The editorial content of my mind

Cold brewing tea!

2011-09-15T08:06:00.001-04:00

In Taiwan they have a type of tea bag that you can buy in the grocery store that will make tea in tap water. I an told that they do something different while processing the leaves, so they will brew even without hot water. It costs a little more than normal tea for the different processing. It is meant for people who just want iced tea and want it faster, without being got tea and then waiting our wasting ice cubes. So interesting!!

This isn't it in the photo, just normal Lipton tea Taiwanese style, just a somewhat generic visual aid. :)

Chilling At Shanghai Pu Dong Airport

2011-09-11T03:09:00.001-04:00

And not only do they have free wifi, they have 12 computer terminals with free internet access! So nice!

And at Taipei Taoyuan Airport earlier today, they took it a step further with free wifi, free massaging lounge chairs, and free cultural demonstration areas around the departure gate area. US airports need to take heed and get with the program of giving travelers free perks! All you get there is a chair to wait in.

Security here was really efficient too. And at check-in they had separate lines for each flight that was checking in at the moment. Very efficient!

I'm currently tempted heavily by the duty free shop. Trying to resist loading myself down with a bunch of fancy european chocolate. They have some of my favorites: Milka (one of my favorite brands for milk chocolate), tiny chocolate liquour bottles filled with an assortment of booze, and chocolate bars filled with Cointreau liquour. Those are all so good I could easily buy a lot and overload my baggage. As it is I have a backpack and a smaller bag for carryon. That means I will need to fit whatever I buy into those existing bags (or get a larger one somewhere). Because we all know how serious the US flight attendants are about the two carryons per person rule.

I get to Chicago O'Hare and then have to catch a connecting flight to Washington National Airport. Then metro and I'm home! Ready to sleep and then go to work tomorrow. Bright eyed and bushy tailed on Monday morning September 12.

Have a good day! :)

At Kan Ding

2011-09-03T12:04:00.000-04:00

The Yading area was beautiful! Huge mountains. So high I had altitude
related sickness! Now we are back down to a respectable height and I
feel pretty good again. The towns where we stayed were around 4000
meters. We rode twice in vans through the highest town in the world --
Le Tan (not sure about that spelling).

At Dao Cheng

2011-09-02T09:16:00.000-04:00

And I spelled the name of the town wrong before. It is/was Kan Ding.
And we are heading there again tomorrow. Then back to Chengdu.

Ya Ding was nice. Very beautiful.

Saw some great Tibetan dancing tonight in the town square.

I'm very tired now & going to sleep.

Enjoying Chengdu hosts wifi

2011-08-29T11:39:00.000-04:00

We saw the Chengdu giant panda breeding center today. Very nice. And
we booked our ongoing bus ticket to Yading Nature Reserve area. It
looks beautiful & is west of here on the border with Tibet.

We hope to see some pristine nature, pure air, & traditional culture.
Also, I hear the food is really good out there & they make great
jerky. :)

Sunday update

2011-08-28T11:22:00.000-04:00

Hi! Getting ready for bed. Having a good trip. Last night was
overnight on a train with a bed. 19 hour train ride from Wudangshan to
Chengdu. It was the slow train, chosen so we could ne near each other.

This is surely an interesting place. Couch surfing seems to be popular
in the cities. We have two hosts lined up in this city and are with
the first now. He is one of those mega-hosts who has more than one
party of surfers stay at once. There are 6 surfers here now, in 3
groups. Chinese, Russian, & us. I enjoy being the only native English
speaker in the room. Makes me feel useful as a walking dictionary. :)

Park hoedown!

2011-08-21T10:31:00.000-04:00

Overall, Shanghai is nice but polluted!! So hazy & smoggy. And it is
crowded but nobody could call it boring.

Today had great little dumplings for breakfast with won ton soup on
the side. Then saw Jing'an Temple, Jing'an Park, French Concession
walking tour, went to 42nd floor in Jinjiang Tower for great panoramic
view, saw home of Cai Yuanpei & Sun Yatsen. Lots of people dancing in
the parks in festive groups. Some was tai chi dancing, some like
rockabilly.

Also went to Renmin Park, the Nanjin Lu area, & the Bund. Very
crowded. In Renmin the many people blowing bubbles to their kids were
cool.

Great architecture, quite modern. We are drinking a lot of plum juice.
Mmmm.

Ignorantly blissful

2011-08-21T10:17:00.000-04:00

Our perception of the Chinese. They are quite happy walking around the
scenic areas and eating at all their yummy restaurants. However, they
either don't know or don't seem to care about certain things. Like the
censorship of websites & news sources, and the massive editing of
history.

Made it to China

2011-08-20T11:14:00.000-04:00

We are in Shanghai China at Jack's house. It was a very busy day &
evening. Now taking showers and going to bed.

Arrived at Pudong 2pm. Took metro line 2 to Jian Temple stop, which
took at least an hour. Standing the whole way. Called Jack from there.

Too tired now. It is 11:13pm. Will post more asap. Sweet dreams!

Near Departure Time

2011-08-19T08:00:00.001-04:00

At Regan National airport, waiting for the first flight! Newark, then Shanghai Pudong!

Found N's missing travel pants last night. They were on a shelf in his closet where we had both looked but not seen. Hopefully that is the last time that sort of seeing-but-not-seeing won't happen again for a while.

Had a nice dinner of stir fry okra (from the garden) with mixed veggies and grits on the side. Digging our southern cuisine.

News story about space flight on tv, inevitably they talk about China's progress with space. China is mentioned everywhere, so often in the US. Like we are obsessed. That is why I am so happy to be going. To see this place for myself. And just to go on vacation. :)

Testing 1 2 3

2011-08-18T22:44:00.000-04:00

I am writing this from my email account, the night before the trip, to see if I can use this to email posts to my blog. Otherwise I won't be posting here due to the Great Firewall.

Planning for China Trip

2011-08-17T23:54:00.000-04:00

Gearing up for our next big trip -- to China and Taiwan! I created a map showing our planned itinerary. Planning for it has been fun but slightly rushed and chaotic too.

Leaving the day after tomorrow! I plan to blog here about it. :)

Haiku on preparing for travel to an exotic new place

2011-08-17T21:09:00.000-04:00

Computer is the source of
good preparation
and paranoid thoughts from others.

Bike Sharing Love in DC

2011-05-25T23:07:00.000-04:00

So we have a brand new bike sharing system here in DC called Capital Bike Share. I joined in February and like it a lot! Tonight I was riding around and saw twilight dancing off the Capital Building. Makes me really happy to live in Washington. Here's a picture I took of it tonight from on the bike. :)

It is a great option to have available when I am out without my own bike. Very fun to just jump on one of these pretty red ones and scoot around. There are more bikers out every day now, with the beautiful spring weather.

First Anniversary and Back to the Blog!

2011-05-22T23:45:00.000-04:00

On the occasion of my one year wedding anniversary, I have decided to take a breath, and start blogging again. Yes, your Avocado has been Married for a whole year already, and intends to blog again! Yow!

I am happy to report that I have been happily married. The secret to a happy marriage, I found, is flexibility. The willingness to do something that your partner wants to do, and then later for them to do something that you want to do. After a while those things start to merge together! So far, this seems to have progressed until we both enjoy many of the same things!

I want to send a shout out for marriage in the resurrection of this blog. Avocadoland will also continue to discuss: car-free living in Washington, DC, biking, urban gardening, and yoga. I will also add posts about learning chinese, meditation, travel, and reading books.

Here is a photo of my wedding bouquet, a few days after the event (in a nice old vase that belongs to my mother).

Unintended consequences of electric conservation from utility with situational values

2010-05-16T09:38:00.001-04:00

This inspiring article by Friedman has made me want to share me thoughts about living with global ethics (termed sustainable values vs situational values here) and running up against unexpected consequences at the local level.

As an environmentalist, we have been preaching about conservation of electricity for decades. People in small town Ohio have gotten the message in the general public and have been using a lot less electricity. One would hope that would be a positive development for the world and for those people -- we always assume that people benefit when their locality uses less because they all pay less in electric bills and therefore have more money to spend on other things.

Well, I found out recently that the electic company doesn't see it this way. They aren't just going to take a pay-cut from consumers laying down. Although the ethical thing for them to do would be to be happy about the conservation efforts and decrease their production of electricity to meet demand. Instead, they raised rates to bring their profits back up to the level where they were before the electricity conservation efforts took hold of the public. To add insult to injury, the utility loudly told consumers on the new and newspapers that they were forcing them to raise the rates by not buying as much electricity. The public perceived this as a sort of punishment.

People don't like those bananas. I know this would discourage me from acting on other pleas of the environmental movement.

How do we make companies to behave with sustainable values? To me, this is the real question raised by Friendman's article.

Response to:
A Question From Lydia
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: May 14, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/opinion/16friedman.html

Problematic Comments and Blogger "Improvements"

2010-02-20T12:17:00.000-05:00

I had to switch to moderated comments because I have been getting a lot of spam comments. I have deleted all of them, but this is annoying.

The problematic comments include some Chinese characters and links to various websites that looks suspicious from the URLs.

I use Google Translate to try to figure out what the writing means, but it does not make sense when I do that. Please stop spamming my comments, or explain yourself if this is legit.

Oh well. They hayday of numerous comments on this blog is over anyways, since I have not used it much lately.

Blogger recently made me update the template for the site, and that removed most of my old links from the sidebar. I have been fixing them, slowly. I just re-added the SiteMeter at the very bottom of the page, and the link to DCBlogs in the sidebar. On that page, I am listed in the directory of DC bloggers. We are supposed to include their button on the page, to be listed there, so now I'm happily legit again.

I haven't noticed any changes to Blogger after the improvements, except that I have to rebuild my blog template from scratch. Ah well. There must be some improvements I'm just not noticing, right?

Life in the Hive: How I survived Snowverkill 2010

2010-02-08T12:45:00.008-05:00

We have had a huge snowstorm in DC. Two, in less than a week. The other day when I was nearly snowed in, sitting inside watching it pile up outside and hearing scare reports about food running out in the stores, and transportation not working, I had this profound feeling that we are all like bees in a hive.

like we all live in a bee hive.

like we're all bees in a hive.

I just had the strongest sense of this, in the middle of the blizzard. When things function fine, it is a perfect system. We each do our part cheerfully, and things hum along fine. Until we are all paralyzed by something like 3 feet of snow. With another 6 inches expected. That just makes the whole hive grind to a halt. Since we can't get around. Life skids to a halt. Federal offices are closed, museums are closed, the zoo is closed, my office is closed, our car is buried and inaccessible. It is so odd.

Thankfully, the internet is working. Otherwise this would be an incredible trial.

----------

A few days later, things are messy out there but largely back to normal, I'm reading an artistic article about DC reactions to the storm. I especially like a few quotes & feel like they sum up the experience well:

From page 1: "It's "Man vs. Wild," if "wild" equals that dusty can of tuna at the back of the cupboard."

"There are the noble neighborhood shovelers, obnoxiously high on altruism, paving a path for dogs that must be walked at appointed times. Neither rain nor sleet nor snow will keep a Washingtonian from his 10:30 a.m. chain-brewed caramel macchiato."

Then, on page 3: "...he divines a lesson from the storm. 'It shows us someone other than us is in charge,' says Guyot, a civil rights activist. 'It allows us time to be contemplative, to be wishful, to be pragmatic and revise our values. If this storm does nothing else, it brings home to us our interdependence. We have become too isolated. This is the age of going it alone when there is no storm.'"

"For the first time in a long time, this city will deserve the month of May." Here here!

Update 5/25/11: here are three of my photos from that storm.

Hazards of Modern Life: Hot food in to-go containers

2010-01-26T08:17:00.003-05:00

I go to great lengths in normal life to make sure I don't ingest plastics. I never put hot food straight into plastic containers or bottles. Always let it cool first to room temperature in the pot, because I know that if it goes into the plastic hot then particles will heat up and enter the food. And then they will enter my body and become part of my body when I eat that plastic-y food later.

So at home I am mindful of this and careful. I am careful not to drink out of plastic or eat of our plastic china, whenever possible. Sometimes for the odd summer picnic or party I compromise and use plastic because that is what everyone is doing, but I feel bad because I know that is
not a valid reason. And I draw the line at putting hot liquid into plastic cups.

Anyway, last night my boyfriend and I made ourselves sick by eating food thoroughly contaminated by plastic. I feel largely better now, 12 hours later, but, really, am asking myself why I had to do that. The answer is that it was carry-out food from one of our favorite restaurants, Paragon Thai. We have gotten carry-out from them a few times before, and have eaten there many times over the years. It is always really good food, which is why I wanted to have it tonight.

We planned to eat at the restaurant, but then thought "why don't we just get it and eat here?" because then we wouldn't have to tip. Save $5 easily and then use it to buy some beverage at a grocery store nearby to go with the dinner. I thought of the disposable containers, but the bf said it was ok because we would reuse them. Plastic containers enter into our general store of 'tupperware' when they arrive at our place.

So we got the carry-out and some apple cider to drink, settled down to a nice candlelit dinner with soft music in our living room, and enjoyed the meal. But it didn't taste wonderful. In fact, one piece of lettuce I took a bit of tasted completely like styrofoam. I spit that bite out. It had been on the bottom of the container with the rest of the noodles and veggies piled on top.

As soon as I got home with the food, I had removed it all from the containers -- one plastic and one styrofoam -- but it was too too late. My mouth still tastes like plastic from that dinner last night, and now it is 8:30 the next morning. It made us both feel a bit ill too. After we ate we tried to watch a comedy on tv but just felt sick and it wasn't funny at all, so I turned it off. Then we sat and used the computers until bedtime. About an hour after eating I felt seriously sick. But then it started to slowly get better and is still slowly getting better.

From now on, I will seriously think before getting hot food as carry-out in plastic again. I am certain that they finished cooking it and immediately put it in the to-go containers, to stew in the plastic and styrofoam fumes. And then I ate it. :(

The anatomy of a psychology major

2009-03-16T23:22:00.002-04:00

It is mysterious, doesn't give itself up to the casual observer.

The intro class does not reveal its mysteries.

Even with years of study, one still knows very little about this monster with so many specialties.

We learn about the branches of psychology -- the subareas, the fields of study, the PhD, PsyD, counseling, clinical, school, experimental.

Even when immersed in a specialty program, one does not learn in complete depth (it is simply too deep). One can learn in excruciating detail about their topic of research, maybe even their area of research.

And then, after almost 10 years of painful long nights typing papers, running stats, you finish your training officially -- terminal degree done, prestigious post-doctoral fellowship done, papers written and underway, lifetime path of research envisioned. And it is this darn recession, and you may not be able to find a job.

The long-promised payout of this terrible process of grad education in psych is a tenured faculty job. What happens when not enough are open when you finish?

This is a problem being confronted by a friend of mine. I am concerned for this person and upset at the system that created this problem.

Thinking back to my decision to major in psychology as an undergrad. Have the insight that this decision was based on knowing so little about it and basic curiosity. The low level courses didn't tell me much, but did prime my curiosity. So I had to take higher and higher level classes to try to find out why people act the way they do. And none of those classes really helped. But they were more interesting than other, more potentially profitable, majors.

I tried geology and environmental science -- both a bit dry. English seemed very impractical. International studies or poli sci were promising, but looked at the world in such broad brushstrokes.

I wanted something that took the individual more into account. But, it turns out, psychology is too far to the other extreme. It is a bit reductionistic, even when considering social influence. It tends to boil things down to stimulus and response.

Anyway, psychology is seductive in the undergrad years, but doesn't have much of a payoff -- whether you do the grad school route or the working world route.

Time Flies!

2009-03-10T22:04:00.005-04:00

So I just started looking at photos from one year ago -- last February and March. It seems like ages ago in some ways, but I was looking at some of the exact scenes today. It is surreal.

Here is a scene that I saw today, but daylight savings time has started so I was walking in this spot one hour earlier (from getting off work an hour earlier) so it didn't quite look the same. But largely the same.

A year ago I visited a friend in Pennsylvania who I haven't seen since then. She now livs in Chicago and I don't even have an email addy for her anymore.

Here's a picture from visiting her in bellefontaine, pa. A very pretty city, even in the middle of winter.

I may have posted that picture before to this blog. Guess I was impressed with the tiny little city. Maybe I'll be able to visit her again soon in the new digs. It's sad when we can't live near friends. Ah well, they persist even if we can't be near physically.

I come from a long line of goofy

2009-01-25T10:03:00.002-05:00

A book I'm reading asked me to recall "with all your senses, a memory in which you are happy and joyful."

The first that came to mind had to do with my boyfriend and times when I was so happy with him. Then I thought of sitting in the living room at home with my parents on christmas morning. Then, thinking of specifics, I thought of a time when my grandmother was still with us, when we got her a cool new touch lamp for xmas. She opened the box, looked at it for a second, then took out the lampshade and put it on her head. She looked around the room at us with a slight smile and we all burst out laughing!

At the time we were wondering why she would do something like that, and telling her how nice the lamp was in case she didn't look at it. But now I realize that she was just being goofy. Trying to be a clown, with much success. :)

Happy New Year! 2009 -- How Electrifying!

2009-01-01T21:31:00.002-05:00

As the sun sets on 2008 and rises on 2009
Look forward to all of the possibilities of the new year.

It's a new year
Full of cheer...

I wish you the best in this continuing adventure!

Thank you to everyone I am friends with and to all the friends to come.
You make the world go round! :)

I will post more regularly in 2009. At least once a week. And I will exercise more regularly. We have a gym at work that I'm going to try using during these cold months. When it gets warmer, out on the bike I go again! The perfect workout is riding to and from work. Gets the commute done and gets my workout done at once! Amazing.

Ok, to you and yours, have a great year!

More on blogging

2008-12-04T20:38:00.002-05:00

The Daily Show last night had an interview with Huffington about how to blog. She basically said that its a way to share your thoughts. As you would with a friend. A way to be close and personal without being actually in person with anyone. Interesting. That's the last segment of the show.

The first section of the Colbert Report from last night was pretty entertaining. Apparently NASA lost a spider on the international space station. Hmmm. :)

Some thoughts to share

2008-11-20T20:10:00.003-05:00

I have found the difference between real organic butter and the land o' lakes variety. The organic stuff is much more yellow! I put some in the same butter dish and was amazed at the difference when they were right next to each other, unwrapped. Sheesh! I guess there's more chemical stuff in normal butter and more real stuff with natural color in organic butter...

Observation #2: I feel like a huge barbarian when I make chicken soup. Tonight, standing at the stove tearing the chicken carcass apart, plopping bits of meat into the boiling soup, I was transported back to the middle ages. I felt a deep kinship with women of that era standing in their hut, picking chicken meat off of a carcass and plopping it into a boiling pot of soup...

Thought #3 is that "The Word" section of last night's Colbert Report was really funny. You should go watch it now and laugh merrily. :P) Just go to this website to watch. The Word is almost to the first slash mark in the sliding bar at the bottom. Starts about 5 minutes in.

Andrew Sullivan on "Why I Blog"

2008-11-16T17:06:00.002-05:00

Blogging is not dead!

This is a good article in the Atlantic “Why I Blog” by Andrew Sullivan. I saw it in the print version last month but hadn’t gotten around to reading it until I saw a link from the not-dead blog post referenced above.

The only part of this article I question is on the first page where he says that blogging doesn’t allow review or editing. I self-edit a lot. I usually write a draft, and then come back to it a few hours later to read through it and publish it on blogger.

I love this -- “The blogosphere, at its best, [is] a conversation, rather than a production.”

Starting on Page 3 is a fascinating history of blog-like writing.

The 4th paragraph, 3rd page is great! (this magazine won’t let me copy & paste text!) The idea is that blogging is like hosting a dinner party. Starting a conversation about an interesting topic, then allowing the guests to feel welcome contributing thoughts as well. This doesn’t apply to my blog, but does applying to several I often read...you know who you are Barbara, Sam, other dinner party hosts. :)

Blogging is different from print journalism in that “whatever authority a blogger has is derived not from the institution he works for but from the humanness he conveys.” I take issues with the generic “he”… I like a generic “they”… but I enjoy the sentiment of the line.

He talks about the miracle of email, which is a great way of putting it.

Says blogging is like cable news or talk radio. “People have a voice for radio and a face for television. For blogging, they have a sensibility.”

4th paragraph from the bottom on the 4th and last page, I really enjoyed. About how blogging interacts with his print journalism writing and how they are both part of the conversation and inform each other. Then he talks about jazz and blogs. I love it!

Yeah, a very good article. You should go read it now. :)

DC Visitor Center, Finally, & Saratoga New York Happening

2008-11-13T23:44:00.003-05:00

After 6 years of construction, a new site to see on a visit to DC finally opens Dec 2...The Captiol Visitor Center! I'm excited because I've been walking past all of the massive construction for the past three years and now it will finally look nice! Just in time for me to move to a place where I no longer have to walk by it a lot. But it is good for everyone, and I'm happy. I just hope they preserve the grass. The fence was lower today that it has been before and now I'm afriad that it's going to look like some space-age construction. I think it should look old and dignified, to go with the character of the existing Cap Building.

And here's something a bit less high-brow, but entertaining nonetheless. This is a quote from a Gene Weingarten chat in the WaPo. I read them often but not religiously, looking for this kind of gem. CLOD means Clip of the Day.

"The second CLOD is a repeat from last week's update, because I want to make sure everyone has seen it. I cannot watch it, even repeatedly, without laughing. It is brilliant silent comedy, worthy of Chaplin, but the director here was a security camera. Note how the drunkenness of the participants contributes to the exaggeration of their movements. Note the use of cigarettes. Note everything. It's so great."

Hehe. :P

Remote Area Medical Volunteer Corps

2008-11-12T18:40:00.003-05:00

This captivating article is about a nonprofit group that gives free medical care to people without insurance and who are underinsured in rural areas worldwide. The article is about an event at a fairgrounds in Wise County, Virginia.

The healthcare providers are all volunteers, and they use a disaster model of care. What a godsend for the people getting care! And what good practice for the next big disaster! This group should replace FEMA. Or take over FEMA. How can FEMA expect to manage disasters if they don’t practice? I can’t imagine better practice than going into an area like this and offering free care.

People in need of care arrived the day before it started and got a number. They camped at the entrance and were there when it opened Friday morning at sunrise. The clinic went all day Friday and Saturday, and Sunday until noon.

An ex-actor and “adventurer”, Stan Brock, organizes the Remote Area Medical Volunteer Corps and set up the Virginia clinic covered in the article for $26,000. This is the 9th year of this location. The facilities are cheap but functional. And very effective at treating acute problems and diagnosing larger problems. They say many patients have trouble getting follow-up care, but they try to help them. To get free care, they have to go to the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, a 6 hour drive away. That’s pretty remote. Otherwise they save up and go to a local doctor or hospital.

Lions Club volunteers help organize people at this event. I've always been curious about what members of these secret societies do.

The results are staggering: for an investment of $26,000, by noon on Sunday, “2,670 people have received medical treatment worth more than $1.7 million. Hundreds of tests have been administered. More than 1,000 pairs of eyeglasses have been made. More than 4,000 teeth have been extracted.” They alleviate a lot of suffering with this program.

The larger question is why this mass of people don’t have health coverage or jobs. Can coal mining be a viable profession again? Can alternate industries be created for these towns?

To do tomorrow -- VOTE & eat for free!

2008-11-03T22:22:00.003-05:00

Tell them at starbucks that you voted tomorrow, & get a free cup of coffee!
I found this as an ad on the Washington post so it must be real!

I also saw an ad in Express last week saying we can get a free donut at Krispy Crème for wearing an “I Voted Today” sticker tomorrow.

This great post outlines all of the freebies available all over the place!

Yes for democracy! Yes for free stuff! Yes We Can!

thoughts on environmental hopelessness; it's not that bad, really!

2008-10-29T23:53:00.002-04:00

A psychologist just mentioned the idea of Transition Towns as a way
people can do something about climate change and improve their lives at
the same time. They can feel empowered instead of hopeless.

A problem that environmentally concerned people face in confronting
climate change is the fear that the public will "freak out" and/or get
hopelessly depressed if we share with them the truth about what's
happening. Sometimes I feel like this is true, but there has been no
evidence to support this idea.

The evidence created by this Transition Town model is that people will
act in the Earth's best interest when given an opportunity to do so.

The movement aims to decrease energy consumption. One motto of theirs
that I like is "Food feet, not food miles!" meaning that food should
travel feet, not miles, to our table. Plant veggies, have a community
garden plot, join a CSA (this site has lots of good links), and buy things from as nearby as possible.
This neat resource has suggestions on how to do just that.

The transportation of goods is a major bottomless pit for fuel, but
doesn't need to be this way. Eat local, buy local, support local
manufacturing as a way to save energy and prevent climate change. It's
all tied together.

Do you find the media (tv) overly negative and soul draining?

2008-10-26T21:39:00.002-04:00

So does this group of people calling for a News Fast. They want us to consume life-affirming media only. I joined their facebook group and wanted to write about it here too.

Whenever I have the misfortune of watching the evening news, I feel unhappy. Depressed and despondent. A good friend of mine spends too much time reading the unmindful news on the computer. It makes him feel bad and depressed.

So we need to stop it. Stop making ourselves unhappy with this unmindful media and news. Now go read the website to learn more.

I'm a fan of ayurvedic indian food

2008-10-25T23:36:00.003-04:00

Mmmm. They use no butter and less oil. More healthy ingredients. It's like healthfood, but so so so yummy. I ate a huge dinner and feel very good now anyways.

I tried this place called Indian Ocean tonight with friends. They weren't very busy at all either. Great food and right on the red line in Van Ness. Within sight of the metro stop.

This doesn't replace my favorite Indian restaurant of all time, of course, Udupi Palace in Takoma Park near Langly Park. So so sooooooooo good. Udupi has a wonderful buffet every weekend day for lunch. Amazing, really. You gotta try it.

It must be the season to try new things. For dim sum I usually go to Oriental East, in Silver Spring, and it's quite good. Some friends want to branch out though, so we're trecking out to East Falls Church tomorrow morning. Might bike it. We'll see how I feel about that in the morning. It's 10 miles each way.

One friend is seeking a dim sum joint that's less pork heavy. It seems like most dishes are pork-something at this other place. It will be fun to branch out! :)

Update 11/3/08: The new dim sum place was good! Called Mark's Duck House and excellent food. It was smaller than the usual place, but we got a big table right away and didn't feel rushed at all. I love that about chinese places. They could care less how long you sit there. It cost a little bit more, but still cheap for the amount and quality of the food.

We did indeed bike there on the Custis Trail to the W&O Trail. It took a bit over an hour and was really hilly, but good preparation for lots of food. I love the bike network in DC. I recommend the ride from DC to the Duck House. Just be sure to give yerself plenty of time. :)

Craigslist Adventures and Sitemeter Milestone

2008-10-24T18:09:00.004-04:00

Yay! I passed the 6,000 mark on sitemeter! Thank you to all my dediated fans and family members. :)

In other news, craigslist works, but its people are cheap. A woman named Robin who works at the census bureau came today to pick up some bed risers I had listed for $10 per set. I had two sets and she wanted both. Fine.

I said meet me at my place at 530. She calls at 4:55 and says she's almost there and hopes she can pick them up early. I get the message at 5:05 and call back to say i'm leaving work now and will meet her at 530. She says, "I can't pick them up early?" I say "No, I couldn't leave work early for this."

So I get home at the already-mentioned 530, meet her, give her the goods, and she asks if i'll take $15, which is all she has. Who inconveniences me like that and then cheaps out? I said someting to that effect and she said, this is really all i have.

Ok, what ever.

Buying condo

2008-10-23T18:12:00.003-04:00

Ah where to begin. Been riding my bike all over the city more. It feels really good to be able to whizz up hills now. My heart gets beating and legs feel it. It's real exercise! But also transportation for free. Lovely.

Moving soon, probably. I am also thinking of buying a place. A condo to live in and pay off slowly as an investment. I have no idea where else to put my money now that the stock market is blown to peices, so a condo seems like a great idea.

I'm looking into the program DC has for first-time homebuyers who don't make a ton of money. It's called HPAP. A few months ago I went to a seminar on first-time home buying that was offered by the DC government. It was informative, and they explained this low-interest HPAP program. But I'm having a hard time getting someone to talk to me about it now that I'm interested.

Six months after the course I decided to look into it. I first found a website saying to contact the Washington Urban League for info. Called them, told reception what I wanted, and got transferred to someone's voicemail, who hasn't called me back.

Second day, found another website listing 4 community based organizations through which one needs to go to get the loan and grant. So I choose the one that's most convenient to work, University Legal Services on I Street NE. I called and spoke to the receptionist who put me on hold, came back, and proceeded to take down all my contact info and salary, and said a housing counselor would call me back. That was Monday or Tuesday morning, now its Thursday evening and no call. Guess I'll call them back tomorrow to see how long it takes to get someone's attention.

Thing is, I saw a condo I think would be great online and it'll definately be gone by the time this loan process is finished. But I'm sure there will be more.

I might even go out of DC. I'm restricting myself to the district right now trying to get this loan assistance. They also waive your property taxes for the first five years, and cover your closing costs. All for being low or moderate income in a crazy-expensive place like this. So I want a peice of that. Not sure how long it'll take though.

A Look Inside The Avo-Mailbag

2008-09-30T21:44:00.006-04:00

Ugh! Checking my avocad gmail address for the first time in six months... Got some strange notes from people there!

One email is from someone with a public relations agency in Los Angeles. "We work with the California Avocado Commission." They want us to know that "Ninety percent of the nation’s avocado crop is grown in California by more than 6,000 farmers who take a hand-grown approach. April through September marks the California avocado season"... Etc, etc. And she offers to send me unique avocado recipes, and tell stories about avocado farmers. Hmm, this website could get more avocado green if i'm not careful! This all must have been brought on by my recent post all about avocados. It's odd though, I posted that in March and got the email in June. Alrightythen!

Another of my favorites is from a person who set up a website of "uber cool slideshows for your blog." I found this one there, which is, indeed, uber cool. At least for me who is considering a trip to India this fall. Here are a bunch of Indian vacation spots.

Make Your Own Slideshow | More Slideshows

Another is from the "Scientific Fundamentalist" thanking me for reading and commenting. Seriously, I don't know why these places thank me by email instead of by a comment at my blog. That would be more appreciated...

There's one facebook invite from a friend I made in person at a blogger meetup, from April. Sorry for not responding yet! Yahh! Will do that tonight, using my other email addy.

Other than that I got a bunch of emails from the artomatic message boards, yeah, that email is signed up there, and some other random ones. Will go into them later. :)

Things to do -- One weekend in the fall!

2008-09-29T21:44:00.004-04:00

Ok, here's some music for ya while you read my post. :) I love moby. What if aliens landed in hollywood?

Anyway, there's just so much to do! Only in DC to I have regrets from forgetting opportunities that there were, after a full busy weekend.

For example, this Sunday I went to the really cool yummy Greek Festival at St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral. Great food, great fun watching and listening to the Greek and non-Greek people in attendance. Then, in the church basement about to buy and consume baklava, saw two people with Crafty Bastards bags and realized that that was that day too!

So the bf and I jumped on the bikes and high-tailed it over. It seems to have ended at 5, right about when we got there, but it seemed nice! Lots of craft booths. So many crafty folks here in the region! I think most of them much be hobbyists. There's no way hundreds of people can make their living from screen print tshirts and rubber stamps.

Then Sunday afternoon I see a sign for Barrack's Row festival, which was also that day. On 8th St SE, this is a quaint little annual fest.

Then today I realize from the Moffettblog that Saturday was also the National Book Festival. There's only so many festivals I can hit in one weekend people! Why can't these neighborhoods space them out a bit? Pretty soon it'll be cold November with no festivals and no daylight. Only stay at home huddled for warmth.

Just yesterday it was hot hot hot August. So hot and steamy here in the Districto. Daylight till 9 and humidity like nobody's business.

Right now it's September. The intermezzo. Intermission, if you will.

Timing Issues

2008-09-28T12:04:00.002-04:00

I'm ready, I wait. He's ready, I'm not. I'm comfortable on the couch, he's ready to go. I'm standing with my shoes on ready to go out the door, he wants to do this first.

Why is this so difficult? Why does it give me this sense of dis-ease?

This is what gives me headaches.

Walden!

2008-09-13T22:08:00.002-04:00

The abiding calm of Walden Pond in March.

Peaceful, half frozen, embedded in its neighborhood,
on a street that could be near any town.

Within view of the pond,
one finds themself
transported back in time.

So easy to imagine Thoreau,
seated on the bank,
lost in thought.

I paused often,
to absorb the place.

Political Stuff, Warning to Look Away if Your Head is Firmly in the Sand

2008-08-28T20:29:00.003-04:00

Obama said, "Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek."

And he talks about "The fierce urgency of now." I like the way that sounds. Like we should be mindful of now and not let it slip away. Now is important. That is a quote by both Obama and Martin Luther King Jr.

I also came across this article about McCain that needs to be publicized! Did you know he left his first wife and family when he got back from Vietnam? She wasn't as beautiful as when he left. He cheated, then married a much younger rich and beautiful woman. I didn't know those tidbits till reading this! Hmmm...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1024927/The-wife-John-McCain-callously-left-behind.html

I don't like to drive, but nature is good

2008-08-18T22:23:00.002-04:00

To be among nature today I borrowed my boyfriend's car, but it almost isn't worth it. Hard to get the drive back off my mind the whole time I was there. My mind is like a puppy, straying all over the place away from the task at hand -- enjoying nature while in the garden.

Lots of cherry tomatoes to pick today. Fresh and ripe in their redness and yellowness. One more butternut squash is there waiting, but I left it for another day because I really only need one in the fridge right now.

Tonight for dinner I cut up an onion from the garden and some garlic, and stir fried it with half of a giant zucchini. The skin gets really hard when it gets about 2 feet long. Things grow really quickly here in DC. Especially zucchini, gourds, and squash. They are prolific.

I am going to try my hand at gourd art with these nice little specimens we have now. The only problem is that to get them to preserve indefinitely (instead of getting moldy after a few months), I'm told that I need to scrub them with bleach water. I don't like using bleach for things since it's such a strong chemical. But if I do scrub off the gourds with bleach I'm told they'll stay firm forever. And we can paint the outside and use them as percussion instruments.

Thoughts on Population & Births

2008-07-01T22:15:00.002-04:00

An article today about the low birthrate of European countries in today’s NYT piqued my interest. It spends the first 3 pages (in the online version) describing the fact that there is currently a very low birthrate in Europe among European people. It’s below the “replacement rate” of each woman having 2.1 babies. In many countries it’s near 1 baby per woman. This worries people who want to see the culture of each country continue to thrive. There was an amusing reference to all of Europe becoming one big EuroDisney.

They compare regions and find that Southern Europe (Spain, Greece, and Italy) have much lower rates than Northern (Scandinavia and the UK). They also analyze Eastern Europe (Romania, Latvia, etc) but can’t seem to reach any conclusion there except that those countries are messed up & have been since the fall of the USSR. They don’t venture a guess as to why other than the transition to a market economy. I think it might have to do with a general sense of depression. They are recognizing this and seeking ways to help (point in case, the recent decision in Romania to require that half of every news cast be devoted to good news).

Ok, back to topic, around page 4, the demographers ask why the birthrate differs between N and S Europe. I totally agree with their conclusions and paste my favorite parts below.

“Women who do more than 75 percent of the housework and child care are less likely to want to have another child than women whose husbands or partners share the load. Put differently, Dutch fathers change more diapers, pick up more kids after soccer practice and clean up the living room more often than Italian fathers; therefore, relative to the population, there are more Dutch babies than Italian babies being born. As Mencarini said, “It’s about how much the man participates in child care.””

They also touch on the seeming paradox that a higher percentage of women work outside the home in N Europe, but the birthrate is higher as well. Explained by men doing more of their share to help in the North, and society being more supportive (childcare is provided free of charge by the government, maternity and paternity leave is mandated to include a high proportion of regular pay, government bonuses to women who give birth).

Of the Southern European and Asian countries where the birthrate is very low, they say the following:

“All of these are societies still rooted in the tradition where the husband earned all the money. Things have changed, not only in Italy and Spain but also in Japan and Korea, but those societies have not yet adjusted. The relationships within households have not adjusted yet.”

There was a really funny part about how the Italian woman who gets no help with kid #1 and has to quit her job to take care of it is unlikely to want more, whereas the Dutch woman who gets lots of spousal and societal support and gets to keep working while the kid is at free child care is likely to see more kids as a viable option.

Of course, this all brings up the larger issue of how it is unfortunate that society has moved in the direction of two people having to work in order to support a household. I believe it would be better for one person to work to support the house and the other partner having the option not to work. It’s just that husbands haven’t wanted to leave the workforce as their wives have wanted to be in it. Imagine how nice it would be if wages from one job could still be sufficient to support a family – and either partner could choose to only work inside the home.

But instead, the market decided that if two adults are going to work in most families, they can cut the wages in half. Prices can be twice as high. It is draconian.

Back to the article at hand. Analysis of the US – we have the highest birthrate of the developed world. See page 6 for a discussion. In short, they say its due to the flexible nature of the US job market – that a woman can exit for a few years and reenter more easily here than in Europe. And the fact that dads are involved with childcare, and that society is ok with mothers working outside the home. In Italy apparently there is still a stigma attached to a mother having a job – how constricting!

“There are those who think that “lowest low” [birthrate] is not in itself a looming disaster but more of a challenge, even an opportunity. The change that’s required, they say, is not in breeding habits but thinking habits.”

Hear, hear, I say!

And a gem near the bottom of page 9:

“But while few locals themselves may feel religiously inclined, the thinking is that if religious pilgrimage is the best card in your hand, you play it. This notion — embrace shrinkage in order to revitalize your economy, rather than trying to coax women to have more babies — is, according to more than a few observers of the European scene, the right tack. … “It’s insane to consider low birthrate as a crisis,” he told me. “Basically every person I know in my section of the National Academy of Sciences thinks it’s wonderful that rich countries are starting to shrink their populations to sustainable levels. We have to do that because we’re wrecking our life-support systems.””

Biking in DC

2008-06-27T22:57:00.004-04:00

Wow, is all I can say. After two weeks of biking around a lot, i have a lot more money on my smarttrip card than at the end of any other month, and i'm getting a lot better at the biking thing. More confident rolling next to cars even when there isn't a bike lane marked.

My $50 bike is still treating me well. My parents bought it at a garage sale quite a few years ago and then gave it to me when they got new bikes. It's dark blue with bright orange wires. A Huffy. I like it. I got a black u shaped lock for it that i'm getting awfully quick at applying and removing. Today I did it twice in the rain, in fact.

Yes, my first experience riding in the rain was this afternoon. Up the hill from the mall to NW, even. I stopped twice under cover when it was really pouring, but did continue on. Splashed through a few puddles.

So far it has been nothing if not interesting seeing all of the other bikers. Most of them are very friendly to their compatriots. Some people are wild, running through intersections when there isn't traffic for an instant, while I stand there waiting for the light. Some people are fast & serious with their bike shorts and review mirrors. A few people are like me and more laid back, having fun. Really, I don't want to do things that I don't have fun at. So bicycling should be the same way, I feel. At one point today I was not having fun, in the rain, with the traffic, but then I stopped. And then convinced myself to start again.

Hopefully I can judge better and not ride in rain anymore. I just want to have a pleasant happy life. It is a nice way to get around. Very self-sufficient.

Crossing Ohio When Poppies Bloom in Ashtabula -- A Great Sandburg Poem about Spring to Summer. Our current transition.

2008-06-09T22:26:00.001-04:00

1
Go away. Leave the high winds of May
blowing over the fields of grape vines
near the northwest corner of Pennsylvania.
Leave the doorstep peonies
pushing high bosoms at passers— by
in northern Ohio towns in May.

Leave the boys flying light blue kites
on a deep blue sky; and the yellow, the
yellow spilling over the drinking rims
of the buttercups, piling their yellows
into foam blown sea rims of yellow;
Go away; go to New York,
Broadway, Fifth Avenue, glass
lights and leaves, glass faces,
fingers; go

2
Pick me poppies in Ohio,
mother.
Pick me poppies in the back yard
in Ashtabula.
May going, poppies coming, summer humming:
make it a poppy summer, mother; the leaves
sing in the silk, the leaves sing a tawny
red gold; seven sunsets saved themselves
to be here now.

Pick me poppies, mother; go, May; wash me,
summer; shoot up this back yard in Ashta—
bula, shoot it up, give us a daylight fire—
works in Ohio, burn it up with tawny red
gold.

— Carl Sandburg

Good Old Fashioned Pancakes

2008-06-02T23:28:00.002-04:00

I tried this recipe over the weekend and the pancakes were perfect. From http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Good-Old-Fashioned-Pancakes/Detail.aspx

6 servings = enough for 2 people...despite what one would expect. I mixed together what they list, then added a little water until it was pourable. Must be able to pour the batter onto the pan. Serve with syrup, jelly, and butter (and fresh fruit and whip cream when available). Savor.

INGREDIENTS

* 1 cup and 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 2-1/4 teaspoons white sugar
* 3/4 cup and 3 tablespoons milk
* 1 egg
* 2 tablespoons and 3/4 teaspoon butter, melted

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth.

2. Heat a lightly oiled (or nonstick) griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Goffy Video, Long-Awaited Movie, Weekend Bliss

2008-06-02T23:05:00.005-04:00

More video fun, because it's 11:05 at night and I'm playing on youtube. :)

This one is funny. Must be from a movie. Hmm. It's such a catchy song though. "Take on Me" by "Aha". Love the 80s!

So this past weekend was my college 4-5-6 year reunion. I had been quite excited about it, but somehow the excitement wained as the event neared, and I didn't go.

Instead, went to a going away party for a friend, and saw the new movie "Sex and the City" on Opening Night! It was great. Such a sense of womanly companionship in the theater. I saw it in Union Station Cinema -- a big historic place with nice cushy seats. The place was completely full & sold out. At the end I looked around and there were 3 guys present. Kudos to them! The rest was ladies. :)

I was very happy with the movie. Tied up all the loose ends for me and gave me a warm fuzzy feeling as I walked out. What more could we ask. Now we need other series's like Seinfeld to come out with long-awaited movies. That'd be great too!

The other night went to a going away party for a guy I've known for 6 months. He's been living in DC that long, and is now moving again. Back to Africa from whence he came. This is indeed a transient city. But it's a city with life. Energy. Vibrancy.

Random thoughts from work

2008-05-21T21:38:00.000-04:00

This article makes a good case for the importance of organic broccoli, fresh or frozen. I love broccoli!

I feel this way at work sometimes -- http://garfieldminusgarfield.tumblr.com/post/31365506

I try to think this way all the time! http://garfieldminusgarfield.tumblr.com/post/33888433

This is a great comment on profile pictures.

And I sometimes feel stuck in one of these, but not nearly as often now that I’m out of grad school. Once again, thank heavens for having the wisdom to leave that track. :)

The Washington Wardrobe, Wages, and Ambition

2008-05-15T00:22:00.001-04:00

How much have things really changed? Sure, this article is poking fun at the “wife’s rating scale” from 1939 that it prints at the bottom, even saying “Of course, gender relations have come a long way since Crane's work,” but, really? Have things changed much?

I walk the city streets and can’t help but notice the huge difference between how men dress and how women dress. They wear identically cut pieces, in different colors, and different combinations based on the demands of their jobs. I.e., men walking around the street wear some combination of a button down long sleeve shirt, long dress pants, dress shoes (these 3 always), a tie, a suit jacket, and/or a bag/briefcase. Six items. Seems simple & easy.

Women, on the other hand, look so much nicer and more visually interesting in their variety, but this takes work on our part and is unrewarded. Women are expected to look nice in ways that men aren’t, and to wear a variety of clothes. Women who decide to wear color variations on a clothing “uniform,” like men do, are viewed as butch or un-feminine. This is a problem in professional life. We are expected to look put-together and “nice.”

We need a professional wardrobe that includes color and cut varieties of dress pants, dress shirts, sweaters, blouses, suit jackets, dresses, an occasional suit, some panty hose, jewelry to go with each outfit, shoes to go with each outfit, make-up, hair products, and a purse/briefcase. Twelve items.

Walking around Washington I notice that we comply with these social demands. Women wear the uniform, even though it’s twice as difficult for us than for men. In general the ladies I see walking around look a bit more pissed off than the men. Whenever I see a group of men all wearing the same outfit in slightly different colors, and I know that this is what they wear to work every day, and that they never have to even think for a moment about what to wear, I get a little bit frustrated. Maybe that’s what these women walking down the street are thinking about.

On top of the requirements to make society a nicer place by looking nice while we are walking around, women are ridiculed by the men in their life for taking longer to get ready. And women are judged by how clean and tidy their domicile is. While men aren’t. And we are told that we get paid less for the same jobs. And there are fewer of us in positions of power.

------------

Ok, as you may be able to tell, I was getting kind of upset typing the above. The Monster website had a blurb that made me feel a little bit better: “"Research shows that work/life decisions lead to men earning more and women working less and leading happier and healthier lives," says Warren Farrell, author of Why Men Earn More: The Startling Truth Behind the Pay Gap -- and What Women Can Do About It. People who work 44 hours a week earn twice as much as those who work 34, according to Farrell's analysis of BLS data. Farrell says it's a mistake –- and disempowering -- for women to believe that gender determines pay. "When you look at men and women who have never been married and have no kids, women make 117 percent of what men make, even when you control for education, hours worked and years in the workplace," he says.”

There is a lot of bias out there against women. It’s often thought to be unconscious. The Slate article provides a fascinating analysis. My favorite new fact: “since the arrival of "blind" orchestra auditions, in which candidates are evaluated from behind a screen, the percentage of women hired by the top five U.S. orchestras has risen from less than 5 percent to 34 percent.”

Also, “Ambition depends on a host of factors: confidence, actual skill, and the fuel of external recognition. Studies increasingly show that bias corrupts each of these in turn. In doing so, it doesn't just bar a woman from the corner office, it causes her to take herself out of the running.”

Ok, I’m off to be ambitious now.

Comments on Careers in Science

2008-05-12T20:38:00.001-04:00

Today I came across this blurb about how Congress is debating making a statement about how there should be more equitalble treatment for women in science.

One of the commentors left a link to this article, which is just great!

Apparently wages for professors used to be equitable with other high-IQ professions, but the business and medical fields have given themselves huge pay raises in recent years while wages academia has remained constant (adjusted for inflation). You’ll have to read the article for more, which I highly advise. Especially for any young college students considering the professoriate as a profession. Learn about this first!!!

Here’s a good definition from the article – to remember – “A good career is one that pays well, in which you have a broad choice of full-time and part-time jobs, in which there is some sort of barrier to entry so that you won't have to compete with a lot of other applicants, in which there are good jobs in every part of the country and internationally, and in which you can enjoy job security in middle age and not be driven out by young people willing to work 100 hours per week.”

The conclusion of this thoughtful piece is that women are more forward looking in their lives and are more rational in their planning of their future, therefore they are less likely to become graduate students and pursue an academic career.

Biodegradable What?!

2008-05-08T23:11:00.001-04:00

I’m going out of town this weekend and couldn’t be happier! It will mean a long drive and risking traffic-related stress, but it will all be worthwhile when I’m sitting next to a crackling campfire in the woods with my family.

Today I came across this story about biodegradable home products like couches. On the 2nd page they get into some fascinating talk about “thing theory” and the idea that people define themselves and their “sameness” by the stuff that they are around. “I am me because I sit at the same dining room table every day.” And they say that the fact that biodegradable furniture is catching on suggests an identity crisis. Earlier in the article they say that it is evidence that we’re living in a hyperconsumeristic society. I see it more as evidence of the second view. We buy too much, hence we want something we won’t feel bad throwing out in a year. But, at the same time I think people who buy this stuff might be taking a longer term view. “I know in 50 years this will be junk, so I want to help Mother Nature decompose it when it eventually is in a landfill.” That’s what I was thinking upon beginning to read this article anyway.

Is there anywhere left in this area where a person can sit and not have to hear car noise?

2008-04-26T10:31:00.003-04:00

I certainly doubt it. I think it would be nice if there were a spot.

Parks near my house are right along the freeway or surrounded on all 4 sides by little streets, i.e. the middle of traffic squares or circles. When I trek to the prestigious NW area there is a big park named Rock Creek, but it has a highway, parkway, running through its middle. Roosevelt Island offers a chance to get away from cars, but it's surrounded distantly by two freeways and it is in the flight path for National Airport.

There are nice bike paths along the parkways, but you're riding alongside traffic. There are picnic spots there too.

The closest spot I know of is along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal in Great Falls park, in VA or MD. One must drive there, but once on foot you can walk pretty far from the cars. Once N and I were there in the evening around dusk and there were only people every 5 minutes or so. We saw a deer across the river and a big bird. Then we got in the car and drove back to the city.

Here's one of my favorite photos from that evening. This is along the Canal Towpath. The canal runs from far North of the city, through its heart. You can walk along it in Georgetown too.

Ok, off to enjoy my morning now. Just needed to get the traffic noise gripe off of my chest.

This is what I'd like to learn how to do with videos on youtube.

2008-04-13T15:42:00.001-04:00

Such a nice compilation of short shots, with music. Cool.

My Favorite Robert Frost Poem

2008-04-10T12:35:00.000-04:00

And very fitting for this end o' cherry blossom period.

~~~~~~

Nature's first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf's a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf,

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day

Nothing gold can stay.

~~~~~

Emotional in the Grocery Store

2008-04-06T12:50:00.003-04:00

The songs played are so nice sometimes. I love this one by Tracy Chapman -- "Fast Car." Here are some excerpts that I like, along with some comments...

"You got a fast car, fast enough so we can drive away."

The theme of the song perhaps. I used to want to just get away when I was young. Now I live states away in a city and guess I have gotten away. But it's kind of bittersweet. Do all kids want to seek out new things? Find meaning by getting away. Looking for it.

"You and I can both get jobs,
Finally see what it means to be living."

This statement from the song is eye-catching for me. Now that I have a job and see what it's like. My goodness. This is what it's like to be living with a job. Sometimes good, rewarding. Often a hassel. An unwanted burden. But we just have to cling to what makes it good. And when we're young, isn't it odd how we don't feel like we're actually living? Even though we are. As teens we are living. We just feel like we're not because we don't get much say in the direction of our lives. Then there's a heady period in our early 20s when we get total control (if we're lucky and find ourselves in college then). We bumble through, get a degree, land a job, and find out what it really means to be living. Hm.

"I I had a feeling that I belonged. I I had a feeling that I could be someone. Be someone. Be someone."

All we really want is to feel like we can be someone. Hope is so important. Hope for the future drives everything. We're so optimistic.

As teens we're so hopeful. So sure we'll be someone. How hard can it be?

Asked what we want to be when we grow up, two of us in one of my middle school classes confidently said "actor." No problem. The guidance counselor gave us printouts listing the types of classes we'd need and the things we could do to prepare. But then those dreams fade when we're not picked for the plays, when we get shy and realize it might be difficult to be an actress. Hmmm.

Then we come up with a series of other dreams and plans for life. Careers. And we find the flaws in each by trying them out or taking a class. Then we get plunked into one that seems fine. Now we try to figure out how to be upwardly mobile. Hm indeed.

Tips on tv...

2008-04-04T11:31:00.003-04:00

"The 16 worst places to stash your stuff:
Don't even think about putting your purse on the kitchen counter" (or your toothbrush on the sink).

A sense of place: jimmy buffet

2008-03-26T20:52:00.002-04:00

Yes, tonight i put the radio on randomly and up pops jimmy.

Changes in attitude,
Changes in latitude,
Nothing remains quite the same.

I heard that song and every other buffet song about 100 times a week at an outdoor eatery where i waitressed one summer. Sometimes humming along, sometimes cursing the song, oftentimes too busy to listen. I never really thought about the words and how they are kind of profound.

At that point I hadn't made a real permanent move yet. Years away at school and then at least a chunk of the summer at home. Working a different job every summer to make some spending cash for the year. Trying to have fun at every chance and live life to the fullest. In some ways it hadn't yet begun, but in reality, it is continuous and had begun then and continues as we do every little thing now.

So for me this song brings back a tray in my hands, looking out over the lake at a golden sunset, the sound of laughter and chatter in the background.

Optimistic Music...

2008-03-19T22:19:00.002-04:00

Some nights when I'm not feeling 100% I enjoy sitting down and watching/listening to some quality youtube. Here's a great song that I came across. "Suitcase calling" by the Polyphonic Spree. Now, if you haven't heard from these folks before now, you're in for a treat! They're peppy and musical and great!

After some research I realize that I recognize another one of their songs from a commercial, liked it there, but didn't realize it was current! That was called Light & Day. They also apparently had a song featured on the muppets. Gotta love that.

Avocado miscellanea--a veritable smorgasbord!

2008-03-18T20:14:00.004-04:00

...Highlights from the first 6 google-returned pages for avocado.

Self explanatory: The Avocado of the Month Club...

Since 1915, the California Avocado Society appears to be only such society on planet.

Here's an Avocado Milkshake Recipe. Mmmm.

Here's a veg restaurant in Baltimore called the Flying Avocado!

I also came across “What's in a Name? The Avocado Story” (2006) a NPR peice by Howard Yoon.

According to this "research," in 1915, CA avocado farmers apparently created its current English name from its original Spanish name – ahuacate. And, here’s a treat for you!! – They wanted to change the name in part because “it was the Aztec word for testicle, named for its shape and reputation as an aphrodisiac.” “There are more than 400 varieties of avocado, but Hass has become the most popular in the United States.” Because it’s easiest to grow, tasty, and has a high oil content relative to other avocado types.

From article: “Grilled corn kernels, diced red onions and mango [and red pepper, jalapeño, cilantro, oil] elbow each other for attention until chunks of avocado mediate and mellow the mix into a tasty salsa— an unstable structure turned stable. An ordinary salad of greens, tomatoes and raw veggies turns almost decadent with slices of avocado.” So true! And it’s the highest in protein of all the fruits.

And...Avocado Festivals!

Carpinteria, CA, Avofest, Since 1986 in early October, CA’s “largest free festival.” Not to mention a festival devoted to this beautiful green gem.

Fallbrook, CA, also has an Avo Fest. Since 1962 it's been “in April to coincide with peak production from the local groves.”

Books!

The Dord, the Diglot, and an Avocado or Two: The Hidden Lives and Strange Origins of Common and Not-So-Common Words (Oct, 2007). It basically only deals with the avocado in the title.

The Dud Avocado (1958) – the author is purported to be a mix of Bridget Jones, Carrie Bradshaw, & Holden Caulfield. Sounds good! May have to read that one! It's amazing to think about all of the books that have been written and largely forgotten, such as this one.

Movies!

Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death (1989) – need anything else be typed? :)

Australian-based video, running through sand, vegemite. Funny funny funny!!

2008-03-08T11:58:00.001-05:00

Ha hahahahahahahahahaha!!!!! This is the greatest video I've seen in quite a while! Oh my goodness.

Men at Work, the video for "I come from a land down on love." Hilarious. A perfect peice of memoribilia from a golden age of video-making.

An ice storm every time there's a vote?!?

2008-03-05T19:49:00.003-05:00

“A candidate seeking to overcome an opponent who is preaching hope and optimism could not ask for a better place to rebound than here, a chronically depressed industrial region where on Election Day the only thing grayer than the abandoned steel mills was a slate sky pouring down near-freezing rain.”

There was an ice storm in DC, Virginia, and Maryland on the day of our 2008 Presidential Primary, and there was another ice strom yesterday in Ohio for their vote.

Is Mother Nature trying to tell us something?!? Is she upset with our options? With our decisions?

Curious to see why Clinton was so optimistic about winning in Ohio and why that was the outcome, I clicked on this article about found the above quote, billed on the homepage as “Clinton Has Long Counted on Ohio as a Firewall.”

It counts the aftermath of NAFTA as depressing Ohioans and leading them away from Obama due to his message of hope. The idea that unhopeful people don’t respond well to hope.

According to another article, about why republicans are popular in rural Ohio, “There was an ominous, low-moment tone to many of the [exit] interviews at polling locations here.” … “In Ohio on Tuesday, nearly six in 10 voters called the economy their No. 1 issue, according to exit polls.”

Yes, people are depressed about the state of the nation and about the politicans who have stepped up to compete to lead. To me, they all seem too much in the pocket of corporations.

Weeknight groups, articles about choices, and metro

2008-02-27T20:36:00.005-05:00

Here's a street pic in DC for your enjoyment, up near Dupont. Oh the beautiful houses! :)

Tonight I went to a new group meeting near there that I had heard about through some friends. It was ok but I didn't recognize anyone there. I met the other ladies at my table and luckily there was a speaker, so most of the time was spent listening to her. I like events with that kind of focal point. Takes the pressure off just talking to new people the whole time.

So today I found this NYT article about how we should "close doors" to better appreciate life. It talks about how making decisions is good, and keeping options open leads to uncertainty & indecision, but people are crazy about keeping options open. They'll illogically give up a lot just to not have (even less attractive) options disapear. I see effects of this irrational behavior in my personal relationships sometimes and it stinks.

On a lighter note, the NY metro has noticed and taken offense to some ads on the DC metro... Heh, I was wondering what people there thought of those rat ads with the NY accent! You gonna eat dat?!

And the cool blog where I found out about the above NYT link is http://greatergreaterwashington.org/ Lots of good stuff there about urban planning that's taking place around DC, and the lack of it in some parts of the city. About bike infrastructure, walkability, car misc, public meetings, very interesting!

Conversation about living in DC

2008-02-20T20:04:00.000-05:00

This morning I had an interesting conversation with a coworker who went to university at NYU about 10 years ago. She rhapsodized about the people there and how they’re so much more friendly! She loves to visit there, but says its not so great to work there. Her analysis of the situation is that there is a whole middle-class, blue collar group that is conspicuously missing in Wash DC.

After thinking about that for a while, she could be right! Here, everyone seems to be a white collar suit-wearer, or very poor riding the bus working at a food court. I don’t see anyone in between.—Ok, maybe the taxi drivers, and shop owners… But there’s no real blue-collar class. I guess it makes sense, because cities like NYC and Boston evolved as industrial bases, so they would be more likely to have an industrial-working class. DC evolved as a political city, hence very little industry, and no broad industrial, working middle class.

She went on to say that everyone here has a PhD, but in NY there are more “normal” folks. This may be true. People joke that in DC you can’t toss a cat without hitting someone with a master’s degree. And there are far more lawyers per capita in DC than anywhere else. The same holds with all advanced degrees (master’s, PhD, JDs).

The Writing Date & The Voting Date

2008-02-07T22:34:00.000-05:00

Here's a really inspiring article about the need to put aside actual hours to write, if one wants to be a writer. http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2008/02/2008020501c/careers.html

I need to do that in my life and in my job. It's much too easy to coast along just doing the minimum. Then the stuff we put off creeps up and bites us in the butt.

*****

On another note, an old friend just sent me a link to this campaign ad. It really is inspiring. I like the part about how "the world that has been is not the world that must be!" (I think that wording is right.) Good stuff!

DC's primary is this coming Tuesday. And I'm going to vote in it! I'm finally officially registered here instead of in my old mid-country state. And I'm going to the polls. Going to find this old school somewhere around here that is my polling place. Need to look it up on googlemaps, and hopefully it's nearby.

*****

Ok, after typing that I spent the 10 minutes of searching necessary to locate my voter registration card so I can see where my polls will be. This is a novel item for me. In my prior state there was no registration card. I went to the polls and said my name, they found it in a big list, I signed next to it and next to a copy of my signature from a past election, and then got to vote. I'm not sure what the deal is here with these reg cards.

What happens if a person knows they were mailed a voter registration card but can't find it on election day? I was freaking out about this question two minutes ago. Now it's a concern for all those other people out there who may be less organized.

I don't like the idea of mailing cards. It's an added expense for the city, and it makes people think (probably incorrectly) that if they loose their card they couldn't vote. It's a misleading, unnecessary little card.

*****

My polling place is about 6 blocks away, a school building that I've seen more that a few times but never approached. Twill be fun to go in there. It's not between me and the metro so it'll be an adventure. :)

Exciting Sunday

2008-02-03T21:31:00.000-05:00

Tonight out of tradition I had the Super Bowl on for a while. You know, it's like the US version of the World Cup. It seems to be going fine. I haven't really been paying attention. There was also a program on pbs about diamonds. Apparently, 90% of diamonds purchased in the US are from Diamond Street in NY where I happen to have walked recently! Woo! Also interestingly, 1/3 of them sold in the world are from one big mine in S Africa.

So, back to DC for more excitement -- there are 8 minutes left in the game and I'm watching another program on the Travel Channel on lost books of the Bible. Suddenly there's a sustained ringing. After a few minutes I look out the window and see lots of people from the condos across the street outside. They're throwing around a football in the dark and looking absently at the building. Then people from another condo appear as the ringing continues. Two fire trucks showed up! They looked enormous on my tiny street. Flashing lights and roaring engines and at least 8 people in full fire suits. Then after a few minutes they roared off into the night. False alarm -- fun for the neighbors!

Overall today was really good here. I took a long bike ride from Capitol Hill over to the Mall and across it to Memorial Bridge, then over to Roosevelt Island! It was awesome! Took an hour through the sunny warm day. When I left the island at 4:30 it was starting to get chilly. The sun had set behind the tall buildings of Arlington and dusk was settling beautifully over the Potomac. That bike trail is really a great place.

On the way there I passed lots of people frolicing on the Mall, enjoying the unseasonably warm weather. The pools were lower than usual. It rained last Thursday, but apparently not enough to fill them. People were on the same level as the ducks! Really seeing eye to eye. :) I stopped in mid-pedal to take this picture. It is a perfect portrayal of the Mall today. More people than on cold days, but not packed. Lots of bikers and joggers and families. Yay!

Lots of good photo opps too. Let me indulge in one more. Part of the memorial.

Have a great night!

Iran needs help, educating the world is a start, this film inspires that.

2008-02-01T20:45:00.000-05:00

I saw a moving movie tonight. Persepolis, the story of an Iranian girl-teenager-woman growing up before-during-after the revolution. Such a good film. I walked out of the theater, breathed the fresh city air and realized/remembered how good I/we have it. It felt wonderful to be walking down the street free.

One of the most striking parts of the movie for me were the crazy morality police guys that kept appearing and spoiling/trying to prevent fun.

The name of the film actually is the name of an ancient runes site in Iran. Persepolis was built about 500 BC and later abandoned according to the wikiwizards.

The Iranian revolution is a complicated world event that I would like to learn more about. Beyond the wiki offering. In trying to overthrow a monarch they accidently enabled a religious fanatic.

Love at all ages: kids early and changing retirement

2008-01-30T20:56:00.000-05:00

So, few people have kids in their 20s.

"in metro areas nationwide, including cities and suburbs, 13 percent of men and 31 percent of women ages 25 to 29 with four-year college degrees have had children, according to an analysis of 2000-06 social survey data from the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center. By contrast, 49 percent of men and 62 percent of women in that age group with less education have had children."

Also, "New data from the National Center for Health Statistics also show that college-educated mothers are usually about 30 when they deliver their first child.

"This is very significant data. It's giving numbers to a trend people have been only inferring," ...showing that "there is this increasing divergence of highly educated women and less-educated women."

I totally feel this with my non-college educated friends from high school. We're approaching the 10 year point and they practically all have kids. I am really glad to find this article because it makes me feel more normal. I feel fine when talking to people in the DC area, but whenever I come across anyone from my hometown I feel weird.

"Many delay children because they have delayed marriage. From 1950 to 2004, the median age of first marriage rose from 20 to 26..." Ok, still not quite normal in that regard, but playing it safe seems like a good plan. Must wait for something as close to perfect as possible!

And as people acheive retirement the nature of their marriages are changing. I guess this interests me in terms of long term planning, and because it's interesting to read about people's siuation to better understand them.

"For centuries, the focus of marriage was to raise children. Personal happiness was not in the contract. But today romantic love and intimacy are now the pillars of marriage. And only about 40 percent of married people have children at home -- compared with 75 percent of couples in 1880, according to research at the University of Pennsylvania."

"In youth, you fight; after midlife, you love. In the early years, you have to settle differences; in the later years, you want peace and affection. Men especially, say therapists, tend to mellow out. There's good evidence that the longer the marriage, the happier the couple." How sweet. We just have to wait 30 years...

"The agenda of marriage changes when it's just the two of you. Longevity puts a premium on mutual happiness." It discusses how in retirement, "All of a sudden, they are faced with one another's company" and have to figure out how to enjoy it. "Do you have "we-ness," the mind-set of being a team that has gone through a lot together?"

Hmmm.

Tea is Great, Free News is Good, Is this post too jolly?

2008-01-28T19:52:00.000-05:00

So, some interesting news on the newspaper beat. Another important national publication has gone the free access route. Guess you just can't charge for well written journalism anymore. Sort of sad, but good for us cheap folks who'd like to read magazine articles without buying them. TheAtlantic.com is now free.

Other free good publications include the current Economist, the Washington Post, the NYTimes, and the BBC. I don't read the last two much personally, but it's good to know they're there. Free for the taking.

********************

Tea's Effects

From Lipton's homepage: "In a study comparing tea and coffee, both beverages had similar effects on alertness, but tea produced more consistent levels during the day and appeared to have a more gentle reviving effect." I've been preaching this exact sentence since switching from coffee to tea last summer. After a month's withdrawal I felt more consistently alert and had more energy in the mornings and late evenings, times when I used to fizzle out completely.

Amount of caf in bevs

The Lipton article continues, "A cup of regular black or green tea has about half the caffeine as a comparable cup of regular brewed coffee." Decaf tea has 4 mg, or 1/10 the amount of caf tea.

More on it's effects

"In a study in which participants drank tea and coffee continually all day in the same amounts, both beverages produced similar effects on alertness, despite tea’s lower levels of caffeine." Participants who drank tea instead also said they slept better. Also, "caffeine during exercise has been shown to enhance endurance performance." And, it increases fat metabolism.

Mechanisms
Physiological -- The most beneficial component of tea for health are the flavanoid antioxidants. I once wrote a paper about this for a psychophysiology course, and am happy to be reminded of these buggers by the Lipton website. These little molecules travel around our bodies neutralizing harmful free radicals.

Psychological -- "other factors about tea, in addition to caffeine and theanine, may play a role in tea’s restorative effects. Natural factors about hot beverages and tea such as aroma and other sensory attributes or other natural occurring substances in tea may be in part responsible for tea’s positive health effects (38, 65). In addition, the psychological nature, such as context and past experiences with a hot beverage or tea could also play a part in tea’s restorative effects (11, 12, 13)."

Un Petit Retrospective

2008-01-26T23:43:00.000-05:00

I've been writing this blog now for almost exactly two years! And about 250 posts. My first comment was on June 20, 2006. A day that will live in glory. That comment was from the venerable Sam Davison. One of the brave bloggers who uses his real name and photo. He has posted links to quite a few stories and interviews he's done in Tennessee. I guess bravery is grounds for fame.

But I digress. As I've written many times, comments and readers and readers leaving comments are what keep bloggers going. Sitemeters help, since they are proof that people are looking even when they're not commenting. But nothing beats a real remark from someone out in cyberspace. I love it.

The cherry popping post dealt with nothing but everyday topics, which I tried to make humorous. The commend was a return comment because I left one on his blog. Really, that's the way to build blog-friends. Everyone who receives a comment is inclined to return the favor.

Then in November '06 I was feeling frustrated to have received few comments and wrote a post about it. That garnered me two. Yes! In this post I make a lot of the same points as here. Hmmm.

Broadening your perspective: the connection between all beings

2008-01-24T00:20:00.000-05:00

Tuesday after work I walked past the tail-end of an anti-choice rally outside the Supreme Court. Passions were high and trashcans were heaped with discarded signs. The amount of waste generated by the average demonstration is sinfully high. People who care enough to come to DC and pick up a sign should care enough to take that sign home with them to hang on a wall or window. Do they throw them out because they're closet anti-choicers? Maybe they get home and don't want anyone there to know where they were. The trash heaps show an unfortunate disregard for life on Earth, which issurprising in a group who profess to care more than most about life.

So this train of thought got me thinking about the issues in general, and trying to see things from the other perspective that I don't understand. It frightens me to think that some people value unborn,unbegun life over that of a fully functioning member of our society. They'd rather a woman die from complications than abort the unborn fetus. It's good to try to understand what frightens us, so I was walking briskly away from the demonstration and thinking.

I had what was, for me, a novel thought about the pro-choice vs anti-choice debate. The perspective taken by anti-choice people is too narrow. If they are really pro life, they should fight for life in all its forms: human, animal, plant, etc. As it is they are narrowly focusing on mysterious wads of tissue growing inside human beings, while disregarding the welfare of other creatures and life in general.

A big picture perspective shows that all beings are connected. We all depend on each other to survive. Through destructive activity like overfishing, over-logging, and reckless pollution, humans are making it difficult for other animals and plants to survive. The more people there are on the planet, the more difficult it becomes to maintain the balance between human needs/wants and the needs of plants and other animals.

These Roe vs. Wade demonstrators need to shift their perspective to focus on life in general, big-picture. They need to acknowledge that more people = more strain on the ecosystem. They should devote their passions to saving rainforest and developing non-polluting technologies so all beings can coexist.

I mean, really. More babies born in the US means more pollution, more climate change, more extreme weather effecting low-lying lands in South Asia, more desertification in Africa. Not to mention the fact that they shouldn't be trying to tell people what to do with their lives or their bodies.

So, to recap, diversity on Earth is key and humans, plants, and animals all have the right to live in peace. Pro-life people have to take this into account. It is pro-life to have diversity and to let polar bears live and big trees stand while they produce life-sustaining oxygen. It's anti-life to try to mandate more humans produced to the detriment of other, already existing, forms of life. Please think of how you relate to the circle of life, and acknowledge that these innocent lives need our protection.

Chariots of Fire!

2008-01-14T22:42:00.000-05:00

Yes I love this song. Yes, this is an adorable dog video featuring this song. :)

Crappy Bucket List Movie

2008-01-12T11:33:00.000-05:00

Well, my initial retch mechanism upon seeing a preview for “Bucket List” has been confirmed by the WaPo.

It seems to be a movie about Nicholson being as obnoxious as possible, with Freeman a life-long cheated character who benefits from Nicholson’s Scrooge-like abrupt change of heart.

My favorite part of the review (and what prompted me to write about this here for future reference) is:

"The Bucket List" is a buddy movie, and like all buddy movies, it requires women to be rendered useless, perhaps insufferable, and, if at all possible, nasty.

Ha! Yes! This puts words to my longtime irrational dislike of the “buddy movie” genre. And they market these things as having mass market appeal. But when two women are together in a buddy movie it’s called a chick flick and presumed to not have mass market appeal.

Yar. I see more clearly now.

Public Nudity and Cheezits

2008-01-09T22:17:00.000-05:00

There will be something to see on the metro Saturday 4-6. People not wearing pants! :)

Yes, there is a movement afoot to encourage people to have fun by trapsing around public without pants. Makes me want to ride around the metro system at that time to look for them. Or, possibly a better idea, go over to dupont circle that day to witness the mass depantsing! Yeah, that's what I'll do.

A shout-out to dcblogs for bringing that nugget to my attention.

Cheezits. When I went into cvs a while ago on a late night strawberry sorbet run, there was a poor lady standing outside asking everyone walking in to buy her some cheezits. I went in and there they were, so I picked up a box for her and felt pretty good about that. It's nice when someone asks for something concrete that I can easily provide. She seemed pretty suprised but happy. Spare change is a bit vague. Buy me a sandwich is ok, I've come close to doing that for one of the poor folks who hangs out near my workplace but haven't quite worked up the nerve. It takes a lot of it to interact with homeless-looking folks. It's nice when we can do something to help, even if small it's better than nothing.

The Oracle of Washington...

2008-01-07T21:33:00.000-05:00

The other night I was given a fortune/a poem for reflection by some wise buddhist folks at a temple, and was asked to reflect on its meaning to me personally.

We will meet today. We will meet again tomorrow.
We will meet at the source every moment.
We will meet each other in all forms of life.

I thought of the circle of life and how all beings are interrelated. I thought of friends and loved ones, meeting them today, tomorrow, and often. I thought of the idea that the only person you meet today, tomorrow, and every moment is one's self.

This is actually part of a larger poem by Thich Nich Hant, from his book Chanting from the Heart. In the book's context the quote takes on a new meaning and is a deeper thought on life and the life cycle.

It's a "contemplation on no-comings and no-goings." So even if someone is far away, they are really there with you, because you're a part of me and I'm a part of you. This makes me feel good. Comforting. Even if the quote is from a sad section of the book. I guess the point is to not see that sort of thing as sad.

Other People's Cats

2008-01-05T15:38:00.000-05:00

Like men wondering what woman are thinking about, we wonder what each of these cats has on its tuna-filled mind. Intense looks all around. Maybe they don't have cameras on their world.

As we drift through life, cats make it a little fuzzier. Even if we don't personally have any, it's nice to spend time with other people's.

How blessed are we to know such soft fuzzy creatures?

They silently, peacefully wait to see what we're going to do. I think we're a big mystery to them.
And a meerkat.

Good friends from afar, a theory of lights, and a goofy song

2007-12-29T19:00:00.000-05:00

Greetings! I'm back in DC now, enjoying the hustle and bustle. Someone just introduced me to the funny video linked above. I wish I had that much time on my hands... Wonder if he's a college student, or just really bored after work? I could have done that sort of thing as a student, but no more! Now there's lots of stuff to spend time on.

Today has been very busy. Went with the boyfriend to remotest Maryland to pick up a friend who is visiting from even farther out of town. They haven't seen each other in a long time so they're like little kids all happy to hang out and be silly together. It's so cute & I'm happy to join in. They just went for a walk and I decided to stay in and rest a bit. It's nice to sit still after spending the day in the car and on an earlier long walk.

It's very fun to see how they interact. They like to tease each other and talk about their other friends. They like to talk about deep personal stuff a lot too.

It seems like his "light just went on". I have a theory of life involving proverbial lights above our heads. Like the light on top of a taxi saying whether it's accepting new passengers. I believe this theory is something Seinfeld once said (which I know may be considered somewhat sad for a personal thoeory about life, but it seems to explain a lot, so I keep it). So, this idea is that people go around life like taxis. They bounce from relationship to relationship, picking people up even though their real light isn't on, because they begin the process with no intention of settling down. They generally don't let the other person know this fact (often they don't even realize it themself), until one magical day they wake up, take a breath, and think to themself that it would be nice to meet that special someone and settle down.

The light going on is a subtle transformation that they may not even consciously notice, but it occurs. The bf's friend described this happening to him within the past few years. Not in the way I'm describing it here, but it made me think of all of this and how apt it is to describe a lot of people's relationship histories. He said that he dated someone who he still thinks about a lot, and, if he were dating her now he would probably try to marry her, but at the time that was the farthest thing from his mind. Now he's looking for someone to settle down with. It's like people's lights just go on one day. Then they're ready. The most intelligent are still cautious, but they feel the urge.

I know a few females of our species who are ready but can't find that special someone. It might be comforting for them to think of it like they're just avoiding lots of losers whose lights aren't on anyway. On the other hand this might make the whole relationship search seem frustrating and intimidating. It seems difficult to find someone who is ready when you're also ready. And within a relationship it's really all about determining whether each of your lights are on at the same brightness. Timing. The greatest challenge.

Ok, I'm off to lay on the couch for a few minutes before they return full of energy and cheerful spirits. Hopefully they don't mind that I didn't come along for the walk. I don't think they minded, but have that little paranoid internal voice saying I should hang out. They probably enjoy having a bit of time alone. It is hard for me to carve out time to write. But it's rewarding to get things out. Writing is catharsis.

Enjoy your evening! If you're single, think about whether your light is on and whether your light status matches that of any significant other in your life. If they're mismatched it might be best to get out of it now so you don't waste each other's time and cause frustration. I wonder what causes people to suddenly wake up and be ready for seriousness. My next thought topic. Mmmmmm.

Tv is melting my mind.

2007-12-23T22:34:00.000-05:00

Yes, I'm home for the holidays and am watching way to much of it. Growing up we always watched it during the evening, from about 8-11 or so, and the folks here are still in that habit. Some how I got out of that habit completely in the last few years. Now I think it's giving me headaches. I've had one each of the last three days. The first couple of days here it was ok, but maybe i hit some kind of critical period.

It's just so darn bright and noisy. All flashing lights like strobe lights. Hurting my eyes. And the news announcements are kind of constant. So repetitive. In this rampup to Christmas, all the news people are talking about it holiday sales! It's constant. Interviewing shoppers, talking about averages & why we're buying more or less than last year. They're hyper and constantly switching between saying people are buying a lot, and not enough. The news people are trying to drive up sales for the retailers. They're acting like it's their jobs.

This is my main complaint about the trip. It may be brought on by the headache, or it may be brought on by my testiness over not seeing my boyfriend for the past three weeks. Other than the incessant tv, the trip is good.

Friends, cats, countrymen

2007-12-17T21:34:00.000-05:00

I have a cat. Not my cat. I'm cat-sitting. And leaving the city in a few days. The guy was supposed to contact me tonight about picking up his feline. He knows I'm leaving town.

Why are people so irresponsible? Why can't they contact you when they say they will? I'm doing him a favor and he's causing me stress? Hard to believe.

The cat's blameless in the situation, but I'm starting to take it out on her without meaning to. Feeling more standoffish than I have. I'm just getting worried.

-------------------a few hours later--------------------------------

Ok, I know, I'm a phone chicken.

So I realize that, sucked it up, and called.

Feeling much better about the situation now.

(I know this is a pointless post.)

Thoughts on Family

2007-12-16T13:31:00.000-05:00

I think a fair amount about kids when I'm out in the world and see some acting in a nice or not so nice manner. Or when I visit family and am exposed to their little hellians. How is it that some kids are so nice and some are nasty?

My answer is always that it has to do with their parents and family life. Reading online I came across this poem about children on a Buddhist website:

The wise
hope for a child
of heightened or similar birth,
not for one
of lowered birth,
a disgrace to the family.
These children in the world,
lay followers,
consummate in virtue, conviction;
generous, free from stinginess,
shine forth in any gathering
like the moon
when freed from a cloud.

So this gives the impression that kids are born a certain way and that they'll either be good or evil depending on which way they're born. If they're good they'll shine forth like the moon. That is kind of worrysome.

I recall being a good kid. Listening to parents was obviously the right thing to do. Playing peacefully by myself was a constant activity. I didn't have electronic crap to build a short attention span.

I'm worried that the current culture might be making kids nasty. The WaPo recently had an article about how little kids are demanding real cell phones, laptops, blackberries. They want to be like mom & dad, and know the difference between a fake toy version and the real thing. But these electronics cost hundreds of dollars! WHO is buying this crap for their preteen??!? In blockbuster the other day I looked in revoltion at the shelves and shelves of kids dvds. They showed too many scantily clothed bratty looking little kids. Whenever I accidently flip to the disney channel I am disturbed by the bratty kids starring in the programs.

I've always considered it necessary to make sure one's kids are nice respectful little beings. Is that possible to assure by being a good parent? Is it more a matter of how the kid is born? If so, how does one hatch a good one? :) Ah, great fodder for sunday morning thought.

Discovering the new Pink

2007-12-15T20:05:00.000-05:00

I'm so glad I'm not like that. I don't wanna be a stupid girl!

What a funny video by Pink making fun of our culture. Pretty outrageous, actually. Hmmm. And it includes a little girl watching all this stuff on tv. Great zing on pop culture.

She's ok, you know?

Experiencing City Stress

2007-12-11T22:13:00.000-05:00

Last night I was totally stressed out as a result of living in a city. In country life this wouldn’t have happened because one never has neighbors sharing things like walls. I may have cursed myself by going on in the last post about how nice city living is and how I don’t see how it would necessarily cause psychosis.

WELL, last night I got woken up at 4:00 AM by a strange ongoing sound. It was loud. I couldn’t tell what the heck it was and couldn’t sleep with the noise. It sounded like someone next door was sanding their floor with a loud machine. But why would they do that at 4 am?!?!? It made me miserable, I put in earplugs, tried to go back to sleep, could still hear it. I lay there trying to think of a way to drown out the noise, wishing I owned some noise cancellation headphones. (I am going to get a pair of those soon. They’re pricey, but I could really use them for the metro’s loud noise, airplanes, and sleeping at times like this. Despite costing $350, they will keep me from going postal. Worth it, no?) I considered calling the police, my landlord, or the one neighbor who’s # I have but really just wanted to fall asleep and not be bothered.

It was 5:30 AM before I got the brilliant idea that there is a very noisy fan over my bed that might drown out the noise. This ceiling fan has 3 speeds. Only cyclone speed is quiet enough to normally be tolerable. The thing buzzes like mad on low and medium. SO, I put it on loud speed and fell asleep, albeit rather cold, while the constant buzzing of the fan mostly masked the loud irregular scraping.

My sleep was not peaceful, because I was somewhat worried that the buzzing was something ominous like a water heater ready to explode or a malfunctioning smoke detector. It had to be coming from an empty apartment adjacent to mine, since anyone who was able would stop this racket. That left 5 possibilities and I wasn’t ready to bang on their doors to get them to shut off the racket, especially considering the culprit was either deaf or not home.

This morning at 7:30 I woke up, unburied myself from a mountain of blankets and pillows attempting to keep the sound out and the heat in, and the racket was STILL droning on. In angry, sleepy disbelief I called the landlord. Turns out it is a malfunctioning heater in the vacant apartment right next door to mine (sharing a wall). The heater repairman said he’d come this Thursday. The landlord will turn off the heater till then. Unless the new neighbor comes home and turns it back on and leaves again, I should survive. Now that I know, I’m calling him if it happens again even if it is 4 AM!

----------

I guess that’s the difference between city and country life. In the city we are sometimes exposed to stressors over which we have no control. In the country, houses are far enough apart that neighbors have to work harder to bug us. There’s a difference between having someone directly overhead stomping and having someone ½ mile away making a racket. People generally retire indoors after dark, which is good for country folks because the houses muffle annoying sound. It’s bad for city folks since the annoying sound moves closer to you when indoors right on the other side of the wall. Things like this make me question my sanity for staying in this situation when I could move somewhere rural and have a better chance of just being left alone. Peace and quiet. Too much to ask? Does this cause urban psychosis? Possibly, yes.

Urban Psychosis?

2007-12-10T22:22:00.000-05:00

Below is an engaging article about the perceived lack of personal accountability in US culture. It brings up the interesting topic of "urban psychosis", which posits that people living in cities are under constant stress because they feel threatened, and therefore can be excused for buying into the culture that they are surrounded by and performing violence.

Here’s another description of this phenomena, from what appears to be a law textbook.

Makes me wonder about all of us living here in greater DC, if urbanity causes such psychosis. Makes me wonder whether it's true. I mean, sure, life is more stressful with more strangers around, but aren't there good parts about community too?

A friend argues that humans are meant to live in groups, communities, together. Throughout history many of humanity's achievements have originated in urban areas. We have easier access to museums, theaters, huge libraries, lots of lectures, millions of churches, groups for every interest, even a community of bloggers living nearby. Shouldn't these positives balance out the stress of commuting every day packed together with other people?

Here's the article:

---------------------------------

CAFFEINE MADE ME DO IT

by John Leo

In the dark ages, about 20 years ago, obscene phone callers were creeps

who got their jollies by anonymously harassing women with heavy-

breathing references to their private parts. Now, like Richard

Berendzen, who resigned as president of American University over his

unusual phone habits, they get to go on Nightline to explain that they

are blameless victims of an uncontrollable impulse disorder.

Berendzen even hauled along a docile psychiatrist [Paul McHugh, now

retired, formerly Henry Phipps Professor of Psychiatry & Director of the

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins

University School of Medicine] who argued plaintively that Berendzen's

little habit was a shadow attempt to repair a childhood problem. Not a

dry eye in the house.

These uncontrollable forces have been piling up at a record rate. As

columnist Charles Krauthammer points out, we have Pete Rose's disorder

pathological gambling, 312.31 in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual

of American Psychiatry), Marion Barry's disorder (alcoholism, 303.90)

and Berendzen's impulse (telephone scatologia, 302.90).

The dread disease of caffeinism (305.90, supine dependence on cola or

coffee) has already been cited in a criminal case or two. We have

inhalant abuse (305.90, dependency on aromatic hydrocarbons), and solemn

listings for difficulties of ordinary life (arithmetic and reading

problems). A few years ago, the psychiatrists came within an inch of

inventing a disease called paraphilic rapism, which would have been used

by defense attorneys for every rapist in captivity.

When Sol Wachtler, the chief judge of New York state's highest court,

was arrested for extortion and threatening to kidnap the fourteen-year-

old daughter of his ex-lover, many New Yorkers were under the impression

that some crimes may have been committed.

Not so, according to John Money, a prominent sexologist and medical

psychologist. In an op-ed piece in New York Newsday, Money wrote that

Wachtler "was manifesting advanced symptoms of . . . Clerambault-

Kandinsky Syndrome (CKS). . . a devastating illness."

CKS is a disease that can be diagnosed from 300 miles away (Money is

professor emeritus at the Johns Hopkins University and Hospital in

Baltimore). In fact, it is so easy to spot that the diagnoser need not

even telephone the diagnosee or know much about him. All the diagnoser

has to know is that the accused is blameless. In plain English, Money

suggests that Wachtler was irresistibly lovesick, that is, suffering

helplessly under "the spell" of erotomania.

Money is very hard on the FBI for failing to recognize that they had a

spellbound CKS sufferer on their hands, and not some kind of criminal.

"The law-and-order treatment of people with CKS," Money wrote sternly,

"is the equivalent of making it a crime to have epileptic spells."

He is no novice at converting dreadful behavior into dreadful disease.

When Richard Berendzen was arrested for obscene phone calls, Money

thought that such cases were similar to epilepsy too. He is becoming a

familiar traveler on a path that has become a highway: presenting an

enlightened medical model of quirky and criminal behavior.

In retrospect, the 1980s seem to have ushered in a golden age of

exoneration. When the decade began, the sociological excuse (society-

made-me-do-it) was clearly petering out. But a half dozen disciplines

combined to fill the alibi gap quite nicely. Law, psychiatry,

neurology, nutrition, biology and pop psychology all helped explain why

almost nobody can be held accountable for harmful behavior anymore. We

are becoming a nation of victims, and we are running out of victimizers.

Law plus nutrition gave us many variations of the Twinkie defense

(sugar- made-him-kill). Law plus dubious psychiatry gives us the

promising anabolic steroid defense. (A bodybuilder broke into six

Maryland homes, set fire to 3 of them and stole cash and jewelry. A

judge ruled him guilty but not criminally responsible because his

frenzied use of anabolic steroids for weightlifting left him "suffering

from organic personality syndrome." No jail time.

Law plus the sociological excuse in disguise offers us the "homosexual

panic" defense. (A man killed a homosexual who made a pass at him in

San Francisco, then tried to argue in court that this violence was an

involuntary triggering of sexual attitudes induced in him by his

sheltered, small-town Texas upbringing. The judge wasn't having any of

this, but lawyers think that "panic" defenses will soon become common.

Pop psychology joined the party by conjuring up new addictions, which

have been used successfully to allay guilt and get offenders off the

hook. In Los Angeles, a hacker named Kevin Mitnick copped a plea after

being accused of breaking into a corporate computer system and stealing

an expensive security program. Did the judge see Mitnick as one more

computer nerd with no conscience? No, she saw him as the victim of an

insidious space-age ailment called computer addiction, and sentenced him

to a year's treatment for this "new and growing" impulse disorder.

Bonnie and Clyde came along too soon. Nowadays they could settle for a

year at the Betty Ford clinic as victims of compulsive bank-robbing

addiction. (Actor Chevy Chase says he's never going back to the Ford

clinic because it's dedicated to the concept that "it's not your fault

that you take dope or you drink, that it's something beyond your

control." A smart man.

As real addictions have been converted into disease (alcoholism), bad

habits have been upscaled and transformed into addictions (yesterday's

hard-to-break smoking habit is today's nicotine addiction). In pop

psychology, addiction theory started out as a catchy metaphor: In love

and sex, some of us behave as if we were addicts. Pop-psych consumers

loved the idea and took it quite literally. Now people freely talk of

being in the grip of previously unknown addictions ranging from sex to

jogging and chocolate eating. Actress Valerie Bertinelli says she is

addicted to her husband.

The most popular addiction is to sex, and we now have earnest sex-

addict support groups and Sexaholics Anonymous. The only problem with

sexual addiction, as marriage counselor and sexual therapist Marty Klein

says, is that it doesn't exist. No matter. It's popular anyway. Klein

says: "Sex addicts are told they have nothing to feel guilty about."

That's the whole point of being one.

In the nineties we are probably in for a heavy wave of biological

determinism. As gene-mapping proceeds and the physiological correlates

of behavior are discovered, we will hear even more arguments about

irresistible forces. And so-called syndromes will be tailored to

political constituencies. Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome, which once

applied narrowly to sever psychic aftershock, has splintered into many

legally promising pseudo-ailments, including action addict syndrome,

post-abortion syndrome and oppression artifact disorder (delayed shock

of oppressed peoples such as homosexuals and blacks). Will we

eventually have an ailment for every constituent and every need?

The problem with all this is that you can't run a society, or cope with

its problems, if people are not help accountable for what they do. We

seem hell-bent on depicting ourselves at the mercy of ever more

irresistible forces. The way we are headed, the only generally

acknowledged responsibility for our actions may be to explain them away

on Nightline.

The Steve Howe case shows how an imaginative defense made a shambles of

major league baseball's drug-controlled regulations. Howe, banned from

baseball for life for a long series of cocaine violations, beat the rap

in arbitration: the players' union successfully argued that he was the

victim of "attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)." The

novelty here is that apparently no one had ever thought of using ADHD (a

diagnosis usually referring to hyperactive children) to excuse drug

behavior in a 34-year-old. But it worked. Like gold lying around inside

mountains, psychiatric syndromes and disorders are there to be mined.

In Milwaukee earlier this year, an imaginative defense lawyer cited

"cultural psychosis" as the reason why one teenage girl shot and killed

another girl for her leather coat. (Society, in this case the violence

of inner-city life, conditioned her into thinking that problems are

resolved by gunfire.) This is a version of "the devil made me do it,"

not very far from Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome, which shows signs of

developing into an all-purpose excuse, covering almost every variety of

ugly behavior undertaken in the wake of some other ugly behavior. The

director of Chicago's Community Mental Health Council argues that the

predatory aggression of city life can cause PTSS. This sounds as though

it would make almost anyone arrested in a rough neighborhood eligible

for a PTSS defense.

It should be said, however, that people at the top of society are far

more likely to get away with psychologized and neurologized excuses than

people in rough neighborhoods. John Money offered his epilepsy

analogies, not after drive-by shootings, but in defense of a college

president and a chief judge.

Money was hardly the first to smother the Wachtler case in dubious

psychiatry. From the say of Wachtler's arrest (he was hustled off to a

hospital with a psychiatric ward, not to jail), the newspapers have

bristled with the terminology of psychological excuse--stress, sickness,

aberration. "It must be attributable to some illness," said one former

justice.

The psychologized vocabulary of moral evasion afflicts the whole

society, but it is most corrosive when it lets the powerful off the

hook. If a society is constantly being corrupted from the top, as ours

is, it is crucial to our sense of justice that high-placed perpetrators

be held accountable, and not disappear into the mists of psychology.

[end Leo article]

Hot fun in the city...

2007-12-08T21:43:00.000-05:00

Mmmm. Trader Joe's Pizza. Yum! I just took a fun loaded trip to the branch in Foggy Bottom. It was packed!! But all in all a good trip.

I'm entertaining myself while the boyfriend is out of town. Before TG's, I checked out the Mexican Pianist, Patricia García Torres, playing at the Kennedy Center. Gotta love that Millennium Stage. Yay! She actually played a world premier piece. That felt muy especial. It was called 'Anger' and is part of a series where each piece covers a separate deadly sin. Anger was a bit intense and upsetting. The most low register notes I've often heard together on piano. At one point it sounded just like there was a string bass up there too!

The holiday lights going up all over the city are quite enjoyable too.

One more funny thing. Do you like Cake? As in the band Cake that's been around for the past 10 years or so? I thoroughly enjoy them, and just came across this youtube video of one of people commenting on one of their stellar songs -- Short Skirt, Long Jacket. I think you'll like it too.

Hiatus

2007-12-01T21:13:00.000-05:00

It has been a busy time here in Avocadoland. Read a few good books, went contra dancing, made fruity jello, learned to roller blade, almost broke my leg, got up and tried again, saw some theater and movies, cat sitting... And, I must admit, this new gadget called facebook is taking up a lot of my online time that used to be devoted to blogging.

I hope things are good for you and yours, and that you enjoy the wonderful blogosphere. I'll be posting regularly again sometime soon. If and when things calm down. =)

Saving Trees! As easy as getting the mail.

2007-10-29T21:59:00.000-04:00

Think it would be nice to reduce your amounts of unwanted mail?
Here's how!

If your mailbox is filled with unwanted catalogs check out this online tool offered by the National Wildlife Federation and NRDC to unsubscribe from the catalogs
of your choice. They do all the work, you just sign up online.

I just signed up to get rid of a couple of catalogs that I'm still getting a year after ordering a present from one. The waste is so frustrating!

Also, the Mail Preference Service has a form that you can use to opt out of junk mail. I filled this out and haven't been getting much junk mail since. Highly recommended.

And here's another to opt out of pre-screened credit offers, which are dangerous for identity reasons as well as for the environment.

Even if you aren't getting a ton of junk mail every day you can still take that walk about to the mailbox. The fresh air is good for ya and the exersize is even better!

Ah, that thought brings back memories. When I was young getting the mail was my job. My main chore, if you will. I would usually bring it in when I got off the school bus at the end of the driveway, but sometimes it hadn't yet arrived so I'd have to walk out there again later in the evening. Sometimes that seemed like such a pain... How nice it was to be young and only have a few things to think about.

Dear fellow carers about the environment, some weird weather news.

2007-10-11T18:21:00.000-04:00

The weather made today’s front page of the WaPo, which is usually covered with pictures of violence not streams and fields.

To sum up, there is a drought watch in the region around DC, with voluntary conservation measures. The paper reports that "Residents have been asked to take shorter showers, limit watering of lawns and gardens and turn off the tap while brushing their teeth." Oh poor residents. There are also reports of the crazy additional conservation measures of making sure the dishwasher & washing machine are full before starting them... Wha?! Who doesn’t make sure of that?

Another tidbit from the article, “Despite the hand-wringing over the weather, plenty of residents said that they have few concerns about drought and that they would cut back on water use if restrictions were put in place.” It sounds like people are actually asking for government intervention. Hmmm. And they say DC isn’t asking residents to conserve at all since we have the Potomac and water in reservoirs. How unfarsighted.

From another, similar article, “Temperatures rose to 94 degrees at the region's airports yesterday, setting records for the day at each.” This was Wednesday October 10 when it was 94 degrees in Washington, DC, and it was also in the 90s for the three days prior. It should be in the 60s for highs this time of year. And they’re saying the leaf change will be short and possibly brown this year due to the high temps and drought.

A third article in today’s paper reports on the woes of suburbanites watering their lawns & shrubbery. The person they focus on uses thousands of gallons of water a month to keep her exotic tree collection alive. It’s treated with sympathy by the author, but strikes me as a clear argument for planting native species. They say that “untended trees are dying” but my untended yard trees are fine, since they’re plain old maple and oak.

Some good suggestions in this article include collecting water from downspouts using barrels (a nice old fashioned fix), collecting the drips from air conditioners & dehumidifiers to water plants (good one I hadn’t thought of before!), and (this one’s good too, quoted from the paper) “recycled water from domestic uses such as clothes washing. When he relied on a well, before his home was connected to municipal water, Christopher Pinchiaroli bought the largest plastic garbage can he could find, placed it next to the washer and captured about 40 gallons or more of rinse water. He put a sump pump in the can, ran a hose from it through the garage, and pumped the water to his garden.”

To blog or not to blog, and higher education

2007-10-07T10:39:00.000-04:00

So yesterday a friend of a friend was asking about blogging. You do that? Why? What do you write about? He derisively inquired. I explained that it's a fun way to maintain your writing skills, while making friends with people around the globe. Through reading lots of blogs and commenting on some, I've been lucky enough to find a few people to regularly read and comment on each other's blogs. That's the fun of it, really. It's also fun to know that at least a few people who I know from real life read the blog and might be entertained. They might get insight into my crazy behavior every once in a while. They can keep track of what's going on with me (at least what I feel like sharing here) easily and without me really knowing. I know it's not realistic to think that they actually are reading, which is fine. It's sort of fun to know that it's possible. And I can see certain details about my viewers, so sometimes I can tell who is viewing when and for how long. Mwa ha ha.

This friend wants to be a writer and is considering starting a blog. I guess he's been thinking about starting a creative writingish grad program for a few years, and just hasn't worked up the steam. It's much easier to keep the comfortable job that one has than to branch out into something new in ones mid-thirties and acquire more debt and have to find another job when finished. Very much easier to keep plugging along as one is. So that's what he's doing, while harboring dreams of becoming a creative writer.

Another friend of my boyfriend was in a similar boat, and recently started a new grad program. He was dissatisfied with things and wanted to make a change in the world. He decided the best way to do this would be to get some edumacation. So he's now in a MBA program and enjoying the challenge. I guess it's a huge time commitment because we hardly see him now. It's a full time program. And the cool part is that he plans to work in international aid and sustainable development, or some such compassionate subfield of business. He thinks that not enough people with professional educations enter this field, which is why compassionate development projects are often poorly plan and run, and fail, giving the whole field a bad reputation.

It's interesting to watch these people and their choices and levels of life-satisfaction. I'm still not sold on going back to any particular grad program. It seems like not enough bang of an outcome for the buck of paying for education and doing all the schoolwork that it entails. Maybe one just has to wait for something they're passionate about. That seems to be key.

So in addition to being a virtual networking playground, the blog is like a scratchpad for thoughts. Sometimes, like with my rant the other day, it makes me feel better just to write it out. Other times, like today, it's good to get these thoughts down on paper before they scatter to the wind. Eh, blogging is an interesting passtime. :)

Beware, Rant! Living in close quarters SUCKS!

2007-10-04T20:40:00.000-04:00

Do you ever just want to hurt someone? I feel that way about the lady that lives upstairs. I HATE HATE HATE that she never EVER EVER EVER EVER has taken the damn garbage down the entire time I've lived here. She and I share a can. We live up a steep flight of stairs from the street. We've shared a trash can for the past 2 years. They pick up trash twice a week. She never ever takes it down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It smells when it fills up and no one takes it down so I always have to. It's right by the entryway so it makes me want to puke when I have to walk by it full.

I'm so sad that she's so inconsiderate!!!!!! In a recent development, I'm so mad that I bang the can around a LOT whenever I take it down or bring it up. That hasn't helped, except in letting me take out anger on the can.

This week I made one little plastic bag full of trash. The can could hold 12 of those. I got home from work today and it was stinking full. I forgot what day it was and assumed that our garbage would be picked up in the morning, why else would it be full? So before I came inside and got all relaxed thought I'd take it down. I did so and then put it out of my mind.

Had dinner, got online, the makings of a pleasant evening. Then five minutes ago as I'm sitting here peacefully, I hear a giant BANG on the wall right near where I'm sitting. I gave it a minute so whatever nut did that could go away before I appear in the window, don't want to encourage that kind of thing by giving it attention! But my curiosity was roused so I looked out. The garbage can was sitting back right by the door. Someone had BANGED it into the wall rudely while replacing it, FULL, next to the door.

A neighbor doesn't like the cans to stay at street level and sometimes brings our can up. They're legally not supposed to stay down there, but sometimes I get so upset that nobody else touches the thing that I leave it down there. I agree that the sidewalk looks a lot nicer and is easier to walk on when the cans are in their places by the door to each house instead of scattered all over, but sometimes I get upset and just leave it there. Someone usually brings it up while I'm at work (and I have a sneaking suspicision that it's not the upstairs neighbor). So tonight he probably thought he was doing us a favor by bringing the can up.

So I got very angry knowing that I'll have to take this full can of trash down to the street AGAIN in a few days. Angry and sad. It SMELLS when it's sitting full for a few days. Since she filled up the WHOLE THING she should have taken it down!!!!!!! I just noticed today that it was full and they picked up trash THIS MORNING!!!!! :(

So after I realized what the bang was, I was sitting here annoyed & angry, I hear the upstairs neighbor woman yell "Thank you" out her window to the guy who brought it up! So she's THAT AWARE of what's going on and just DOESN"T CARE about me, obviously.

Should I bang more? Just leave it and not open my window at all because of the stench? We'll have rats and roaches living outside the door if I let it pile up! And it STINKS SO MUCH! And I have to walk past it A LOT! In the past when I've tried to wait it out, I've just ended up taking it down massively OVERFLOWING!!!

I don't want to talk to her about it because it's my peaceful time when I'm at home, and she has no right to force me to talk to her about this annoyance when I'm just trying to enjoy my castle. Should I just leave the trash sit there indefinitely? I really hate putting up with people like this.

...I was finished with my rant, was all ready to post, when I smell cigarette smoke! Instead of yelling from her window, she's now sitting outside my window SMOKING!!! Sitting there on the stoop, outside my window, talking to her boyfriend, both smoking and dropping butts all over the ground, even though the aforementioned TRASH CANS are RIGHT THERE!!!!! So I closed the window and turned on a fan to get rid of the smell.

To finish the rant, she's NOISY, and stomps on the stairs and floor wearing high heels at all hours. 3 am, 4 am, ALL NIGHT sometimes!!!!! I don't get it.

Neckline Choice Commentary & Recent Events

2007-10-01T19:29:00.001-04:00

Good article on fashion choices for work!

"Showing cleavage is a request to be engaged in a particular way. It doesn't necessarily mean that a woman is asking to be objectified, but it does suggest a certain confidence and physical ease. It means that a woman is content being perceived as a sexual person in addition to being seen as someone who is intelligent, authoritative, witty and whatever else might define her personality. It also means that she feels that all those other characteristics are so apparent and undeniable, that they will not be overshadowed.

To display cleavage in a setting that does not involve cocktails and hors d'oeuvres is a provocation. It requires that a woman be utterly at ease in her skin, coolly confident about her appearance, unflinching about her sense of style. Any hint of ambivalence makes everyone uncomfortable."

Of course, it's discussed in a political context by the WaPo, but is a good thing for women in general to think about, I think.

In other news today, I didn't end up going to the craft fair yesterday. Instead I hurt my leg roller blading and then had a nice relaxing afternoon sitting around a coffee shop and restaurant with friends. See, we already had plans to go to the crafty bastards festival, and instead had to just chill due to my injury. Eh, what're ya going to do.

Speaking of Avocado...

2007-09-29T11:40:00.000-04:00

Cupcakes?!? This looks like a pretty awesome recipe that i just found here. Thought I'd share it with you folks in case you also enjoy a good bake. :) Loads of cupcake recipes.

Happy Saturday everyone! So many options today that the mind boggles & we've decided to take off for the coast instead of dealing with all the stuff happening in town. There are a few beaches on the Chesapeake, straight East of DC, that we're going to check out today. Just waiting for my bf to arrive to take off.

I'll report back on them next week. Tomorrow is crafty bastards in adam's morgan. Yeh! I got a beautiful handmade glass necklace pendant there last year that I adore. Almost time to see what's on offer for 2007!

The end of another month. What fun. Time to reflect a bit? Maybe so.

Weekend demonstration in DC & commentary

2007-09-17T21:25:00.000-04:00

I got a cold over the weekend. Still have it. Went to the big anti-war protest in DC on Saturday anyway. Hopefully the huge number of people gathered to voice their preference for peace did some good. Hopefully our voices got through and will prevail.

The gathering was huge. I was terribly proud of my copatriots who showed up in mass to gather and walk from the white house to the capitol building. It was peaceful, calm, and nice to be around so many concerned people. Even if many of them were concerned and pissed off.

We want the current war to end. And we also want to prevent future wars. After so many deaths and so much anger from the Iraqis towards us as occupiers, so many innocent lives disrupted and ended, it seems to me that the US politics machine will think deeper and harder next time it gets an urge to invade some other country. It seems self-evident that they would consider the current miserable failure of a war, the current incredible waste of money, and decide not to waste more money and lives.

But, I just came across an editorial by retired army general & ex-presidential front-runner Wes Clark about this topic. He writes: “As Iran seems to draw closer to acquiring nuclear weapons, almost every U.S. leader -- and would-be president -- has said that it simply won't be permitted to reach that goal. ... Unchastened by the Iraq fiasco, hawks in Vice President Cheney's office have been pushing the use of force.”

Aaargggggh! That’s not what we want to hear!

He continues, “Somehow, in the past decade or two, we began to think of ourselves as "warriors." There was an elemental purity to this mindset, a kill-or-be-killed simplicity that drove U.S. commanders to create a leaner force based on more basic skills -- the kind that some generals thought were lacking in Vietnam and in the early years of the all-volunteer military.”

It seems to me that this is all wrapped up in the black & white worldview urged upon us by the neo-cons. They want us to feel threatened constantly, from every corner. They want us to feel that the end is right around the corner, because that way it doesn’t matter how much debt we generate with this extravagent military spending. They want us to look back in 10 years and say that at least the earth is still around for them to enjoy. That fearmongering is making a lot of people scared of everything, afraid to leave the house.

In closing, Clark writes, “the big lesson is simply this: War is the last, last, last resort.” Nicely said.

Thoughts on being 20-something

2007-09-16T13:47:00.000-04:00

Something isn't quite right, and I’m having the hardest time determining what the problem is. I’ve heard of this "quarter life crisis" idea and did some reading on it the other day. Turns out, according to abc news most people in their 20s are struggling, financially dependent on parents, and stuck in a job that’s dull in ways they never dreamed. We dream of real life starting, with a real career that we enjoy, and our "soul mate". "Many are stuck in front of a computer screen for hours, often posting online to pass the time." Yes... And we’re wondering, “how did I get here?!” and where do I go from here.

Some quality advice from page 4 of the article, which I’d like to follow, is to ask yourself what you would do if you won the lottery and no longer had to worry about money. Then we should "focus on that goal, be dogged in your pursuit of it and ignore outside, age-related, societal pressures."

So perhaps I should quit my job and become a writer, or a park ranger, or an artist. Right...

At the end of the article they say "What's the hurry? Nearly everyone grows up and settles down by about age 30. The 20s are for trying out options, developing self-understanding and moving toward making more enduring choices. There's nothing wrong with that. They all get to adulthood soon enough."

Well, the "hurry" and the thing that worries most 20-somethings, is that we don’t want to end up somewhere we don’t want to be. Yes, we will get to true adulthood soon enough (defined, humorously, by the article as living on one’s own, owning a home, having a kid, & having a full time job). The key is that we want to really want those things. We want to have our cake and happily, joyously, eat it. Savor it. Not just settle for what comes along, as we have a hunch many people have done in the past.

Goodbye short pants, hello camisoles under everything!

2007-09-13T20:20:00.000-04:00

Hello dressy black heels, Goodbye “dressy” comfy flipflops.

Officewear has moved back into its fall/winter doldrums. Alas.

Soon I’ll have to retire my line of dresses and skirts for the long cold season ahead.

Then it’ll get harder and harder to leave the house at night.

It’ll be colder and colder out in the frosty mornings.

It’ll be darker and darker when I get home from work.

Why don’t I move to the Caribbean?

Me gusta el calor. The heat is my friend.

Long hot days of summer, don’t leave me yet!

Final fiesta

2007-09-11T23:17:00.000-04:00

Tonight I had spegetti with spinach dip for dinner. It was a slight accidente. You see, it looked like alfredo sauce. That would have been good. It was good as it was. Yum.

Then came home and had some olives. Yum again.

Tonight was the last night of my sports league till next spring so it was kind of sad knowing that I won't see those folks again for a long time. I have the contact info for the people on my team, of course, and a few other people. But not nearly all of those that I had nice conversations with. Nonplanning me didn't even bring a pen tonight to ask people for this email addys.

You know, that's something I would have done without thinking back in the day. I can't help but think that my golden days of friendmaking may be over. Back in my preteen days I remember taking a little notebook to "last day" events like this and getting everyone's contact info. That was before email so we were talking addresses and phone numbers. Then I'd hope to be pen pals with all of them. Everyone was collecting addresses. It was like a hobby.

Now I suppose that would be a strange thing to do. I know one shouldn't be concerned about what people think of them, but when trying to make friends it's important that people think you're normal enough to want to hang out with.

A few weeks ago I seem to have freaked at least one of my coplayers out by trying to be friends with her. We were having a great time hanging out at the bar playing flip cup, and so as I was leaving I said we should hang out again sometime and she nodded, so I gave her my card. No contact and she gives me weird unfriendly looks now when we're at the bar. I don't know. It seemed a logical thing to do in a quest to make friends. But people just don't seem to be looking for that.

The only people that seem interested in making my acquantance outside the sport are guys. I got a man, and just want to make some friends. Sometimes it seems impossible. Ah well.

There, that's better... Maybe that'll make things better.

2007-09-09T14:52:00.001-04:00

I keep rearranging furniture in my living room. Every couple of months at least. I feel restless and slightly unhappy living here. Not sure if moving and signing another year lease would help. Then I'd be stuck in the city for another year, regardless of whether its the problem. Sometimes life seems so final. Like I have to plan everything now and then have to live with the consequences. I guess it's true that we make our bed and then have to sleep in it.

My rating of my current situation vary depending on how the other people act who I see often. Like, the people at work who probably don't realize that they matter to my happiness. It would be nice to have a peaceful, pleasant workplace. Instead its kind of stressful because people are cliqueie and noncommunicative. My boss, for instance, doesn't give much guidance. Except when I ask a question she thinks I should know the answer to and gives me a snippy response.

Oh well. Off to finish rearranging.

Long story short, or, a picture and no need for words

2007-09-07T18:14:00.000-04:00

Look at the content of the photos at this website. Just scroll through and look at them casually. Notice anything?

Everyone is a white man except one woman, and there is significantly more space between her and the guy she’s posing with than there is between any of the guys in the other photos... I’m just saying.

And look at the pictures in the header. I presume that those people are the research subjects for this distinguished group of gentlemen? So sad how the racial and gender divides persist.

If only Madeleine was still Sec of State...

2007-09-06T20:55:00.000-04:00

“Our troops are being asked to risk their lives to solve problems our civilian leaders created. The president is beseeching us to fear failure, but he has yet to explain how our military can succeed given Iraq's tangled politics and his administration's lack of credibility.”

From an interesting article about the courses open to us in the war, in today’s Post, by Madeleine Albright, the ex-secretary of state.

Another great point is that in order to get more foreign cooperation on peacemaking in the middle east, ”President Bush could do his part by admitting what the world knows -- that many prewar criticisms of the invasion were on target.” This would allow European leaders to help the US try to get out of the Iraq mess while not losing the respect of their constituents, who have always been anti-war with Iraq. Until President Bush admits that the logic was flawed they can’t really help.

One last trip to RFK. Good for the soul...

2007-09-05T22:24:00.000-04:00

Tonight I had one last jaunt to RFK. It was good to see the place one last time from the inside. I see it quite often riding around the city. I look forward to its demolishment and the nice tranquil park that will take its place. Twill be great. There is already wild land with bike trails and a dirty river (the Anacostia) surrounding the stadium. The best plan out there is to just make that bigger.

Tonight I rode there with a friend after taking the metro every other time. That was actually nice. If you don't mind driving around the stadium in a couple of circles to find the parking lot that's open to the public and not a million miles away and down a hill, it's great. We paid our $15, parked close, and strolled to the stadium 20 minutes before hitoff.

My amiga broke her foot and is in a cast, hence the wimpy driving instead of walking.

The Nationals played the Mariners and had an awesome first inning. By the 7th they were tied up at 4 each and we were tired. It was 9:30 so we left. Now it's 10:30 and I'm happily at home in pjs blogging. :)

Happy Labor Day...

2007-09-03T22:32:00.000-04:00

Back from a trip. Oh so tired. Long drive on crowded highways. There was only one section of traffic jam, at the interchange of I-70 and I-68, North of DC. Big backup going South. Everyone had MD and VA plates, going home after the long weekend. I was very fortunate to get invited out of town to a wedding. It was adorable and very unique. They had it outside at the house of a friend with a big red barn and field surrounding. The buffet was set up in the bar, a big white tent was outside for the ceremony and later for the dining room, and hay bales were scattered around for additional seating and for band viewing. There was a jug band. Very nice. So, all said, it was quite different from any other wedding I've attended, but somewhat similar to a smaller very chill music festival. There was camping and cavorting late into the night. I didn't get much sleep due to the partying late into the night, and music pumping and people talking near my tent, and then a kid whining early in the morning in another tent. But you'll have that when people are nearby I suppose. It's nice to be around people when camping, but also nice to be alone in solitude with nature. More later. Hope you had a great labor day weekend!

Perhaps you celebrated it more in fitting with its original meaning and intention. Or perhaps not. Most people don't use it as a day for the labor of the nation to unite in solidarity... That tradition ended soon after it was officially made a holiday. We'd rather have time to play it seems than to be serious and work for better wages and conditions... Which perhaps is why we need unions, to keep people's mind on that stuff. As it says on the web, the first Labor Day happened in 1882, back when people were just realizing that life conditions could be better. Laborors paraded around town carrying banners that said (I like this one) ""LABOR CREATES ALL WEALTH," and "EIGHT HOURS FOR WORK, EIGHT HOURS FOR REST, EIGHT HOURS FOR RECREATION!" We really need to be cognizant of this.

Thoughts on Politics and Tv.

2007-08-26T12:25:00.001-04:00

Friends, countrymen, people of the world,

Sorry for such a long pause in blogging. Life has inturrupted with fun and not so fun developments. Today an email from moveon.org spurred this entry. Their petition on truth in tv news might be worth signing. http://foxattacks.com/iran I'm upset by the idea that the media would encourage our military to attack another country, but apparently the national news stations are talking it up. This is the kind of thing I miss from not watching tv and am then SHOCKED by when stumbling upon it via the net. Blah.

I'm reading a book about iran right now, in order to understand better what people there are thinking and if there is a threat. Apparently, as in most countries, most people are fine but certain government officials are nuts. They have a crazy faction in charge right now, as we have too for the past few years.

Their crazy faction belives religion and state are inseperable, and that a country is by definition godless if their government isn't saturated by religion. Our crazy faction actually believes a similar thing. But luckily our wackos can't really force us to follow any strict christian ethics code and lock us up in jail if we don't, as they can in iran.

They seem to be working on achieving this in the US, however. They want to dictate things like birth control and marriage rights. It seems like those are first steps to regulating other personal choices like barring any cross sex cohabitation. It's a slippery slope when you start to take away rights.

This is supposed to be prevented by the way our system is designed. There are 3 branches of government that all check and balance each other, preventing the US from sliding into a fundamentalist state. The key seems to me to be the judicial branch -- which is supposed to be nonpartisan and above politics. Their jobs is to objectively interpret the partisan laws that are questioned by people seeking justice. Unfortunately many powerful judges are appointed by politicians... In the past, I'm led to believe that politicians tried to choose the best person for each job, picking more neutral people. **Currently there is lots of focus on partisian judges.** The right wing wackos think all judges are left wing, and they shout this view from the rooftops in order to justify their appointments of right wing hacks. They use media apparati like the tv news to press this view into the public mind. This is what seems to be happening now, from my sideline viewpoint.

I haven't watched tv at all in the past 6 weeks. The sound isn't coming through on my set, which is odd bc the picture looks fine, and the sound and picture both work with dvds and vcr. This isn't a big problem bc most of what's on tv is tripe.

I read the wash post, emails from action groups occassionally (but they usually just freak me out as the email that inspired this post), the economist on occasion (a friend subscribes), and I keep my eyes open. Sometimes it hurts to look.

Career & Happiness Advice from the Paper, What Matters?

2007-08-07T18:06:00.000-04:00

Consider: “What was happening the last time you felt blissful and things came naturally?” “What is your life dream, and why is it not your reality?”

I read a good article in the Post the other day http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/02/AR2007080202070.html?hpid=smartliving saying that we fall into an occupation in our 20s based on educational experiences, or based on parental models or advice. Then in the years that follow we begin to wonder (like the talking heads song) “well, how did I get here?”

Also interesting, it says that “In work, several elements foster contentment, says Jessica Schairer, a clinical psychologist based in Los Angeles: feeling proud of what you're doing, having your co-workers and employers like and respect you, and using talents that come naturally to you.”

This is a good guideline to see why we feel happy or not so happy with work. Depending on how I think about things, I feel proud of my work. About 80% of my job involves things that I consider natural talents. My coworkers appear to like and respect me, but we hardly ever interact so it’s hard to tell. It’s a very reclusive office, modeled after academia I suppose, with everyone staying in their offices and doing work then going home. The most notable way that it’s completely different from academia is that I have to be here all day, and can’t work from home or a coffee shop or the library if the mood strikes. Must stay in windowless office all day. That gets hard.

Happenings in Avocadoland

2007-08-03T23:26:00.000-04:00

A few of my friends have been taking great trips overseas lately. I've been hearing a lot about it and it's giving me a dire urge to travel. Meeting up with people and visiting random friends. Ahhh. Those are good times. Luckily I've got a trip to San Francisco planned for fairly soon!

So things are good here overall, but lately sometimes the boyfriend has been hinting around that he thinks i'm not sensitive enough. Not concerned enough when he says he doesn't feel good and things like that. I should probably stop here (hi honey!)...

I'm catsitting for a friend and tonight the kittie escaped and ran into my neighbors apartment! She let it look all around and it had a great time. Wouldn't leave in fact when I was ready & hid behind the couch! She came over 20 minutes later carrying the cat and brought it back. :) She also brought a box of litter and a cardboard scratching post filled with catnip that she happened to have sitting around. This is one happy cat. Laying right next to the scratching post now. It's still in the box because I'm not sure how it goes together, & the cat managed to knock some tiny green leaves out and ate them... Drug addict cat?!? Eh, i'm trying for comic relief. This is a thing that bugs him. Is that weird?

Like I'll always seem to be making jokes, even when we're talking about something not funny. But I can't pass up an opportunity! I only say something funny when something funny presents itself! That's the deal. And when something does present itself it seems almost wasteful to pass up an opportunity to comment about it and laugh. I wonder if this can really be considered a problem.