99. Bottles of Beer on the Wall

I couldn't resist that title when I typed 99.  Sorry. By the way, in case you are wondering, the reason for the numbers on my post titles is to count the number of days of the year in the Blog 365 project. There you go. One of life's great mysteries solved, and it's only Wednesday morning. Imagine what else you can accomplish this week.

But this post was intended to be titled "Unexpected."  And WTF Wednesday, of course.  But now it's also Stupid-Me Wednesday. Or "In Which I Admit To Being An Eejit. Twice or Three Times." (Do you really have time to read all this? You might want to skip it. Honestly.)

Here's the story:  The other day I did something stupid to my Mozilla Firefox browser on my desktop computer, and I can.not.get.that.sucker.to.fix.  I wanted to change my home page to the NY Times.  Somehow or another, instead of doing that, I changed it to a TEENY-TINY gif logo of the NYT, but not the home page of the New York Times, not by a long shot.

And worse. Exponentially worse. I rendered my Firefox browser unusable.  And when I say unusable, I do mean un-use-a-ble. No browser functionality.  No browser address bar.  Like that. 

I uninstalled it fully and restarted my computer and reinstalled it fully  about a thousand times (OK, maybe five.  But it seems like a thousand.) and every time, I end up with the NYT logo gif thingy again.  So I cleared my cache.  And I did it over again.  And I ran disk clean, or whatever it's called.  I told my computer to reset itself to two days ago.  Nada nada nyet, non.  For all I know, I have inadvertently hacked into Mozilla and permanently changed their entire website to the New York Times gif logo.  Lemme know if it's happening on YOUR computer and maybe we can clear this up before I get arrested and sent to the federal pen. 

But the strangest side effect happened: I was forced to use Internet Explorer, which I hate.  I have hated it with the power of a half-dozen suns for many years.  I have shunned it.  I have treated it much like I've treated my Amaryllis stepchild Rilona.  I have dissed it to people.  I have NEVER ALLOWED MYSELF TO USE IT. I would not admit to anyone in a crowd that I might even CONSIDER using it. Because in addition to me truly not liking it, it was totally NOT COOL to like it. No one would respect me in the morning.

And now?  I hate to admit it, but I like it.  My screen is way clearer.  The font for my Typepad account is different, and much, much better. Everything works faster than my old Firefox friend. My own blog site (and yours) is more pleasant to look at, pictures are clearer (it's the same site!  it should look the same!  WTF?!) Comment boxes work faster, though it is forcing me to type in my name and URL a lot, rather than remembering it, and that kind of grates on my nerves. 

I'm still getting used to some of the differences, but they're only differences, not BAD differences, per se. So really.  WTF?

And now, for the, OMG Was My Face Red portion of this entry.  You know yesterday's diatribe?  And thank you for all the great comments, by the way. Who knew people would get so rapt up in the topic of plastic bags?  (And does that not just go to enforce the truth of my new subtitle?  "nominally a knitting blog...but who cares?"  Don't encourage me; I warn you.)

Well, I'm extremely chagrinned to say:  Forget I wrote any of yesterday's post.

After several people commented that Hannaford's has recycling bins for plastic bags and offers reusable bags at a low price, I called my local Hannaford's, about three miles from me, and asked if they had bins for collecting plastic bags.  The person on the phone hesitated a bit, but then said, "Oh, yes. I didn't know what you meant. But yes, we do."  I asked her where they were, and she said, "Right next to the bottles-and-cans bins." 

OK.  So I loaded up all those plastic bags in the car (I considered carrying them on my bike, but there were too many to carry on my bike in one trip without causing a major traffic congestion problem. Picture a wide load looking every bit like a giant bag of marshmallows going down the road, holding up all the cars.) and drove out there. And I searched and searched, and I thought she must have misunderstood me.  Then I was about to go inside the store, and there was a quite small, almost hidden, bin that looked like a trash bin, quietly marked that it would take plastic bags on one side, and paper bags on the other.  Definitely not lit up with neon lights or anything, and definitely not very visible and definitely not trying to advertise or encourage people to notice it's there. But now I'm just being nit-picky.  Goodness only knows where they go after you leave them there.  Could be the landfill.  It doesn't say, and I'm probably just too cynical.

But anyway, I stuffed my bags in.  So, "Cool," I thought.  "One battle down."  I then went in the store to buy stuff just to reward them for taking my award-winning plastic bag collection off my hands and brought in my reusable bags to see how the clerks would react. 

I bought my stuff, and I was almost at the checkout, and I saw that, dang, they actually had some reusable bags with their logo for sale for $1.50 each, and the special price of "or 2/$3.00."  Being no dummy, I opted for the 2/$3.00 special price.  *cough*

And the clerk was a middle-aged lady, which means much older than I, and the bagger was a middle-aged man, also MUCH OLDER than I.  And the clerk politely asked me if I wanted my things put in my new bags that I was buying.  I said, "Either that, or put it in these bags that I brought."  She cheerfully said, "Okay, we'll put your NEW ones in the ones you brought."  And the middle-aged, much-older-than-me, man made conversation and said, "Someone bought bags last week and forgot them in their shopping cart!"  I allowed as how that would seem to be something I might do, and everyone was happy.  No sideways glances or downcast eyes or weird looks in my direction. I am not a weirdo! I have been validated in the mainstream store!  I can walk with my head held high from now on!  It's OK to reuse bags and not be thought of as on the FRINGE.  And they call this America.

Then I walked -- nay, danced -- toward the exit, and there was a stand selling a different style of "woven plastic" bag for 69 cents each. I actually like the style of those better than the $1.50/2-for-$3.00 ones, because they have longer handles for shoulder-carrying, but I decided not to go back and get some right then.  I dared not be thought of as a weirdo. Maybe next time.   

Anyway.  Boy, do I feel dumb.

 

 

Comments

[Wanda]

Norma (Rae), that is a hilarious story. I love it. I'm glad you were able to get rid of all those plastic bags. I assumed most grocery stores recycle plastic bags, as mine does. And I have seen lately in my local grocery stores that they are carrying various bags that are reuseable, which are nice. Good for you for getting rid of those bags. That was just madness!

[Debbie]

Snicker. (But I'm laughing with you, not at you.)

[marianne]

ack.. browsers... I found IE the better choice on my old pc, with this iMac I have to use Firefox for the most part. You're right though, why tf should it make that big a difference? Glad you were able to clear up the plastic bag situation AND get new reusable bags and NOT getting the weird eye from folks in the store while you were about it.

[kmkat]

Okay, I had to open up IE and compare it side by side with Firefox. I even went to my own Typepad blog and compare. No difference. Whew. I hate to change browsers.

[Kristen]

No reason to feel dumb! It irks me that many stores "hide" their plastic-bag recycling bins. I think it is an evil corporate plot. Speaking of bags, those 69-cent bags were probably made in some third-world country with slave labor. Since you are trying to be eco- and global-friendly you can think of your "expensive" bags as an investment in responsible corporate behavior.

I'm not getting into the browser debate since I'm a Mac person and I actually like Safari. (Except for the 5% of web pages out there that refuse to work with it.)

[Mel]

I still hate IE and only use when absolutely necessary. But then, I'm a Mac person and it's expected.

My Hannaford sells canvas bags for $3, but I don't always remember to return them to the car and usually stop there on my way home from work. Fortunately, when I signed up with Green Dimes, I got a little nylon bag that folds into its own little pouch and clips onto my backpack.

[LR]

Every time, and I mean every time, I use IE, my anti-virus software finds a virus. And always end the evening with pop-up ads. Those are good enough reasons for me to hate IE. I have to use it to download Netflix movies and to access my bank account. I cringe every time I have to use it.

[jessie]

So you are one of those people who actually remembers to BRING THE REUSABLE BAG WITH THEM to the store. Hm. You should see the looks they give me at the Co-Op, where I have never once remembered to bring any kind of bag with me.

By the way, my Seed Savers Exchange order came the day after your post. $54. I win. (Haven't planted anything yet, which is going to be a bit of problem for those items that need 8 weeks indoors before planting. Or maybe not. It's Vermont.

[Dave Daniels]

It's a pretty common occurrence here in the city to see people using totes. I've taken to using my canvas knitting tote bags for groceries now. When I'm at the check out, I just whip out my sack, and no one bats an eye when I throw them to the bagger. And they are MUCH easier on the hands to carry, and can just be thrown over the shoulder, too.
Welcome to the 21st century!

[lisa]

Did you get your 3cent credit for each bag you brought to the clerk for your groceries? Hannaford does that here. We have a bunch of old cotton bags, totally filthy (even when clean), but they do the job better than the open mesh ones I knit... sad, so sad.

[Carol]

Bag problem solved! I had the same browser issue for about a week, and last night, it fixed itself! WYF indeed!

[Adelaide]

I just switched from Office Outlook to Thunderbird -- and I don't like Thunderbird at all! I keep telling myself that I must be more flexible and give myself a chance to get used to Thunderbird, but I can't figure out why I should have to do that. Hum. . .

[Lynn]

Don't feel badly about being dumb, dear, we already knew you were, it's no big surprise.

[kidding][more snickering]

[margene]

Way to go Norma...do what works for you. That's the key to a good life.

[Mary K. in Rockport]

Our local recycling center, which everyone still calls "the dump," allows us to throw cans and plastics into the bin, then throw the plastic bag into a separate barrel. I'll have to ask what they do with the bags later - aside from the ones that fly into the trees nearby. Our town recycles pretty assiduously, so I'm sure the bags get melted down somehow, which is good - or is it?

[Tracey]

Everyone is starting to catch on with selling their store's branded reusable bags. Know what I love most about them? When you give the cashiers the reusable ones they actually fill the damn things up! With plastic bags it's always 3 things in this, 4 things in that...then you get home and have 80 plastic bags and enough groceries to last you two days! I'm lovin' the reusable bags! I even go so far as to use my Giant bags in Walmart and Target. Ha!

[Linda M]

I'm so amused by the whole marketing aspect of these new reusable bags. I bet the companies are making a fortune selling these totes and shopping bags. Of course I bought five canvas ones (I don't like the plastic) at Publix (the Florida grocery chain) and try to remember to put them back in the car each trip.

And now Target has jumped on the bandwagon with a vengeance! they have a four-page ad in the new Newsweek, inside front and back covers and their facing pages. The reader is supposed to carefully detatch the magazine cover, turn it inside out and tape up the sides to make an envelope, carefully fold up and insert one's used target plastic bags, seal the new envelope, fill out the pre-printed mailing label that is part of the ad, MAIL THE BAGS BACK to Target and receive a coupon for a "cool" reusable Target tote printed with the bulls-eyes all over it in red on white (of course).

And the funniest thing of all is that I had just come back from Target and picked up my mail with the Newsweek in it while I was holding the Target plastic bags...! the whole episode cracked me up so much I made the envelope and mailed back my used Target bags the same day (yesterday)!

And don't get me started about the $30 totes Sundance Catalog is selling... sigh

[MaryB in Richmond]

Ukrop's, our local grocery chain, gives a $.05 credit for each bag you bring in yourself.

I find it's more motivating if I think of it like this: "Ukrop's charges you $.05 a bag to use new bags." YOWCH!! THAT helps remind me to keep the bags in the car so they're there when I need them!

[Marcia Cooke]

Mozilla Firefox just did a big update last week....perhaps you missed it? Glad you have all those plastic bags off your conscience! And out of your house! I remember the canvas bags, but consistently forget to bring back the plastic ones for recycle.

[Catherine]

RE: Firefox, you probably need to make yourself a new profile (Those things hang around when you uninstall and reinstall. Just go to start run and type in 'firefox -ProfileManager'. That will let you create a new profile. In terms of performance and bloat may I suggest that you use either Firefox 1 or the new Firefox 3 Beta, which is pretty ready for prime time, both are significantly less bloated than Firefox 2. I worry about anyone that uses IE because there are a very large number of browser specific exploits that can turn your computer into a zombie spewing spam to all the world. Firefox is not perfect, but they have a tendency to fix the big things faster than Microsoft does.

[Jean]

I love seeing all the reusable bags. It's a habit we got into in Germany. They don't bag for you there and you have to pay for bags if you forgot your own. A lot of people used baskets instead of bags because they don't shop like we do. They shop for a few days at a time.

[Heather]

Glad to hear that you have been saved from the bags!

[Anne]

We got some of those bags, and love them. The kitten isn't so happy since she doesn't have plastic ones to play with anymore, but getting half a million bags every week was getting rediculous.

The only problem is that every time we get one specific cashier at WalMart, he stands there and bitches about them the whole time. This latest time it was 'they should outlaw these stupid things!'. Get a grip! DH and I have both done our time cashiering, and we are not sympathetic - it's not that hard to hold a bag open instead of using your spinny bag holder thing (technical term). It's enough to make me shop at Publix, even if they are a little further away.

[Cheryl S.]

What a great bag story! Of course, all those things only happened BECAUSE you blogged about it. Otherwise, there would be no recycle bin or subsidized tote bags at Hannaford's. *Insert eerie Twilight Zone music here*

[Carol]

Sorry to say, but both my kids worked in a chain grocery store in Washington. The store has a bin for recycling their plastic bags. At the end of the day, the kids empty that bin into the large trash bin behind the store. So, your own bags are the way to go!

[Julie]

I have all sorts of reusable bags, even my very old (bought 34 years ago at the Sunflower health food store in Rogers Park) "Save A Tree" bag. The woven nylon ones might be less expensive but they do fall apart (canvas is forever) and guess where they end up? Yup, you guessed it. I take my plastic bags at W*l-Mart - they swear that they are recycled. And I love IE, have preferred it forevah, except that somehow Mozilla took over my IE, so when I go to my Explorer I get Mozilla, and I am just too damn lazy to fix it.

[Cookie]

What did you do to change your homepage? Did you go into Options? Or did you try something else?

I think we all have opinions about plastic bags because we all get stuck with them sooner or later. At least, there are a lot of cool options around now for reusable bags. Although, I do love my ten year old canvas bag from the local big deal grocery.

[carrie]

Well, you're either cyncial or hold-my-belly funny =) I wonder where the plastic bags do go? Maybe they melt them down and make acrylic yarn... And a 69C bag with a longer shoulder strap! You must go, look silly, and buy a couple. Good deal.

[PICAdrienne]

In Firefox, try going to Tools then select Options. At the top of the dialog box, select General
Then you can type in the URL you want for your home page.

Using the View menu, you should be able to get back any tools bars or navigation bars.

I get my shopping bags at Ikea. They are less than a dollar for the large ones. Yeah, they are bright blue, and don't necessarily look great, but a knitting needle can't poke through, and they are easily reuseable, and they have 4 handles, so you have a choice of how you carry them.

I use both Firefox and IE, and it really depends on the website which I prefer.

[Seanna Lea]

Gosh, we have an entire corner of the condo packed full of plastic bags. It never even occurred to me to see if the local grocery store actually recycles them. I'll have to ask next time I'm there.

I normally use two bags a day. I have one for my smelly gym clothes (which initially is holding clean work clothes) and one for my lunch, so there is something in case of spills. I hardly need an entire corner of bags for that even when they wear out!

[Katie B.]

My family has a variation of '99 Bottle of Beer' for lullaby (or stuck-in-traffic-with-a-squalling-baby) use wherein you substitute Babies for the Beer.

I heart Firefox. It's funny how IE is emulating it these days, just as the big web-based email places are emulating Gmail. I hope your troubles get straightened out, and that you can come back to the One True Broswer!

[Lucia]

We just bought a folding reusable bag last night at the grocery store for $2. All right, it's more than $1.50, but it folds up into this nice neat little oblong, and it's going to live in the car from now on. We hope.

(99 days already? Cool. Does that count leap day? (counts on fingers) No, it doesn't. I don't think. (Not enough fingers.)

[Leslie]

Um, my Hannaford (outrageous over charging capitalists that they are) gives us a $.05 credit per bag each time we use our own bags. I see an earlier commenter said she gets $.03 credit per bag. I'm amazed we get $.05 but since they charge as much as $1.00 more than the Market Basket for many items I guess it's their way of "giving back."

[Maureen]

This is the right time of the year for the amaryllis to bloom. Out here in SoCal, where they can live outside, they bloom in Spring like any other self-respecting bulb, often sending up a flower stalk or three first, followed by the leaves.
Congrats.

[Tracey]

Oh yeah, and I forgot to harp on you about IE too. lol
I must say though, you have me curious, I am a die hard Mozilla fan myself, but my computer tech hubby has even switched to IE, Norma, are we a dying breed? Is IE really...*gulp* better?

[cr]

My favorite reusable shopping bags are made of ripstop nylon. They fold up very small into a little pouch; I carry one in my purse and 2 in my jacket pocket. They are a bit bigger than regular plastic shopping bags, but much sturdier and hold much more. They also can be put on the plastic-bag-holder thingies to make picky cashiers happy. I bought 6 in December and have used them ever since. They come in all sorts of colours. Go look! (No, I'm in no way related to this company. I have a reusable bag from several stores, but these are the best.)

http://www.baggubag.com/SHOP.html

[janet kostiuk]

I owe you an apology!!! I just spent 3 hours making "plarn" out of old plastic bags. I decided to make recycled bags as Christmas gifts this year. The 3 hours were spent just on about 4 weeks of newspaper bags. This will definitely be a daunting task. (Please note, I do usually bring my bags to the grocery store to recycle, and I do have at least 6 reusable bags that I routinely bring with me for bagging purchases). I haven't even started to make the bags. This could be a very long process.