and all the boards did shrink

Before considerable satellite technology and then the internet shrinking the world Hawaii stayed somewhat behind the trends and times.
When I visited Southern California in 1982 with my family I watched a lot of TV. One commercial showed a cartoon of a happy caveman speaking French in the rain. The commercial was for Perrier bottled water. I was incredulous. The stuff came out of the tap why would anyone pay more for it in a pretty little glass bottle?
It wasn’t until ten years later that I questioned a friend in Hawaii drinking bottled water. She went on about bacteria and gross stuff in the local water supply and on Maui. I couldn’t argue with it. But my characteristic denial made buying bottled water just wrong.
Today I pay money to fill five gallon bottles to put on a water cooler in our home. I can’t taste any difference with this or tap water but at least the kids all drink more water from the cooler. I usually load empty bottles into my truck and then on my way home from work I stop and fill them up outside a local supermarket. As I sit there in the dark empty parking lot I justify what I’m doing with one fact. Bottled water makes better coffee.