Posts
Wait! Wait! Wait for me!
13 years ago
20 February 2010
New Camera
Welcome to my new world of Canon EOS Rebel XS. I think I got a pretty good price. I like the guys I bought it from. They are a real camera shop, with real knowledge, and real service. That's hard to find these days. Sure, its not the newest model on the market, but it is a solid perfomer. Today, I took it out in the wilderness to take some shots. It is such a shame there are no flowers up, but winter is winter. Jake enjoyed the walk.
16 February 2010
Weekend Culinary Adventures, Daktari-style
This past weekend, I did some lifestyle rearranging. Starting with my pantry. I had to get the no-no food out of my line of sight so I could actually see what good foods I had to work with. There wasn't much after all was said and done. It appears I've been hoarding an extraordinary amount of jams and jellies, and there was dried fruit in there that I didn't even remember buying. Oh how my heart broke when I saw that unopened bag of dried banana chips. (And thank God the package had never been opened. I'm not sure my willpower would have held out that long.) Once the rearranging was done, I saw that I had an abundance of tomato products and beans. So time to try out some new recipes. Diet and lactose intolerance are often two very difficult masters to serve. Put them together and things can get tough. Either the food is high fat or the food tastes bad. So after a few hours of food blog and internet browsing, I bookmarked some interesting, low calorie, dairy-free recipes. Here's the first one I tried.
Creamy tomato-basil-tofu soup. I give it 4.5 stars on a 5 star scale.
Assemble the ingredients. Amazingly simple. Oh, add an onion to this mix. I always forget one ingredient.
So you dice the onion and sweat it in a pan with a tablespoon of vegetable oil. Then you add the can of tomatoes and one or two cloves of chopped garlic. After this has heated, you add a half teaspoon of white pepper, half teaspoon of salt, and it was supposed to be a tablespoon of fresh basil leaves, but it's wintertime so I used dried leaves and added two tablespoons. I think you are supposed to add less dried spice and not more, but I remembered this concept too late. Don't worry, it turned out ok.
Ok, after heating the tomato-onion-garlic mixture for a minute or two, I added a cup and a half of plain, unsweetened soy milk. You know, the stuff you DO NOT want to make the mistake of drinking, but it is only good for cooking with. That stuff tastes AWFUL all by itself. Turn the heat off and let it all cool for a few minutes and then add 1 lb. of silken tofu. I used organic tofu by Nasoya. (See J? I'm trying.) Put all in a blender and puree. You can eat this hot or cold.
I ate it hot. It was completely yummy. Notice all those bubbles? Pureeing in the blender adds air. So it was especially light tasting. I assume that after it rests in the fridge for a day, those bubbles will burst and it won't have that wonderful light, dancing on your tongue action and just be regular old tomato soup. But one can dream.
So this recipe makes six 1-cup servings. According to my calculations, it has, per cup, only 110 calories, 5 grams of fat, 11 grams of carbs, 5 grams of protein, and thankfully only 413 milligrams of sodium. That's about half or less the salt you'd find in a can of Campbell's soup. It doesn't taste like salt and it doesn't taste like soy. It tastes like a very light, very fresh cup of tomato soup. The color is a little pale by most tomato soup standards, and it's not the wintertime go-to soup for when you've just come in after shoveling snow. I sort of liken this to cold cucumber soup I've tried before. I really do think it would be great cold and I may try it out like that this week. I actually think the extra basil made is taste more....well summertimeish, if you know what I mean. But. It was really great. And I'd bet your grandma would love it. If I was a grandma, I'd love it. Hell, I'm not a grandma and I love it.
So there it is. My new lactose friendly, semi-organic, reasonably salted tomato soup recipe. Not a bad find.
Creamy tomato-basil-tofu soup. I give it 4.5 stars on a 5 star scale.
Assemble the ingredients. Amazingly simple. Oh, add an onion to this mix. I always forget one ingredient.
So you dice the onion and sweat it in a pan with a tablespoon of vegetable oil. Then you add the can of tomatoes and one or two cloves of chopped garlic. After this has heated, you add a half teaspoon of white pepper, half teaspoon of salt, and it was supposed to be a tablespoon of fresh basil leaves, but it's wintertime so I used dried leaves and added two tablespoons. I think you are supposed to add less dried spice and not more, but I remembered this concept too late. Don't worry, it turned out ok.
Ok, after heating the tomato-onion-garlic mixture for a minute or two, I added a cup and a half of plain, unsweetened soy milk. You know, the stuff you DO NOT want to make the mistake of drinking, but it is only good for cooking with. That stuff tastes AWFUL all by itself. Turn the heat off and let it all cool for a few minutes and then add 1 lb. of silken tofu. I used organic tofu by Nasoya. (See J? I'm trying.) Put all in a blender and puree. You can eat this hot or cold.
I ate it hot. It was completely yummy. Notice all those bubbles? Pureeing in the blender adds air. So it was especially light tasting. I assume that after it rests in the fridge for a day, those bubbles will burst and it won't have that wonderful light, dancing on your tongue action and just be regular old tomato soup. But one can dream.
So this recipe makes six 1-cup servings. According to my calculations, it has, per cup, only 110 calories, 5 grams of fat, 11 grams of carbs, 5 grams of protein, and thankfully only 413 milligrams of sodium. That's about half or less the salt you'd find in a can of Campbell's soup. It doesn't taste like salt and it doesn't taste like soy. It tastes like a very light, very fresh cup of tomato soup. The color is a little pale by most tomato soup standards, and it's not the wintertime go-to soup for when you've just come in after shoveling snow. I sort of liken this to cold cucumber soup I've tried before. I really do think it would be great cold and I may try it out like that this week. I actually think the extra basil made is taste more....well summertimeish, if you know what I mean. But. It was really great. And I'd bet your grandma would love it. If I was a grandma, I'd love it. Hell, I'm not a grandma and I love it.
So there it is. My new lactose friendly, semi-organic, reasonably salted tomato soup recipe. Not a bad find.
15 February 2010
My Five Year Plan
I realize that I'm going to have to graduate eventually. I assume that I will teach eventually on a collegiate level. With any luck, I'll land a tenure track position somewhere and get busy making undergraduates love science.
My five year objectives include:
1. Developing a course on evolution that moves beyond a presentation of the scientific evidence. The greatest weakness that I see today in the teaching of evolution at the college level is that it doesn't deal head-on with the social, political, and religious attacks against it. We teach kids the principles and expect them to connect the dots. I am convinced that it takes more effort than most kids are willing to invest to connect those dots and thus, most strict science-based courses on evolution fail to make any real inroads into the public controversy surrounding this "hot topic". I hope to develop a course that teaches those scientific principles, but also details the way evolution has informed other branches of science, especially medicine, and to dispel some of the most popular social, political and religious arguments against evolution. Until the majority of people understand what evolution is and is not, unless scientists can use that understanding to adequately address false arguments against it, science will continue to flounder, people will continue to see their faith as a viable alternative to "accepting" scientific evidence, and our country will continue to fall behind the rest of the world.
2. Helping undergraduates take the bold step into adulthood and personal responsibility. This means I will be understanding but I will not coddle them. I will not be swayed by lame excuses that seem to cloud the otherwise competent thinking of many professors I've seen. I will demand and reward excellence as well as personal responsibility. It is my ardent desire that any student who fails to perform well in my courses will not see ME as the problem, but rather their own behavior.
3. Creating meaningful, exploration-based labs for any course I teach. I have taught more labs than I care to mention that depend on tired high-school level rote experimentation (if one even dares to call it that). If we are to make students critical thinkers and skeptics, we need to challenge them to think critically and be skeptical. Handing them a lab exercise that has only one possible outcome is not the way to achieve this. It is my belief that any course with a lab has a responsibility for that lab session to be interesting and advance the course objectives. If we aren't going to do something worthwhile, we shouldn't waste our own time or that of students. Those times that I was given a chance to develop lab activities, the response was always positive. I think it IS possible to harness the creative juices of graduate assistants. Give them some rope and let them lasso a new approach.
4. Find new, meaningful research avenues. I know that I am hamstrung in this effort now by virtue of this not being a particular strength of my mentors and department. But I hope to be able to foster that in myself and through my colleagues. I would like to collaborate on big picture projects that are cross-disciplinary in nature.
5. I see myself becoming more politically active/outspoken regarding scientific issues. Not that I'm slouching on that now.
6. I would like to begin to reach out to the general public through writing when possible to advance public understanding of science.
My five year objectives include:
1. Developing a course on evolution that moves beyond a presentation of the scientific evidence. The greatest weakness that I see today in the teaching of evolution at the college level is that it doesn't deal head-on with the social, political, and religious attacks against it. We teach kids the principles and expect them to connect the dots. I am convinced that it takes more effort than most kids are willing to invest to connect those dots and thus, most strict science-based courses on evolution fail to make any real inroads into the public controversy surrounding this "hot topic". I hope to develop a course that teaches those scientific principles, but also details the way evolution has informed other branches of science, especially medicine, and to dispel some of the most popular social, political and religious arguments against evolution. Until the majority of people understand what evolution is and is not, unless scientists can use that understanding to adequately address false arguments against it, science will continue to flounder, people will continue to see their faith as a viable alternative to "accepting" scientific evidence, and our country will continue to fall behind the rest of the world.
2. Helping undergraduates take the bold step into adulthood and personal responsibility. This means I will be understanding but I will not coddle them. I will not be swayed by lame excuses that seem to cloud the otherwise competent thinking of many professors I've seen. I will demand and reward excellence as well as personal responsibility. It is my ardent desire that any student who fails to perform well in my courses will not see ME as the problem, but rather their own behavior.
3. Creating meaningful, exploration-based labs for any course I teach. I have taught more labs than I care to mention that depend on tired high-school level rote experimentation (if one even dares to call it that). If we are to make students critical thinkers and skeptics, we need to challenge them to think critically and be skeptical. Handing them a lab exercise that has only one possible outcome is not the way to achieve this. It is my belief that any course with a lab has a responsibility for that lab session to be interesting and advance the course objectives. If we aren't going to do something worthwhile, we shouldn't waste our own time or that of students. Those times that I was given a chance to develop lab activities, the response was always positive. I think it IS possible to harness the creative juices of graduate assistants. Give them some rope and let them lasso a new approach.
4. Find new, meaningful research avenues. I know that I am hamstrung in this effort now by virtue of this not being a particular strength of my mentors and department. But I hope to be able to foster that in myself and through my colleagues. I would like to collaborate on big picture projects that are cross-disciplinary in nature.
5. I see myself becoming more politically active/outspoken regarding scientific issues. Not that I'm slouching on that now.
6. I would like to begin to reach out to the general public through writing when possible to advance public understanding of science.
14 February 2010
You Kids Get Off My Lawn: The Remix
Today, I ordered a hat from Steep and Cheap. It didn't read the description very well until AFTER I had ordered. If I had read it, I never would have ordered the product.
Here's the description Steep and Cheap offered for an Outdoor Research brand fleece hat:
Outdoor Research Fleecy Hat - Women's
Pull on the Outdoor Research Women’s Fleecy Hat for everything from a chilly stroll through town to a day making turns on the mountain. This versatile stretch-fleece beanie also features a hidden zippered pocket inside the ear band, so you can stash a doobie for the extra long lift ride.
Yes, I wrote them a letter of complaint. Yes, I told them that skiing is a dangerous sport that requires mental alertness, coordination and dexterity. I reminded them that people die on ski slopes every year. Do I think my complaint will fall on deaf ears? No. Do I think it will be addressed in any meaningful way? No, I don't and I'll tell you why.
Below, I am including the entire conversation that I had with a rep of Steep and Cheap a while back. I was looking at products on their web page and saw a product description that included the word "shit". I wrote to the company then, just as I did today. Here is the conversation that I had with the Steep and Cheap rep. Great guy, but apparently a lone voice of reason in the company of 899 stoners. Here goes.
D: Ok, I'm an adult. And a pretty opened minded one at that. But you guys have GOT to get a clue and realize that adults are not the only ones looking at your web site. I like Backcountry.com and I like getting a good deal on Steep and Cheap, but I have just about reached my limit with your off-the-wall, cool kid-kid approach to sales that now has you cursing at me. When I read a product description like the Canada Goose M-Tech Bomber Jacket and I see the word "shit" in the description, I have to ask: whatever happened to common courtesy? Some people still believe that you don't talk like that in public or in front of strangers and certainly not in a professional environment.
Between that and the privileged, white male cluelessness of the Daily Dose, I'm just about done with the bunch of you. Can someone please tell that guy that being able to use epithets against different groups and not cause a bar fight over it does not herald the beginning of a post-racial America? I'd get truly angry except that it's obvious the guy is just ignorant. Why in the world you would want an ignorant oaf sending out emails daily to potential customers is beyond me. Maybe someone else should read his "column" before he whips them out to your readership. You know, and ask the obvious question....is this really going to help sell our products?
But cursing in product descriptions? Really, aren't you guys just a little more grown up than that?
The response came quite a bit later from Fred.
Fred: I have taken it upon myself to respond to any question regarding our content - whether it be the accuracy of a product description, or the nature of our language. First, I thank you for taking the time to express yourself.
I realized yesterday that your e-mail fell through the cracks, as I had two surgeries during January in a 7 day period - the second surgery falling on the day after you wrote to us.
To be totally frank, like you, I'm an adult (actually at 61 the oldest employee here) and pretty open minded. However, since I arrived here last May, I have been, myself, somewhat conflicted about the language that has always been characteristic of backcountry - so I have given lots of my own internal thought to this topic. and I wanted to give serious thought to the matter before writing back to you - six weeks should be more than adequate :-).
I joined the company last May as Content Manager, and I've been in corporations for nearly 25 years - but never in an organization like this one.
You are not alone in voicing concern about our language and our approach. I have always tried to reply to people with compassion and understanding. We may get 2-3 such e-mails a month on this topic.
However, the fact of the matter is, we get a exponentially greater number of e-mails from people who love our "non-conventional" approach.
(See this recent Blog Post for example: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2009/02/10/tramdock/
I've been worked over a few times for my stances on these issues, and in general, I have personal issues with the degeneration of the English language that has been abetted by the Internet. The one consolation is that we never go to the extremes that you can find nightly on television in HBO, Showtime, or any other number of venues.
We are far more circumspect about language on the backcountry site, but dogfunk and our ODAT sites really push the edgy and irreverent style. No matter what my personal feelings are, I cannot argue with the fact that this approach has worked for backcountry, the vast majority of our customers love it, and it is difficult for me to argue with success. We've grown from 3 employees in a garage about 9 years ago to over 900 employees today.
As for the guy who writes the Daily Dose - he works remotely from NY - and I've struggled to relate to his humor, his attitude, his logic and, most of all, non-linear thinking. At first, I chalked this up to being at least one or two generations off the mark. However, again, I can't tell you how many totally dedicated readers of this daily message we have - or how very many e-mails we get from customers raving about the Daily Dose and saying that they never start their day without reading it. Go figure?
So, I'm truly understanding of your position and your feelings. I'm also trying to be honest about my own conflicted thoughts on these matters, but I'll also be honest in saying that it is not likely to change in the future.
If we lose you as a customer over this issue, I am truly sorry. I, like you, have been trying to "elevate the conversation" not only here but at all times in my 60 years. Most times, I feel like the world is winning, but it doesn't stop me from trying.
Also signed
Not a prude ...but a thinker
Fred L.
Regarding the link Fred offered. It is an interesting read. The most interesting comment made there, I think, is this:
Play to your core. If you deserve to be bigger, your fans will spread the word. And don’t be afraid of offending those not in the loop. They don’t matter.In any event, I wrote Fred back with my afterthoghts.
D: Fred,
I appreciate your response. It was kind of you. I can't recall when I have ever received a more heartfelt response to a letter (or email) to any company.
I, too have given some thought to your response and I have only this to add. It is possible to be hip and irreverent even "nonconventional" without cursing at people. I don't think the cursing adds anything to the mix that wouldn't be sufficiently hip, irreverent, or nonconventional otherwise. Furthermore, there are words that are more accepted in our society (I'm thinking things like "damn" or "hell") that could be substituted and not raise an eyebrow from me.
But "shit"? That is not an image I want brought to mind when I'm deciding whether to spend a lot of money or not.
As for the daily dose, I have not struggled to relate to the non-linear thinking. I have struggled to understand why this gentleman would select topics to discuss that in no way relate to selling outdoor gear. And honestly, some of his topics reveal a disturbing lack of empathy or even cognizance of other's perspectives and feelings. Truly, his column does nothing but scream of incredible white privilege. Just because the writer doesn't see it, doesn't mean it isn't slapping the rest of the world in the face.
I just purchased a $200 sleeping bag from backcountry.com. I worked with the folks on your live chat to achieve that order. I had to return it, so I talked to your reps on the phone. I got my replacement bag and was very happy. Very happy. Everything about your company is top of the line--except this. And I am sorry to say that despite your best efforts, I'm not willing to continue to deal with offensive language.
So yes, you have likely lost a customer. Best of luck with the hip crowd.
And in fact, I hadn't ordered anything from the company since then. But recently, I guess I forgot about my stance and reloaded the Steep and Cheap notifier on my new computer. And I hadn't really ordered anything from them until today when I saw a good deal on this hat I liked. And wouldn't you know it, the very first product I order includes language that I find offensive.
So do I think that Steep and Cheap will change its ways? No. I'm not hip. I can be ignored. However, I did also write Outdoor Research this time. I asked for their ideas on how their products are being marketed. I anxiously await some sort of response from the company whose product I actually ordered.
Until then, there is nothing for me to do but get older, less hip, and more irritated by the younger generation. There is a change happening everywhere that I just don't agree with. Examples here. Here. And here. I fear I've become obsolete and my morality is out of fashion. Sucks to be me.
Love is in the Details
It's Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day celebrates the Feast of St. Valentine on the Catholic calendar (although apparently, it has been removed from the calendar since so little is actually known about St. Valentine). It is not the day St. Valentine died, but rather the day he was buried. One and the same? Who knows? There appears to be no real reason that St. Valentine, whoever he was, was associated with romantic love, but the period of February 13 to 15, was traditionally the time for a pagan rite associated with fertility. So, in an apparent religious slight-of-hand that we see over and over, the Christian calendar adopts the pagan festivals in an attempt to convert the pagans to Christianity. How Christians becoming more pagan is meant to advance Christianity has always perplexed me. It appears that our association between St. Valentine and romantic love was simply a Victorian invention.
In any event, Valentine's Day is now a secular celebration of love and lovers. Since I have so few of the latter and so much of the former, I thought I'd list my great loves.
I love....
the smell of freshly baked bread and tobacco shops.
the sound of bowling alleys and grandfather clocks.
all puppies, most dogs and quite a few cats.
sleeping late.
breakfast.
silence and solitude, particularly when outdoors.
uncontrollable laughter.
traveling.
taking photos.
writing.
a great work of fiction, my definition of which seldom if ever includes literary giants.
my work.
beer in the backyard on lazy summer afternoons.
laying in the grass.
camping, and camp fires in particular.
great homemade pizza.
cooking.
Monte Python skits.
Indian accents.
that feeling you get in your stomach when you're about to kiss someone you really like for the first time.
pineapple and grapefruit. Not together. I just like them both.
passing out warm, homemade cinnamon rolls.
flannel pajamas and a warm bed in the winter.
swimming.
roller coasters.
the way barns smell. Of course, that might depend on the kind of barn.
beginning a new adventure.
moving.
building stuff.
planting gardens.
home-grown tomatoes
violin music
the first warm day of spring.
hot fudge sundaes
pizza
old newspapers
junk shops
store-bought ice
board games
barbecues
Like the past twelve that preceded it, this Valentine's Day I don't have a lover. No one sent me cards or chocolates or asked me to dinner. But don't feel sorry for me. This isn't a lament and I didn't want to make this a wish list. I find happiness in life despite being alone. I don't need roses or chocolates or cards at all. Love isn't about those things. It's about finding joy in everyday life.
Happy Valentine's Day.
In any event, Valentine's Day is now a secular celebration of love and lovers. Since I have so few of the latter and so much of the former, I thought I'd list my great loves.
I love....
the smell of freshly baked bread and tobacco shops.
the sound of bowling alleys and grandfather clocks.
all puppies, most dogs and quite a few cats.
sleeping late.
breakfast.
silence and solitude, particularly when outdoors.
uncontrollable laughter.
traveling.
taking photos.
writing.
a great work of fiction, my definition of which seldom if ever includes literary giants.
my work.
beer in the backyard on lazy summer afternoons.
laying in the grass.
camping, and camp fires in particular.
great homemade pizza.
cooking.
Monte Python skits.
Indian accents.
that feeling you get in your stomach when you're about to kiss someone you really like for the first time.
pineapple and grapefruit. Not together. I just like them both.
passing out warm, homemade cinnamon rolls.
flannel pajamas and a warm bed in the winter.
swimming.
roller coasters.
the way barns smell. Of course, that might depend on the kind of barn.
beginning a new adventure.
moving.
building stuff.
planting gardens.
home-grown tomatoes
violin music
the first warm day of spring.
hot fudge sundaes
pizza
old newspapers
junk shops
store-bought ice
board games
barbecues
Like the past twelve that preceded it, this Valentine's Day I don't have a lover. No one sent me cards or chocolates or asked me to dinner. But don't feel sorry for me. This isn't a lament and I didn't want to make this a wish list. I find happiness in life despite being alone. I don't need roses or chocolates or cards at all. Love isn't about those things. It's about finding joy in everyday life.
Happy Valentine's Day.
13 February 2010
Yawn
It is amazing to me how going on a diet and starting to work out has turned me into a total hermit. The problem is two-fold. I understand that I can't be eating out and hanging out at the bar all the time. I might as well walk around with a sugar IV hanging out of my arm if I was going to do that. Secondly, most of my free time seems to be involved in working out or tending to my responsibilities at home or work. And I'll be honest. I'm getting older. Working out is hard. I need more rest than I did before. I no longer entertain myself by wandering around stores. I don't go to the grocery every day. I'm just more inclined to actually rest my weary muscles. I enjoy working out. I feel better, but I didn't think that an hour a day workout was going to consume all my time. Working out, apparently, is my new hobby. Sure, I run into people I know who are also working out, but it's not exactly socializing. And my go-to person for socializing now has a baby and I haven't seen her since the day the kid was born almost a month ago!
I think I need a movie night. Or a regular card game. Or a game night. Or a trip to St. Louis to the orchid show. Or just something to get me interacting with people again.
Any ideas for ending my self-imposed isolation?
h/t Ananova for pic.
12 February 2010
That's two
Yesterday, a second person told me that I looked like I had lost weight. That's two people, folks, which I think is pretty good if you consider I've only lost 11.5 lbs. Oh sure. I still have cellulite on my ass and no one can see the muscles I'm building under that thick layer of winter fat, but I will take my achievements wherever they present themselves.
It makes lunge day so much easier to bear.
It makes lunge day so much easier to bear.
06 February 2010
26 January 2010
The Problem with Being Me
I love food. I love food possibly more than I love adventure. To me, food is an adventure. Where I grew up, food was overcooked, overfatted, oversaturated, and, by God, almost always oversalted.
When I think of salt, I think of my maternal grandmother. The woman salted everything. If she ate ham, she salted it first. If you told her you already put salt in the food and maybe she'd want to try a bite first, she'd smile sweetly and shake that shaker all over her plate as though she'd never heard what you said. Oh, I used to be like everyone else. I used to salt my food mindlessly. One day in the middle of McDonalds, just for kicks, I picked up the pepper shaker and shook it all over my french fries. And then I dug in.
Mmmmm.
What I found was that food didn't have to have salt to be flavorful. That other spices could enhance food flavor in ways that salt never could. Salt is like duct tape. It may not be the most creative approach, but it gets the job done. After my pepper experience, salt was no longer my go-to spice. Salt was strictly back shelf. I had a world of new spices to try. I use it in cooking only when not doing so will compromise the recipe. I have found that salt is absolutely required only in some baked goods and a pot of beans. And that is how, in junior high school, I came to stop using salt as a flavor enhancer and started to develop my palate and my love of good food.
The problem with never having picked up a salt shaker since 1977 is that processed foods containing salt taste like salt and not the foods they are intended to resemble.
Here is a partial list of processed foods I find too salty to eat.
Most pork products
Deli meats
Most canned soups (worst offenders are Campbell's Chunky soup line)
potato chips
canned vegetables, particularly green beans
most tv dinners
I have found that most soups have sodium levels approaching 900 mg per serving. That's seven times more sodium per serving than the Baked Lays I like. In general, any food with greater than 500 mg sodium per serving tastes salty to me. Anything over 700 mg per serving is hard to choke down. Those soups? Forget about it.
Which brings me to today. Today, I tried to eat some deli roast beef that I purchased at Kroger. The roast beef tasted like it was saturated in brine. I paid $6.50/lb. for salty protein--the salt was so bad that I couldn't taste the flavor of the meat.
I once wrote the Campbell's company and asked them why they had to put so much salt in their soups. I told them that, IMHO, salt should enhance the flavor, not be the flavor. They wrote me back a very kind note that said they did extensive taste tests of their products before bringing them to market and the salt content of their soups was based on the most popular versions from the taste tests. They told me that the rest of America does not share my aversion to super-saturated saline solution passing for broth these days. Then they offered me 4 coupons to purchase more of the soup that I couldn't choke down in the first place.
Ahhh, America. Why don't I fit in?
When I think of salt, I think of my maternal grandmother. The woman salted everything. If she ate ham, she salted it first. If you told her you already put salt in the food and maybe she'd want to try a bite first, she'd smile sweetly and shake that shaker all over her plate as though she'd never heard what you said. Oh, I used to be like everyone else. I used to salt my food mindlessly. One day in the middle of McDonalds, just for kicks, I picked up the pepper shaker and shook it all over my french fries. And then I dug in.
Mmmmm.
What I found was that food didn't have to have salt to be flavorful. That other spices could enhance food flavor in ways that salt never could. Salt is like duct tape. It may not be the most creative approach, but it gets the job done. After my pepper experience, salt was no longer my go-to spice. Salt was strictly back shelf. I had a world of new spices to try. I use it in cooking only when not doing so will compromise the recipe. I have found that salt is absolutely required only in some baked goods and a pot of beans. And that is how, in junior high school, I came to stop using salt as a flavor enhancer and started to develop my palate and my love of good food.
The problem with never having picked up a salt shaker since 1977 is that processed foods containing salt taste like salt and not the foods they are intended to resemble.
Here is a partial list of processed foods I find too salty to eat.
Most pork products
Deli meats
Most canned soups (worst offenders are Campbell's Chunky soup line)
potato chips
canned vegetables, particularly green beans
most tv dinners
I have found that most soups have sodium levels approaching 900 mg per serving. That's seven times more sodium per serving than the Baked Lays I like. In general, any food with greater than 500 mg sodium per serving tastes salty to me. Anything over 700 mg per serving is hard to choke down. Those soups? Forget about it.
Which brings me to today. Today, I tried to eat some deli roast beef that I purchased at Kroger. The roast beef tasted like it was saturated in brine. I paid $6.50/lb. for salty protein--the salt was so bad that I couldn't taste the flavor of the meat.
I once wrote the Campbell's company and asked them why they had to put so much salt in their soups. I told them that, IMHO, salt should enhance the flavor, not be the flavor. They wrote me back a very kind note that said they did extensive taste tests of their products before bringing them to market and the salt content of their soups was based on the most popular versions from the taste tests. They told me that the rest of America does not share my aversion to super-saturated saline solution passing for broth these days. Then they offered me 4 coupons to purchase more of the soup that I couldn't choke down in the first place.
Ahhh, America. Why don't I fit in?
25 January 2010
My Big Fat Italian Cheat
Today, I cheated on my diet.
Well, if you can schedule a cheat. After all, I decided to cheat last night when I was preparing the dough for today's culinary yumfest.
As a little preface, I have set as one of my life's ambitions the ability to make fantastic homemade pizza. Now knowing as we do, that 99% of the pizza quality is in the crust, I have studied on this a bit and I do a fair bit of experimentation. So just because I was cheating on my diet doesn't mean I wasn't achieving a life goal.
I got today's recipe from this book here. It is my first attempt out of this book. I have limited myself to The Bread Baker's Companion in all my previous experiments. Today, I made the pizzeria-style crust and basic sauce that the author says he prefers.
Sauce ingredients are incredibly basic, paste, pepper, salt, sugar, garlic and oregano. I don't know how the oregano manage to elude having its photo taken. Oh, and the sauce also included 3/4 cup of diced tomatoes that I pureed.
Finished product, you little saucy minx.
I then spread out the dough. It was rather springy and didn't want to maintain the perfectly nice 14" shape that I worked so hard to achieve. Oh, I don't own a pizza peel, so I have to prepare my pizzas on the back of a baking sheet.
Looking good so far. Topping for tonight were pepperoni, onions, red bell pepper, and cheese.
I used this.
Another key thing about making pizza is that you have to have a hot oven. Like really hot. Like 500 degrees hot. Did you know that when you open the door and the oven is heated to 550 degrees that your face is incredibly uncomfortable anywhere in the vicinity of that oven.
Well, kids, I'm here to tell you it's true.
So when the pizza went into the oven, on my nicely preheated pizza stone, it was too damn hot to take pictures, so you are going to have to use your imagination. Only when you picture this in your head, don't picture the part where the pizza crust turns over on one corner and the toppings slide underneath the pizza before we've even begun baking.
Six minutes and a half a spin later, it's back in for it's final approach. Also in your imagination, don't picture how I rotated the top of the pizza into my oven thermometer and there was pepperoni and cheese hanging from a hanging thermometer. Erase, erase, erase that from your memories. Just remember: total time in oven was 10 minutes.
Now this looks pretty good. I have nice air pockets in the crust that I can see. The only problem is that the whole deal rose while in the oven. It's about an inch thick or better at the edges. That's approaching thick-crust pizza territory. Something I hadn't hoped to enter tonight.
And the bottom is a little over done. I'm not sure if that is a product of a too hot pizza stone or something else. Plus, while the crust looks fantastic, there is virtually no brown to the cheese. If you look on the right of this picture, I pinched off one of the bubbles to show this wasn't a cake-like crust, but a nice airy one.
As for taste, I can say this. The pizza tasted pretty good. The crust was too thick. I'm going to thin it out significantly next time I try this. I will NOT be adding 2 tablespoons of sugar to the sauce next time....tomato acidity be damned. The sugar nearly ruined the pizza. The other interesting thing about this pizza was that I couldn't taste the pepperoni. I can't figure that one out. Perhaps I was distracted by the sugar in the sauce. Sometimes one flavor can overpower everything else. For me, though, it's usually salt.
In any event, I had fun making my pizza. I think it looks fantastic. I had planned my calories so I could eat the whole thing, but I was only able to manage half. I guess someone will be enjoying pizza on me at lunch tomorrow.
24 January 2010
I'm Just Saying
OMG! I hate lunges!!!!!! And I may actually hate this guy. #@(*$!! 20 something, toned-ass show off.
Thank you for your attention.
Your fitness guru
Thank you for your attention.
Your fitness guru
23 January 2010
6.1 lbs. but who's counting?
Today starts the beginning of week 4 of my training and things are really starting to come together now on my weight loss/toning up program. So as not to become the boring weight loss guru-wannabe, I'll keep this one brief.
I signed up for the FitDay web site. I like it. I actually bought their software to download on my computer. It makes it a lot easier to get around and there are no server hangups. The down side is that if I use the calorie counts for food and exercise as gospel, I should have lost 8 lbs now instead of only 6. That's a 23.5% error rate. I knew they weren't spot on, but come on. As I don't want to adjust my caloric intake by 25% (I am not having any trouble coming in well below the calorie restriction goals as it is), I think I'm just going to have to start shaving some time or intensity off my exercise estimates. It is probably unreasonable to think that I can expend 327 calories in a half hour of biking, no matter how intense I work it.
The top two things that I think are working for me are these:
1) Maximize the eye candy. It is a whole lot easier to forget how bad my legs sting on the elliptical machine when I'm watching the diving team practice. And there are a few regulars in the free weight room that can make a girl weak in the knees (thus, incentive to work those squats even harder!).
2) Exercise, exercise, exercise. I think if I had tried a diet-only program, the focus on food would have gotten to me already. Because I've focused on working out, the emphasis on what I'm eating has sort of taken a back seat. I think this is important. For me, anyway.
As I seem to have some wiggle room in my diet (these 5 x 300 calorie meals everyday are actually quite a bit of food), I am playing around with calorie distributions. So I can allow myself a few extra carbs each day or a few extra grams of fat--but not both. Short-term results are that it doesn't really matter. So I can satisfy my need for a little this or that when I really feel the need to splurge.
So gals (and fellas!) get out there and find yourself some delicious booty to savor while you're working out. You'd be surprised what a pleasant time exercising can actually be!
I signed up for the FitDay web site. I like it. I actually bought their software to download on my computer. It makes it a lot easier to get around and there are no server hangups. The down side is that if I use the calorie counts for food and exercise as gospel, I should have lost 8 lbs now instead of only 6. That's a 23.5% error rate. I knew they weren't spot on, but come on. As I don't want to adjust my caloric intake by 25% (I am not having any trouble coming in well below the calorie restriction goals as it is), I think I'm just going to have to start shaving some time or intensity off my exercise estimates. It is probably unreasonable to think that I can expend 327 calories in a half hour of biking, no matter how intense I work it.
The top two things that I think are working for me are these:
1) Maximize the eye candy. It is a whole lot easier to forget how bad my legs sting on the elliptical machine when I'm watching the diving team practice. And there are a few regulars in the free weight room that can make a girl weak in the knees (thus, incentive to work those squats even harder!).
2) Exercise, exercise, exercise. I think if I had tried a diet-only program, the focus on food would have gotten to me already. Because I've focused on working out, the emphasis on what I'm eating has sort of taken a back seat. I think this is important. For me, anyway.
As I seem to have some wiggle room in my diet (these 5 x 300 calorie meals everyday are actually quite a bit of food), I am playing around with calorie distributions. So I can allow myself a few extra carbs each day or a few extra grams of fat--but not both. Short-term results are that it doesn't really matter. So I can satisfy my need for a little this or that when I really feel the need to splurge.
So gals (and fellas!) get out there and find yourself some delicious booty to savor while you're working out. You'd be surprised what a pleasant time exercising can actually be!
Snow Boots Revisited or Why I Like High-Quality Customer Service
Remember these? I was just bragging on them a few weeks ago. OK, I went to find the link for the entire blog entry I had written about these boots and it was never published. So sorry, I'll recap. These are my favorite snow boots. They have rubber uppers to keep the feet dry, vibram soles that don't slip on ice, leather uppers for a comfortable ankle, thinsulate insulation for warm tootsies, and these awesome cord and snap closure.
See how awesome?
I bought them in Jan 2000 (I actually still had the original receipt in the shoe box), paid $89 for them and thought they would last me the rest of my life. I love these boots. Only problem was, I used them when I shoveled snow in early January and wore them the rest of that day because it was sloppy outside. About 1/2 through my day, I noticed the boots began to flop on my feet for some weird reason. Then suddenly, I saw it. The rubber portion had come loose of the leather portion all the way around the front of the boots (both of them!!) and the rubber had split down to the sole on one of them. Damn the bad luck.
Now I know these boots are 10 years old. But come on. They were practically brand new. I had probably only worn them 6 times when I lived in Chicago and I hadn't worn them at all until that day. I hadn't stored them under extreme conditions. (Unless you consider on the top shelf in my linen closet to be extreme conditions.) They were stored in the original box and I still had the wadded up paper stuffed down in the toe of the boot. We are talking a pretty cushy life. So to see them fall apart on what was probably the 7th time I'd ever worn them. Massive disappointment.So I did what I usually do. I called the company. You know Columbia actually makes this pretty easy to do because their company phone number is written in really large type on the shoe box. I like that.
Anyway, I explained to the fellow that the shoes were 10 years old but seldom worn. He asked me to take pictures of the damage, which you see above and they'd get back to me. So I did. Finally, yesterday, they contacted me again.
Here is the content of the response I got from Columbia.
Hi,Here's the boots they are sending.
Thank you for your photos and information. We will be happy to replace these boots for you as we would consider this a manufacturing defect. Based on our current inventory,I have placed an order for the Bugaboot Omni-Tech Boots, color Winter Lux, size 10, to ship from our Kentucky Warehouse. Please let me know if you do not receive these within ten business days.
Thank you!
Therese
Can I say I really like Columbia's customer service? Can I say that they've probably won me over? Can I say that when I'm buying some particularly expensive something that I will probably look more favorably on Columbia products? You betcha. More companies should learn this lesson.
16 January 2010
Weight Loss: What's Working
I have a notoriously bad memory. I can't remember ever craving Krispie Kreme donuts until they are on my "don't" list. But after 14 days of dieting, I am proud to say that I have lost my first 3 lbs. I have actually paid attention to what I am eating, changed my eating habits, and even paid attention to my cravings, weaknesses, slip ups, and willpower. Thank you Marty, even if you aren't that into me.
So, as much for myself as anyone else out there who is also working to drop a few, I'm going to say out loud what is working and maybe a word or two about what isn't.
1. No more convenience foods. Drive-thru is a thing of the past. I don't (and can't) trust myself to go through Burger King and order a grilled chicken sandwich. Besides, just the bun would bust my carb intake for two or three days. I don't even go through to get a diet cola. Too dangerous. Food is prepared at home, and until I can get a handle and trust myself, I'm not eating out with friends either. Sorry, Liv. Popcorn at the movie is all you now.
2. George Foreman is your best friend. If you don't have one of these, no fat grillling machines, get one. Chicken breast cooks without so much as Pam spray in less than 10 minutes. You can grill veggies on here, too. This morning, I am cooking onions, green peppers, and 2.5 lbs of chicken breasts, slicing them into chicken "tenders" and I use these to muscle up the protein content of salads. Plus, they are good by themselves. You can make any cut of lean meat lickety-split and without any added fat. It's a win-win situation.
3. You must measure. Portion control is impossible without measuring. Your eye will play tricks on you. Do you really know what 4 cups of popcorn looks like? Or a cup of spaghetti once it's spread out on a plate? I didn't. I was horrified to consider how much pasta I would normally eat in a meal. Or popcorn. So, I prepare no meal without three pieces of kitchen equipment by my side. The measuring cup, the measured teaspoon, and the digital scale. Yes, I had to buy a digital scale. I have no idea what a 6 oz. chicken breast looks like cooked or uncooked. Plus, I like playing with the tare function.
4. Cheating, with a twist. You can't do without some of the fattening stuff you love. For me, it's peanut butter. I am allowed 1 tablespoon with a piece of fruit once a day. Well, if I choose to have the fruit as my snack. I'm trying like hell to find a yogurt that won't kill my diet. But for all those other pound-producing love fests, substitute, substitute, substitute. I love pasta. Love pasta. I am allowed 1 cup of pasta or rice a day. First, I'm eating whole wheat pasta and brown rice. Love those complex carbs. Second, I am playing with alternative options. If I like noodles with my meal, I'm trying to see if piling my meat and sauce on a bed of grilled onions will satisfy my palate. It's weird, sure. Sort of like trading mashed turnips for mashed potatoes, but it's not as bad as I thought it would be.
5. Documentation. I have signed up for a free account on Fitday.com. I'm sure there are other equally great web programs for tracking calories and activities, but this is the one I happened upon first. Dedicating myself to keeping track of every single thing that enters my pie hole has prevented more cheats than I care to remember. Oh, I don't think it's numbers are spot on (either for calorie counts or calories burned in activities), but it is keeping my thinking about what I'm eating, motivating me to get to the gym, and satisfying my desire to science up my diet and exercise plan.
6. Information is power. Last week, I signed up for and got a metabolism test at the rec center. It has given me power over my diet and exercise program. With this information, I now understand what it is going to take to lose weight. As an added benefit, the people who interpreted my test for me also gave me a timeline and generalized calorie count necessary for me to meet my goals. I really dig this level of control over what I'm doing. No longer is losing weight a mystery. I can actually calculate how long it is going to take me to lose that next 5 lbs and how big of a setback a slice of Quatros pizza is actually going to be.
7. Confess. Tell everyone you know you are on a diet. They will probably do two things. Offer to go on a diet with you or support you in every way possible. They will stop offering you cookies, cakes, and their leftover chicken carbonara from lunch. If everyone knows you are on a diet, you are much less likely to bring macaroni and cheese for lunch. Don't underestimate the power of peer pressure, at any age!
8. Find a gym buddy. It's a hella fun and hella less intimidating to exercise with a buddy than alone. That first day alone in the free weight room, I felt like a scared puppy. Now Bin and I, or Jeremy and I, or Tammy and I waltz in like we own the joint. They also encourage you to go regularly. I have also begun to see exercise as a vital part of my day. As much a "must do" as going to work, doing research and other stuff that I won't think of blowing off.
9. That's a no-no. Some foods that I have in my house are off limits for now. Bean and bacon soup. White flour pastas. Couscous. White rice. Baked goods. That doesn't mean I'm throwing them away or giving them away. I'm just not eating them until I meet my goal. Oh, I gave away the chips, the ice cream, and other things that won't last 8 months until I'm svelt late this summer. The rest of it sits in my cabinet awaiting the day when I can increase my calories per day by 200-400 and still maintain my weight.
10. Plan to cheat. I plan when I am going to go off my diet for a day. It gives me something to look forward to, it gives me the willpower to get through today, and it teaches me to delay culinary gratification. Tomorrow, I'm making home-made pizza. A girl can only be good for so long. But my controlling what goes in the pizza and down my gullet, I can cheat without breaking the bank.
11. Decide what you are going to eat before you enter the kitchen. If I open the pantry or fridge and hope inspiration will hit, probably what is going to hit my lips is a snack. If it is in front of me, I will eat it. If I figure out what I'm eating, I go to the pantry and pull out the ingredients and then I shut the pantry door. That's it. Nothing else gets out.
12. If I make enough for leftovers, I plate it up as a complete meal at the same time as I'm preparing my plate, and popping the rest in the fridge. The next meal is prepared, ready to go, and out of my line of sight. It was no more trouble than plating food up for a dinner companion. If I wait, sometimes a bite or two finds it's way onto my plate and suddenly I have that "well I might as well finish this, it's not enough for a second meal anyway" excuse to polish off two servings instead of one.
13. Control sweets. Protein shakes in chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry keep me off the cookies and candy route. A little bit in some light soy milk and I feel like I've really indulged.
14. And finally, I would be remiss if I didn't point out, that as a foodie, I cannot just eat Egg Beaters plain for breakfast. I have been playing with all sorts of ways to make those indispensible diet foods palatable. Egg Beaters with onions and peppers and a generous sprinkle of dried chipotle pepper will go a long way. Couple that with a ruby red grapefruit in season and I defy you to find a more satisfying breakfast for a winter day.
15. Presentation. I plate up on salad plates. I want my plate to look full. I also want it to look good. So I work on making my food look appetitizing.
16. Clean up the kitchen as soon as you are done eating. If I leave dirty pans on the stove or dishes piled in the sink, the kitchen doesn't really feel "closed". And an open kitchen is one that is open for eating. If the kitchen is clean, I get this...."do I really want to dirty this place up again?" feeling that keeps me moving on to some other activity.
Ok, enough of my drivel. If you have any ideas for making dieting more efficient and more bearable, please...comment away. I have to run. The gym awaits. As does my research.
So, as much for myself as anyone else out there who is also working to drop a few, I'm going to say out loud what is working and maybe a word or two about what isn't.
1. No more convenience foods. Drive-thru is a thing of the past. I don't (and can't) trust myself to go through Burger King and order a grilled chicken sandwich. Besides, just the bun would bust my carb intake for two or three days. I don't even go through to get a diet cola. Too dangerous. Food is prepared at home, and until I can get a handle and trust myself, I'm not eating out with friends either. Sorry, Liv. Popcorn at the movie is all you now.
2. George Foreman is your best friend. If you don't have one of these, no fat grillling machines, get one. Chicken breast cooks without so much as Pam spray in less than 10 minutes. You can grill veggies on here, too. This morning, I am cooking onions, green peppers, and 2.5 lbs of chicken breasts, slicing them into chicken "tenders" and I use these to muscle up the protein content of salads. Plus, they are good by themselves. You can make any cut of lean meat lickety-split and without any added fat. It's a win-win situation.
3. You must measure. Portion control is impossible without measuring. Your eye will play tricks on you. Do you really know what 4 cups of popcorn looks like? Or a cup of spaghetti once it's spread out on a plate? I didn't. I was horrified to consider how much pasta I would normally eat in a meal. Or popcorn. So, I prepare no meal without three pieces of kitchen equipment by my side. The measuring cup, the measured teaspoon, and the digital scale. Yes, I had to buy a digital scale. I have no idea what a 6 oz. chicken breast looks like cooked or uncooked. Plus, I like playing with the tare function.
4. Cheating, with a twist. You can't do without some of the fattening stuff you love. For me, it's peanut butter. I am allowed 1 tablespoon with a piece of fruit once a day. Well, if I choose to have the fruit as my snack. I'm trying like hell to find a yogurt that won't kill my diet. But for all those other pound-producing love fests, substitute, substitute, substitute. I love pasta. Love pasta. I am allowed 1 cup of pasta or rice a day. First, I'm eating whole wheat pasta and brown rice. Love those complex carbs. Second, I am playing with alternative options. If I like noodles with my meal, I'm trying to see if piling my meat and sauce on a bed of grilled onions will satisfy my palate. It's weird, sure. Sort of like trading mashed turnips for mashed potatoes, but it's not as bad as I thought it would be.
5. Documentation. I have signed up for a free account on Fitday.com. I'm sure there are other equally great web programs for tracking calories and activities, but this is the one I happened upon first. Dedicating myself to keeping track of every single thing that enters my pie hole has prevented more cheats than I care to remember. Oh, I don't think it's numbers are spot on (either for calorie counts or calories burned in activities), but it is keeping my thinking about what I'm eating, motivating me to get to the gym, and satisfying my desire to science up my diet and exercise plan.
6. Information is power. Last week, I signed up for and got a metabolism test at the rec center. It has given me power over my diet and exercise program. With this information, I now understand what it is going to take to lose weight. As an added benefit, the people who interpreted my test for me also gave me a timeline and generalized calorie count necessary for me to meet my goals. I really dig this level of control over what I'm doing. No longer is losing weight a mystery. I can actually calculate how long it is going to take me to lose that next 5 lbs and how big of a setback a slice of Quatros pizza is actually going to be.
7. Confess. Tell everyone you know you are on a diet. They will probably do two things. Offer to go on a diet with you or support you in every way possible. They will stop offering you cookies, cakes, and their leftover chicken carbonara from lunch. If everyone knows you are on a diet, you are much less likely to bring macaroni and cheese for lunch. Don't underestimate the power of peer pressure, at any age!
8. Find a gym buddy. It's a hella fun and hella less intimidating to exercise with a buddy than alone. That first day alone in the free weight room, I felt like a scared puppy. Now Bin and I, or Jeremy and I, or Tammy and I waltz in like we own the joint. They also encourage you to go regularly. I have also begun to see exercise as a vital part of my day. As much a "must do" as going to work, doing research and other stuff that I won't think of blowing off.
9. That's a no-no. Some foods that I have in my house are off limits for now. Bean and bacon soup. White flour pastas. Couscous. White rice. Baked goods. That doesn't mean I'm throwing them away or giving them away. I'm just not eating them until I meet my goal. Oh, I gave away the chips, the ice cream, and other things that won't last 8 months until I'm svelt late this summer. The rest of it sits in my cabinet awaiting the day when I can increase my calories per day by 200-400 and still maintain my weight.
10. Plan to cheat. I plan when I am going to go off my diet for a day. It gives me something to look forward to, it gives me the willpower to get through today, and it teaches me to delay culinary gratification. Tomorrow, I'm making home-made pizza. A girl can only be good for so long. But my controlling what goes in the pizza and down my gullet, I can cheat without breaking the bank.
11. Decide what you are going to eat before you enter the kitchen. If I open the pantry or fridge and hope inspiration will hit, probably what is going to hit my lips is a snack. If it is in front of me, I will eat it. If I figure out what I'm eating, I go to the pantry and pull out the ingredients and then I shut the pantry door. That's it. Nothing else gets out.
12. If I make enough for leftovers, I plate it up as a complete meal at the same time as I'm preparing my plate, and popping the rest in the fridge. The next meal is prepared, ready to go, and out of my line of sight. It was no more trouble than plating food up for a dinner companion. If I wait, sometimes a bite or two finds it's way onto my plate and suddenly I have that "well I might as well finish this, it's not enough for a second meal anyway" excuse to polish off two servings instead of one.
13. Control sweets. Protein shakes in chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry keep me off the cookies and candy route. A little bit in some light soy milk and I feel like I've really indulged.
14. And finally, I would be remiss if I didn't point out, that as a foodie, I cannot just eat Egg Beaters plain for breakfast. I have been playing with all sorts of ways to make those indispensible diet foods palatable. Egg Beaters with onions and peppers and a generous sprinkle of dried chipotle pepper will go a long way. Couple that with a ruby red grapefruit in season and I defy you to find a more satisfying breakfast for a winter day.
15. Presentation. I plate up on salad plates. I want my plate to look full. I also want it to look good. So I work on making my food look appetitizing.
16. Clean up the kitchen as soon as you are done eating. If I leave dirty pans on the stove or dishes piled in the sink, the kitchen doesn't really feel "closed". And an open kitchen is one that is open for eating. If the kitchen is clean, I get this...."do I really want to dirty this place up again?" feeling that keeps me moving on to some other activity.
Ok, enough of my drivel. If you have any ideas for making dieting more efficient and more bearable, please...comment away. I have to run. The gym awaits. As does my research.
The Love I Lost
When I was a kid, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes were a staple on the radio. I remember listening to those cool, smooth sounds at the Southside swimming pool, the only public swimming pool my home town. To say that 70s R&B shaped me is an understatement. I listen to those tunes to this day.I think my favorite Teddy song was "Come Go With Me", which interestingly enough (I think) is that it is more associated with The Staple Singers. It has even been re-made by BB and CeCe Winans.
But this week, the world lost one of the greatest voices of that era. Teddy Pendergrass, former front man of Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes died of colon cancer. Although he was handsome, suave, and sexy, I never really had a crush on Teddy. But he was fun. He was dynamic. And even the accident that left him in a wheelchair couldn't stop him from seducing every woman on the planet.
Whatever "it" is, he had it in spades.
Teddy, thanks for the memories. Thanks for the tunes. I'll miss you.
15 January 2010
Lighthearted Fridays
For all of you, like me, who still haven't taken down the artificial tree....he's a little tip for recycling next year's live tree.
02 January 2010
New Year's Resolutions
Wow. Another year is here already. Every year, I make some resolutions and before I set new goals for the coming year, let's review on last year's progress.
1. Make significant and meaningful progress toward finishing my phylogeny and my breeding system studies.
Ok, so I got funding for my project, went out west, did some wicked collecting, and have started to work on my phylogeny, but haven't made any progress on my breeding system studies. Carry over to 2010.
2. Finish the shower stall installation, complete with new drywall, ceiling, tile work and ceiling fan.
Total fail. Blame the termites which broke the bank.
3. Paint the front porch.
I bought the paint. Does that count? Ok, Ok. So I'll get this done before I head back to school in January.
4. Get to Chicago for fun and adventure. Anyone want to join me?
Got to Chicago for Thanksgiving Day and Thanksgiving Day only. Visiting was nice, but not much actual fun took place. Maybe next year. Or maybe next year, I'll move that party to Lafayette, IN.
5. Get in shape to climb a mountain. Then climb it.
Nope.
6. Limit eating out to twice a month for lunch, and once a month for dinner. Oh wait a minute, does Dollar Pitcher Wednesdays at Quatros count? Sheesh. I see my first fail for the new year.
Did pretty good on this one, but I didn't always succeed. I did, however, manage to break my Wednesdays at Quatros habit...mostly because Beckie got pregnant and couldn't drink beer with me anymore.
7. Clean out the backlog in my freezer.
Moderate success.
8. Take Jake hiking at least once every two weeks.
Well, I took Jake hiking in the area in the winter, then we went on two collecting trips out west and then we sort of petered out toward the end of the year. Jake doesn't have the legs that he used to for hiking.
9. Enjoy sightseeing close to home and a weekend trip now and again with friends. I'm thinking Nashville, Chicago, Memphis, Louisville, Kansas City, New Orleans, etc.
I went to St. Louis several times, but that was it.
10. Make new friends. Quit being a hermit and get out and expand my circle, meet new people and cultivate new friendships.
I tried this. I actually had several dates this year. A couple with Curtis. One or two with Alvin. One with that jerk T.J. And I rounded out the year with a promising date with Marty.
New Year's Resolutions for 2010.
Marty is/was a personal trainer and has graciously given me some pointers, plans, and direction. So as a h/t to him, I going to actually try to stick with an exercise and diet plan that can work for me. That said, I would love to be fierce before this is all over. I need lots of energy to finish this degree and exercise gives you even more energy, so let's see where this goes. Resolution #1: GET IN SHAPE AND STAY THERE.
Resolution #2: Don't backslide on Resolution #1.
I can't really think of many more resolutions. Except maybe stop freaking out and chasing men away who seem to be interested in me.
Oh well, I'm off to the rec center. Happy New Year to everyone!
1. Make significant and meaningful progress toward finishing my phylogeny and my breeding system studies.
Ok, so I got funding for my project, went out west, did some wicked collecting, and have started to work on my phylogeny, but haven't made any progress on my breeding system studies. Carry over to 2010.
2. Finish the shower stall installation, complete with new drywall, ceiling, tile work and ceiling fan.
Total fail. Blame the termites which broke the bank.
3. Paint the front porch.
I bought the paint. Does that count? Ok, Ok. So I'll get this done before I head back to school in January.
4. Get to Chicago for fun and adventure. Anyone want to join me?
Got to Chicago for Thanksgiving Day and Thanksgiving Day only. Visiting was nice, but not much actual fun took place. Maybe next year. Or maybe next year, I'll move that party to Lafayette, IN.
5. Get in shape to climb a mountain. Then climb it.
Nope.
6. Limit eating out to twice a month for lunch, and once a month for dinner. Oh wait a minute, does Dollar Pitcher Wednesdays at Quatros count? Sheesh. I see my first fail for the new year.
Did pretty good on this one, but I didn't always succeed. I did, however, manage to break my Wednesdays at Quatros habit...mostly because Beckie got pregnant and couldn't drink beer with me anymore.
7. Clean out the backlog in my freezer.
Moderate success.
8. Take Jake hiking at least once every two weeks.
Well, I took Jake hiking in the area in the winter, then we went on two collecting trips out west and then we sort of petered out toward the end of the year. Jake doesn't have the legs that he used to for hiking.
9. Enjoy sightseeing close to home and a weekend trip now and again with friends. I'm thinking Nashville, Chicago, Memphis, Louisville, Kansas City, New Orleans, etc.
I went to St. Louis several times, but that was it.
10. Make new friends. Quit being a hermit and get out and expand my circle, meet new people and cultivate new friendships.
I tried this. I actually had several dates this year. A couple with Curtis. One or two with Alvin. One with that jerk T.J. And I rounded out the year with a promising date with Marty.
New Year's Resolutions for 2010.
Marty is/was a personal trainer and has graciously given me some pointers, plans, and direction. So as a h/t to him, I going to actually try to stick with an exercise and diet plan that can work for me. That said, I would love to be fierce before this is all over. I need lots of energy to finish this degree and exercise gives you even more energy, so let's see where this goes. Resolution #1: GET IN SHAPE AND STAY THERE.
Resolution #2: Don't backslide on Resolution #1.
I can't really think of many more resolutions. Except maybe stop freaking out and chasing men away who seem to be interested in me.
Oh well, I'm off to the rec center. Happy New Year to everyone!
13 December 2009
Happy Birthday to Me
So a few weeks ago, I got this idea. And I had to get some things in order before I could start making my idea a reality.
First, I had to get this.
Cause really. You haven't lived until you've used Gorilla glue.
And I tried to borrow one of these. Honest, I did. But something was calling me and I had to have one for my very own. BUT....it was the only tool I purchased for this project and it cost less than $20.
Mmm. New tool toys. I likey how it's all shiny. Oh, and then there was wood. I had the guys at my local lumber yard pre-cut the wood. You know, because I'm a pansy. Total cost with wood screws and attachment nuts/bolts: $30.
I laid it out. Doesn't it look nice? Oh, and there's my orange hat. I'm already catching grief over my orange hat, but it was cold in the garage last night. You know what I say? No time like the present to get started on a project. So about 5 pm last night, I got going.
Looks like Frankenstein.
OOoooh, gorilla glue. Just makes ya happy.
Then on went the face board. Got to put those wood screws to use. Hope I didn't screw up!
Cause it's on now. Not to worry. Perfectly level!
Let's stand it up and admire our work for a bit! Very nice.
I thought I'd quit here for the night, but it was only about 6:45. So I decided to go to JoAnn Fabrics and pick up some bonded polyester for this job. Got back home at about 7:30 pm. Then I thought, "what the heck, why not keep going?" So the next step was to apply the foam I bought last week. Oh yeah, cost of foam $37. First I needed a little spray adhesive.
This can isn't going to work so well without a nozzle! After cussing a lot and eating some dinner, I head to Walmart for spray adhesive WITH a nozzle. 9:15, I'm back in business. Cost of spray adhesive, $4.60.
Foam stuck. Time to take this baby indoors for the detail work. Did I mention this was heavy. Hella heavy. Had to get it in the house between thunderstorms.
Right about now, I'm thinking I'm in the home stretch. Really, just two, more steps to this. First, you lay it out on a bed of bonded polyster. On sale at JoAnn's, by the way, for $8.
More staple gunning and voila!
Same approach for the fabric. I'll remind you that the fabric cost $25. When the fabric went on, I wasn't happy with how loose the play in the fabric seemed to be. I decided I needed to give the fabric another go. And that would have to wait. So at 11, I gave up and went to bed. This morning around 11, I headed by to Walmart for deeper staples and tried again. Cost of new staples, $3.50.
Much better! Now to do those pesky legs.
First, you wrap them in polyester and then cover them in fabric.
DONE!!! Time for assembly.
Whew! I am glad that fit! I'm kinda sloppy about my measurements, so when something slides right in where you wanted it, it's a miracle!
Time to dress that bed and enjoy the fruits of my efforts.
I had the bed made and was leaning about the new headboard at 5:44 pm Sunday. Except for the irritating nozzle issue with the spray adhesive and the need for longer staples for the actual upholstery part with the fabric. I didn't really have any screw ups. This was a totally fun project and except for bending over and making my thigh muscles sore...it wasn't all that taxing physically.
26 hour project. I talked on the phone a lot, slept in late and still got this custom-made padded headboard done for about $100. Not a bad day's work.
First, I had to get this.
Cause really. You haven't lived until you've used Gorilla glue.And I tried to borrow one of these. Honest, I did. But something was calling me and I had to have one for my very own. BUT....it was the only tool I purchased for this project and it cost less than $20.
Mmm. New tool toys. I likey how it's all shiny. Oh, and then there was wood. I had the guys at my local lumber yard pre-cut the wood. You know, because I'm a pansy. Total cost with wood screws and attachment nuts/bolts: $30.
I laid it out. Doesn't it look nice? Oh, and there's my orange hat. I'm already catching grief over my orange hat, but it was cold in the garage last night. You know what I say? No time like the present to get started on a project. So about 5 pm last night, I got going.
Looks like Frankenstein.
OOoooh, gorilla glue. Just makes ya happy.
Then on went the face board. Got to put those wood screws to use. Hope I didn't screw up!
Cause it's on now. Not to worry. Perfectly level!
Let's stand it up and admire our work for a bit! Very nice.
I thought I'd quit here for the night, but it was only about 6:45. So I decided to go to JoAnn Fabrics and pick up some bonded polyester for this job. Got back home at about 7:30 pm. Then I thought, "what the heck, why not keep going?" So the next step was to apply the foam I bought last week. Oh yeah, cost of foam $37. First I needed a little spray adhesive.
This can isn't going to work so well without a nozzle! After cussing a lot and eating some dinner, I head to Walmart for spray adhesive WITH a nozzle. 9:15, I'm back in business. Cost of spray adhesive, $4.60.
Foam stuck. Time to take this baby indoors for the detail work. Did I mention this was heavy. Hella heavy. Had to get it in the house between thunderstorms.Right about now, I'm thinking I'm in the home stretch. Really, just two, more steps to this. First, you lay it out on a bed of bonded polyster. On sale at JoAnn's, by the way, for $8.
More staple gunning and voila!
Same approach for the fabric. I'll remind you that the fabric cost $25. When the fabric went on, I wasn't happy with how loose the play in the fabric seemed to be. I decided I needed to give the fabric another go. And that would have to wait. So at 11, I gave up and went to bed. This morning around 11, I headed by to Walmart for deeper staples and tried again. Cost of new staples, $3.50.
Much better! Now to do those pesky legs.
First, you wrap them in polyester and then cover them in fabric.DONE!!! Time for assembly.
Whew! I am glad that fit! I'm kinda sloppy about my measurements, so when something slides right in where you wanted it, it's a miracle!
Time to dress that bed and enjoy the fruits of my efforts.
I had the bed made and was leaning about the new headboard at 5:44 pm Sunday. Except for the irritating nozzle issue with the spray adhesive and the need for longer staples for the actual upholstery part with the fabric. I didn't really have any screw ups. This was a totally fun project and except for bending over and making my thigh muscles sore...it wasn't all that taxing physically.26 hour project. I talked on the phone a lot, slept in late and still got this custom-made padded headboard done for about $100. Not a bad day's work.
10 December 2009
Race in America: D responding to J responding to D
Wherein D owns what she says, smooths D-Fave J's ruffled feathers, and elaborates, possibly inciting deeper discussion or perhaps further division.
There are a lot of issues at play here and perhaps the best way to tackle this is to deconstruct them.
Tiger Woods. All the hullabaloo surrounding Tiger Woods seems to be an issue of racial politics. Who owns celebrities? Can we share ownership of mixed race people? Am I allowed to claim Obama as one of my own? I am not ignorant of the "one drop" rule, nor do I have any problem with the black community using it as their own barometer of those they wish to claim. However, high achieving people are claimed by virtually everyone. Case in point: Michael Jordan. He is claimed by his family, his hometown, his high school, his college, his teammates, fans of his sports team, North Carolina, Illinois, Chicago, his racial community, his nation, just about every fucking person everywhere. Why? Because we ALL want to align ourselves with uber talented, insanely spectacular people. Who owns Michael Jordan? No one. Son of a bitch has more money than Oprah. Well, he did until he got divorced.
I will concede that a lot of what the field negro says, he says to be provocative and to initiate discussion. So when he says that Tiger Woods is just getting his come-uppance for rubbing elbows with the massah and forgetting about his blackness, I take it as tongue in cheek. But the field spends an extraordinary amount of blogspace advancing the idea that high-achieving black professionals fool themselves into thinking they are powerful. That the black power elite are neither powerful nor elite because thereal white power elite can jack-slap them back out to the fields the first time they forget their place. He usually suggests this idea after a powerful black person has fucked up royally. Although I have learned a great deal from the field and respect him immensely, I think this idea (if indeed he actually believes it) is preposterously naive. He violates common rules of logic when he applies his pet theory not to the broader community of high-achieving black professionals, but only to those who have fallen from grace. It is easy to say Tiger's fall is the result of the white man's displeasure with the n****r after the black man has fucked half a dozen women outside of his dream marriage, lost a variety of contracts with morals clauses, and embarrassed himself in public.
But can we please concede that Tiger Woods is NOT subject to the same prejudices, indignities and pressures as the rest of the community of color? He's fucking fantastically rich! We're not talking Bernie Mac rich or Eddie Murphy rich. We're talking audience with the President rich. We're talking Michael Jordan rich.
I would remind the field of Obama's comment on David Letterman regarding racial backlash. Do you think for one minute that TIGER WOODS the GOLFER forgot that he wasn't white? Do you think for one minute that anyone in his professional life has ever let him forget that he is the great black golfer? That he is the barrier breaker? That he is a role model for a new generation of black youth? Speaking for myself, I celebrate the Tiger Woodses and the Michael Jordans of the world for their incredible talent and not for their color. Maybe I have the luxury to ignore their race, but I have no less right to them than you do.
African American as a race. I will absolutely allow that the shifting vernacular is not a plot to piss me off. I believe, as you do, that changing terminology is a result of an evolving sense of community. I also would like to point out that I was never irritated by this, simply pointing out that it had changed and that the term isn't reflective of racial composition. I know a number of Caucasian people from Mexico who receive whatever special considerations are given to those who are considered Hispanic by virtue of ambiguous racial definitions. Further, I was pointing out the general wackiness of a blogger's self-identified nitpicking about race when she didn't actually identify by race. Capishe?
And now, for something completely different.
I don't know everything. I don't know what to say sometimes. I don't have the depth of understanding and sometimes lack the vernacular to put it in the words that will sink and stick with white folks. But I am trying.
My culture is not the caricature that Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock present to great comedic effect. White America is not Buffy and Chip upset because their tee-time was pushed back half an hour because Obama's motorcade was going through town. Sure, the comedy is in the way white people are ignorant to their incredible privilege and have wackaloon ideas about what it means to be put out, but when this is the pole that I have to swing from, how can I be allowed to have a real voice in the race discussion? It has been my experience (and here I mean ME as an individual) that I am not allowed, outside of our conversations, to be taken seriously in any meaningful public discussion about race. Unless, of course, I concede to the default POC position. And in some ways, J, isn't that what your response to me tried to get me to do?
So it wasn't about whether the shifting vernacular chosen by this community or that irritates me. In fact it doesn't. Race is a shifting construct and I don't give a rat's ass what anyone calls themselves. I'm actually not all that fond of the term "white". I think it is becoming an epithet in itself. Neither do I have any sense of community coming out of the term European American. It just seems alien to me. And not to go all Obama on your ass, but isn't there an American culture? We are not as divided as our skin color would suggest. I don't think by leaving my voice and those of the majority culture (and I'm not talking about Rush Limbaugh's voice here either--I'm talking about enlightened white Americans) can we ever hope to truly carve a post-racial America.
Do I compare the hostility of the minority culture over real and ongoing racism with my "ideological hostility of the oppressors"? No. But when someone suggests that rude behavior becomes a crime when I do it, but doesn't when you do it, I have to wonder whether the community of color wants to have a meaningful discussion about race or wants revenge. Just as there is a die-hard white racist faction out there (*cough* Rush Limbaugh *cough*), there is also the "make whitey pay" faction out there, too. To deny it is to be naive.
By way of segue, there is a crazy professor in our department that regularly terrorizes graduate students by ambushing them regarding language. I heard her verbally berate a colleague's husband for calling a group of us sitting at a table "ladies". Forget that he was offering to "get us ladies something" all she heard was "ladies" and she went OFF on a tirade about how she wasn't a lady, she was a WO-MAN. Same wackjob went off on me because I called her by her first name when we were having a beer. After ripping me a new asshole for 10 minutes, she finally said that it was ok to call her by her first name if we were, you know, having a beer or something, but I shouldn't do that in professional environment. The irony of the fact that we were having a beer when she did this was completely lost on her. I am saying that most white Americans don't want to offend. We want to call people what they wish to be called. No one asks me what I wish to be called. Or my group. We're white. We're supposed to love it. We're white, after all, and every advantage is afforded us automatically.
Here is what I'm saying, J. I am ready to work to level the playing field in every way. I think there are hundreds of thousands of white Americans who feel the same. If they are like me, they don't understand why we're not being allowed to join the fight for racial equality. We are frustrated and tired. My suggestion to everyone is that you don't allow our frustration to allow us to give up on the cause. That would be a mistake.
Oh, and one more thing. I simply do not agree with this statement.
"Let us say, at best, I think you over-estimate the extent to which "People of Color" think/care about what the majority does."
I think "people of color" care a great deal what white America does.
Wow. I'm kind of surprised to read this from you at this point, D.Ok, I'm just gonna say this. This sort sounds like I'm your pet project and I backslid or something. Am I supposed to be sorry for my comments? You should know by now that there is almost always deeper thinking behind my ideas. Rather than shame or disappoint one another, let's get right to them.
There are a lot of issues at play here and perhaps the best way to tackle this is to deconstruct them.
Tiger Woods. All the hullabaloo surrounding Tiger Woods seems to be an issue of racial politics. Who owns celebrities? Can we share ownership of mixed race people? Am I allowed to claim Obama as one of my own? I am not ignorant of the "one drop" rule, nor do I have any problem with the black community using it as their own barometer of those they wish to claim. However, high achieving people are claimed by virtually everyone. Case in point: Michael Jordan. He is claimed by his family, his hometown, his high school, his college, his teammates, fans of his sports team, North Carolina, Illinois, Chicago, his racial community, his nation, just about every fucking person everywhere. Why? Because we ALL want to align ourselves with uber talented, insanely spectacular people. Who owns Michael Jordan? No one. Son of a bitch has more money than Oprah. Well, he did until he got divorced.
I will concede that a lot of what the field negro says, he says to be provocative and to initiate discussion. So when he says that Tiger Woods is just getting his come-uppance for rubbing elbows with the massah and forgetting about his blackness, I take it as tongue in cheek. But the field spends an extraordinary amount of blogspace advancing the idea that high-achieving black professionals fool themselves into thinking they are powerful. That the black power elite are neither powerful nor elite because the
But can we please concede that Tiger Woods is NOT subject to the same prejudices, indignities and pressures as the rest of the community of color? He's fucking fantastically rich! We're not talking Bernie Mac rich or Eddie Murphy rich. We're talking audience with the President rich. We're talking Michael Jordan rich.
I would remind the field of Obama's comment on David Letterman regarding racial backlash. Do you think for one minute that TIGER WOODS the GOLFER forgot that he wasn't white? Do you think for one minute that anyone in his professional life has ever let him forget that he is the great black golfer? That he is the barrier breaker? That he is a role model for a new generation of black youth? Speaking for myself, I celebrate the Tiger Woodses and the Michael Jordans of the world for their incredible talent and not for their color. Maybe I have the luxury to ignore their race, but I have no less right to them than you do.
African American as a race. I will absolutely allow that the shifting vernacular is not a plot to piss me off. I believe, as you do, that changing terminology is a result of an evolving sense of community. I also would like to point out that I was never irritated by this, simply pointing out that it had changed and that the term isn't reflective of racial composition. I know a number of Caucasian people from Mexico who receive whatever special considerations are given to those who are considered Hispanic by virtue of ambiguous racial definitions. Further, I was pointing out the general wackiness of a blogger's self-identified nitpicking about race when she didn't actually identify by race. Capishe?
And now, for something completely different.
Race, and culture, are impossible to precisely define, but I would definitely say there is a "pole" around which the African-American/black culture centers, and a "pole" for majoritarian culture, primarily the culture of those who don't necessarily have to give explicit thought to race.I would suggest that white people are forbidden from giving explicit thought to race--at least since the 1960s. Sure, as a group, white America has a lot to make up for after 150 years of cross-burnings, lynchings, fire bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church, water hosing of freedom marchers, George Wallace attempting to prevent the integration of the U of Alabama, and promotion testing that favors white applicants. I am the first to admit that white America showed its ass. But that doesn't mean we should have to give up our voice entirely. If anyone, anywhere tries to stand up and say something about the white race these days, they are labeled a Nazi sympathizer and white supremacist as a matter of course. Now..I'm not one for patting white American on the back for merely easing up on the pressure it places on the back of the neck of most minority communities. However, I do think that the "struggle for racial equality" doesn't have to always be a "struggle". I think that there are plenty of white Americans willing to talk to other white Americans about race....about the impact and legacy of our (the collective "we" here--referring to majority culture) culture on others. About our blindness to the lingering vestiges of racism. About our improbably but widespread acceptance that the playing field is level, and can be leveled without making anything harder or more competitive for white Americans. I can't tell you the number of young men I know who, upon entering the workforce and understanding that really would have to compete with everyone made some wistful comment about how much easier things were for their fathers. And those comments were full of a scarcely hidden anger. White America hasn't thought these things through--nor had I until we started having or substantive discussions on race here, J. I am willing to act as ambassador for racial equality, but to be perfectly honest, I could use a hand up here and not a slap on the wrist.
I don't know everything. I don't know what to say sometimes. I don't have the depth of understanding and sometimes lack the vernacular to put it in the words that will sink and stick with white folks. But I am trying.
My culture is not the caricature that Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock present to great comedic effect. White America is not Buffy and Chip upset because their tee-time was pushed back half an hour because Obama's motorcade was going through town. Sure, the comedy is in the way white people are ignorant to their incredible privilege and have wackaloon ideas about what it means to be put out, but when this is the pole that I have to swing from, how can I be allowed to have a real voice in the race discussion? It has been my experience (and here I mean ME as an individual) that I am not allowed, outside of our conversations, to be taken seriously in any meaningful public discussion about race. Unless, of course, I concede to the default POC position. And in some ways, J, isn't that what your response to me tried to get me to do?
That is to say, and I'm trying not to be shrill here, but honey, the terms black, Negro, Colored, African American, Afro-American, Black-American and others are not about you. We're not shifting around to annoy you (the bulk you--majoritarian culture), we're shifting around because we want a term that will do the impossible.Did you just call me "honey"? :p
So it wasn't about whether the shifting vernacular chosen by this community or that irritates me. In fact it doesn't. Race is a shifting construct and I don't give a rat's ass what anyone calls themselves. I'm actually not all that fond of the term "white". I think it is becoming an epithet in itself. Neither do I have any sense of community coming out of the term European American. It just seems alien to me. And not to go all Obama on your ass, but isn't there an American culture? We are not as divided as our skin color would suggest. I don't think by leaving my voice and those of the majority culture (and I'm not talking about Rush Limbaugh's voice here either--I'm talking about enlightened white Americans) can we ever hope to truly carve a post-racial America.
Do I compare the hostility of the minority culture over real and ongoing racism with my "ideological hostility of the oppressors"? No. But when someone suggests that rude behavior becomes a crime when I do it, but doesn't when you do it, I have to wonder whether the community of color wants to have a meaningful discussion about race or wants revenge. Just as there is a die-hard white racist faction out there (*cough* Rush Limbaugh *cough*), there is also the "make whitey pay" faction out there, too. To deny it is to be naive.
By way of segue, there is a crazy professor in our department that regularly terrorizes graduate students by ambushing them regarding language. I heard her verbally berate a colleague's husband for calling a group of us sitting at a table "ladies". Forget that he was offering to "get us ladies something" all she heard was "ladies" and she went OFF on a tirade about how she wasn't a lady, she was a WO-MAN. Same wackjob went off on me because I called her by her first name when we were having a beer. After ripping me a new asshole for 10 minutes, she finally said that it was ok to call her by her first name if we were, you know, having a beer or something, but I shouldn't do that in professional environment. The irony of the fact that we were having a beer when she did this was completely lost on her. I am saying that most white Americans don't want to offend. We want to call people what they wish to be called. No one asks me what I wish to be called. Or my group. We're white. We're supposed to love it. We're white, after all, and every advantage is afforded us automatically.
Here is what I'm saying, J. I am ready to work to level the playing field in every way. I think there are hundreds of thousands of white Americans who feel the same. If they are like me, they don't understand why we're not being allowed to join the fight for racial equality. We are frustrated and tired. My suggestion to everyone is that you don't allow our frustration to allow us to give up on the cause. That would be a mistake.
Oh, and one more thing. I simply do not agree with this statement.
"Let us say, at best, I think you over-estimate the extent to which "People of Color" think/care about what the majority does."
I think "people of color" care a great deal what white America does.
09 December 2009
You Kids Get Off My Lawn
This is the content of an email sent to me today by my major advisor.
There are some things that I think you surrender when you turn 40, get a real job, and begin to supervise people. Ebonics in your professional emails is one of them.
Lab Peeps:Am I the only one who finds this wholly inappropriate? Would it be acceptable for me to write a professional email and address it to the"Lab Bitches", or maybe "dudettes" or "chicks"?
Abstracts for the Association of Southeastern Biologists meeting in Asheville NC in April are due Jan 10.
http://www.asb.appstate.edu/meeting.php
There are some things that I think you surrender when you turn 40, get a real job, and begin to supervise people. Ebonics in your professional emails is one of them.
08 December 2009
Since when is African-American a race and other thoughts on racial politics
This is perhaps a roundabout away of getting to my point, but I was reading an article by field negro on Tiger Woods today, which led me to a variety of other articles on race. One in particular by Carmen Van Kerckhove, I found particularly perplexing.
Van Kerckhove self-identifies as Chinese and Dutch. Umm. Carmen, dear. Neither of those are races, but nationalities. That Van Kerchkhove would "nitpick" about race when she self-identifies by her ancestors' national origin is just plain wacky. Which brings me to my next odd example of race in America.
I recently was asked to sign a contract which asked for my racial identity. I was perplexed by the selection. The options were:
Caucasian
African American
Asian
Native American
Mixed race
Since when did African American get to be a race? That term has only been around for about 20 years! I am 46 years old and I can remember when black people, regardless of nationality, were referred to as Negroes. At some point in the 60s, Negro was thought of as condescending. So then it was Black. Then it became Black American. Now, it's African American. As if all black Americans are of African origin. I'll be honest. There have been times when I have thought that these shifting ideas about what to call POC was merely a way to prevent white Americans from having any sort of voice in the race discussion. As long as you can shout down the majority group by making them feel prejudiced for daring to open their mouths, you own the direction and tenor of the discussion. Bad form, I say.
The black community seems to think that Tiger isn't black enough. At least, that's my take on it. He doesn't date black women. He doesn't seem to want to be "one of them". I don't have any problem with Tiger's behavior. Tiger self-identifies as Cablinasian (Caucasian, Black, American Indian, and Asian). I sort of like it that he hasn't allowed anyone to own him, racially speaking. I think we should let people be what they want to be. If they don't agree with our ideas of race, so be it.
If we are to split hairs, and since this is my blog I will, shouldn't the options more appropriately be:
Mixed-race with primarily Caucasoid features
Mixed-race with primarily Negroid features
Mixed-race with primarily Mongoloid features
Mixed-race with primarily Australoid features
Mixed race without categorical dominance
I'm just saying. I don't know that I have the answer about how best to identify race in the first place. Aren't we all "Out of Africa"? There is no scientifically meaningful way to describe race. Race is, whatever we want it to be. I think I'm going to start self-identifying as mixed race. After all, my ancestors include some colorful people.
Of course, my comments are not meant to belittle the experiences of persons of color who have been actively discriminated against based on racial prejudices. But when I read a recent blog post on Feministing wherein people say that if a minority calls me an epithet, it's just being rude, but if I call a minority an epithet, it's a hate crime, I wonder how f*#@'d up our ideas about race have really become.
It would seem that Tiger Woods, a mixed-race individual, has had several affairs, all with white women. field negro appears to think that white America has given Tiger a wake-up call to the effect that his ass is actually black. I never actually thought of Tiger as black. I thought of him as Asian. I guess this is my prejudice. He looks more Asian than black to me. But it is almost as if we demand that some racial group own him lock, stock, and barrel.
Like Tiger, we are not all black or all white. We are not all white culture or all black culture. I think that the "black experience" in America has been well enough known to me that it has influenced who I am and how I look at myself. Yes, I have had black Americans treat me as though I had a sheet hanging in my closet because I am from Appalachia. Weren't they surprised to learn how far that was from the truth.
We are a human race. Our blood flows into and between us all. I'm not prepared to throw Tiger Woods or anyone else under the bus based on their skin color, racial identity, or sexual proclivities. Tiger is a man. He has to deal with his stupid shit, same as you and I do. I would suggest that race has very little to do with his current issues. Money and fame make everyone colorblind.
Van Kerckhove self-identifies as Chinese and Dutch. Umm. Carmen, dear. Neither of those are races, but nationalities. That Van Kerchkhove would "nitpick" about race when she self-identifies by her ancestors' national origin is just plain wacky. Which brings me to my next odd example of race in America.
I recently was asked to sign a contract which asked for my racial identity. I was perplexed by the selection. The options were:
Caucasian
African American
Asian
Native American
Mixed race
Since when did African American get to be a race? That term has only been around for about 20 years! I am 46 years old and I can remember when black people, regardless of nationality, were referred to as Negroes. At some point in the 60s, Negro was thought of as condescending. So then it was Black. Then it became Black American. Now, it's African American. As if all black Americans are of African origin. I'll be honest. There have been times when I have thought that these shifting ideas about what to call POC was merely a way to prevent white Americans from having any sort of voice in the race discussion. As long as you can shout down the majority group by making them feel prejudiced for daring to open their mouths, you own the direction and tenor of the discussion. Bad form, I say.
The black community seems to think that Tiger isn't black enough. At least, that's my take on it. He doesn't date black women. He doesn't seem to want to be "one of them". I don't have any problem with Tiger's behavior. Tiger self-identifies as Cablinasian (Caucasian, Black, American Indian, and Asian). I sort of like it that he hasn't allowed anyone to own him, racially speaking. I think we should let people be what they want to be. If they don't agree with our ideas of race, so be it.
If we are to split hairs, and since this is my blog I will, shouldn't the options more appropriately be:
Mixed-race with primarily Caucasoid features
Mixed-race with primarily Negroid features
Mixed-race with primarily Mongoloid features
Mixed-race with primarily Australoid features
Mixed race without categorical dominance
I'm just saying. I don't know that I have the answer about how best to identify race in the first place. Aren't we all "Out of Africa"? There is no scientifically meaningful way to describe race. Race is, whatever we want it to be. I think I'm going to start self-identifying as mixed race. After all, my ancestors include some colorful people.
Of course, my comments are not meant to belittle the experiences of persons of color who have been actively discriminated against based on racial prejudices. But when I read a recent blog post on Feministing wherein people say that if a minority calls me an epithet, it's just being rude, but if I call a minority an epithet, it's a hate crime, I wonder how f*#@'d up our ideas about race have really become.
It would seem that Tiger Woods, a mixed-race individual, has had several affairs, all with white women. field negro appears to think that white America has given Tiger a wake-up call to the effect that his ass is actually black. I never actually thought of Tiger as black. I thought of him as Asian. I guess this is my prejudice. He looks more Asian than black to me. But it is almost as if we demand that some racial group own him lock, stock, and barrel.
Like Tiger, we are not all black or all white. We are not all white culture or all black culture. I think that the "black experience" in America has been well enough known to me that it has influenced who I am and how I look at myself. Yes, I have had black Americans treat me as though I had a sheet hanging in my closet because I am from Appalachia. Weren't they surprised to learn how far that was from the truth.
We are a human race. Our blood flows into and between us all. I'm not prepared to throw Tiger Woods or anyone else under the bus based on their skin color, racial identity, or sexual proclivities. Tiger is a man. He has to deal with his stupid shit, same as you and I do. I would suggest that race has very little to do with his current issues. Money and fame make everyone colorblind.
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