| On The Verge |
[Jul. 4th, 2008|07:43 am] |
Titan is on the verge of walking, and it is funny to watch him take really, really, tentative steps when he is so fearless when he crawls. Any day now he will be running! |
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| Happy Fourth of July |
[Jul. 4th, 2008|07:28 am] |
I, however, will be going to work today. We are going to have an almost perfect weather weekend here. I hope to do some biking and some roller blading. Yesterday, I asked the girl at the Russian embassy if she skated. I eventually learned that she could roller blade but had never ice skated. She needed an explanation of the difference between roller blades and quad skates. Since I will be back at Russia this morning I will tell her about bike Sundays. I think she will enjoy having a road to skate on instead of the path or the sidewalk.
The situation with my grandmother may completely disappear this weekend. Her favorite - my brother - will be back in town this weekend and he may go to visit her. If he visits her once or twice a week then she will stop saying that she wants to go back to Bryan. It occurred to me last night that the real problem is that she feels abandoned by him. It really doesn't matter what I do as long as I continue to call once a week. Once he is back in Dallas and sees her on a regular basis the histrionics will abate. Silly me, I had forgotten how little everyone matters to my grandmother in comparison to my brother. I really hope that she cheers up. I already have a spot for her in my schedule that now includes a drive to Dallas. |
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| Hodge podge |
[Jul. 3rd, 2008|11:59 pm] |
Yesterday I picked up my first share from my 'new' CSA, Johnson's Backyard Garden. The pickup site is a member's house, and the shares were stacked up against the side of the house, under a tarp (maybe this was only because it was raining when they were dropped off - rare!). There was no sign-off sheet, as I'd expected there to be, but then I guess they're not too worried about folks missing their shares (the pickup hosts just donate or use it if you fail to pick it up), or about someone taking more than their share (honor system!). There was a trade box, which I used to lose a cuke, a yellow squash and (now I forget what the third item was) and to gain a zucchini, a small onion and a small eggplant. Sum total of my box's contents, post-trade: three eggplant (one small, two medium); three small longneck squash; one small cuke; three small-medium zucchini; ~2kg tomatoes (red); ~0.5kg yellowish orange tomatoes (which are Roma(nesque?) in form); small bag cherry tomatoes (~0.25kg); small bunch basil; small green bell pepper; one large melon (cantaloupe-like exterior; don't know what the flesh will be like - will find out soon, though!). Last night we were baking a pizza (yum - thanks, A!) so I used the oven-on-time to lightly roast the eggplant, which I cut into large cubes and oiled up with grapeseed oil. I'm going to make babaghanoush again, but this time, the ratio of eggplant skin to flesh will be much lower due to the form/size of the eggplant (used the little finger-like Ichibans last time, so there was lots of skin in the spread; this time there'll be more flesh, and it will probably be a bit creamier, which is good because the last one was a bit dense, possibly because I used too much oil and/or tahini).
Speaking of oil, I wanted to share something I learned about canola oil this week. I looked it up, wondering just what a canola is. We have walnut oil, avocado oil, sesame oil, olive oil, and generic 'vegetable oil' - these are all oils which are made from pressing the things we subsequently name the oils after. Well, canola oil is rapeseed oil, and one motivation for calling it Canola was the negative associations with the word 'rape'; Canola's name comes from "CANadian Oil, Low Acid; it has been cultivated to have a lower level of erucic acid, which may be carcinogenic, among other things. Like many foods, canola has had its share of controversy. I think the answer to such food scares in general - unless it is absolutely clear (and that's subjective too) that the food is a demon food or is 'fake', such as hydrogenated oils - is easy. As with investments, physical activity, et cetera, it's a good idea to diversify. Eating a wide variety of foods leaves you with a much higher possibility of getting all that you need, without special planning.
Another recipe: From Lorna Sass' The Complete Vegetarian Kitchen: Beet, potato and celery salad: Cook (steam, microwave, roast - whatever's convenient and most efficient) a few small-medium potatoes (~0.5 kg (one pound-ish); I washed and kept skins on). Dice a 2-3 stalks of celery. Chop a few beets (I used canned, drained of course, ~14 oz can). Mix these together. Then pour 2 TBSP oil (I used walnut - yum!) and 2 TBSP apple cider vinegar (I have Bragg's, unfiltered) over it, and toss it around. It's like ambrosia - the pink from the beets colors the potatoes and it's lovely. I ate this for breakfast the other day. I have so much fresh food in my larder that eating 'breakfast foods' in the morning has been inefficient lately. There are plenty of nutrients to be had in 'regular' foods, so I've broken the mold several times this past week and eaten basically what I would have eaten for lunch in the morning. Then I've had more of that same thing or a different dish for my lunch. Last night I started a really fun Thursday New York Times' crossword puzzle from a few weeks ago. The black squares in the puzzle are arranged such that they spell out the word 'LIES', and the them of the puzzles is tied up in the final across entry: "number of clues in this puzzle which contain erroneous information." The answer to that is easy to puzzle out: TEN. The first one I spotted was "element with the symbol Fe", because the cross-clues clearly wouldn't allow 'iron', and were starting to look like 'NEON', which is, in fact, the correct (false) answer. Very clever! Here's a link to a blog entry about the puzzle. I love even the less clever puzzles (though really easy puzzles are boring to me), but when I see one like this (and which isn't extraordinarily difficult, and is therefore one that I can enjoy), I'm in heaven. I put my bike gear to good use yet again last night, biking to the library to see a film: The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen, 2007, Germany). It was excellent - the acting, the plot, the surveillance equipment (all original), as well as the introduction and post-discussion led by a woman who is from the Czech Republic. The film grants a close look at life in the former East Germany, and the surveillance to which its citizens were subjected. The woman running the film told us that E Germany had the highest ratio of Stasi ('state security' - secret police) to citizens than any other Communist country, around 167:1. But that was just the official employee count; the ratio is even more frightening when informants are factored in. She said that it was about one informer to every 6.5 people. That is frightening. Can you imagine being imprisoned in this way? No wonder the suicide rate was through the roof. I won't say more, but I highly recommend this film.
The userpic for this post isn't actually updated to the current CSA share photo yet: I'll do that tomorrow when I'm less tired... |
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| Rain |
[Jul. 3rd, 2008|07:47 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  gloomy | ] |
Well, it is raining and it is also a sad day. The president of Zambia died. Normally, I wouldn't notice this but today I have to go to the Zambia High Commission and I suspect they will be closed because they are in mourning. They already will have a holiday next week for Monday and Tuesday. I will have to call and see what is going on with these things.
I talked to my grandmother again and this time she was better. She still wants to go home. I called my sister first and asked her to call my grandmother first. Apparently she is more cheerful if she has already talked to one of us. So, getting her to call made it easier for me to talk to my grandmother because she wasn't so worried that she would be forgotten. We are going to try to figure out how to set up her voice mail. She hasn't set it up and is missing calls. This, of course, makes her think that no one is calling her. We don't know what cell phone model she has but it is a samsung. Hopefully, we will be able to find instructions for it on the internet. Then we can walk her through the instructions so she can set up and listen to her voice mail. It couldn't be that hard to set up. I was able to do it when I had a cell phone. Of course, I didn't buy the phone at a store then throw out the instructions. I am not going to say who might have done that but I think you can figure it out. |
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| oy |
[Jul. 2nd, 2008|08:31 pm] |
My congestion has become some kind of solid thing, dumbly lodged in my mid-chest, grimly holding on with all its sticky strength. Coughing only seems to mildly annoy it. For me this usually means soon it will all be gone. Usually. Like it needs to solidify before vanishing. A last gasp.
Monday night I got two hours in a row of sleep — twice, between 2-4 and 7-9 — so I was feeling kind of good about my sleep prospects for last night. I worked all day, had a tiny bit of energy leftover so before I got home I did a very minor grocery shopping, then cooked dinner and emptied and reloaded the dishwasher. Even tidied my room up a bit. Wound down watching bad baseball and reading silly fighting on the Internets (where People Were Wrong!). Maybe that last bit was my undoing; maybe it put me in some kind of antagonism loop, because after I got into bed my brain just wouldn't stop. I didn't get more than 20 minutes of sleep last night — maybe total!
So work was nice again and let me work from home today (seriously, saving possibly hundreds of lives from my bleary driving), and I decided I wouldn't take any meds today. Especially not my albuterol inhaler. At the best of times it makes me jittery and shaky. And I've been taking it four times a day! I've never taken it this much before. I've rarely taken it twice in a MONTH.
We'll see how tonight goes. Had my last caffeine (diet coke) at six (unless you count the coffee ice cream I had around 8...hush now). Going to take some Advil PM before bed and hope for the best.
I don't know how regular insomniacs deal with this shit. Slightly more than a week and I'm losing my mind! I've never ever had trouble with sleep before and I gotta say, I don't like it! |
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| Better biking |
[Jul. 2nd, 2008|12:31 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | biking, improvement | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  good | ] |
| [ | music |
| | (in my head) The Beatles, Getting Better | ] |
Over the past several days, I've spent about $80 on improvements to my bike gear, and the results are in - it feels better and safer now! I bought: a Cat Eye OptiCube and mounted it on my handlebars; a Blackburn Mars 2.0 for my backpack (it has a clip for just such use, but also comes with seatpost mount), and new bike gloves of the fingerless variety (feel much better than my full-fingered gloves; better padding, and it seems that having just a tiny bit more skin open to the air makes a big difference, though if I were to fall, I'd have potentially more scratches).
On my ride home last night I was all lit up. I have no objective information regarding whether I was much more visible to cars (that lady from last week's nighttime sojourn did not reappear) but I *felt* more visible - just something about the way cars maneuvered in my proximity, as if they weren't surprised to see me as they'd already spotted me from further back. And I had better visibility myself, of course, which allowed me to go faster over speed humps because I could see their borders more readily.
Methinks I'll be biking to the library tonight, where a German film will be showing and where I'll pick up several books awaiting me on hold. |
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| busy |
[Jul. 2nd, 2008|08:01 am] |
Canada Day was fun this year. We were able to see both the prime minister and the governor general on Parliament Hill. We wanted to see the musical ride but it was already too crowded when we arrived. The two friends that were over for the holiday slept a little late. John and I were up but we have seen it in person before so no big deal. There are huge screens up on the hill so it was still visible to anyone in the crowd. We all went to a lot of events and then to lunch and the mall. The mall is centrally located to many of the events and it was a good place to go for a soda or a souvenir since they don't change their prices just because there are an extra 50,000 people in the vicinity.
I talked to my grandmother and she has asked me to take her home. She is really upset so I need to see what is going on down there. At least she can now say that she gave Dallas a try. I am hoping that I don't have to fly down and move her myself but I might have to do that. I know that she is really unhappy and she is unwilling or afraid to take matters into her own hands.
I have to rush off to work this morning. Hopefully, I will have some pictures for tomorrow. |
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| Not Dirty |
[Jul. 1st, 2008|09:32 am] |
Today's bodybuilding term that sounds like porn but totally isn't:
Box squats.
That's mostly for ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) anywherebeyond, but feel free to add it to your squatty lexicon. |
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| Bad Trucker! |
[Jun. 30th, 2008|05:02 pm] |
On my way to work this morning, I was treated to an extra adrenaline rush courtesy of a flatbed truck driver who had not properly secured his load. Fortunately, he was in a different lane and only a little ahead of me, so the three-foot-by-four-foot slabs of inch-thick plywood that came flying off the truck, flipping end-over-end a good eight or ten feet in the air, missed me entirely.
I was just considering how I could bring this to his attention at 70mph without looking like a poster child for road rage, when he slowed down and started changing lanes to the right. As a result I left him behind almost immediately. I devoutly hope he was preparing to pull over.
Yeesh! |
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| Tomorrow is a Holiday |
[Jun. 30th, 2008|07:38 am] |
Wow, we actually got some visitors from out of town. They are staying to see the big capital city fireworks and all the Canada day activities. They showed up late last night or early this morning depending on how you measure time. It was precisely 12:11am so that counts as morning but we hadn't really gone to bed so it counts as night.
I finally got to talk to my grandmother yesterday and she is unhappy. She likes the place she is at but isn't getting the attention from my brother or his family that she wanted. The real problem is that she can't make a decision. She is currently seeing herself as a victim of her own indecision. She asked my brother to get rid of her live in assistant. So, he came and took her home with him. Then he left her in a retirement home while he went on a vacation with his family. Now, the vacation must have been planned months ago and she called him last week. He is upset with her because of her timing. She is now upset with him because he isn't around. I don't know where they can go with this. Her dog was left with the guy that was told to get out. If he leaves, who will take care of the dog. My brother probably doesn't want the dog and my grandmother can't keep it without a yard. It just gets complicated from here. My grandmother is worried that my brother wants power of attorney for her and I had to assure her that since she is competent, he can't just take it.
Right now, she is lonely and wants to talk to everyone. I did not have my grandmother's new cell phone number and that is why I couldn't get a hold of her. I called my sister and she had the new number. I need to call my grandmother more than once a week now because she needs to know that she isn't helpless. I pointed out to her yesterday that as long as she has a credit card, she can leave any time she wants to and go back to Bryan. She can hop on a bus, train or plane and go. A lot of people feel helpless because they don't really see their own resources. |
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| So sick of being sick! |
[Jun. 29th, 2008|11:55 pm] |
I went back to work on Friday and Saturday. I was pretty tired, especially around midday.
I am still not sleeping. Let's use last night to illustrate: 1am, turn off light. 1:01am, fall asleep (yeah, that tired). 1:32 wake up. If coughing, pace for a few minutes so can breathe. If not coughing, pace for a few minutes anyway. Get back in bed. 1:45ish, fall asleep. 2:32, wake up. If leg cramp (another recurring problem) stretch leg, then pace. Change pillowcases at some point in night, because despite running A/C, am really sweaty. Pace, sleep, pace, sleep. Take random hits of medicine all night. First horrible coughing jag, take inhaler. Second horrible coughing jag, drink water. Third horrible coughing jag, elixir. Try not to repeat too much (except the water part). Around 6am curse everyone. Take advil. Still wake up. Finally give up around 10am.
I don't think I've slept more than one hour(? maybe less?) in a row in over a week now. I am VERY TIRED! I had to have Patrick drive to the restaurant last night because I thought I might drive into something. I need to be able to breathe regularly so I stop waking myself up. I think part of it is anxiety. I am afraid of sleeping too deeply since I'm finding it hard to breathe when I'm awake.
All day today I've napped on and off. I've tried propping myself up (causing Mom to come into my room and ask me if I was ok; apparently I make an appalling noise when propped up and she thought I was dying), sleeping on my back, sleeping on my side, sleeping on my front, with the A/C, without the A/C, with a fan, without a fan, with blankets, without blankets. I give up! I am apparently doomed to inadequate sleep for the rest of my life!!
(Well, it FEELS like that!)
What makes it all ESPECIALLY annoying is that I don't cough much now while awake. Especially if I don't talk much (talking really kicks off coughing jags). So it really seems like all this should be over! I am seeing the doctor again on the 14th, but that's a really long time from now. I will probably call him before much longer. There's got to be a solution.
Soon I shall try again to sleep....sigh. Will this never end? |
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| jalapenos and the dangers of cooking |
[Jun. 29th, 2008|08:32 pm] |
My husband lives in fear of my slicing myself open or burning myself on hot things. He thinks I am accident prone. I do not argue with him, as I do seem to sacrifice more blood and skin to the cooking gods than seems ordinary.
Today I made mom's spaghetti sauce. It involves a lot of chopping. Onions, garlic, jalapenos, bell pepper.... My mother and father used to swear that to prevent the jalapenos from damaging your hands, you should cover your hands in oil before chopping them. I saved the four jalapenos for last, and covered my hands in olive oil. But... 30 minutes later as I was throwing everything into the simmering pan, my left thumb started to hurt. A LOT. Second degree burn kind of "lot." I could see the blister forming.
We discovered that my aloe vera plant is too small to chop up, and I gave up my last leaking bottle. Ow. I'm allergic to most antibiotic creams, so I don't really keep things on hand that I cannot use. So I just put a bandaid on it. But a few minutes later, my entire left hand felt like it was on fire. This is not the first time. Last time I made sauce with a jalapeno, I got blisters. And it was not from touching anything hot.
I'm typing this one-handed, my other hand on an ice pack.
So... Does this happen to other people? Do I have some sort of special skin allergy? Do you have suggestions for avoiding the pain? |
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| More Joy of Home Ownership |
[Jun. 29th, 2008|07:52 pm] |
Friday evening, Lyn mentioned that there was water dripping from the
ceiling in the garage. "Just thought you should know."
I assumed it was the air conditioning condensate drain backing up,
which shouldn't leak anywhere except in the closet with the air
handler, which it wasn't, so this was a mystery. I messed around with
the condensate drain outside Friday evening, trying to clean it out
with a wire and by blowing into it. There are so many bends in the line
that it's hard to clean it out that way. The batteries on the
thermostat chose the same time to go out so I replaced them and then
discovered that the A/C wouldn't come on at all. The temperature read
32 degrees.
Saturday morning, after a shower, we noticed that the garage ceiling
leak had dramatically increased. Clearly it was water from the shower,
not the air conditioner, that we were seeing. I called Noah, the local
handyman (he doesn't live locally, he works locally), who had put in
the shower four years ago for the previous owners. He said he'd come by
Sunday.
I poked a hole in the ceiling and placed a bucket beneath the steady
drip of water.
Sunday morning I worked on the air conditioner, finally determining
that there is a condensate drain float switch that disables the air
conditioner if the condensate line fills. Taking this apart revealed
years' accumulation of gunk. I decided I would flush the line out with
a hose, but not before pulling down some of the ceiling sheet rock to
make sure I wouldn't pour additional water into the void between stories.
When I removed the ceiling and insulation at the leak (a nasty
business), I found the problem--the drain pipe had become detached from
the shower drain.
Noah showed up about this time and I told him I figured the shower
drain would still be under warranty. He laughed nervously. After he
left, I finished pulling down enough sheet rock to confirm that both
drips from the ceiling were from the shower and not the A/C condensate
drain. Noah will fix the leak, wait to make sure it works, then have
his guys repair the ceiling. We haven't yet discussed how much this
will cost. I guess I'm willing to share the cost, but I don't expect to
pay full price--I don't think he wants the reputation of not standing
by his work.
So why did the A/C fail at the same time? As Lyn says, "I don't
trust coincidences." I believe what happened is this. The A/C
condensate float switch was on, enabling the A/C, but was sitting in a
bunch of gunk. When I blew on the other end of the condensate line, the
air pressure pushed the float switch into the off position. Because of
all the gunk, it stayed in the off position.
For those of you with air conditioners, I recommend periodically
pouring a tablespoon of household bleach down the condensate drain to
prevent algae and mold buildup. There should be a place near where the
drain leaves the A/C unit (in your attic or in a closet) into which you
can pour the bleach. Want to know more? Google "air conditioner bleach
condensate".
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| Maybe I'll Be an Extra |
[Jun. 29th, 2008|10:11 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  relaxed | ] |
The production company did write to say they would need me as an extra and could I help on other things as well. I think that is great. I will learn new things and meet new people. It is all good.
Last night's gala event was good. I am surprised by what people consider "international spy wear" with a Casino Royale theme. I wore an evening gown and John wore his tuxedo. Others were in trench coats and berets. Hats were very popular. A lot of the women were in 60's clothing. Some were casual, some were dressy. The band was good and so was the food. Unfortunately, I don't think they had a great casino set up and they didn't make it clear that if you won then you could redeem your "Bunker Bucks" for gift shop items. The items were on the same table with the silent auction items but there was no way to know why they were there unless you asked. Also, during a speech someone said that you could not change "bunker bucks" back into cash at the end of the evening. It was never really made clear that you could win anything from playing at the casino.
The Diefenbunker is a loud place. It was hard to hear your neighbor after the crowd was there. Whenever someone stepped on a balloon in the hallway the sound was like a gunshot. This happed at least 3 times. It was very noticeable. Remember - never store filled balloons on the floor. I thought everyone would hit the floor. The sound rang around for a while and hurt your eardrums. I was in the hallway the first two times it happened. This was very bad because I was talking to someone and already straining to hear their words in the echoing hallway. I don't think that I understood 1/3 of the words said to me. When I met someone new, I usually asked them to repeat their name a few minutes into the conversation. I had to do this even before the crowd was large. However, the event was enjoyable and it was fun to dress up and see all the other people dressed up as well. |
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| Make the girls earn their rent |
[Jun. 29th, 2008|07:27 am] |
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http://www.stumptuous.com/cms/blogentry.php?entryid=1047 "One day recently I had an idea. As I rode public transportation to the office, my messenger bag slung uncomfortably across my chest, I thought, 'Why not put the girls to work?' Human-powered devices are showing up everywhere, from Rotterdam's sustainable dance floor to human-powered gyms in Hong Kong. The time seemed perfect—perhaps even overdue!—for a bra that could harness the untapped power of breast motion."
More... |
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| Improve your genes with diet and exercise |
[Jun. 29th, 2008|07:24 am] |
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http://www.stumptuous.com/cms/blogentry.php?entryid=1046 (Reuters) Comprehensive lifestyle changes including a better diet and more exercise can lead not only to a better physique, but also to swift and dramatic changes at a genetic level, US researchers said.
The researchers tracked 30 men with low-risk prostate cancer, who decided against conventional medical treatment such as surgery and radiation or hormone therapy.
The men underwent three months of major lifestyle changes, including eating a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes and soy products, moderate exercise such as walking for half an hour a day, and an hour of daily stress management such as meditation.
As expected, they lost weight, lowered their blood pressure and saw other health improvements.
But the researchers found more profound changes when they compared prostate biopsies taken before and after the lifestyle changes.
After the three months, the men had changes in activity in about 500 genes - including 48 that were turned on and 453 genes that were turned off.
The activity of disease-preventing genes increased. |
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