ugh...

so my glasses just broke. in half.

i was on the phone with trenda at the time, and i let out a flurry of expletives such that i asked her to wash out her ears before she touches her baby again.

this is such poor timing...

wal-who?

Last October, Scott pledged to transform his sprawling company, which employs 1.8 million people worldwide and ranks No. 2 on the Fortune 500 list, into a lean green machine powered exclusively by renewable energy, producing zero waste, and selling sustainable products. Those goals are so lofty they sound downright deluded, but Scott has followed them up with specific, seemingly achievable commitments and timetables. He aims, for example, to reduce Wal-Mart's total greenhouse-gas emissions 20 percent by 2012, and invest $500 million in environmental improvements each year.

read the entire article here

a gift for the person who has everything...

The problem facing the Asian elephant is simple yet complex. In the age of technology, how does the elephant survive? Man had taken away its way of life when he cut the rain forest indiscriminately until there was little left. Now, the elephant had to find a new way of life or face extinction, or worse yet - degradation at the hands of man. Eventually an idea was formed. The simplicity of the idea (making Elephant Dung Paper) is remarkable. Collect the dung of elephants, turn it into handmade paper and then recycled products. We then sell the dung paper and return profits to feeding and caring for the Thai elephants

more information, plus photos of dung paper production in action, can be found here.

today's heat index...

is a blistering 107 degrees. a plastic cup melted in my car while amy and i were in the grocery store. MELTED!

raise your hand if you're ready for october...

hot dog, anyone?

Man Relishes Wonder Dog
by Mike Peters, Greeley Tribune
June 26, 2006

This is the story of an anniversary.

No, not a wedding anniversary or some company's anniversary.

This is likely the strangest and most bizarre anniversary you have ever heard of.

This is the hot dog anniversary for Richard Carroll of Milliken.

Five years ago, on July 4, Carroll was grilling some hot dogs for a family gathering, and he dropped one of them on the ground.

Josh Severin, a family member, quickly picked it up, and instead of merely brushing the hot dog off and putting it back on the grill as most men would do (remember the 5-second rule), he stuck it, lengthwise, on the radio antenna on Carroll's pickup truck.

That hot dog, after five years, after 80,000 miles, after rain and storm and sleet and hail, is still on that antenna.

And it's not a pleasant sight.

It's shrunken, this wonder hot dog, and it has turned black and kind of fuzzy and hard.

"It kind of makes you wonder," Carroll said this week, pausing to look at the shriveled symbol of picnics everywhere. "It kind of makes you wonder about all the hot dogs you've eaten over the years..."

He doesn't remember what brand of hot dog it was. Whatever brand, there must have been enough preservatives in it to prevent it from simply rotting away and falling off.

Instead, it's stayed on the antenna of Carroll's 1992 GMC pickup, stuck right at the top.

"I kept thinking the birds would eat it, or the wind would blow it off on the highway," Carroll said. "But I've been on a lot of hunting trips with it, and it's been brushed against tree limbs and bushes, and it's still there."

Carroll, 52, is a native of Weld County and worked as a heavy equipment operator for the Colorado Department of Transportation for 22 years.

He said he'll leave the wonder dog on the antenna until it finally falls off, but it appears it's become part of the antenna now.

As for the 5-year anniversary of the hot dog, Carroll said there won't be anything special. They'll just have a barbecue like they always do on the Fourth of July.

Cook something on the grill and have a picnic.

But Carroll said he probably won't be serving hot dogs.

the nieces...

interesting...

Ben Wallace appears ready to sign with Bulls

Free-agent center Ben Wallace is leaving the Detroit Pistons to sign with the Chicago Bulls, a person within the NBA said Monday.