what are you drinking?

if you've been reading or watching on the news about the apparent scandal with bottled water.. then this should help clear your doubts. i had a couple of friends who came up to me with the news article they read, and were asking what it's all about.. (reference article)

Pepsi-Cola announced Friday that the labels of its Aquafina brand bottled water will be changed to make it clear the product is tap water.

The new bottles will say, "The Aquafina in this bottle is purified water that originates from a public water source," or something similar, Pepsi-Cola North America spokeswoman Nicole Bradley told CNN.

The bottles are currently labeled: "Bottled at the source P.W.S." Americans spent about $2.17 billion on Aquafina (14.7% market share, making it the leading bottle water brand) last year, according to Beverage Digest, an independent company that tracks the global beverage industry. The U.S. bottled water business in 2006 totaled roughly $15 billion, it said.

so all the fuss now is about the picture on the Aquafina label that has a mountain on it and this is apparently deceiving people into thinking that Aquafina is actually from some mineral spring somewhere.. bloody idiots, read the fuckin' label - its says purified drinking water!! there's also a PWS symbol on it on the back that means bottled from a public water source!

this really pisses me off, when people don't look carefully at what they're picking up, and then want to get their panties all up in a bunch cos there is no one but themselves to blame.

if you did have any genuine doubts though.. Aquafina is actually as pure as distilled water, cos it undergoes reverse osmosis, which takes all minerals and trace elements out of it, leaving you with just good ol' pure H₂O. so feel free to pick up a case of Aquafina any time you want, without wondering about how safe it is.. of course, if you live anywhere in the North-Eastern US then you can have the peace of mind knowing that all Aquafina has been personally passed by me.. lol (ok ok, terrible water joke, but it was begging to be told!)

not a new topic

like the concept of 'tough love', here's another theme that has over the years become ingrained in popular culture - 'the 5 stages of grief/loss/change'. the three have been pooled together only because the three emotions are often interwoven.. i'll leave you to dig out the history and all that by following the wiki link given.. i think i have mentioned these here before but i can't for the life of me remember when

so as you can see, these five stages generally represent what happens any time a normal (or not so normal either) person is placed in a situation where there is loss..
- denial - "hell no! this is not happening!"
- anger - "what the fuck?!"
- bargaining - "oh come on, pleaaase?"
- depression - "aww man i'm so fuuucked"
- acceptance - "i'll live.. so what's next?"

now if your car just gave up the ghost on you, then it looks like this..
- denial - "what do you mean it won't start?!"
- anger - "start you fuckin' piece of shit!"
- bargaining - "please start, please, just one more time?"
- depression - "i'm going to get fired when i get late today"
- acceptance - "can i call someone for a ride? cab it maybe?"

if it's the girlfriend who just packed a suitcase and went a-walking out..
- denial - "of course i didn't say that i wouldn't go down on you"
- anger - "fine! get lost bitch! and don't come back!"
- bargaining - "i'm sorry honey, i had no idea what i was saying, please stay!"
- depression - "she's never coming back. i'll never get laid again"
- acceptance - "errm, let's see if i can pick up a crack whore at the mall"

finally, if you do the job that i do, at the factory 3 a.m. every morning..
- denial - "i don't care, today will be a good day, we'll get high efficiencies!"
- anger - "fuck you, you fucking hunk of metal. fuck the fuckin' shit! gah!"
- bargaining - "please darling, just run today, i'll grease you lovingly tomorrow"
- depression - "i give up, this thing will never run again"
- acceptance - "i'm going to go have a cigarette break, if it runs it'll run.."

meet the parents?

did this happen to you, cos it sure happened to me!

sex, drugs & .. statistics?!

was reading this article on CNN.com a couple of weeks back.. it documented the results of drug use and sexual behavior as reported by adults in the US for the last few years. the blurb to the paper can be found here, but i have highlighted a few salient points here, only because they are interesting enough to give you some kind of perspective to your own lives..

• 29 percent of American men report having fifteen or more female sexual partners in a lifetime, while only 9 percent of women report having sex with fifteen or more men.
• the median number of lifetime female sexual partners for men was seven and the median number of male partners for women was four
• about 96 percent of U.S. adults have had sex; about 11 percent of never-married adults had remained chaste
• 16 percent of adults first had sex before age fifteen, while 15 percent abstained from sex until at least age twenty one
• adults who were married or had more than a high school education were less likely to use street drugs than others
• 26 percent of men and 17 percent of women have tried cocaine or other street drugs (not including marijuana) at some time in their life
• the proportion of people ever using cocaine or street drugs did not vary by poverty level; however, individuals living at twice or more times the poverty level had the lowest percentage of past use
• past year use of cocaine or street drugs increased as the age group became younger, with the youngest age group (20–29 years) having the highest prevalence

hot chick fix

looking back at the archives, it's been quite a while since we last had some nekkidity here, some hot gals lapping up the summer sun.. we all know you don't really come here to read.. lol!!

so what better combo than some smokin' babes in stringy bikinis, retro GTOs and rad guns?! so here's your hot chick fix, meet the Bikini Bandits..

for some history on these lovely ladies, follow the wiki link given above.. would you believe they actually got Maynard James Keenan to star in their movies as well?! y'all know i don't gush about people too often, but Maynard, well, he's the lead singer of Tool & A Perfect Circle, so i may be forgiven.. also it's 6 am sunday morning and this bottle of whiskey is getting lighter all the time.. enjoy your weekend folks!

if you never watched any of their clips, then this is where you want to go.. more at their myspace page..

a day off?

unbelievable, a day off! right in the middle of summer! well, it is the 4th of July, and that is the only reason why.. in bottling parlance, end of summer session 1, and beginning of summer session 2. the first part of the peak summer season begins in March and goes on until Independence Day, and the second phase goes on from now through till Labor Day, which in the US is the first Monday in September..

we did pretty decently for the first session of summer, averaging well over 120,000 cases daily of soda and Aquafina.. in between we got in some new equipment, got it installed and got it running too with very few glitches and very little down-time as well.. i did get tossed into the hot seat at a really bad time, during the transition just before summer session 1.. but by all accounts i accounted for myself really well.. i pat myself on the back here. handling both my job and my ex-boss's job with youthful aplomb and a cheerful vigor.. i am tooting the ol' trumpet, but that's cos i've had a few beers down me! hopefully all the hard work, dedication, commitment and long hours show up in my raise.. cos much as i love what it do, at the end of the day it's all about the benjamins.. hehe!

if you did get the day off, here's hoping you had a good 4th of July.. here's a pic from the fireworks display at Ayer.. it was a really good moment too, cos 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' - Pink Floyd was playing on the radio right as the fireworks were going off.. i guess you just had to be there to savor it.

around the bend

i'm not an alcoholic.. alcoholics go to meetings