If you've grown up in the U.S, no doubt you have come to associate the 4th of July with tasty grilled treats. I can't think of a better way to celebrate our nation's independence from Great Britain than to watch fireworks and gorge on juicy and crispy hot dogs, mouth-watering hamburgers, and other delicious morsels (veggies included). It's no surprise that Independence Day is the number one grilling holiday in the U.S. In fact, 88% of American grill owners choose to cook outside on this holiday (according to the International Weber GrillWatch Survey).
What is interesting, is that BBQ lovers across the world also choose their countries' national holidays as their top days for grilling. People from Canada to Denmark raise their spatulas in salute to holidays such as Canada Day (when 73% of Canadian grillers choose to cook outside), Australia Day (65%), Bastille Day in France (54%) and Mid-summer's Eve in Norway and Sweden (81% of Norwegians, 75% of Swedes).
Coincidentally, these dates also happen to fall between June and July (except for Australia Day, which is celebrated on January 26th during the southern hemisphere summer). I suppose people will use any excuse to grill when it is nice outside, and what better excuse than a holiday?
If you're looking for some unique things to throw on the grill this Saturday, check out these recipes for kabobs and salmon rosemary burgers. For the vegetarians out there, try grilling some zucchini or this recipe for portobello mushroom burgers. Yum!
You will find me in Brookings, OR this 4th of July, a small town on the Oregon coast where my family has gone almost every year for Independence Day since I was born. I usually leave the grilling to my dad (the king of the grill,) but maybe this year I'll spice things up and throw on a burger or two.
Happy grilling!
--Lauren
Photo taken from this photostream and used with permission of a Creative Commons license.
In these tough times, we are all looking at ways to save. For me, that means riding my bike wherever and whenever I can. Bicycles are a legitimate part of the nation's transporation mix, and more and more Americans are choosing to ride their bike to work. True, bikes come with some maintenance costs, but frankly paying $20 to $30 for a new bike tires or a bike seat every now and then is pocket change compared to the maintenance of owning a car.
So how big is the bike industry? And how much dough are you really saving if you ride a bike instead of drive a car? Check it out:
- In 2008, the U.S bicycle industry was worth $6 billion.
- 18.5 million bicycles were sold in the U.S in 2008.
- 44.7 million Americans age seven and older were estimated to have ridden a bicycle six times or more in 2008.
- On a round-trip commute of 10 miles, bicyclists save roughly $10 daily and spare the air 10 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. They also burn around 360 calories!
- Based on gas prices of about $4/gallon, the average annual direct cost of owning, operating, and driving a passenger car roughly 15,000 miles is nearly $14,000. It costs about $300 a year to maintain a bike on average.
As Queen once said, "I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride it where I like." Maybe if we all heeded these words, we'd become famous rock stars. Ok, maybe not, but at least we can save money and stay healthy!
--Lauren
Photo taken from this photostream and used with permission of a Creative Commons license.
When my cell phone contract came up for renewal, I decided to ditch my old phone for one that had everything I could want: Touch screen, applications to keep track of pro sports teams (Blazers!), a decent browser… I'm worth it, right?
With a bit of research I found a phone my carrier had available that was a solid pick. So I bought it, along with a new service plan to support the extra features that made it so enticing.
My bill went from $40 to $75 a month, and at some point I decided to purchase a custom ringtone and a couple of songs.
After a few months, my checking account was getting fried. I didn’t budget for my phone to cost twice as much as it used to, and I knew I had to get that monthly cost down. If you find yourself in this situation, there are a few ways to bail yourself out:
1) Beg. Seriously. Call up your carrier and give them the whole sob story about how your dog died, your wife up and left, and your cell phone is too expensive. Don't embellish the truth, but there's no reason to leave anything out, either. Stay polite, and frame it in such a way that the'll know you want to continue giving them money every month… just not as much.
2) Cut back on some of the goodies. If you can go without those extra 300 minutes you don’t use and you don’t need to check your email from your phone, consider dropping these services. They can weigh down an otherwise healthy phone bill.
3) Stop buying stuff! I understand now that I didn’t need that wickedsick Jo Bros. ringtone--those one- to three-dollar charges can really add up.
4) Drop names. Many service providers provide discounts for employees of certain companies, so it wouldn’t hurt to ask. You can also type “employer discounts *carrier*” into your search engine for more results.
5) Crank the DeLorean to 88mph and go back to the… past. You did keep your old phone, right? (If you didn't, you hopefully donated it to a worthy cause.) How about the box and all the accessories for your new one? Most service providers will allow you to drop back to your old plan - so long as you have a phone to accommodate it – and you can sell your new/old phone online, sometimes at a profit.
While I may have lost a few hundred bucks while overcome with new phone fever, I am thankful that it won't be sticking around for the next two years.
--Brandon
Photo taken from this photostream and used with permission of a Creative Commons license.
Here in Oregon, June is the transition month between rainy spring to glorious summer. If your closet looks anything like mine, it is a mess of winter sweaters, summer t-shirts, and old long sleeved shirts. So, the question is: what should you do to conquer your seasonally confused wardrobe?
There are plenty of consignment shops who are in need of your old winter clothes, and they will pay cash for that sweater you accidentally shrunk last winter.
However, don't confuse consignment shops with thrift stores. With thrift stores, the clothes you give are a donation and all profits end up going back to the thrift store or are donated to charity. Most thrift stores even offer a receipt to deduct the donation from your taxes. Consignment stores, on the other hand, split the profits with you. Keep in mind that most consigment stores won't accept merchandise unless it is in good condition. This is because the owners have to split their profits, and they want to get the highest possible price for their merchanise. For that reason, in-season clothes usually sell for more.
If you are looking for a good consignment store, Buffalo Exchange is a great place to start. It's a national used-clothing store that buys "quality" used clothes (sorry, no moth holes) and accessories in exchange for cash or for other clothing items in the store. To find other consignment stores in your area, check out yellowpages.com.
If you think your clothes aren't quite up to par, consider thrift stores such as Goodwill, The Salvation Army, and St. Vincent De Paul. Their revenues fund job training and other services to prepare people for job success. They also take used household goods (furniture, silverware, etc.). Best of all, donations are tax deductable!
It's a win-win situation. Not only do you clean out your closet, but you'll also earn cash or get a tax deduction at the same time! The only hard part will be figuring out how to sneak out that jacket your mom bought you last year without hurting her feelings...
--Lauren
Photo taken from this photostream and used with permission of a Creative Commons license.
If your old beater has seen better days, a government program might be able to help you get something new.
The Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) allows people to trade in their old cars to help the environment and the auto industry. If you qualify, you could receive $3,500-$4,500 to offset the cost of a newer, more fuel efficient vehicle. But it comes with a few restrictions:
• The vehicles must be in drivable condition, and have been registered and insured for the past year.
• For the most part, only vehicles that get 18 MPG or less qualify.
• The vehicle must be less than 25 years old.
• The money can only go toward the purchase or lease of a new vehicle.
For all the terms and conditions, go to cars.gov’s faq page.
Be aware that scammers are trying to take advantage of public interest in this program. Be wary of any emails or websites that want you to pre-register or give personal information to qualify for this program. This is available as a credit that new car dealers will apply to your purchase.
So, if you have an older car and have been thinking of upgrading, consider taking advantage of this program.
--Cody
Photo taken from this photostream and used with permission of a Creative Commons license.
Imagine you owe over $5,000 on your credit card.
Out of the blue, the company calls to ask if you can pay just 80% of the balance, and they’ll waive the rest.
You refuse. Then the company calls you later, and asks for only 50%.
If this seems impossible, then you need to reconsider our current economic climate. This scenario played itself out for a writer in Chicago, who agreed to the second deal and now has his debt paid off.
Default rates for some large credit card companies rose to record highs in May, but that doesn’t mean that you can just ask to have your balance reduced. Most customer service representatives are given strict limits on how much debt to forgive and to whom, but it's worth a shot.
Old advice is still best: Keep your credit card balances low, pay on time, and don’t depend on anyone but yourself to keep out of debt. Taking these steps, you won’t be likely to fall victim to debt collectors, who are having a banner year in 2009.
--Brandon
Photo taken from this photostream and used with permission of a Creative Commons license.
Imagine you’re sitting at your desk, taking care of a few odds and ends – homework, updating your Facebook page – and you come across a really cool listing. Better than even the most awesome “obey this rule” advertisement promising 8-pack abs or a 20-inch waist, you’ve found an actual job opportunity: In this case, a chance to intern at brass|MEDIA.
This moment came for me in late January. After writing an email of polite tone and tenor, I was offered an equally professional response. The gist was this: “Sorry, we don’t need anyone… ”
Ouch.
After struggling with what to do next, I decided it would be worth trying to get my foot in the door as a contributor. Opportunities came and went without any of them being assigned to me.
And who could blame them? What did I have to offer besides a thin portfolio and my boyish charm?
Left to marinate for a while, I was contacted by brass a few weeks ago and they asked if I was still interested in an internship.
“Well, I have offers from the New Yorker and Rolling Stone, so I don’t know if I can find time to… nah, I’m just playin’! Hook me up!"
And here I am. I have an office with real walls and a door that opens and shuts, and a window that offers a generous smathering of sunlight to permeate the fogged lenses of my tired 8AM eyes.
If anyone asks, there’s really only one rule to “obey” when trying to further your career: Don’t give up.
--Brandon
This year's National Texting Champion has been crowned. While some may view this activity as a waste of time, the 15-year-old text master took home $50,000.
The 250,000-plus contestants were tested for speed and accuracy before going through more difficult elimination rounds, including texting tongue twisters while being harassed by people wearing emoticon costumes... I really, really wish I could find a video of that.
For those that wish to unseat the Champion (not the Ignoring Adorable Puppy While Texting Champion pictured above), you'll have your hands full. Apparantly she sends an average of 500 texts a day, receiving bills that almost total 300 pages.
If you think you have what it takes, go to the offical site and bust out those thumb weights.
--Cody
Photo taken from this photostream and used with permission of a Creative Commons license.
Recycling is all well and good, but it's easy to forget that reusing products is another great strategy to help the environment. When reusing products you can be creative, taking things you normally would throw away and turning them in to products you would otherwise have to buy.
If you're stumped on how you do this with things you usually throw out, head to reusethis.co.uk. You can post problem items and members give suggestions as to what they can be used for. Also, you can go to their Archives section to browse earlier posts and see if your items have already been covered.
If you can't find a use for stuff you don't want, consider using freecycle.org. It's a website that allows people to give away goods, for free, to people in their community. The aim of the site is to keep down the size of landfills in the U.S., and what better way to get people to do what you want than by giving away free stuff?
However you do it, instead of watching your used goods get carted off with your trash, try reusing prodcuts to see the concrete benefits of your actions.
--Cody
Photo taken from this photostream and used with permission of a Creative Commons license.
Starting at midnight Eastern time on Saturday (June 13th), Facebookers around the world will be able to personalize their URLs. This means that the URL for your Facebook Pages and profile will no longer be a randomly assigned number. The idea behind this change is that Facebook is trying to make it easier to find people via search engines while boosting its Internet traffic.
Let's try an example. Say you are trying to find your friend Matt from high school. You type his name in the Google search bar and voila! It finds Matt, but it also finds 999 other Matts. However, when everyone has picked a Facebook username, that will no longer be an issue. Once Matt becomes bassethoundlover101, you will be able to type his username into a search engine searchbar and be able to find him immediately. Gone are the days of picking through hundreds people with the same name.
So if you have a username that you are burning to use, you better snag it quick. The new usernames for profiles and Facebook Pages are being offered on a first-come, first-serve basis, and squishysmurf354 might not be available for very long. Once you pick your new URL, make sure you like it, because once it's set you wont be able change it. Not allowing users to change or transfer URLs is to designed to prevent a username black market.
Also, if you were thinking of nabbing usernames like facebook.com/bradpitt, forget about it. Hundreds of vanity URLs have already been given out to celebrities and other prominent people on Facebook such as President Obama, according to the Inside Facebook blog.
According to Facebook's eligibility requirements, if you joined Facebook after 3 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, June 9, 2009, you will need to wait until Sunday, June 28, 2009 to become eligible to claim a username. This is to prevent people from creating new accounts just to take advantage of reserving a username.
Only Facebook Pages with over 1,000 fans before May 31st will be able to choose a username.
I will be sitting at my computer watching the clock with my fingers quivering anxiously over my keyboard. I've got my username picked out, do you?
--Lauren
PS: While you're on Facebook, make sure to check out brass' Facebook page.
Photo taken from this photostream and used with permission of a Creative Commons license.
