John Dreves is known as the "Can Man". In the small town of Paradise, Michigan the retired postal worker has turned can collecting into a moneymaker for the local school. A bumper sticker on his car warns "This Suburban brakes for cans" and it does. Dreves began collecting 4 years ago when he helped Whitefish Township School raise $400 in a can drive. Now he, himself, raises nearly $400 a month. The more than 162,000 cans and bottles he has collected have enabled him to donate more than $16,000 to the school's sports program. Obviously, this is the work of a can-do man.
Richard Bernstein is also a can-do man. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Michigan before getting his law degree from Northwestern University. He now works pro bono for disabled rights, as well as being an adjunct professor of political and social activism at the University of Michigan. Bernstein has run 10 marathons and on June 22, 2008 he finished his first Ironman triathlon – running 26.2 miles, biking 112 miles and swimming 2.4 miles in 14 hours and 36 minutes. These are admirable accomplishments for any 34-year-old man. Bernstein, however, was born blind; but he has never lost sight of his goals.
Eric Anderson's original goal as an aerospace engineer was to go into space. Instead, as CEO of Space Adventures, he went into business with Russia's Federal Space Agency to carry customers into space. On October 12, 2008 his 6th customer paid $30 million to spend a week onboard the International Space Station. Now Anderson is commissioning construction of Space Adventure's own Russian-built Soyuz spacecraft. Once completed, the souped-up Soyuz will carry 2 passengers at a time on a trip around the moon. Considering that trip will cost $100 million per person, Anderson may have to wait for the economy to be souped-up too.
Tony Gemignani, chef/owner of Pyzanos Pizza in Castro Valley, California, waited until he had won the 2007 World Pizza Championship in Naples, Italy before opening his own pizza school in Manteca, California. The school's teachers include a master chef, the world's highest pizza tosser and the world's fastest pizza maker. Gemignani attributes his winning the championship to deseeding his tomatoes to prevent his pizza from being bitter. Nevertheless, because Gemignani is the first American to ever win the World Pizza Championship, there may be some Italians who are still bitter.