Out of sight, out of mind

During my trash experiment in February, in which I collected my trash for a week to get a better idea of what I throw away and where I could minimize waste, one change I made was to switch to paperless statements. Well, my good intentions almost got me in trouble.

For the past six months I've been paying off some furniture I bought on a Cost Plus credit card (interest free!). It's a fairly new credit card so I'm not that used to paying it. When the statement stopped coming in the mail, it was out of sight, out of mind until today, when, looking over last month's bank statement, seeing April's payment triggered my memory. I had an "Oh god" moment -- had the due date already passed? "Whew." I just looked it up online and it's not due until next week.

The e-mailed bill must have gone to my junk mail. I just went through my junk mail and didn't see it, so I'm guessing I erased it weeks ago without noticing it. Thankfully, this memory game is almost over. I'm one month away from paying the credit card off, which means I just have to remember to pay in June.

For now, I'm off to pay this month's bill online before I forget.

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And in other news, I can cross one more catalog off my list. I called Lego today and had them take me off their mailing list. At Christmas I had ordered a Lego toy online for my nephew, so they sent me their Spring 2009 catalog -- something an adult with no children really has no use for, although it did make me a little nostalgic. It took a few minutes (and one wrong phone call to the Taj Majal resort in Atlantic City) but it was worth it.

Feeling like a hypocrite

Just days after I blogged about Wal-Mart's new green commercial urging people to use a travel mug when they buy coffee, I threw all caution aside and had a latte in a non-recyclable paper cup. I woke up late and rushed out the door this morning, with no time to make coffee or eat breakfast (at least I knew I didn't have to time my shower because I didn't even have time to wash my hair). So what urks me is that I knew I'd be buying coffee at the Bean next to my office and I could have grabbed my travel mug from home, but I didn't. I had a second chance to redeem myself when I got to work, but I didn't take a coffee mug before I went downstairs to get my latte. I'm blaming my forgetfulness on, well, lack of coffee. Hmm, seems like a catch-22. But the cause is not lost, I hope.

When I was telling my sordid tale to my co-worker, an easy solution occurred to me. I could bring another travel mug to my office and leave it there for the days when I buy coffee. It's better than using a coffee mug, which is prone to spilling on the walk back. I have one at home I never use anymore because it doesn't have a spillproof lid, and if you hadn't picked up on that theme yet, that leads to coffee spurting out the drink hole or leaking from the bottom of the lid, usually unnoticed by me until I arrive at my car after the short walk down my apartment stairs, coffee stains already setting into my work pants before I even turn on the ignition. Bad travel mug. But it'll be fine for the short walks from the Bean to my office, when I won't have a million things in my hand and can control the spill factor. There, problem solved with a simple solution. I just need to remember to take the travel mug to work. Let's see how many days it takes me to remember to do that.

The elusive 5-minute shower

When it comes to showering, I've always subscribed to the mantra "ignorance is bliss." I know I take showers that are too long and use too much hot water. But standing under a stream of hot water doing absolutely nothing productive feels so indulgent! My morning shower is like rushing through a boring meal to get to the chocolate dessert -- it makes me more motivated to get up. So I haven't been in a rush to find out how long I actually take in the shower because -- to continue the chocolate metaphor -- like avoiding the scale after pigging out, I didn't really want to know how bad it was. But ever since I started this blog, I've been meaning to time myself.

The idea got into my head again about six months ago, when I saw a TV news report on ways for families to "go green." There was a kit you could send away for that included a balloon-like contraption that reduces water flow in your toilet (what, we're too good for bricks these days?). But what got my attention was an hourglass that times your showers. That almost motivated me to send away for the kit. But I didn't.

So here I am six months later, still reveling in my wasteful morning routine (it's a time waster too, partly to blame for my finding it nearly impossible to arrive at work by 9 a.m.). So for whatever reason, this week I grabbed my iPod with its stopwatch feature and started timing myself. And it turns out, it's not as bad as I thought.

Monday -- 7 minutes, 20 seconds
Tuesday -- 5 minutes, 20 seconds. I stick to the basics, my loofah exfoliating scrub ignored.
Wednesday-- 5 minutes, 20 seconds. Drat, still not under 5.

If anyone knows where I can get one of those handy hourglass shower timers, I'd love to know. I may come to regret it when the sand runs out and tells me to get out of the shower while I still have conditioner in my hair, but I think it would help me take shorter showers more consistently. Because once you have a little bit of knowledge, ignorance isn't so bliss after all.

Last stop, San Diego

I took Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner train last weekend from Orange County to San Diego and was surprised by how full the train was on my way down to San Diego on Sunday. I even had someone sitting next to me, which wasn't so bad because the seats are roomier than on a plane. And it's rare in these days of earbuds and driving solo to talk to a stranger so it was kind of fun to get into a random conversation. After sitting for an hour or so in silence, at the end of the ride we got talking about sailing (he was competing in the Newport to Ensenada yatch race), marathons and biking. Sitting on the upper level, there are nice views of the ocean and the quaint beach cities (at least they look quaint out the window of a train) of San Clemente and Oceanside.

It took 2 1/2 hours and cost $21 one way. It's supposed to take two hours but we got delayed because of track work. I think that's unusual and I wouldn't hold it against Amtrak because the train was on time on the way back. The train takes a little longer than driving and since I have a fuel efficient car, costs a little more too. But as someone pointed out to me, it saves time because you can get things done on the train. I did a little bit of work and read some of the newspaper, although I wasn't as productive as I'd imagined. At some point it was more enjoyable to just look out the window at a different view of the trip to San Diego, which I've done countless times on the freeway. This is even though I sat on the wrong side of the train and was staring inland instead of at the ocean. But I caught a glimpse of the ocean when I walked around and out the other window, so I'm not complaining.

I figured I'd sit oceanside on the way back the next day, but got all turned around because the seats were facing backwards and ended up on the inland side again! This time I didn't even try to be productive. The train was less crowded so I had the row to myself. I put on my iPod and drifted off to NPR's Planet Money podcast, the gentle voice of Adam Davidson attempting to explain mark-to-market assets. I woke up in time, a little groggy, but I didn't miss my stop!

Even Wal-Mart wants you to stop using paper cups

I just watched a commercial for Wal-Mart that told viewers to use a travel mug when they buy coffee instead of a non-recyclable paper cup. I know that Wal-Mart's real goal is to get you into their stores but that doesn't bother me because the commercial was right, and educational. It pointed out that paper coffee cups aren't recyclable because the material lining the inside makes them waterproof. It also said that some coffee shops give discounts if you bring your own container ('tis true, although at the Coffee Bean it's a mere 10 cents). I hope people take the lesson and buy their travel mug wherever they damn well please.

In other random green observations, I saw proof today that anyone and everyone can embrace using reusable shopping bags. A burly older man with a backwards baseball cap and graying mustache and beard walked into my neighborhood Ralph's today with a reusable green bag decorated with a recycling symbol. He threw a log into his bag (with record high temps? OK, maybe his judgment isn't always good) and went on his merry way. That's one more for the green team!

Buy a reusable bag, PLEASE!

I live right around the corner from a Ralph's. It's convenient because I can walk to the grocery store, which is not only good for the environment but good for my pocketbook because I buy only what I can carry. Since I live in a dense urban neighborhood in Long Beach, I often see other people walking along the street, grocery bags in hand. Ya walkers, is my first thought. But then I immediately assess what they're carrying. I'm disappointed to say that only about one in five have reusable bags. Why, people, why? I don't understand why everyone doesn't use reusable bags. They sell them everywhere now, including Ralph's (I have two sturdy bags myself) so they're not just for people shopping at Trader Joe's or Whole Foods anymore. I feel a little hopeful that at least I see some people with reusable bags (for example, the woman in front of me in line on Monday, who I remember because she had a big Ralph's bag that was like the ones they sell at Trader Joe's with bright, colorful prints so even Ralph's is branching out into different styles and materials).

I recently read about a Long Beach City Council meeting where they were going to discuss banning plastic bags. And not just because it's a problem in Long Beach. It was to send a message to the greater LA area because bags from other cities litter beaches in Long Beach, the end of the line of the LA river. I don't know whatever happened with that. But I support it. I think that people would be willing to bring their own bags, they just need an incentive to make the switch. And money is always a great incentive. If the city charged people, say 25 cents, per plastic bag, I think we'd suddenly see a lot more people spending a few bucks on reusable ones. It's especially frustrating when I see people walking home from Ralph's with a plastic bag in each hand. Those two bags have a life of just 10 minutes or so, and that's it. What a waste.

This carbon counting is complicated

This story in the Boston Globe, "For a route to green living, you'll need a map," is really fascinating on many levels. First, it introduced me to fun new environmental terms:

-- carbon conscious. As in people are taking into consideration how much energy was used to make the products they're buying. (For example, buying bottled water from France, which uses nuclear energy, may have less of a carbon footprint than buying water from the US, where we use plants powered by fossil fuels like coal and natural gas.)
-- carbon calories. One experts imagines the day when people will be counting the carbon footprint of their food like they count calories.

Then it brought on the guilt. This is what it said about the most energy-efficient way of cooking:

"The microwave uses the least energy, followed by frying and boiling and, finally, the conventional oven. (Think how wasteful it is to heat up an entire oven just to cook a baked potato or two.)"

You talkin' to me? I just made one lonely sweet potato in the oven yesterday. But I grew up when microwaves were the hip new thing and remember the concerns over standing too close and getting cancer, so microwaving is ingrained in my mind as a less healthy way of cooking, even if that's not true anymore. Grrr, this is complicated.

But I felt vindicated when it pointed out that hanging onto an older computer is better than ditching it for a new energy-efficient model because of the energy used in manufacturing. Buying green has becoming a marketing ploy so it's helpful to remember that sometimes the most green thing you can do is not buy anything at all (I'm still using my old-school 19-inch TV that my dad bought me when I graduated from college, although I won't deny sometimes pining for those flat-screen high-def thingys).

The point of the article is that as consumers try to make better decisions, the reality is that we don't really fully know the carbon impact of the stuff we're buying. Great. Now I'm really overwhelmed. Well, then again, the flip side is that as I sit here nibbling on mini squares of Lindt truffles, I don't feel so bad eating chocolate imported from Europe. I'm just gonna have to hope Lindt's carbon footprint is smaller than that of an American candy bar, because Swiss chocolate is far superior and sorry Earth, I'm just not going to give it up for a Snickers bar.

A power strip that saves electricity

I need a power strip, which gave me the opportunity to look into buying one I'd read about a while ago. There are power strip surge protectors that automatically turn off the devices plugged into them, which cuts down on something called "vampire power." That's the smalllow leaking of power that happens when your electronics are plugged in, even when they're turned off. But after looking into it, I think one wouldn't fit my needs.

An article by New York Times technology writer David Pogue from last year sings the praises of the APC Power-Saving SurgeArrest power strip surge protector. But it's only for desktop computers and all the gadgets we have connected to them. I need a power strip for a wall with three things plugged into it -- a small stereo, cable modem and wireless router. And I have a laptop, not a desktop computer, and I don't have peripherals like a printer or scanner. So I guess there's no point.

Pogue's article says that "25 percent of the power used by home electronics is consumed while they are turned off." For those who might be interested in buying one, the website EFI (Energy Federation Inc.) has the APC and other types of energy-saving surge protectors for sale.

In the meantime, I'll buy an ordinary power strip. And it's a small inconvenience but I'll try to remember to unplug my laptop at night.