Can't you smell that smell?

Is there anything better than being able to type while watching and listening to music videos online? My sister-in-law bought us a new computer for my kid's birthday and it has a 22" screen which means I have enough room for several pages to be displayed at the same time. I am liking this a lot but you'll have to excuse me if I start typing about whatever song is playing currently.

To the topic of the day. Recently (By recently I mean within the last 3 months because time becomes pretty relevant to how many days a week I am working. Lately I have been working seven days a week hence the reason I am not posting here much.) I found myself in L.L. Bean's replacing yet another coffee mug with a broken lid. Bethie keeps telling me that I don't realize how strong I am and while I don't know about that I do know that I want the lids on my coffee mugs tight and leak free, and I think someone needs to make a mug that I can crank on as tight as I wish without worrying about breaking it because it is made out of plastic. Considering all that I will say that the mug is made by Stanley and is a double wall design and pretty much the best coffee mug I have ever used. It keeps my coffee hot for a ridiculously long time and that is why I have gone back for a new one every time I break one.

After I returned and replaced the coffee mug I needed to use the restroom before we left for home. I went into the bathroom that was closest to the fishing and hunting to make room for more coffee. L.L. Bean has decided in an apparent effort to be a green company that it would be in the planet's best interest to install water free urinals. Never mind the fact that many of the items on the shelves at Bean's are made in China which is one of the worst stewards of the planet on the planet. It's a little ironic isn't it? I love Bean's but what happened to only selling things made here in this country?

If you're not sure what a water free urinal is or how it works, it is exactly what it sounds like. The look is pretty much the same as a standard urinal but there is some sort of little cover where the drain normally is. The idea is that the urinal doesn't need to have any water and that piss will simply flow away, gone forever. The little sign on the wall claimed that the water free urinals save over 40,000 gallons of water per year, which sounds great in theory but lacks a little in truth as far as I am concerned. Water used to flush toilets or wash clothes and dishes isn't destroyed and will filter itself out as it flows back through the ground.


The problem that I have with the water free urinal is that they are also free of something else and that is being odor free. There is nothing worse than using a urinal and having to smell hot piss wafting back up at you. It's not just your own piss either but everyone else too as there is no fucking water to flush it all down. How about putting a nice urinal cake in there for target practice and then at least it would smell like something clean and not piss. Here's a better idea; how about using 1,000 of those 40,000 gallons a year saved to flush the urinals out once a day or whatever? If a company really cares about using less water then I applaud them but why go completely water free? What's next, water free sinks? Instead of nice hot water and soap they could just have industrial size tubs of Purell or some other such hand sanitizer. I don't care if the piss on my hands is germ free if it is still on my hands!


The real issue here is that companies like Bean's have figured out a way to drastically reduce their monthly water bill and still be able to play it off as something green and good for the earth. I would appreciate the water free urinals much more if they would just say that on the little sign I am reading as I try to hold much lunch down while bathing is pissy aromas.


I don't see myself running to the local Home Sleaze Hole to buy a water free toilet when these finally hit the market and you just know they will. The same people that are pushing the compact fluorescents down our throats will bring this to people's home as well. These people can't help it and I don't blame them for caring, but if they got regular jobs and stopped trying to 'save the planet' it would make my life a whole lot easier.