Becoming more social, but I am still such a geek

A couple of things have recently made me take a look at my life (and our life as a family) and do some soul searching. Three years ago, we picked up and moved our entire life to a new and strange town, knowing only 2 people (my parents) in our new city. I have found that as I get older, it is harder to make friends. I am no longer single and going out as often, which really did open up the door to meeting lots of new people and friends-of-friends. We are thirty-somethings (although I am still in shock about that, and is the term DINK *Double Income No Kids* still being used), and it seems that most people our age have children and the types of things they do is very different from the lifestyle that we live. They have to deal with babysitters and being home early, having to plan outings in advance, and I am in a way not looking forward to making those kind of sacrifices yet. Moving here and working from home was also not an ideal situation for me, as I didn't meet coworkers and establish those types of relationships which has always led to some of my closest friends. I also think that while Scott was in the USMC, I was in a way afraid of making friends in this area and getting too settled because the job would have us moving in 3 years. I just didn't really make any kind of effort at all.

Well, Scott got out of the USMC and we thought that deployments and long separations were behind us. As it turns out, Scott (not happily) got assigned to work a ship excercise which has him gone the entire month of July. In comparison to an 8 month deployment, this is a walk in the park - but I miss him none the less. But I am actually doing ok without him here (I miss him like crazy, though) and I am using this as an opportunity to try to find the person that I was before we moved out here.

First, back in college I was always a little bit of a tomboy (I liked hanging out with the guys and spent all nighters PC gaming instead of studying). So for my Bday, Scott got me an Xbox 360. I forgot how addicting these things are, and maybe it's a good thing that I don't do drugs because maybe I have a personality prone to addiction. So far, I have purchased (all used, being the frugal person that I am) Guitar hero 3, DDR2, and The Orange Box (which makes me think back to my Doom and Quake days). All 3 games are so much fun and it's amazing how the hours just fly by as I work on perfecting my score. I am still such a geek. At least if we end up ever having sons, I may be the cool mom who plays games with their kids (1 hour limit per day FOR KIDS, I have already decided - that's why it's going to be in my bedroom hee hee).

Second, I have decided that I need to become more social and start meeting people in this area. How is this truly going to be our home, if we don't have any close friends? I came across Meetup.com, which I think is truly an amazing idea. For those of you in different towns, take a look and see if your area has any groups. This is a site where you can find people with common iterests and they plan activities (called Meet ups) and it's a great way to meet new people. I always thought of myself as a pretty shy and conservative person, but then I think about how much fun I had when I took a chance and joined my first Dewey Beach group house. Again, I found myself alone, and joining a group of complete strangers who became my good friends. I found a North County Happy Hour Group - which tells you a little bit about my interests - and met 2 friends at the first happy hour. So far I have been to 3 Meetups and had fun at each of them. On Sunday, I plan to go to a Meetup for Brussel Griffon owners (that's Chewie's type of people). They are meeting at a vineyard in Temecula and have arranged for everyone to bring their dogs and an area to let them play while we do a wine tasting (how right up my alley is that, huh?). So I hope that Scott comes home to a new group of people that we can hang out with and get to know. It's about time that we start becoming a part of this community. When Scott gets home, we can look for some hiking or other team type of activites to join in (that's more his type of thing, where as I just want to socialize).

18 days until Scott gets home - I am missing my best friend...

Water Bottle Woes

I just read an article about water bottles and BPA. That's the stuff that has been on alert in baby bottles for a bit. I don't have babies, so I thought I was in the clear on this issue - but alas, it has crept into our lives...

Last Christmas, it seemed that I became water bottle obsessed. I got 2 water bottles (3 if you count the replacement that we had to buy because Bear ate the top to one), and a travel mug for xmas. Scott has had his nalgene bottles for awhile, and I thought it was a great way to get me to try to drink my daily allowance of water (the Hydracoach was really great for that).

Well, it turns out that depending on the type of plastic used to make your water bottles (and pitchers, and Tupperware, etc) you may still have the potential of BPA being present.
Here is a good article, and there are links that you can follow to give you even more information.
Basically, if you look at the bottom of your water bottle, there is a number in the middle of the recycle symbol. Try to avoid plastics with a #3, #6 or #7 (of course, all of our water bottles are #7). This does not mean that all #7 plastics have BPA, but there is a chance. Look for brands that say BPA free. The best plastics are the ones with #2, #4 or #5 recycle codes.
If you have #7 bottles and don't plan to replace them - basically, don't put anything hot in there, don't let your water sit in it and then still drink from it, and don't put them in the dishwasher. Heat seems to release BPA into the contents...

Here are a couple that look good - time to replace all of our water bottles! And I am drinking my required ounces daily, for the most part! Here's a trick to calculate how much you need to drink - basically, take your weight, and half of that number is how much you should be drinking in ounces (for a person with average activity levels).
Camelback - now BPA free
Nalgene - now made with a new Titan material that is BPA free
Klean Kanteen - I think I'm going to go with these - they don't hold odor either...