast at 10am, canvassed all day and didn’t need to eat again till around 7 for dinner. We went out to an Italian place for dinner for my birthday and it was good times.

Overall I was impressed by Ohio this weekend, of course my opinion only had one way to go really. If I ever had to move back to Ohio (although I would really hope that never happens), I would pick one of those neighborhoods in Columbus to live in.

Now all that’s left to do is sit here anxiously awaiting tonight’s results...

Not again

I just saw on CNN that Nader might be considering another run for President. I have supported him in the past and agree with him on many things but not this time. We need to ensure Democrats win the White House back and can't afford to have the vote split in anyway. So not this time Nader, really please sit this one out!

Snow Day

Today was a snow day for most of Northern VA and the DC area. The only thing missing was snow. Some areas may have gotten a couple of inches but here in Leesburg we got no snow and only a little layer of ice. The ice was probably a good reason to call a two hour delay but to give the kids a whole day and to close county governments- come on!

The prediction of snow if enough to close schools in this area. Now of course if I were a kid I wouldn't mind. Snow days were always so much fun. But the best part was the snow! We lived right near a golf course that had a couple of great hills, so on snow days we would get all bundled up and walk down and spend the afternoon sledding. Good times....

And then in college there were definitely a few times we went sledding on lunch trays. We did get a real snowfall here a couple of weeks ago like 5 or 6 inches but I haven't figured out the cool places to go sledding yet.

I am hoping spring will come soon, I have had enough of the cold weather and gray skies. I want warm weather and sunny skies. My roommate and I are going to have a little garden in our backyard so I'm excited to get that started. I think we will just go simple tomatoes, green beans and a couple of other things. But it will be fun if it ever gets warm....

To Vote Or Not To Vote

Its funny to me that some of the smart people I know don't take the opportunity to vote in every election. Not to sound like my grandfather or my parents, but voting is a privilege we are lucky enough to have in this country. Even here in America people died for the right to chose who represented them. And still not every country in the world has this privilege. There are still people in the world that would fight and die to have a voice in their government and people here take total advantage of the opportunity. Not voting is such an "American" (in the bad sense of the word) thing to do.

Now I am not saying our system is perfect, its clearly not. But people don't realize the impact they have by voting. So many elections are close where really every vote does count. Several county elections in VA were separated by only a handful (5 or 10) votes. And as we saw even presidential elections can come down to a small number of votes. So by choosing to come out to vote, you really can influence an election.

Many people say they don't like the candidates they have to choose from, they are all the same- so it doesn't make a difference who gets elected. People vote for the lesser of two evils. The point is though if people continue not to have a say, than nothing will ever change. I think its somewhat of a vicious cycle. Its very difficult to break.

Occasionally though, there is candidate running for office that you can really believe in, that has separated themselves from everyone else by their vision, their commitment to wanting to make the world a better place and their ability to unite. It is rare, I have only met a few candidates that actually do these things and don't just talk about them. But when you find one, its exciting and invigorating.

I support Barack Obama for President. I think he has the vision to change to the image of this country (which we desperately need), the ability to bring different sides of issues together and the rare ability to get people excited about politics (which is invaluable). He is a true leader and someone who could rejuvenate this country.

I am extremely excited about tomorrow, I only wish VA was voting tomorrow, but unfortunately I have another week. I hope that those of you who are in the Super Tuesday states take the time to vote tomorrow and impact who you want to see as the next president of our country. It will be an exciting day!

I dream of solar...

For a number of reasons I have been getting more upset about nuclear power lately. There seem to be a growing number of "environmentalists" that think nuclear power is the answer to global warming and greenhouse gas emissions. From some non-profits not taking a strong enough stance to people on sustainable list servs touting the benefits of nuclear to this article in the NY Times, the nuclear energy issue has been bothering me quite a bit recently.

It's now gotten to the point where last night I had dream about Bush (or should I say nightmare?). I picked up the phone and called him at the White House and for some reason he answers the phone and I proceed to lecture him for 3 hours about the negatives of nuclear energy. I don't remember his response but I do remember him having that smug look on his face and that annoying laugh. Needless to say I didn't sleep well last night.

I still do not understand how people can call themselves environmentalists when they support a type of energy that is non-renewable, involves mining, and uses tremendous water resources - to name a few things.

Simply because nuclear may seem like the answer to global warming today because it doesn't emit CO2 does not mean we should be so short sighted not to look 50, 100 or 200 years down the road. Why invest in a technology that will leave a mess of our children?

In response to that article I posted this comment (you can see all the comments here):

Nuclear energy is not the answer to global warming. While nuclear plants themselves do not produce carbon emissions, like coal plants, the process of creating nuclear energy does produce CO2 and has other environmental side effects.

Very rarely spoken about by advocates of nuclear energy is uranium mining. Uranium is a necessary component of creating nuclear energy and is an extremely inefficient process. The word ‘mining’ in itself generate images of unsustainability in my head and when it comes to uranium mining that is in fact the truth. The ratio of useable uranium to mined rock is very low- as low as 1:4000. That means thousands of tons rock are needed in order to produce a small amount of yellowcake uranium or useable uranium. So not only are tracts of open space destroyed, there is the added benefit of needing a lot of energy (emitting CO2 and other pollutants) to produce a small amount of supposedly “greener” energy.

Once the uranium is extracted all of the leftover rock, which is really now dust called tailings, is radioactive and contains other heavy metals. Dust from these tailings can easily be blown by the wind to contaminate air. It could also seep into groundwater, or nearby rivers or lakes, thereby contaminating drinking water. Radium-226 and thorium-230 are two of the most serious radioactive materials contained in tailings. The radium has a half-life of 1,600 years and the thorium has a half-life of 75,000 years. There is no good answer on what to do with all the radioactive tailings, just as there is no good answer on what to do with nuclear waste from the plants.

Even once uranium goes through the inefficient process of being produced, the nuclear plants themselves are an environmental hazard. The plants need extraordinary amounts of water to cool themselves, and this in fact is becoming a problem in areas that are experiencing droughts, like the southeast US. Increased droughts are, by the way, a predicted side effect of global warming. Plants that have the large cooling towers suck up millions of gallons of water a day, half of which is evaporated out the towers and half put back in the stream or lake it came from. Plants that do not have the cooling towers can also suck up millions of gallons a day most of which is put back into the source. Even water put back into the source from which it came, is at a much higher temperature than it was originally which effects habitat and fish.

Plants also do emit low levels of radioactivity back into the water that is released. Plants have liquid radwaste systems that treat radioactively contaminated water and the treated water has to be below the federal limits before it is released. Even so it still contains small amounts of radioactivity, which again effects habitat and fish (which we consume). As water supply in lakes and rivers decreases the build up of radioactivity, since it will not be as diluted, has unstudied consequences.

Being exposed to radiation is not like being hit by a car- the effects are not immediately visible. The biggest potential side effect of being exposed to radioactive materials is cancer. This could years to manifest itself after exposure. The exposure one time to even just low-level radiation alters cells in your body. Even if just one cell, a hormone or enzyme is altered it can keeps reproducing and overtime there could be millions of altered cells. Because of the lag time between exposure and health effects, the industry claims there is no connection. This exposure could come from the mining, releases of low-level radioactive water or waste, or from an accident at a plant.

There is no reason to take the risk. Nuclear energy is a non-renewable source of energy. Even is mining was entirely safe, radiation was safe, there was an answer to nuclear waste disposal and there was never a chance that a plant could have a meltdown, there is only a limited amount of uranium in the world. At some point it will run out, why put ourselves in the position of continuing to rely on energy sources that will eventually become obsolete? Why spend billions of dollars producing new plants? The world needs to focus on renewable sources of energy and invest money into sources that will be around forever. Solar and wind are proven sources of energy. We do not need to wait another 5 or 10 years for these technologies. They are viable sources of energy now. Solar and wind would not be so expensive if governments and utilities invested large sums of money (like the billions of dollars it would take to build new nuclear plants) into producing solar plants or wind farms. Every rooftop should have photovoltaic cells (they can be made to look like roof shingles) to power the building or home.

Solar and wind cannot accomplish the task of reducing global warming alone. Each and every person is responsible too. Each person has an impact on the Earth, the question is how much? I am not referring to giving up all electronics and going to live like a hippie in the woods, because that is not logical. There are however easy things people can do to reduce their footprint on the planet- buying energy efficient appliances and light bulbs, carpooling, walking or taking mass transit to work (or to go shopping etc.), driving a hybrid or car with high gas mileage, recycling, ensuring your home is properly insulated, getting a programmable thermostat for your house, buying locally grown foods- the list goes on and on. And there is plenty that our governments and companies can do to help reduce carbon footprints like constructing green buildings and smart-growth walkable communities. The truth is we need to reduce our energy dependency not continue to build non-renewable power plants. That is the only way we will stop global warming. If people are truly concerned about global warming and the environment, they should look at what they can do to reduce consumption not promote another unsafe, unsustainable energy source.