Laura's Lovely Log

Saving the world again

Yup, again. I've become a Kiva loaner. My wonderful dad generously got me started and I've matched it to help eight people with small business loans. If you haven't heard about Kiva before, it's a site that connects people who want to loan money to small business in the developing world through partnerships with microfinance institutions. It's really a brilliant idea that allows you to make a real difference in someone's life. I've added a button to my template, which I'm also reposting below.



The site speaks for itself, so please check it out!

posted by Laura @ 5:53 PM 1 comments

what you been up to?

oh, nothing much. You know, saving the world. Yup, I've gone green, well, a little anyways. ConEd's PowerYourWay program actually encourages you to switch to another energy provider (an ESCO). They'll even give you 7% off your bill for the first two months. But the best part is: they have a whole selection of GreenPower companies. I chose to go with ConEdison Solutions. They have two renewable energy offerings and I took the 100% wind one for one tenth of a penny more than my current rate. They also have 35% wind/65% hydro that would have been two cents less than my current rate. There's also some good biomass programs etc. worth looking at from the other ESCOs, but I chose to go with the cheaper option to help save me some money too. So, from now on, all my electricity (including my long lasting lightbulbs) is wind power! Really, if you're a ConEd customer, you've got no excuse. You can do it at the same price or even very slightly cheaper and they'll still be your delivery company.

Now, you Cali people are, unfortunately, behind the times. SDGE is making it's power more renewable, but it's not letting you guys do much to help. Still, you should check out their environmental section and tell them you want more green initiatives! PGE says it's going to offer some sort of voluntary program, so best keep an eye on that.

Love the planet, hate foreign oil, check it out. :-)

posted by Laura @ 1:00 PM 1 comments

I knew it!

Aha! You know how sometimes Cali people refer to earthquake season? It's TRUE!

California's cloudbursts pave the way for quakes

posted by Laura @ 2:33 PM 1 comments

My scrabble score

Ok. Actually this is weird. Did you know that every one of my names is 5 letters long? And 5 is my lucky number? Anyways:

Pholph's Scrabble Generator My Scrabble© Score is: 5. What is your score? Get it here.

In case you were curious, my middle name is also worth 5 points and my last name is worth 10. Weird, huh?

posted by Laura @ 3:51 PM 1 comments

sniff, sniff

I have the sniffles. It's very annoying. It feels like allergies, but I don't think it is. I think I'm done whining now.

posted by Laura @ 4:34 PM 0 comments

Promotion

Yup. It finally is official. I'm a Corporate Marketing Manager. Go me!

posted by Laura @ 2:40 PM 1 comments

SciFi meme

SciFi was my second love (after proper fantasy) but not one I kept up with particularly. Anyways, here goes:

“Below is a Science Fiction Book Club list most significant SF novels between 1953-2006. The meme part of this works like so: Bold the ones you have read, strike through the ones you read and hated, italicize those you started but never finished and put a star next to the ones you love.”

1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien*
2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov* (only read the first one)
3. Dune, Frank Herbert*
4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin*
6. Neuromancer, William Gibson
7. Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury*
11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
12. A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
13. The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
14. Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
15. Cities in Flight, James Blish
16. The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey*
22. Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card*
23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl
26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, J.K. Rowling*
27. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams*
28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice*
30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
31. Little, Big, John Crowley
32. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
33. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
34. Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
35. More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
36. The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
37. On the Beach, Nevil Shute
38. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
39. Ringworld, Larry Niven
40. Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
41. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
43. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
45. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
46. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer

Guess I have a few to read...

posted by Laura @ 6:12 PM 2 comments