Dear Jana Water; You Did It Again.

To the springs of St. Jana and the fine folks at the Jana Water Company... Y'all rock. See, as you saw in my previous post about Jana Water (which I discovered traipsing around New York this winter), the people at this company are amazing. And the water tastes dang good, too. So when they sent me a few boxes full of water and goodies, I was thrilled. And I have gone about my uber-hydrated state of existence ever since...and that was that. Except last week, on a fairly humdrum day, I get a package. A box that says, "JANA" on the side. No. No way. Yes way. More Jana Water!! Pile of water. This time, in too cute mini-bottles. I passed some around to my co-workers and drank one or two, and when I got home I piled the rest on my papasan chair just to show you all exactly what a pile of water looks like. THAT, folks, is a pile of water. Now, I can take things at face value. Water is one of those basic elements for life (unlike pancake mix, which I will fight hard for, but it doesn't have the staying power of Air or Earth). Anyway, I could have just drank (drunk?) the water and been happy. But that's not how I roll. So in order to show my appreciation to the folks at Jana Water, I wanted to show them that the benefits of their mini-bottles can extend long past the actual drinkage of the H2O. Pencil holder. Obviously. Simple yet refined. Bookends! When you care enough to prop with the very best. Something near and dear to my heart: the tip jar. No question who that tip is for. None at all. Susan Gibson has a song with the line, "Plastic Jesus on my dash." Have you ever considered a Plastic Jana on your dash? Bottleneck slide guitar. The Jana Tone. Lifting weights was never this refreshing. Exercise and hydration all in one. (Please don't mock my guns. I just joined a gym. Soon I will be at the gun show). ONE LAST THING: At the site I linked to above for St. Jana, there are reviews of the water that comes out of the spring in Croatia. I'm going to paste a few here. "This is THE smoothest water I have ever had. I can drink 500ml in a few seconds and it feels like I have only had a couple sips :)" Jana: Water for Chugging. "mmmmmmmmmm taste so great!!!!! i just cant live without jana!!" I think this might go on the side of my tour van and on all my t-shirts. "Ich geniesse dieses wasser sehr. ich habe alle wassermarken in kroatien ausprobiert und diese schmeckt mir am besten." Which, translated via Babelfish, roughly comes out as: "I enjoys this water very much I all water out marks in Croatia tried and these tastes to me best." Amen. Amen.

Dear Jana Water: I love you. Love, Jana.

Maybe you all remember (and by you all I mean those of you who catalog each blog post and archive them in your steel-trap mind) when I went to NYC and found delicious Jana Water sold everywhere. I thought it was neat. I posted a photo of me with the J-H2O and then came back to Austin, where there is no Jana Water. Only pools and pools of ok-but-not-as-satisfying "other" water. Then this morning it all went down like this: TWO BOXES OF JANA WATER! From the Jana Water Company. All the way from New York. Shucks. This stuff is from EUROPE. Like ME. There's a St. Jana. Not like me. Apparently, St. Jana is in Croatia. Who knew? Does anyone else find it ironic that you must store water in a dry place? Each box weighed 28 pounds. That's FIFTY-SIX POUNDS OF WATER. What does 56 lbs. of water look like? It looks like this. What does 56 pounds of water FEEL like when it comes in the mail in a box with your name on it? It feels like this. That's not all! The kind folks at Jana Water sent t-shirts and tote bags and baseball caps, too!! Be still my swag-loving heart. Not only is their name an excellent choice, they're a good company who respects the environment. The tagline on the back of the shirt is "Refresh. Remember. Recycle." What was that? I'm sorry, I'm too busy drinking Jana Water while wearing my Jana Water shirt, hat, and kickbutt totebag. Well that made my day. If you live in New York City, I recommend you make it your beverage of choice. You can also order it online, so even if you don't hang with the Big Appleians (Applets?), you can partake. Their website says it's going to go national. Maybe we'll go national together. Maybe I can sell my CD in chilled beverage freezers and they can sell their water in record stores. At the very least, the kind folks at Jana Water are getting a few copies of the EP when it's in my hot (but well hydrated) little hands this summer...the least I can do. I can't wear all those hats and shirts, kids. Stay tuned for some sort of crazy contest. Soon you too will have a chance of being in the club. Music for the Masses. Lyrics for the Soul. Water for Life!

New York City: Views

Big buildings and lots of windows. Makes for a nice effect -- this is the Chrysler Building's reflection. I realized I had a hard time getting any decent photos because I am not a human tripod, hence all the lights and glittery things in New York fuzz in most of my shots. This is the ceiling of Grand Central Station, which depicts the zodiac. The constellations are actually backwards, but it's not a mistake. The artist painted them as they would be seen from outside the constellation sphere. Weird. I had to make a stop because Mary Chapin Carpenter has a lovely song called "Grand Central Station" on Between Here and Gone. Who's buried in Grant's Tomb? Not me! A mix of old and new: St. Patrick's Cathedral and a bus going...somewhere. Rockefeller Center...it was cold. I think my shivering made for a lot of crooked photos the whole trip. That's ok, though. Notice the ice skaters toppling on the left side. Hehhehhehheh. Time's Square...just like you'd expect. People, lights, photo opportunity. I am freezing my bum off here. Happily so!

New York City: United Nations

Ah, the United Nations. 192 nations, to be exact. That's a lot of ground to cover. Luckily, I had a plan. A floor plan. These tapestries, of all the former and the current Secretaries General of the U.N., were gifted to the United Nations by Iran. Thanks, Iran! I'm not really one for carpet on the walls, but the detail in these was stunning. First stop: the Security Council Chamber. Look at that lighting rig. If they ever make a bad decision, it won't be because of low lighting. People in blue chairs can speak, people in red chairs just watch. Ah, the General Assembly. Where they generally assemble. Weird lighting, hence weird photo. They've had to expand the desks and seating as more countries joined the U.N. It's also seated alphabetically, except they have a lottery to determine which country begins the seating order (so Afghanistan is not always in the front and Zimbabwe is not always in the back). Currently, Mexico is in the very front row. Even Ambassadors need sustenance. There's no tax at the U.N. Coffee Shop. I like that.

Update: It's an Escopetarra!

Cesar Lopez, a musician and peace activist from Colombia, is the inventor of the escopetarra. Here's a Seattle Times article about it. Photo taken from Oxfam.org.

At the U.N. -- Guitars not Guns

So...while in New York City, my main sight-seeing-touristy goal was to go to the United Nations. As a history and political science nerd in college, I took many a class that covered the U.N. "Politics of Human Rights" was the main one, and I learned a lot about what the U.N. does for current situations in the world. What nerd wouldn't want to see it? So...we tried to go on Saturday but it was closed. Yes, the U.N. was closed...for us tourists, anyway. :) We went back Monday and all was well. Our tour guide was a lovely woman from Japan, and we spent a good four hours walking around the complex. More photos of that to come, but here is my favorite piece of artwork from the tour...someone somewhere (I don't remember signs well, apparently) converts militia guns into stringed instruments. Sounds ok to me.