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

 

Blurb Books

Blurb is a website that allows you to make your own photo book.  It is super easy and the quality of the books are great.  I have made one for a wedding gift and it was a lot of fun and they love it. The quality of the books are great and the prices are low.  

It is super easy to create your own book.  You simply got to the website www.Blurb.com

and download their Booksmart software.  The nice thing about the software is that you don't need to be on their site or have an internet connection in order to work on the book.

Another great feature that I am just trying out is the community book option that allows you to invite contributors to your book.  I believe you can invite several members each of them can contribute up to 30 photos.  I haven't started using this feature so I'm not too familiar as to how it works but hopefully I will let you know soon.  I have not used any of the other sites like kodak, flicker, or apple iphoto to make a book, so I guess I have little to compare it with, but I would highly recommend Blurb.        

A Car That Runs On Air?

Very cool article about a new car that is being developed that uses compressed air to power the car.  

The best part is it sounds like this car could actually be for sale to the American public within the next few years...but then again wasn't the electric car and hydrogen car also supposed to be available a few years ago.

According to the second article below 6,000 of these cars will hit the streets of India in the fall of 2009 at a price of around $8,000.

Enjoy!

CNN Article 

Aug. 12th 2008 Update Article

Budget Hero: How would you run the country's finances?

I like many Americans complain about how the government spends all the money that they take from my paycheck.  So Minnesota Public Radio has a fun game that gives you $3.3 Trillion dollars to run the country on your own terms.  Our current budget is -9.5 Trillion, so you'll have to try and do better than that.  Good Luck!

Click Here to Play

Grandma's Marathon 2008

Nate Hood(College Friend), Krista Clavel (College Friend's Sister),
Brad Clavel(College Friend), Jordan Hanlon (Me)

Here is some pictures that my friend took at the Grandma's marathon this past June, 2008. This was my 4th marathon and my 3rd Grandma's marathon. I clocked in at a current personal best of 3hours 4 mins and 26 sec. I finish 196th out of around 8 thousand, so I'm kind of a big deal. Well enjoy the photos I only posted a few of them being that they are all of me running. I think you'll get the idea.

Below: Finish line and the home stretch.

Above:On Superior St. in Downtown Duluth the end is near.

China Trip 2008

I work for a company that attended a trade show in Shanghai, China this past July.  I was fortunate enough to get to staff the booth and see our facility in Shanghai.  Here are some of my pictures, comments, and a video from my trip.  Sorry for the formatting or the lack there of its my firs run at this.   

Below is one side of the Bund, a portion of the River that runs through Shanghai.

Below is a view from the lobby of the Grand Hyatt on the 56th floor.  Floors 57-87 are hollow, very cool.

Here is a great shot from the top of our hotel.  As you can see it is a very big city.  

Below is another shot from the hotel, as you can see they have a little bit of a smog problem.  

Another Shot of the Yuyuan Gardens below.

Below is me outside the Yuyuan Garden.

Above is a shot from a Restaurant called 3 on the Bund.  It over looked the River and the cool looking tower is the "current" symbol of the city, it is a TV Towner

Below is a short video of some of the things we saw when we toured a local market.