In Colorado you should drink enough water so your eyeballs don't shrivel up from the inside.

This would not be good.

Painful at best.

Tell us the scoop on water filters Stacey, if you know which one to get, etc. and what research you have done.

Whaat's the scoop Stacey?

how much water? 2 quarts minimum, if it's hot, drink more. bottled or tap? depends on your taste. tap is good if you can "swallow" it AND it's free (sans the utility cost).

I never drink water - it doesn't taste of anything, that's why.

Then you haven't seen the rows and rows of designer waters that line the supermarket shelves.

Not in Switzerland they don't! You've got mineral water with/without bubbles (in England at least some mineral water has peach or some other flavour), and loads of disgusting sodas, which I'm convinced contain NO water at all. I drink alot of those - Coke, that is, especially when I'm miserable or bored (what a $hitty thing to have to admit to), but for good water I put watermelons through my juice maker. So what kind of designer waters do you drink? Dior? Calvin Klein?

Mostly lime flavored Ozarka. Thought I picked up a few new ones on the last market run.

Never even heard of that! God, why do the Swiss have to be so boring? Do you know, here we only get two types of crisps. Non-flavoured, and paprika flavoured. And both taste pretty boring. In Africa and in England you get tomato ketchup, salt and vinegar, roast beef, cheese and onion, barbecue sauce, oh, you NAME it. ANYTHING. Is it like that in America too? When I go to England in a week's time, I'm going to by myself a crate full of crisps, I swear.

Maybe you just live in too small a town, Riette.

How dare you suggest such a thing? I don't! I live in the center of Z�rich - isn't that close enough to civilization? I mean, if they can come up with hundreds of different kinds of cheese, AND be inventive enough to punch holes in them, surely they can come up with NICE mineral water and NICE crisps (it's not like I expect them to punch holes in them too!). Anyway, Z�rich may be small, but Windhoek has nice cheese, nice mineral water AND nice crisps, and isn't even a third as big as Z�rich. So there! �snorting indignantly�

I'm impressed already. Especially with the two dots above the u in Zurich. Not small town, that. Do they have big health food or natural foods stores there?

you've only got two flavours of crisps in Zurich? Hahha...Switzerland really isn't very exciting, is it? :)

Is that a cracker?

crisps = chips?

The chips here come in umpteen flavors (all unhealthy) and sometimes differ by region. For instance, we live on the Chesapeake Bay, which is known for its delicious steamed blue crabs, so the local chip companies market theirs seasoned with Old Bay crab seasoning (McCormick's spice is based here). The water is big too, but I just drink tap water with lemon slices all day. I refuse to pay for water (other than the water bill). Terry, it's virtually impossible to get a vegetarian meal in Zurich, so I'm betting there are few or no health food stores. Riette?

We have loads of BIO food stores in Z�RICH - notice the correct spelling, naughty Terry, who won't stop teasing - but I'll never buy anything there, because they look foul, and are run by strange religious sects! They sell all sorts of supposedly vegan things there, but I tasted some honey biscuits there once, and nearly threw up. And they sell fruits and vegetables straight from the farm, but they were full of brown spots from being overripe, with these little fruit flies hovering above them. And then there's the people who run these places. They look at you as if they're trying to hipnotize you, and ask you if you've gotten in touch with your vertical energy yet. Because horizontal energy is bad, vertical energy is good. They explained to me that pregnant women only have vertical energy, that's why they bloom (I only bloomed around my stomach, to be frank), and then after having given birth they switch back to horizontal energy, which is bad, and which explains the depression that follows - never m nd the fact that pushing out a watermelon through a hole as small as the rim of a glass is just a little painful and traumatic, nevermind the fact that one's hormones suddenly have to switch back to being not-pregnant - and that is why one has to buy one of their vertical energy crystals . . . which, by the way, only cost about SFr. 300- a piece. How stupid must they think people, hey?!?! Silly buggers. And Mike, yes, Switzerland is the most boring place on this planet, I'm sure.

Got in touch with your vertical energy yet, everyone?

The natural foods stores here are totally different. They are like palaces, with the most mega stocks of the most exotic items imaginable, the fruits and vegetables are awesomely healthy, and the most alluring females peruse the aisles. I'm talking Whole Foods and Central Market in Austin. These aren't just "health food stores" they are almost total lifestyle centering points for some people. Obviously, this phenomenon hasn't made it to Zurich yet, but it can't be that far off. Sounds like Zurich is where Austin was 20 years ago in the natural foods department. (by the way Austin 20 years ago was a very great state of being and a lot of people miss it in this morass of "progress"). I stopped off at Whole Foods yesterday on my way home from work and it was a whole experience, running into several friends, old and new. Carol Price was there, chatting with a friend, a former girlfriend who stirs up incredible memories of the Takilma River and the Farm in Tennessee. And Douglas, the body worker who sold his land in Cedar Creek and bought an rv. And like I said the most awesome array of awesome natural babes to be found anywhere on planet earth. The days of wierdo, cultish health food stores and tiny little co-ops (with the exception of Wheatsville) have long passed in this groaning, high tech milieu. Places like Whole Foods and Central Market are becoming our modern day agora.

Sounds nice. Do they also have mega-(but old!)-hunks parading between the shelves though, otherwise I don't want them near me! Hate staring into the faces of beautiful, tall women all the time - makes me fell worm-like. But hey, that sort of thing will hit Z�rich then when I'm hopefully long gone. Are you a bachelor, Terry?

Yep! At this stage.

How weird. I pictured you with six kids - you look quite friendly on the spring cam.

I've been married twice, each time for 7 years. Maybe the third go around ???

did ya get that ole "seven year itch"?

I don't think that was it. There were other factors.

seven years seems like a long time... but with all the women you've got hanging around (per our last conversation) which one would you possibly pick?!?!?

I'm sorry to hear that, Terry. Divorce must me a painful thing to go through.

Next time I'd like to have something really long term, lifetime, if possible.

Yes, that sounds a practical thing. But the way you live now sounds practical too.

I would never remarry if we split up or my husband croaked. It's too much work! And I've got kids, a home, etc...all the things you get married for. I'd just sleep around. :-)

um, how far around?

It's too hypothetical, wer.

so? (still fun to talk about...)

I don't ever want to sleep around again. It made me miserable.

Well, let me clarify that by saying I would sleep around with men I genuinely cared for. I may be easy, but I'm no tramp. :-)

Whew!

*sigh* so just a stable stable then, huh?

ha-ha!

Or a merry go 'round!

Don't tempt me! I'm trying to be an honest woman here!

just a piece of work!!!

ha-ha! �sticking my tongue out at you�

OOH.....SEXY!!! French kissing got started that way, Riette. C'est vrai!!

Only because the French would kiss anything remotely wet.

You could stop that sentence with the word anything, Riette.

They wouldn't kiss my mother in-law, I don't think.

They will kiss a Frog. Why wouldn't they kiss your mother-in-law? Is she German?

No. English. But worse than a frog.

Riette, I can't believe you said that. Anyway I was using a pun. Frog is slang for a frenchman. Is she really that bad?

She is the most utterly annoying person I have EVER come across.

That is a really powerful statement, Riette. Being that you have been all over Two continents and heading for a third.

Maybe it's powerful, and I should probably not speak so. But the truth is that I've never met anyone as desperate to suffer as that woman. I find it difficult to respect people who are like that .

Oh God, I know the type, Riette. I agree with you totally on this. Such a person trys to make the lives of everyone around them, a living hell.

Precisely. You know, she suffers from the type of mild diabetes that alot of people get when they get old, and are overweight - I mean, she doesn't even have to inject herself. She just has to test her urine every day to keep a check on it, and eat more healthily. So, whenever she's here, she comes into the living room, waving her pi$$ around, and going on how she had to make sure she doesn't have to go to hospital. It's foul! One would think she was the first person ever to have had an illness - nev rmind all the people dying of cancer and aids and other horrible diseases. Silly bitch.

Riette, those two words, pretty well sum it up.

ha-ha!!! Pretty much!

Riette, Iwonder if people like that have ever considered just how they look to everyone else.

They're too egotistical to consider other people's views/feelings. That I don't doubt for one minute. I mean, to me suffering like that is just another way of making the world revolve around your selfish self. And the stupidest thing about it is the way the always suffer 'in silence'. If only they WOULD!

Riette, that type of person always haas to have center stage, or their not happy.

I would not lose respect if only they could go stand on a rooftop, and shout: 'People, please give all your attention! I'm in desperate need of it!' At least they'd be truthful about it.

Riette, the psychologists of this world would be broke if people followed your suggestions.

Not broke, more like unmasked! I've always thought them a bunch of thiefs in fancy outfits anyway. And to think that people with real problems are the source for those deceiving feathers of theirs.

Riette, you have such a way with words. And Vivid imagery.

Tim, I must tell you something quickly, before it's gone. There is the STRANGEST light outside!!! The buildings are covered in a deep red glow, and the sky is as blue as blue can get!!! It's too weird! God, you should see it! I've never seen anything like it - perhaps the aliens have finally landed in their country of origin.

Riette, you are seeing the aurora borealis, Go out and watch it.

It has a name?? It's all gone again now - that was really beautiful. You get that in Austin too?

Riette, I WISH we got the aurora borealis here, but we are too far south. Except for very rare occasions like last night, you are also too far south to see it.

Yes, it was so weird - I've never seen anything like it before. Wish I had my camera ready.

Don't worry Riette, a camera can't do it justice.

Probably not. I'd love to see it in a REALLY cold place though. Up north somewhere.

The only places that you can see it well are REALLY COLD!!!!!! Riette

I wouldn't like that so much...

I would love to see the aurora borealis while standing on the polar ice. Those colors reflecting off the ice, magical!!

I drink lots of it - loads and loads...it is important and we get our tap water direct from the hand of God here...

Sounds great! Ours goes from God into the Chesapeake Bay, thru the municipal water plant, out my faucet, and into my Brita pitcher. The next best thing!

I love the mineral waters of my county. There are salty ones, sulfuric ones, and ironic ones. It's this mix - especially the ironic elements in it - that together with our sour apple cider gives our people this unique charme.

We have sulfur in our air, in the water in some places, and everywhere else. You must live in a once-volcanic area. Ironic ones? Thay is where your irony comes from ;) (Chalebeate is what it is called at the well in Glastonbury) Yummm Love sour apple cider!! Tart, that is, not sour from turning into vinegar...!

I love the idea of drinking ironic water!

We can serve all flavs here, and even export it. We even got our own Coke plant because of our water, not that a coke plant is something to write home about, but well...

Hey, we have a Coke and a Pepsi plant here! I get a kick out of seeing "Bottled in Havre de Grace, MD" in tiny print on the side of the can when I'm visiting someone who drinks it. I never thought about the fact that soft drink recipes would taste different depending on the water system where it is bottled...

Havre de Grace?! I know your home town. I have slews of relatives in Easton and learned to sail on the Choptank River.