The Garage Sale Blog Network

It Ain't Easy Being Green... - Guest Blogger: Dana Luvera

My view on going green and global warming

Kermit had it right from day one, it sure aint easy. Especially with all the social pressure around us now to be as green as you possibly can. “Bring your own bag!” “Drive a hybrid!” “Shut off the lights!” “Use solar panels!”

 

These are all great things to make the world a better place, especially if we don’t want to see the Armageddon in our lifetime. But when is too much too much? And when does the intent shift from really trying to save, to trying to SELL.

 

Hey, I’m all for being green, and I really do care about the environment. That’s why I don’t smoke, I don’t litter, I don’t use pesticides, and I certainly don’t leave my apartment with my lights on and everything plugged and running. But I can’t say I have the drive to make a house out of solar panels, or really want to drive a hybrid car. Does that make me a bad person? I don’t think so. Especially when being “green” has almost turned into a status symbol. You know that doesn’t sound too far fetched. Every day we hear about a new company “Going Green” and all the “oohs” and “ahhs” around it. But the funny thing is, many of them are making an extra buck on this. Don’t you think there’s a plan behind their marketing strategy? Well think about it, all of a sudden there’s this new target market out there that every company out there knows they can penetrate, because apparently it doesn’t matter WHAT you sell, manufacture, or represent anymore. All that matters is that you’re Green. If you’re Green, your great. So let Phillip Morris continue to produce and market tobacco products which not only hurt the environment, but KILL almost 200,000 a year.. But it’s okay, we love Phillip Morris, because they care about the environment and have a section on their website dedicated to their values.

So when does going green get out of control? Well I’ll tell you what I think. I think when someone starts judging another person because they forgot to bring their biodegradable bag to the market, or even worse, when someone thinks they’re of higher status because they’re “more green” by driving a hybrid (yet they puff on their Marlboro's when no one’s watching), THAT’s when it’s gone to far.

 

In the meantime, let’s all be happy and be green when we can. Just try not to be a sucker and fall for another marketing tactic out there when you’re deciding which vendor, retailer, manufacturer to go with. It’s all relative… And it’s not a race or a status symbol, it’s about you really truly caring about yourself, those around you, and the world we live in.

Audi 500 - Guest Blogger: Dana Luvera

Favorite Slang:

Audi 5000, ah yes. Who doesn’t love that one? In fact, I think I’m gonna bring it back. Just watch, 1 year from now at a work happy hour event, you’re gonna have just one too many JD & Cokes, and when you leave to say good-bye to your colleagues, the some you like and the some you don’t like, “I’m Audie” is gonna just roll off your tongue too fast for you to stop it and “take it back”. And you know the one that hears you the loudest will of course be the moron you don’t particularly care for.

 

But why did we love that term so much back then? Aside from the fact that cool rap groups like EPMD and ABC (Another Bad Creation, you know, the one’s who sang “Aisha”) used it in their lyrics, I think it just sounded cool. It sounded like the coolest car you’d ever want to have. Guaranteed, 90% of us saying it never even knew what an Audie 5000 even looked like, nor were we old enough to dream to drive one. But it sounded cool, so why not. Legend has it that this term derived from the complaints the manufacturers were getting about the car jerking forward when patrons hit the break pedal. So the connotation of the term was that this car was no joke, it was friggin fast and literally“taking off” even when you told it to stop. Can we say “Christine”????

 

However, to no surprise, Audie proclaimed it was the drivers that were stupid, and that they simply confused the gas pedal for the break. So basically vertically challenged, old fogies who couldn’t reach the pedals and didn’t know how to drive a sophisticated car would think they were hitting the break and suddenly jerk forward. But the problem was so wide-spread, even parking garages refused to park the car. Pretty funny coinkidink, dontcha think? But nevertheless, the analogy stuck, and to this day, any Generation Xer’s you see on the street will know exactly what you’re about to do when you bust out an “I’m Audie”.

 

So I say I’m going to bring it back, and I will, of course, in its best form possible. Audie 5000 Peace! (pronounced PACE)  is the best way I like to hear it, and that’s how it shall be reborn. ABC, one of my fave kid rap groups, concluded their “At the Playground” song with this, and at times, I wish I was still at the Playground (damn, I wish I was going there tomorrow instead of the office). So… I might as well relive my memory of funky fresh little boys making millions at age 7, prob still “

chillan

like a villain” in some mansion somewhere.

 

Alrighty, all this 80’s talk is making me want to throw in my Breakin’ 2 Electric Boogaloo DVD. Turbo was my man back then.

 

I’m audie… peace!

Green Blog - Nintendo Power Glove

My view on going green and global warming:

As we slowly admit that we once again may have made mistakes (like we did in Korea and Vietnam) in the Iraqi War, Americans have to search for another source of pride and something that we can collectively believe in. Results of the War from the past few years have changed our courage and togetherness into doubt and segregation. But we will always band together for something. We’ve tried wars with ourselves, the World, Korea, Vietnam, Russia, and Iraq – but the new sentiment may be that something peaceful could work in the absence of opposition. One thing that our nation will always have in common is that we live on the same planet. Let’s all get excited about going Green!

The vehicle of choice is transitioning from the 4x4 truck with the flag in the window to the Hybrid car with Starbucks in the cup holder. The factories are going from making steel to making solar panels. “What have you done lately?” has changed from a question of what you’ve done for your country to what is your “carbon footprint.” Instead of knowing the latest stats on fatalities and political implications in Iraq, we memorize how many miles per gallon our car gets and what new alternate source of fuel is emerging. Our arguments are no longer about saving lives, but are instead about saving resources.

But, my argument is, why worry about the environment? Hasn’t evolution taken good care of us in the past? What would have happened to our world if the first fish out of the ocean thought that he should make the world an ocean instead of learning to walk on land? If the ozone layer depleted, wouldn’t we develop superior skin that can withstand direct sunlight? If we breathed in smog all day long, wouldn’t our lungs become more resistant to pollution? If the polar ice caps melted, wouldn’t we become mermaids and live in Atlantis, or at least be like Kevin Costner in Water World (let’s hope that doesn’t happen)? Can I write an entire paragraph made up of only questions?

While I don’t condone purposely messing up the Earth, I don’t think that global warming or using resources will lead to our ultimate demise. It’s great to have the awareness and to keep up our gluttonous consumption as long as possible, but it’s not the end of the world. We need to all just relax a bit and stop feeling the need to be scared about something at all times. Worst case scenario, we all die. Big deal.

Favorite Slang:

Favorite slang word at the moment: slack. I learned this word last week in Australia. Apparently it means mean, or being a jerk. Needless to say, I got called this phrase a lot while there, so I got pretty accustomed to hearing it.

Blue in the Face from Going Green - Russian Stamp

My view on going green and global warming:

So before I start on a rampage about how much I hate the Prius and the people who drive them, I'd like to give a disclaimer. I grew up in California. I remember when they taught us in school about conserving water during the drought of the late 1980's. I take short showers, recycle, own stock in a solar panel company and turn the lights off when I leave the room. But seriously, I'm completely over this entire "going green" campaign.

Every time I hear the words, "global warming" I puke a little. Al Gore completely killed it. I'm sick of hearing about saving the environment from a guy who flies all over the world on a private jet using more fuel that I've ever used with my Toyota Corolla. This brings me to the Prius. The Prius gets about 45 miles per gallon, my Corolla gets about 38, I deserve to be in the carpool lane too! I don't mind other hybrid cars, for example, the Civic Hybrid looks just like the normal car, and I'll all about not buying oil from terrorists. But the Prius is not only ugly, its ffffffuuuuuuuuuuuggggggggggllllllllllyyyyyyyyyy!!! Its awkward shape and pretentiously raised backseat is like someone walking around thinking they are better than everyone and inviting the rest of us to kiss their backside, or backseat in this case. I can just see the average Prius owner, some unshowered guy who wears flip flops and has convinced himself that wheat grass shots are yummy, and that camping is fun. He should be shot!

I don't live in San Francisco, but I'm also annoyed at this new no plastic bag rule. I reuse my plastic bags all the time. They make for excellent garbage can lining, and I pack shoes in them when I go on vacation. The "Going Green" initiative does not win this time, you know who wins? Glad and other plastic bag companies whose business will go up significantly since we won't get our free plastic bags anymore. I love San Francisco, but one point for the suburbs where plastic bags are plentiful for the re usage.

A few other things that bother me on the Going Green initiative, SUVs that have the "keep Tahoe blue" stickers on them. HELLOOOOO SUVer, you're not helping! I'm also tired of hearing about the treatment of animals in slaughter houses. THEY'RE IN A SLAUGHTER HOUSE, we are going to eat them anyway.

Finally, just because you should take shorter showers doesn't mean you should be taking NO showers. You can be an environmentalist without smelling like dirt. Wow, I feel a lot better! On that happy note, I'm gonna drink some corporate Starbucks coffee and eat a hamburger!

Favorite Slang:

Favorite Slang Word For Shizzle My Nizzle! Snoop Dogg, you are my hero! Love your music, and now you have your own language. Saying "yes" is so boring, but "for shizzle" is like yes with frosting and sprinkles on top. People don't have enough nizzles anymore. "Home skillet' and "home boy" is sooooooo 1990's. I chill with my nizzles in my crib...OMG, I hope I just didn't initiate a gang war. For Shizzle!

The Garage Sale Blog Network begins the debate rounds....

Tomorrow begins a new era of topical blogussions (like discussions but punned out with blogs). 

We will be basing posts on one or two topics and each author will take a side.  We hope this will be especially stimulating for our audience...to the point of piquing interactive energy.

Our first topics -

Serious:

Going Green - What's bogus and what's a must?

Silly:

What is your favorite slang word or phrase and what is the best context for it's use?

Does online interaction (blogs, IMs, social networking) increase your happiness - Rotary Red Phone

So three of our authors are away on vacation in Greece.  So I'll substitute for them when I can here.

Very timely email came to my inbox this afternoon from a dear friend.  It said:

"Meanwhile, provide chances for [your child] to form loving connections with others as well, advises sociologist Christine Carter, PhD, executive director of the University of California at Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center, an organization devoted to the scientific understanding of happiness. "We know from 50 years of research that social connections are an incredibly important, if not the most important, contributor to happiness," Carter says. "And it's not just the quality, but also the quantity of the bonds: the more connections your child makes, the better.""

This is a clip from an article on raising happy children (read: not depressed) from msn.com and it made me think of the propensity people have for blogging, etc.  I think that the computer realm has gone a long way to helping people fulfill their connectedness with one another.  Are they sufficient connections in your opinion?

My answer was the following (sorry for making our correspondence less sacred buddy ol' pal):

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's an interesting topic "friend". 

Let's take two examples:

I know everyone Eddy:

Why is blogging and social media good for him?  How does it increase his happiness?  Well he's got a lot of people to keep in touch with and social media allows him to express himself to his network of friends without having to get coffee with each one.  He can feel like his friends and family know him and are keeping up with him even if the 3d contact is minimal.  This is healthy.  It's also healthy to get comments back from friends and family and everyone as a way to have reciprocal communication. 

Social media also allows Eddy to prioritize friendships and communication levels.  I'm looking at MySpace, Facebook, match.com, and blogs on all my friends.  Well based on how they are connected, their ideas expressed and how they express themselves in an ever more transparent world - I'll decide who I want to hang out with in my precious offline lifestyle.

Social media - a nice social steroid.  But it's never ever a substitute. 

Now let's take Nobody Knows Nancy:

She don't know squat.  She doesn't know barely anyone and is best friends with her mom, cat and one friend in Indiana who she is pen palling with.  Now for her it's still not a substitute in my opinion for an enriching and fulfilling lifestyle and happiness but it sure gives her hope and ways to socially lubricate if she's not as adept at socializing in person. 

Hell maybe Nancy can be good at socializing in person but she doesn't want to be.  There are people that are super good at communication 5.0 (in person, crowds, bars, weddings, presentations) but some prefer a less intense mode, like a 4.0 or a 3.0 (blogs, interacting in forums, email threads, etc.).  Now there are many technologies that are striving to make these 3 or 4.0 mediums of communication as close as possible to 5.0 and they may very well make you feel like they are sometimes....but it's only because you're excited that these modes are gonna make the in person visits better then they would have been without the 3 and 4.0's. 

Lost you yet? 

I could babble on all day about this stuff and it looks like I am.

Social media isn't some crazy debate, it's a form of communication and the better you are at mastering these modes the more happy you will be - if mastering forms of communication is your thing. 

Technology Tester - Aggrocrag

I have a technology problem. 

None of it seems to be able to keep up with my regular use. 

I don't know if this is because of my abuse of said technology or just that things aren't engineered tough enough…  This has gone on as long as I can remember with various electronic gizmos of my earliest memories, to my most recent PCs and cell phones.  Nothing seems to last.  This is especially worrisome when coupled with the fact that the "disposable income" that it takes to replace the gadgets these days is anything but trivial….  But now I am getting ahead of myself….

Since I can remember, I have been obsessed with tinkering.  I don't know if it was the large collection of lego that I amassed at an early age or what, but to this day, I love to build things and take things apart.  So, as soon as my parents decided that it was time to give me toys that required batteries, well, they were going to be disassembled.  Unfortunately for me (and more so for the toys), I didn't quite have the necessary tools nor soldering skills to put the things back together.  Somehow, this morphed into the habit of collecting as many things as I could to try and put different parts together…  How I never electrocuted or otherwise seriously injured myself is a minor miracle.

This habit continued with varying success as I was handed down an ever increasing amount of technotoys as I got older.  If anyone in the family was getting rid of stereo, an old walkman, camera, etc… it invariably came to me.  I think that at some place at my parents' house I still have boxes of power adapters and assorted well… electronic junk.  I didn't want to get rid of anything in case I needed a spare part for something else… alright, this is dragging out…

So fast forward a few years and now I am buying my own toys and realize that I shouldn't be taking them apart just for the hell of it… you would think that they might last a little longer with this mindset, but you would be wrong.  Let's go over a couple of stats just from the past 2 ½ years conveniently broken into 4 categories for the sake of time.

8 Cell Phones

4 Digital Cameras

2 Laptops

2 Desktops (although probably enough total parts for at least 4)

Now, I won't try and say that I baby my little gizmos.  In fact I would say that I get the most out of them.  With the exception of the desktop PCs and one of the laptops, you might even say that I use them aggressively.  My cellphone (of the minute) and digital camera pretty much live in my pocket anytime I am out of the house.  I don't have any protective cases or anything, but I would like to think that I am not just throwing them around to get a rise out of them (well, there might be one exception to that rule, but that is an entirely different story)… Quite the opposite, I use them to keep in contact and to capture those moments when you don't want to have to dig around for a camera.... I mean, that is what all the people do in the commercials, right?

Breaking it down even further:

3 of 8 cell phones stopped working for no reason.  They just turned off one day and never came back from the ether. 3 of them were dropped and consequently died (one of them was dropped by a homeless person while getting off the bus to return my phone to me after I had lost it, but that's a different story). 2 of them decided that they wanted to drown their sorrows and were fried shortly thereafter.  1 of them was lost (again whole different story)

Cameras:

This one isn't too exciting.  3 gave up the ghost for no apparent reason one I lost at a bar.  Definitely my bad on the last one, whoops.

Laptops:

This one pisses me off to no end.  Knowing ahead of time my propensity to either break or otherwise have things fail, I go for the extended super duper warranty that basically says I can take a pee on the machines if it comes down to it and they will fix or replace them.  Now this sounds great, I mean, this is what I live for (not peeing on laptops, but not having to worry about them breaking).  I can do whatever I want and basically the only consequences are that I will have to send the computers in and wait for them to get fixed….  Oh…  if only it were actually the case.  To shorten it up a little… both laptops went in multiple times for the same problem to only be sent back out with refurbished parts that didn't hold up more than a couple of months… end result, shitty half working laptops.

Desktops:

Here, I have no explanation.  While I know that "mean time between failures" is no guarantee that something will last nearly as long as it says on the packaging, I would expect something that "should" last 1,000,000 hours to make it more than 4 months.  Yeah, that was the story of a couple of hard drives.  I have also gone through 2 motherboards, 3 video cards, 2 power supplies, and a handful of other random parts that seem to want to fail for no particular reason other than they belong to me.

Alright, where am I going with this?  I am not entirely sure.  I don't know if I am getting karmic retribution for the "tinkering" I did when I was younger.  While I can chalk up a couple of these to drunken accidents *cough* cell phone, cell phone, camera *cough*, I don't think the constant need to replace yet another $300-500 gadget all the time is ideal.  So what can I do about it… I will tell you….

I am hereby offering up my services as a technological gadget endurance tester.  I obviously got off to a slow start in my younger years, but I feel like I have really picked up the pace in the last few. I am confident, should you choose me to "beta test" your upcoming product, I will give it the old college try to really run it through its paces.  I mean, it is to the point where some of my gadgets just give up and nuke themselves rather than have to put up with my rigorous methods.  I am actually completely serious about this, especially if you are a manufacturer of cell phones, cameras, personal media players, and up to ultra portable laptops.  Send me your product and I will test it for anywhere from 2-6 months (that is the most anything lasts) and let you know whether or not you have yourself a flimsy toy or solid piece of equipment built for the urban jungle.  All I ask in return is that you don't hold me responsible when the thing kills itself...

-Aggrocrag