Plastic bottles hurt more than the environment

When I was a camp counselor at the St. Mary's Summer Camps my friend ErinRose started telling me that I shouldn't re-fill old plastic water bottles with new water. She claimed the plastic would produce a residue that would leak into the new water. It made sense to me, so I quit re-using water bottles. But that lead to more plastic being wasted, so the next logical step in 1999 was to get a Nalgene bottle, it cut down on the plastic bottle waste. But it turns out, I was probably doing as much damage to myself as re-using the original plastic bottles.

This great article in the Boston Globe talks about the toxins that leak from hard plastic bottles.

About a year ago I bought a Klean Kanteen, which I swear by. It's an easy replacement for a Nalgene bottle, and I highly recommend them to anyone looking for a viable alternative to hard plastic water bottles.

Renting for life

I was recently lamenting the joys of apartment living to my mother and mother in law to be and neither one of them had any advice about how to deal with noisy neighbors. It occurred to me that they had never lived in apartments. They went from their parents homes, to college dorms, to houses with their husbands. Houses that they were actually able to afford. The money they put down on their houses amounts to what I spend on my annual student loan payments.

And I am sitting here thinking, what in the world do you need these days to get a house in a decent urban area (think Boston, SF, Portland)? The answer is 20% down. And that's what the difference is. The average home value in these urban areas in 1960 was $58k Today the average is $169k Even though the average income has only increased $33k. And this doesn't count for the mounting debt brought on by the cost of college educations...

There is a great article from the Times Online from the UK "Generation Rent: is home ownership falling out of favour?"

Now I know there are a lot of people out there who were living beyond their means who are now losing houses they could never afford in the first place, but for those of us who have yet to get into the market. It's not an easy task...

Lost Generation Video from AARP

Trust is the crux of the matter

Trust has come up a lot for me lately. It comes up all the time at work. We talk about how a good compensation strategy and plan that pays correctly and on time will build trust between sales reps and the organization. I also hear it on NPR in the morning when we are talking about banks and lending.

I think the real problem with our economy is trust. We don't have it. No one has true trust. And it's been missing for a while. Reflect with me, and I am reflecting not based on experience, but on what I have heard, so correct me if I am wrong, but remember back to the 1950's when you shopped at your local market, you knew the butcher by name, you had a florist and a dry cleaners and you KNEW them. They KNEW you, and guess what? You TRUSTED them to do their jobs and provide you with good service and quality products. They TRUSTED you to pay them on time if you were using credit, or return to them on a regular basis if you liked their goods and service.

Today, things are different. You can't trust big chain stores, they are just looking out for their bottom line, do you think the butcher at Stop and Shop cares if you come back? He might care if everyone stopped going to Stop and Shop, because he would lose his job, but one person isn't going to make a difference.

Today banks won't lend because they don't trust people will pay back their money, because people haven't been paying back their mortgages. They haven't been paying back their mortgages because they weren't purchased through the local bank, they were purchased on line and now when they are close to defaulting, people don't know who to call and they can't work out a payment schedule because not even the original bank knows who owns the loan anymore.

I am not saying that we need to excuse the people who took the money or the people that lent the money, but I think that had we stuck to our roots and borrowed from people we trusted and lent to people we trusted, we might be in a better place.

So, do the economy a favor and find people and businesses you trust and repay them with your trust and business.

What industry is booming in this recession?

I don't get it. But being newly engaged, I am intrigued. Sunday morning while in Maine I read that the wedding industry in Maine is booming, and it's not just Maine. I guess the recession causes people to celebrate big occasions even more than normal? I think it might be a sign of the class division that is becoming more and more clear across the country. There is no way that middle-class Americans can afford a $28,800 day. Yes, that's the average cost of an American Wedding for 2007.

There is something wrong with our country when we want/need to spend $28,800 on a single event and we can't pay off our mortgages!

The Evolution of the American Household

This is a great article about how the American Household has changed in the past 50 years...

http://www.womansday.com/wd2/Content/Family-Lifestyle/Evolution-of-the-Household

We are eating a TON more chicken these days...

Peace, Hope and Love

I haven't felt much peace in this country the past eight years, I certainly haven't felt much hope the past 4 years. I rarely hear of acts of love among strangers, but lots of stories of violence. I hope that today will begin a new American Tradition of more Faith in our leaders Hope in our own abilities to do great things and Love among all Americans as we begin this new adventure together...