Mom, Dad, April and I got back from a 7-day ski vacation last night. We left last Saturday, arrived in Seattle in the afternoon, then drove up through Vancouver and into Whistler. Dad and I skied Sunday through Friday - our longest ski time so far - and April skied with us until Thursday, when she hung out with my mom for the day. Friday we packed up and drove down to Vancouver for lunch on Granville Island (didn’t take any pictures, but I have some in my Photobucket gallery from our honeymoon last year), then arrived in Seattle in time to walk through the empty Pike Place Market while enjoying a coffee from the first Starbucks. We had dinner at the Pike Place Grill, a reliable bar/restaurant where April and I had dinner on our honeymoon, then we spent the night in the wonderful Grand Hyatt before heading out the next morning. Continue reading ‘Pictures from Whistler ski vacation’
Author Archive for Tristan
With the global economy’s increasing interconnectedness, it’s easier to find more consumer products at cheaper prices. But are some companies sacrificing quality for a low, low price? And do we really need all the things big-box stores stock that are supposed to make our life easier? People are concerned with the financial cost of all the things money can buy, but what about the environmental cost? Not to mention the growth our economy could see if we brought some good ol’ fashioned Made in America production back to “the homeland” (I use that term even though it gives me the creeps.) Continue reading ‘High-quality consumer products are hard to find’
Thanks goes out to Gregory Boop at business blog Bizinformer, who just wrote this post about educational opportunities via podcast, and what does and doesn’t work. Apparently he thinks the “stories about consumer scams and customer service” in List-en up! The Angie’s List podcast are good sources of information. If I’m lucky, he’ll think AdoptAnAnimal.org’s podcast (link opens in iTunes) is a good source, too.
I’m thrilled to see Boop’s post, and especially thrilled that the podcast is mentioned right alongside an NPR podcast. Not bad company to be recognized with, in my humble opinion. 
For awhile now, I’ve been wanting to volunteer for something. There are so many causes that need help that it was almost overwhelming for me to decide what I could truly make a difference with, but I think I’ve found it. I’ve started a web site/organization called Adopt An Animal (at adoptananimal.org) in order to help homeless animals find loving, responsible homes. Continue reading ‘My new venture: AdoptAnAnimal.org’
I just received a free Home Energy Efficiency Kit from my local electricity provider, Indianapolis Power & Light (IPL.) As Napoleon Dynamite would say, it’s flippin’ sweet!
After I found out about it from Shawndra (whom I met once at the only Irvington Green Initiative meeting I’ve been to 
), I ordered a kit online at IPL’s website (click here to order one ASAP if you’re an IPL customer) less than two weeks ago, and it was on my doorstep when I got home today. I pretended I wasn’t excited about it and let it sit on my kitchen counter for awhile, but couldn’t resist the urge to open it before my wife got home. Continue reading ‘Indianapolis Power and Light: Hiding behind a green mask?’
Though it’s several years old, I’ve received a chain email message from many people recently titled “Allah or Jesus Christ?” which gives the impression that every person of the Islamic faith believes in holy war (jihad) against non-believers (infidels.) I’ve replied with this link from Snopes.com, which debunks the story about a prison imam, or priest, being questioned about beliefs inherent to Islam. Read to the end to get the full effect: it might take a few minutes out of your day, but it could shine some light on how you view other people not of the same belief system.
Though I don’t by any means condone hatred or death perpetrated by Islamic radicals — or radicals in any other belief system for that matter, whether it be political or religious — I think it’s unfair for people to assume that everyone involved in a religion adheres strictly to every “belief” in that religion no matter how crazy, in this case jihad. Islam is a far-reaching, vast religion, with many different types of adherents, much like Christianity; spreading chain emails such as this basically amounts to gossip, polarizing people further to one side or the other. Stoking the fires of ignorance-based hatred only serves to endanger everyone involved: more danger and terror is something this world does not need right now.
Care about climate change/the environment/our national energy policy? If you drive a car, eat food that travels via a gas-fueled vehicle, use electricity, or are alive today, you should.
Thus far, the presidential candidate debates have been sidestepping the environmental and energy-related issues. Not to say that the war in Iraq, health care, and the economy aren’t important, but everything’s related, so we should give consideration to other things. This handy-dandy chart from Grist compactly compares the candidates’ viewpoints on greenhouse emissions caps, fuel economy standards, renewable energy, biofuels, coal, and nuclear energy. Since few people in the mass media are talking about these things in the primaries, you might want to research it yourself before picking a candidate.
Everyone’s been talking the past year or so about global warming, going green, etc. In terms of housing, green construction standards (such as the US Green Building Council’s LEED) have been a hot topic in the U.S. and in other parts of the world (India’s wealthiest resident is building a 60-story “green” home in Mumbai). It’s all well and good that wealthy people like Al Gore are going green with their mansions, but what about the estimated 1/3 of the population that will be living in slums by 2030?
Architect Cameron Sinclair might tell you with a straight face that those people will make decent homes out of wealthier people’s “green” refuse. Sinclair, winner of 2006’s TED prize, started the Open Architecture Network to spread affordable housing throughout the world — a rather impressive goal. The projects in the network are rather interesting, to say the least. According to Sinclair, “Someone’s working on a $700 house. The Now House is a World War II retrofitted home that’s carbon-neutral… There’s a spinach-powered house, there’s a grow-your-own clinic, a clinic you eat. All of these projects have to be sustainable.” So even though the gap between rich and poor isn’t shrinking, it’s good to know that people like Cameron Sinclair are planning a future that’s better for everyone.
Having trouble figuring out which U.S. presidential candidate to root for? The USA Today “candidate match game” is an interesting way to resolve your candidate conundrum. Through a series of 11 questions, the game shows you the top three candidates for the next presidential election that best match your ideas and values. As you answer each question, colored bars change size to show which candidates match your position on key issues ranging from health care to the environment to the war in Iraq. At the end of the 11-question series, you’re given the opportunity to weigh each category on how important it is to you compared to the others. This might be the most interesting part: adding substantial weight to certain categories significantly changed some of my top contenders.
Unfortunately, none of the top three the game referred me to are even remotely considered true contenders in this tight race. Does this mean I’m vastly different from the average American voter/”caucus-goer”? Or does it mean that taking online polls isn’t a great way to find answers to extremely important dilemmas?
