Refining the Bling with Abe

Honest Abe is 199 today, so Happy Birthday to the first president of the U.S. to have a beard while in office. He's also the tallest president that we have had and he adores the penny. Which, starting May 12th is what you'll need if you want to buy those annoying 1 cent stamps to mail a letter. USPS announced that the price of stamps will go up another penny over the current rate of 41 cents. Luckily we can buy our Forever stamps and be done with these petty increases in postage. Ah the days when stamps were 29 cents...

Dominica kicks Oil in the Mouth...for Now

Good news today that I first spotted on Steves Dominica Blog that the government is suspending its current plans to build a Venezuelan oil refinery on the island. The Prime Minister said that the public should be included in the debate and the total situation should be examined more closely. I think that the tourism boards public statement that I discussed the other day was a decent swing point in the process and hopefully this is a positive step. Lets hope that Chavez will not spew his Anti-American/ America is the Empire wrath on Dominica for taking a step back and looking out for itself and the resources that the tiny island does have. Anyways, as others and I have said, you can't have "The Nature Island" of the Caribbean and have your oil refinery too.

Do you Bling?

Finally to close out this exciting Tuesday, I have to ask the question...Do you Bling? So I feel bad for getting on Xango yesterday for selling people $40 bottles of "super" fruit juice. I send a small apology (though only a small one) to Xango as Kevin Boyd is catering to your inner star (and pocket book) with BlingH2O. I all honesty I shouldn't give this junk a bit of spin, but it just shows how much our culture is obsessed with "image" and consumption of high end stuff. At $40 a pop, the frosted bottles come with Swarovski crystals and are corked, just like wine. What a horrible idea and its seriously probably the water out of the guys bathtub. Seriously, who wants to lug around a corkscrew at the gym? Why not get creative and cover your Sigg water bottle with some eco bling...like dirt or something?

I can top this on the holy crap-o-meter. The Water Bank of America (WTF is that) is selling prepackaged ice cubes called IceRocks. Yes you read that correctly, prepackaged ice cubes. Here is what their website states:

"ICEROCKS® are secured, ready-to-be-frozen ice cubes made with high-quality spring water. These cubes, to be consumed within two (2) years, are hermetically packaged in disposable containers. ICEROCKS® uses a patented technology, providing a container of refreshing ice cubes that are pure and hygienic.
To enjoy the fresh taste of ICEROCKS® simply freeze, remove the plastic seal, and pop the ice cubes into your favorite beverage!"

Thanks to ecorazzi for showing us this wonderful idea. You have to check out the website because they totally try to spin their product in a eco-savvy/green/_______ (insert eco buzzword here) product. I do have to hand it to them for great marketing, but seriously, trays to make ice are like 35 cents. Better yet, most modern refridge/freezer units come with an ice maker. Seriously, prepackaged ice to go with your bottled water? What will they they think of next? Dehydrated water?

Cheers!

Soccer Saturdays

I slept almost 13 hours last night and I am finally starting to feel like myself again. Hopefully this will be the last time I get sick for awhile. To make sure, I disinfected the apartment this morning. I normally don't like to use "antibacterial" products but felt that I should make an exception this time. Plus its GORGEOUS here in "The Rouge" which is exciting!

Dominica Soccer

I knowing nothing about Dominica soccer, heck I can not even name a single player that hails from the island. I do know that many are part of the European soccer scene but that’s about the extent to what I know. I had a great world cup experience on the island in 2006 which was one of the great memories I have of Dominica. So why soccer today? Dominica played host to Barbados in a world cup qualifier at Windsor Park Stadium. They drew a 1-1 tie which was hailed as a small victory against the higher ranked Barbados team. Steve from Steve’s Dominica Blog had some great pictures from the game. More can be seen here.

Dominica Refinery
The tourism industry has released and official statement in regards to the proposed Venezuelan oil refinery. It echo’s much of what has already been said in regards to the image that Dominica wants to present to the world. If you put an oil refinery on the island how can you be honest in marketing yourself as the “Nature Island of the Caribbean?” Since nearly all of the money that comes to Dominica in the form of tourism is based on the “Nature Island” concept and the product that is derived from that, the refinery will surely have an impact. We can hope that whoever is doing the EIS for the island will find that it harms outweigh the benefits to the island, but it probably won’t happen. It took several public outcries about the oil storage facility before the government was able to produce the EIS that was supposed to have been done. Does anyone know who is doing the EIS for the oil refinery? Any place we can get a copy of the one done for the oil storage facility?
Cheers!