I haven't posted much of substance lately, as I haven't felt like I had two consecutive minutes to do it with. Probably not true, but we've been busy lately.
Last week we painted two walls. One bright blue monstrosity in the Mizz's bathroom. He was very excited, since "blue" is one of his stronger words. Franny was excited too, since it meant she could get rid of the Hawaii shower curtain and replace it with the fish one and then get out all the other new decorative and functional fish stuff that Target forced on her. I personally liked the old shower curtain better, but it definitely doesn't go with the blue.
The other wall was in the living room and was a far more extensive project. Not the painting specifically, but the picking of the color. And the wall. We'd been tossing color ideas around for a while, but we finally settled on a tan/taupe/sand/dirt color that seemed to go well with the trim and with the black tree sculpture over the fireplace. So, while I was gone in Bend, I got a call, "Guess what the Mizz and I just did. There's paint on the wall." When I got home, I found that this meant two swaths of paint beside one of the posters we have. It wasn't a very representative idea of what it would really look like, so the poster came down and it widened into a three foot square. Needless to say, after much wrangling, we decided that it really wasn't the color we were after. Or the right wall. So there's now a patch of not-quite-the-right white that will eventually have to be dealt with. But in the end, we decided on a sage color and a whole different and much larger wall. I spent three nights painting and edging and 2nd coating and such, but in the end, it came out great.
I got to remember again that I hate edging. It's not that I'm terrible at it. I usually end up with a better job than lots of others I've seen. The problem is that I am a perfectionist about stuff like that, and I don't have the skill to do it as well as I think it should be done. This is mainly only a problem while I am doing it; after the fact it usually seems fine. But it makes for a very irritating experience.
I also found that I'm very impressed with Sherwin-Williams paints. Their Duration line of paint (top of the line) was on sale, and now I know that I will probably buy it again even if I have to pay full price. It went on very smoothly with almost no splattering, was very easy to clean up, and has a much better than normal container with a handle and pour-spout. They also did a great job of matching the color we had chosen from the Home Depot paint chips.
I also clipped the Mizz's hair one evening. I say clipped since cut would imply a thorough job. Mostly, I cut off the curls/rat tail from the back and over his ears, although I though the latter was going to get me divorced. I left a little more over the ears to placate the wife, but I had to get some of it off so he didn't look like a Kewpie Doll. Between the Mizz's distress and the Mama's distress, I did the most complete job I could in two minutes with maybe 8 or 10 cuts. I think he came out okay though.
Saturday, I finished the garden digging that I started a couple weeks ago. We also planted a bunch of flowers and a couple tomato plants. So far the only thing coming out of the garden has been sprouts from the squash seeds in the composter. A couple years ago, we tossed in a few decorative gourds that we no longer wanted. From what I hear, everybody knows you don't put squash seeds in the composter. That wasn't true then, but it sure is now. Small composters rarely get hot enough to destroy those tough little suckers. Anyway, those are the only real sprouts that seem to be doing very well. I'm ripping them out and hoping the other tiny little things I'm seeing are flowers and not weeds.
Also on Saturday, we invited some friends over for a Memorial Day weekend cookout/potluck. Unlike my usual burger and dog thing, I made Lemon-Rosemary Chicken Skewers from a recipe Franny found. I followed the preparation/marinating directions, but I grilled instead of baked. And since we cooked after everyone was there, we skipped the dipping sauce part. By all accounts, they were excellent. Franny also found some cool flat skewers. They are thin strips of bamboo maybe 1/4" wide with one pointed end. I'm not sure whether it made much difference for the chicken since that sticks pretty quickly, but it was awesome for grilling the vegetable slices. No more rolling around and only cooking one side. Everything turns just like you want. Good find, Franny.
Sunday, Franny and I got to go out. Without the Mizz. We left him with a sitter to go to a friend's sushi party. Lucky for me, there was stir-fry beef too. It was actually a surprise birthday party for her too, and we took a couple cakes that I made. Nothing fancy, just from the box, although I did mix Bailey's into the frosting on one of them. Mmmm. I wasn't impressed with my rushed decorating, but nobody else seemed to mind. The only reason I got to make the cakes was that Gina is the baker and her boyfriend was having trouble finding any of her friends that knew how to make a cake. Since I can follow directions, that apparently makes me the most capable. Kinda sad.
Monday was much more relaxed, what with all the Mango-tinis at the party. We did make it out to visit some friend and the other little Mizz. I don't get to see my Mizz interacting with other kids all that often, and it's fun to see them play together even if neither one of them quite understands what the other is trying to do all the time. It was especially cute watching our Mizz push the other one around in a wagon. Each of them seemed pretty happy with his part of the deal.
Back to work has actually seemed like kind of a break, although with a bit of driving. For the last three days, I've been travelling up and down the Columbia Gorge working at an aluminum plant, a couple wastewater plants, a water plant, a brewery (smelled great), and a couple other labs. It's been a beautiful couple days for that trip. The aluminum plant is actually kind of interesting, as it's the only one left in the Northwest that's doing much. They are actually only melting down scrap aluminum and recycling it, but at least that's something. There used to be something like 20 aluminum plants in the Northwest mainly due to the cheap hydropower we used to have. However with the power crunch a few years ago (thanks again, Enron), the days of cheap electricity are gone, and so too the aluminum industry in this country. We can no longer compete with developing countries with little or no environmental and labor regulations.
Sorry. Not trying to start a rant there. Not in the mood today. You see, I got an unplanned massage this evening. Franny had one scheduled, but ended up with plans that were going to end too late. So, rather than deal with a cancellation, I took advantage of it. After driving 600 miles in the last three days, it was welcome, and now I feel great. Thanks again, Franny.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Melamine II: The Homegrown Version
In a followup to my melamine rant from a couple weeks ago, it appears that a U.S. Company is guilty of exactly the same thing that we found in China. Once again, the lowest common denominator and the almighty dollar triumph over legality and morality. Yay.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Dave 0, Coffee 1
I give up. I like the idea of not having to be caffeinated, but it seems beyond me right now. I haven't had much in maybe a month, but I've spent most of the month tired. It turns out that if you can't consistently get a good amount of sleep, the coffee serves an important purpose. Between work, a toddler, and the pressure I put on myself to "get...things...done", I rarely get a good night's sleep. So although I'm no longer getting headaches from missing my morning cuppa joe, I'm always exhausted. This might be tolerable if I was actually "getting...anything...done", but I think I'm just putting up a fight to put up a fight. Anyway, after another short night, I've succumbed to the beast this morning. Maybe I can at least drink a little less than I used to. We'll see how that goes.
As an added bonus, I can stop having to worry about Portlanders looking at me like I just sprouted an extra head every time I refuse a cup of coffee. I thought the masses with the torches and pitchforks were going to run me right out of town. At least I never stopped drinking beer, so that kept them somewhat at bay.
As an added bonus, I can stop having to worry about Portlanders looking at me like I just sprouted an extra head every time I refuse a cup of coffee. I thought the masses with the torches and pitchforks were going to run me right out of town. At least I never stopped drinking beer, so that kept them somewhat at bay.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Memorial Day
I hope everyone had an enjoyable Memorial Day holiday. We had a busy weekend with several fun events, none of which had anything to do with Memorial Day. I feel compelled to stop for a moment and remember the actual point of the day, which is to remember those who have given their lives in defense of my freedom to do whatever I damn well please -- a privilege much of the world lacks.
I grew up around the military and have a lot of it in my family background, with my father, both grandfathers and a host of uncles, cousins, friends and others that I am aware of that all served at least some time in the military. Both of my grandfathers fought in World War II, one in the Navy hunting Nazi submarines and the other in the Army freezing his butt off in a foxhole during the Battle of the Bulge, one of the bloodier messes of the war. All of my relatives that I know of have all made it back from the wars in which they fought, but obviously a great number of others have not been so lucky.
I make a large distinction between "supporting the troops" and "supporting the war." The current mess is unforgivable from a leadership perspective, but that should never take away from the sacrifice that the men and women in front of the bullets and bombs are willing to risk. Having lived around the military for much of my life, I am keenly aware that most members do not fit the media stereotypes of bloodthirsty, reckless Rambos or lazy, incompetent Gomer Pyles. The vast majority are hardworking, decent people who are fiercely patriotic and willing to put themselves in harm's way to do what they believe is the right thing. Nobody wants to die for politics or glory. However, millions have given their lives for loftier ideals, and the world would look much different had they all stayed safely at home.
Thank you.
I grew up around the military and have a lot of it in my family background, with my father, both grandfathers and a host of uncles, cousins, friends and others that I am aware of that all served at least some time in the military. Both of my grandfathers fought in World War II, one in the Navy hunting Nazi submarines and the other in the Army freezing his butt off in a foxhole during the Battle of the Bulge, one of the bloodier messes of the war. All of my relatives that I know of have all made it back from the wars in which they fought, but obviously a great number of others have not been so lucky.
I make a large distinction between "supporting the troops" and "supporting the war." The current mess is unforgivable from a leadership perspective, but that should never take away from the sacrifice that the men and women in front of the bullets and bombs are willing to risk. Having lived around the military for much of my life, I am keenly aware that most members do not fit the media stereotypes of bloodthirsty, reckless Rambos or lazy, incompetent Gomer Pyles. The vast majority are hardworking, decent people who are fiercely patriotic and willing to put themselves in harm's way to do what they believe is the right thing. Nobody wants to die for politics or glory. However, millions have given their lives for loftier ideals, and the world would look much different had they all stayed safely at home.
Thank you.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
The Northwest's not so wet after all
I came across an article about rainfall in various cities. Apparently, the Northwest isn't that wet after all. The wettest cities in the country are mainly in the Southeast. They don't rain as often, but they do it really well when they do. The first Northwest city on the list is Olympia, WA at number 24. Seattle and Portland don't show up until 41 and 42, respectively. The northwest is well represented in number of rainy days, however. But if you've ever been here in the winter, you know that. The study didn't even get into number of gray days. For any statistics nerds, the actual report from Weatherbill is here.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
This should hold the Mizz back!
I just wanted to show off the new gate I made. I haven't made anything from scratch other than cookies in quite a while. I'm especially proud of the way this came out, since I pretty much made up the design as I went along. It only took one extra trip to the store for a forgotten item. Franny asked if this was "one of those made-way-too-strong things." Um... probably. If something's worth building, it's worth overengineering. Now I have to build two more on the sides of the house to really keep the Mizz in. The only trouble he'll be able to get into then is ripping petals off the flowers or picking cat turds out of the garden ("ROCK!" "No, not a rock, buddy. Nice try.")
Bend, Oregon
I was in Bend, Oregon last week working. Usually, a couple of us go over for a quick 2-3 day trip, but I did it myself this time, which took a whole week. The bonus was that I had time to visit my aunt Becky and her family. I've been over there a few times working, but I've always been sharing a vehicle and didn't have much free time anyway. But finally I got to see her and get a tour around Bend.
Bend is growing at a ridiculous pace. When Becky moved there 18 years ago, Bend had a population of about 10,000 people. Today the sign on the way into town says 75,000. You can't swing a cat without hitting a new development (but it's fun to try). And according to Becky, the median house price right now is in the neighborhood of $800,000. All these numbers are according to my cousin, and like me, he remembers obscure figures pretty well, so even if they are not exact, they are well in the ball park. Nobody knows quite what all these new residents do for a living. There must be a lot of retirees, since there hasn't been a corresponding increase in industry, at least not the type of jobs that by $800,000 houses.
Also, for some reason, Bend has fallen in love with traffic circles. I hate traffic circles. I think they made a lot more sense in horse and buggy times. Right now they just make it impossible to move if you are to the right of the busy road entering the circle.
Like an idiot, I took a camera, but I never had it with me with my relatives or wandering around Bend. I especially would have like to get some pictures from the top of Pilot Butte. It is either a tall hill or a small mountain right in the center of Bend and has an excellent view all the way around, including something like 8 or 10 snow-capped peaks in the Cascade Range.
I did however get some pictures on the way home.
Bend is growing at a ridiculous pace. When Becky moved there 18 years ago, Bend had a population of about 10,000 people. Today the sign on the way into town says 75,000. You can't swing a cat without hitting a new development (but it's fun to try). And according to Becky, the median house price right now is in the neighborhood of $800,000. All these numbers are according to my cousin, and like me, he remembers obscure figures pretty well, so even if they are not exact, they are well in the ball park. Nobody knows quite what all these new residents do for a living. There must be a lot of retirees, since there hasn't been a corresponding increase in industry, at least not the type of jobs that by $800,000 houses.
Also, for some reason, Bend has fallen in love with traffic circles. I hate traffic circles. I think they made a lot more sense in horse and buggy times. Right now they just make it impossible to move if you are to the right of the busy road entering the circle.
Like an idiot, I took a camera, but I never had it with me with my relatives or wandering around Bend. I especially would have like to get some pictures from the top of Pilot Butte. It is either a tall hill or a small mountain right in the center of Bend and has an excellent view all the way around, including something like 8 or 10 snow-capped peaks in the Cascade Range.
I did however get some pictures on the way home.
This picture show Broken Top mountain on the left and the Three Sisters in the center and the right.
This is Mount Washington. It is about the pointiest mountain I've ever seen, other than the Matterhorn. I will admit that I didn't so much see the Matterhorn. More like the replica of the Matterhorn at Disneyland, which had a very fun roller coaster in it. Great fun for a ten year old anyway.
This is Detroit Dam, a hydroelectric project on the Santiam River. I don't know how big it is exactly, but it seems REALLY tall when you are standing on it. There was a small visitor center in that tower, but it has been "closed for security reasons". I guess the fact that fishermen can carry anything they want out onto the dam is not a security risk, but looking at maps and dioramas is.
This is Detroit Lake, enclosed by the dam. It is a popular recreation area with lots of boating and fishing. The rest of the trip back was pretty much Salem and I-5, neither of which are very photogenic.
Monday, May 21, 2007
The Mizz's Newest Little Friend
It's a couple days late, but happy birthday A! This is the new little brother of A. Just to be confusing. I really need to work on the kids' nicknames, especially since I have a couple nieces that are also A's. Anyway, I got this picture the other day. Excellent news.
I do want it on the record that I heard about this before Franny (but she did beat me to blogging it). I don't know if I get any points, but just in case...
I don't think I did very well on the when-and-how-big pool. I'm pretty sure there weren't any points up for grabs there either.
I do want it on the record that I heard about this before Franny (but she did beat me to blogging it). I don't know if I get any points, but just in case...
I don't think I did very well on the when-and-how-big pool. I'm pretty sure there weren't any points up for grabs there either.
Friday, May 18, 2007
We're number two!
NPR had an interesting story last night about the makeup of the various states versus the averages for the country as a whole. According to this analysis of 2006 census data, Oregon is the 2nd most average state in the country. Looking around, I wouldn't have guessed that. Illinois is apparently the most average. It's interesting to be at the top of the list by being average. Washington and Pennsylvania are up there too. My readers in Colorado and Virginia might be interested to know that they are in the middle of the list, which I guess makes them of only average averageness. I would have guessed that Washington, DC would have been the least average, being just a city and heavier on the minorities than other places I've been, but interestingly, there are apparently 8 states that are even further off the norm. West Virginia is number 51 on the list, which according to the interview with some WV government hack last night, doesn't surprise them. West Virginia is older, poorer, whiter, less educated, and less mobile than average for the country. They seem to think that if they can just get more industry to move to the state, then these other things will sort themselves out. Good luck with that.
This interactive map linked in the story is an interesting look at the data in various categories.
This interactive map linked in the story is an interesting look at the data in various categories.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Hooray for the Mizz
The Mizz apparently got to use his potty for the first time the other day. Apparently this happened while I was outside doing yard work. So how come I only heard about it with a "Did you look at my blog today?" Technically I heard about it before I read about it, but the Minding Mizz readership got it before I did. What the...? No big deal though. It's cool that he got a chance to see what it's all about. I know it wasn't quite the real deal just yet, but seeing how it's supposed to work should help speed things up. I never thought I'd be happy to hear about my kid pooping.
Plus, I got through all this without a poop joke. Excellent restraint, if I do say so myself.
Plus, I got through all this without a poop joke. Excellent restraint, if I do say so myself.
Monday, May 14, 2007
What are they doing to the chocoholics?
It appears that chocolate companies want to start making chocolate without cocoa butter and still call it chocolate! Because they're cheap money-grubbing capitalist pigs! Exclamation point! I've had chocolate chips made this way (called chocolate flavored chips) and they sucked. I'm sure there will still be chocolate marketed with real cocoa butter, but it'll be buyer beware and most of what gets put into other things or maybe even served at some restaurants will be the crappy kind. I was going to just quietly absorb this with righteous indignation, until someone noted the relationship to one of the tangents on my melamine rant.
If nothing else, think of Hershey turning into the Budweiser of chocolate. Very sad.
Note: The inspiration for this was shamelessly ripped from Basement Patter. Sorry Josh.
If nothing else, think of Hershey turning into the Budweiser of chocolate. Very sad.
Note: The inspiration for this was shamelessly ripped from Basement Patter. Sorry Josh.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Happy Mothers Day!
To all the mothers in my life, a heartfelt thank you for all you do. This is meant for everyone but is especially aimed at Tutu, who did such a great job with me, and Franny, who is proving to be every bit as good with my own kid.
Franny and I (and the Mizz of course) spent the morning hanging out with a very expectant 2nd time mother friend of ours. She's officially due in three weeks, but she was pretty early last time and is pretty much ready to be done now.
Franny got the obligatory flowers, but they came in the form of a boatload of seeds to expand our garden. She also got some tomato seeds and a large planter to grow them in. These are definitely for her. I prefer my tomatoes in the pizza sauce or ketchup forms. This evening I got to add the elbow grease to the present and get to work tearing up our yard. I always forget the poor quality of our soil based on the number of rocks in it. Franny and the Mizz helped load rocks into a bucket. The Mizz occasionally decided it was much more fun to take the rocks back out of the bucket and drop them over the fence onto the sidewalk, and Franny got some exercise running around the fence a bunch of times to retrieve them. Right now we just have some bare dirt with at least the big rocks removed. Now we just have to wait a little while for something to start growing. We're hoping for flowers, but based on my track record, I'm thinking weeds. We'll see what happens.
We also got another tidbit of good Mothers Day tidings. Marketing Mommy's sister Eleanor just had her first today. In an odd bit of irony, she's currently living in Australia, so I'm not sure a) whether Mother's Day is celebrated down under, or b) due to the dateline, exactly which "today" it even was. But congratulations anyway, and we'll give you credit for good timing.
Franny and I (and the Mizz of course) spent the morning hanging out with a very expectant 2nd time mother friend of ours. She's officially due in three weeks, but she was pretty early last time and is pretty much ready to be done now.
Franny got the obligatory flowers, but they came in the form of a boatload of seeds to expand our garden. She also got some tomato seeds and a large planter to grow them in. These are definitely for her. I prefer my tomatoes in the pizza sauce or ketchup forms. This evening I got to add the elbow grease to the present and get to work tearing up our yard. I always forget the poor quality of our soil based on the number of rocks in it. Franny and the Mizz helped load rocks into a bucket. The Mizz occasionally decided it was much more fun to take the rocks back out of the bucket and drop them over the fence onto the sidewalk, and Franny got some exercise running around the fence a bunch of times to retrieve them. Right now we just have some bare dirt with at least the big rocks removed. Now we just have to wait a little while for something to start growing. We're hoping for flowers, but based on my track record, I'm thinking weeds. We'll see what happens.
We also got another tidbit of good Mothers Day tidings. Marketing Mommy's sister Eleanor just had her first today. In an odd bit of irony, she's currently living in Australia, so I'm not sure a) whether Mother's Day is celebrated down under, or b) due to the dateline, exactly which "today" it even was. But congratulations anyway, and we'll give you credit for good timing.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Melamine everywhere
I'm sure everyone has heard about the melamine contamination in pet foods. Mostly just the dog and cat foods have made the headlines, but the contaminated wheat gluten got in lots of other animal feed too. Last week, I was working at a US Fish & Wildlife research fish hatchery and they were in the process of investigating a die-off of some of their juvenile trout. They were concerned because there was nothing they could find about the water or any microbiological issue, but they were loosing fish at a fast enough rate that it might jeopardize their ability to continue the study long enough to get results, which means wasting grant money and not getting it again. Anyway, they were just looking into the possibility that they might have some melamine contamination. According to this article, they were probably right. They do get some of their food from Bio-Oregon, which is listed in the article. Incidentally, I work there every summer too.
The thing that gets me about this melamine thing is how far it got before it was caught even though it clearly has widespread health effects. The problem is an over dependence on China as a supplier for everything: a) because they have as much manpower as we want them to throw at anything, and b) because they are willing to make everything very cheaply. This is fine for a lot of things, but cheap food ingredients are not necessarily the best choice.
The melamine was used because it fools a test for protein, but is much cheaper than actually fortifying the food for real. The normal test for protein in food is a determination of the amount of nitrogen in the food. Melamine has a lot of nitrogen, but unless further testing is done, it just raises the overall result of the nitrogen test, which is taken as higher protein content. Now, the companies involved are no longer in business, but it has been pointed out that this is a widespread practice well known in the industry in China.
So now we've discovered another test to run on foods from China, and I'm afraid that we'll pat ourselves on the back for solving this particular problem and then go back about our business of buying basic food ingredients from the lowest bidder. But how many other kinds of routine deception are happening, in China or elsewhere? If they are not an immediate health issue, would we even know? What if some petroleum byproduct happens to be a good looking substitute for vitamin C or something? What if it accumulates in people and causes birth defects or whatever? The problem is that we are getting our most basic needs filled by the lowest bidder and until something happens, we have no idea at all. Just look at the ingredient list on just about anything you eat. Chances are, unless it says nothing but "apple," there is probably something on it you can't identify. Guar gum, or soy lecithin, or some chemical you can't even pronounce that is added to keep the guar gum from sticking to the soy lecithin while your frozen whatever is shipped to your grocery store. Even the things you do understand (this case was wheat gluten) have unknown origins.
The problem is that we like to pretend that we are at the top of the world food chain, that we have the safest and best of everything, and that all the food companies have our best interests at heart. In real life, we are incredibly dependent on the rest of the world for our food supply, we have food that is safe until we find melamine or e-coli or whatever, and food companies want to avoid contamination only because it causes lawsuits and hurts shareholder value. We love to have anything we want, anytime we want, and as cheaply as possible, and in order to do that we have to keep pretending.
The alternative is making all this stuff ourselves. We have the capacity to do a lot of that, but right now, our main ability seems to be growing freaking corn. So we use it for everything we can imagine: plain corn, corn meal, corn starch, corn oil, animal feed, and high fructose corn syrup. These days we even use it as a fuel and for other industrial compounds. Aside from plain corn, most of these uses are better served by other items, i.e. sugar instead of corn syrup, but we are in a good climate region for corn, so we subsidize the hell out of it, put tariffs on the competing products, pour on gobs of fertilizer and grow as much corn as we possibly can. This is great for products that can be made out of corn, but for many other things, we now have to look elsewhere, and that is what makes us vulnerable.
The irony is that we are one of the most efficient food producers in the world. By sheer volume or total calories or whatever, we make far more than we need. But we've concentrated it into a few basic products (corn, wheat, potatoes, a few other basics), but for most other things, we have to buy from the rest of the world. We grow a lot of other things, but not in the volumes we need. We import meat, fruit, vegetables, and lots of basic ingredients from all over the world, and that puts us at risk for unscrupulous companies or even entire industries taking advantage of any cost-saving shortcuts they can think of.
As a country, we have to change our attitudes about what is worth paying for. There are many reasons I can think of for eating locally produced foods, but this may top the list.
Sorry for the rant.
But not really.
The thing that gets me about this melamine thing is how far it got before it was caught even though it clearly has widespread health effects. The problem is an over dependence on China as a supplier for everything: a) because they have as much manpower as we want them to throw at anything, and b) because they are willing to make everything very cheaply. This is fine for a lot of things, but cheap food ingredients are not necessarily the best choice.
The melamine was used because it fools a test for protein, but is much cheaper than actually fortifying the food for real. The normal test for protein in food is a determination of the amount of nitrogen in the food. Melamine has a lot of nitrogen, but unless further testing is done, it just raises the overall result of the nitrogen test, which is taken as higher protein content. Now, the companies involved are no longer in business, but it has been pointed out that this is a widespread practice well known in the industry in China.
So now we've discovered another test to run on foods from China, and I'm afraid that we'll pat ourselves on the back for solving this particular problem and then go back about our business of buying basic food ingredients from the lowest bidder. But how many other kinds of routine deception are happening, in China or elsewhere? If they are not an immediate health issue, would we even know? What if some petroleum byproduct happens to be a good looking substitute for vitamin C or something? What if it accumulates in people and causes birth defects or whatever? The problem is that we are getting our most basic needs filled by the lowest bidder and until something happens, we have no idea at all. Just look at the ingredient list on just about anything you eat. Chances are, unless it says nothing but "apple," there is probably something on it you can't identify. Guar gum, or soy lecithin, or some chemical you can't even pronounce that is added to keep the guar gum from sticking to the soy lecithin while your frozen whatever is shipped to your grocery store. Even the things you do understand (this case was wheat gluten) have unknown origins.
The problem is that we like to pretend that we are at the top of the world food chain, that we have the safest and best of everything, and that all the food companies have our best interests at heart. In real life, we are incredibly dependent on the rest of the world for our food supply, we have food that is safe until we find melamine or e-coli or whatever, and food companies want to avoid contamination only because it causes lawsuits and hurts shareholder value. We love to have anything we want, anytime we want, and as cheaply as possible, and in order to do that we have to keep pretending.
The alternative is making all this stuff ourselves. We have the capacity to do a lot of that, but right now, our main ability seems to be growing freaking corn. So we use it for everything we can imagine: plain corn, corn meal, corn starch, corn oil, animal feed, and high fructose corn syrup. These days we even use it as a fuel and for other industrial compounds. Aside from plain corn, most of these uses are better served by other items, i.e. sugar instead of corn syrup, but we are in a good climate region for corn, so we subsidize the hell out of it, put tariffs on the competing products, pour on gobs of fertilizer and grow as much corn as we possibly can. This is great for products that can be made out of corn, but for many other things, we now have to look elsewhere, and that is what makes us vulnerable.
The irony is that we are one of the most efficient food producers in the world. By sheer volume or total calories or whatever, we make far more than we need. But we've concentrated it into a few basic products (corn, wheat, potatoes, a few other basics), but for most other things, we have to buy from the rest of the world. We grow a lot of other things, but not in the volumes we need. We import meat, fruit, vegetables, and lots of basic ingredients from all over the world, and that puts us at risk for unscrupulous companies or even entire industries taking advantage of any cost-saving shortcuts they can think of.
As a country, we have to change our attitudes about what is worth paying for. There are many reasons I can think of for eating locally produced foods, but this may top the list.
Sorry for the rant.
But not really.
There's always time for cookies
We made official Nestle Tollhouse Cookies last night. By we, I mean I. Franny does get credit for the idea, but I at least want props for cranking them out. And by them, I mean a grand total of 12 cookies. The rest is in dough form in the fridge and I'm not at all confident that it will ever turn into cookies. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I grew up on raw cookie dough, and I don't see any reason to stop eating it now.
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Things are looking up. No, for real this time.
I thought I was good to go after Sunday. Wrong. I woke up sick again Monday morning. What a crock. I spent all but an hour Sunday night not being able to sleep and then spent most of the day in bed. I was a bit better by last night though, and all in all, the day wasn't as miserable as Friday. Anyway, I think I really am on the mend today. I made it to work today anyway if that means anything. From what I hear, there's some serious crud making the rounds, so maybe it's not just our house. We only have about a dozen people in our company and we had three of us our for two days each last week and another out yesterday and today. And this afternoon, my boss said he wasn't feeling so hot either, which means his drive to California tomorrow ought to be a joy. Good luck George.
The only good thing I see about all this is that the lower caffeine intake seems to be sticking. I survived the whole day, including 3 hours driving, on only a cup of tea this morning. Silver lining.
On a lighter note, I realized the other day that I have been completely overtaken by nursery rhymes. When the Mizz was little, I couldn't hear a lot of the rhymes with out thinking of either Ice Cube's "A Gangsta's Fairytale" or the raunchy poetry of Andrew Dice Clay. Per Ice Cube, "There was an old lady who lived in a shoe; sold dope out the front, out the back marijuana grew; for the man who was really important; who lived down the street in a Air Jordan." I'm not about to write anything by Andrew Dice Clay. Mom would have a heart attack. Anyway, every time I heard a nursery rhyme, I heard something similar from one of them in my head. Actually, when the Mizz was just tiny, I even sang the other versions to him sometimes. He didn't care, and I had more fun that way. However, I realized the other day as Franny and I were singing a rousing duet of Twinkle, Twinkle, Traffic Light (same tune, different words) that I don't get those thoughts anymore. Now, instead, I hear nursery rhymes that won't leave me alone when I'm trying to go to sleep. At least I'm not Franny. She has to endure the Mizz's CD's on the way to and from work everyday. Poor woman.
The only good thing I see about all this is that the lower caffeine intake seems to be sticking. I survived the whole day, including 3 hours driving, on only a cup of tea this morning. Silver lining.
On a lighter note, I realized the other day that I have been completely overtaken by nursery rhymes. When the Mizz was little, I couldn't hear a lot of the rhymes with out thinking of either Ice Cube's "A Gangsta's Fairytale" or the raunchy poetry of Andrew Dice Clay. Per Ice Cube, "There was an old lady who lived in a shoe; sold dope out the front, out the back marijuana grew; for the man who was really important; who lived down the street in a Air Jordan." I'm not about to write anything by Andrew Dice Clay. Mom would have a heart attack. Anyway, every time I heard a nursery rhyme, I heard something similar from one of them in my head. Actually, when the Mizz was just tiny, I even sang the other versions to him sometimes. He didn't care, and I had more fun that way. However, I realized the other day as Franny and I were singing a rousing duet of Twinkle, Twinkle, Traffic Light (same tune, different words) that I don't get those thoughts anymore. Now, instead, I hear nursery rhymes that won't leave me alone when I'm trying to go to sleep. At least I'm not Franny. She has to endure the Mizz's CD's on the way to and from work everyday. Poor woman.
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Things looking up?
I dare say I feel a little better today. Not good, mind you, but better anyway. Passable. I can now handle dealing with the world, although I found that I am no match for Franny on a Target shopping binge. Mizz and I decided that it was just best to stay out of her way. I also managed to move some furniture around and even lug a big TV downstairs. Some of us don't have flat screens yet. One day I'll tell the Mizz about the old days when we had 120 pound televisions that were almost 2 feet deep. Nope, none of that hanging on the wall stuff for us. And they were old-fashioned low-def. 1080i widescreen? You wish. Only if you stacked them 4 wide and 3 high. That's right; we had LDTV and we were happy, dammit. And you know why? Because we didn't have what your grandfathers had. They had to sit in the snow and watch other cavemen paint on the wall really fast. In black and white! This was especially boring during commercials, which is the only reason they had time to invent fire and the wheel and civilization and stuff.
Anyway, enough of that. The point is, I'm back in the world with a mere sinus infection, which seems like a vast improvement over the last couple days.
We ate out this evening at a new pan-asian eatery called Wei Wei (What does that mean?). Don't get excited. It's one step up from fast food and it's in the Home Depot parking lot. It was pretty decent though. Franny loved some eggplant thing she got, the Mizz decided he liked lo mein noodles once he learned how to wrangle them, and I got a spicy chicken thing so I could taste it. My fortune was "Your sports team will be very successful this year." I don't really have a sports team, so if anyone is interested, I'm willing to rent my enthusiasm for a price. However, it sounds like I only get one team, so it will have to go to the highest bidder. Also, my lucky numbers are 3, 6, 14, 23, 36, and 49. I'd be happy to split 50-50 with someone who wants to sponsor a lottery ticket. I'm guessing it won't work if you use these numbers yourself, since they were on my fortune. Gitcherown fortune cookie.
Anyway, enough of that. The point is, I'm back in the world with a mere sinus infection, which seems like a vast improvement over the last couple days.
We ate out this evening at a new pan-asian eatery called Wei Wei (What does that mean?). Don't get excited. It's one step up from fast food and it's in the Home Depot parking lot. It was pretty decent though. Franny loved some eggplant thing she got, the Mizz decided he liked lo mein noodles once he learned how to wrangle them, and I got a spicy chicken thing so I could taste it. My fortune was "Your sports team will be very successful this year." I don't really have a sports team, so if anyone is interested, I'm willing to rent my enthusiasm for a price. However, it sounds like I only get one team, so it will have to go to the highest bidder. Also, my lucky numbers are 3, 6, 14, 23, 36, and 49. I'd be happy to split 50-50 with someone who wants to sponsor a lottery ticket. I'm guessing it won't work if you use these numbers yourself, since they were on my fortune. Gitcherown fortune cookie.
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Eating toast shouldn't be such a big effort
Yesterday sucked. I couldn't finish a second piece of toast because it was more work than it was worth. Pathetic. Walking up and even down stairs was a chore too. Mostly I just laid around watching movies. The first two Lord of the Rings movies and some subtitled Chinese sword fighting/westernish thing. It doesn't matter, since I mostly slept through them anyway. I also had a raging headache by the evening. I was a little better off this morning, so I was able to at least keep Mizz out of too much trouble while Franny was out, but I fell asleep again as soon as she got home. The stomach seems to be happier, but I still have a nasty sinus cold, so nothing tastes good. I now have the strength to get through toast, but it might as well be cardboard for all I can taste.
The only benefit to all this is that I haven't had much caffiene the last couple days. 2 1/2 cans of soda. Typically over a couple days, I would have had at least 4 cups of coffee and 3 or 4 cans of soda, maybe much more depending on the day. I like to get away from the need for all that. If I can get down to maybe a cup of coffee in the morning and nothing else, I'd be happy. I don't mind a little bit, but I don't like being completely addicted. I'd like to be a casual user who only drinks coffee for the taste. Right now I'm a pathetic junky who can't move without it and who's always looking for his next fix.
The only benefit to all this is that I haven't had much caffiene the last couple days. 2 1/2 cans of soda. Typically over a couple days, I would have had at least 4 cups of coffee and 3 or 4 cans of soda, maybe much more depending on the day. I like to get away from the need for all that. If I can get down to maybe a cup of coffee in the morning and nothing else, I'd be happy. I don't mind a little bit, but I don't like being completely addicted. I'd like to be a casual user who only drinks coffee for the taste. Right now I'm a pathetic junky who can't move without it and who's always looking for his next fix.
Friday, May 4, 2007
Not a good week
Yesterday, it seemed like everybody in the house was finally feeling better. Franny went to work and the Mizz went to daycare. Although I wasn't as bad off as either of them, I was pretty much feeling better too, but I started going downhill when I got home from work. I ended up going to bed by 8:30 and later found out that I apparently picked up Franny's stomach bug. I thought we were in the clear, but now it looks like this won't be much of a weekend. Half a sleeve of crackers and one soda later, I guess I'm a little better, but pretty tired and weak. Judging by Franny, I might be in better shape by Monday.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Lately...
This weekend started off pretty well. We drove up to Seattle for the Mizz's cousin J's 1st birthday party. There were maybe 6 kids and 20-some adults. Lots of food and drinks and birthday cake, although J was not impressed. He especially didn't understand when the whole room started singing the same song at him. I can see how that might be weird.
We stayed overnight in the city and toured the Seattle Art Museum Olympic Sculpture Park Sunday morning with J and the Mizz. They were mainly interested in throwing rocks into the water. Dad and I had fun throwing rocks too, but we were also aware of some art. It's actually pretty cool. They've built it up so it bridges over a street and a set of railroad tracks and runs along Puget Sound for quite a way.
We enjoyed the time we got spend with my sister and her husband (and J) since we rarely get to see them when it's not at a huge gathering with lots going on or when one of us is in a hurry to get somewhere. And Mizz got to play with his cousin, and more importantly, all of his cousin's toys, many of which are different than his own. Which is way cool.
The ride home became quite a bummer. All three of us had started feeling a little crappy through the weekend, but Franny got pretty sick on the ride home. We had to stop several times while she desecrated the various trees of the great state of Washington with what was left of dinner. I felt pretty bad for her, but in the middle of nowhere, what can you do?
Monday, we all took a sick day. Franny was down for the count, and Mizz had a miserable cold. I wasn't exactly in top form, and although if it was just me, I probably would have gone to work anyway feeling terrible, I was happy to take the day off to babysit. Franny was careful to note that it's not babysitting when it's your own kid, but when both of you aren't doing well, it can feel that way.
Franny still wasn't feeling so well today, but she was improved, so I did make it back to work. Judging by the state of the house this evening, it wasn't such a good day -- not for her at least. It looks like Mizz had the run of the place. He even stuffed the first wrong thing in the VCR this morning. Luckily it was a CD and not a PBJ sandwich. The VCR survived just fine, but the CD is pretty scratched.
It was a good one too. Shishskabob by Fighting Gravity, which has the background music from the underground hit video, Sweeper of Skaville. Luckily, I had already ripped (or per the RIAA, "pirated") it, so I still have the music. Which is cool, as this is one of the local bands from when I was in college, so there're some memories there, and unlike The Dave Matthews Band (maybe the biggest thing to come out of Charlottesville since me), I don't run across Fighting Gravity very often.
We stayed overnight in the city and toured the Seattle Art Museum Olympic Sculpture Park Sunday morning with J and the Mizz. They were mainly interested in throwing rocks into the water. Dad and I had fun throwing rocks too, but we were also aware of some art. It's actually pretty cool. They've built it up so it bridges over a street and a set of railroad tracks and runs along Puget Sound for quite a way.
We enjoyed the time we got spend with my sister and her husband (and J) since we rarely get to see them when it's not at a huge gathering with lots going on or when one of us is in a hurry to get somewhere. And Mizz got to play with his cousin, and more importantly, all of his cousin's toys, many of which are different than his own. Which is way cool.
The ride home became quite a bummer. All three of us had started feeling a little crappy through the weekend, but Franny got pretty sick on the ride home. We had to stop several times while she desecrated the various trees of the great state of Washington with what was left of dinner. I felt pretty bad for her, but in the middle of nowhere, what can you do?
Monday, we all took a sick day. Franny was down for the count, and Mizz had a miserable cold. I wasn't exactly in top form, and although if it was just me, I probably would have gone to work anyway feeling terrible, I was happy to take the day off to babysit. Franny was careful to note that it's not babysitting when it's your own kid, but when both of you aren't doing well, it can feel that way.
Franny still wasn't feeling so well today, but she was improved, so I did make it back to work. Judging by the state of the house this evening, it wasn't such a good day -- not for her at least. It looks like Mizz had the run of the place. He even stuffed the first wrong thing in the VCR this morning. Luckily it was a CD and not a PBJ sandwich. The VCR survived just fine, but the CD is pretty scratched.
It was a good one too. Shishskabob by Fighting Gravity, which has the background music from the underground hit video, Sweeper of Skaville. Luckily, I had already ripped (or per the RIAA, "pirated") it, so I still have the music. Which is cool, as this is one of the local bands from when I was in college, so there're some memories there, and unlike The Dave Matthews Band (maybe the biggest thing to come out of Charlottesville since me), I don't run across Fighting Gravity very often.
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