1) They had free wi-fi

2) I wanted to make some new friends.

My plan went sour when I was informed by the coffee house wi-fi server
that I was not allowed to go to my intended website.   Apparently, the
company is against online dating.  I like online dating.

Online dating saves money.  (That is if you use a free dating site)

I am a bit of a value fan.  Some people say I am cheap but I
am not cheap. I am efficient.  I’m not going to say what coffee shop I
was in but I’ll give you a hint.  It is everywhere.
Plan A to meet people didn’t work.

Plan B
I was forced to attempt to talk to the strangers in the coffee shop.
Complete strangers, not the good kind of strangers.

Not a dating website stranger.

Not cute strangers with similar taste in movies and books
and cute pictures they took of themselves with a phone.
Strangers are strangers in coffee shops but there are clues. You
shouldn’t judge a book by its cover but we all find ourselves judging
people by the cover of the book they are reading.

I was reading cliffs notes so I suppose I appeared efficient. I used
to read cliffs notes because I was a lazy high school student.  I
read cliffs notes as an adult because I am efficient.

Since we do judge each other by what we are reading, I wish I had a
book titled “How to Stay Awesome” written in big letters on the cover.
Women would think wow that guy looks pretty awesome.

I recently ordered a book from betterworld.com.  I was proud to order from my company because I know that Better World Books erases carbon foot prints.

If you don’t know what a carbon footprint is… don’t
worry about it. I felt smarter before I tried to understand the
concept.  This is how I understand it. A carbon footprint is like
gingivitis and Better World Books is like Listerine but Listerine that
also raises funds for non-profit literacy partners.

Carbonfund.org Pioneers Carbonfree™ Shipping

A pioneering program to offset shipping-related carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions, Carbonfree™ Shipping, is being launched today, according to Carbonfund.org. The program was designed in conjunction with Carnegie Mellon University’s Green Design Institute. It involves a breakthrough method for calculating shipping-related carbon dioxide emissions. The first four companies to participate in the program are BetterWorld.com, evo (Evogear.com), 3r Living, and alonovo.com.

How the Program Works

When a shipment travels from a warehouse to its destination, fossil fuels are burned, producing CO2. CO2 is one of the primary gases contributing to climate change. Carbonfund.org worked with a research team at Carnegie Mellon to design a proprietary method for determining how much CO2 is produced by each shipment.

The shipping industry moves billions of units every year and accounts for more than 600 million tons of CO2, according to US government figures. This is more than the CO2 emissions for the entire country of Canada. The Carbonfree™ Shipping program has the opportunity to revolutionize how this industry deals with its carbon emissions by providing an easy and affordable offset solution. A typical package will cost just a few pennies to offset the climate impact, depending on the weight of the shipment, the method of shipment, and the distance the package will travel.

How Carbon Offsetting Works

The initial program partners – BetterWorld.com, evo, 3r Living, and alonovo.com – have agreed to “offset” the CO2 created by their shipments. Carbon offsets zero out CO2 emissions from one source by reducing the emissions from another. For example, Carbonfund.org uses offset funds to support renewable energy projects such as wind and bio-fuels that reduce or offset CO2. Carbonfund.org also supports energy efficiency and reforestation projects that effectively rendering the activity “carbon neutral”. Offsetting helps underwrite the development of a renewable energy infrastructure.

Starting today, all shipments from BetterWorld.com will be Carbonfree™

Evogear.com and 3r Living will offer the Carbonfree™ option to their customers; alonovo.com is integrating the option into their platform.

“This is a big step forward for the fast-growing carbon offset industry,” says Eric Carlson, executive director of Carbonfund.org. “This program demonstrates that individuals and companies can have an impact on this global problem, one shipment at a time. It also proves that it’s not nearly as expensive to deal with climate change as many people might think.”