James Bond and the Costa Rica shower connection!

For all my Costa Rica peeps, this article made me laugh, A LOT! I  For those of you who may not know, Sámara is probably best described as rustic.  We did without air conditioning and hot water (among other things) for the majority of our time there.  My first thought was this cold water business is really going to suck.  As it turns out, it was so damn hot the shower felt pretty fantastic!  Most of us were told by our host families to not run the water the entire time we were in the shower.  Not a problem when it is ice cold.  Get a shot of cold water, shut it off and lather up....turn it back on when you're ready to rinse.  I think I timed one of my showers at four minutes.  Four!  That included shaving my legs.  It is nothing short of a miracle if I'm out of the shower in ten under normal circumstances.  My main problem is I'm not a morning person.  I spend the first five to ten minutes in the shower sleeping while standing up. As Hall sans Oates sang, you're living in dreamtime baby it's time to wake up.....and show some hustle in the shower. I set an alarm to go off after ten minutes.  I know, that's kinda pathetic but I know my weaknesses well.

I came home thinking about all the water I waste while I'm sleeping in the shower so to speak.  Gonna try to find a low flow shower head and try that out as well. The low flow shower heads can restrict the water flow anywhere from 2.5 to 1.6 gallons per minute.  Seriously, stop and think about that statistic. Gallons of water a minute and now think about how long you're standing in there. The timer is still running during my shower, but I'm not running the water the entire time.  The shower is a hot one although I have turned the temperature down a bit.  I've also started rinsing my hair with cold water and going Bond style with cold water for the last minute or so.  Definitely awake after the shower.  I will cease the Bond shower if I happen to start sprouting chest hair due to increases in testosterone.  I have my limits.

Amigos, es nuestro decisión

I walked by this sign almost every day while in Sámara.  Short and to the point.

Carpool road trip!

Road tripping with the boys to Lincoln for our fantasy draft! Car pooling for the environmental win! Now keep your fingers crossed for my draft.

Swap out your plastic bags!

Huzuh!  Finally a V for Victory in getting a picture from my phone onto the blog without a cord!

Pretty much every grocery store has these bad boys. Swap em out for the re usable bags peeps!

Please take a minute to read this

Really makes me re think a simple run to the store.  Again, consequences I would have given little to no thought to prior to my trip. Pretty eye opening stuff.

Da bus!

So, I mentioned I had taken my first ever trip using the bus system here in O town.  It was actually pretty easy.  Straight up fare is $1.25, if you require more than one route to get to your final destination, you have to pay a $0.05 fee, for a whopping total of $1.30.  I think I was lulled into a sense of thinking this was a can of corn right from the get go.  I had to walk three blocks to catch the bus.  It required no transfers and dropped me off within a block of work.  It did take forty minutes to get there as opposed to 10 to 15 minutes (depends on how heavy my foot is and whether the traffic light gods are on my side).  If you are prepared for the extra time you can get a lot of reading done.  The hardest part for me is having to get up earlier in order to catch the right bus.  It's incredibly tempting to hit snooze and just roll over knowing full well I can hop in my car.  This is why it took three days before I actually found the  motivation to get my ass outta bed and take the bus. 

So with my new found confidence in the bus system I set out again, this time for the journey home.  The temperature was hot, as in scorching hot and really humid.  I didn't give it much thought.  I only had to walk one block right?  Well, the return trip does NOT stop three blocks from mi casa.  Westroads was the stop.  I could have taken another earlier stop, but I was curious about how long it would take me to hoof it home from Westroads.  When people ask where I live, I generally reference a couple things, but I always say I'm close to Westroads.  I will now amend that to say I live close as in driving distance close.  I left work at 6:15pm, caught my bus at 6:27pm,  dropped off at Westroads by 6:55ish, and walked in my door at 7:24pm.  The walk would have been fine had the heat index not been 115.  It also could have been better had I not been wearing pants and a work polo that didn't breathe as well as I had previously thought.  There was one particular road that did not have sidewalks the entire way and I was reminded a bit of walking to school in Sámara.  Cars were passing me by doing no less than 45 and I was sharing the road.  I also stopped to take a few comical pictures.  Well, I was laughing anyhow.  I might have been delirious due to being dehydrated.

So here are a couple of the photos from the trip. Happy Friday gang!

Going through Benson, I was tempted to get off at Jake's and get a pint!



Best decision of the day! Adidas for the win!

Fellow traveler!

A bit further than I thought....

Really Omaha?  This is a stop?







Mobile blogging of photos should not be this difficult.....just saying.

The World is as Funky as YOU make it..........

so say the lyrics to a tune by one of my favorite bands, Satchel Grande.  Clearly, I need more Funk and less CO2.  I used the carbon calculator found on Carbon Footprint and calculated my monthly CO2 footprint.  When inputting my data I tried to be as accurate as possible.  I used my most recent utility bills for my numbers and kept an estimate of my mileage driven in both vehicles for the month of July.  What I came up with was 3.81 metric tons of CO2 in July, which averages to 22.40 metric tons of CO2 a year.  This is slightly larger than the national average of 20.40 metric tons.  In case any of you are wondering where you stand, I have placed the calculator I used at the bottom of this blog.  All courtesy of Carbon Footprint. 

Sooo, there are some areas with a large amount of room for improvement.  I could just mosey over and buy myself a Carbon Offset and plant tree's in Kenya.  That's a helluva lot of trees and way too easy.  I'm not making any changes so I'm essentially perpetuating the cycle.  So what am I doing personally?

Well, I have committed myself to using public transportation and walking more.  Last week I walked to Walgreen's and a local watering hole cerca de mi casa.  There isn't enough room here for that adventure so I will save it for a later post.  I also rode the bus in Omaha for the first time yesterday.  I had originally intended to write about that tonight complete with pictures, but my phone isn't cooperating.  I'm hoping to have that up by tomorrow.  Overall, it wasn't as difficult or as unpleasant as I had anticipated.  I did NOT anticipate a 115 degree heat index. I will discuss that in further detail when I post the pictures.  So drive less and walk, ride, and commute by bus more. Check. 

Cutting down on my water usage.  This includes not running the water the entire time I'm in the shower.  My CR peeps will get this.  I never run the water the entire time I'm brushing my teeth so why should I do it in the shower?  I've also turned down the temperature. 

I'm not running my air conditioning as low as before.  This has been a bit of a struggle but I'm working on it.

Recycling.  My first attempt was quite anti climactic.  They didn't pick it up.  The following week I forgot to put it out.  So we'll see what  happens this week.  I'm actually sort of surprised at how much glass I have accumulated in two weeks.

I am going to use the carbon calculator each month and track my progress.  I will also photo blog about each thing I under take to decrease my carbon footprint. That will give me plenty of material to discuss.

On that note, I'm gonna hit the sack and get some zzzz's.  I leave you with a link for some FUNK!

Huzuh!

It's not a word, but I say it all the time!  Kind of like my own for the win phrase!  I am back in action!  I have been buried under work, but I have everything mapped out.  Just a quickie post to let you know to look for an update tonight.  I will have my carbon footprint and my activities up.  Including a run down of my first experience with the bus system here in O town.  All my planning and I failed to take into account the 115 degree heat index.  Yesterday, was full of surprises!

Have a great day peeps!