Living the low plastic life

I have described myself as a "lazy environmentalist" more than once but lately I'm becoming more and more active, this could be because I'm no longer in the Midwest--environmentalist no-man's land--or because I'm working at an environmental NGO, which has contributed exponentially to my guilt (so really I'm a guilty/lazy environmentalist).

Anyway, for work I've been doing a lot of research on plastic and its impact, particularly on the ocean. This plastic business scares me. Do you know that all plastic that has ever been made basically still exists? And that really, it can't be recycled! It's "downcycled" instead. Since doing the research, which also made my coworkers more environmentally aware (a formidable task at an environmental NGO), I've become both aware of how impossible it is to escape plastic and subsequently depressed when I use plastic items. This week I bough some salad dressing primarily because it came in a glass bottle, and of course, I hated it and will probably need to go get something else now. sigh.

For more information on plastic free living, check out this often hilarious blog about a woman try to go as plastic free as possible: FakePlasticFish. I personally laughed out loud (at work) when reading her Valentines Day posts. Oh the unexpected impacts of trying to live a more eco-friendly lifestyle.

Update: I caved today and bought my favorite plastic-container salad dressing.

Post-College Dating

So last night, a friend (male) of mine called me and was asking me all kinds of questions about dating etiquette. He's in med school and well, hasn't been on a date since college and even then it was sparse...it got me to thinking about trying to date as an adult (using the term loosely :-)), why does it have to be sooo complicated?

As a recent grad myself, I've been trying to figure out how to date as a professional, so don't ask me why I was being solicited for advice. I miss the days when you could just hang out, this first date business is just too much pressure. I think my personality is more of an acquired taste, I need at least two dates. :-)

So I tried to explain to him how I decide if/when to text a girl based on what she is saying, doing and how much he likes her...an hour later...

Taking back the streets

Since moving to DC I have a new pet peeve--drivers who think they own the road. I walk, a lot. If I'm going somewhere I'm either walking there or walking to the public transit that I'm going to take there and I'm not the only one. DC is very much a walking city, so what is with the drivers???

I'm finished with people who don't realize that being in a car does NOT give you ownership of the whole street. If the walk sign is on you need to wait to turn until after I've crossed the street, there is no need to honk at me. I might get annoyed and just walk slower to tick you off, don't tempt me.

I've done my fair share of driving, so I understand what driving is like, when did the drivers forget what it's like to walk?

First Post

So, I'm new at this. Lately, I've been new at a lot of things. I've always been the strange one in my family who wanted to do things that no one "got," most recently, that thing was moving half way across the country to Washington, DC to accept an internship at an NGO--don't get me started on the number of conversations that I had trying to explain what an NGO was to the family and why on Earth I'd want to work at one. So here I am. I've been here less than 6 months and I'm still trying to get my barrings. It's been a long process. Since this is my first post, I'm going to start with a little bit of background...

Before this, I decided about two years ago to move to the Netherlands for graduate school. The family really did not get that one and not just the Netherlands part--the grad school part. See what I'm dealing with here? Grad school was amazing, I highly recommend it to anyone who feels like they need a vacation and some time to take naps. Really. Don't let anyone tell you it's hard because it's not, it's the best schedule you will ever have, provided you aren't working at the same time. I miss the naps.

And now I'm living here in DC--well technically I live in a "close" suburb, Silver Spring, Maryland. But DC is across the roundabout so I'm claiming it! I have all of two friends in this city. TWO. And they don't know each other. I'm also frantically looking for a job for when my internship ends (5 weeks and counting...) but I'm sure there will be plenty more on that. Yea so this is me, I'm soon to be unemployed, have two friends in the whole city and my family doesn't get me. Fun times.