I started looking through all the clips we downloaded and noticed that each 30 - 60 second clip cost $50 to $100.  Since the only thing the stock video agency really has to do is host the files,  I knew that the margins on these clips had to be quite high.  The photographers had to be making a killing.

On average, for  every clip that is downloaded, the photographer gets about 50%.  When our project was all said and done we downloaded about 75 clips, totaling about $3,000 for the completed project.  So, $1500 of this went to the photographers.  Why wasn’t I in on this?!

I immediately went home and found some old archived footage Lauren and I had lying around that seemed like it might be useful to someone. I uploaded two clips to Pond5 just to see how this whole stock photography game works.  The clips were slightly outdated, and shot in standard definition, so it wasn’t the most sought after footage.  The point was, I got it up online.  I was excited, hopeful, and really pumped to start rolling in the dough.  I checked the site everyday. Day after day… nothing.

Here is what we uploaded:

After six months, we made our first sale!  We were making money while on vacation, in San Francisco, enjoying lunch overlooking the fisherman’s wharf.  Soon after, we made two more sales, three times in three weeks, and we are still on vacation, making money.  And that’s the best part.  It may take a few hours to go shoot a location, edit the footage and upload it to the site, but then the work is done.  All you have to do is sit back and relax while your clip is sold again and again.  Passive income at its finest.

I did a little math to figure out what we need to do to make a sale every day.

We’ve made 3 sales in 6 months (26 weeks) all the while having only had 2 clips online.

So to make a sale every week we need we need to upload 15 more clips

And, to make a sale every day we need 60 clips online.

It looks like we have a little work to do!

HyBrid Architecture

The average home in the U.S. is around 2400 square feet.  I will take mine in 160 square foot increments scattered around the world…

Hmm that gives me 15 unique locations… this could be fun!

Turn an old wine bottle into a indoor moss garden

re use galvanized pipe for candelabra

reuse hangers to create a beautiful pendant lamp

via dornob by Tatiana Bilboa

I just saw an article in the NYTimes - What’s Lurking in Your Countertop? and this could be the biggest selling point of our light white modern choices yet. The article reports on an experience a new homebuyer had when she found out the house she was buying had elevated levels of radon, so she hired a radon inspector to discover the source of the cancer causing gas.

“’He went from room to room,’ said Dr. Sugarman, a pediatrician. But he stopped in his tracks in the kitchen, which had richly grained cream, brown and burgundy granite countertops. His Geiger counter indicated that the granite was emitting radiation at levels 10 times higher than those he had measured elsewhere in the house.”

“When the technician told her to keep her daughter several feet from the countertops just to be safe, she said, ‘I had them ripped out that very day,’ and sent to the state Department of Health for analysis. The granite, it turned out, contained high levels of uranium, which is not only radioactive but releases radon gas as it decays.”

The article goes on to report that the EPA has seen an increase in the reports of “Hot” countertops as the popularity of granite increases.

The E.P.A. recommends taking action if radon gas levels in the home exceeds 4 picocuries per liter of air (a measure of radioactive emission); about the same risk for cancer as smoking a half a pack of cigarettes per day.

In another article Hostile Granite Showrooms Refuse to Discuss Radiation over at Green Building Elements details a women’s experience as she try’s to get more information about the potential health hazards by speaking directly with Granite Countertop dealers.

“I was basically thrown out of a showroom today for mentioning radiation to the owner.”

Whether or not there may be harmful radiation found within Granite, I am extremely happy with my choice of Corain, and I am extremely pleased with the results.

via Contemporist and Marcio Kogan Architects

I learned the hard way.  We recently had an electrician come in and do some work that required him cutting a few large holes into the freshly painted ceiling.  Long story short we had used up all our ceiling paint, so to Home Depot I went to buy another gallon to cover the new drywall.

Of course I bought the wrong finish, and now must make a second trip to the store, and a spend a second evening of painting.

Do it right the first time. You’ll thank yourself later.

Our unit provides central heating and A.C. But we never actually ran the air conditioning so I figured it would last most of the cold season. The weird thing is I checked the filter about a month and a half ago, and it looked clean as a whistle, but I wish the camera was not in Costa Rica so I could post a photo because upon pulling it out yesterday it was black.

It has occurred to me that I have gotten sick much more frequently in the past year than I ever have in my life. A large portion of the decline in my health can almost certainly be attributed to work; sitting long hours in an office chair and a lack of exercise. I would imagine there must also be some correlation between my current decline in health and the stress attributed to becoming a new homeowner six months ago in the face of one of modern histories worst economic climates.

In retrospect I wonder if this black air filter is more to blame than any of those other suspects. At any rate Its time to change your air filters.