Not looking to buy a new computer? Check out these 5 tips to eco-fy your current PC:

1.       Set up sleep mode.

2.       Decrease your Microsoft Word margins.

3.       Clean your keyboard without chemicals.

4.       Recycle printer cartridges.

5.       Set up draft mode on your printer.

-Toshio...off to shut down...

I watch America's Next Top Model, The Hills, Lost, and The Colbert Report regularly, but I've created a policy for myself: Never stay home for a TV show when you could be out.

Three reasons why:

1.       Most new shows are downloadable online.

2.       If the show's worth watching, it'll come out on DVD.

3.       They rerun The Hills three times a day.

-Toshio...off to mourn the death of Heidi Montag's music career before it actually happens...

Whenever I'm mid-flight and in need of a laugh, or just a little reminder of how ridiculous the human race can be, I turn to SkyMall.

Over at Pandasmash, the editors pitted some of SkyMall's best-of-the-worst, next-to-useless gadgets against what-were-they-thinking gizmos and put them all to a vote. The Championship Round's resulting two worthless gadgets? The DayClock (a wall clock that doesn't tell you the time of day, just which day of the week it is) and the Solar-Powered Bible (a steal at $149.95). At least the latter is eco-friendly, I guess.

-Toshio...off to ask "why?"...

Seriously, I am a bit worried about myself.  I am wondering if QVC is in my near future.  Thing is, I haven't purchased much at all in the last 5 years of my life (since leaving a steady job in NYC, going to grad school, needing to slug along without much of an income as I built a few startups after the green MBA, etc.)  So now, I am happy to report that we can pay small salaries at Ideal Bite, and I feel rich!

This weekend as I waited for my friends to come over to pick me up (since I failed to get snow tires in time and it DUMPED here), I entertained myself by picking out an all natural yoga mat from GAIAM, and of course stocked up on some new eco-cleaning products since I will be having more guests come to town, and nothing says "i care about you" more than a clean house, IMHO.  (OMG, dude, am I turning into my mom????)

Too bad GAIAM isn't participating in our Green Tuesday, 15% off deal.  I would have saved a bundle.
Next year though, we can hopefully get 100+ green online retailers to participate... and hopefully that will convince people to save themselves, their time & money, and the planet next post-Thanksgiving shopping urge.

Off to look for shopaholic therapy... oh, I know how to do that... log into my bank account!- Jen

Heather’s Must-Have Downloads (aka: I’d put these on a mix for a yoga class - yes a yoga class - if I were still teaching):

• How to Save a Life – The Fray
• Some of them are Nice Days – The Honey Brothers
• All These Things that I’ve Done – The Killers
• The Heart of Life – John Mayer
• Hard to Concentrate – Red Hot Chili Peppers
• The Long Way Around – Dixie Chicks
• I Will Follow You Into the Dark – Death Cab for Cutie
• Chasing Cars – Snow Patrol
• Where Does the Good Go – Tegan and Sara
• Flying High – Jem

Go get ‘em, folks!  Downloading is a win-win: avoid songs you don’t want while you throw away your television-I-mean-CD-packaging... (first person to comment in the blog with the right answer - band name - to that italicized music reference gets a Biter tee...)

-Heather… off to BLARE "All These Things that I’ve Done…"

I find the title a bit ironic because after an entire day at the computer I definitely am low energy.  And since the laptop I use is high energy and I use it to warm my lap when the office is a bit nippy, let's talk about ways to KEEP OUR PERSONAL energy up when at the office.

Okay. Ideas? My starter list includes:

1. Coffee
2. Chocolate
3. Repeat both of the both, at the same time.

To be certain, I need to get up and do a little jig every once in a while to not get stuck, both energetically and with a big ol' butt.   

What about those yoga posses you can do?  Heather? Do you still read my blogs, sister-biter-o'-honey?

Just back from a little research- now I am definitely inspired; check it:

Human bodies are made to move. That's why working "mini" activity breaks into your day can really make a difference in how you feel and even how well you perform your job. Even the busiest person can do it. Just five minutes of movement every hour or two can boost your energy and improve your attitude. You'll find that getting your blood pumping and oxygen circulating will help you concentrate better and be more productive, calm, and efficient.

Okay bodacious biters.. I just checked out about 30 sites and this one is the one I am going to book mark... you can do these sitting at your chair.. and the seem to work on the stress aspect as well... Plus I like the little moving stick people. 

http://pages.britishlibrary.net/blwww3/deskexercises/

Be sure to keep me posted (like a post-it note) on how it goes!

Off to see about ordering one of those balance balls to sit on, to really get some ergo-going on. - Jen

Popping up, like corn, get it? Yeah, that was pretty lame.

Anyway, so I am not sure which I dislike more: plastics or monoculture farming. Most of you Biters know about the harms in plastics (in all three areas of their life: manufacturing, during their use, and then at the end of the lifeline). The altnerative to plastics has emerged - bio-based materials that have similar properties but bio-degrade.  But there's a catch:  the soy / corn is usually GE (genetically engineered).  And all GE foodcrops are grown in monoculture settings, which require more pesticides and the soil quality gets trashed.

But.. I like that we are at least trying to come up with solutions.  Here's a review from Wired from the Green Festival in SF last year where I saw this corn-based HP printer prototype:

For starters, HP has already undertaken a program in which it uses a wide variety of recycled consumer goods to build scanners. Now, the company has a prototype of a biodegradable printer made out of corn.

"You can't throw it in your backyard," said HP spokeswoman Lynelle Preston, adding that the prototype on display was a very early version of the printer. But "given the right conditions, it would disappear."

Off to eat my printer. Okay, I won't do that but I am hungry.  - jb

So I just had my old computer crap out, and Brett de Woody, our tech dude, is going to see if he can recycle it at Toshiba since I bought my new computer from them, and they have a buy-back deal where we can get $200 for my old laptop even though it is a Compaq - which is a great deal because it is going to take $500 to fix.

I had planned to have tried to return it and tell you all about the process by now, but Heather and I have traveling and Brett is trying to launch a new tip design by the time the Martha show airs (Oct 2) so alas, I will have to fill you in a bit later.  If you are curious, shoot me an email at jen@idealbite.com and I will make sure to send you each emails about the experience. (Okay, who are we kidding, the emails might come from an intern, but alas, that is just so every now and again I can actually get the ferg away from my computer.  Nevertheless, LYL.  - That's "love ya lots" in 8th grader language, which I dig.)

Off to dream of all the toxins we are saving by not sending my computer to the landfill and what we will do with the $200.  Hmm... I know... meet us at Plonk, Bozeman Biters!  - Jen

One of the great joys of my job is that I get to decide on editorial - what gets published when, who writes the blog, etc...

So it's no coincidence that this whole week is devoted to the car and issues surrounding autos.  See, with this Bay Area move - after not needing one for years - I need a car again, and this is the week I start shopping.

So what does a green girl do?  Hybrids are great, and they are practically CRAWLING all over the hills of San Francisco, but ultimately, it seems a little crazy to me to buy a brand-new car - even if it is a hybrid - when they are just going to come out with better and better models in the next couple of years.  I am not one of those people who approaches vehicle purchases like a mobile phone - expecting to upgrade every 18 months.  But I want the gas mileage.

The main problem for me with the hybrid is that I'm still relying on fossil fuels.  Yes, there are a whole host of issues around biodiesel, I get that (stay tuned tomorrow).  Yes, I can take it to CalCars and pay to have them convert me to an electric-hybrid combo, and I'd get 100+ mpg (but forego trunk space).  But ultimately, I like the idea of getting around - with comfort and style and warmth and room - without burning petroleum reserves. 

It lets me save the oil for my plane flights and wine importation.

-Heather... off to see a '76 converted biodiesel Benz.  White with red leather seats... wish me luck...

I remember when the simple fact that a light could be motion-sensor triggered at all was positively mind-boggling.  How on earth could I walk in front of something and make it go on? (Then again, I also remember when a remote control was fascinating beyond all comprehension).

So the fact that motion-activated, solar-powered outdoor lights exist is actually nothing short of magic, if you think about it.

Get some.

-Heather... off to contemplate other technologically magic things such as the fact that I could have 150 emails in my inbox already...

I learned about the retail process for things like stereos, TVs, computers, and was appalled.  Apparently they (the companies) deliberately hold things back for new releases of the product at least every six months.  So for example, think of all the old boom boxes that go to the landfill because people walking through Wal-Mart see the "next generation" one with a certain new feature and must have it because it is only $29.99. 

Designing for rapid extinction is what I call it.  For the product, for us.  There is already too much crap in the world from what-is-meant-to-be disposable (like plastic bags and diapers) without retailers also making disposable boom boxes.

Anyway, it is Monday and I am without coffee... sorry to "go off" but this is one of my hot buttons. What is the solution?  Closed loop manufacturing and retailing processes.  We lease the boom box from say Sony and then at the end of the life-span, Sony must take it back and disposing of it is very cost-prohibitive. So what do they do?  They start making 1) products that last, and 2) products that can be easily recycled into the next generation.

Off to find some coffee... I am out but luckily the Leaf & Bean in Bozeman is not, and their coffee is (dare I say) as good as or even better than Starbucks (which the town has fought to keep out, interestingly enough) - Jen

Here's the problem, however: apparently, when it comes to the sun, I'm not so bright.

So I put the batteries into the little box (which was sort of like wrestling a greased pig, but I prevailed, never fear).

I put the box onto a sunny ledge.

Nada.

I put the box right in the line of solar fire, in the brightest, most window-filled place in my apartment, with a ray of sunlight falling right onto it.

Nope. Nothing.

So in desperation on a sunny Saturday, I put the whole shebang outside right in the blazing rays.

Viola!

Apparently, that did the trick.

Sadly, now, I have to figure out how the hell to get the batteries out of the thing after I wrestled the little suckers in there.

-Heather... off to drink wine from France, since apparently, I didn't get enough while there...

Can we talk for one second about what a scam text books companies are?  They update 3 pages and call it the next edition, thereby forcing the students to keep buying new ones instead of just letting a second market for the old ones prosper.

When I was in undergrad I thought about the waste from the money perspective, since I would always walk out of the bookstore with a $500+ bill each semester.  Then more recently while getting my “green” MBA I thought more about the resources to produce these 300 page behemoths and where all these books went at the end of their short lives, killed for being a meager 3 pages different than version barely-different-but-$10 more edition.

During my MBA, I remember actually taking my $200+ managerial accounting book to the bookstore to sell it back, and they could only offer me $20 since a new edition was coming out. So I took matters into my own hands and went to eBay (which merged with Half.com).  So with a few keystokes (typing in the ISBN numbers) the book cover popped up in my eBay listing and I was in business.  I sold that book for $65 – somewhere else in the country another university wasn’t going with the latest and greatest version I guess. Sure, there are shipping charges, but you can ask that the seller pay, and with books you can ship media rate… like a buck or two a book.

Need to buy a book?  Sometimes you can even figure out which pages were updated, and if not significant, you can buy the older version for much less.  Do you know sometimes all they change is the coverdesign and maybe a few illustrations within???  Urg.  Anyway, highly recommended, and just say no to those book highway robberies by doing the eBay / Amazon.com thing. Both buy and sell.   You and your wallet will be very glad you did.

Off to dust off some of my old MBA books… definitely not to read (I have too many damn emails – who needs books?) to ship off in brown bag wrapping to the next aspiring green business exec –

Jen

It one of the contradictions of my life, and I am not sure if I will suffer indefinitely (along with my string of boyfriends). Here is the thing: my Dad, although a pilot by profession, could do everything…. from building a big turtle playground cage when I found Murtle the Turtle at the age of 8, to building houses to make extra money as the airline industry wavered and sometimes faltered.

To this day, he continues to be the guy who can do anything, fix anything.  For example, when he came out to Montana to visit, Cricket had chewed through a hot synch cord for my Pocket PC (bad Crickity!).  I showed him all the things I had to do but hadn’t had time (this huge, huge stack of stuff) and he just went at it, first starting with splicing my hot synch cord back together, and next building extra closets for me to store the stuff he couldn’t fix… or wouldn’t fix, like my pants that needed stitching.

And because I am so “yang” I find boyfriends that are more “yin” – the artist, the compassionate, the dreamer.  Usually “handyman” isn’t one of their qualities.  Which hurts in more ways than one!  I remember literally pulling a hammer out of one of boyfriend’s hands because he was hammering the nail on a diagonal which would have splintered the wood, and then I took over.  (Yeah, wasn’t my finest moment, or his.)

So this goes out to all our boy Biters…. get some rechargeable batteries so you can be the night in shining vegan workboots when the remote goes out, (and maybe take a shop class if you think you might not know how to drive a nail straight) and let the good times roll.

Off to chop some wood for the very energy efficient wood burning stove. (Kidding, I had the wood delivered.)

- Jen

Coming back from grabbing an early morning cappuccino in the bracing Brooklyn wind, I just dropped my iPod in spectacular fashion.

So far, so good, as it seems to work still.

But in the mad panic that ensued while I was unsure about whether or not it survived its tumble, something became quite clear to me:  I am an iPod addict.

I mean, I am fairly certain that most normal people can handle a 5-minute walk down the street without needing a soundtrack to be playing in the background.  But not me.  I feel weird when I head to the subway WITH someone and thus have to forego my iPod.  While we sit or stand on the train, talking, I have a little bitterness that I can't put my buds in my ears - that there is no music providing the backdrop to the rocking of the train.

I'm pretty sure this is not healthy.  In fact, maybe I need to go on one of those intervention reality shows to wean myself off my addiction.  I can see it now: crying friends, explaining to me how they felt unloved while I "tuned" out, neighbors articulating how I have destroyed our relationships - strutting down the street, completely missing their pleasant greetings, family members waxing nostaligic about the "Old Technophobe Heather" who couldn't even figure out how to make her Walkman work correctly...

Oh, that wily Steve Jobs.  He's my pusher.

-Heather... off to back up all my digital music in case the blasted thing really broke...

We've said it before, we'll say it again. Solar toys are the adult Cabbage Patch Kid/Furbies/Pokemon Cards of the 2005 holiday season. By this time next year, everyone will be charging their iPods and cell phones while walking down the street, so if you want to stay cool and cutting edge, you better get your solar toys this season.

Since we heart solar toys here at the Bite today (oh yes), here's a little list of some of the best the industry has to offer:

• Reware Juice Bag
• Voltaic Systems

• Mr. Light - Christmas Lights
• Gaiam Outdoor Spotlights

• Solio
• Reware Power Pockets

Or... be the BMOC with the biggest toy on the block - kit out your whole house. Get a contractor to install a roof system and get a 30% tax credit starting January 1^st (up to $2,000): http://www.findsolar.com/index.php.

So listen, Biters, every two minutes the sun beams as much energy down on Earth as everyone on it generates in a year... go grab yourself some.

There is something wrong with me.  If you take a digital picture with me in it, something invariably gets messed up.  Your camera gets stolen, you erase the entire disk or everything double-exposes in a medium where that can't really happen (all true stories). 

Because of this oddly vampiric digital photo tendency, I have yet to get a digital camera.  It's on that list of things to buy "someday" (alongside an apartment and new running shoes).  Until then, I slog along with my regular film camera, always feeling a little guilty at the smell of the developer chemicals and the volumes of photos I throw out so that no one can see the bad shots... 

-Heather... off to dream of that little tiny Sony digital camera the size of a credit card...

Me?  I'm not so into the miniature stuff.  Now, my hands aren't particularly large, but who can dial on those things?  The smaller those buttons get, the more clumsy I seem to become.  And Treos or Blackberries or Nanos?  Don't even get me started.  I have NO clue how people can type on those things without resulting in complete typo-ed gibberish.  So - instead of recycling my old phone, I'm just going to keep it so my ten thumbs can still find the right buttons.

Speaking of pizzazz - if you are in a major metro area, check out www.dodgeball.com.  It's like Friendster or MySpace in your phone.  I have a friend who is ALWAYS on the cutting edge of the next big wireless thing, and she swears by it.

-Heather... off to tell all 2 people in my Dodgeball network that I am - as always - at work...

Labor Day weekend. Beautiful beach in Connecticut. Friend turns to me and says "Imagine what the aliens must think - seeing all these people with white wires hanging out of their ears all the time."

Aliens aside, yes, we live in a time where we are becoming iPod junkies.

Because I have a mad obsession with my iPod and find myself downloading too much music, I like to latch onto any justification I can find for my insanity. Thus, I prefer to think about the fact that I am getting music that doesn't require any plastic CD cases or shipping, and that also doesn't require that I brave the lines at the Virgin Megastore.

Another killer thing about downloading music? Celebrity playlists. Feel incredibly voyeuristic as you see what "mix tapes" your favorite artists make and listen to.

Songs to download:

• Portions for Foxes - Rilo Kiley
• Some of Them are Nice Days - The Honey Brothers
• Better Together - Jack Johnson