Bottled water is healthy water — or so marketers would have us believe. Just look at the labels or the bottled water ads: deep, pristine pools of spring water; majestic alpine peaks; healthy, active people gulping down icy bottled water between biking in the park and a trip to the yoga studio. In reality, bottled water is just water. That fact isn’t stopping people from buying a lot of it. Estimates variously place worldwide bottled water sales at between $50 and $100 billion each year, with the market expanding at the startling annual rate of 7 percent. Bottled water is big business. But in terms of sustainability, bottled water is a dry well. It’s costly, wasteful and distracts from the brass ring of public health: the construction and maintenance of safe municipal water systems. Want some solid reasons to kick the bottled water habit? We’ve rounded up five to get you started.

1) Bottled water isn’t a good value

Take, for instance, Pepsi’s Aquafina or Coca-Cola’s Dasani bottled water. Both are sold in 20 ounce sizes and can be purchased from vending machines alongside soft drinks — and at the same price. Assuming you can find a $1 machine, that works out to 5 cents an ounce. These two brands are essentially filtered tap water, bottled close to their distribution point. Most municipal water costs less than 1 cent per gallon. Now consider another widely sold liquid: gasoline. It has to be pumped out of the ground in the form of crude oil, shipped to a refinery (often halfway across the world), and shipped again to your local filling station. In the U.S., the average price per gallon is hovering around $3. There are 128 ounces in a gallon, which puts the current price of gasoline at a fraction over 2 cents an ounce. And that’s why there’s no shortage of companies that want to get into the business. In terms of price versus production cost, bottled water puts Big Oil to shame. [Read more →]

Enjoying a not too shabby picnic at the Rochioli Winery. ©Kstokes2010.

Ah, California Wine, so young as far as the history of wine making is concerned but so mature in it’s quality and reputation. Living on the coast we are so lucky to be close to wine country. We had our Spring allocation of the excellent  Williams Selyem wines to collect from the Russian River region so we decided to make a day of it, have a picnic and take in a few other wineries. Travelling with our good friends Richard and Nancy we endure a 7.30am start in order to hit the busy Farmer’s Market on the way out of San Francisco and acquire some fresh organic produce for lunch (oh, and a couple of tasty breakfast sandwiches). The wine pick up at Williams Selyem was well organized and painless, considering the amount of people turning up on the day. This wine is only available [Read more →]

Sorry for the radio silence over the past two weeks but I have been in the UK visiting my family. I love to go back to London, still one of my favorite cities, and I love the English countryside. I miss my family terribly and it was great to see my Mother and surprise on her 70th birthday, and to see my sister who shares her birthday with Mum. After leaving a cold grey rainy London and returning home to a sunny warm California day, I must say that I did leave my heart in San Francisco.

Coastal Cuisine. Gone.

Coming home from work last week hungry and too burnt to cook I decided to swing by The Mavericks Roadhouse and pick up one of their tasty burgers for me and the missus. Imagine my disappointment and frustration to find the place shut, or as the website puts it ‘Gone to the beach’ for the season (in this weather?). WTF? Why? This just says to me that they don’t give a monkeys ass about the local trade, tourists are all they care about. The main road sign has even been pasted over with another sign directing any hungry customers to the mothership HMB brewery. So I now have to wait for Spring for the place to reopen, maybe I’ll go to La Costanera instead, wait, it’s Monday they are shut to. Argh!

The lowly STOP sign

I dunno, call me a busybody or a grumpy old geezer, but I’m getting increasingly annoyed by the driving habits of some of the parents that drop their children off at Farallone School in our community. It’s not the act of making sure the child gets to school so they can get an education and make the world a better place for all, that’s an extremely good thing, nothing is more important. No, what’s getting to me is the disregard by some parents for our communities road signs, in particular the humble STOP sign. The general rule of the road states, and I quote:

“At a stop sign, you must come to a complete stop at the appropriate place. Before proceeding from a stopped position, you must check for pedestrians waiting to cross the street, and yield the right-of-way. When pedestrians are clear, you may slowly move forward for a better view of traffic and, when safe to do so, you may proceed to turn or cross the street.”

Yeah right! I witness time and time again the lowly STOP sign being totally ignored, I mean come on, the poor thing has but one function in life. The least you people can do is follow it’s one word simple instruction, STOP! I’m singling out parents over other road users in this instant because of the precious cargo they carry.  I will now climb down from my soapbox.

Nancy Korbet's web site, mindbodywardrobe.com

“The way we experience life is directly related to how we see ourselves. Learn how to forgive the flaws and flaunt the fabulous! Discover your personal style and express it with confidence.” –Nancy Korbet

Nancy Korbet was an apparel-marketing professional for over 25 years, she recently founded www.mindbodywardrobe.com to help empower women feel better about themselves and look their best no matter what their body shape, size or age. Nancy has a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Millikin University and lives in Montara with her husband and two fashionably furry friends. But right now she needs to take a break from being a style guru and answer these 10 MontaraLife.com questions:

What inspired you to start your own business?

I started this business while I was still working full time out of a need to do something more meaningful, and it grew from there.

Why mind/body/wardrobe, what’s the link between the three?

The goal of Mind Body Wardrobe is to help women see themselves in a positive light. The mind is the most powerful part of this equation. The mind creates the chatter, “I’m too old, too fat, too wrinkled”, etc. The body is what all the chatter is about. When you get the wardrobe right, you can dissipate the chatter. It doesn’t mean you have to have an extensive collection of clothes, you can do it with a simple, easy wardrobe. The key is to recognize, focus and accentuate your assets. When you get that right, you look in the mirror and see your body in a whole new way, the mind then starts down the positive road of ”Girl… you look Great!”  That is powerful! [Read more →]

April Vargas

A San Mateo County resident for nearly 40 years, April Vargas has lived in the coastal town of Montara since 1983. She is a local business owner and an active member of the Half Moon Bay/Coastside Chamber of Commerce. April has had a passion for community issues since college and has always worked to protect the quality of our lives here in San Mateo County. She and her partner of 22 years, Jeff Olson, purchased their Montara home in 1993. Shortly after, she became locally active and was appointed to a committee created by the County Department of Public Works to update local road standards and address flooding and safety concerns.

In 1995 when the Devil’s Slide section of Hwy 1 was closed for over 5 months due to landslides, [Read more →]

Grey Whale Cove bare butt cheek visitors beware!

State lets parks crack down on nude beachgoers.

This long list is the CHP Traffic Incident Log from this morning through lunchtime starting with the Devil’s Slide fatality early in the morning over 70 collisions, and this is just in the Bay Area. Shocking…

Golden Gate Communications Center No Time Type Location Area 2379 2:02PM Traffic Collision – Ambulance Responding SB SR29 JSO IMOLA AV W Napa 2378 2:02PM Traffic Collision – No Details NB US101 JSO CAPITOL EXWY San Jose 2377 2:02PM Traffic Hazard – Debris/Objects SB I280 JSO CITY COLLEGE PARKING LOT San Francisco 2376 2:01PM Traffic Hazard ARKANSAS ST AT MADERA ST Golden Gate Communications Center 2374 2:01PM Traffic Collision – No Details WB I80 JWO CARQUINEZ TOLL PZ Solano 2373 2:00PM Traffic Collision – No Details NB I280 JNO NB I880 San Jose 2369 1:59PM Traffic Collision – Property Damage EB I580 JWO RICHMOND BLVD Oakland 2368 1:59PM Traffic Collision – Ambulance Responding EB I580 JEO TOLL PZ Oakland 2366 1:59PM Traffic Collision – Property Damage NB E WASHINGTON ST ONR TO SB US101 Santa Rosa 2365 1:59PM Traffic Collision – Property [Read more →]

A good and wise friend of mine first used the term ‘obsessively self obsessed’ to describe a rude and thoughtless automobile driver. I think the term perfectly describes many people in today’s society. Take for instance the SUV driver parked directly in the middle of the red fire lane Linda Mar, Pacifica. He would have to be blind to not see the bright red paint on the curbside, sipping his Red Bull waiting for the wife to come out of Starbucks. Even though there were plenty of legal parking spaces available to use less than 15 feet away, he thinks he is special and different from everyone else, he is obssively self obsessed. I think this term sadly describes too many people in our society today.