personal : tips
There are a couple of very cool ventures out there to provide some meaningful solace to our troops overseas.
Try using the foaming hand soap in pump containers -- you don't need to wet your hands first, and can avoid letting the water run while you lather (remember - to kill germs you should lather long enough to sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".)
Two web sites with a lot of cool stuff made from 100% waste products -- from old lps to tires -- are worth checking out:
-
www.seccoshop.com (check out the jewelry made from cell phone buttons)
-
www.elsewares.com (click on the WAY COOL handbags)
Feeling overwhelmed? I read "Nora's Top Five Ways to Get Out of Overdrive" in the SF Chronicle magazine summer of 2007:
- Wake up slowly
- Take a media fast
- Plan unstructured time
- Stop multitasking
- Learn how to breathe
Amazing & handy reference chart to find the nutritional value of anything. To get you started, I've set it to analyze a piece of chocolate cake. Try a hot dog!
Here's a web site that will help you find environmentally and socially responsible goods and services.
How many planets does your lifestyle require? Only takes 2 minutes...
Way cool new website: Platewire.com. You can put in the license plates of drivers that piss you off & let the world know about their evil ways. Whoo-hoo!
I don't know if this works, but it makes sense; if you can't find a plunger & have a clogged toilet, just squirt in some liquid dish detergent, wait 15 minutes and you should be good to go.
Adding a couple tablespoons of baking soda to warm soapy dishwater will cut grease tremendously & remove that sticky gross film that sometimes develops on plastics.
You can stop getting those annoying "pre-approved" credit card offers easily by filling out a few bits of info on this OptOut site. This does include your SSN, but don't worry, it's required, and it's safe.
You can drastically reduce the amount of junk mail you get by registering on the DMA's Mail Preference Service. This is a list made available to direct marketers identifying you as not wanting junk mail.
After chopping garlic, rinse your hands with Scope - no smell.
When you need to spray non-stick PAM onto a pan or baking sheet, open the dishwasher & do it over the door. No messy overspray to deal with.
Carry in your wallet a few of those free stick-on mailing labels all the charities send you. Next time you have to fill in your name & address on a form, stick one on!
Whatgoesaround is a cool idea - create an online "givelist" so folks can see what charities you care about, and can make donations when it moves them. One of those little internet ideas that could change some social structures.
Love seafood? Want to make sure your gustatory needs aren't depleting the sea's bounty? Use the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch Pocket Card! Carry it with you and make good choices.
Recycle your old greeting cards by cutting off the backs & sending to St. Judes.
Here are a couple of very cool ventures out there to provide some meaningful solace to our troops overseas.
-
Treat a soldier to a cup of java from Green Beans Coffee - they operate coffee shops at many of the bases in the Middle East.
-
Upload a photo of yourself quaffing a frosty, and the kind folks at Six Packs for Soldiers will send a beer to a recently returned vet through the website. As the founders say, it's a "beer-partisan" effort!
-
You missed your chance to send cookies to the troops through my pal Betty's Atlanta Girl Scout Troop 846. From cookie-seller extraordinaire, Madison: "Last year, our Girl Scout troop sent over 1,600 boxes to all five branches of the military – Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard! – serving in Iraq, Kuwait, Korea, even North Africa! The young men and women Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coasties who received your generous donations last year received a welcome taste of home; we received lots of thank you’s and some terrific photos."
|