I found and bought my St. Patty’ s t-shirt today.
In the process I found some really great St. Patty’s t-shirts from Cafe Press.
Here are some of my favorites:
Mine is the last one: “Rock Out with your Shamrock Out“.
Archive for the 'Green' Category
06
Mar
09
St. Patty’s T-Shirt
18
Jun
08
How Green is your Plastic?
The topic of bottled water has come up quite often in discussion with friends. I caught a news report on this some months ago and have made a concerted effort not to use bottled water. I have been using my own bottles and tap water. So much money has been put into cleaning our tap water so why put more money into costly bottled water and contributed to all the plastic in our dumps.
Ahh plastic! That has been a more recent news topic. Mrs. Chickie (a coworker of mine) has mentioned it and how she has been cleaning the bad plastics out of her house and away from her three children. I admit I have been lax in looking it up and educating myself even though it has been a prevalent topic in the news.
Today Mrs. Chickie stopped by my desk and noticed all my plastic containers of fruit and salad as well as my water bottle. She started checking what number they were and was ohhing and ahhing about how bad my plastic is. Finally, I did some research. She suggested checking out Z Recommends, which is a blog with a wide range of information geared towards a safer environment for your kids.
I started by Googling “plastic” and that turned up everything except what I was looking for so I tried “good plastic, bad plastic”. This brought me to a blog titled “A Bunch of Greens” geared towards living green and a post titled “Good Plastic – Bad Plastic”. This has a fantastic overview but I became very bothered because my new water bottle, purchased at Starbucks, is a #7. I guess I figured this is just the type of thing Starbucks would be on top of, which is why I purchased the water bottle. Yes I should have done my own research from the git so I guess I was disappointed in both myself as well as Starbucks.
I forged forward looking for more information and came upon a wealth of info that I am still going through. I found a site called “The Green Guide” and seems its part of the National Geographic web site. I can’t wait to see what else they have but their info on plastics is extensive starting with “Green Learning: Plastics by the Numbers”.
I’m finding a lot of information but I’m still bothered by my recent Starbucks purchase. I went to Their website to see if I could write to them about my disappointment. This is what you do when you are older… You write letters when you are dissatisfied with a company. Well, my Mother wrote letters I write little blurby emails expressing my disgust with them as well as myself.
“I recently bought a water bottle from my local Starbucks in my town’s Safeway. I’ve heard about the issues with plastics lately but neglected to do any research. I decided to purchase a new water bottle from Starbucks figuring you guys were on top of this type thing. I have recently done my research and found the grade of plastic used is one of the worst ones out there 7. I was shocked to find this out since I figured Starbucks would be on top of this situation. I am disappointed to say the least as well as disappointed in myself for placing such trust in Starbucks.”
I was honest I didn’t put all the blame on them. I wasn’t even sure what I expected them to do but I had this need to express my disappointment in both of us.
It wasn’t long before I got this response:
“Hello Red,
Thank you for contacting Starbucks Coffee Company.
We will happily offer a full refund or exchange for the original price paid if the original sales receipt is presented with the merchandise within 90 days of purchase. If the original receipt is not available, the last sale price will be refunded. Also, if the returned item was purchased with cash or a check and the refunded amount is over $25 we will need to issue a refund check which will be mailed within thirty days.
If you have any other questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us at 1-(800)-235-2883.
Thanks again for contacting Starbucks Coffee Company.
Sincerely,
Tim G.
Starbucks Customer Relations“
Wow! I didn’t think I would be offered a refund. I will definitely be taking them up on that but I have to admit I’m a little disappointed the environmental point seems to have gone unmentioned.
I started going through my kitchen and checking numbers on anything plastic, especially my water bottles. I am shocked that all of my water bottles are a #7. I definitely have more reading to do but now , hopefully, I have caught you up and given you some good sites to do your own research to make better choices for your families.
Every year I say I’m going to see more bands than the year before but alas I only saw a few but I did catch a really important one. This band had me before but I have been thoroughly sucked in now. Ok I’ll get to that in a minute.
It seemed as if everyone arrived at once by the looks of the Armory/Stadium metro station. It was a sea of green and hoards of people hollering and cheering. Someone would yell “WHO’S ALREADY DRUNK?” Others would holler in unison “HELL YEAH! I’M EFFED UP!”
As we neared the stadium I noticed this redhead in front of me and I yelled “SCARLETT!” Wouldn’t ya know it, it was her. This was extremely lucky because she had arranged to interview Carbon Leaf. So after a few beers and the three o’clock hour hit she dragged me with her to interview them.
I’ve never done any interviews and had no idea what to say. I’m familiar with Carbon Leaf’s music and love the favorites like “The Boxer”. I’ve always thought of Carbon Leaf as such a famous band that last year I was pleasantly surprised to hear they would be playing Shamrockfest. I wondered how they could get such a big name like them to play in DC.
At the entrance to backstage we were met by Terry Clark. What an amazingly nice guy he is. They let us through and we were joined by Carter Gravatt, Jordan Medas and Barry Privett. We then walked out the back gate in search of someplace a little quieter to talk as Scarlett and I introduced ourselves. In any other situation this would seem kinda sketchy walking to the banks of the Anacostia River outnumbered by dudes. We found a decent spot and copped a squat in a circle. Well… it was more like an oval but I think you get the point.
Scarlett was ready and pulled out her notebook and started shooting off questions. I sat there with a goofy smile on my face and just amazed they took the time to chill with us like this. They are just regular guys with families. They talked about their most recent album, Love, Loss, Hope, Repeat, as well as future albums, hopefully two. They told us how their sound is moving away from their Celtic roots, which they are known for, in search of more.
I asked them what ties they have to DC that brings them to us for Shamrockfest. Terry told us their roots are Richmond, VA but coming to Shamrockfest started with Elliot from DC101 and Kegs and Eggs. Terry couldn’t say enough good things about Elliot and his crew.
These guys have a love of music and feed off the reactions of their crowds which is evident when they are on stage. When it was time for them to play I had gotten a spot fairly close and when the crowd would react I noticed this smile would come across Barry’s face. I felt like I was in on their secret.
Thanks for bringing them in Elliot. Please bring them back next year.
But then the Irish started singing in their drunken stupors. This is how we got a plethora of traditional folk songs a/k/a drinking songs. It didn’t stop there and they hopped up off their bar stools and started dancing around and calling it the jig.
So many got injured while doing the jig that laws were passed against getting jiggy with it after downing a few pints. Some chose never to dance again whereas some chose to give up the Guinness. Those who decided to dance took it to new levels. This, my friends, is how we got Riverdance.
The music also evolved. I just can’t get enough of the Irish rock, as I call it. My first introduction to this type of music was Ashley MacIsaac and his album “Hi, How Are you today?” Who wouldn’t dig a dude in a kilt and combat boots?
As the years went on I found:
If you want to check out some of this music, LIVE, then you could always catch Scythian and Carbon Leaf, along with many many more, at the Shamrockfest.
When is the Shamrockfest?
SATURDAY, SATURDAY, SATURDAY
I will definitely be there to check it all out and maybe find some new music but I will definitely enjoy watching all the honorary Irish gettin smashed. If I’m lucky then I should be able to capture some great pics. Who knows I might get a pic of one of you!
