L'enthousiaste

A cliched resolution on any other day is just a better life choice

2008-01-02T07:48:00.000-06:00

My original plan, a good one, was to resolve to use only cloth or reuseable bags for my grocery shopping instead of starting a new collection of disposable plastic and paper bags in my new Pueblo apartment. I'm still going to do this, and I recognize that it might require me to buy a new reuseable bag each shopping trip for awhile until I get used to the change. I'm actually looking forward to starting! Alas, I currently live in a hotel and haven't grocery shopped in over a week so no chances yet to begin.

On the other hand, I watched a ridiculous number of TLC episodes of Big Medicine yesterday and felt overwhelmed by the struggles that these super-obese people face. I realized I am healthy enough to exercise and make better food choices now, but I could easily get into the shape these people are in. So I set up an Excel workbook to look at calories consumed and burned each day for the whole year. I discovered that I probably ate almost 1,000 calories yesterday at breakfast by grazing at the continental breakfast provided by my hotel. 1,000 calories!! Today, I have already done better. I still drank coffee, but chose cereal and a yogurt instead of the scrambled egg/bacon/bagel with pound cake and chocolate muffin option and brought it down to about 500 calories total. Amazing.

So I don't want to say that "losing weight" is a new year's resolution. Ick. Let me stick to no plastic bags. On the other hand, I feel committed to making better food choices and to exercising more. I only wish TLC would have aired the Big Medicine marathon on some random day so it wouldn't seem like a New Year's thing.

A burnt chicken is better than a cold sausage

2007-08-05T14:05:00.000-05:00

I burned my chicken last night and it was delicious!

I bought a charcoal grill at the beginning of the summer and have had a miserable time trying to cook things on it. I read through a grilling book and looked at some websites and thought I knew what to do. But each time I tried cooking sausage or hamburgers, the fire would go out really fast, the food would get hot but nothing every had the grill marks. Something was just not right.

I found an awesome grilling book from Cook's Illustrated and they set me right -- I had been pouring the hot coals from my chimney starter onto the bottom basin of the grill, not on the bottom rack. The coals couldn't get any oxygen to keep burning and were too far away from the food to get it really hot right away.

So last night, I fixed this problem and actually burned my chicken and corn on the cob! It was fabulous! Between the 70 degree weather and finally solving my grill problems, I think I'll be grilling way more - like maybe every night.

Tonight's menu: beef fajitas with grilled veggies, fire-roasted fresh salsa

Funny Kid Stories

2007-04-07T07:56:00.000-05:00

Sometimes, the best thing about my job is truly how 'kids say the darndest things.' Here are a couple of gems from this week:

At the end of the day, my student and I were putting away her materials and I noticed a couple of note cards on the floor with words on them that we had been practicing that day.

I said "Oh, some words fell on the floor."

My student got upset, asking me, "What words?"

I showed her the note cards and she looked relieved. She told me that she had pictured the words falling out of the book we had just been reading and didn't know how we were going to put them back in.

~~~~~

In a different session, my student was reading through a list of commonly used words so that we could find the tough ones that needed practice. We found as many as we needed that hour and I was about to put the list away when my student exclaimed, "I found God!"

God was listed two words down from where we stopped on the list.

Week 2, Run 1

2007-04-02T19:26:00.000-05:00

I started phase 2 of my jogging program today. I was a little worried that my stamina wouldn't be up for the challenge (90 sec of jogging followed by 2 minutes of walking and repeat for 20 minutes) since I hadn't gone for a jog in a week. But I did it! I definitely felt some of the uncomfortable aspects of jogging today -- a stitch in my side at times, tightness in my calf and quads, a small pain in the right ankle. Yet, somehow, it got easier as I kept it up. By the second half, I wasn't checking my timer as often.

A Fool Proof Plan

2007-03-24T17:25:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Elinor's suggestion, I have started a running program -- just finished run #2. And I feel great! The program starts with 60 sec of jogging/90 sec of walking alternated for 20 minutes in the first week and gradually increases time and duration of jogging until, by week 9, I'll be jogging for 30 minutes straight. Can't wait.

Last Monday, I only completed 15 minutes of the prescribed 20 minutes. I had a stitch in my side and was bored with the indoor track. Today, it was overcast and 65 degrees. Everyone in the Twin Cities is outside. I loaded my Nano with fast-paced music and headed for Lake Calhoun. Twenty minutes went by so fast!

But the best part? I've set myself up for success this time, without really realizing it. I am working with a student right now who is in high school and has severely depressed reading skills. He wants to learn to read and recognizes how important it is, but because of the frustration he feels and the intensity of the work we do, he often refuses to work and finds excuses for not participating. I saw the parallel between his goals and frustrations with my struggles to find an exercise plan that would allow me to lose weight and feel healthier. So I told him I was starting this running program and compared my goal to build stamina and strength for running with his goal to learn to read. I've been keeping him updated with my progress, including the days I talked myself out of running or didn't go as far as I wanted to. One day he said running would be easy for him. I replied that I would much rather be reading, but that we both need this to make our lives better, and it's not easy for either of us. And that we can do it.

The result is that I can't give up on this plan, can't procrastinate it, can't make excuses and give up, can't pretend I didn't tell him about it. Kids have a fantastic ability to hold us accountable, and I certainly can't go to my student now and say, "Sorry, this running program is just too hard. I'll never be able to run or get healthy." The truth is, if we both stick with it, we can both succeed, and if I'm going to be role-model in this struggle, I better do everything possible to prove that success is possible!

"Woe unto ye beetles of South America"

2007-03-17T13:04:00.000-05:00

I am reading Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea, by Carl Zimmer. It is a textbook-quality primer on where the knowledge of evolution currently stands, past, present, and pending discoveries included.

I was just reading about Charles Darwin’s preparations for the trip on the HMS Beagle, a story I’ve read many times. Apparently, Darwin was fascinated by beetles during his theological studies at Cambridge. Upon discovering that he would indeed be traveling around the world as a naturalist, he exposed his truly nerdy self by declaring, “Woe unto ye beetles of South America.”

What idealism and unabashed dedication to an obscure subject in the face of the adventure of a lifetime! I like to think that he said this without the obligatory quasi-sarcastic tone that contemporary idealists and nerds must employ to avoid seeming too eager or sincere. I like the idea of quoting Darwin when I am feeling particularly idealistic or nerdy or grandiose, but then, of course, I would be using that quasi-sarcastic tone…

I call bullshit on On Bullshit

2007-03-06T13:03:00.000-06:00

After quite a hiatus from my 30-at-a-time library book borrowing habit, I have 4 tasty selections, and more on my wait list.

On Bullshit, by Harry G. Frankfurt
Godel, Escher and Bach, an Eternal Golden Braid, by Douglas R. Hofstadter
In Search of the Mind, by Eric R. Kandel
A Culinary Traveler in Tuscany, by Beth Elon

I’ve avoided any online talk of On Bullshit so don’t know what the general consensus is, but I think Frankfurt has written a pretty fantastic joke. On page one, he claims “most people are rather confident of their ability to recognize bullshit and avoid being taken in by it.” I think this is the point of the book — to fool the very intellectual folk who would be so confident. Frankfurt has written a very real book with a very real discussion of the explicit and implicit characteristics of bullshit. Yet, just as he considers it not quite lying, more of a bluff, I believe he wrote the entire piece as a bluff. We are not meant to take it seriously.

I am both annoyed and impressed — much as I would be, I suppose, by any other very good bullshit.

Haven't I been here before?

2007-03-03T13:02:00.000-06:00

I think this is the third time I’ve started a blog. I always gave it up because I didn’t like the format or the content. And it always seemed kind of pointless. But the truth is, I have a lot of interests, and it makes sense to catalog what I do and learn in an accessible way.

When I get better at organizing this information, I intend to organize this blog according to category — that’s why I chose the format of this blog design. And I'll probably import some of my posts from my last blog "Mind On," which is now defunct due to lack of activity and lack of interest on my part. However, some of my posts were at least mildly worth saving -- I especially like the Knitting Olympics play-by-play.

Mind on Minneapolis

2006-05-24T13:42:00.000-05:00

I am moving!! I will be leaving Lawrence on June 17th to start a new job in Minneapolis. I've got housing (mostly) figured out and am already checking out the local scene for knitting groups and yoga classes.

Catch Up

2006-03-09T18:47:00.000-06:00

I've been busy with the rest of my life that got pushed aside for the knitting olympics: cleaning, paperwork, and reading, mostly. And it seems as though my "I'm not cooking when I need to be knitting" philosophy lead to some pretty intense vitamin deficiencies during those two weeks. Recently, I went to the grocery store and bought this: a pound of brussel sprouts, a bag of spinach, green beans, sugar snap peas, snow peas, and bok choy. I apparently needed GREEN.

Despite my post-Games catching up, I did spend significant knitting time this past weekend working on my first ever glove (which I also designed). There are some details I want to work out still on it and I'll be writing down the pattern this time as I knit the second one, but I'm glad to say it has five fingers and it actually fits. Hooray! I'd like to submit it to Knitty for the summer collection, but April 1st is looking rather ambitious since I'd want to knit several more to get the pattern worked out perfectly and would also need snappy cool photos of the finished gloves. Good thing glove patterns aren't likely to go the way of ponchos. They're a classic pattern.

I've decided to name the pattern Cute. And I have some optional embellishments planned that would make the gloves Cuter. (Are you rolling your eyes yet? Good.... That's what I'm going for. :)

Review: Sarah Vowell is plaque-happy

2006-03-09T16:02:00.000-06:00

And for the part of my today's entry about which I am most excited, I am introducing a new element to the blog -- book reviews. As my good friends will attest, I am a library enthusiast and am constantly checking out books - fiction, books about science and metaphysics, yoga, knitting, cooking, and politics. So, in order to better document my reading, and to share some of my excitement over the books I'm enjoying, I am going to begin reviewing the books. I'll also post what the next book is going to be so that, by off chance, if you care to read along with me, you'll know where I'm headed next. I'd love your feedback and suggestions for future selections.

Assassination Vacation, by Sarah Vowell

I was originally intrigued by this book because of an interview Sarah Vowell did on the Conan O'Brien show awhile back. She seemed smarter than your average late-night talk show guest. And she was funny (I was going through a comedy stage then). So I reserved her book and have just now, now that the socks are done, had the chance to read it.

Assassination Vacation, a travel essay, reads like a friend recounting her most recent trip. You’re sitting in a café together downtown and, over coffee, she’s describing the places and people she’s seen in her travels. And just as an eloquent but easily distracted friend might do, she takes her stories on tangents, making delightful connections between events and coincidences. As an obvious enthusiast for American history, Vowell studied the assassinations of Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley and dedicated herself to visiting the physical evidence, obvious and obscure, of these events. While there is a pretext of connection between their deaths, that Lincoln’s son Robert Todd Lincoln, was nearby at the moment of each of their murders, this fact struck me more as another one of Vowell’s coincidences rather than a thread holding her story together. Indeed, as she traipsed around a Florida Keys prison island (now a national park) to see where Lincoln’s assassin’s possible accomplice, Dr. Samuel Mudd, served his sentence, I sometimes wondered what the descriptions of the 1867 yellow fever outbreak had to do with President Lincoln’s death. While rereading that section, I could find no detail describing how long Dr. Mudd was imprisoned. I know I read it somewhere, but Vowell’s style, though an engaging history lesson, does not lend itself so much to the fact-checking. I would argue, however, that Vowell’s entertaining but rambling prose always has a direction and even when the story seems to be veering way off subject it is more likely that the reader just doesn’t understand yet where she’s headed. For example, in perhaps my favorite passage, she ties Maryland’s state motto to John Wilkes Booth to Timothy McVeigh to a fringe magazine called Southern Partisan to John Ashcroft. And it works.

You don’t have to be a history buff to enjoy this book, and you don’t have to know anything about politics or presidential assassinations. Vowell’s knowledge of her subject is comprehensive and by tracking down every single landmark, museum, plaque on a building, and artifact related to these men’s stories, Vowell reconstitutes the complexity of their lives at the time of their deaths. Her intense curiosity reveals not only details like bullets on display at Ford’s Theater where Lincoln was shot, but also involves climbing the mountain President Roosevelt (then the VP) was hiking when he discovered that McKinley had been shot. Perhaps most refreshing, and this book’s most endearing quality, is Vowell’s patriotism. It fills the corners of this book and kept me reading through some of the passages that seemed a bit too tangential. There are references to current political events, comparing policies and word choice and outcomes, with a context we rarely get when reading news articles. I’ve certainly never encountered references to McKinley’s imperialistic policies in relation in recent news articles.

I probably enjoyed this book most because I am the sort of person who stops at historical markers and, in general, likes to know the significance of things. Vowell stops at all of the historical markers and gives the back story as well. Would I ever go visit the places she described now that I know their story? Probably not intentionally, but if I come to a plaque that mentions Leon Czolgosz, I’ll remember his claim to fame as McKinley’s murderer and appreciate the plaque even more. In the meantime, Assassination Vacation was an entertaining, mostly light-hearted read and I would, with enthusiasm, encourage you to check it out.

I'm done!!!

2006-02-26T23:14:00.000-06:00

Knitting Olympics 2006

I have a lot to say about the Olympics and what it meant to me to watch the Games this year. But tonight, I'm treating myself to some merlot and sitting back with toasty feet.

The last day

2006-02-26T10:13:00.000-06:00

All I'm going to say is that I will be done by the end of closing ceremonies today. It's going to be tight, but I'll finish. If I spent anymore time writing about how the progress is going, I'd be wasting valuable knitting time. My final game day strategy: knit.

I'm going to be just fine

2006-02-22T14:09:00.000-06:00

There are less than five days left. I did the math and there are approximately 13,816 stitches in the completed sock (I say approximately because I fudged a bit with the math around the gusset and toe decreases). So far, I have knitted 2,924 stitches, which is 21% of sock #2. Considering I have the whole rest of today free to knit still, I will be just fine. I can knock out another 4,170 stitches today. No problem. Maybe more.

Right?

Please tell me I'm right...

Now the race is on

2006-02-20T09:30:00.000-06:00

I finished sock one last night in a marathon 4 hour knitting session.

I'm pretty sure this is the best sock I've ever produced. I wonder if that's because I'm more experienced or because I followed a pattern exactly as written. I think it's both. My gusset stitches are smooth and even and look identical on both sides. I've used this same technique for gusset stitches on previous socks and not gotten the same results.

Could be the yarn too. Anyway, it all came together and I'm quite pleased with myself. Inspired enough (hopefully) that the second sock won't be a drag.

I'm casting on during my lunch break today...

Day Eight -- Half Way

2006-02-18T18:23:00.000-06:00

I WILL finish the first sock today.

I've been watching the Olympics all day and knitting (that was the point of this challenge, right?) and the most inspiring event I've seen since the start of this year's Games was the women's biathalon (sp?). They had to cross-country ski and shoot targets, which, honestly, seemed like a strange combination of talents at first. It's actually a very compelling sport. Kind of like when I watch a dance-related movie, I want to go out and dance -- well, I watched these women tough out a grueling 10km cross-country race with pitstops to shoot at silver dollar-sized targets and literally felt the need to move to Colorado so that I could give this sport a try.

Yeah, right, right? But that's how I felt while watching. When I was younger I watched the ice skating events with such anticipation. It was a sport that my mom and I followed and I knew how to be excited when someone was going to do a triple axle or some other difficult jump. Of course, I never did figure out how to tell the difference between the jumps -- I could only be impressed by the number of rotations they did. This biathalon was different though. Without knowing how to shoot a gun or any of the techniques involved in cross-country skiing, I could totally imagine the challenge of this event. It was endurance and strength. I am totally impressed.

My event requires endurance too. I WILL finish the sock today...

The Yarn Harlot says "9 days, 19 hours left"

2006-02-16T19:41:00.000-06:00

Oh my god! While, for me, the progress I'm making on the sock(s) is fantastic, I'm running behind. As of Tuesday (day 5) I was working on the leg and was just about ready to start the heel flap...

Today, I am done picking up the stitches around the heel flap and am about to watch a movie and begin decreasing for the gusset stitches. Relatively speaking I'm being speedy, but technically, I am supposed to finish this sock tomorrow and begin the second on Saturday. eek!

However, as I was describing my knitting progress to my best friend Jaime, I realized that the major hurdle for me with this project has already passed. Just the sticking to my plan and not getting tempted away by other projects was a major challenge. After knitting with my KnitLawrence friends on Saturday, I came home and started thinking about all of the other kinds of knitting projects I could have chosen for the Olympics. I even have all of the materials I need to make this lace shawl which would certainly be a challenge as I've never done a truly 'lace' project yet. And as I sat on the couch working on the sock and stewing over the idea of dropping it and starting the shawl instead, I realized just by sticking with the socks, I was completing a part of my personal challenge. Just sticking with my project and not setting it aside for a different project or whim was huge. And it's not like I'm bored with the sock by any means. It's just that I'm constantly wanting to move on to more seemingly interesting things.

I did break my rule a bit by reading a novel (gasp!) this week. The Center of Everything is the Read Across Lawrence 2006 book. It's a smart book I would have enjoyed as a teenager, but which still engaged me as an adult. The author lives in Lawrence and the book takes place in Kansas so, while I didn't grow up here, I felt very close to the story. It was like reading A Moveable Feast by Hemingway while living in Paris. I love being able to tie books and movies and music to a place or experience.

I feel slightly overwhelmed by all of the books I want to read right now so I think I will go sit back down on the couch and knit and watch a movie.

Today it's mind on yoga

2006-02-08T12:48:00.000-06:00

This is the first Wednesday I've had off in over a month. I've been working overtime a lot and I really feel like I'm playing hooky today - even though it is a scheduled day off. I did yoga this morning -- maybe because I've been reading lots of back issues of Yoga Journal this week, but I felt really inspired to just make up whatever I want to do and not worry about the order of the poses or how long I stay in them or how many repititions I do. I challenged myself this week to do five repetitions of surya namaskar, sun salutations, which is important to maintain (In the past, I would tell myself I would do them and would get through one cycle and quit), but other than that, I was pleased to do one set of Trikonasana, Warrior I and II and a couple of other standing poses. I usually feel inordinately challenged by these poses in class, as if the length of the hold and number of repetitions of one pose will push me beyond my endurance and strength. But doing it on my own for the length of time I decided felt invigorating. It was funny because as I was trying to sink into supta virasana I realized there were a couple of other poses I wanted to do that would normally be done earlier in a class. For a minute I felt like I shouldn't do them, but then I realized this really was my practice and I could do them in whatever order I felt like doing them. I know there are extra benefits to practicing certain poses or types of poses in specific orders, but there has to be some benefit as well to just doing what your body seems to be wanting.

Also, I tested something out today when I got through all of the poses and was ready for savasana. It occurred to me recently that the benefits I feel from this pose could be more related to it being a kind of "still point" a la cranio-sacral therapy than an opportunity for me to focus on my breathing. At least, in my case, I've never been terribly successful at pushing out extraneous thoughts during savasana, but I definitely would argue that I feel the benefits of this pose. So I used my makeshift sacro-wedgie (SW) to create a still point for my sacrum and laid in corpse pose until my pelvis released the tension and I was able to sink around the SW. After awhile I removed it and lay in savasana for who knows how long. I definitely think it helps -- I was actually able to focus on my breath for a longer period of time, and when my mind drifted back to "regular" thoughts, I felt they were more focused, less chaotic.

Anyway, I want to explore this connection between savasana and CST still points. I definitely think there is a link.

In knitting news, I'm so excited about starting my socks I can hardly stand it. I don't think there has been a time since I began knitting when I wanted to do a project and couldn't. I've never felt this sort of anticipation for my knitting before. I think its a totally exciting new way of looking at my projects. And I'm competitive enough to get a real charge from having this deadline and challenge ahead of me.

The Knitting Olympics

2006-02-07T21:53:00.000-06:00

When the Yarn Harlot announced her plan to start the Knitting Olympics - a challenge to knitters to choose a project that stretches their abilities and complete it within the 10 day Olympics run - I was, of course, skeptical. Not one to really enjoy joining the mad rush after some latest fad, I sat back and watched. And then one day, Stephanie announced that more than 2400 knitters had joined herparty. 2400, eh? I consider that something more than a bandwagon. It's a movement.

So I took stock of my stash and found the perfect personal challenge - fingering weight sock yarn by Cherry Tree Hill. As outlined in the rules of the game, we could swatch beforehand but no casting on until the opening ceremony. Good thing I did too or my finished socks would have been lacier than intended. The gauge was awful. So I dropped down to size ONE needles. ONE. My 'challenge' in this game is 1) complete a pair of socks in 10 days (remember, the last pair took nearly a year) - i.e. not get distracted by other projects, and 2)use the smallest DPNs I've worked with so far. Of course, the second part shouldn't be too bad. In general I like DPNs and if they give me great gauge without fretting over keeping the yarn really tight, all the better.

Now that I've joined, I'm in 100% and getting excited. I'm looking forward to the real Olympics with a zeal I'm not sure I would have had otherwise.

Knitters make good friends

2005-12-03T23:50:00.000-06:00

In fact, knitters are just good people. Anyone who uses their hands slowly to make things that give comfort and warmth must be good people. Have you heard of a mean or dishonest knitter? I bought some yarn once that was advertised on Knitswap (a Yahoo group) and the transaction had none of the guarantees that ebay has. I just PayPaled some money to an email address and waited for the yarn to come in the mail. And of course it did and was exactly as she described it. I knew it would be.

I say all of this because in the past year, I have lived in three states and in each have found knitters who became my friends. You join a knitting group and voila, there they are, your friends. In this season of thanksgiving and family and holiday, I am thankful to have my KnitLawrence friends to share coffee with at Milton's.

Thanks Atkins!

2005-10-17T03:00:00.000-05:00

I tried the low-carb diet a few months ago for the second time. Again no results. I was fine with the changes - didn't necessarily miss the carbs and sweets, but after three weeks, I had lost three pounds. Not exactly the results you want to see when everyone else you know who has done this diet loses 10 pounds the first week and keeps losing.

So I decided Atkins wasn't for me. My body didn't respond to it. I thought maybe there was another diet out there that would be better suited to my body. I started checking out books from the library and voraciously consuming no fad, raw food, and perfect fit diets. And I always came back hungry. So often they offer some seriously good advise along with quackery, guesswork, and intuition.

I'm currently working through The Second Brain, Sugar Blues, and the Food Doctor. I read the Elimination Diet book today and will be starting it probably this week. (More details on that later).

None of these books can tell me what I really want to know though. I want to know what my body needs. I want to know how much calcium I need, how much vitamin C, omega 3 fatty acids, protein, fiber. I want to know how monthly fluctuations in my hormones affect my needs. And, honestly, I don't believe what the "experts" say about these needs anymore. They can't know what MY body needs. They can, at best, guess based on norms and averages. We won't talk about what they do at worst.

In a rare moment recently when I was undistracted, I had a breakthrough - there is only one person who can possibly know what my body needs. My body. The cells of my body are organic and living, and like all other living organisms, do exactly what they were designed to do, for better or worse. If I listen to my body, I believe I can understand what I need and what I need to avoid.

A few years ago, I ate sushi at least once a week for a year. One day, about 6 months after not eating sushi for a long time, I had craving for salmon that was so powerful, I literally believed if I did not eat salmon, I might die. I could only think of salmon for days, until I satiated the craving. Now, I totally believe I was deficient in omega fatty acids, something I had previously been consuming a lot of because of the sushi. My body made it clear that it needed something.

I am going to go on the Elimination Diet as an introduction to this kind of food/body awareness. I know that at this stage, I can probably only recognize gross reactions - like cravings that make me think that I might not survive the lack. I want to work through those, learning in the process which foods I need to take a break from (I don't believe that there are very many foods that a normal, healthy person needs to eliminate forever) with the goal of becoming sensitive enough to recognize fine reactions.