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

$40k energy savings for new U of I dorm. Go geothermal!

'Green' residence hall to be first for University of Illinois

Associated Press

11:08 AM CST, January 27, 2008

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A $23 million residence hall under construction in Champaign will be the first at the University of Illinois to be certifiably green.

The eco-friendly features of the 262-bed Presby Hall include a geothermal system to heat rooms and water, water-saving plumbing, as well as environmentally friendly lighting and paint.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the building, expected to be the first U of I residence hall to receive certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, is planned for this summer.

The Champaign-based McKinley Presbyterian Church and Foundation, which owns the property, took the initiative in pushing for a green hall, the private foundation's director said.

"We wanted to be responsible. We wanted (the building) to be sustainable, and we wanted to give back to the world," Heidi Weatherford told The (Champaign) News-Gazette.

There are construction challenges.

One is the installation of the pricey, $650,000 heating system, which will use ground-source pumps to keep the building warm.

To install pumps and many miles of tubing, some old trees along a nearby street must come down, though new trees will be planted to replace them.

Weatherford said while the geothermal system is expensive, the costs will be recouped by the $40,000 in annual energy savings.

"The upfront costs are significant," she told The Associated Press Saturday. "But the financial payback is almost immediate." Factoring in the energy savings, Weatherford said, the heating system could pay for itself in about 10 years.

The Illinois Clean Energy Foundation recently awarded the foundation $100,000 to help pay for Presby Hall's green features.

The university itself has said it plans a major renovation of a cluster of residence halls called Six Pack, saying it hopes that project also will get the green certification.

It's all about peak oil, beeyatches.

Swiped from Treehugger...

In a rare moment of candor, Jeroen van der Veer, the chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell, acknowledged what many have long considered a forgone conclusion: the end of the oil era is almost upon us, and sooner than you might think. The Oil Drum retrieved an e-mail sent to all Shell employees in which the CEO admitted the obvious (emphasis ours):

"Regardless of which route we choose, the world's current predicament limits our maneuvering room. We are experiencing a step-change in the growth rate of energy demand due to population growth and economic development, and Shell estimates that after 2015 supplies of easy-to-access oil and gas will no longer keep up with demand."

He went on to criticize the sluggish response by policymakers to the coming energy crisis:

"Taking the path of least resistance, policymakers pay little attention to curbing energy consumption - until supplies run short. Likewise, despite much rhetoric, greenhouse gas emissions are not seriously addressed until major shocks trigger political reactions. Since these responses are overdue, they are severe and lead to energy price spikes and volatility.

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Rest of the article from TH here.
Read the original speech in its entirety here.
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While I'm not thrilled with future energy options including oil sands and nuclear, it is energizing and shocking to read that the CEO of Shell is acknowledging Peak Oil. Energizing because this means more skeptics may really start to look at alternatives to oil and shocking because, if Shell doesn't change its portfolio now, the CEO is admitting that they'll be out of business soon!