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Anyone who knows me knows that I am almost always drinking water from a plastic Nalgene bottle. It’s good to stay hydrated at work, and in my opinion it’s really good to do so from a reusable container.

I read something on CNN.com this weekend that really excites me: the mayor of San Francisco has signed an executive order banning city deparments from buying bottled water. The mayor cited the overall financial costs and the subsequent environmental impact as major reasons for the ban…I think this is really a great initiative and should be applauded. In fact, in America and other developed countries, I hope that bottled water will one day go the route that smoking is today – banned in most places.

Does that seem a little extreme? Americans already have some of the cleanest water in the world. In fact, the water discharged from waste water treatment plants must meet stricter guidelines for potability than municipal water supplies in the developing world. I’ve read in several places (but can’t find them currently to cite them) that if the world spent on international aide what it spent on bottled water each year that we would be able to provide clean drinking water to everyone on the planet.

And then there’s the environmental impact. Just take me for example. I’ve been using the same bottle for the past 4+ years, and it’s still going strong. Let’s say I had instead used a throw-away bottle every day for the past 4 years. That would mean that I would have placed over 1,400 bottles of plastic into the landfill by myself! Americans buy enough bottled water in a year to give an 8-ounce serving to every man, woman, and child in the country. But that’s really nothing compared to all of the other costs. Check out this Wikipedia article (it’s properly cited and footnoted) for more information…it’ll blow your mind.

I’m glad that Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco is taking such a bold step forward. I hope other towns will see the cost benefits and follow suit.

I always like to experience visual ways of displaying complex data when the visual displays simplify and inform. The “Death and Taxes 2008” poster is a great example of this. Would I ever take the time to try and sift through the 2008 federal budget? Heck no. But would I spend 20 minutes browsing through this interactive piece? Absolutely. Regardless of what your position on the issues may be, this provides an at-a-glance view of where budgetary changes could be occurring (it was easy to spot things like new submarines being favored instead of housing for the elderly, for example).

This is more breakthrough that it may appear on the surface…what if government textbooks were replaced with interactive learning modules in high schools across the country? How much could retention rates improve?

If you click on the link, you’ll be redirected to the site where you can zoom in, zoom out, etc.

I was thinking today that aside from a trackball, which is at best an awkward, ugly, and sad little invention (sorry trackball user, if you’re still out there), the mouse really hasn’t been significantly improved since its inception. However, given the power of Google and about 10 minutes of disposable time, I found a really cool site.

While he hasn’t changed the mouse at all, a German communications student by the name of Alex Frank has dared to design an interface that removes the need for a user to click. Anything. You can navigate the entire contents of the page, submit forms, and download images all without lifting a finger (to click, that is). I strongly encourage you to check it out…and to spend at least 5 minutes getting the hang of it. After I did that, I was totally hooked (with the exception being that it was impossible to select text for copy and pasting, but hey, it’s a prototype).

In fact, I’m somewhat disappointed that I have to click “publish” now.

In case you didn’t catch the link, it’s here: http://www.dontclick.it/

Advergirl just created a fantastic post about the job of Account Executive within an agency. I’ll let you read it for the full details, but she makes the compelling argument (through a “top 11″ list, no less) that an AE is responsible for much more than the client relationship. I couldn’t agree with her more on all points.

While various roles within an agency are responsible for various elements of the client experience, it is ultimately a successful AE that is accountable for the entire experience for the client. While within your agency it may not be the AE’s responsibility to come up with the project plan, timeline, or to create design comps, as the client’s closest contact and advocate the AE is accountable for the success of each of those elements. Even if it’s not in the AE’s job description, that’s the way most clients will see it, as well.

Well, if I could use some of my own criticisms, it would be now. I was out all last week on vacation in Florida, and neglected to tell anyone that online. Let that be lesson to me. During my stay, I got some great comments with good thoughts from Nick Rice and from Oliver Blanchard. Because I was away and didn’t let anyone know, their comments sat in moderation for close to a week! Please forgive me, guys. Shame on me for not being “real” on the web.

My wife, son and I spent a week with my extended family at a resort south of Orlando and had a great, refreshing time. The highlight for me was a chance to go fishing for sharks with my brother and sister. After 3 hours of exhausting battle, we managed to reel in this 10 foot, 270+ lb. Lemon shark. The picture was blurry because I had to use manual focus on a moving object in the dark. What a rush!