For love of water

Magnet #966 - Mystic Seaport

For some reason, I keep finding myself back in Mystic, Connecticut. This magnet was from my last trip there, a part of my floaty magnets section. What? Doesn't everyone divide their magnets into sections?

I picked it for today, because it's Blog Action Day, the day of the year when bloggers unite around a single cause. This year's cause is Water.

I'm not gonna go into a whole big diatribe about the importance of water, and how the earth is made of seventy-something percent water and somehow we still can't manage to get our heads around it being a precious resource - you can learn more about water here.

But, I will recommend one documentary whose trailer scared the living crap out of me a while ago, and got me to watch it the second I could get my hands on it - FLOW. It's a great film on how privatization of the world's fresh water supply is affecting every aspect of society. It also asks the question "Can anyone really own water?" I think the answer varies depending on the individual, the society and the company, but it's an interesting question to ask.

FLOW seriously scared me into watching how often I turn on my tap, even though admittedly, it shouldn't have taken a movie to do that. On top of that, I've noticed it's also affected my purchasing decisions in the store - rethinking how often I buy bottled water, and when I do, which brands to buy.

It's also given me something more to think about. In a world where water is everywhere, (to the tune of 236 million, trillion gallons), how is it that we can't get ourselves ahead of the problems associated with ownership, cleanliness, and accessibility?

How is it that almost a billion (!) people out there don't have access to clean, safe, fresh water, while I can run around the corner and buy gallons of it at any given store on Broadway?

Just smile and wave, boys. Smile and wave.

Magnet #641 - New England Aquarium

A friend of mine brought this magnet back for me...I had to look up where the aquarium was. It's in Boston.

I do so love my little magnet - it's adorable. Though, I'm not a huge fan of zoos or aquariums - don't get me wrong, I'm not a huge animal rights person - I do consider both venues a necessary thing to help folks understand the animal kingdom.

I just worry about venues and how humane the animals are being treated - the last one I went to locally freaked me out with their really small enclosures and smelly water.

But, I think that aquarium is set for a renovation, so maybe it won't be so bad. I'd actually consider going to the big ones - Monterrey, Atlanta, Chicago, and this one. At the very least, I'd go just for the supercute magnets.

C'mon, can't you just see this penguin's buggy eyes, just bursting to get out of his little pen here? He's totally planning his escape.

Just another day at the beach...for joy, anyway

Magnet #276 - Georgia Aquarium

A friend of mine gave me this supercool magnet from the Georgia Aquarium. Apparently, it's the world's largest aquarium, with something like 8 million gallons of fresh and saltwater. Whoa!

I just checked out their site - and freaked out over their jellyfish page. Eeeeep. I can't stand jellyfish.

I blame Father Ralph from our church, who led one of the only church trips I was allowed to go on, down to South Carolina, when I was in 7th grade. Two things stick out about that trip.

A crappy and awkward-aged no-style haircut. The one where I, needing a drastic change, said to Crystal, our hairdresser, chop it all off. The one where, when I got into the car, my dad asked what happened. It was the worst haircut - ever.

Jellyfish. While we were at the beach, I inadvertently walked right into a school of jellyfish, was stung all over the place. The thing I remember most, though, was standing in a towel, shivering and crying because of the pain, and Father Ralph looking down at me, basically saying he couldn't do anything for me.

So, yeah, between the crappy haircut and the jellyfish, it was kind of a sucky beach trip. Ugh.

However, having looked at the Georgia Aquarium site, it does look like a fun place to go - with like kid sleepovers and tons of interesting exhibits. Maybe I'll go, next time I'm in town.

Just need to make sure everything's behind glass where they belong, is all.

The prodigals return - GAR Day #17

Magnet #100 - I Heart NY

So, after a long drive from Montana back down to Salt Lake, we were to fly home to New York (and North Carolina) today, the end of a superlong trip.

After 17 days on the road, I was planning to take Monday off, just to recuperate from the trip. I probably would have just gotten into bed, and not left it until Tuesday morning. Oiy - I'm tired just thinking about it.

It was a lovely trip, and superfun trying to find magnets in my collection for joy magnetism to take the original Great American Roadtrip. And, I managed, too - with only a slight cheat here and there. Thanks for coming along with me!

Ironically, this magnet was the only one that I went out and specifically bought for this GAR series. Despite living here for 13 years, I didn't have a real I Heart NY magnet.

Anyway, this is doubly fitting, since I just saw Sex and the City on Saturday, and New York was truly a fifth major character in the film. Well, you know, what I saw of it through the tears and tears and tears. I'm not normally a big movie sobber, but I seriously was Sobby McSobberson for this flick. And, believe you me, I wasn't even a huge SatC fan to begin with!

But, whether you thought it was awesome or not, it seems that most women seem to be having the same reaction to this movie - which is, leaving the movie theatre, desperate to call and reconnect with every single close girlfriend you've had over the years.

Luckily, I just spent the last 17 days with two of them - thinking about it, it probably would have been great fun to end the trip with a midnight showing somewhere in Montana. If anything, had the trip gone insane and we with it, SatC would have sorted us right back out again.

GAR Track of the Day: New York, New York