Motivational Speeches:

One of the great moments in sport history was when the US Hockey team defeated the Soviet team in the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, New York. Dubbed the "Miracle on Ice" legendary hockey coach Herb Brook take a bunch of college hockey players and does the impossible.

Being the 2010 Olympics are going on now I thought it only fitting to provide a little motivation via one of the great moments in sports.

Enjoy!

Video of Speech

The White Tiger: A Novel by Aravind Adiga

First of all this is my first post in like 3+ months sorry I have been a combination of lazy and busy.  

I have just read a really good book called The White Tiger: A Novel by  Aravind Adiga.  It is a book about a man communicating to an official in China and telling him of India and experiences of his own life and how he has been able to succeed within the Indian society.  

The narrator describes his life from childhood and how the Indian cast system is still very much in place in India and how he was able to rise above his cast a succeed.  I would highly recommend this book, it provides a great insight into the culture and society of India.  It was also the 2008 Man Booker Prize winner given to the top fictional book of the year by a panel of judges. 

An American Revolution?

Ok you might be thinking that I'm pushing the "Green" issue too much here.  But this post is about saving money, Helping the environment is just a bonus.  Finally, American car makers are starting to catch up to the trend of...well being green.  I don't me environmental I mean making vehicles that won't cost their drivers $100 every time they full up the tank.  

Well, I guess GM made a pretty "innovative," not a word associated with American car makers anymore, car back in the the late 1980's with the EV and EV1, but that's a whole other issue. (See: Who Killed the Electric Car)  Now Ford and Chevy are taking steps to correct this with the introduction of the new Ford Escape Hybrid and the new Chevy Volt.  

The Ford Escape Hybrid is a "true" hybrid SUV that get 34 mpg city and 31 mpg highway.  This is nothing amazing but for a relatively full size SUV that's pretty good.  Of course there are a bunch more environmentally friendly features on the vehicle but we're mainly concern about how much money it is going to save us and starting around $29,000 its still not cheap but I for an SUV its not a bad start.

The New Chevy Volt is due to come out in 2010, but is even more "innovative."   By this I mean it is a hybrid car but in a very different way.  Were as most hybrids have 2 systems an electrical drive system and a gas powered system that kicks in at higher speeds or when the batteries are low.  This new hybrid does not have a gas powered drive system, it simply has a gas powered generator that recharges the electrical drive system.  Therefore, the car runs only on electrical power and can go up to 40 miles on a full charge, great for city commuters and also has a plug in feature for recharging in a standard 110 volt outlet.  It is said to be able to go 400 mile on a single tank of gas.  

Ok all this technology is great but my car is a 1996 Dodge Avenger 4 cylinder manual transmission, power nothing(except steering and breaks) and I get an average of 32mpg and roughly 430 miles to a tank.  Yes, I know that both of these cars are much better than mine and have numerous features lacking in the old Dodge, but when it comes down to dollars and cents the Dodge is still leading.    

 

Getting Some Green for Being Green:

Ok, I know that not everyone is into being "Green" but almost everyone I know doesn't mind some extra money.  So here are a few ways to get some extra cash...and help the environment.  If anything do it for the $$$$$.

1. Cell for Cash: A company that pays for your old cell phones.  Cell phones contain toxic chemicals that can leak into drinking water if left in a landfill.  This company pays you for your old cells phones and refurbishes them and resells them to developing areas.  

2. Gazelle.com: A similar company that pays you for your old electronics, they then refurbish them and resell them.  

3. Recycle Bank: A company that rewards you for you recycling.  You set up an account then just start recycling with their container and re receive point redeemable at various partners, like Kraft Foods, Petco, 1800flowers, Coke ect...  

*Note this is only offered in limited areas as of the time of this post.

 

Ultra Marathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner

I was first heard about Dean Karnazes while reading through a Runner's World magazine, they were doing a story about his latest accomplishment of running 50 Marathons in 50 Day in 50 States. The article was interesting, but it wasn't until a recent family vacation when I was talking to one of my cousins about Dean's book Ultra Marathon Man: Confession of an All-Night Runner, that I really got interested.

He was telling me about it and some of Dean's accomplishments and how inspiring he thought he book was. About a month after the vacation I was looking for an audio book to download, I like to listen to them during my commute to work, I came across Dean's book. I listen to the first four chapters and got motivated and went out for a run. I had only ran about 3 times in the past month and a half but I was still in fairly good shape from running a previous marathon in June.

I guess the runner's high and the inspiration from the book really motivated me and ended up going for 23.5 miles. I had to walk most of the last five miles, they were quite painful. But it was an amazing experience to be able to get a little glimpse of being able to push your body to do something you did not think you'd be able to do. Which is the theme of Dean's book, being able to achieve what is thought to be impossible and taking advantage of every second of life.

I strongly recommend this book and Dean has just published another book about his experience running 50 marathons on 50 days. Some of his next goals are to run 300 miles non-stop and run from L.A. to Hawaii in what looks to be a big inflatable hamster ball.

Dean's Website: www.ultramarathonman.com

Time Management:

"The Last Lecture"

If you were told that you only have 3-6 months to live you would want to maximize your time wouldn't you?  Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was told that. He gave a great speech on Time Management, the speech is 76 minutes long but I think it is worth every minute.

He shares some great ideas, tips and methods to maximize your time from a person that values time more than anything.  He is truly an inspirational person and provides us with some great advice on Time Management as well as a great perceptive on the value of Time.  He passed away July 25th 2008, from complications from pancreatic cancer.    

Watch His Speech   

His Website

Ok Sports Fans!-Salary Cap in the MLB?

The Issue: Many think that Major League Baseball (MLB) should have a salary cap. 

The Argument: That because big market teams like Boston, the Yankees, and the Cubs have more money to spend on players they unfairly attract better plays and

thus have a better team.   

My Opinion: I am a supporter of not having a salary cap.

My Reasons: First, because larger market teams such as the Yankees simply have more fans and draw more revenue, therefore, can spend more money on players.  The ratio between the amount of Yankee fans and the amount of revenue they draw is probably about the same for let's say the Minnesota Twins.  Smaller market, smaller fan base, smaller revenue.  

Second, think of is like a business the better the business preforms the more it has to invest with the idea that it will have success, this of course is in a free market economy.  Yes, I know that I am injecting economics into baseball and the goals and situations are not completely the same but I think you get the idea.   

Third, as you can see the amount of money a team spends on players does not always translate into success.  See the below link that illustrates the relationship that MLB teams spent and where they rank in the league.   

Salary vs. Performance Chart: Courtesy of Ben Fry