Bottled water is the new Hummer. Environmentalists are focusing in on the industry, Alice Waters and others are banning it from their restaurants, and the biggest brands are owned by Pepsi Co. and other multi-national corporations. But is the industry all bad? I consider myself an environmentally conscience individual; I recycle and compost (when my bin has not gone missing – but that’s a story for another blog post), buy organic/sustainable foods + products whenever possible and generally try to minimize my footprint on this earth.

An article in last months Fast Company by Charles Fishman explored the dilemma faced by first world consumers in a global economy. Every story has two sides and Fishman did an excellent job presenting the two positions with bottle water. I was left intrigued and slightly more open to the industry after reading the article. In particular Fiji Water and a new wave of ethical bottle water has made me consider that if done correctly bottled water may have something to contribute outside of corporate profits.

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Warm up those CD players because the July edition of the Soundtrack to my Life has been released today. I know what you’re saying, “July’s edition? What gives?”. Due to unforeseen production delays on our factory floor we we’re not able to get the covers printed in time causing us to push back our release date. The good news is it’s here and it’s fantastic.

As always if you’re on my regular distribution list you’ll get a copy. Or, if you ask really nice I’ll get one to you. And yes, Auntie Robin I’m putting one on the Pineapple Express out to the Islands for you.

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Conde Nast Traveler is having a “Live The Cover” great travel memories contest. You upload a photo and an explanation of what made that moment so unforgettable. Having done my fair share of traveling and photography over the past few years I decided to submit three photos. It also does not hurt that the winner gets a free vacation to the Maldives, one of my dream destinations. The rest of this blog entry has my photos and descriptions but I would also encourage you to go over to their web site and vote for my entries (and Kenny submitted a few as well).

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My good friend Kenny has been spending the summer living in Montreal, Canada which gave me a good excuse to get out of California for a five day visit. The timing also worked out to meet up with Shaun and Ashley as they decided to come up from Maine after attending a wedding.

We spent most of our timing walking around the city exploring everything from the cobble stone streets of Old Montreal to the nightlife of Boulevard Saint-Laurent. I really enjoyed the outdoor dining and old world charm of Montreal. I may have been deceiving myself due to the French coming from the locals and the late night dinning but it truly seems like Montreal is more a part of Europe than North America. Everyone we met was great and eager to talk and share their story. Local friends, cute bartenders, and the owner of the Turkish Tea House all spent time telling us the things to do and the places to be.

If you get a chance I recommend a trip up north. Although I’d make sure you do it in the summertime, that far north the winters can put a chill in you’re bones. In the meantime enjoy some of the random pictures I took.

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At 2 Out Of Three our desire for aesthetically pleasing and functional design extends outside our television screens and computer monitors and into the world around us. More specifically it extends into the building that surrounds us as our San Francisco studio recently went through a bathroom remodel. Built in 1909 our studio contains high ceilings, original hardwood floors, period molding as well as other classic elements that make San Francisco apartments unique. Our goal in the bathroom remodel was to maintain the classic look of the apartment while bringing it up to date using as many “green” and sustainable materials as possible.

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