On being ... a digital hoarder

By Ingrid Sapona 

The never-ending rain this past week was the perfect opportunity for indoor activities so I turned my attention to tidying my office. My tech guru (Dee) recently made some changes to my computer system to free up space on the hard drive and to ensure all my files are routinely backed up. Before the changes, my backing up was a bit of a patchwork affair. 

The changes Dee made involved uploading and downloading files to the cloud. (Because my computer is central to my livelihood, for years I’ve paid for cloud storage.) The syncing process took nearly a week! Dee had shown me how to monitor the progress and how to pause the syncing if I needed to, as it really slowed the computer down. In my periodic check of the syncing progress, two things jumped out at me: 1) there were way more photos and videos than I realized, and 2) videos take a LONG time to sync. 

With the syncing finished, I decided to have a look at the photos and videos to get a handle on them. I knew I was never that diligent about organizing them or naming them in a specific way. One reason has to do with the sheer number of them. Back when you bought rolls of film – and you paid to have pictures developed – you were way more careful about taking just one photo of something. With digital photos, it’s not unusual to snap three, four, or more of the same thing. So, on a week-long trip you come back with hundreds of photos, rather than a couple rolls of 36. (And on trips with friends or family, I’ve ended up with two or three-times as many because they’ve emailed me all their photos.) 

I knew that virtually all the videos are related to my winery blog and website. But, I really didn’t realize how many winery-related images and videos I’ve made over the past dozen years. For reasons I’ll never fully understand, depending on what I was using the photo or video for, sometimes I needed to convert them into different digital formats. (For example, videos can be formatted in: “.MP4”, “.mov”, “.wlmp”; photos can be in “.JPG” or “.GIF”.) As a result, I have copies of some photos and almost all the videos in more than one format. 

Adding to the confusion is the fact that when I move photos from my camera to the computer, the computer saves them where it thinks appropriate. So, for example, the computer might automatically assign them to a file called Photos, or Pictures, or Video. Makes sense, you say. Well, maybe, but when I upload them, I create a file and name it based on the subject matter, so that I can find them later. The end result of the process seems to be that I ended up with photos and videos of the same thing in two different places on my computer. And, as it happens, at some point the photo app that I used (Picassa) stopped being supported, so I had some photos in the “Picassa photos” file, some in a file called Pictures, and some in a file called Google Photos. Can you say nightmare? 

Then, remember I mentioned my backing up was a patchwork affair before? What that meant was that periodically (at least once a year) I copied all the contents of the hard drive onto an external drive, just in case something happened to my hard drive. This system was fine for work-related stuff because I’ve always organized work files by year. But the photo/video files were labelled (loosely) by subject matter, so there was no easy way of figuring which photos/videos on the computer were added since the last backup. 

If all this sounds confusing it’s because it is. Indeed, I arrived at this attempt of a description of what happened in part to understand how I made such a mess of things. I needed to try to understand how I ended up with four different “Google Photo” files with some of the same photos in each of those files, but also had a number of photos unique to each Google Photo file. I spent hours comparing photos, deleting doubles (triples, and more) and doing my best to reorganize them. 

What I realized as I worked through this is that I had become a digital hoarder. I’d never pay to have a storage unit for my physical stuff but thanks to relatively inexpensive cloud backing up services, I’m not as virtuous in my digital life. I’m not proud of it, but I’m determined to change my ways and my recent clean up was the first step. Next up I plan on reviewing all the photos with a view toward deleting the multiple successive shots of the same thing. Wish me luck… 

And on that score, if you have a good way of organizing your digital photos, do tell – I’m open to suggestions! 

© 2024 Ingrid Sapona

On being … just as likely

By Ingrid Sapona  

I’m not the most tech savvy person, nor am I the least tech savvy. That said, any tech skills I have I owe to my friend – I’ll call her Dee – an engineer and an absolute tech wiz. For as long as I can remember, I’ve relied on her for advice and hands-on help with all things tech-related. She’s that rare combination of knowledgeable AND able to explain things in a way that’s understandable. 

Unlike some tech folks who would just as soon take over and “fix” things, Dee explains what she’s doing as she works. She knows me well enough to know that I’m interested in trying to understand so that I can be – or at least feel – a bit self-sufficient. She gets that if I have at least a sense of what might cause some application to crash or misbehave, I’m less likely to worry that I’ve done something that’s caused irreparable damage.  

Our mentor/mentee relationship has advanced to the point that if I email her about a problem, she usually lets 24-36 hours go before she responds. It took me awhile to realize that her delay isn’t just about her being busy. I’m pretty sure she holds off because she knows I’m going to keep trying different things in the meanwhile. And – sure enough – sometimes that pays off and I manage to solve the problem on my own.  

I’ve come to realize there are a few things that are almost always worth trying before panicking. For example, if an app or program starts acting wonky, uninstalling and reinstalling the software is worth a try. I think the rationale for this is that perhaps the software version I’m running isn’t up-to-date. Another good trick is to simply reboot the computer or device. I’m always surprised when that fixes things. I guess it’s the computer equivalent to taking a deep breath. And if, after four or so attempts, it’s clear that rebooting isn’t doing a darned thing, it’s time for what always seems silly, but is surprisingly curative: unplugging the device and counting to 30. I once asked a tech person who had suggested doing this why this might work. This person (not Dee) said he thought that unplugging electronics and waiting 30 seconds or so gives the electrons (or whatever) a chance to return to a more neutral state, ready to start anew. Though that might be a bunch of hooey, it sounds reasonable to me and it works more often than you’d think.  

Not too long ago I had a problem with my phone. I was listening to an audio book through a pair of headphones (the original kind – ones attached by cord) when all of a sudden, the audio just stopped. The audio book was playing fine when I took out the headphones. I then tried playing some music. Again, without the headphones I could hear it just fine – but I got absolutely no sound through the headphones. So, the question was: is the problem the headphones or the phone’s audio jack? I did the few things Apple suggests to diagnose and/or fix the problem, but nothing worked. If none of the suggestions work, Apple says to bring the phone in so they can look at it. Ugh… knowing Apple, I suspect the fix – however simple – would not be inexpensive. (I didn’t bother Dee about the phone because fixing hardware isn’t her specialty.)  

Frustrated that I couldn’t listen to anything at the gym or on walks, I went in search of an old phone to see if I could listen to audiobooks on it. I downloaded a book and plugged in my headphones. I could hear the book just fine, so clearly the problem isn’t the headphones. Using the old phone (which doesn’t have a sim card so I can’t make calls on it) to play audiobooks seemed a reasonable solution – at least while I debated about whether to bite the bullet and have Apple fix the phone.  

By week three, the inconvenience of carrying around two devices had me re-thinking about just getting the phone fixed. When I made up my mind to make an appointment to do that, I thought I better try one more time because I’d sure feel stupid if I went to the Apple store and they found it worked fine. So, I plugged the headphones into the phone, tapped on an audio book, and sure enough, I could hear the book through the headphones. The same with the music app – I could hear songs through the headphones perfectly.  

Though I’m tickled that the headphones are again working with the phone, the whole thing puzzles me. I desperately want to understand why the sound suddenly stopped – and why the mere passage of time seemed to fix the problem. After much consideration, I have come up with a rationale: it’s the work of gremlins.  

I know what you’re thinking: my explanation seems to lack a certain scientific basis. Ok – so maybe it was a solar flair. Sounds better (or more plausible) to you? Maybe. But if you ask me, phones that mysteriously fix themselves seem just as likely the work of mischievous gremlins or maybe the Easter Bunny. Who can really say…  

© 2024 Ingrid Sapona

 

 

On being ... back in high school

  By Ingrid Sapona 

I don’t think about high school too often, but working on my taxes this week took me right back to Advanced Placement physics. Well, it reminded me of one particular “skill” I honed in AP physics. I’ll explain in a minute. First a bit of background: my taxes are not as straightforward as some peoples’. There are two reasons for this: I’m self employed and I have to file in both the U.S. and Canada. Because of these complications, for the past 35 years I’ve had my returns professionally prepared. 

This year, however, I decided to do my Canadian returns myself. (The U.S. returns seem exponentially more complicated so my CPA friend is still doing them.) I’m using a well-known tax prep software and answering the questions and inputting the information is straightforward. To ensure that I provide information in the exact same way as I have in the past – and to ensure no details are missing – I’ve been using my CPA-prepared returns from last year as my guide. 

All was well until I got to the part about the sales tax (GST we call it) on my business services. I know my accountant always filed my GST return based on something called “the simplified method”. I’ve never really understood the calculation. My accountant simply did the math and told me whether I owed or whether I was getting a refund because I had over-remitted the sales tax. But, since I’m doing my returns myself, I knew this would be something I would have to finally understand. I read – and re-read – all the Canada Revenue guidance on the simplified method and past explanations my accountant had sent me over the years. 

I spent hours multiplying different numbers together, hoping to figure out how my accountant arrived at the amounts reported on last year’s return. It was this that brought me right back to AP Physics. To be more precise, it reminded me of cheating on physics test questions that required application of a calculation to derive a numeric answer. You see, we were allowed to use slide rules (yes, I went to high school last century!) or a pocket calculator, if we had one. My classmate Pete (who I believe went on to become an actuary) was a whiz at physics and he had a calculator. So, he would work through the calculation and then he’d send the calculator down the row of desks, “lending” his calculator to those of us who didn’t have our own. Of course, what we were really “borrowing” was the answer that Pete conveniently left showing on the screen of his calculator. 

Though I’m not proud that I borrowed Pete’s calculator, er, answers, I didn’t feel that bad because we only got partial credit for having the right numerical answer. For full credit you had to show how you arrived at the number. So, with Pete’s help, many of us learned the useful skill of how to back into a calculation. Indeed, that was what I was trying to do to figure out how my CPA applied the simplified method in years past. After an entire afternoon on a roller coaster ride that lurched between thinking I’m too stupid to figure out the method and wondering if, perhaps, my accountant had miscalculated last year – I was overcome with another sensation from AP physics: near defeat. 

It's funny the things we learn in school – and how it is they show up for us later in life. I’m sure my AP physics teacher thought he was teaching us about gravitational forces and energy and such. I only remember a wee bit of that, but I sure remember the determination needed to figure out how you get to a particular answer.   

After sleeping on it and realizing that even the most determined forensic accountant might need help sometimes, the next day I emailed an accountant friend for help. Though he said he didn’t deal much with the simplified method, he managed to re-phrase the wording on the form in a way that helped me understand what figure plugs in where. After that I was able to come up with the numbers from last year and then I simply had to plug in the respective numbers are for this year’s return. Whew. 

Though I spent a heck of a lot of time on my returns this year, it’s been kind of empowering. You see, I was audited once. An IRS agent came up from the U.S. and I spent an entire day sitting with him at my dining room table as he went through my receipts and invoices, asking me questions. The result of the audit was that he found a transposition error in one figure and I ended up owing a whopping $20. Though the audit was financially inconsequential, it left me with unnatural dread about having to justify each and every item on my returns. 

I’m happy to report that now, having taken over the task of preparing my own returns, I feel more confident. I sure hope I’m never audited again, but at least now I know I can recreate the calculations behind all the figures – even the simplified method. Thanks Pete, wherever you are… 

© 2024 Ingrid Sapona

On being ... not a bonus for all

  By Ingrid Sapona 

I publish On being… on the 15^th and 30^th of the month. (In February I publish on the 15^th and 28^th.) Given this schedule, I have an affinity for months with 31 days because I have an extra day to come up with a topic for the following 15^th. By this logic, you’d think I’d hate February because from the 15^th to the28^th is only 13 days. All I can say is that February’s my birth month so I love it regardless of its brevity. 

Actually, the fact that every four years we get a Leap Day is perhaps another reason I love February. As for Leap Day itself, the whole Sadie Hawkins Day stuff has always charmed me. (If you’re not familiar with what I’m talking about, check out one of the sweetest movies of all time: Leap Year, starring a very young Amy Adams and Matthew Goode.) But even without that blarney, I’ve always thought of the extra day as a quirky celestial bonus. 

So, when I realized this is a Leap Year, the idea of writing about the delights of this bonus day was obvious. But this past week – in part because it marked the start of the third year of war in Ukraine – I began to think about what an extra day in the year might mean to others. On reflection, I realize that the extra day for so many is far from a bonus. Instead, it’s likely an extra day of suffering. 

For the millions of people who live in refugee camps it’s another day of queueing for food, water, and even to use the toilet. For the millions in the world starving, it means another day of empty bellies. For people living in war zones, it means another day of living in fear for their lives and homes. For children in war-torn countries, it means another day without school or trying to have a normal life in a bomb shelter or bunker. For the family members of those fighting on the front line, it means another day of worry and loneliness. For all the war-wounded, it means another day of pain and suffering. For political prisoners it means another day of unjust confinement. For women living under the thumb of theocratic regimes, it means another day of repression. 

These harsh realities gave me great pause about whether to write about Leap Day being a bonus. Trite doesn’t begin to describe my concern… But then I thought about the fact that if these columns are to have any relevance, reference to reflections about what’s going on in the real world is important, even if the thoughts arise in a roundabout way. 

Though the springboard for On being… is my experiences, thoughts, and emotions, I always hope that it will be a catalyst for readers to reflect on how they feel about the particular topic. In this case, regardless of what Leap Day means to you, I hope it provides you with time to reflect on the suffering of others and on what we can do to bring change and help to those suffering. 

© 2024 Ingrid Sapona

On being … expressions of love

 By Ingrid Sapona        

This is the day after Valentine’s Day, which means we have 366 days (it’s a Leap Year!) to plumb the depths of our love language(s) before Valentine’s 2025. Regardless of whether yesterday was a day of delight, disappointment, or an otherwise unremarkable Wednesday, the day has prompted me to think about expressions of love. 

The notion of “love languages” was introduced by Gary Chapman in: The five love languages: how to express heartfelt commitment to your mate (first published in 1992 and reprinted many times since). I first heard about the book in 2018 when a speaker on a panel discussion recommended it. She said understanding what someone’s love language is helped her communicate more effectively. One of the reasons the book recommendation jumped out at me was that it was made at an electricity sector conference – not some self-improvement seminar. I was curious about love languages, so I read the book. 

The idea is that all of us speak and understand emotional love in certain ways, which Chapman calls languages. (For those familiar with Chapman’s work, forgive the oversimplification.) Based on years of speaking with married folks, Chapman believes there are five love languages: 1) words of affirmation; 2) quality time; 3) receiving gifts; 4) acts of service; and 5) physical touch. Chapman also mentions there can be different “dialects” within the various languages and that some folks are “bilingual”, meaning two love languages are equally important to them. Your primary love language is the main way you feel loved and valued. 

At first, I didn’t really feel any of the five languages applied to me. I’m not big on receiving compliments or gifts, and I’ve never been much of a hugger – so that eliminates three right off the bat. And, I’m pretty self-sufficient, so acts of service aren’t that important to me. But I love having in-depth, one-on-one conversations with people. That’s why at parties you’ll often find me off in a corner chatting with just one guest, rather than laughing with the group. My primary love language is quality time, no doubt. 

But knowing your own love language is just half the equation. The real trick is in figuring out what others’ love languages are. The key to happy, loving relationships, according to Chapman, is communicating using the love language of the person you are trying to reach. If your primary love language is words of affirmation but the other person’s is receiving gifts, complimenting them for being beautiful or brilliant won’t mean nearly as much to them as bringing them a flower or trinket. In other words, if you don’t speak to someone in their primary love language, whatever you say (or do) will be about as effective as speaking to them in a foreign language. 

Recently, in an email, a friend was telling me that she was looking forward to her kids’ visit and that she was planning a few nice meals for that time. She then joked that food is her love language. I knew that she wasn’t talking about her emotional love language, as Chapman meant. She was talking about one of the ways she expresses her love to others. Anyway, I was amused by the idea of food as a love language and I said so, adding that I can relate. 

She wrote back right away and said she was sure that I did “get it”. She mentioned the way I try new recipes, making detailed notes on them and then sharing those (comments included) that I think are good, and my cookie of the summer phase. She then wrote, “I see those as acts of love.” I was flattered that she cared enough to pay such close attention to my behaviour and delighted that she appreciated my efforts. I felt both heard and validated by my friend, and closer as a result. 

It seems to me that the first step to becoming closer with others – intimate partners and friends – is paying attention to what matters to them. It’s not rocket science – most people give plenty of hints (like annotations on a recipe). And, once you figure out what they appreciate – assuming you care about them – pleasing them will come naturally. 

© 2024 Ingrid Sapona

On being … offline

 by Ingrid Sapona     

I have to admit, I’m not really looking forward to the tumult that I fear is lurking in 2024… 

But, I’m doing my best to put it out of my mind this month, preferring to take in some sun, salsa, and mojitos. 

See you mid-February. 

© 2024 Ingrid Sapona

On being … the 2023 Alpha Year-in-Review

 By Ingrid Sapona 

As you’ll see, this list includes more than 26 entries. That’s because there are a few letters for which I couldn’t decide on one meaning for 2023. I do wonder what stories and topics caught your attention this year and – by extension – what different letters of the alphabet stood out for you. 

A is for Adriana – the ship that capsized off Greece on June 14th. More than 600 people died in this disaster that few people took notice of, especially once the submersible with the millionaires looking for the Titanic went missing. 

B is for Bharat – India by any other name? 

C is for CHAT GPT – the app that had 100 million monthly users in January 2023 and over 180 million users by November. Hard to say what the ultimate impact of the AI “disruption” will bring, but surely it will not be positive on all fronts. 

D is for dictatorship – see also the entry for J. 

D is for divorce – Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted in February that a U.S. civil war between the left and the right can be averted with a legal agreement she termed a “national divorce”. Ok, so will the first clause of the agreement require everyone to turn in their guns? If not, such an agreement wouldn’t be worth the paper it’s written on. 

E is for ESG (which stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance) – a bogeyman for right-wing Wall Street critics but ethical, responsible concerns to the rest of us. 

F is for fire – wildfires blanketed much of the North East in June, with New York suffering the worst air quality in the world at certain times. For those with respiratory issues, such events are a literal taste of climate change. 

F is for fealty – this is what Trump will demand, if re-elected. (Maybe it’ll be the word of the year for 2024?) 

G is for global south – less developed countries in the southern hemisphere that stand to suffer most in the near term from climate change even though they’ve only negligibly contributed to climate change. 

H is for hyperbole – some meteorologists expressed concern this year that weather forecasts talking about things like “bomb cyclones” end up turning people off to the point that they are in danger from having ignored the real danger. 

I is for International Criminal Court – sadly, 2023 was a very busy year for this earnest body and it’s looking like 2024 will bring even more atrocities and dictators and generals for it to prosecute. 

J is for joking? – after all that we’ve witnessed with Trump, how can anyone believe that when he says he’s going to be a dictator on day one he’s joking? See the entry for R. 

K is for ketchup – well, not just any old ketchup: Pepsi Colachup is the official name of the Pepsi-infused condiment developed by Pepsi in conjunction with the Culinary Institute of America (CIA). It was launched at four different pro baseball fields on July 4, 2023. If you missed it – like I did – well, you missed it. "The concept is both simple and creative," said David Kamen, director of client experience for CIA Consulting, the institute's consulting arm, in a statement announcing the condiment. "The distinctive flavors and vibrant citrus blend of Pepsi enhances the bright and tangy characteristics of ketchup, offsetting the smokiness of the hot dog." (If you’re like me, you aren’t feeling too bad about having missed it.) 

L is for lima beans – what ever happened to them? Granted, I’m probably the ONLY person you’ve ever heard of who likes – no, LOVES – lima beans, but my question is why are they so hard to find nowadays? 

M is for microplastics – humans dump 11 million tons of plastic into the ocean every year. Microplastics (generally defined as pieces that are less than 5 millimetres long) and nano-plastics (bits smaller than 5 millimeters and that are capable of crossing the membranes between cells) are showing up in fish, not to mention human breastmilk and placentas. Given that one of the perceived benefits of plastic is that lasts so long, shouldn’t we all be alarmed enough to realize we all have a role – and a stake – in reducing plastic waste? 

N is for New International Economic Order (NIEO) – In May 1974 the U.N. General Assembly adopted a Declaration on the Establishment of a New International Economic Order. To prepare for the 50^th anniversary of the NIEO declaration, delegates from over 25 countries met in Havana in January with the intention of developing a new political vision for managing the world economy. With so much political backlash aimed at the folks behind World Economic Forum, and with so more countries concerned about the cost of climate change-related matters, attempts to revive interest in a NIEO have to be a positive step. 

O is for oil – oil interests succeeded in resisting calls for phasing out fossil fuels at COP 28. Instead, participants agreed that the world must transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems. The results of COP 28 weren’t that surprising given that, for example, in May Exxon rejected a shareholder proposal requiring it to report on the risks to its business from restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions. Exxon said the prospect of the world achieving net-zero CO₂ emissions by 2050 is remote because: "It is highly unlikely that society would accept the degradation in global standard of living required to permanently achieve a scenario like the IEA [International Energy Agency] NZE [Net Zero Emissions]." 

P is for passkey – tired of passwords? Don’t worry, they are so yesterday! Passkeys are – apparently – the next wave. So eventually, all 500+ passwords that I store in SplashData (my password app) will become obsolete as websites will encourage use of passkeys instead. Great … 

Q is for QAnon – just because some of us aren’t paying attention to conspiracy theories and other craziness doesn’t mean it’s not front and centre (and motivational) to many, many “believers”. 

R is for retribution – at the CPAP conference in March, Trump made it clear that that’s what he’s all about, saying: “In 2016, I declared: I am your voice. Today, I add: I am your warrior. I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed: I am your retribution.” Ugh … 

S is for skunk terms – these are term that politicians and others latch on to and that are “increasingly used in such toxic ways that they “stink” too much to be used in their original context.” See the entry for W. 

T is for trigger warning – they’ve become so commonplace they’re probably losing their oomph. 

T is for Türkiye – apparently in 2022 the United Nations approved of this spelling and in January 2023 the U.S. State Department adopted the change in its written communications. Seems Turks have used this spelling for the past century! Here’s to finding the alternative alphabets in your word processing program. 

U is for unidentified anomalous phenomena – this is a re-branding of unidentified aerial phenomena and its predecessor: UFO. Regardless of what we call them, rest assured UAPs are not aliens, according to July testimony before a House Oversight Committee hearing on UFOs. Whew …

V is for vindication – what Donald Trump thinks he’s going to get when re-elected. See also the entries for R, J, and D. 

W is for woke and weaponized – the fact that certain groups mislabel any social justice matter as woke and thereby something to be ridiculed and dismissed shows their ignorance of the word’s meaning. The extent to which those same people have managed to weaponize their use of the label is scary. 

X is for Twitter – so says Elon Musk. For the rest of us, it’s just a silly name change that requires news folks to add the disclaimer “formerly known as Twitter” every time they talk about some tweet. 

Y is for younger – in June, South Koreans became younger because South Korea officially abandoned its “traditional” way of counting age. They used to consider you one (1) the day you are born and then on the following January 1st they added another year, so someone born on Dec. 30^th, for example, was one that day and – two days later, on Jan.1st they were two – then on the following Dec. 30^th they were three! Now South Korea uses the “international norm” for calculating age. 

Z is for Zelenskyy – how frustrating it must be for Volodymyr Zelenskyy – and for the people of Ukraine – that he has to go hat in hand to different countries for military aid while the people of his country are battling every day for their lives and land. 

As you finish reading the 2023 list, I don’t mind telling you that right now it feels like the 2024 list will start with A for anxiety. I’m quite worried about how 2024 will unfold for the world. Here’s hoping that by this time next year A – and all the other letters – will stand for positive things. 

Before you go, I want to thank you for reading On being … it means a lot to me. 

I wish you and yours good health and much happiness throughout 2024 and I pray for hope and peace for the world. 

© 2023 Ingrid Sapona

On being ... a wastrel (not)

 By Ingrid Sapona 

I’m a bit embarrassed to start this by talking about shaving my legs. Yes, seems like TMI (too much information), but I’ll explain… 

Back in February I picked up a can of shaving cream. The day I was shopping for it the store brand was about 60₵ cheaper than my usual brand. The two looked identical: same size can, same colour scheme on the logo and cap, same scent, etc. So, I went with the store brand. 

I keep the shaving cream on the rim of my tub alongside the shampoo, conditioner, and other bath products. But, because the shaving cream comes in a can, I make sure it sits on a piece of plastic. (The plastic lid of a Pringles container is the perfect size!) I do this because sometimes the rim of the can leaves a bit of rust on the tub, despite the manufacturer’s claim the cans have a rust-proof aluminum bottom. 

Two or so weeks after I bought the shaving cream, I noticed a trace of rust on the plastic. (Sure glad I’ve got that Pringles lid, I thought.) After a few more weeks the ring of rust was dark and thick. I picked up the can for a closer look and I noticed that it didn’t mention a rust-proof bottom. So, the 60₵ discount wasn’t the only difference; next time I’ll look for a brand with a rust-proof bottom, I promised myself. 

Simple enough promise to keep, you’d think, right? But, turns out there’s something else about this can that’s unusual: it seems to be refilling itself. After 10 months of regular use, the can still feels more than half full! (Actually, for the past couple months I’ve been spritzing out a more generous amount each time in hopes of using it up, but no such luck.) There is so much rust, you’d think the bottom of the can would detach!  

And yet, I can’t bring myself to toss it because it seems such a waste. It’s not just the false economy of the initial 60₵ savings. It’s about my concerns that we live in a wasteful society and tossing something that is (irritatingly) still usable seems wrong on many levels. I realize that when the can is eventually empty, I’ll toss it and it will end up in some landfill. So what’s the big deal if it ends up there in 2023 or 2024, right? Well, I think it matters because disposing of it while still half full artificially increases demand for the product, which drives increased manufacturing, with all its negative environmental effect. I also think that the ecological impact of a half-full can of chemicals degrading in a landfill has to be worse than an empty can.  

Food waste is another thing I’ve focused on more over the past couple of years. Growing up people used to say “finish your peas” (or whatever) because there are children starving in (fill in the name of a third world country). Well, we don’t say that kind of thing any more because it’s rather racist or in poor taste. But every time I have to toss something that’s gotten fuzzy or moldy or otherwise rotten, I get mad with myself for the waste. With increased famines, floods, heatwaves, and wars making food processing and distribution so difficult, how dare I let food get bad.  

And then there all the “things” that I have (some bought, some given) that I have no use for and that I end up getting rid of. Stuff like costume jewellery or a purse (or tie) that you wore once, or a kitchen or garden tool that someone gave you but that you have no use for. After a bit of a grace period (as I like to think of it, particularly with items I was gifted), I end up “donating” them to places like Goodwill, where they have a reasonable chance of finding a second home. 

Yes, there’s a satisfaction to “donating” such things, but it’s not really all that altruistic. When you think about it, such places are doing us the favour of taking unwanted items off our hands. Sure, the stuff is going to someone who needs/wants it and they’re keeping items out of landfills. That’s all fine, but I think it would be even better if we didn’t have so much stuff that we didn’t need goodwill-type charities in the first place. Indeed, I suspect that more often than not, the main motivation behind such donations is to make space for new things. 

I realize that guilt and worry about waste may not be top of mind as we head into the holiday season. But, a statistic I read the other day made me think that reflecting on wastefulness is perhaps most important at this time of year: of the more than $15 billion of unwanted gifts purchased (just think of that for a minute) by Americans for the 2019 holiday season, 4% went directly to landfill! Unreal on many levels, don’t you think? 

I wish you and yours a holiday filled joy and love and other things that will never rust, go out of style, or end up in landfills. 

© 2023 Ingrid Sapona