Can’t wait for bike to work day!

For us, it’ll be May 17. I’m psyched. In it for the swag, for the comraderie, and
To see everyone’s cool bikes.

Watch the roads! It’s getting nice out, and bikes are vehicles, peeps. Fleshy, vulnerable vehicles.

One week, no sugar

I’m a full week now without sugar. People have asked me if I’m eating fruit (yes) and having dairy (also yes). To make it clear, I’ve gone without table sugar, white sugar, refined sugar. Sucrose, really, although I found out after the fact that maple syrup is mostly sucrose. Oops. I snipped that out of my diet since then.

The idea isn’t to go sweetness-free, carb-free or anything like that. I just ate too damned much sugar. White, normal sugar. By cutting that out, even if I kept maple in, I have vastly reduced my sugar intake.

Anyway. So that’s what’s (still) going on. I’m feeling pretty good and noticing some body reforming. However, that could finally be my rigorous lifting schedule finally paying off. I’ll let the jury stay out on that one.

How the Marathon bombing changed me

It’s Friday. And it’s Day 3 since something turned my life around.

It’s been five days since I heard about the bombs on Boylston street. I was glued to the computer for hours, even though my colleagues (admittedly 2000 miles away from the horror) were studiously working already. I couldn’t stop obsessing over it. It felt like 9/11 again. And like 9/11, Copley Square was huge in the picture for me.

On 9/11, I walked past Copley, watching the Hancock tower being evacuated. Seeing people mill around, unsure where to go, unable to contact their loved ones. Phones were useless, and everyone was dead quiet. The T was packed, and people were polite.

Now, this week, I imagine chaos at Copley. I see pictures of flames and smoke and even blood, just outside the library, just off Copley Square, just outside the doors to the T station. The BPL and Copley are my two favorite places in the world, outside of New Zealand. Yes, I like them that much. I couldn’t stop thinking about it, and slowly all my friends still back in Boston reported in: all ok.

Tuesday was cruddy, too, and the images got more graphic. I couldn’t stop thinking about it, but couldn’t bear to look, either. I ate ten Butterfingers at my desk that day, and had an ice cream shake for dinner. Seriously.

By Wednesday, I was toast. A real bear, and sick to my stomach from grief, fear, and all that damned sugar. I was too nauseous for breakfast, and felt for the first time ever like I just needed a salad, then I fought with my boyfriend by the afternoon.

But while we argued, something in me snapped. I realized I had no control over this person, no matter how much I loved him. I realized I had no control over Boston, over any horrible or good people anywhere. I only could control me.

He asked if I wanted to go lap swimming with him that afternoon, something I’d been meaning to do. I said no, that I didn’t feel like it and was feeling too shy to start lap swimming; I hadn’t swum strokes since I took lessons as a six-year-old.

And then no. No, I’m going to go. I’ll never get to it if I wait to feel like it. So we went. And what the hell, we biked there. We swam in the rain, and then we biked back home in the rain and rush hour traffic. For good measure, I got off my bike at home and ran around the block. I’ve never done any of these things before.

I didn’t set any world records. But I set a personal record, no doubt. That night I went to bed and realized I hadn’t had any sugar that day.

Then I had another sugar-free day. Another workout. And today, another sugar-free day, and another workout. Now that I’ve had three days sugar free, I don’t want to go back to starting over.

Did I change the world because of my sugar mindset? No. But Boston and this whole damned week, complete with another explosion closer to home, made me realize that life and health are real things worth protecting. That only I can make myself healthier. And that if I don’t do it now, this moment, when the heck will I?

So I’m done with at least that little bit of self-abuse. That little bit of a fleeting “treat” that is so thinly veiled bad food. There’s so much bad for me out there in the world that I can’t control. But this? This I can control.

Lemons, meet sugar-free lemonade. Boston, keep rocking on.

Today was better SXSWi day 4

The only complaints I have are 1) again shut out of some panels that were in ridiculously small rooms. SXSW, track RSVP and stars on the calendar. It’s not a surprise. 2) cap metro didn’t extend the rail service, and I didn’t double check it. I went home before a few items after 6 pm. Not a bad deal though, since this morning I had to be up early. Probably a good thing in the end.

For the non-gripe, I made a soft circuit, found a coin stuck to my shoe, hugged a plush yam, and met the guy who can help me find money the government owes me. I’ll let the pictures speak:

SXSWi 2013 day 3

Today, after the disappointments from yesterday, was all about me. Mostly.

I decided to attack with more laissez faire and less schedule Gestapo. Per the friend I ran into yesterday, I chose the ONE session I wanted and sacrificed anything else to go wait for it.

It just turned out that seeing Grumpy Cat was what I chose.

As a bonus, I ran into that SAME friend in the morning, and he got me into a session that filled up before my colleagues could get in. Score. On top of an hour-shorter day, this was a huge win. From there, it was all coasting.

I waited immediately after that session to see GC. This was two hours. Yes. I waited two hours to see a cat from the Internet. I think it was time well spent, and I didn’t miss any panels that I’d call “work related”. So win x2. I even made it to the panel I wanted to go for myself, which was humanitarian in subject, and so was completely empty. 3x

After that, another session in a room I knew to be too small. I even got a comfy chair. 4x. But that panel was a bomb, so I left early and met up with my colleagues. Let’s call that a wash and reset to 3x.

Next, another session on stuff for work. Strangely, my colleague sat with me. I’d been wanting to literally compare notes with him, so that’s cool. But I had to miss a “personal” session. Oh well; I feel like that particular speaker might be open to random Internet communication. I’d love to say this was another level-up, but nah. A wash at best. I mean, in a perfect world my colleagues would cover the work-related panels and I would serve my own needs. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Meanwhile in reality, work sends me to cool fests like this. So yeah. Work.

SCSWi 2013 day 2

A frustrating day. The bottom line: choices.

Three sessions in a row were full when I got to them. Lines around corners (plural!) for the first meant I got to go to a session for myself, not for work. A win, I’d say. Then the next one filled up and I saw the last question. At least, I told myself, I could read the book that formed the session’s basis.

Next timeframe was Al Gore. Love him or laugh at him, the dude was a VP. That’s pretty huge! I wanted to see him, but the lines for even the simulcast were long and moved like a flash flood. I couldn’t take it. I’m not panicky, but it was too much for me at that moment. I called it a shutout and went once more to a secondary session for work, and again was shut out. This time I was the third or fourth person from getting in and bam. No entry.

Deep breath.

I went outside and guess what! Free Popsicles. Oh, the guy in front of me got the last one. I am not making this up.

However, as I walked sadly away, beaten by even healthy sugar-free Popsicles, I heard someone call out to me. The Popsicle guy had restocked, found me in the crowd (I was the tall one shouting at the sky) and asked if I wanted a Popsicle. Hell yes I did!! Day turned around. Big smiles.

Finally, I had a choice for my final session: hacking for sustainability (personal interest) or meditation (personal need)? I went with the meditation.

It didn’t help my day. I didn’t get an excited “this felt right!” Moment. But I did realize finally, after talking to an acquaintance I bumped into there, that this conference is all about choices. He’s right. I have to choose which are the big, defining sessions I MUST go to, and choose to skip some sessions to wait in line for the biggie. Hard choices, and they probably won’t give me the “I made a good one!” feeling. I’ll probably go away wondering what the other panels were about and second guessing my choices.

So day 3 and I’m on a bus at 8:20 on a Sunday, but my body thinks it’s 7:20 from the time change. I’m going to make my first panel, and I even went without coffee to make it. And I’m going to get my picture with grumpy cat, dammit.

SXSWi 2013, day 1

Wow. So overwhelmed. Today started with just a few gentle intros and a few sessions. It still blew my mind.

Keynote: makerbot makes anything and now you can, too.

Next session: we’re not just rebuilding homes after disasters, we’re teaching local architects auto CAD so they can get hired by the world disaster orgs to rebuild their own homes, and we’re not just building and leaving, but asking first what the locals want, helping then build that, and then staying on and transitioning our not-for-profit there to a for-profit they run and own. WHAT??

Final session: thinking exponentially. Find any Jason Silva video on YouTube. Prepare to need a nap.

After all that, I felt so tiny, so useless just making my living day by day. So what next?

Well, a lot of thinking, that’s what.

Day 1′s theme: there is so much more I could be doing. Oh, and Sxsw is really becoming TED. Or vice versa.

Still writing 2012 on your checks? Lucky bastard.

Yeahhhhh, it’s 2013 and I haven’t even written a single blog post yet. (Oh wait. There’s one! I just hadn’t published for some reason, and evidently I was still getting over pneumonia. I think I get a bye on forgetting it.) So those correctly-dated checks are just gonna have to wait.

What am I up to now? Here’s my sanity check:

Obviously, work. And a weekend thing I can’t shirk: training my baby naturalists to become masters. So that’s pretty much Monday through Saturday, 9-5. So for the other day of the week and hours I’m not sleeping:

Around the house:

• Still gotta get those kitchen lights working again. It’s been probably 4 or 5 months now. Ouch.
• Gotta fix the leaks in the kitchen and bathroom faucets. Wow, and I’m a greenie??
• Finding a contractor to replace my horrible peach tiles, horrible cold tub, and nasty mildewy grout with something amazing. Something airy. Something I won’t have to scrub.

Maybe something like this, with its delightful steamy goodness:

From BH&G: http://www.bhg.com/bathroom/shower-bath/walk-in-showers/#page=9

Or maybe, even more dreamily, it opens to the big wide world:

From tumblr with no real credit , but from my own searches it might be originally from http://www.architizer.com/en_us/projects/pictures/house-in-banzao/27187/231738/#.URrIDlqG1DI

But most likely, I’ll just end up with a big shower, no tub, and a better vent fan. Oh, and a fixed tub faucet leak. And I’m ok with that. Mostly.

Ok, ok. Since this post is really just for my own mental organization (is there ever another reason for a blog post?), what do I really want out of the bathroom upgrade?

1. The leak fixed. That’s where it all started.
2. The tiles (and their mildew and all the scrubbing and gross factor) gone.
3. No more shower curtain (and… its mildew. Theme much? Also getting rid of the shower curtain screech when it’s moved aside. Awakens folks in both adjacent bedrooms and is a fun party trick!)
4. More light.
5. Better steam evacuation (read: fix/replace vent fan).
6. Better health. I visited a spa (oh wow) and they had eucalyptus steam! Then I thought, dang, could I have a steam room, too? Having just got over pneumonia, this seemed like an amazing and resouding YES. Having option 6 requires option 5.
7. Update room for better resale (eventually) and better enjoyment (now).
8. More room in the event one occupant is on the toilet and the other in the shower. Hey, it happens. And when it does, the shower person is quite the captive.

Around the yard, I’m hoping to get some of these projects banged out (ha. Right). Until that illustrious day, this weekend I put in spinach, chia, cuke, black-eyed, okra, and kale seeds.

Someday, I’ll pull up my perfectly good patio (the one that burns my feet in the summer) and put in some wood slices:

From greatstems.com

Yes, and that patio will shoot off onto a path, leading to my backyard oasis, spiraling to a conclusion thus:

http://www.sunset.com/garden/circular-patios-00400000038448/page6.html

Oh, and that patio? It’s covered with a pergola, luscious hanging plants, and a serene sense of give-a-fuck:

http://www.houzz.com/photos/163992/beverly-hills-peck—mediterranean-patio-los-angeles

And I’ll put uprights around my driveway, so I can grow vines (gourds!) over my driveway and make it less burny through the summer. It’ll also mean 100% less basketball. We’re currently at 1% basketball, so it’s not a huge loss:

From—could you guess?— Urbanhomestead.org Man, they’ve got cool stuff.

And when those gourds aren’t growing, how about a bottle reuse project cum artwork, yathus:

http://www.designrulz.com/product-design/2012/11/45-ideas-of-how-to-recycle-plastic-bottles/

If I’m lucky, I’ll make it to my lowball goal: a DIY rain barrel. This is the wah-wah of projects:

http://www.shelterness.com/great-diy-rain-barrel-for-those-who-want-to-go-green/

And as for health, I’m hoping to train for a triathlon. Yes, I realize that “hoping to train” for something is a complete fail.gif, but I have at worst gone to the gym one time out of once this week. Tomorrow, that number either stays at 100% or drops to 50%. I read this article (http://www.mensjournal.com/magazine/print-view/everything-you-know-about-fitness-is-a-lie-20120504) and am reading the 4-hour body (with a grain of salt, per the author’s own instruction), and I’m still doing yoga and still trying to get up earlier each day for more health, yoga, well being, and huh, at some point I should look into these “meal” things people are all talking about. In the meantime, Pinterest keeps me and my hopes-to-plan-to-do self in a constant state of denial and sweet oblivion.

So what’ve you been up to?

Oh, nothing. Just overcoming the challenges of my mother’s house fire, traveling, organizing a 10-week class for 32 naturalists, and having pneumonia. No biggie.

Man am I glad THAT is all done. Well, except I’m still getting over pn, still traveling next week if I’m well enough, still getting over the fire, and the classes don’t begin until this weekend. But at least I’m nearly over the pn.

In fact, I got a bomb juicer and have been concocting some “tired if being sick” bombs to lay on my bod. Oh, did I mention? Training for a tri and a 4 month hike this year, too. So first things first: get well!

Yesterday’s drink had broccoli, spinach, a lime, two oranges, two clementines, half a sweet potato, an apple, a bit of ginger, and one single carrot with its greens. It mainly tasted like lime.

Today’s drink had a tiny beet, half a head of cabbage, spinach, one lime, three clementines, half a sweet potato, one orange, and a bunch of carrots with their tops. It tastes like an earthy lime.

Solar Powered Prisons Save Money

via Solar Powered Prisons Save Taxpayers Money | Sustainablog.

Yes, please. If we can’t switch from dirty fuels *cough*fossil fuels*cough* because it’s a better and cleaner way to do things, and because building new infrastructure actually creates news jobs (oh, don’t even get me started on restoring all those miles and miles of railroad lines that exist just about everywhere and would be an excellent way for us to move around the country), then maybe we can at least switch because it saves money.

Fine. I’m fine with that. And thank you, Charlotte Airport, for starting to worm compost and reporting the 1.2 million dollars you invested in, yes, worms will pay for itself in five years. 

Dudes. You can’t even get a Prius to pay for its own 30k over its lifetime. You can’t get a solar system at your house to pay for itself in five years, although perhaps in my (burning) climate, maybe it would pay for itself over its own lifetime.

But dudes. Dudes. Money talks. Great, let’s listen, then, since we’ve demonstrated over and over how it’s far more important than people. Finally, it’s a winner.