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Angie’s List blog; new dogs for adoption; mixing with Ableton Live

Published by Tristan on April 4, 2008 in AdoptAnAnimal.org, Angie's List, Indiana, animals, energy, environment, music and podcast. 0 Comments

This post isn’t as focused as those previous, but read on, kind sirs and madams:

A big week for me at Angie’s List and for Adopt An Animal. At Angie’s List, I set up our magazine department’s blog and released List-en up!’s first true video podcast. I say “true” video because previous episodes were in what was technically a video format, but were basically a still-image slideshow with pictures to accompanying the audio. This time, though, I actually followed a home energy auditor and videotaped the house-inspection process. After watching the video, I hope you have an audit performed on your home to find out how much money you can save through some simple energy-efficient upgrades.

As for the blog, you’ll notice that its design is basically the same as the Angie’s List podcast site. For the “Blue House Blog,” as we’re calling it (thanks to Brandon Smith, Angie’s List magazine artist and Goldfish Don’t Bounce bandmember, for the awesome logo!), I used the same Wordpress content management system, and the same theme, K2, simply because it works well. It looks good on its own, but is easily customizable and functions quite well for the most part. And though I have little PHP-programming experience, going into the code and fiddling with certain things isn’t too difficult. And there’s a tremendous network of free plugins, forums, and bloggers that serve as terrific resources for any Wordpress-related problem.

On a Wordpress-related note, I’ve posted some more dogs for adoption in Indianapolis at my Wordpress-based Adopt An Animal site. Please check them out (an adult female German Shepherd and adult male Pit-bull mix) and let me know if you or someone you know is interested.

Finally, I hope to install Ableton Live this weekend and create my first digital mix of some songs I’ve been really into lately. If you have any experience with Live and have tips to offer, please let me know. Thanks!

Beautiful 100% Recycled Business Cards from Natural Printing

Published by Tristan on March 21, 2008 in AdoptAnAnimal.org, business and environment. 0 Comments

I received an order of business cards for Adopt An Animal the other day from Natural Printing, and they look great! (Check out the design below.) This is the first time I’ve designed and ordered business cards for myself, and I’m quite pleased with the final product. I originally thought about using a service such as VistaPrint to get free cards, but they didn’t offer 100% recycled (as far as I could tell), and I couldn’t quickly figure out a way to simply upload the custom card I designed myself instead of using their templates (such was the case with similar free-business-card sites.) I found a few other places online offering recycled cards, but most required huge orders and were considerably expensive. Natural Printing allowed me to order a relatively small number of 100% recycled cards (don’t be fooled by the rather unattractive example) for a relatively cheap price ($60.) Sure, it was more expensive than VistaPrint’s free cards, obviously, but with Natural Printing, I got exactly what I wanted, quickly, and supported a small business at the same time.

This being my first business card design, I was a bit apprehensive that I may have set up the printing layout incorrectly. Natural Printing’s website gives guidelines on how to set up your design’s layout so it prints correctly, and though the directions are easy to follow, Mark from Natural Printing let me know of a minor problem shortly after I submitted my order - the version of Adobe Illustrator I was using (CS2 12.0.1) was too high, even though it’s a few years old. So I saved the design as a PDF, sent him the update, and quickly heard back from that my design was good to go. About a week and a half later, the little box showed up, stuffed with perfectly aligned little cards.

I chose to use a one-sided design. I originally thought about including Adopt An Animal’s services on the back of the card, but I realized that many times when people give me business cards, I write notes on the blank side about the organization or the person I met. I could’ve used lighter ink on the card’s backside had I used it, but chose to go the simpler one-sided route. I also figure that it’s a good idea to use matte printing, because glossy cards are virtually impossible to write on.

The one minor issue I have with my order is that the heavy-duty, pure-white cards say nothing about being 100% recycled, which I think would be a nice feature and selling point for Natural Printing. I’ll probably let Mark know about this and see what he says, but in the meantime, if I order more cards, I might just put a small watermark on the bottom mentioning this fact. It might look a little self-congratulatory (”Hey, I use recycled products!”), but with so many business cards floating around out there, people may as well start printing them on recycled paper!

Adopt An Animal business card

High-quality consumer products are hard to find

Published by Tristan on February 29, 2008 in economy, products, shopping and technology. 0 Comments

Global economy interconnected 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’

Indianapolis Power and Light: Hiding behind a green mask?

Published by Tristan on February 6, 2008 in Indiana, energy and environment. 0 Comments

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?’

Comparing the candidates’ views on green policy

Published by Tristan on February 1, 2008 in asides, economy, environment and politics. 0 Comments

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.

Open-source, affordable, green housing on the way

Published by Tristan on January 25, 2008 in asides, economy, environment and home. 0 Comments

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.

Eco-Friendly Product Claims Often Misleading

Published by Tristan on December 1, 2007 in asides, environment and shopping. 0 Comments

From NPR:

‘The Six Sins of Greenwashing’

NPR.org, November 29, 2007 · The environmental marketing firm TerraChoice evaluated more than 1,000 retail products for their environmental claims. Based on its research, the firm came up with what it calls “The Six Sins of Greenwashing.”