Miscellaneous and Extraneous

1. The 50 Coolest Online Tools for Word Nerds

2. Apparently lots of people receive gift cards that they never intend to use. Card Pool is a site that buys back gift cards for slightly less than their value and then resells them at a discount. So if you have a $50 gift card to the Gap and you hate the Gap, why not sell it to Card Pool and pocket some cash? Or, if you love the Gap, head on over and buy a $50 gift card for less than $50! It's a win-win, and none of the cards have any strings attached or expiration dates.

3. My old camp pal Aaron Fay is an ophthalmologist. In addition to his work at Mass. Eye & Ear, he's also been known to travel to third-world countries to perform surgery on kids free of charge. This time he got to do it right here in Boston. Way to go, Aaron!

4. Mark Twain wrote an autobiography but left instructions that it was not to be published until 100 years after his death. Well, guess who died exactly 100 years ago? He sure knew how to keep himself in the limelight! The first of three volumes will be released in November.

5. See if your favorite sunscreen is on one of these lists–either the good or the bad one. Scary.

6. This just in: ELEVEN PLUS TWO is an anagram for TWELVE PLUS ONE.

7. People have been raving about Chipotle for a while, and we finally got one nearby. I'm happy to report that it's just as good as everyone says! We've taken out twice, and we've eaten every last morsel twice. I'm also very jazzed about the iPhone app, which lets you place and pay for your order so that all you have to do is dash in and pick up your food. And, speaking of the food, here's their "Food With Integrity" philosophy:

The hallmarks of Food With Integrity include things like unprocessed, seasonal, family-farmed, sustainable, nutritious, naturally raised, added hormone free, organic, and artisanal. And, since embracing this philosophy, it's had tremendous impact on how we run our restaurants and our business. It's led us to serve more naturally raised meat than any other restaurant in the country, to push for more sustainable practices in produce farming, and to work with dairy suppliers to eliminate the use of added hormones from their operations. It's even influenced the way we view other aspects of our business, from the materials and systems we use to design and build our restaurants, to our staffing and training programs.

I like that. And I like their website, which is not only informative, but also a lot of fun—for instance, check out the "PLAY" items.

Comments

[Nancy Friedman]

Last year, Chipotle sponsored free screenings of "Food, Inc." at 32 theaters nationwide, including one not far from where I live. Every person in the audience was given a coupon for a free Chipotle meal, too.

[jude]

that's funny! we ate there today after school!! we enjoyed also!!

[Elena]

Oh how I wish you had posted this a couple of months ago. We spent a few days in Ohio and searched high and low for places to eat out without great success. There was a Chipotle right in front of our hotel, but I didn't know anything about it. And I was even in possession of my brand new iPhone.