SPIBELT Review

Sometimes a product just works. The SPIBELT is one of those products. Designed for runners, the SPIBELT could just as easily be used as a travel wallet in areas you suspect might be conducive to high pickpocket activity. Thin, inconspicuous, and roomier than it appears, this pocket belt has room for your phone, keys, wallet, whatever. It expands a surprising amount.

Most belts marketed at runners for carrying essentials are poorly designed or constructed or both. They bounce and jiggle more than my belly and they leave you annoyed at best, chafed at worst. The SPIBELT doesn't move. It can be worn front or back with equal results. I have worn it both ways. I wore it to the front in conjunction with a small hydration pack that rides on the small of your back (the Camelbak Catalyst). I have a bulkier phone than is currently fashionable and the SPIBELT took it easily and held it securely with no bounce but not so tightly that it pressed the buttons or anything like that. On short runs where I only carry a small bottle, I will wear it to the back, which seems more natural to me, but a lot of runners like to have their things to the front--it doesn't matter. The SPIBELT is equal to the task either way.

I first came to the SPIBELT when I bought one for Joan as a birthday gift. I tried it out in the store with my wallet and phone and was amazed at how well it worked there--I jumped around a bit and jogged in the store and it was very stable, even if I didn't appear to be. I gave it to her and told her she could get me one for Christmas (alas, I had to get my own!). Between her birthday and Christmas I borrowed hers on occasion and continued to be impressed.

I bought mine locally at Summit Hut, but the belt is easily found online at many retailers. If you run or hike or bike or even just travel a lot where you might need a stash wallet, I highly recommend the SPIBELT.

Mike Doughty Interview

The Mike Doughty interview is up and available for reading at the WickedInfo site. It was a challenge. As I said, it was my first time doing anything like this. I was nervous about it. Then my recording turned out like crap. I had to dump it onto the computer and then listen to parts of it over and over using I don't know how many different sound tools to tweak things to where I could hear exactly what was being said: noise reduction, normalization, compression, speed adjustments, high pass filters, low pass filters, even distortion in a few places. In the end I have a good representation of the interview and I am confident there are no misquotes. Granted, I edited out a whole lot of verbal hedges and pauses, etc., but the phrasing and content are accurate.

If you're not familiar with Mike Doughty check him out. He was the front man for the band Soul Coughing but his solo stuff is quite a bit different than Soul Coughing considering it's the same singer and guitar player! Anyway, check out the interview:

Mike Doughty Interview on WickedInfo.com

Day 01, 12/13/2009 (Asthma SUCKS!)

I have asthma. Fortunately, for me it's not debilitating. I don't end up in bed with a breathing machine attached to my face and steroids dripping into my system. No, I just have a hard time breathing and get very tired very easily. My asthma is triggered, generally, by three things: Cats, always; Cold air, often; Exercise, sometimes. When I am bothered with asthma during exercise I am sometimes able to work through it by slowing down and walking slowly or riding my bike at a very light pace. If I can get through it, coming out of the other side can be really good--I often feel like I could go forever after a recovery like that. But, on days like today, I can't get passed it. Those days the exercise is much harder because I'm not getting the oxygen I need for exercise and it really slows me down (and I'm slow to start with!).

Today was one of those days when the elephant sat down on my chest pretty much right from the start and just wouldn't budge. I tried the walk/run/walk thing and it worked a bit. Mostly I walked. But I did manage to get in seven miles averaging just over four miles per hour. Not stellar by any means, but it definitely counts as exercise even if I did walk most of it! I mean, maybe the lungs weren't filling up and increasing their capacity the way truly vigorous cardio-vascular exercise does, but when I have one of these sessions my asthma puts my heart rate through the roof. If nothing else the old heart muscle must be getting a good workout.

So this week I ended up with a whopping eleven miles. Now, I know I can walk a half marathon within the time limit. I've done it. But I would really like to have a good day that day and come in at or under the three hour mark. That's going to require some more miles during the week between now and then, no two ways about it.

Day 07, 12/13/2009 (Taken after my run and after eating and drinking, etc. That's my excuse anyway.):

Weight: 209.8

BMI: 29.7

RM: 1919

SM: 32.4

BF: 29.6

VF: 13

Training, Days 05 and 06

I didn't really do anything these two days, so I guess I'll post the numbers just so I can say I did that at least!

Day 05, 12/11/2009

Weight: 206.4

BMI: 29.2

RM: 1888

SM: 31.3

BF: 31.4

VF: 13

Day 06, 12/12/2009:

Weight: 210.8

BMI: 29.8

RM: 1920

SM: 31.8

BF: 30.7

VF: 14

Mike Doughty Interview

I am nervous, nervous, nervous. Not only am I doing my first ever celebrity interview, but it's an interview with Mike Doughty, a guy I suspect is a whole lot smarter, a whole lot quicker, and a whole lot more ready for this interview than I am.

Wait. You're interviewing Mike Doughty? To quote my friend Dan, "WTF?! How'd you land that gig?"

My friend slash ex-student Steve Angell runs a really fun and eclectic website called WickedInfo. They interview a lot of comedians, musicians, actors, etc. One day Steve asked me if I'd like to do an interview for them. My initial reaction was a terrified hell no. I told Steve I'm pretty phonophobic and nervous about that sort of thing so unless it was an email interview, I'd probably pass. He wanted to know if there is anyone I would be interested in interviewing and the only person I could think of interesting enough to risk night sweats and panic attacks would be Mike Doughty.

So what does Steve do? He contacts Mike's publicist and scores a chance to interview Mike. Unfortunately, Mike doesn't want to do an email interview but will do a telephone interview. So tomorrow I have to pick up my phone and my archaic microcasette recorder and give Mike Doughty a call. We'll be going old school on this one--analog tape equipment and speaker phone. Fortunately, Doughty has embraced a lot of lo-fi equipment so I'm hoping he won't be too put out by my methods.

I hope I don't screw this up. I hope it goes well. Whatever happens I will let you know when my interview is posted at the site. With any luck it will go well enough that I won't be too embarrassed to attend his show in Cave Creek at the end of February!

Training, Day 04

I just got back from doing four miles with Julian in the stroller. I have not run in weeks. Literally. I think Joan and I have gone on a couple of walks, but no runs. Certainly none that would qualify as "training." I think I did okay. I did four miles in fifty-three minutes. I walked almost a half, ran a little over 2.5, ran/walked a little over a half, and walked the rest of the way home. I think that works out to about 13.25 minutes per mile. Not stellar, but if I can get myself to actually train to where I maintain that same pace over the half marathon I can squeak in at three hours and beat last year's time. Considering I walked all but a mile last year, I should be able to do it, right?

Today's numbers (11:34 a.m.):

Weight: 209.4

BMI: 29.6

RM: 192

SM: 32

BF: 30.3

VF: 13

An Open Letter to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid

I have finally lost what little faith I had left in the Democrats in office. By continuing to bow down to and roll over like whipped dogs in the face of Republican criticism all of you have become nothing more than tools of the status quo. There can be no hope for our nation if our representatives fail to serve the needs of the people and continue to simply cater to the wealthy and powerful.

I realize our government was designed to serve the powerful interests of the few. Not everyone realizes this. However, because the majority of the people of this great nation believe "by the people, for the people" to mean the Government is there to serve us, why can't our representatives do something to make it so?

My disappointment in this Congress (and increasingly in our President) knows no bounds.

I'm so sorry the lot of you have decided to turn your backs on America. What happens in next year's elections should come as no surprise to any of you. No, it won't be a vast Republican uprising--though they will play it that way. What will happen is most of the Democrats will stay home and fail to vote. The tea baggers will hit the polls and their minuscule voice of dissent and anti-Americanism will be hailed as the new majority. Thanks a lot.

Training, Day 03

Today's numbers:

Weight: 208.2

BMI: 29.4

RM: 1903

SM: 31.9

BF: 30.3

VF: 13

(Lack of) Training, Day 02

What will one day of not training and binging on ice cream get you?

Weight: 213.2

BMI: 30.1

RM: 1934

SM: 31.5

BF: 31.2

VF: 14

Training, Day 01

Can't say things started off on a high note! I shut the alarm off and said no way to running before the kids got here. It has been dark and cloudy all day, but no rain. I gathered up some stuff for a short trip to the post office so we did manage to get in about a mile of blustery walking. Of course, on our way back it finally decided to start raining! It was a light rain and I fortunately had the rain cover for the stroller. I pulled it out and slipped it on--sort of. One of these days I'm actually going to have to figure out how it attaches to the frame! It did provide some wind cover for the kids and it kept them dry, so that's good. I am going to figure it out and put it on for the winter. If nothing else, wind protection goes a long way when it's cold.

Tomorrow, I promise!

Numbers: Well, I did say I would post numbers, so here it goes. These are the numbers our scale gives us. Some are obvious, some less so. But I have them, so I'll post them. None of them are good...I'm obese!

Weight: 212.2

BMI: 30

Resting Metabolism: 1935

Skeletal Muscle: 33.3

Body Fat: 28.1

Visceral Fat: 13

You can compare it to February 19, which is the last time I actually wrote any of these numbers down. At least the numbers are better now than they were then!

Weight: 221.6

BMI: 31.3

Resting Metabolism: 1986

Skeletal Muscle: 31

Body Fat: 32.4

Visceral Fat: 15

What is visceral fat? 
Visceral fat is located around the organs. Too much visceral fat is thought to be closely linked to increased level of fat in the bloodstream, which can lead to common conditions such as high cholesterol, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Sedentary life style causes excess visceral fat, and exercise can reduce it quicker than subcutaneous fat (fat located under skin). 
What is resting metabolism? 
Resting metabolism is the energy to maintain vital functions and it counts 60 to 70% of total energy consumption. Knowing your resting metabolism can help your diet plan. If you can increase daily activity while keeping food intake at resting metabolism level, you can lose weight. 
What is skeletal muscle? 
Skeletal muscle is muscle attached to the bones that is used to move the body. If you do weight loss without exercise, you may lose skeletal muscle. Skeletal muscle is important to maintain your resting metabolism as well as your functionality. Monitoring skeletal muscle during weight loss is key to avoid weight rebound in the future.

Training

OKAY. The P.F. Chang's Rock n' Roll (half) Marathon is exactly six weeks from today. Enough with the tomfoolery! I am now declaring myself to be officially "In Training." The only hope I have to sticking to anything close to a training "regimen" is to publicly, no matter how embarrassing it may be, publish all the tawdry details. That is my weight, my distances, BMI, all that junk. If you read these posts you will see the horrible details of a fat man running. It all starts in the morning. Gulp.

Hero of the Day

Hmm, never thought about it really. Doesn't matter because I won't remember to follow through on it anyway. But, I have a nomination for my Hero of the Day and, well, he wins because he was the only one nominated and I'm the only judge.

Anyway, we were coming home from the JDRF Walk this morning and there was a guy on Campbell moving a coffee table. No big deal, right? Except he was towing it on a little trailer behind his bicycle. Huge kudos to people who use bikes for practical tasks and errands! We should all do more of that (myself included).

No, the photo above isn't actually our guy; sorry. He wasn't that impressive.

But check this out: http://www.bikesatwork.com/bicycle-delivery-service/furniture-moving.html

Or consider this: http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2009/sep/28/pedal-powered-moving-day/

The Pikeville Cut-Through Project

Well, here's something that started when I was ten years old and finished when I was a father of two. Pikeville calls itself the "City that Moves Mountains." This comes from this cut-through project--which is second in scope only to the Panama Canal project--but might as well refer to their horrendous love affair with mountain top removal strip mining.

Anyway, when I was real little the river flowed through town, which makes sense as many towns grew up along rivers. However, the Big Sandy often flooded and caused a lot of trouble for the residents. The solution? Cut through a mountain and send the river, a highway, and a railroad line through the cut. Of course! Why not?

It took fourteen years and seems to have worked like a charm. Nothing looks the same as it did when I was a kid. Here are some pictures from an overlook designed to give you a view of the result. And here are a couple of links with a little info.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pikeville_Cut-Through

http://www.cityofpikeville.com/visitors.cfm

Mountaintop Removal

So I've just spent several days in coal mining country. It's also a hotbed of cancer, bronchitis, black lung, and a host of other ailments, but that's for another post. Even though I pretty much just stuck with my brother and spent a lot of time holed up at my mom's house, I couldn't help but notice the strong push by the coal industry. I saw one guy walking downtown with a t-shirt that boldly claimed "COAL IS OUR FUTURE". I don't think he realizes how short that future is.

The night I arrived I stopped at Applebee's for a bite to eat--we'll deal with that decision another time--and there were some kids at the next table and a couple of them were wearing t-shirts, presumably for one of their school's sports teams, that listed sponsors on the back, including Friends of Coal. The indoctrination is probably fairly complete by high school anyway.

I was in Eastern Kentucky for four days and in that time there were two different pro-coal events in town. There was a coal industry meeting designed to assure the community that coal will be around for more than a hundred and fifty years. They were there to make sure the local newscasters used the words "clean coal" at least three times in three minutes. They were successful because, of course, the local news team did nothing to inform their viewers that "clean coal" is a mythical vapor-ware technology designed to buy the coal industry time. The other event was an "energy summit" featuring a climate "scientist" who is "not sponsored by the coal industry." Note: The petroleum industry is not the coal industry. Hmmm.

According to my brother, Pikeville just recently voted to disallow mountaintop removal. If this is true, they have my admiration. However, if this ruling does exist it doesn't extend to the county--Jon showed me a horrible example of mountaintop removal that is ongoing and blatantly obvious. From the new road (which covers the house my mother grew up in, by the way) you can see the remains of a mountain that once stood twice as high as it does now--and they're still stripping it down layer by layer. We could see a bulldozer driving down the center of the project. If you look at the pictures you will see the flattened section in the middle. The last time I was in Kentucky that flat spot was more than twice as high as the ridge immediately to the right. These projects are all over the coal mining regions of the Appalachian Mountains. The very real health and environmental dangers of this mining method cannot be stressed enough. There are no enforceable restrictions on what the mining companies do with the tailings and waste products from these methods. Much of it ends up in the surrounding valleys and rivers, creeks, etc., poisoning the ground water and damaging ecosystems and critical habitat for many species. And even if these dangers don't concern you, just look at it! Our Appalachian Mountains are disappearing for nothing more than huge profits for corporations who could not care less about the people whose lives they are destroying in the process.

"Excess" Baggage

Here's another thing to bug the crap out of me!!!

I just noticed on the receipt for the $20 they charged for my suitcase (each way!!!) that it is a claim check for "excess baggage"!!! Since when is a suitcase while traveling "excess" baggage? I can see if you check a second or third bag. Sure. If you can't do with one,  you're going about it incorrectly. But to imply that anything above a "carry on and small personal item" is "excess" baggage is ludicrous.

That said, judging from my flights this week I'm not sure how the airlines can be making any money. Two of my connecting flights have been on the empty side. The flight from DFW to LEX only had twenty-one passengers! The flight from LEX to ATL was empty enough that they actually announced that everyone was on the plane and if you wanted to find a better seat, go for it. The flight from ATL to PHX, a big 757, had some, but not many, empty seats.

In Flight Wi-Fi

Well, I'm on a Delta flight that offers Wi-Fi. It was only a matter of time before they offered it. Joan and I were just talking about this the other day, actually. We are currently at just over 35,000' and just went through a small patch of turbulance.

This is kind of cool and all, but I'm not so sure about the whole privacy thing.

By the way, I'll be posting a few photos from my trip after I get home. Well, tomorrow. It will be pretty late when I get home tonight.

Sooner!

Email

I just logged in to my account after four days. I have 183 messages and 60 SPAM messages. Why do I get the feeling it'll take longer to get caught up than I was gone???

My Kentucky Trip

My Old Kentucky Home
Okay. Fine. Kentucky was never my home. I've never lived there. But the old Stephen Foster standard seems appropriate enough to describe my trip to Kentucky to see my mom and two brothers. I haven't seen my mom in six or seven years and one of my brothers in close to eighteen or so.



Some Sleep Would Be Nice

No one is ever going to accuse me of being organized prepared. To catch my flight I needed to leave the house by 5:00 a.m. because I had to drive to Phoenix and I'm just not a fast driver. Sleep would be a good idea for a day like today, especially when you consider my driving history. However, since I spent the day watching the kids about the only thing I managed to get done was my laundry. Well, washing it and drying it, anyway. I've never been to good about the putting away part.

When Layla and Tina left at about quarter to seven, I still had to pack, clean the kitchen, do the dishes, fold and put away any laundry I wasn't taking with me, bottle and brew my Kmobucha (so that it doesn't turn to vinegar before I get home), give myself a haircut, and whatever else I'm forgetting at the moment. Oh, yeah, I had to take Pepper and Bunny to Mike & Liz.

I got things going, a little of each thing, more or less. I made the bed. I started folding laundry. I ate dinner. Mike called a little after 8:00 so I packed up the pups and headed over to their house. I dropped off the dogs and got home just in time to catch Castle, a show I watch regularly. During commercial breaks I brewed my tea and folded some laundry, gathered toiletries, that sort of thing. And immediately after Castle...I fell asleep on the couch.

I woke up in the vicinity of 12:30 with nothing completed, including printing pictures to take to Mom and burning CDs for Jon. The kitchen was a mess. This was not the best possible scenario. But it forced me to focus. I cleaned the kitchen and ran the dishwasher. I bottled and brewed the next batch of Kmobucha. I picked what clothes to pack, swapped the small duffle I originally planned to use for a suitcase (jacket, suitcase, running shoes--no small duffle this time). I started picking and printing twelve photos and selecting and burning CDs. I put my laundry away. I even gave myself a serviceable haircut. When all was said and done, I was finishing up at the computer and it was quarter after three. I had to be up in an hour in order to leave the house by five.

I brushed my teeth and jumped into be with my CPAP machine flowing and lulling me to sleep. I think I even had a few dreams before the alarm went off and I realized I would have to get ready and drive to Phoenix all while in a coma. Should be interesting.

I wasn't drifting off on the drive (again, with my history this is a concern) but man was I tired. If I wanted I could have pulled to the side of the road and happily slept for hours. I managed to leave the house by five after five and was parked and out of my car and heading to the shuttle by 7:45. Not to bad for someone who generally drives slowly and conservatively. I did doze off on the shuttle bus between the parking lot and the terminal, though. It's a good thing the announcements are pretty loud.

I had time to get an egg and cheese croissant in the terminal (it took longer to stand in line to pay for it than it did for them to make the sandwich and for me to eat it). I got to my gate and had enough time to send Joan and short email of my progress and then it was time to board. A short nap and a bloody mary mix later and I'm jotting this note to post later.

I wonder if I'll be able to find any free wi-fi in Raccoon or Pikeville, Kentucky? Do they have a coffee shop or library or something that might have it? Who knows. I could always stake out a hotel parking lot and take my chances! We'll see what happens.

Airport Wireless

I know I've said this before, but airports should all supply free Wi-Fi. There's no reason not to considering how much it costs to fly and how much concessions cost at airports. Phoenix has free Wi-Fi. I'm not sure which other ones do. I can tell you one thing--Dallas-Ft. Worth does not. One of the largest airports in the country and they have a T-Mobile hot spot that you have to pay to use. It's criminal if you ask me considering I had to fork over an extra $20 just to bring my suitcase along on the trip.

Wednesday, November 4

I started the day with a nice run along an old rail bed. There's an abandoned rail line right across the street from my brother's house and it made for a good place to run. I'll probably do it again tomorrow. It's all uphill so the return is pretty nice. This is not an officially converted Rails To Trails project or anything like that, it's just a track that follows the rails. At some point you lose site of the actual rails, but you know they're just on the other side of the jungle of vegetation that is growing everywhere.

From the over grown rail bed, filled with weeds and stones and cinders you segue to a grassy siding to a paved "road" and eventually to a dirt or gravel path. Once you lose the road you are surrounded by sheer walls where the line had been blasted through the rock. Moist and chilled air heightens the sound of water dripping from the seeps all along the rock walls. Woolly Bear caterpillars seem out of place in the cold mountain morning, but I see several and they are on the move to fulfill their part in the transformation process before winter comes.

I was about three and a half miles into the run, on my way back to my brother's house when a small red pickup came driving up the little paved section of the path. I moved to the side and was preparing to wave as the local drove by, no doubt wondering what the hell someone in shorts is doing running along the old rail bed. The window started to come down and I was prepared to say "No, I'm fine. Thank you for checking" when I realized it was my brother. He had been worried because he thought I had been gone a long time. I assured him I was fine and continued my run back to the house.

Showered and dressed and into the car, we proceeded up the mountain to Mom's house. I had forgotten how crazy the roads are--and this is since they "improved" them: narrow winding paths barely a car and a half wide sneak up the mountains around blind curves; wash outs line the edges of the road and draw attention to the sometimes sheer drops of three hundred feet or more that await the fool who miscalculates a turn or doesn't pay attention to a curve; and all the while cars barrel up and down them at excessive speeds. This is not for the leery. And I am leery. Very leery.

We got to Mom's house to find a couple of fresh fruit pies and baked apple cake. I've always been a fan of strawberry rhubarb and peach pies and wouldn't you know it, we had one of each. Jon and I both did our best to inflict some serious damage on the pie and then couldn't quite resist the apple cake--it was still warm and moist and delicious.

After our pie binge and fending off Mom's desire to cook everything in the county for us, we went for walk up the road with the intent of checking out Fishtrap Lake. We weren't far from the house when it started to rain. We went back for the car and as soon as he drove out of the driveway the rain stopped. We went down the road as far as we could and then hoofed it the rest of the way. We had a geocache on the GPSr and thought we might be able to get on the old road and head over the hill to Lower Pompey and find the cache at the marina at the park over there. The lake is the result of a dam project and there is still the remainder of the old road going over the ridge. We worked our away around the edge of the lake and through some brush and muck and got on the road. We followed it a ways but soon realized it would be dark before we got there. We turned back, got the car, and made the drive around to the other side to check out the dam and the park they have built around it. We never found the cache, but I was able to check out the dam.

It was getting dark and we figured Mom would be getting worried about us so he headed back to her house. We were late for dinner and I think we had upset Mom a bit, but we dutifully ate our dinner. Mom still doesn't know what to make of me being a (mostly) vegetarian--she thought that meant I would eat turkey or chicken--but I ate all of the sides and the potatoes and mostly made up for not eating the pork chops she had fried up for us.

It was just about eight o'clock and I was getting sleepy (and I'd had about enough of high volume television). Burbon had gone to be already so Jon and I made our leave. I was in bed by 8:30 and typing away. I had to put the computer away because I was dozing off. Like I said, I only had about an hour of real sleep the night before so I was pretty wiped out. I am actually finishing this up on Thursday evening! Wednesday was a pretty full day and a pretty good one.

Thursday, November 5

We started the day after nearly eleven hours of sleep. I was in bed by 8:30 last night and got up about 8:00 this morning. I skipped a run today and Jon and I headed into town for some touristy activities and a couple of errands. Our first stop was Lowe's for a dryer power cord and then the Food City for a bottle of contact lens solution. The we hit the Huddle House for some breakfast. I had an excellent garden omelet with whole wheat toast and some grits.

After breakfast it was time for a little sightseeing tour. Our first stop was the overlook which provides a parklike setting where you can see the entire town and a view of the Pike River cut through project. The redirecting of the Pike river is a project second only to the Panama Canal in scope. That's kind of impressive to me.

There are a lot of historic buildings in Pikeville that I never realized were there. There was a photo slide show on a display at the courthouse (I needed a bathroom!) that showed me just how important Pikeville is to the region. Being the county seat, it was the center of activity--court day, hangings, you name it. There are some really cool old buildings including a Masonic lodge with a very ornate stained glass window. I learned from the several plaques around town that Pikeville and the Pike River are both named for the same general who gave his name to Pike's Peak and headed the expedition to find the sources of the Mississippi and Red rivers. I also learned that Riddel of Embry Riddel fame was from the area and once flew under the bridge here. That's impressive flying.

Pikeville was also the site of a lot of the famous Hatfield McCoy feud and the violence surrounding this family rivalry. One of the most famous hangings resulting from this feud took place at the site of the old courthouse. Just up the hill from town is the Dils Cemetery where many of the McCoy family are buried. The first of the McCoys involved in the feud is buried here and the town has erected a large stone marking the graves of he and his wife. Most of the older stones in the cemetery are illegible. The cemetery is also one of the first non-segregated cemeteries with about a fifth of the graves being those of African Americans.

We left town for Ma's and made a stop at Jon's to let the dogs out and drop off some stuff. While we were there my brother Bob and his wife Cheryl pulled up. They were also headed up to Mom's and saw that we were Jon's so they stopped. We caravaned up from there and it wasn't long before we were eating a good country dinner. I skipped the turkey but ate all of the sides. Sitting here now, I'm feeling a bit hungry and wish I could have some of that pie from yesterday right about now.

Friday, November 6

Today we got up and went to Kmart so I could buy Jon some underwear! I saw his underwear and while he doesn't care, I knew he was going for an MRI on Sunday and I knew we'd all feel better about it if he had less air-conditioned drawers. From there we went to lunch at El Poncho's--it's supposed to be the best Mexican food in the area but I have to say it was not all that great--they definitely rely on cheap ingredients.

After lunch we went up to see my Uncle Buck. I haven't been in his house in almost thirty years! He was just the same, a little thinner, a little grayer, but just as full of it! My Aunt Ann is doing good, too.

A few stops to see where my mother lived as a kid (the old house is gone and there is a highway in its place!) and back downtown to walk a couple of swinging bridges and it was time to eat. We went to Chirico's, a local Italian restaurant for pizza. It was very good pizza!
We went up to Mom's after our dinner and I'm pretty sure we offended her by having already eaten. Oops.

After sitting around watching Mom watch some very bad telethon for a local holy roller gospel station for an hour or so I was getting ready to leave. Just as I was about to tell Jon we'd better pack it up, Mom got up, went to the other room, and came back with a couple of photo albums. There were a couple of cool photos from when we were kids but most of the photos I enjoyed were of my kids when they were little--cute! After photos, though, Jon and I headed down the mountain to his house. I still had to pack up and be ready for our early morning wake up call. We were heading up to Mom's for breakfast before I headed out on the highway.

D-Day (Departure Day, Saturday, November 7

I woke up before the alarm and after a brief debate with myself whether to get up or try to sleep, I got up and started putting everything away, including deflating the air mattress I had been sleeping on.

I wasn't sure if I would bother with a shower today, but I did. When you're going to be traveling for about twelve hours all told you might as well start out as freshly as possible.

We went to Mom's and I had two eggs and two biscuits along with the V8 I had brought with me. Then I had a cup of coffee, figuring I'd need the caffeine today.

We sat a bit and took a couple of photos and then it was time to go. Mom had to go into town anyway, so we all left together. Mom left before us because I drive like a turtle on those crazy twisty roads. However, when we got to the bottom of the hill, she was parked at the stop sign waiting for us. We pulled up behind her and she got out and walked back to the car. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?" I asked. She wanted to make sure I didn't need anything! What could I possibly need, I wondered. Money or anything I needed from her, was her reply.

Mom. Get in your car.

I dropped Jon off at his house and said goodbye and then I hit the road. It's a very boring two and a half hour drive to Lexington from Jon's house and it's almost all radio no man's land. I did get caught up on my .38 Special listening needs.

I made it to the airport without incident, including exiting and filling my gas tank before returning the rental. That will probably surprise a lot of people. I made good time to the airport so I stepped into the airport restaurant for a bite to eat. I should have grabbed something when I got gas--$13.99 for a poor quality serving of overcooked fish and chips just doesn't sit well! Anyway, here I am waiting for my plane to depart. I'm on my way home. In another eight hours I'll be in Phoenix and then I have to drive home. I can't wait to get there!

Kentucky

Just a brief note today. So, I'm going to visit my mother in Raccoon, Kentucky. Yes, yes, I could go into that at some length. But I won't because it's 3:13 a.m. and I have to get up in an hour and leave the house by 5:00 to catch a flight in Phoenix to Lexington. From there I will drive three hours to Raccoon. I'll stay at my brother's house.

I'm not sure how this is going to go. I'm sure no matter what someone will be butt hurt by something I say or something I do. More likely something I don't do--like stay at one place over another or spend enough time with this person or that or not see this one or that one. Oh well. Make the most of it.

I hope they have a bar in Pikeville and I hope my brother wants to go to it.

Sooner. I have to sleep for an hour...

I Found Them!

I mentioned the pumpkin seeds we used to get when we were kids--we often got them in our multiple full pillowcases of Halloween candy, too. I just remembered the red package and the Indian head with full headdress. Out of curiosity I thought I'd do a Google search. You can find just about anything these days. They apparently still make these things. They come from a company called Zenobia and are called Indian Pumpkin Seeds (I wonder how they came up with that name?).

If you feel compelled to try the most addictive pumpkin seeds ever made, try this link for Indian Brand Pumpkin Seeds. 

Pumpkin Seeds!

After carving up our Halloween pumpkin I gathered up and rinsed the seeds and prepared them for roasting. Since we were having spaghetti squash for dinner, I gathered those up, too. Rinsed and seasoned with King of the Q Bonedust Barbecue seasoning powder, I spread them on a baking sheet and popped them into a 250 degree oven. Bake for a while, flip 'em around a bit with a spatula, bake, flip 'em around, bake, etc. Delicious!

As a kid pumpkin seeds were one of my favorite treats. I remember buying small red boxes with an indian head logo of very salty, very white pumpkin seeds. Each Halloween my dad would scoop out the seeds from our pumpkin and put them into a bowl of salty water, working the seeds between his fingers to wash away the pith of pumpkin. Back then the seeds were simply salted, but they were delicious enough to stick in my memory.

If you've never done this, you should give it a whirl. It's simple to do and the payoff is a very tasty (and healthful) snack.

New SPAM

I received a new kind of SPAM yesterday. Well, new for me. I received a text alert on my cell phone telling me that my credit card beginning 476390 has been deactivated and I had to call 888.222.8983 to reactivate my card. Of course, I don't have a card beginning with those numbers so I called Joan to make sure none of her cards started with those numbers or to see if she had a secret credit card starting with those numbers, just in case. But no. I certainly didn't call the number.

Last night I popped the phone number into Google and did a search. The number came up in a fraud reporting site. Someone received the same text on the same day from the same number; only the credit card numbers were different. I assume that when you call the number they "verify" enough of your information to end up issuing you a brand new high interest rate credit card that is chock full of fees and other money-draining "options" to "keep you safe from fraud."

The sad part is that there are probably people out there who will call the number and some of those people will foolishly give out their information and end up falling for the scam.

Can you imagine if the people who come with these scams actually used their time and skills for good?

Pepper

We have two dogs, Pepper and Bunny. They are almost 14 and 13 years old, respectively. All in all, they have been very healthy and happy pups their whole lives. Along the way, Pepper has had a few bizarre medical issues, however. There was the time, as a puppy, when she (we assume) was stung by a scorpion and her foot swelled up and caused her a lot pain. Ever since then she has had oddly positioned toe on that foot (I can't explain it either). Then there was the time she obsessively and savagely tried to get a lizard that had run into an agave plant to hide. Pepper all but shredded that plant and in the process covered her face with the caustic sap. Her faced swelled as though she had tangled with a rattlesnake, the fur came out in tufts and patches, and she had a raw and scabby face for a few weeks. Then, several months ago she suddenly dropped six or seven pounds (that's a lot for a forty-five pound animal!), started losing her hair, and had red and raw spots on her skin. No one was ever able to assign a cause to that one. She took some antibiotics, ate some special canned food for a while, and had a few baths using expensive medicated shampoo and it all suddenly cleared up and she was the same old Pepper, maybe even healthier than she had been in a while. But the other night she really scared me.

I had dozed on the couch (nothing new) and awoke to the mad scrambling sound of a dog's toenails crazily scattering along the laminate floor of Joan's office. Pepper looked just like Bambi when he first stepped onto that frozen pond. I went down the hall to see what was going on and it was immediately obvious that something was very wrong. Pepper was twitching and her head was swinging back and forth, clearly disoriented. But then I got really scared because I saw her eyes--they were rolling around in her head like marbles in a roulette wheel and just about as fast. I got her onto a small piece of carpet and she simply stood unsteadily staring at the small dresser that was about six inches from her face with her head slowly swinging side to side. She was so scared that her entire body was tense and shaking, her belly like a drum.

I tried to guide her into the bedroom so I could wake Joan up to help me figure it out. She was bouncing off the wall like a drunk, tracking to the right and stumbling, her eyes swiveling the whole time with nystagmus.

While Joan tried to calm Pepper down, I got on the internet and searched for her symptoms. I know, you should never self-diagnose. I'm sure the internet is the bane of doctors and vets the world over. But I found several websites that clearly described her symptoms to the letter: vestibular syndrome. Every site said there's really nothing to be done for it and that almost all dogs simply recover with few after effects. Some are worse than others. Pepper seemed to be getting better even as she rested in her bed once Joan got her to lie down there. I decided it was okay to wait till morning to call the vet. That may or may not be the right call, but it's the call we made this time.

When I took Pepper to the vet in the morning they agreed that it was indeed idiopathic peripheral vestibular syndrome. A big, fancy, complicated name for "we have no idea." By yesterday afternoon it looked like Pepper was about 80%. She seemed fine, energetic, and only very slightly tracking to the right with the occasional sign of unsteadiness. The vet had told me that if her symptoms persisted I could give her some Dramamine to help with the vertigo but other than that there was really nothing to be done. Fortunately, she seemed like she was going to be fine.

But then this morning she had a relapse. There was no nystagmis, but she was very unsteady, nauseous, etc. She obviously didn't feel well. I went to the store and bought the Dramamine and gave her one pill along with a Rimadyl to help with any inflammation (a potential cause is inflammation of the nerves in the inner ear). So far, four hours later, she still feels poorly. All I can do is keep an eye on her and hope for the best. It can take a few weeks for a dog to recover from this health issue and it's frustrating because there's not really anything you can do in the meantime. So we'll cross our fingers and baby her for the time being.

Yep. That's Cold

Thirty-five degrees is cold. It's colder on a bike. This morning's ride wasn't too bad at all, really. Except, you know, for my frozen eyeballs and the loss of my fingertips. And my big toes. But other than that I was pretty comfortable. There was a moment when I was going about twenty-five miles an hour and crossed over a large wash and it suddenly got really, really cold; it took a while to warm back up after that.

It's a good thing to dress appropriately. That whole thing about layers is fine and dandy if you're going on a really long ride, but if you're only going out for an hour or so who's going to stop to remove clothing? Settle on a compromise. I usually err on the side of warmth because it is long-established fact that I am a wuss when it comes to the cold. For instance, this morning, three degrees from freezing, I wore long socks, shorts, winter tights, a long sleeved under shirt, a long sleeved jersey (with hood!), a jacket, full-fingered gloves with a windstopper liner over them, and a balaclava. Sounds like overkill, but I didn't get too warm and I still had painful cold in my fingertips and toes (an issue I have, by the way).

I also have exercise induced asthma that sometimes bothers not at all and other times all but puts the kaibash on an activity. It is definitely worse when it is cold out--cold air and my lungs just don't get along. Thus the balaclava. Having that polypropylene layer over my mouth warmed my breath enough that I didn't have this issue.

I got my arse out of bet at 5:30 this morning and hit the road about 6:00. It was 35 degrees outside and I road my bike and I'm none the worse for wear. Proper clothing and a little masochism make all the difference. So get out and ride!

Cold as Hell (or What the Hell Am I Thinking?)

It's already in the 30s at midnight and I'm heading off to bed with plans of waking up at 5:30 to be on the road at 6:00 for a morning ride. I might be nuts. It's going to be very cold on a bicycle and when I go over the washes it'll be freezing.

It's a funny thing about washes. Even though they look dry they are, in reality, water ways. Sometimes water is flowing not too far below the surface. What does that have to do with anything? When you're on a bike you feel the cold. Due to the moisture found in the washes, the temperature around the wash can drop a good ten degrees or more. You feel it.

I laid out some winter riding clothes and I'll go dig out my full-finger gloves before bed. I'm already wondering what the heck I'm thinking but I suppose this actually holds true to form--I'm a glutton for punishment.

El Tour de Tucson

El Tour de Tucson is coming soon--it's less than a month away. I rode my first El Tour in 2002. That was the year after I had major neck surgery. I was cycling a lot at the time and even though my time was nothing to brag about (just shy of seven hours), it was good for me: I'm notoriously slow in just about any activity I do, always have been. I set a goal at that time that I would ride at least twenty El Tours de Tucson. I have ridden every year since then except for last year. I was underprepared and dilly dallied until it was too late to register without going bankrupt. There were also two years that I only rode the thirty-five mile event. The first year I did that it was because my two daughters rode with me. They did a great job. I was very proud of them both but maybe especially proud of Stephanie who bonked herself silly to the point where her legs were twitching like mad but still finished the ride along with her sister and me. She even made a mad dash at the end that forced Tina and I to catch up with her! I decided that year that only the full tour route would count toward my goal of twenty El Tours. The other time I rode the short route was when Joan agreed to ride with me as part of a company team--her company was one of the sponsors and several of her co-workers rode the tour as well.

Since my "retirement" I have not ridden as much as in the past. A lot of my miles came from my commute which was a minimum of thirty miles round trip. I say minimum because I had various routes that I would take and could make my daily commute as long as seventy-six miles round trip! Now I make due with weekend rides and the occasional early morning ride. I lack discipline, though, and those early morning rides are rare--I have a hard time getting out of bed at five in the morning (and it's only going to get harder as the weather gets colder).

But I'm signed up for the Tour this year and am looking forward to it. I am sure it will take me a very long time given my lack of preparation. And, unfortunately, Joan will be out of town for her mother's eightieth birthday so I won't get my mid-ride meet and greet with her. I'll also be riding my touring bike, so that's not going to make me any faster, either. But I did eighty miles a couple of Sundays ago and hope to do a hundred this Sunday. Cross your fingers,

Choke!

I just finished choking after inhaling a few drops of tea. That's what happens sometimes when a straw decides to slip from your lips before you really get the liquid flowing. I hate that feeling because it sticks around so long. I'll have this tickle in my throat for hours, I suppose. It probably doesn't help that I brewed the tea in an old sock.

An old sock?!?! Yes. An old sock.

Last night I brewed the tea for my current batch of Kmobucha. I have two jugs going so I need to brew two large batches of strong, concentrated tea. I use a half cup of loose leaf tea in about two liters of water for each batch. I have one tea "bag" that will hold that much tea. I usually put the tea in and use a rubber band to keep the cloth bag closed. I've made due with other methods in the past for the other jug but decided last night that I should have bag for it. So I grabbed an old pair of socks from the draw, cut off the foot of the sock below the heel and had a perfectly sized bag. I put the tea in, rubber banded the bag closed, and off we went. It worked like a charm. Yet another use for an old cotton sock.

For this round of Kmobucha I brewed a special blend of rooibos and pu erh teas. I like the flavor of both even though they are so different. The rooibos is light and almost fruity. The pu erh is dark and smoky and strong. Rooibos is free of caffeine and pu erh is chock full of caffeinated goodness. Sounds like a good pairing, right? Well, fortunately, it turned out to be a tasty brew and I believe it will make a delicious Kmobucha.

Today I threw both tea bags into a glass pitcher and filled it with water and brewed up a pitcher of this tea blend. For Kmobucha each pot of tea gets one cup of sugar. The little critters that make Kmobucha eat the sugar and thus the conversion process from extremely sweet tea to a more sour almost vinegary Kmobucha goodness. Well, the tea bags had some residual sugar permeated through them so this pitcher of tea is just slightly sweet. I don't normally sweeten my tea (why would you?), but this is quite tasty. 

If you're a kombucha brewer I recommend this combination!

Cold!

Yesterday it was very windy. Today the wind continues but not quite with the gusto with which it blew last night. It's 12:30pm right now and it's still in the 50s. There is actually a freeze warning for tonight. I don't like the cold. Never have. That's one of the main reasons I moved to Arizona from the bone-deep cold of northern Michigan.

I will have to cover some plants tonight, especially the small moro blood orange tree I recently planted. It is small, a few years from fruit, I suspect, but a promise there in my yard that I don't want to give up just yet. Last winter saw the demise of my photinia, which I'm still surprised by--it was a few years old, established, large, and had been doing well. At one point a tortoise had burrowed down into the roots and perhaps that exposure is what did it in. I don't know. Either way, it's gone. I have some honeysuckles that are still pretty small. I hope they make it through the winter. They should. Other than that, most things are in pots on the patio and will probably be okay. Everything else is on its own.

El Tour de Tucson is only a few weeks away and I have been hoping for decent weather. I hope this is not a sign of what's to come and rather simply a freak dip in temperatures caused by a storm in another part of the world. I hope.

Pickled Purslane

I'm sitting on the couch eating some pickled purslane. Purslane to most of us, especially my wife, is a noxious weed that persistently grows just about everywhere. Back lots, empty lots, East Coast, Midwest, right here in Arizona, and very likely your own back yard.

Purslane is quite possibly the most nutritious of the "greens" you can eat. They have the most Omega-3 fatty acids and have high levels of calcium, potassium, protein, and loads of vitamin A. It's good cooked like spinach or raw in salads. It's quite tasty.

The last couple of years have been apparently exceptional growing seasons for this plant, at least if my yard is any indicator. My back yard has been just carpeted with this plant. I ate quite a bit of it this summer even though my wife won't. I'd have to cook it separately or add it to my salads "on the side." Of course, I snuck it in a few places here and there. I put a bag of it in my freezer and I also decided to do a very simple pickling. Since I didn't know how it would turn out, I only did one jar, but I suspect I'll have a few more jars in next year's refrigerator stores.

Some people make purslane "pickles" by pickling the stems. I figured I'd just do the whole thing, leaves and all. I simply cleaned it and chopped it into reasonable sized pieces and filled the jar with it and then filled the jar with Bragg organic, raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar (enough to cover the purslane completely) and then sealed it up and stuck it in the fridge. All you need to do is leave it a couple of weeks and it's ready to much on.

I think in my next batch I will add either a little bit of sugar or some agave nectar to give it just a little more sweetness but doing so is by no means a requirement.

Next summer you should look for some purslane in the yard and give it a try. I shouldn't have to say this, but if you spray poisons everywhere for no comprehensible reason then you might want to rethink your grazing strategies, but if not, give it a try. You'll discover a delicious, nutritious surprise.

Kmobucha

I should be making the tea for my next round of Kmobucha but I didn't buy any distilled water. I'll have to go to the store today because I can't let it sit too much longer or it will get more sour than I would like. I try to always use distilled water for the initial tea brewing so that I don't have to worry about chlorine or anything else in the water affecting the SCOBY.

I have really liked the rooibos Kmobucha. The only downside to the rooibos is no caffeine!!! So I'll probably do what I did last brewing cycle, one rooibos and one pu erh. Or, thinking about it now, maybe I'll do a mix of half rooibos and half pu erh. I bet that would be good! That's what I'll do.

I would like to brew the tea this morning because it takes so long for it to cool down to room temperature and my fridge is too crowded to fit large containers of hot tea inside--besides, that would probably kick the fridge into hyperdrive and I'm not sure the old gal could handle the extra load.

There are a couple of reasons I call it Kmobucha. One, well, it's kind of cute, don't you think? Kombucha/Kmobucha, the play on my name and all. But, more practically, I simply type it that way automatically because whenever my fingers need to type the letters K, M, and O they just automatically type in that order. Again, it's that whole name thingy.

Breakfast!

Today Stephy brought a couple of nice eggs and some cheese, broccoli, and chicken diced up for a nice scramble. I had some corn tortillas so I thought I'd make the kids some small breakfast burritos--they usually like to eat those on their own.

So what's the first thing Julian does when Steph walks out the door? He, of course, reaches up to the counter and grabs the cooler bag with the eggs and stuff in it and proceeds to drop the eggs on the floor. And, of course, they both broke.

Fortunately, I just bought some eggs and was still able to make them their special breakfast--which they ate half-heartedly. But at least they ate some of it, even if I had to clap for them every time they took a bite. I also had to wash Layla's little fork several times because she kept throwing it on the floor.

I often wonder how these kids keep growing bigger and stronger when they seemingly exist on about ten calories a day. They must be getting more calories from the dirt and other things they put in their mouths they're not supposed to eat.

No, seriously. I want to win a cargo bike.

Click This Link!!!! Please!!!

Life At 30,000 Feet

I wrote this on the plane home today on the Traverse City to Minneapolis-St. Paul. It's probably more draft than anything at the moment.

Life At 30,000 Feet

This vision of America
Geometric and crisscrossed
Broken by mountains
Rivers
Vast empty stretches
Not so empty when we look
Closer

Not from 30,000 feet

Up here we are stilled by sameness
Colors muted by high pressure
Sealed Plexiglas windows
Metal tubes of bunched
And crowded seats.

This is life at 30,000 feet.

Farmers' fields both square
and Round--
Roads parallel, straight, diagonal
A child's primer of shape
and design.

As distant from the ground
The seat beside us
What lives lived below
Unknown
As the lives
Lived
By those around us

We are all strangers
In the air, on the ground
Every moment lived
In the Hurried Rush

We hurtle through the world
Every life lived alone
Every life lived
At 30,000 feet.

Chris Kmotorka
8/15/2009
Traverse City to Minneapolis-St. Paul

Universal Health Care?

Everyone deserves access to affordable health care. I'm good with that. And that means that some people will get that health care for free. I'm down with that, too. Yes, I know that means the rest of us will have to pay for that. Yep. That will mean higher taxes. Yep. I'd rather pay taxes for the health care of everyone than taxes for nonsensical wars of choice. I'm willing to go a step further. I would say that in addition to higher taxes we can compromise on that tax rate and lower it by making people pay for health care when they can afford it. I propose we have one standard health care plan, not different tiers for people who can afford "real" health care and minimal coverage for those who can't. No. I propose there is one single level of health care--you get the care that you need, no matter what that care entails, no matter who you are. If you have cancer, you get chemo. If you have a congenital heart defect, you get a transplant. So on and so forth. For that we pay higher taxes and some of us pay a flat rate for health care based on our income. There, I said it. The rich will pay more for health care just as they should pay higher taxes. And, yes, doctors will no longer be able to turn themselves into millionaires by charging unfair rates. And drug companies will be held to realistic profits. So on and so forth and anyone who disagrees can go to hell. In exchange, I propose there also be huge tuition benefits for people who enter the medical profession and perform up to certain standards (right up to free education for those who meet certain criteria of performance). No one should ever have to die or suffer because they can't afford medical treatment.

Someone Asked Me About Cap and Trade...

Well, I guess the short answer is yes. But it depends on how it is done. I think cap and trade is good as long as the cap is real and firm and not a "floating" cap that allows certain companies to basically opt out of it. That does no one any good. Cap and trade has been proven already in the limits placed on sulfur dioxides (the main culprit behind acid rain). We still have acid rain but nowhere near the levels we had before. The reason that system worked is because they finally realized the way to do it is to leave it up to the companies to figure out how they do it. Rather than saying, OK, you all have to install this specific scrubber system, etc., etc., they said, here's the deal, your levels have to be below X. How you do it is your problem. It caused a lot of innovation and 3rd party development, research, etc. And in the end the cost was much, much lower than ever anticipated. They need to do the same sort of thing with carbon.

Saying that reducing carbon emissions will accomplish nil is silly and can only come from sources directly related to the fossil fuel industries. First, let's say that it's too late. It is. The cycle is in place and climate change (global warming is an unfortunate moniker and should never have been used, but what are you going to do?) is inevitable and already occurring. But that doesn't mean you don't try and make the effects less devastating. A substantial reduction in carbon won't prevent most of the outcomes that are predicted, but it can put them off for a time. That's worth something. The challenges include the inability to definitively predict what those outcomes are and what degree they will manifest themselves. Current predictions are not pretty. And many of these things will occur in our lifetime and will certainly change our children's future dramatically. The world of our own childhood is already gone. Our kids live in a very different world, even if we think it's subtle, it really isn't.

A huge obstacle is the "why should I if they don't?" syndrome. The U.S. has been adamant about not following worldwide greenhouse gas emissions limits because they don't want to limit themselves if other countries (who are trying to play "catch up" in an industrial sense) aren't required to make the same limitations--even though at their most consumptive levels they use a mere fraction of energy per person that we do. Somewhere along the line (our generation, basically) the U.S. decided to stop being a leader and to be a spoiled brat instead. Look where it has gotten us. "We shouldn't have to make economical cars! Whaaa! We shouldn't have to make quality vehicles! We should impose import tariffs on foreign cars instead!" That has been our mindset. We have known for some 50 years that petroleum was reaching its peak and would become less abundant and more expensive. But we don't think we should have to do anything about it because that would be like sacrificing something and we deserve anything and everything we can have no matter what the rest of the world is like. Thirty plus years ago the warnings about climate change and greenhouse gas emissions were being sounded. Scientists have gone before Congress many times over that period and always we refuse to do anything substantive about it because we are entitled.

Even under this administration, which many of us had hopes for but see them diminishing daily, any legislation will get watered down to cater to the fossil fuel lobbies until they do very little good. They'll continue to cave in to the pressures of the coal lobby (there are no redeaming values to coal usage other than the fact that it is relatively abundant and--thanks to HUGE government subsidies--cheap, cheap, cheap. Take away the billions upon billions of dollars in subsidies to fossil fuel companies and direct even a fraction of that money to alternative sources and it would take no time at all for those alternatives to be more than competitive costwise.

And don't get me started on Big Agriculture and corn subsidies and the way Monsanto is striving to destroy our entire food chain. Biodiesel and ethanol are fine and dandy, but not if they are produced with an utterly inefficient crop like corn. It takes as much energy to make it as you get out of it--and that's with the subsidies! There are far better sources for that which won't require turning our entire nation into a toxic waste corn and soybean field.

Water. Where do we even begin with water?

No nation on earth wastes water like we do. We take it for granted on a scale otherwise unimagineable. Something like 2% of the world's population has running water. Seems crazy, right?

In the future, our wars will only be tangentally based on religion (er, I mean, politics, yeah, politics, that's it). As climate change continues the most sought after commodity on the world market will be clean, fresh drinking water. A large majority of the world already has to struggle to obtain it. What happens when ocean levels rise, millions and millions of people are displaced from now-coastal regions into already impoverished inland regions (already experiencing unprecidented desertification)? No food. No water. A shitload of anger--a lot of which will be directed at those who use these resources frivolously and consider it their devine right to be able to waste, waste, waste.

In the not-too-distant future, it is estimated that the Colorado River (and, coincidentally, Lake Michigan) will see an approximate 30% decrease in water levels. As damaging as dams are (no matter how much care is put into their design and construction there are always negative environmental impacts), there will be no choice but to build more dams in order to create more resevoirs in order to supply water to areas that simply don't have any. We are seeing this in Arizona, Nevada, California, etc., right now. There are too many people living here and we all expect to have all the water we want whenever we want it. And, by god, we want a big lush lawn while we're at it! And fountains! Big fountains. I just saw a satellite image presentation looking at Las Vegas--it showed images over the space of 25 years and clearly showed an amazing growth in land usage and an equally amazing decrease in available water sources. If it wasn't for water from the Colorado River and the Central Arizona Project canals, Phoenix and Tucson would not be able to exist as they currently do. [Yes, I am fully away that I am very much a part of all of these problems.]

I hadn't heard about the farmers in California, but it would not surprise me if water rationing from the Colorado River will become a huge point of contention in the future. Before the Hoover Dam was built (well, and at times after) there were big battles over who gets the water. There was actually an "almost" war between Arizona and Nevada once upon a time. The Hoover Dam was built to control flooding and subsequent water distribution to farmers, not to generate power.

In the end, everything will cost money. No way around it. But we have to get our heads around the fact that what we spend now--if we spend it wisely and actually do something substantive--will be far less than what the cost will be if we wait and don't do anything at all. Most of our economic problems, if you ask me, can be directly attributed to the viewpoint that profit now is what matters, the future consequences be damned. We are not a farsighted nation. Maybe it's because we are a very young nation, who knows. But we have a nasty habit of putting our immediate gains ahead of our future well-being. We need to get over that and we need to get over it soon. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like that's happening.

Happy Anniversary!

Today is our 26th Wedding Anniversary! It all goes by so fast. Here we are married more than half our lives and grandparents at the ripe young age of forty-six--it's amazing.

I love you, Joan!

I hope I'm around for another twenty-six. I'd say forty-four (we'll be 100!), but I don't want to push it.

Cranberry Pinenut Hummus

I experimented today and made some excellent hummus:

Cranberry Pinenut Hummus

2 cans garbanzo beans, drained (Reserve some liquid in case you need it.)
3/8 (+-) Fresh squeezed orange juice
1/4 Cup (+-) Tahini
5 or 6 cloves of garlic (preferably roasted, but whatever)
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbls sesame oil
1 Tbls coconut oil
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup dried cranberriers (Craisens? I used cherry flavored.)

Put all ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth. If you need to add liquid to achieve the correct consistency, use some of the liquid saved from the cans of garbanzo beans.

Cover and put in the fridge to let the flavors blend a bit.

This was delicious!

National Sushi Day

Well, I'm told it's National Sushi Day. I admit I love sushi. But sushi is one of those issues where it's hard to know what's good to eat. And I don't mean flavor--I pretty much love it all. And I don't mean food safety--though that's an issue, I suppose. No, I mean issues of sustainability and eco-friendliness. It's a tough issue for me because I like weird things and it's usually the weird things that are the least sustainable.

There's an amazing sushi place in town called Sushi-matsu (the back room of Yoshi-matsu). When I go there I am quite happy to order the vegetarian sushi lunch special. They make incredible sushi and, surprisingly enough, you don't miss the raw fish or other sea critters. It's just delicious.

If I go today it probably won't be to Sushi-matsu because it's on the other side of town. I'm more likely to end up at Kyo Sushi or possibly Sushi Garden at the mall. Kyo is a nice little place with really good food.

There's a really good site for information on sustainable sushi. This site has a lot of information regarding sustainable practices, which fish you shouldn't eat, all of that. One fish that should be avoided is bluefin tuna. The bluefin (known in sushi restaurants under the following names: Kuromaguro, Horse Mackerel, Atun de aleta azul, Hon Maguro, Toro) is highly endangered and is a slow growing fish (the same reason you should never order sea bass). Another fish that is becoming endangered, unfortunately, happens to be one of my favorites--unagi (freshwater eel).

The Monterey Bay Aquarium also hosts Seafood Watch which publishes A Consumer's Guide to Sustainable Sushi. This list breaks down sushi fishes into the categories of "best choice/alternative/avoid."

We can all enjoy sushi, we just have to make good choices and avoid the bad.

Here's another good link: How To Order Safe Sustainable Sushi.

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Bike Lanes, Cross Walks, Courtesy

Yesterday I was running some errands by bicycle and stuck with the local bike path for most of the trip. While I was out I decided to go pick up a geocache that was recently added in the neighborhood and had to cross Tangerine, a four to six lane road by the house. I entered the roadway to cross north and then got back on the bike path. I signed off on the cache and then headed back on the path. Since I had to go to the post office, I decided to stay with the path and cross at the crosswalk where I would then have a very short ride to the post office via the sidewalk. Just before the light changed a large pickup came into the turn lane and fully blocked the crosswalk. I know I've been guilty of that myself, but I was clearly visible at the corner waiting to cross in that crosswalk.

I didn't rant and rave or anything, but as I crossed (having to veer out of the crosswalk into the intersection to clear the truck) I used my arm to indicate the path of the crosswalk and then made a "What's up?" kind of gesture. As I went by I heard someone yell something--it involved the word sorry, but I couldn't make out anything else. I didn't acknowledge the call out, just went on my way.

In this town it wouldn't surprise me if the person yelled something about being sorry they entered the crosswalk before I was in the way! People in this town, for all of its "bike friendly" status, are often rude and resentful of cyclists, even those of us who try to follow the rules of the road pretty consistently (it actually ticks me off to see cyclists blatantly breaking the law and or doing things that give the rest of us a bad reputation--motorists make most of their judgements regarding cyclists based on the bad examples they see).

As I finished up in the post office I passed a woman and she said to me, "I'm sorry about blocking that bike path."

I looked up and kind of smiled and said, "Oh, was that you?"

As I was packing up my stuff and putting away my lock and whatnot, I thought about how surprising that was--she actually seemed to mean it and went out of her way to make sure to let me know it. She could have just as easily not said a thing, hoping I would recognize her. What a strange change of pace that is for a cyclist on the road these days! I kind of puttered and took my time in hopes of her quick exit from the post office. She came out soon after and so I said, "You know, most people would have actually yelled at me for wanting to use the crosswalk rather than apologize. Thank you very much for that."

She expressed again that she was sorry about it, saying it was "an accident." After all that, I was really glad I hadn't turned my head back while I was crossing that intersection to yell some nasty bit of driving advice. I'm going to try and make sure I take the high road when it comes to these encounters in the future. I know there's going to be some arse who will make me break that promise, but I hope to take more care in my own reactions and try to remember that sometimes when I'm in the car I find myself creeping a bit too far into the crosswalk when I want to turn or any number of things that would annoy a cyclist in my path. But let me be clear: I try very hard to be aware of cyclists on the road and take extra precautions not to interfere with them with my own bad driving habits. I wish all drivers would do that but unfortunately, most don't.

Either way, I think we all should shut our mouths and just take a second before we fly off the handle when a stranger does something to annoy us, even if they are in the wrong. And we should all try just a bit harder not to do those same annoying things to others! Consideration for others outside of our own "sphere of existence" is a trait we could all benefit from developing. I'm going to try it.

Public Option for Health Care Reform

I fully support a public option for health care reform. I would wholly endorse a single-payer system if it came to a public vote. We need to insure all Americans at a fair cost. This morning I stumbled across a medical group (of anesthesiologists) that was encouraging its members to write their Senators to oppose the public option (it might hurt their wallets, patients' needs and care be damned). They even provided a nifty little tool to send their Senators a form letter. Well, I used their nifty little tool but replaced their text with my own! Here's what I sent:

I am writing to express my grave concerns that you will oppose a public option in health care reform. Such an option is necessary to provide insurance for the millions of people who cannot afford health insurance.

With Congress moving forward with comprehensive health system reform, I would like to provide my perspective as your constituent. An overhaul of the health care system involves tremendous opportunities to better serve America’s patients. It is essential that reform options be created to ensure that all Americans are insured.

Contrary to what many "health care providers" are trying to imply, a public option would actually create the kind of competition that is needed to drive costs down and to provide better services at reasonable cost--if private companies want to compete, they'll actually have to serve their customers rather than their own pockets (and the pockets of Government Representatives!).

Please don't let your special interest ties and campaign contributions from the insurance lobbies color your responsibility to your constituents and Americans in general. Please support America and ensure the inclusion of a public option in any health care reform legislation.

White House Defends DOMA

The White House recently upheld its support of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) using, of all things, the economy(!) to do so. They said they wouldn't consider forcing same sex marriages to be recognized in states that don't support same sex marriage because it would then have to extend federal benefits to same sex marriages (instead of only state benefits being awarded in those states that have gay marriage). They can't strike against bigotry and discrimination and uphold equal rights for all people because they want to save money/!?!?! Is Bush still in the Whitehouse?

Al I have to say is I'm a straight, white, middle-aged, middle-class American male and I completely recognize the unfairness and discriminatory nature of not only DOMA but any barrier to same sex "gay" marriage (shouldn't all marriages be "gay"?). This sentiment extends to "don't ask don't tell" as well. It is unfortunate that the hope we all had for this administration is being whittled away piece by piece by the discriminatory practices of the past.

Disney Pixar Cars

Joan and I drove up to Vegas with our friends Ken and Marie (they actually drove) and we stopped in Kingman, Arizona, there and back. On the way back we went to the Route 66 Historical Museum in Kingman. It's a nice little museum. I was able to watch part of the film they show and they feature Seligman, AZ, as pretty much the source of Arizona's decision to list Route 66 in Arizona as a historical route. So I was just surfing around the net for info because I've never been to Seligman (that I know of). Turns out that, according to one site, Disney Pixar's movie Cars was inspired by Seligman's struggles and gives credit to the town in the closing credits.

I have a long history of not being a Disney fan (even though I grew up on a steady diet of Disney movies and have taken my kids to Disney World). I think Disney is the Devil. So imagine how conflicted I am now that I think I will have to find Cars and watch it. Well, the grandkids should like it, right?

Let 'em hang! Hang 'em high! Hang 'em Out to Dry!

You get the idea. Hopefully you get the point. Hanging your clothes on a line (or other drying device, like a rack or even a shower rod) saves money, energy, resources, and, even better, your clothes.

I live in a "neighborhood" in Tucson, Arizona. The neighborhood has a Home Owners' Association (HOA), which I signed onto when we built the house (yes, I know, but that's another issue altogether). One of the edicts of the HOA is the banning of clotheslines.

There are lots of "reasons" for banning clotheslines, though none of them are really based on anything resembling reason. Clotheslines began to go out of vogue with the urban growth of the post-war years when appliances became a status symbol. If you could afford a washer and dryer, why would you hang your clothes outside? You're obviously poor and dragging down our neighborhood and our property values! So there's now a social stigma attached to the clothesline along with a very real belief by a good number of people that a clothesline reduces property values.

See an excellent Doonesbury cartoon series here! As a kid growing up in the suburbs of Detroit, my mother always hung our clothes. We had a dryer (at least at some points--I do remember a wringer dryer when I was really young), but most things were on the line, even in winter. Plenty of action figures used the clothesline as a zip line, too. Hanging clothes and rushing out to bring the laundry in before the rain hits seemed perfectly normal.

So here I am living in Tucson and I'm trying to be a good little greenie and I figure one of the easiest things to do is hang my clothes to dry. Joan thinks I'm going to get busted by the HOA, but hey, if I get busted I guess it'll be time to attend those HOA meetings.

I don't think it'll happen, though. I'm pretty discreet about it, I think. I have mounted some hooks under the patio and hang some dowels from them when it is time to dry my clothes. I don't have big poles with crossbars and three or four cables running the length of my yard or anything like that. But I sometimes, with my three four foot dowels, have barely enough room to hang my laundry. I might have to add another one to the line up (pun intended).

Here in Tucson it is often hot enough, dry enough, and just breezy enough for my laundry to dry very, very quickly. There are times when it clearly dries faster than it would in the dryer and it comes in the house every bit as warm as the clothes from the dryer. I encourage you to figure out your own system and try to dry at least some of your clothing outside. I admittedly don't dry all of mine. For one, Joan doesn't dry her clothes outside, citing allergens and dust. She won't allow me to dry the towels or the sheets, either. But that's fine. Almost all of my own clothing, however, dries on the line and I like it just fine. I haven't noticed any issues with allergens, either. Maybe it's just luck. Who knows? Either way, I say dry away, dry away, dry away.