Thursday, April 3, 2008

An Ode to Necesssity

At times, I can be a bit of a spazz. That's right, I'm admitting it. In print. I have been known to send mass emails warning of the perils of cell phone do not call lists, call the cops when mysterious cars have been parked for way too long outside my house and write and publish articles that have to do with everything from climate change to what to and not to read. But most of the time (okay--some of the time) I have good reason to freak out about something so good or so bad that I feel the need to champion it's merits and/or pitfalls. I like to say that I'm opinionated about what's important. How's that?

Enter my new favorite toy: a 20 oz travel mug that is also a coffee press. Seriously. I just published an article on buying less, wrote a post about living with less and I work for a company dedicated to doing more with less, YET I have at my side a gorgeous, gleaming, thoughtfully designed salvation to my droopy, decaffeinated soul. It's even candy apply red. I bought it from a local coffee shop here in town but it's made by a group called Planetary Design. As far as I'm concerned everyone should have one of these. And considering that my birthday is later this month, I've written it off as an early b-day gift to myself. And why did I feel the need to essentially drink my coffee straight from the pot? Because the new offices do not have a coffee pot yet and the nearest coffee stand is in the mall down the street. This requires me to leave my office, get in my car, drive to the mall, get out of my car, stand in line (oh the humanity!) and wait for a surly looking, prepubescent barista to get her shit together so that she can brew my trippletallsugarfreehazelnutlattee in my eco-friendly travel mug because I'm an anti-single-use paper cup kind of girl. I'm saving time (it took me twenty minutes to fetch my afternoon cup yesterday), money, gas and sanity by brewing my own cup/small pot at my desk. And while there is quite a bit to be said about what you gain by having less, buying less and even eating less, there is also a heck of a lot that can be said about being a happy freakin' member of society.

Bottoms up,
NC

Song of the day: Catch My Disease by Ben Lee

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