Tastes

As we mature, we more realize what we like and don’t like and tastes change.

What was once appealing feels a bit cheesy or constraining. With that in mind, we have re-located to Blogsome. Welcome.

going to school naked

This morning, I was listening to voices on the radio discuss the monstruous buy-out that Ford is engaging in for the purpose of salvaging their company. The analysts proposed that what got Ford into trouble was their bread and butter: trucks and suvs. Not only have foreign companies always bested them in the sedan category, but Ford has also been resistant to experiment with optional energy use...nary a hybrid to be seen...and in this season of $3+ gas, that's got to be a bit like going to school naked.

Then, this afternoon, as part of my new thoughts regarding decompartmentalizing my beliefs and my lifestyle, I googled 'ethical living.'
What I found were some very interesting sites...one with a clothing line made out of bamboo, another with organic lipstick (not exactly what I was looking for, but not a bad idea). However, I began to notice a trend with all of these predominately well-done sites: every last one was from the UK. In fact, aside from a few non-descript sites on druids and Jainism, I couldn't find one that wasn't.

I think I'm having a little cognitive dissonance...are we not the most advanced of countries? The first of all first worlds? Did we not win the race to the moon? Growing up, I certainly had that sense...America was where the newest and best things sprung forth, to then be shared with grateful neighboring civilizations. How did we miss this boat? I wonder if we are naked in school, and everyone knows it but us.

...or...maybe I'm the only one that's naked...

-l

diarrhea or death

Umm, diarrhea, please. That's if I get the option.

The FDA has advised that everyone toss their bagged spinach - to the delight of 6 year olds everywhere - on account of cases of E.coli being tied to bagged spinach.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/09/15/tainted.spinach.ap/index.html

-m

5k

Fundraising update:
I'm about 62% done!! Thank you so much to those who have given. Your donation will help make lives better.

Here are some pictures from my 5k race last weekend in Studio City (on the CBS lot - the finish line was next to the Will & Grace stage set).


























just a few more yards...


























sweating all over my sweetie.



me and my race posse

marital wisdom

Sunday, a day of rest...which means I naturally wake up at 6:45, spend a few minutes staring at the ceiling, alone with my thoughts, before I get up and check my email.

My husband is not biologically a morning person; it is only the chance to find a cure for cancer that gets him out of bed before 5:00 during the week. Respecting our differences, I enjoyed my morning solitude untilI could take it no longer. At 8:00, I got a running start from our dinning room and pranced right onto the bed and on top of my sleeping husband. I heard a slight groan as he tucked his face under his arm. I began to tenderly rub his back...no response. I then take a piece of my hair and stick it in his ear. A pathetic protest came out from under his elbow. I rub the underside of his nose, and he only wriggles away.

In my tender wife voice, I say, "What are you dreaming about, sleepy head?"



"...being alone."


I decided now would be a good time for me to go to the gym.

-l

long time

It's been a long time - maybe never - since I've run so much.

After this week is all said and done, I'll have run over 20 miles. And, yes, I still enjoy it.

A training picture for your enjoyment:

just because...

the animalness of animals

Matt and I were talking today about ways to further integrate our beliefs with our every day practices, and we got to talking about a friend of ours that doesn't eat meat because of his ethical quandry over corn-fed beef...it has something to do with the fact that it's not a cow's natural diet, and that the corn fed to the cow could feed a lot more people than the meat of the cow itself...something like that.

Anyway, I wanted to find out more about it, and I came across this quite interesting article by a guy that interviewed vegans and toured slaughterhouses, all to get the real skinny on the animal market. I thought this quote was rather profound:

"To a person, they are passionate about their reasons for ditching meat and dairy. But I've seldom heard vegans get passionate about the taste and texture of the food they eat."

Oh wait...that was the quote I thought was ironically funny. This is the quote I meant:

"In Rollin's worldview, what mankind owes animals is the ability to live as naturally as possible—that we let cows be cows and chickens be chickens, that we respect and nurture the animalness of animals. Then we can eat them without moral qualms."

Whew...the release from ethical quandry is sweet.

-l

P.S. I wonder if THIS is the message the cows have been trying to send me, via the sabotage of my milk. I receive your message, cows. I receive it.
http://www.seattleweekly.com/news/0408/040225_news_twosides.php

And then there were eight

We're re-writing the books!

Pluto has just been demoted
The celestial body, long known as a planet, will now be considered a "dwarf planet," the General Assembly of the 2006 International Astronomical Union ruled in a vote Thursday in Prague, Czech Republic.

Read more here.

Milk Wars

For the past two months, milk has been after me. And it is in league with the coffee beans.

It all started the morning of my birthday party in June...I had gone to Peet's before heading to the gym because we were...out of milk...and couldn't make our own coffee. I had a coupon, so I got myself a 'store-bought' latte.

Sitting in the lovely sun, sipping my drink outside the gym, I realized it (the coffee) was really hot, and it (the sun) was equally blazing, and that made me (a person) too warm - and not to mention, caffeinated - before working out. I set my half-full cup in the bottom of my locker, planning to finish it after my work-out, which would be an hour. Not the strictest of FDA observances, but I did live on a farm, after all...

Well, my 'one hour' workout turned into three, as I met a very interesting little man that regaled me with tales of Palestine and Brigham Young and Jehova's Witnesses, all the while teaching me techniques to get rid of "the double hello" (read: the extra skin that attaches women's arms to their armpits). I finally escape and get to my locker, and of course, even though this hot milk has been hiding in a dank (albeit oak) locker for three hours when it is nearly 100 degrees outside, I decide to finish my latte.

That evening, friends threw me a delectable birthday party with multitudes of Italian food and rich chocolatey cake. At about 10:45, we made a hasty exit. At 1:00AM, my dinner, as well as the latte, also made a hasty exit.

Since that time, I have twice found myself leaving gallons of milk in the car on the hottest of days for about 30 minutes, and last week, I hadn't finished my coffee at breakfast so I mindlessly drained the cup around lunchtime...mind you, this is southern California and our south-facing apartment can get up to 90 degrees in August. Of course, I didn't feel quite right for the rest of the day...

I am not sure what milk wants from me - perhaps to be vegan and avoid all animal product? Perhaps coffee beans have enlisted milk to act as their mercenary in getting me to desist grinding them to little bits and soaking them in boiling water? Perhaps milk is just vindictive and will get people whenever it has the chance.

Whatever the truth is, if I leave one more gallon of milk in the car in the middle of August, I might just have to give up.

-l