Thrive to 105

Information Junkie Day…and do I have some fun “junk” to share!  Here we go…

The July 15, 2010 edition of Bottom Line Personal had quite a few gems I found interesting:

• Buzzillions.com – This is an awesome website that will help you with your purchasing decisions.  Somewhat like a Consumer Report, the reviews of the items at this site (over 11.5 million, BTW) are all done by average Joes like you and me!  They have every category imaginable (electronics, computers, sporting goods, home and garden, shoes, toys, YOU NAME IT!).  Plus on the home page, you will see the Most Popular Top 10 Lists (washers, robotic pool cleaners, hybrid bikes, etc.).  On the right-hand margin, you’ll see an ever-changing  selection of individual product reviews.  It’s a well laid out, clean, user-friendly site.  The product review pages even have Q&A sections for people who are looking but need more information.  Before you part with those big bucks, you may want to try it out!
• Frequent Flier Award Tickets – In a recent poll of 22 airline websites checking on the availability of free tickets using Frequent Flier miles, results confirmed what most of us already know…all airlines are not created equal!  Not surprising to me, Southwest Airlines came up the big winner, fulfilling 99% of the free ticket requests.  They really are the way to go these days (i.e. no baggage charge and extremely easy online flight changes).  Next in line unfortunately (unless you’re traveling internationally) were Air Canada (94%), Lufthansa (86%), Alaska (75%)…oops, how did that get in there?…and Qantas (73%).  United and American weren’t horrible, I guess…69% and 58%, respectively.  But if you’re planning on using your Delta or US Airways miles (13 and 11%), good luck!
• Do you use bulky, awkward-to-handle bags of dry goods (i.e. rice, flax seeds, beans, and bird seed) on a regular basis?  Well, here is an intriguing product…the Bag Spout.  In a nut shell, there are a couple parts that go together and form a “collar” for the corner of the bag; then a cap attaches to the collar, creating a pour spout, of sorts.  The website (Lee Valley) caters to people who do woodworking and gardening, and it’s a company based to our north (Canada).  I think it’s a handy little item (#EA158) and reasonably priced, as well…..only $3.95 for two!
• Shorter days! Don’t you just love little bits of useless knowledge?  Apparently, the earthquake in Chili this past February (8.8 on the Richter scale) made the Earth “wobble” on its axis, increasing the rate at which it rotates by 1.26 microseconds!!!!  Do you know what this means???  Are you sitting down???  After 130,000 years, our days will be 23 hours and 59 minutes long!  Yes, that’s right, days will be one minute shorter within the next 1,300 centuries.  Now I’m planning to live a good long time, but I think I’m not going to worry about that little “issue”.
• Grilling and carcinogens – I know I’ve written about this before, but it’s worth repeating, in my humble opinion.  Even people who make an effort to eat more healthy love to grill their foods.  Personally, I try to avoid food cooked on a grill; but I know I’m in the minority on this one (and believe me…I do love a charcoaled hotdog, for sure!!!).  So here’s the deal…USE A MARINADE!!! It’s such an easy solution to a rather serious situation. Follow these simple guidelines, and you can reduce the carcinogens produced from grilling your meats by up to 90%…that’s huge!

Marinate for at least 20 minutes

Season with antioxidant herbs, such as turmeric, garlic, ginger, rosemary and cumin

Grill at cooler temperatures – sear the meat briefly, then cook slowly at low temps

Cook the meat rare, medium-rare or medium (be sure to cook poultry to an internal temperature of 165 degrees)

Use lean cuts to avoid “flare ups” caused by fat dripping

“Smoking” may increase cancer risks

Grill veggies instead…brushing with olive oil prior to grilling.  HCAs and PAHs (carcinogens) are only created from animal proteins

• Islands for sale! No doubt buying an island is on your bucket list…and I’m here with the website that will help you make that dream come true…Private Islands Online!   I went online and found locations in South and North Carolina…so you don’t have to go far for your island!  The one in South Carolina, called Live Oaks Island, has a “motivated seller”, so you should probably jump on that one if you don’t mind staying state side!

Okay, this is my last bit of info junk for the week!  You know I had to include more than just one “healthy”-type bit of info.  I’ve told you about grilling, now I want to give you a website (found in my Eating Well Magazine, July/August 2010) where you can actually order your own customized energy bars!  It’s called YouBars.   Isn’t that cool??!!  Build-A-Bar!! This site is AWESOME!  Not only can you customize your own energy bar, but you can also customize your own trail mix, cereal, shakes, and cookies!  Once you create your item, it even provides a Nutrition Fact bar for it!  Granted, these bars aren’t cheap ($2.99 each), but not much that’s customized is!  They even print your name on YOUR bars.  I think I’m going to try it!

Let me know if you check out and/or try any of these sites and let me know what you think…especially if you buy that island you’ve been wanting!  I expect an invitation for a little vacation!  Have a great week!

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