Saving the Earth (one step at a time)

As Chicago halfway welcomes Spring I feel very settled on being a greener Mandasaurus. Seriously.

I find myself more enraged by the dozens (yes, dozens) of giant cars holding one person (often holding a cell phone!) driving toward downtown passing me on my way from the train to work. Downtown is a place with plentiful public transport - pretty awesome public transport, if you ask me. Why are you driving!?!

My outrage should be good for something. So I'm planning to be as "green" as humanly possible and to spread the word about my green ways. By green I mean I want to reduce my impact on the environment by using less, reusing more and polluting less. You can call it green, or you can call it being cheap or you can call it being responsible. I bet my parents' Miata was paid for by savings from rinsing out every single plastic container and reusing it instead of Tupperware. I could do that.

Here are my first steps. Please share ideas for others, or for what you are doing to help negate the idiots who litter (!?!) and toss those valuable beer cans.

• I will recycle more diligently, especially paper because I use way too much of it at work, especially.

• I will refuse plastic bags at all stores. When I visited Timbuktu, Mali the only things I saw on my camel ride in the Sahara besides sand and sticks were plastic bags. Like grocery sacks! Ick. This story sealed my decision to carry nerdy canvas bags everywhere I go. It's just horrifying - those stupid plastic bags never go away. And they break when you've got anything heavier than a 2-liter in 'em.

• I will do everything I can do avoid car-use. To me this is relatively easy I don't have a car. I take the train to work. I walk to the grocery. I'll need to do a few springtime errands in a car, but I should be able to do that responsibly. We'll make off-rush-hour trips and whatever else we can do to minimize our impact.
  

• I will be a plant person. We already have several spider plants, basil, sage and a big old plant. I'm going to spring up the house with more green. This is good for the apartment as well as the Earth, according to biology class.

• I will buy local. I'm not totally sure how I'm going to accomplish this, but I'll do my best to buy food that doesn't have to travel a long way (and therefore be preserved in order to stay fresh longer) and support local markets. I hope I can find a farmer's market nearby. Otherwise I might start biking to Stanley's - Chicago's rocking produce market and carrying a backpack full of spinach and apples home.

• I'll use free and clear stuff, when I can. I'm not going organic, at all. But I'd like to know what's in what I use, so I'll be as aware as I can of what I'm consuming and what it takes to get it to me.
  

• I'll reuse like crazy. I won't toss anything I can use again. Seriously. I'll be disciplined about reusing containers and such.
  

• What else? Should I compost? Is that do-able in the city? Should I bike in the cold? Should I stop shampooing my hair? (No.) Tell me.

I can run for miles and miles

I can! Hooray!

Today I ran with a group at Fleet Feet (a running shoe store). I met up with other runners at the store, heard a bit about upcoming races and ran. The course meandered through a neighborhood and I carried a map to tell me where to turn around for a 3, 4, 5 or 6 miles run.

I ran the full 1.5 miles there and most of the 1.5 back. It felt great!

Although right now I'm sitting on the couch with jelly-legs and a glass of pinot grigio nearly in a Deadliest Catch coma.

But hey, 3 miles!

Pillow news - to keep you up at night

Did you know that pillows are only "good" for 18 months?!?

What!?!?!

This ridiculous news is freaking me out, since I can only recall buying one pillow in my adult life, at least 4 years ago, at a Kmart, on sale. And I have at least two pillows. Where did the other one come from!?!

Apparently, I'm much better off sleeping on the street than sleeping with my gross, mite-covered, fungi-laden pillow. Sick.

I'll just keep hoping that the germs I'm exposed to only make me stronger. And I'll have one more glass of wine before bed.

Ick!

Training Day for Mandasaurus

What seems like eons ago, I signed up to run a 5K called Run to Wrigley. I ran my first 5K - the Rockford Turkey Trot - at Thanksgiving (obviously) and I'm thrilled I finished. 5K isn't far, per say, but it's a long way to run for me.

I did get a really cool hoody featuring a turkey, a major sense of accomplishment and zero injuries from the old Turkey Trot. So, when my dad told me about the Run to Wrigley on April 13 I immediately signed up. That was months ago.

I finally started my training regime today.

It was nice, actually. It felt good to work up a sweat, push my feet on the pavement, and take those nice deep runners breaths. I'll admit (only here) that it really feels good to tell people "I went running on my break."

And if that is what gets me through 3.1 miles of running-jogging-deep-breathing, so be it.

No You Didn't, Eliot Spitzer!

Like many liberals my first response to New York Governor and liberal lefty champion's admission to involvement with a prostitute was simple:

How could you?

People all make mistakes, obviously. This was no mistake.

Spitzer's current position is of the preposterous, bullshit, moronic situations that makes you throw your hands up. His admission ruins all he's stood for. It makes the attacks against mobsters and corruptions sidenotes. A man who stood for ethics, reform and doing what's right did wrong.

And he not only did wrong, but he did wrong flagrantly.

He didn't fall in love with another person. He didn't cheat just once. He didn't admit anything before he was caught.

Eliot Spitzer paid women to have sex with him, repeatedly, it seems. He knew it was against the law. There's no making that right, just a mistake, or even acceptable.

It's utter bullshit. And it's sad. Not for Eliot Spitzer. But for the rest of us.

Nearly home....

Costa Rica - the rich coast - is simply beautiful. We hiked around stinky volcanoes, swam beneath a 98-foot waterfall, swam in the ocean (both sides) and visited Panama. We ate ceviche, drank naturales, and enjoyed Costa Rica's finest beer Imperial. We saw monkeys, pretty birds, and fish. 

A monkey stole my diabetes kit momentarily after taking a banana from my boyfriend. Those monkeys are a naughty.

We made it through Costa Rica's exit tax, security and annoying waiting process. We made it through Customs and Immigration, several baggage screenings and rechecking luggage. And now we wait.

Our plane is flying from Baton Rouge to Houston. Since it's rainy outside there is a delay. And since a plane is delayed getting to Houston I am now delayed getting to Chicago.

That's just fine. We have internet and an odd assortment of food, books and magazines here. Theoretically the plane arrive here soon, we'll be on the way to Chicago in speedy fashion and home before 8. But I'm not betting my bananas on it.