trash talk

at the fair, jess and i stumbled onto a really cool exhibitor:

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earthfriendlymoving
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they are a local orange county company who is trying to change the world, one box at a time. from their website:

EarthFriendlyMoving is out to change the way America moves with the world’s first comprehensive, zero waste, environmentally friendly, do-it-yourself [DIY], packing and moving system developed entirely from recyclable trash mined from local landfills. It’s detox for our landfills and it will save you time, money and Earth!

they make the boxes out of household plastic recyclables like laundry detergent jugs. those boxes are delivered to your house in trucks that run on veggie oil/bio fuel. the power generated while driving the trucks is stored and used to make packing material. and the pallet they stack the boxes on for delivery is even made out of used diapers. i'm not even kidding.

and what is insane is that it is totally cheap! it's $1 per box per week. check out what a 1-2 bedroom kit from uhaul will set you back:

anyway, i'm as lazy as the next guy when it comes to saving the planet, and i know this wouldn't work for every type of mover. but this seemed like a pretty neat idea that a lot of people could put to use.

on that same tip, i recently got an e-mail forward (that i actually read for once) about nike's re-use a shoe program.

from their website:

Every year, across the globe, millions of pairs of athletic shoes end up in landfills or are disposed of in some other way ... What if these shoes could be recycled and used to create something useful?

We asked ourselves questions like these back in 1993. The answers led us to the creation of Nike Reuse-A-Shoe, now one of Nike’s longest-running environmental and community programs, where worn-out athletic shoes of any brand are collected, processed and recycled into material used in sports surfaces like basketball courts, tennis courts, athletic fields, running tracks and playgrounds for youth around the world.

Since Reuse-A-Shoe began, we’ve recycled more than 20 million pairs of athletic shoes (we accept any brand, not just Nike) and we’ve contributed to more than 250 sport surfaces.

find out where to drop off your old shoes by using their interactive map HERE. just be sure to follow their guidlines:

Athletic shoes only (any brand)
No shoes containing metal
No cleats or dress shoes
No wet or damp shoes

now get out there and save the world!

Every Day Is Fry Day!

i think that might be the best advertising slogan for the LA county fair i've every seen. i mean, there are lots of neat things at the fair, but let's be real, the most important thing at the fair is, by far, the food.

i can't lie, i was pleasantly surprised by some of the goings on, like, the winter wonderland...

and the amateur wrestling. (note the bunny costume detail.) awesome...

but really, nothing tops the never-ending buffet of artery-clogging food items. you might remember meeting my new best friend, the deep friend snickers bar, last year at the orange county fair. well, this year, i introduced him to one of my other very close friends; the ice cream cone. it was a match made in heaven.


6 hours at the fair, and jessica and i barely scratched the surface of what the event has to offer. at $9 a pop, it was a serious bargain. (let's not discuss the amount of money we spent on food.)

tickets are available online for $15 (weekend), but we stopped by an at&t/cingular store on our way and picked up the discounted tickets for $9. the fair offers lots of random discount promotions, so with a little effort, you shouldn't have to pay full price. the fair goes through sunday, 9/30, so you still have 2 weeks to get out there and boost your cholesterol.