Sexy vegans

What do "American Idol" winner Carrie Underwood and Coldplay frontman Chris Martin have in common? They're the reigning king and queen of PETA's annual "Sexiest Vegetarian Alive" contest, in which visitors to PETA's GoVeg.com Web site voted for their favorite vegetarian celebrity.

Now, PETA has expanded its contest to include the vegetarian boy or girl next door. After the first round of votes was tallied, 25-year-old Pittsburgh native Gene Owens, who attended Woodland Hills High School and now resides in Atlanta, beat out hundreds of entrants from the United States and Canada as one of 10 male finalists.

A singer/songwriter, Owens uses music to speak out on a variety of social justice causes. He enjoys volunteering with Food Not Bombs, a group that prepares and distributes vegan food to homeless people.

Owens' photo and bio, along with pictures of the other contenders, can be viewed at GoVeg.com. Winners will be announced later this month.

Sales tales

Here's a sales pitch: Collect a bunch of quotes about sales tips and put them in a book. Title it "The 100 Greatest Sales Tips of All Time: Inspiring Advice and Savvy Tips From 100 Legendary Figures."

As edited by Leslie Pockell with Adrienne Avila, the pitch worked. It's $10 from Warner Business Books.

As an example, here's No. 40, a quote about a misquote: "Ralph Waldo Emerson was quoted as saying, if a man can make a better mousetrap than his neighbor, the world will make a beaten path to his door. His actual statement was written in a journal as follows: 'If a man has good corn, or wood, or boards, or pigs to sell, or can make better chairs or knives, crucibles or church organs than anybody else, you will find a broad hard-beaten road to his house, though it be in the woods.' "

Google prefers "will beat a path to your door" about 96,000 hits to 20,000, but you get the idea.

Spring break hot spots

Last year's hurricanes did a number on spring break traditions, but Miami remains No. 1 on the list of those booking their flings through CheapTickets.com. Cancun, however, slipped from No. 2 last year to No. 8, in part because of damage done to resorts by Hurricane Wilma.

South Padre Island, Texas, meanwhile, jumped from last place on last year's list to fourth.

The 2006 top 10: Miami, Daytona and Key West, Fla.; South Padre Island; the Bahamas; Panama City, Fla.; Jamaica; and Cancun, Acapulco and San Jose del Cabo, Mexico.

So much for the hurricane factor. Now we'll see how much damage students can do. Spring break does have a second meaning, after all.