Trash talk - new shoes from Nike

Not a bad looking basketball shoe, eh? Looks even BETTER when you find out that it was made out of trash (mostly manufacturing waste). While the R&D for this shoe was probably fairly expensive, the on-going manufacturing costs should be fairly cheap. Sure, they have to do some more stitching and materials sorting - but they don't have to actually BUY much in the way of raw materials. Let's hope this becomes a trend at Nike and for other shoe makers.

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Steve Nash, the All-Star Guard for the Phoenix Suns, and Nike have teamed up to create the Nike Trash Talk, the first Nike performance basketball sneaker completely produced from manufacturing waste. Nash, who debuted the shoe last night in the Phoenix versus Dallas Mavericks game, appears to be quite a greenie himself: "Any opportunity to promote the environment and preserve our planet is a step in the right direction," he said in a press release.

Modeled after Nash's current shoe, the Nike Zoom BB II Low, the Trash Talk meets Nike's Considered design standards for sustainability, which we've discussed at length about, in the following ways:

1. The upper is pieced together from leather and synthetic leather waste from the factory floor using zig-zag stitching.

2. The mid-sole uses scrap-ground foam from factory production.

3. The outsole uses environmentally-preferred rubber that reduces toxics and incorporates Nike Grind material from footwear-outsole manufacturing waste.

4. The Phoenix Suns' colorways will have shoe laces and sockliners that use "environmentally preferred" (we're not clear what that means) materials, and will be packaged in a fully recycled cardboard shoe box.

No word, alas, on worker renumeration and conditions, a sore subject that Nike has been nursing ever since the New York Times published a series of articles in 1996 and 1997 that reported "grim conditions" and widespread human-rights abuses in Nike factories.

A limited number of the Trash Talk will be made available in three different colorways: Two Phoenix Suns colorways (home and away), plus one colorway for Nash to wear this week for the All-Star Game. You can get the All-Star colorway this week at the House of Hoops by Foot Locker in New York City and New Orleans for a suggested retail price of $100.

For Phoenix Suns fans, the team's colorways will launch on April 22 at the House of Hoops. ::Nike

Link to original article on Treehuggger.

More fun with politics!

A friend recently launched a new website - Politiquotes.org. Go check it out :)

In his words,
"it's a very simple site where you can submit and rate quotations from your favorite (or not-so) candidates. I had intended to get this launched earlier in the election season, but hopefully the site can still gain some traction in time to be useful.

So, if you're politically minded, then have fun voting on quotes, or make yourself a user account and start posting new ones. Also, you could really help me out by letting any of your politically minded friends know - and any of their friends, and so on. I expect that within 2 weeks, we'll be as big as facebook."

my stocks

woo-hoo! already up $1500 :)
note - if you click on the image, it'll open up with better resolution.

If I had a $100,000. . .

What stocks would you buy if you had $100,000 to invest and had to sell it all by May 2008?

I'm working on this for school, due today (so much for tons of research)... but I do get to make trades whenever I want. So, advice is welcome! I'll let you know what I pick and how it goes.

How Green is Your Laundry?

Check out this short quiz from The Sierra Club - you may find some energy-saving tips that will save you money and help the environment next time you're doing your laundry!

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Other laundry advice...

1. Don't dry, use cold water for your:
a. Non-cotton workout clothes. Those specialized wicking fabrics are best dried on a drying rack or hanger.
b. Favorite jeans. Seriously, avoid shrinkage and help your jeans last longer. (Especially important if, like me, it takes a lot of $$$ to make your ass look hawt.)
c. Bras and fancy underwear

2. New dark colored cottony item of clothing? Pour a little white vinegar in the wash when you first launder it. The vinegar helps set the color. (thanks Mom!)

3. Sprinkle some baking soda in the washer with your smelly workout clothes. You know how baking soda helps de-stink-ify your refridgerator? Same concept.

4. You don't need to dry clean ALL your knits that say "Dry Clean Only." Really. A lot of them will be just fine if you do a gentle, cold water wash and then lay flat to dry. I've found this is the case with a lot of wool and cashmere.

5. Oxyclean works wonders on a lot of stains. It's a good product to just have around for cleaning in general. (thanks Mom!)

Now if someone could just tell me how to maintain a constant supply of quarters for the machines in my apartment building... I'm jealous of all of you that have your own w/d!

As heard on public transportation, part III

Crowded bus on this rainy evening. Bus driver is shouting to everyone to move back so everyone can get on the bus, ending with this lovely advice, "Don't worry, they won't bite. And if it looks like they will, you just bite back. Don't worry, we test for rabies here on MUNI."

Foghorn Leghorn

After a few weeks of mostly grey skies and rain, we've had a stretch of some wonderfully sunny days here in San Francisco. But in the evenings, a very thick fog just rolls in and covers the city in mystery and a little bit of general dampness. I live about two miles from the northern coast of the city and five miles from the west coast. I can hear the fog horns. Not sure if they're really that loud or if the acoustics of the cityscape help transport the low "mowwwwwwwow" sound to my little apartment, but it's really freaking cool. Hearing the fog horn makes me feel like I'm in a different time period (albeit one with internet access) or a different country - I guess just because it's new to me. One more reason why SF is awesome.

Panera

Panera Bread... how I <3 thee.

Used to be St Louis Bread Company... and I used to be a vegetarian. They were fantastic then because they always have at least one vegetarian soup option.

Panera was also on my list of "must have" foods when I would go back home to Illinois, but within the past few years, Panera has opened a few locations in the Bay Area. Woo-hoo! And.... one is right across the street from G$'s house. I'm over here doing homework right now and Panera is going to be DELIVERED. I am really looking forward to this feast.

All of this love, even though it is just another chain restaurant. I cannot explain it.

10 tidbit tuesday

1. caffeine (coffee) >>> celebrity gossip websites
2. vote, if you haven't already
3. i need to make plans for my 30th birthday, fast approaching on march 23rd... ideas?
4. i wish satsumas and clementines were always in season
5. psyched for my first coached track workout with the sf tri club tonight
6. it's sunny again = :) :) :)
7. green tax credits need to stay...or we lose 116,000 jobs
8. virgin america airlines has some sweet deals from SFO - only $38 each way!
9. the new square emoticons in gmail chat look like toasts (credit: MW)
10. check out this obama/will.i.am video on youtube

half marathon results

My blog, so I get to brag a little when things go well.

Finished the half marathon well under my goal time. I was aiming for an eight-minute mile pace (1:45ish overall time), convinced myself that I would have been okay at 8:20 minute miles (1:49 overall time) and finished in 1 hour 42 minutes, which is a 7:47 minute mile average. Sweet, especially considering the cold, windy, rainy conditions! This race was really flat for San Francisco, so I imagine that my time would have crept up to that 8:00 minute pace if there were hills.

I'm feeling great right now (no pain in my foot, though I did get a little blister) and psyched to start training for the Wildflower Triathlon in early May.

Oh, and I enjoyed caffienated gels (Clif Shot espresso and mocha flavors) while running and am now having a nice cup of Blue Bottle Coffee brewed in my French Press. Ok, I lied about starting back up with coffee on Monday.

happy effing february

good-bye january and my 24 days without coffee. i'm going to continue to hold out until monday, february 4th. and then... that sweet, sweet nectar of the gods is back in my life.

remind me not to try this again in the winter. bad, bad idea. the convergence of very little (green tea, which has some, but not much caffiene) caffiene and dreary weather = a non-focused, unmotivated mess.

seriously though, let's look at vices here. hmmm... coffee. booze. cute boys. brain-rotting celebrity gossip websites. maybe i'll try to go a week without the celebrity gossip websites, just for shits. yes. starting monday, no more gossip sites. but if j lo has her baby (ies) next week, someone's going to have to update me!

which brings me to... props to KK for giving up alcohol for ALL of january (after the 1st, obv.)!!!

super tuesday is coming up folks. if you've got an absentee ballot, get it in the mail. if not, make sure you go to your polling station on tuesday, february 5th.

coffee pic from wikipedia common gallery