Monday, December 31, 2007

Convenience

I can't believe I didn't include that in the set of values in the last post. It is the value that is highly sought after (especially in the US) and also often runs contrary to the other values. How can we have convenient food that is not packed full of unnatural preservatives in packages that destroy the environment? That will probably be the most difficult to overcome.

In many ways, convenient food could be less wasteful. For example, peeled carrots weigh less than their unprocessed counterparts and therefore take less fuel to transport. Does that make up for the machines that cut them? Do they have to then be kept in more packaging and/or liquid to stay fresh? Not sure. But maybe things like this can strike a balance.

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Motives

Maybe it's just me, but I don't think so. There has been a recent dramatic shift in the way people think about food in this country. While, that's probably the case, there are definitely several different motives for these shifts and they all seem to relate to the amount of information available. Here are some that come to mind:

1. Environmental Impact of the process and delivery
2. Health/Nutritional value of the food
3. Food safety (E-Coli, mad cow, lead, pesticides, etc.)
4. Community support (in the form of local farms, co-ops, markets, etc.)
5. Variety of food (exotic, variety for nutrition)
6. Monetary cost (to consumer)
7. Support of economies in need (not always local)
8. National security (having an adequate supply of food lest the entire world embargo us)

Sometimes these values can be mutually exclusive (e.g. 4 and 7) but they don't always have to be. I just finished reading Movable Feasts by Sarah Murray. It is an interesting tale of several food items and how they are moved from their place of origin to our dinner plates.

It's clearly a book written by a talented travel writer. But she also takes the position that long-distance travel is a good thing for us and for the world -- mainly focusing on the variety and supporting economies in need arguments. However she attempts an environmental argument as well. Part of it is completely valid in my mind and we should all consider it as we have more information about where our food comes from and we're making decisions about which of that is aligned with our values. That argument is that it is sometimes more energy efficient to import food from elsewhere than it is to grow it closer to home (with heated greenhouses, for example).

Her other argument for the environmental benefit of shipping food long distance is that driving to the farmer's market uses more energy than shipping the food in a container ship (per capita). However, she leaves out that driving to the grocery store where you buy the container-ship-provided goods uses the same amount of energy (presumably) as the grocery store. So it falls short of convincing.

Where Michael Pollan's book Omnivore's Dilemma helped me to see that it's not just organic (which has its problems) that's good, but also local, Murray's book helped me see that it's not just local either.

Making decisions about the food we eat is extremely complex if we're trying to account for the different values laid out at the beginning of this post. However, the industry is learning that we want more transparency about sources and things are getting better. If you're concerned about the food you eat, maybe you will consider asking your grocer and/or favorite brands more about the sources of the food.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Sweet Dreams

When getting ready for bed one night (with my 8-year-old sister), I turned on the ceiling fan. I immediately had second thoughts, which I expressed to her, since the fan was so loud (not to mention energy inefficient).

She assured my everything would be all right by suggesting "Just think of it as a lullaby. woo--ooo--wooo--ooo--woo"

Letter to Mommy

Dear Patti and Lori,

I know you don't believe in me.

Signed,
Santa


[I found this note written in my 8-year-old sister's (impeccable) handwriting]

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Indiana is Awesome

Today, on my way to get the finishing touches done on my sister's Christmas present, I discovered a nail salon. Jimmy's Nails. It was a non-descript white plywood sign painted with red block letters. ORCA and I walked in and we looked a little different from the rest of the crew, but we were welcomed.

Not only did we get our nails painted, but we also got designs painted on. ORCA got butterflies on a blue background and I got "simple chic" black, white, and silver glitter swoops on peachy gold.

Total cost: $8 (yes, for both)
Total paid because I'm a New Yorker: $15

I'm sending mom tomorrow.

Friday, December 21, 2007

Diamante on a Tesselation

H2O

Snow
White, Fluffy
Falling, Drifting, Melting
Playing in it Rocks.
Flowing, Dripping, Splashing
Wet, Liquid
Water

Written by ORCA and Chrystina

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Hangover Karma

Today I got a call from a friend, we'll call her Lady, asking me where I was. Well, I was in the basement of a Chinese junk shop called Pearl River in SoHo/Chinatown looking at curtains. She happened to be just finishing a shopping trip at Banana Republic where she had met some interesting new friends.

The women in front of her in line started chatting about how hungover they were and then asked Lady whether she liked the Knicks. She, coincidentally, had been trying to get to a game ever since taking a big exam in early December and told them that. So, since they were in no shape for a basketball game, they offered her tickets to tonight's game! And then she, being the dear, wonderful friend she is, called and asked if I would like to join her.

Let's suffice it to say that I didn't buy any curtains tonight, but I did buy a Budweiser.

Final Score: Knicks 108, Cavaliers 90

Chrystina and Lady: Totally satisfied (not to mention the spice of our row of doting men)

Monday, December 17, 2007

Fire the Litter!

It's obnoxious to me that people litter and spit on the sidewalk, in the subway, and in other public places. This morning I was nearly spattered by some dude's phlegm and spittle because he was standing in the doorway of the train (also annoying) and attempting to spit between the train and the platform. On my way home I saw this sign ironically lying on the floor of the car and thought it was fitting. Not only does litter cause fires which delay trips, but as far as I understand it, litter also clogs drains, which in NYC causes floods in the subway and disables the system, as we learned this summer.

There's really no excuse for this. There are plenty of garbage bins in the subway system and on the streets of New York. You don't need to throw stuff on the tracks and we shouldn't see trash and gum on the sidewalks either, but we do. I realize it's a free country, but the tragedy of the commons prevails I guess. If it's easier (and free) to let someone else clean up your mess, then you will.

I choose to self-regulate and mitigate my negative externalities if I can help it. At the risk of sounding preachy, I think you should too. Do you think we could come up with a cap-and-trade market for litter? I would make so much money.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Reprieve

I know what you're thinking: not another post about corn! I was tempted. I even have one drafted on the topic of ethanol subsidies since I read an Economist article about it, but I'll spare you for now. On to another grain-related consumer good: beer!

I've recently noticed a lot of traffic on my site coming from people who are searching for "buying beer in New York" or some variation thereof. I went back and read that post and other than commiseration, it doesn't really help anyone. However, in my discussions of this topic and further research, I've discovered that it's not all that impossible, and my reasoning may have lacked a little information.

Most of the difference can probably be explained by liquor laws rather than space premiums and packaging. There are several different classes of licenses broadly ranging from wholesale to retail and from beer to liquor. A liquor license, for example, is more than 10x the price of a beer (only) license.

There are fabulous places to buy beer and it doesn't have to be too expensive--especially if you expand your horizons to include Brooklyn. Here are a few ideas:

Bierkraft - Tons of selection. Reasonably priced. Amazing knowledge from the staff. Delicious cheese. Tasting classes on Tuesday. These get a lot of hype, and for good reason, but get there early because tickets go fast and if you're in the back of the room, you might not be able to hear, and it's not worth it just for the couple of sips of free beer and cheese.

Park Slope Food Coop - If you're willing to work there and invest in the cause, the beer is cheap and selection is pretty good.

Rite Aid - I know it sounds crazy, but actually, liquor licenses for drug stores are cheaper than for other places, so it makes sense. Selection leaves you wanting, however.

Brooklyn Brewery (Happy Hour on Fridays from 6-11, but either bring your own food or get ready to order from their massive menu collection. Beers are $4 a piece. Fresh, delicious, and cheap!)

There are plenty of other places to buy beer in New York, so don't get upset if you don't find what you're looking for on the first try. Of course, if you're from the west coast and you're looking for Deschutes or some other home town microbrew, well, those guys don't distribute out here, so you'll have to find something else.

Drinking local beer is a good idea anyway, if only for the reduction of fossil fuel use. Try Sixpoint! I'm not quite sure what they're up to, but their website has been under construction for a while now and from the looks of it, they have some plans for change in the rest of the organization as well.

Cheap Food

I wrote this long ago, and it's probably gotten your attention through more traditional media by now, but no point in keeping it in draft mode. It probably needs an update given the news with the farm bill, but I have to make sure I know what's going on there before updating.

Maybe you've noticed... the price of food went up drastically this year for the first time since the early 70's. An article in The Economist highlighted the issues and I've summarized them below.

Ethanol, the way we make it from corn, is not much (or maybe any) better than burning fossil fuel as far as net environmental impact is concerned. The one thing it does do is reduce our dependence on foreign oil and potentially reduce our lust after the Arctic oil, which would be a good thing to deter. However, other ethanol, particularly the sugar-based ethanol being produced in Brazil is much cleaner. But that wouldn't reduce our dependence on foreign energy, so the US slapped a whopping 54 cents per gallon tariff on it.

What does this mean? Well, the prices for corn went way up because corn became more valuable when it was used for SUVs instead of for feeding people. (The amount of corn you would use to fill up the tank on an SUV could feed a person for a year. (Not that you'd want to eat corn everyday, but still.))

This means two things: (1) products made with this commodity (like tortillas, and soft drinks, and chicken fingers) went up in price, and (2) farmers changed their plans to plant other crops like wheat and soybeans in order to make corn, since it was commanding a higher price. This reduced the supply of the crops not planted and accordingly raised their price. Net effect? More expensive food.

So expensive food could actually have some positive effects: farmers making more money and therefore able to support themselves without the government subsidies. That would reduce everyone's tax bill and that is generally a nice thing. So the folks on the production end would be doing better. In third-world economies, this is great because over 50% of the population is typically on the producing side. In our economy, that's not the case. The Economist suggests subsidizing the urban poor i.e. the folks on the consumer side rather than the farmers because it is less likely to distort the market value of the food.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Food Bill

The article I suggested in an earlier post is actually a really nice summary, in case you haven't read it yet. It tells you all of this issues on the docket and gives you the skinny on each side's argument. There's also an interesting set of interviews linked from that page if you have half an hour to listen. These links below are to the same article with a mini-summary from me.

  • Crop Subsidies
    • Should we continue to use tax-payer money to subsidize commodity crops? If so, should we make some changes to the structure? What about tariffs?
  • Qualifying for Payments
    • Should big agri-business benefit from subsidies or should there be a cap that only supports smaller farmers. And if so, what should the cap be?
  • Conservation Programs
    • Paying farmers not to farm the land, paying them to clean up the land, paying them to use more environmentally beneficial practices
  • Food Stamps
    • Providing subsidies to food consumers (as opposed to food growers/producers)
  • International Food Aid
    • How should we structure giving food (or other goods/money) to foreign nations in need of aid? Is giving out food the right answer? Is our subsidy system shutting out third-world farmers?
Disclaimer: I am not an expert. I have read a few books and articles and seen one very interesting documentary. However, as a consumer in this food system, I think it's my right to speak out about it. Feel free to comment and/or correct me where I'm wrong.

Basically, the problem as I see it, is that we subsidize based on the needs of a previous generation and because we have different problems than they do, the process needs to evolve if we want to ease the problems we're seeing today.

What are our problems?
  • obesity
  • diseases associated with obesity (heart disease and diabetes to name a couple),
  • environmental degradation
  • economic imbalance
Much of this has to do with the fact that we subsidize commodity crops which aren't actually food until processed (generally using chemicals). Because we subsidize these commodities, we're encouraged and therefore inclined toward eating and feeding our livestock things that we and they haven't evolved to eat. For us that means things like high fructose corn syrup and any number of preservatives, flavorings, dyes, and sweeteners. For cattle and other livestock that means eating corn (the commodity kind, not the sweet delicious goodness that you buy on the cob).

These manufactured food items for us mean that our diet is much less varied. Our bodies are designed, for better or for worse, to get a large array of nutrition which typically comes from many sources. When all of our food contains corn products or is unnaturally raised on corn, this diminishes the variety even when we think we are eating a variety. Plus it supports an economy based on only 5 main crops: corn, soybeans, rice, wheat and cotton. I also tend to think that our ready-made meals (which are largely corn- and soy-based) break down some of our community bonds that come with gathering, preparing and eating of food, but this article is long enough and I don't need to get into that here.

For livestock (keep in mind that I know most about cattle), this corn-based diet is destructive because their digestive systems are designed to process grass. Remember in 1st grade when you learned that cows have 5 stomachs and you thought that was amazing? Well it is pretty amazing. They are able to turn grass into protein in that system--no small feat! It is also beneficial for them to actually graze in a pasture and get some exercise and get some relief from their own waste. However, instead of letting cows do what cows would likely do on their own, we trap them in confined areas where they are encouraged to eat (literally) tons of food that they normally wouldn't touch--all while standing in a slurry of their own manure. This diet and the unsanitary living conditions combine for a negative effect on the health of the cattle. So, instead of having healthy, happy, grazing cattle, these factory farm systems choose to continue this practice and just feed the cattle antibiotics to treat infection. I think we all know where too much antibiotic leads us. Nowhere good.

It's also interesting to know that the government's meat quality ratings are at least somewhat based on having a good "marble" to the beef. Marbling means that there is visible fat in the meat. So our government is promoting fattier meat. It comes as no surprise to me that the same thing that is making our cattle sick and fat is the same thing that makes us sick and fat.

Another underlying issue to the whole debate is the notion of the small family farmer. At the beginning of the Depression, nearly 50% of people were involved in small-scale farming, now only 2% of our population is working on family farms. There's an argument that since we have had so many advances in technology and efficiency, why support the old system? The people who argue against family farms also call it a romantic notion.

Romantic doesn't have to mean wrong if you ask me. I think it would be pretty awesome if when I visit my uncle's farm in Iowa that I would be offered freshly picked food from the farm. However, aside from a small garden which you could have in a suburb, all there is is chemical-heavy #2 corn, which is not edible by humans. It's more complicated and complex to have a food system that is based on small family farms. We wouldn't have 5,000 identical ears of corn or apples or heads of lettuce in our grocery store, but we might actually be able to get all of our nutritional needs met through our food and not have to worry about supplements and pills and antibiotics etc. in order to be healthy.

What a world would that be?

Friday, December 14, 2007

Mixer

Apparently, wine and sambvca and tequila and chicken fingers and shrimp and mini burgers don't mix. Today was greeted with a nauseating headache and a will to die. I made it to work curled up in a ball next to the door of the train and I received applause when I walked into the office. Yes, it was the day after the company holiday party. Free drinks are dangerous. So are cameras.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Farm Bill

Yes, I know it sounds weird and country of me, but PLEASE read about the Farm Bill. It's apparently gaining momentum in the senate and we have a DUTY to be knowledgeable about it. I would summarize it for you, but I'm afraid I'm remiss in my reading of it as well.

Food is something that we can take for granted especially in this country, but it is not to be taken lightly. It is a basic element of our daily lives and therefore critical to our health and well-being. We often blindly eat whatever comes in the box or tray or bag not thinking of where it comes from or what has happened to it on our way to our plates. It's so easy to do that. I do it. But we shouldn't. Not only because of what it could do to us personally in the short or even long term, but what it can do to our shared environment, the people who grow it, the economy, and many, many other systems and players.

So please, read something about the farm bill and see what the senate has in store for us. And then maybe contact your senator and tell her what you think.

Quadruple Fives

Tonight, Grant and his brother were playing backgammon while I researched Ayurvedic stuff on the internet. His brother was completely smoking him and had about one roll left before the game was over. On Grant's next turn he yelled out "quadruple fives!" His brother responded, "if you get it, you win." So Grant took his brother's dice, shook all four together in his hands, and lo and behold... he actually rolled quadruple fives. Someone please comment on the probability of that happening and don't forget to factor in that he called it.

I wonder what else he knows...

Pitta Kapha

My roommate has spent a considerable amount of time in Nepal and a considerable amount of time dreaming he is in India (he's traveled there too, but not as intensely as the Nepal time). That brings with it certain knowledge and interest. One, of course is Bollywood, which I will not get into now. The other is the Ayurveda.

There are three body types or Doshas in the Ayurveda: Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. Everyone is a combination of all three, but most people will have a pretty clear front runner. Many will also be in the middle of two, though that's not discussed in the websites I've visited tonight. It's in the book.

You can take a quiz here. I've looked at a few online and this one seems to be the most flexible and therefore most telling. It's kind of fun just for the novelty, but it's also really interesting to see the ancient wisdom and how that works. I thought about trying to change my diet and lifestyle to be more congruent with what I "should" be eating according to my body type, but haven't been able to change quite that much yet. Maybe that will be my next habit (or habit breaking).

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Clearing the Clutter

I'm really good at noticing work patterns and figuring out ways to program the computer to do things. In fact, and perhaps to a fault, I spend a lot of time thinking about how I can avoid doing repetitive work. I'm sure in some cases it would actually be faster and potentially more accurate just to do it manually, but I hate that. So I typically don't. It's generally more accurate for the computer to copy and paste things when it's all rule-based, so I just plug and it does all the chug.

As you may have learned from previous posts, this does not translate into my personal life (except as that involves the computer). In a way I'm actually trying to program myself -- to make things easier by having the program just run instead of having to think about it.

My goal with this whole thing is to eventually be able to find stuff, have a cleaner room, and basically free up time to think more clearly. It seems odd at first to think that starting a habit will allow me to think more clearly, but nothing seems more clear than that to me at this point.

Habitual

And so it begins. I guess it really already has.

Habit #1: Writing a blog post each day. (Started 12/5)
Habit #2: Putting Keys in bag after every use. (Started 12/10)

I wonder how many I can start before system overload. I think getting these two on their way to solid would be a good start but I can think of a few others that would be good to add. But these are daily and some of the others are weekly/monthly etc. and I feel like that rhythm might be a little more difficult to cultivate. So we'll start small.

Monday, December 10, 2007

27 in a Row

My friend's mom is a life coach. She recently told my friend that it takes 27 days to form a habit. I'm not sure how it got so exact, but I'm willing to try. However, I have a few questions:

1. How do I choose which one to start with (since I have none)?
2. What if I change my mind? How long does it take to undo the habit?
3. Once I have one settled into habit mode, should I start another one?

Red Wiggler Delight

In mid-October, my roommate, Grant, and I started a worm bin. A worm bin? In your apartment? Oh, yes, my friends.

Before we even decided to live together, the condition for being my roommate (other than being willing to accept all of my insanities and quirks) was that we would have an indoor vermi-compost system in our apartment. Grant obliged. I've been wanting to do it for years but didn't have the drive to do it and/or didn't want to offend a roommate by introducing worms into our already-established environment. Well no more!

Vermi-composting, besides being a great way to avoid stinky garbage (since all of the stink-causing stuff goes into the worm bin), is also a great way to help reduce greenhouse gases. Rotting food accounts for somewhere around 16% of our residential greenhouse gas emissions [Inventory of New York City Greenhouse Gas Emissions April 2007]. This is because a) we throw away way too much edible food and b) because food is put in the garbage, and therefore a landfill, where it is then anaerobically decomposed. This anaerobic decomposition produces Methane, which, as you know is pretty deadly stuff and toxic us and to our environment. The worms, on the other hand, along with some helpful bacteria and other microbes break down the food waste aerobically, which doesn't produce the toxic gases.

And not only that, but when it's time to harvest my precious worm castings, my plants (and probably the tree outside too) will be extremely happy. I turned my waste into liquid gold for my little plant friends. My garbage will turn into next season's rosemary, sage, basil and whatever else we want to grow!

If you still think living with worms is gross and you have a backyard, it works there too (and you don't have to deal with worms or rotting food inside). Or, if you're still thinking it's not for you, you could at least buy the stuff. (What, buy worm poop?) Well, yes. There is a lovely company called TerraCycle that composts food by getting paid to take it out of the waste stream (brilliant business model, eh? not only do they not pay for their raw materials, but they get paid to take them). They take this garbage and feed it to their worms and then package the castings into all re-used containers. Not recycled, re-used. It's pretty cool. You can get it in regular stores, it's less expensive than the toxic alternatives, and their advertising indicates that plants grow better with TerraCycle than with their more toxic counter parts. Try it! (Plus they have a ton of awesome community building projects that are built into the business.)

Sunday, December 09, 2007

Tom's Diner

Research is a bitch. Sometimes you learn things you'd rather not.

Around the corner from my apartment is a legendary diner: Tom's Restaurant. On the wall in that diner is a signed copy of Suzanne Vega's "Tom's Diner" lyrics, with the words, "I came, I saw, I wrote." It's enough to make one think that the legendary diner is the subject of this song. To confirm before reporting here, however, I did a little research. I now know this is not the case and I can't say I'm not a little disappointed. The diner in the song is apparently the same as the diner in Seinfeld.

My Tom's is still amazing however. They're not open for dinner and they're not open on Sunday (so I, and probably many others, rarely have the opportunity to go). Another thing about NYC that you might not know if you don't live here is that Brunch is the most important meal of the week and many people partake on Sunday. But not at Tom's. Every Saturday, rain or shine, they have a massive line wrapping around the building. They know how to take care of people at Tom's, though. Line waiters are greeted by fresh orange slices, cookies, coffee, and sometimes slices of sausage while they wait. There's always a band (if not more than one) taking up a table looking hungover, grungy, and band-like. And the food is cheap, delicious, and sometimes a little strange. For example, yesterday, I ordered a chili omelet, which as you may or may not imagine, was a cheese omelet with chili on top. Yep, an omelet covered in soup. And it was good.

Flea Market

When you think of flea markets do you think of a long drive to a remote location where vendors have little tents set up and shoppers wear those umbrellas attached to their heads? I used to.

It's not the case in New York. There are many many corners in this city where there is a weekly gathering of flea market vendors. My favorite one, largely because it was close to my old apartment, was absolutely incredible. There were tables upon tables of designer sunglasses, jeans, and shoes alongside the mirror man and the junky old shoes guy. An Italian ice vendor stood at the entrance and the rug vendor sauntered sketchily toward the back. My personal favorite, however, was the fancy dress tent. That's where I got my prom dress. Among the hoard, there were other women just like me trying on sparkly dresses over their jeans (or better yet, removing them first).

Yesterday I discovered that in Chinatown, they don't bother setting up a defined block of space for these things. Guys with broken cell phones, busted boots, and packages of fresh Fruit of the Loom line the sidewalks fishing for visitors. I can't say I took the bait.

Make-Up Session

At the Park Slope Food Coop, where I'm considering membership, one has to be a owner-worker-shopper-member, which means you have to work at the store in order to be included in this socialist revolution. It's only 3 hours every 4 weeks, but apparently, it's not always the easiest thing to work in. If you miss a shift or have to reschedule, your shift leader is authorized (but not required) to give you 2 make-ups to, well, make up for the one you missed.

Does the two make-up rule apply here?

This is becoming a pattern

The problem with patterns for me is that I'm a non-habit forming individual. I don't wake up at the same time everyday. I don't buy all the same stuff every time I go to the grocery (although, in my old age and some training from an ex-boyfriend, this has a lot more pattern to it than it used to). I don't habitually place my keys in the same location. I take different routes to work.

Being non-habit-forming has its advantages. A lack of propensity toward addiction and the sense that things are always new and changing being the ones that stand out. However, it can also lead to disaster: messy room, burned dinner, lost keys, the list goes on.

So, that's my excuse. Getting myself into a pattern of writing is not easy and requires training.

Friday, December 07, 2007

I already failed!

I can't believe I didn't post yesterday. I was even thinking about it on my way home. My bed was just so comfortable.

Considering I don't think anyone read the promissory note preceding this one, it's probably OK, but still disappointing.

Let's see what happens today, since this obviously doesn't count.

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Jealous Again

In November, my friend Laura took on the challenge of writing a post per day for 30 days. She thinks that the things she wrote were boring or dull at times, but I thought the whole thing was great. I loved having something to read from her each day. I started this blog because I was jealous of all the interesting things she had to say about life and the culture she was experiencing in Japan. Well, now she is in Indiana, so I have no excuse.

I can't say I'll be as engaging, but arbitrarily starting today (which is technically December 5th), I will start the same endeavor. So until January 4th, I'll find 10 or more minutes each day to give an update to life and/or thoughts.

Book Update: On my way to Thanksgiving in Indiana, I bought Malcolm Gladwell's other book, The Tipping Point, which I basically finished by the time I returned, and now I'm on to J.D. Salinger... Nine Short Stories. And with the way the trains are getting stuck these days, I'll be done in a day or two. Thank goodness I remembered that I really enjoy reading.

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Save a Horse -- Ride a Cowboy

Life is good, isn't it?

Somehow, after all the music I've heard this weekend, that's the song that sticks with me. I'm currently reading Blink and after I ripped through the first two thirds in about 3 days, I was afraid that it would be toast by my first layover on the way to New Mexico, but I was mistaken. Instead, I was found in my seat, mouth open, and fast asleep.

This weekend was a whirlwind of activity since I was work/playing at an industry conference. Yeah, I pulled several 12+ hour days, but they almost invariably involved a water slide, and last I checked you're not allowed to complain about that. So I didn't.

Back to life. Back to reality for me.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Productivity

Because I'm obsessed with the title of this post, I've decided my next book (to read) should be something pedagogical. So I'm reading The Omnivore's Dilemma to learn more about food in the U.S. (or as the author refers to it: America). I've been interested for a long time in where it comes from, what is better for me, what is better for the environment, organic or local -- does it matter?, and other related things so this should be a good start.

However, it's not quite as motivating for reading as good fiction, so I've decided that I get to read something fun next.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

My New Best Friend

I'm not sure what was wrong with me for so long, but I just discovered that books are my new best friend. Or maybe a long lost old friend. Either way it feels new and I love it.

Currently reading: The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Privacy in NYC

Don't worry, it's actually an oxymoron.

I've been pondering the idea of privacy in this city lately as I find myself in an odd position -- or at least it's odd if you live anywhere else. I currently live in a one bedroom apartment with another young woman who is about my age. My room is separated from the living room by 4 enormous red canvas curtains that start about 1 foot from the ceiling -- so I am acutely aware of the problem. But from the conversations I hear other people having, I'm not the only one with issues.

Cell phone conversations and things overheard in restaurants range from what you ate last night, to how bad your feet smell, to who you had sex with last week, to how you're feeling about your relationship with your inner child. It's sort of amazing.

Additionally, there seems to be a lot of exposure of private parts.

There was one week probably in late spring when I saw no less than three penises in broad daylight on the sidewalk. Well the penises themselves weren't on the sidewalk. Rather, I was walking along the street minding my own business when what to my wondering eyes did appear but male genitalia shown without fear.

It has also come to my attention that functions that are normally private events (like urination and defecation, as my previous paragraph alluded to) are more frequently done in public here. Nose picking is huge -- maybe because the polluted air causes more build up in the nasal cavity. Just the other day, I saw a man go two knuckles deep to remove what must have been an atomic wedgie. A couple of nights ago, I saw someone who was at least dressed as a woman, wearing naught but a lacy thong and a ridiculously transparent tube of red fabric.

And to my chagrin, and potentially to the chagrin of many others, it seems that young men in this city have a habit of needing to have their hands down their pants. Now I can understand if it's cold out and you're standing on a Frisbee field and that's the warmest place on your body. However, this is New York City in the summer. It's already hot. You don't need to keep your extremities from getting frost bite. In fact, down your pants is probably the swampiest, least comfortable place to be.

I don't know if it's a lack of privacy that causes them to do this or a general numbness to the fact that when you're standing on a subway platform you actually are not surrounded by your own personal, private bubble, but when a young man stands for over 10 minutes waiting for a train with his hand down his pants, you have to think he's doing something more than separating his sweaty balls from his leg.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Delicious Meat Free Meat

Amid a long day of studying for what quite possibly is the world's most boring exam (Series 6), I made plans to meet up with an old friend from the Boston days. He is vegan, which I can't help but to give him a hard time about, and likes to do vegan things. So we went to Moo Shoes, which is a vegan shoe store so that he could buy some crunchy shoes for his new job. Then we went to Red Bamboo, a store specializing in turning things that are decidedly not meat (soy) into things that taste like meat. It was surprisingly delicious. It really tastes and has the consistency of chicken. Crazy Asians! (My only complaint is that they didn't have a single spicy dish in a 4-page menu)

I have a few questions from my experience:

  1. Wasn't McDonald's the master of the meatless patty? What was so bad about that?
  2. Are plastic/rubber shoes any more sustainable than leather ones?
    1. Cow herding generally means colossally bad land management practices (water, rainforest, to name a few)
    2. The methane that bovine produce is pretty toxic to the environment
    3. Some find it inhumane to kill animals
    4. If they're being killed for food, isn't it better to at least use all parts? Do we do that?
    5. (Yes I understand that if you don't kill for food, then you don't have that problem, but damn cows taste good)
    6. The rubber industry is riddled with problems ranging from child labor to deforestation to toxic dumping and other environmental degradation
    7. Plastic is made out of oil. Need I say more?
Those are the things I can think of to at least start. Anyone have evidence one way or the other? It's definitely partially up to your personal preference on the meat eating issue. I used to be a vegetarian -- for 5 years. And then I went to college, decided I needed to try new things, and gained 20 pounds. Maybe that vegetarian thing was a good idea after all.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Something Else

Madame or Monsieur Anonymous is ready for me to post something else. I've been debating lately whether this is still the right thing to do. It has come to the point where this blog comes up in google searches when you put in all or part of my name and while I was kind of keen on that idea at first, it poses a privacy issue. I (used to) tend to write much more personally here, but I can't be quite so candid any more. Also, I can't write about work at all because I work in a highly regulated industry that would frown on that kind of activity. And since I haven't been any more creative than that, I haven't posted anything decent in a long time.

I have posted some stuff to flickr lately. Well, more lately than this.

Anyway, Anonymous, point taken. I'll try to be more creative.

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Nicaragua and Niger

While in Nicaragua I kept finding myself saying "In Niger..." because I found so many things similar between these two worlds-apart nations. Leslie (who lives in Nica) pointed out that this might be due to the developing world landscape which includes Blue Bird school buses converted into city buses among other similarities shared by the "third world".

Some of the things we noticed in this category:

1. The lack of washing machines and the necessity to handwash one's clothes (or pay someone else to do it)
2. The need for talc powder to walk comfortably or ride on a plastic bus seat for several hours
3. Shared taxis
4. Donkey carts among taxis, cars, buses, and trucks
5. The ability to ride in the back of a truck standing up, packed in like a sardine
6. The necessity to sweep one's house at least once a day to avoid the dreaded black foot
7. The broken bottles set in adobe walls as barbed wire substitute
8. The willingness and necessity of people to protest
9. That nearly all tourists and homeowners in the nicest tourist spots are extranjeros (foreigners)
10. Terrible beer (at least at first... until you realize it's cold and has alcohol in it... then it's delicious)
11. Frequent marriage proposals

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

On the Road

My first full day in Nicaragua was another day of travel. After picking up the necessary sunscreen and bug spray, we hit the bank, and then hit the road. The road consisted of a taxi (20 cordobas), a bus (60 cordobas), another taxi (12 cordobas), a very small motorcycle-toting ferry on a ridiculously rough riding lake (50 cordobas plus the cost of Laura's lunch, which we lost), another bus (18 cordobas), and feet (3 kilometers). 160 Cordobas is just under $10.

We stayed at Finca Magdalena, a cooperative organic farm on Volcan Maderas for $2.50 a night with a view of Volcan Conception in front and of the coffee drying flats in back. (I thought I'd posted the pictures, but apparently not). After a restful night on a cot and a belly full of gallo pinto, we set out on a hike. I should have been wary when our guide asked us "don't you have any shoes?" that the hike would not be so easy in Chacos, but alas, on we went.


The hike was beautiful if treacherous.


And after our guide, Freddy, finally realized that we would make it in our stupid gringa shoes, he was really sweet.

Only the Second Most...

Apparently San Salvador, El Salvador is the second most dangerous city in Latin America. That little unknown fact did not stop me from using my 7-hour layover there to do something other than window shop at Duty Free. I got there and decided to go to the beach. So I grabbed my bags, went though immigration and customs ($10) and set off to the beach. I was greeted by what seemed like a sea of small El Salvadoran people lined up at semi-permanent fences in bleacher-like formation. Then I was greeted by some pretty aggressive "taxi" drivers. After getting someone down from $25 to $16 for a 35k trip to the beach (La Libertad), I headed out to the parking lot with Manuel. Then he unlocked his white, unmarked, Toyota pickup truck and told me to get in. So I did. Gotta live, right? So as I tried my best to memorize our route (it was only 2 turns), we drove toward what I was desperately hoping was the beach. Otherwise, I would have a few people angry with me. Luckily, he was not a killer, rapist or abduction artist, and I made it to the beach in one piece with a little Spanish practice in for the day. I gave him a $2 tip for not killing me or taking me to an undisclosed location. Then I hit the beach... but I had my bags, which I didn't want stolen, so I was a little weighed down... which made beaching a little difficult, so I lunched. I ordered pescado (fish) without seeing the menu, and then realized about 20 minutes later what took so long: my food came to me wearing a toothy grin and a glimmer in its eye. I hadn't eaten a whole fish since I was in Benin, so it was a little shocking, but tasty.

Then I met William, the Salvadoran Surfer, and after a nice conversation he helped me find a bus back to the airport. About 45 minutes and 95 cents later, I was at the airport 1.5 hours before my flight. So I made it. I flew into Managua and the next day, we started our journey to Ometepe, the volcanic island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua, which is the 3rd largest lake in Latin America, and the 21st largest in the world.

This One's for Media Concepts


NicaraguaRebel 009
Originally uploaded by MotleyPrincess.
My friend Matt enjoys bumper stickers--especially political ones--and even more especially than that, he likes anti-Bush stickers. So I thought he'd really enjoy these I found in Nicaragua near the beach in San Juan del Sur. It could easily be a gringos car, but I don't know. Take special notice of the sticker running up the right side...

Monday, February 12, 2007

Things My Mom is Glad She Doesn't Know I'm Doing...

...include ice climbing. I sent her a text message after letting her know I was OK. My dad's friend, on the other hand, said "it's no question who's kid she is"... so I guess the crampon-wearing side of me is pretty clear.

Anyway, this is actually my second ascent of my first ice climb ever. I was not great... but I did manage to do a little "dry tooling" with rock and ice combined. More pics at the flickr page.

Temperature

Yes, friends, it is officially cold. We may have had some record January highs in the 70's, but it's officially cold. I don't know whether Punxsatawney Phil or Staten Island Chuck were on the money when they said "early spring", but it certainly was a late winter.

This was found on my way to work one morning last week.

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Why Choose Fear?

"I'm a New Yorker. Fear's my life" -- or so it was said in Rent

I've been reading and listening to things that relate to fear lately.

  • Steve Jobs' commencement speech at Stanford
  • Robert Greene's The 33 Strategies of War (he also happens to be working on a book with 50 Cent)
  • Who Moved My Cheese (apparently now comes in a kids version as well)

Basically, it goes like this: fear (especially fear of change) stops you from being happy. But if you create the fear that remaining idle is much worse than changing, you won't be idle and you won't be afraid, and you'll be much happier than your boring old frightened self.

Fear certainly has its function. It is natural after all and it can keep us out of some pretty sticky situations. But if you never get sticky, you'll probably never taste honey. And who would want that?

half-glass-full mentality

How did the president find the sheep in tall grass?

see labels for the answer

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Ode to the Maladjusted Printer

Just when I think I can leave work on time
You come to me with a nasty line
“Please Wait, Adjusting” you always say
And then with a flash, you ruin my day

Always waiting, you maladjusted machine
Need paper, it’s jammed—oh, I could scream!
The color is wrong, the word’s off the page
“Please Wait, Adjusting”, Oh the Rage!

Three minutes are left or so you say
That’s why I’ll be leaving late today
The tech is here, he’s been here all week
“Please Wait, Adjusting”—and now you’re asleep?