A week ago I dropped off a note today to my neighbors to save water bottles for me to pick up. There is a lot to learn about water bottles, and the best way is to get a bunch. I managed to collect about 160 bottles and here are a few lessons learned:

1. When you say you’ll accept a rinsed out non-water bottle, people will ignore you.
2. Not everyone know what it means to keep the cap on.
3. The labels on water bottles are attached with space-age adhesive, that once exposed, adheres to everything, including plastic trash bags, your fingers, and dirt. This adhesive is more tenacious than silicone caulk.
4. Bottles are like people, they come in all shapes and sizes. Smooth, rough, skinny, big, light, heavy, sticky, noisy, empty, and full of it.
5. Leaving bottles in a hot car, then bringing them into a cool space, will cause the bottle to collapse.
6. Taking a bottle from a cool space to bake in the Florida sun will cause it to blow up like a balloon.
7. It is impossible to “dry” the inside of a bottle without considerable effort.
8. If you try to carry more than 10 bottles they will suddenly jump out of your hands and scurry to every corner of the room.