Life's too short to be normal.

Where Good Ideas Come From

Sally Smith — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 03:02:34 +0000

- Steven Johnson

Playlist: Summer 2011

Sally Smith — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 00:18:47 +0000

Playlist: Summer 2011

OneRepublic – “Good Life”
Skee-Lo – “I Wish”
Coldplay – “Ever Teardrop is a Waterfall”
Yuck – “The Wall”
Dr. Dog – “Black-Red”
Sara Bareilles – “Uncharted”
Amos Lee – “Windows Are Rolled Down”
Everest – “Let Go”

Click here to listen to the playlist over at 8tracks.com. There’s a limit on the number of songs you can skip per hour (I think it’s 3 songs), so keep that in mind.

Massachusetts (and Maine)

Sally Smith — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 01:29:13 +0000

I’ve been knee-deep in boxes for the past few days, but I set aside some time to work through a year’s worth of photos (and as usual, it took a lot longer than expected). Here’s a quick summary of the year I spent in New England — I tried to model it on this collage I did of my year in Arizona, but I had a much harder time narrowing down my photos so it’s a bit longer and more dense.

Click on each section to see it full-size. Enjoy!

Life in a Day

Sally Smith — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 12:41:01 +0000

Do you remember what you were doing on July 24, 2010? (I was returning a U-Haul after driving from Arizona to Pennsylvania.) The answer is definitely a yes for YouTube users that uploaded footage of their day for director Kevin Macdonald and his project.

Macdonald, director of The Last King of Scotland, took footage from users in more than 192 countries, and turned it into a 90-minute documentary called Life in a Day. The film was released to theaters last month, although I haven’t seen it anywhere nearby. But if you have two minutes to spare, I highly recommend watching the trailer. Even if you don’t get to see the film, which has already been met with high critical acclaim, the trailer is an inspirational piece in and of itself.

Source: NPR – All Things Considered

Under Armour Green

Sally Smith — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 18:59:36 +0000

I recently bought a green shirt. Yes, the color of the shirt is green, but in this case the “green” theme actually goes a bit further. It’s part of Under Armour’s UA Green line, which actually uses recycled materials. After a few test runs, I’m happy to report that recycled shirts feel exactly the same as regular shirts (at least in the case of Under Armour) and I definitely recommend giving them a look: check out the product line on their website. (I bought the Catalyst short-sleeve t-shirt.)

According to their website, 100% of each UA Green product (shirts, shorts, hats, pants, etc) is made from recycled material — primarily plastic bottles. The video below gives an overview of the process.

Mighty Wallet

Sally Smith — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 18:55:15 +0000

Thanks to my brother, I’ve found a cool new (old) wallet. The Mighty Wallet is made from 25% post-consumer content, but it’s also 100% recyclable. It’s made from Tyvek, also known as “house wrap”. You may have come across USPS envelopes made from Tyvek, or used a Tyvek suit (as I did in New Orleans a few years ago when we were helping to deconstruct houses).

The second coolest thing about the Mighty Wallet is the variety of designs. I picked up one with retro Star Trek comic prints, but their website shows the full range of designs inspired by everything from television to comic books to simple dot matrix printed paper. They even have a DIY version that’s blank and allows you to draw your own design (permanent marker recommended). A few of my favorites are below.

The wallets don’t have a zippered pocket for change, but they don’t have any stitching either and they claim to instantly adjust to fit lots of stuff or only a little bit. And there are more pockets that you think you’d find in a thin, light-weight wallet so you shouldn’t run out of places to put things. Overall, it seems like a great wallet for its price ($15), with free shipping available to US customers.

Flippy-Floppies

Sally Smith — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 23:57:30 +0000

Summer 2007: Paestum, Italy and the Mediterranean Sea (photo above)
Summer 2011: Delaware, United States and the Atlantic Ocean

They may be worlds apart, but the basic principle is still the same. Kick off your flip-flops and relax in the hot sand. Happy summer!

Energy in Your Zip Code

Sally Smith — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 13:23:36 +0000

While doing research for one of my recent internships, I came across an interesting page from the Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuels & Advanced Vehicles Data Center. It includes a calculator that takes in a zip code, reads out energy sources for electricity in that area (e.g. gas, coal, nuclear), and calculates the emissions of electric vehicles in that area based on the grid.

One of the arguments against electric vehicles is that since electricity is powered by non-renewable sources, these cars aren’t reducing emissions. Put a different way, is an electric car that’s receiving electricity from a coal plant any cleaner than a Hummer? According to the Department of Energy, the answer is yes.

The calculator is also a cool way to see how energy sources are used in your area. There are some obvious conclusions, such as more coal being used for my parents’ house in Pennsylvania than in my current Massachusetts area. But there are some other things I wouldn’t have predicted, such as a higher-than-average percentage of biomass in New England, and Illinois using a higher percentage of coal than Pennsylvania. Some areas have a diverse range of sources, while others are more dependent (Purdue is almost entirely coal and nuclear). Click here to visit the calculator and try your own zip code.

Team Hoyt

Sally Smith — Fri, 06 May 2011 00:19:13 +0000

A few weeks ago, I saw my first Boston Marathon start. I got there early, so I got a great spot and was able to see the mobility impaired and wheelchair race starts. This is a photo of Team Hoyt, one of the most inspiring stories of the marathon. Father and son team Dick and Rick Hoyt have been doing marathons, triathlons and Ironmans together for decades, and this was their 28th Boston Marathon.

Read more: Sports Illustrated article (April 18 2011)

Small Town Police Reports

Sally Smith — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 13:24:27 +0000

One of the best things about living in a small town (and having a local newspaper) is the police reports section. Here are a few of my favorites from this week:

April 3
12:30am A caller, now in Chestnut Hill, was unable to reach a Hayden Rowe Street resident to remind him to take a pie out of the oven. Officer Philip Powers responded and advised the resident to remove dessert from the oven.

April 12
11:11am Officer Stephen Buckley removed a picnic table from the middle of the roadway of Winter Street.

April 14
2:21am An Ash Street caller reported hearing an animal in her attic making noise. Officers Linda Higgins and Jacob Campbell responded and determined it was a family of raccoons in the attic.