SingleGirl's Best Question

I've recently added a few dating blogs to my Google Reader, including Sex, Lies and Dating in the City. Simone Grant, aka SingleGirl, writes about some of her dating exploits, history, and advice. 


I like this piece of advice, from her post, The Best Question:

Anyway, we didn't spend the whole night talking about my silly business issues.  Eventually we talked about more frivolous topics - men and dating.  We talked about the types of guys we tend to date (over and over) and online dating and recent exes and at some point she shared a piece of advice that a good friend once gave her. If you're wondering whether you should be with a guy, ask yourself this question, "Do you want your sons growing up to be like him?"

WOW!

I'd never heard that before but I gotta say, that's definitely one of the smartest things I've ever heard in regards to relationships. Even as a woman who's not going to have kids, I feel like it just drives to the very heart of why I might not want a man in my life. Because, seriously, if I wouldn't want my (theoretical) sons to grow up and be like someone, then he probably isn't good enough for me.

Now, I just have to remember to live that advice.

Wow is right, Simone. I actually would like to maybe kinda sorta really actually am totally freaked out by the idea waiting for the right partner but actually would like to have a kid. And yeah, my partner better well be a good role model. Moms and dads out there, did you think about this? 

Do you have questions like this to help you navigate through your dates? A friend of mine who is having a tough time deciding about whether to keep going with a relationship or not to think about what she would do if she was the guy. I think it was something like, "Would all of this even be in doubt if you were the guy? Would you keep dating, or would you just end it?" She said that if she was the guy, it'd be over. (physical/chemistry issues - surrounded by a mostly otherwise good companionship) And you know what? I think they're still dating. So these big questions - they're good to get you to look at things from a different perspective, but you still actually have to act to make changes. 

Fast forwarding....

I'm not into the holidays. Seriously, I think it's a great time to spend with family and friends, but it seems like it's also a magnet for bad stuff to happen. If we're talking holidays, let's fast forward to Martin Luther King, Jr day, what do you say?

So... fast forwarding brings us into the first couple of weeks of all of those New Year's resolutions. Yeah. Those. If you're looking for some fitness inspiration, check out these badass Crossfit chicks. Seems a little far off to me too, but also way better than looking to The Skinny Website for inspiration!

Oh, and here's the dude version of the women's Crossfit competition pictures. Sometimes a shirtless guy is also good motivation.

(No, I did not name those PDFs. And I don't want to hear about it, either.)

thursday notes

some notes:

as seen during yesterday's mid-afternoon run:
1. saxophone-only band playing christmas music near the ferry building
2. tons of tourists out and about in their newly-purchased "SF" jackets, due to the abnormally cold temps (low altitude snow, hail, 32 degrees when i woke up on wednesday)
3. old lady, swimsuit only, going into the bay at aquatic park for a swim. wow. it was maybe 45 deg during the day - and the bay's not much warmer. and some people think i'm hardcore. ha. 

other:

• i like to donate to the salvation army bell ringers in illinois. while the ones in california did have a rough few days with our winter weather, it's seriously nothing compared to the biting wind and nasal-passage-freezing temps of my home state.
  
• while that is true (that the sf winter is nothing), i am not prepared for cold temps here. i just finally got a space heater and still do not own a real winter jacket. so 32 is really freaking cold. also, older buildings do not seem to have any insulation.
  
• my work has real christmas trees in the elevator lobbies. that have been sprayed with a flame retardant. 
1. it is really refreshing to get a whiff of pine tree when you're getting off the elevator on a monday morning
2. it's strange to see a naked tree in the elevator lobby
3. don't get too close to that pine fresh scent, cuz you'll also get a whiff of flame retardant flavored carcinogens. 
• gretchen said that reading my list of 2010 activities made her tired. well, being a mom. being a working mom. being a working mom with a husband who travels. yeah. that makes me want to crawl under the covers for a while.
  
• i'm still somewhat in denial that it's december
• neither of these verbalizations of 2010 are really working for me: twenty-ten.. two thousand ten... how are you going to say next year's year?

three forwards

Three things. All forwarded to me. And I'm "forwarding" them to you here. Bwahahaha. Passive forwarding.

FORWARD NUMBER ONE 
Last night a UPS man came to the house to deliver a package...normal
He was wearing a Saftey Jacket, not the normal Brown...Different
He also had on a Bike helmet...Way different

I asked him what was up and he said that we here in Palo Alto are the third community (Portland, Seattle, Palo Alto...He mentioned that San Jose might be up soon and it seems like Oregon is about to boom) in the US where UPS is trying out bike delivery.  Every morning they drop of a tractor trailer full of packages in the neighborhood and then 6 guys with bikes and bike trailers ride around and deliver the packages. 

He said that it is really working well, he is way tired at the end of the day, but that it is much easier to get around town.

This is a trial, just for the holiday season, but he hopes that it will take off and become a full time gig.  Lets hope it does!!

---------------------------

I just found this about the Portland program:

"Shipping giant United Parcel Service (UPS) will add a new weapon to its arsenal in the holiday shipping battle this year — bicycles.

Jeff Grant, the company’s workforce planning manager for the Oregon district (that includes Vancouver, WA), says UPS plans to hire 28 bike delivery employees this season. In the Portland metro area, Grant says eight riders will be hired. I spoke with Grant via phone yesterday. He said the main impetus for the bike delivery program was to save money.

“For every three bikes we use for deliveries, we save an average of 17 gallons of fuel per day (compared to one truck). That’s about $50 in savings.” Across the entire district, Grant says for every three bikes used during the holiday season, UPS will save $38,000 in vehicle operation and upkeep costs.

UPS has purchased a fleet of mountain bikes outfitted with a 200 pound capacity trailer (with a cover for rain of course) and a set of lights. All bike delivery staff will be uniformed and helmets are required.


Before hitting the road, Grant says each rider will undergo a paid orientation and training session. The custom-tailored training will focus on operating the bicycle and trailer safely. “We realize the riders will be experienced already,” says Grant, “but have they ever pulled 200 pounds? Do they know the safe following distance in wet weather?”


According to Grant, he’ll ask delivery staff to deliver about 25-50 packages per day, compared to 150 stops a day for a normal “package car”. Grant added an interesting historical note to this story: UPS started delivering by bike in Seattle (where they were founded) over 100 years ago. Today, the company once again uses bikes for deliveries up in Seattle and Grant said it went so well they’ve decided to expand the program. 


UPS is looking to hire bike delivery people in Vancouver (WA), Portland, Salem, Corvallis, Eugene, and Medford. If you’re interested, call Maria Mason at (503) 978-7409 or email mariamason(at)ups(dot)com."

Image borrowed from FROG blog cuz I wanted to show a picture of the trailer.

FORWARD NUMBER TWO

Tired of feeling tired?

Get the WakeMate, the cell phone accessory wristband that lets you sleep less and feel better! 

http://www.wakemate.com/ 

FORWARD NUMBER THREE

Fantastic.  Greg sends along this DIY FYI:

"Good news is that I truly out did myself this year with my Christmas decorations.. The bad news is that I had to take him down after 2 days. I had more people come screaming up to my house than ever.Great stories. But two things made me take it down.

First, the cops advised me that it would cause traffic accidents as they almost wrecked when they drove by.

Second, a 55 year old lady grabbed the 75 pound ladder almost killed herself putting it against my house and didn't realize it was fake until she climbed to the top (she was not happy). By the way, she was one of many people who attempted to do that. My yard couldn't take it either. I have more than a few tire tracks where people literally drove up my yard."

Edit: I don't know what's up with all of the excessive spacing. I don't see it that way in my Compose screen in blogger. :( Sorry it's kind of unpleasant to read.

Crossfit video

Crossfit... I call it Ninja Training here, because, after describing my first class, G$ said, "Oh my god, you're doing ninja training."

I figured that I was the only one in this little, um, cult, that thought that Crossfit conjured up images of ninja-rey. Turns out, I'm wrong. Hilarious video making fun of Crossfitters... ff to around 3:15 if you just want to catch the ninja reference. As in "I'm going to hang rings up in front of my house and do muscle-ups... everyone will think a fucking ninja lives here."

Speaking of cults... marathoners are a little like a cult too. Good luck at CIM tomorrow, AM!

2010 plans

Races and events I'm considering for 2010. Happy to have company along the way.

Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon. (running) Feb 7. San Francisco.

Fight for Air Climb. (1,197 stairs) March 27. San Francisco.

Cinderella Classic and Challenge. (60 - 90 mi bike) April 10. Alameda County.

Wildflower Long Course. (half IM) May 1. Lake San Antonio.

Vineman 70.3.(half IM) July 18. Sonoma County.

Chicago Triathon. (Olympic) August 29. Chicago.

Nike Women's Half Marathon. (running) mid-late Oct. San Francisco.

Other stuff on my mind:

Bike ride around Lake Tahoe, ideally part of an organized ride since the road can be dangerous

Another Olympic distance tri, maybe Folsom again, or San Jose

10k running race, just cuz it's been a while

Levi's Gran Fondo road ride

Some other random bike century

Camping

TRAVEL! My poor passport didn't get used at ALL in 2009. So sad.

Wisdom of Coco Chanel

"A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous." – Coco Chanel
Fabulous. Check.
Now classy... hahahaha. 

Happy Friday, friends!

Worthwhile 7:33. Well said, Sen. Diane Savino

Intervals are your friend

This is a long post, cut and past from my weekly RoadBikeRider email. But, I want to be faster. And maybe you do too.

I also think this explains why my running performance was roughly maintained this summer, even though I only ran 1-2 times a week. One of those days was a speed - read: interval - day and the other was a longer run. Guess I should head back to the track again soon...


Does Interval Training Improve Endurance?

No doubt about it, according to a new study published in the November issue of the Journal of Applied PhysiologyGabe Mirkin, M.D., in his weekly ezine (available at http://www.drmirkin.com).

We're pleased because the findings underscore a training approach long promoted by RBR's Coach Fred Matheny. Here's an overview: and reported by cycling physician
 
Dr. Jens Bangsbo of the University of Copenhagen asked competitive distance runners to reduce their mileage by 25% but add 8-12 half-minute sprints 2 or 3 times per week. They also ran fast repeats of 0.6-0.8 miles (1-1.3 km) 1 or 2 times per week.

Meanwhile, a control group of runners continued what was basically long, steady distance training.

After 6-9 weeks, the control group showed no improvement. Runners in the intervals group, however, improved both their 3-km (1.8-mile) and 10-km (6.1-mile) race times by more than 3%. Half of them ran their best times ever, even though they'd been racing for more than 5 years.

That's remarkable improvement after only about 2 months of interval training.

Two years earlier, Dr. Mirkin reports, Dr. Bangsbo had done ground-breaking research supporting the theory that exhaustion of the "sodium-potassium pump" (not lactic acid buildup) is the major cause of muscle fatigue during exercise.

Now in his new study, Dr. Bangsbo shows how interval training improves a muscle's capacity to pump potassium back inside muscle cells during exercise. This helps athletes run or ride faster even in very long events such as marathons and multi-day bike rides.

Dr. Mirkin explains that a muscle can contract only if it has an electrical charge across the muscle cell membrane. This electrical charge comes from having sodium primarily outside the cell and potassium primarily inside the cell. These higher concentrations are maintained by the sodium-potassium pump in the cell membranes.

Dr. Bangsbo showed that during rapid contractions, muscle cells lose potassium so fast that it's doubled outside cells in less than a minute. The pump is overwhelmed. This reduces the electrical charge between the inside and outside, so muscle cells contract with much less force until finally they cannot contract at all. 

Now here's the good news. Repeated muscle contractions can increase the ability of the pump to put potassium into cells. The greater the force on a muscle during training, the more effectively the pump can do this. It's why a training plan that increases the number of intense efforts will give an athlete greater endurance.

How to Apply these Facts

You cannot gain maximum endurance just with continuous steady exercise, says Dr. Mirkin. It's also a message found in various RBR training eBooks written by Coach Fred, Coach David Ertl and Arnie Baker, M.D.

To improve your sodium-potassium pump, you need to put some serious force on your muscles. And probably the "easiest" way to do it is with interval training (although hard climbing and time trialing can work too).

Of course, Dr. Mirkin cautions, intense exertion can kill a person who has blocked heart arteries.* You should get your physician's permission before increasing hard efforts.

Once cleared, you can do intervals on the road or on a trainer. There are 2 basic types for this discussion:

---short intense efforts of 30 seconds or less

---long intense efforts of 2 minutes or more

"Intense" is for you to decide. It's possible to ride as hard as you can for half a minute, but the effort can't be quite as great when going longer.

Dr. Mirkin recommends 30-second intervals once or twice a week. Do 6, 8, 10 or more sprints during a session, then follow with a short, easy recovery day.

Because long intervals of 2+ minutes are more stressful, you can't do as many during a workout or do them as often. You may need 2 days of easy riding for recovery.

Rest Intervals

Athletes usually learn their ideal between-effort rest interval through experience, notes Dr. Mirkin.

You may want to rest until your pulse drops enough for you to begin to feel comfortable. Or until you're able to slow your breathing rate towards normal, or until your muscle discomfort begins subsiding. But don't wait for complete recuperation before going again.

Between interval workouts, if it takes longer than 2 days to recover you are probably riding too intensely, doing too many repetitions, or your rest intervals are too short.

Weekly Training Plan

In Dr. Mirkin's view, based on Dr. Bangsbo's research and his own cycling experience (he's 74 and a dedicated roadie), a weekly endurance training program should include a good amount of relatively slow miles, 1 or 2 workouts with numerous short intervals, and perhaps one workout that includes several long intervals. 


*I like how there's the "of course" part wrt getting killed by intervals. Thanks for throwing that in there, guys. Ok, fine. I'll finally find a physician and get a physical. However, if, after doing endurance sports with a fairly high level of intensity for the past 5+ years, it turns out I have something wrong with my cardiovascular system, I'm going to be seriously pissed off.

2000-2010: Science

I'm expecting that we'll start reading a lot of top 10 lists about the past decade. (BTW, Wow. That was fast. And let's not even think about what any of us thought we would and wouldn't be doing in 2010, back in 2000.) Today, I tease you with the Smithsonian Magazine's science blog's  Top 10 Great Moments in Science. 

10. Hurricane Katrina track forecasting

9. Gene therapy

8. Solving the Poincaré Conjecture

7. “Intelligent design” struck down in a Pennsylvania court

6. Evidence of water on Mars

5. Clinical trials show hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has problems

4. Climate change research wins a Nobel Peace Prize

3. A spacecraft maps the remnants of the Big Bang

2. The discovery of “Ardi,” our ancestor

1. The sequencing of the human genome

Check out the link for more info on each of these scientific achievements.

Yesterday was World AIDS Day.

I wrote this little blurb and then didn't post it yesterday. It doesn't seem particularly mind-blowing, or interesting. But, let's face it, neither is the majority of the shit I post anyway. And since most of my readers are my friends, ya'll are a smart bunch of cookies anyway, (nom nom nom I love cookies) and know that AIDS is a big fucking deal. So here you go... some stuff that you already know, but I'm telling you again anyway, because it was on my mind on World AIDS Day.

----------------

HIV+ people can live healthy, wonderful lives for a long time, given proper treatment. And this is good, very good. (The cost, and world-wide availability of this treatment is another topic entirely.) Regardless, existing drug therapies that limit the impact of the virus makes me optimistic for a true cure. That cure does not yet exist and people die from AIDS.

Get tested and be safe.

Trash sucks. Four options.

Trash sucks. Trash is something that is unusable and is an indication of an inefficiency.


Yes. It is inefficient for a manufacturing process to create substandard products that don't make it to market and end up as waste. It is inefficient to throw away food products that have rotted or are undesirable. E-waste - all of our old electronics that are either broken or outdated - an inefficient use of materials.

Still, trash happens. Not all of it has to sit in a landfill, though. We've gone through the four Rs before. Reduce, reuse, recycle, repurpose.

Let's review reuse and recycle, then look at two other ways of dealing with trash.

1.Creative reuse, or just plain reuse. Denim scraps (an inefficiency in the process of making jeans) can be used to create insulation.

2. Recycling. We're familiar with this - glass, plastic, metal, paper. There's a lot of energy that goes into recycling - sorting, hipping recyclables all over the place, then processing the post-consumer goods into a usable raw material for manufacturers. Then, of course, re-manufacturing that material into something that's hopefully really effing useful. And something that can be re-recycled, if needed.

3. Compost. Organics have this neat element called carbon. Ooooh. Carbon. It means that it can decompose and turn into fertilizer. And we need that to grow stuff. Way better for our planet than using nitrogen based fertilizers. Yay! Industrial composters can take all sorts of things, like waxy cardboard, used pizza boxes, bones, shellfish parts... But there's a big NIMBY issue with the collection, transport and processing (composting). Augh. That sucks.

4. Burn the shit. Yep. W2E, waste-to-energy. Burn trash and make heat. But, what about all the pollutants that are formed from burning the shit that should have been recycled (like plastics)? I mean, styrofoam burns super hot (a W2E'er called it "jet fuel"), but do you want that in your air? Fuck no. But... is it worse than the by-products of coal fired power plants? This article says that W2E is better than coal (check pg 3 for a graphy-graph)... and on-par with natural gas to create heat (not electricity). I don't love it, but I think it's better than having it sit in a landfill, releasing methane gas (sucks more than carbon dioxide, from a GHG perspective... and yeah, it can be captured and recovered from landfills, but it is not always done).

Thoughts? 

update:

the guy that i went dancing with a few weeks ago? out until 3:30am without a phone number? yeah, through the wonders of facebook (i finally ponied up and sent him a friend request) turns out he's "in a relationship." that explains that.

one online guy left - we went out once last week and will potentially go out again this week. nothing to snark at. he recently moved back to the bay area to live closer to his family. awww.

new boy stuff? meh, nothing too interesting to discuss. a potential crush and we may have already gone on a date. the biking date. always tough to decipher, but pretty much guaranteed to be fun because it involves a bike ride. i dig dudes who ride.

the end.

p a c m a n

Chomp chomp chomp.

By Etsy seller luckyduct

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yehuda Moon is a daily comic strip centered around a small, fictional bike shop.

Provisional ballot - nice to know for next Election Day

I'm registered to vote as a permanent absentee. It's great to avoid waiting in line to vote in person and I get to look up information on-the-spot, if I haven't gotten to research ahead of time.

Never knew what I was supposed to do with the little tabs that I tear off of the ballot before it goes in the mail. I just got an email from the SF Department of Elections with a link to the provisional ballot status tool. If I hadn't used that tab as a grocery list, I could have checked to make sure that my ballot was counted! (Provisional ballots are counted last, so that the counters can make sure that you didn't try to vote in person and through the mail.)

Four lines of snark, served up funky fresh, just for you, AB

So I forgot to actually disable my OKCupid account, as planned. Which turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because I would have missed these gems from various guys who emailed me recently. 
AB - I think this is the snark you were seeking...


Actually posted under a photo of a guy water skiing -
This is a few years ago, but its my body I'm working hard to get back to.
Awww. I understand. Most of us have that pic from a while ago, but really? Points for honesty, but don't do that. Especially when the pic looks like it was scanned in - meaning, pre-digital camera age. 


Wanna beta test my apps?
Srsly?!?!? Actually, thinking back to his profile, he may have actually been talking about applications. But in this context, and just as a random last line to an intro email, this comment seemed to imply something else. Ew. 


I guess this is where I say something clever or witty.....
Um... yep. You could do that. Or, not, you know. Your choice. Oh, guess you decided to go with the not. Well, thanks for letting me in on the play-by-play of your thoughts, random dude.


...and that you are a triathlon athlete. You go girl!
Really? You go girl? I'm going to go throw up in my mouth a little. And I'm pretty sure I used the phrase "triathlete" in my profile. For a reason. Because that's what you call a person that does triathlons. 


Anyway, I'm done with that - well, except the two guys that I'm emailing. But nothing exciting to report there.
.........................

In non-mansafari news, Flo Rida's "Right Round*" is excellent for running hill repeats. 


Yes, I listen to fun, trashy hip-hop and pop when I run. And need some more recommendations. Higher beats per minute = better. 


*Which, as AF and I learned, at work, is about strippers. Not about other going downs that may make one head's spin. So sad (I mean, that this is the kind of stuff that I learn at work. The song's fab either way.).

Another reason for ninja training...

I've been feeling a little pissy about guys. They make no sense to me. I think there's potential... and then nothing. Anyway...

I need to grow a thicker skin. It's winter and I should be wearing it anyway, to keep me warm in this frigid effing apartment*.

Anyway, the above comic is swiped from First Person Singular, who stole it from The New Yorker. I also like FPS's option of going with an OXO Can Opener. I've got one of those grippy things made out of old tires. Before I was gifted that one, I would actually use an old bike inner tube to help with the grip.

*I'm so buying a space heater with a remote control. How genius is that? Wake up a few minutes early, click heater on. Tiny apartment is warmed suffiiciently to get out of bed without suffering from shock due to leaving a 100 degree nest to a 40 degree apartment. Love it. 

Feedback

I called Southern Comfort last night to end things with him. Not that there were "things" to end, but just more let him know that I wasn't interested. It ended up being a much longer conversation than I had expected - he was kind of surprised and felt like there was the potential for this to turn into something.

So, he decided to give me feedback. Which, is actually pretty cool. And kind of funny. Here's what I remember...

1. He was not initially attracted to me physically (this is really what you want to say to a girl that you're trying to get to change her mind and go out with you one more time), but I won him over with my brain and wit (damn straight, foolio). And then he found me attractive.
2. I seem obsessed with exercise

No surprise here. I'd skip a workout or move it around for someone I'm really into, but otherwise, it's business as usual.

3. My apartment is a turn-off. It's very small and seems temporary. There's no couch or place to sit down, other than the kitchen or the bed. And it doesn't really seem like a home.

Yep. This is true. I have never put much effort into my apartments. Not a priority. However, I'm open to improvements. Anyone want to come over and decorate for me? I'm serious. I'll give you money, you go buy stuff, throw things away and make my place look better. I still only have a 10x15 space to work with, two bicycles and a bed. So good luck.

4. I look better with my hair down and curly, instead of pulled back or straight.
5. I always seem busy

Wine in a...

plastic bottle. Classy, huh? Wine in a Plastic Bottle > or < Wine in a Box.

Tough call, right? At least we're used to seeing wine in a box - and there are some boxed wines out there that are Not Franzia and better than Two Buck Chuck.

Treehugger profiled this wine maker in New Zealand, Yealand, who's trying to go for the most sustainable wine possible. He has tried using goats (they eventually ate the grapes) and guinea pigs (too unmanageable over the entire estate) and now mini goats to help remove weeds between the rows of vines. He's got solar and wind and uses pine needle oil as an herbicide. Still, shipping glass bottles all over the world = big carbon footprint. Enter the plastic bottle. 72 cases/pallet for plastic vs 56 cases/pallet for glass. And...

New Zealand's Yealand Estates says its Full Circle sauvignon blanc bottles are 89% lighter than 750ml glass bottles, which means they generate 54% less greenhouse gas emissions and use nearly 20% less energy to produce than glass.

Interesting, huh?

However, according to a 2008 report that was recently released by the Association of Post Consumer Plastic Recyclers just 27% of all PET is actually recycled. I was surprised to find that, in the US, the rate for glass recycling isn't much higher, at 28%. (Note that the glass rate in some parts of the EU are much higher - 50 to 90%.) So, if this product is going to be landfilled anyway, why not use the least energy intensive packaging? You know, aside from those nasty phthalates that can leach into the wine, or the fact that plastic is made of petroleum, which is a limited resource.

The PET wine bottle? Not a perfect solution. I applaud Yealand for trying something new.

Green Apple Books & Sarah Palin

Green Apple Booksis a San Francisco institution. A friend of mine came to visit and - over the course of his five days - managed to visit TWICE! They've got a wonderful selection of new and used books and tons of wit and love for the tongue in cheek...

As evidenced by their blog.

Green Apple Going Rogue

With all due to respect to the Republicans who were as overjoyed as I was (for different reasons, of course) by Sarah Palin's nomination to the McCain ticket last year, Green Apple is donating 100% of the profits from sales of Sarah Palin's Going Rogue: An American Life to the Alaska Wildlife Alliance.


For a respectful and professional review of the book, instead of our touchy-feely knee-jerk urban liberalism, see Michiko Kakutani's review in the New York Times.

Kind of reminds me of the folks who, during the 2008 election, donated to Planned Parenthood under Sarah or Bristol Palin's name.  

2:1

Successfully avoided:
Mountain of candy in the breakroom
Birthday cake for a coworker


Unsuccessfully avoided:
Checking email and Facebook every 30 seconds in hopes of getting something from a potential interest

Supercook.com

Supercook is a recipe aggregator that allows you to enter what ingredients you have on hand AND exclude other major foods (like dairy, meat, seafood).


Check it.
 

(Alli-gator, not an aggre-gator.)

Math. Such a good way to solve problems.

http://xkcd.com/539/

Now if only I could employ similar logic to a real life situations.

I'm not doing a great job with the online dating thing. I'm being completely passive and not even responding with any sort of regularity, which is probably making me come across as a total asshole. Which, sometimes I am... but in this case, I'm just not feeling terribly motivated to email with the randoms - and I'm having a tough time finding a free evening to even go out with anyone. (Which, we all know is actually code for "I'm not that interested," since I would move things around for the right person.) The beauty of the free site - no commitment. I'm going to finish up current conversations, give them my regular contact info if it seems right and be done within the next week.
I'll try to share funny stories with you anyway, since you seem to enjoy them.

Like this one:
Kissing Southern Comfort (this was a few weeks ago and I forgot to tell you)... and I smelled, something unusual... I blurted out, "Do you use self-tanner?"
"Uh, well, yeah, I did today, cuz, you know, I was taking Vicodin earlier this week since I hurt my back, and I looked really pale."
"Ok."
Needless to say, I was not so into kissing him anymore. Yuck!

Six.

1. I want someone to deliver Straus organic non fat plain yogurt, cottage cheese, bananas, chicken, celery, veggie burgers and Lara Bars to my door. Also, maybe something for dinner. (Yes, there's take out, but I don't actually want to call anyone, or wait for it. I'm looking for magic elves, or my non-existent mind reading boyfriend. Damn it, Edward Cullen, where are you?)

2. Bike ride today, because I  had the day off.

• I am blaming the shittasticness that is my riding speed and endurance on my 200 pound 3x deadlift yesterday and not on the fact that it's been about a month since I've gone on a ride.Yeah, I'm out of biking shape. But, damn, am I proud of that deadlift.
• On the second half of my ride, I encountered a kid who had a nasty wreck on the Sausalito bike path. Was going to call 911, since his head was bleeding, but enough of us assessed that he was okay - knew his name, was talking, pupils looked normal and he remembered his phone number. So I called his mom to pick him up. It looked like one of his pedal arms seemed to have fallen off his bike. OUCH!!! Poor kid. He was fine - bunch of road rash and bruises, but he also had a cut on his head and his helmet was there... but obviously didn't do the job. I see BMX kids riding around with their helmets unclipped all the fucking time. It's stupid. The helmet's not going to do anything if it's not properly secured to your head. I felt like an asshole, myself, because I stuck around for a little while, but then had to leave him with two other bikers because I didn't have lights on my bike and it was getting dark. And I don't want to tempt the irony gods quite that much.

3. In addition to elves, I'd also like a cleaning person. I am very seriously considering this one. Just 2x a month. I can't imagine it'd be that expensive, since my place is so small. It seems sooo bourgeois... but I really always come up with something better to do than wash my floors.

4. Did you know you have to floss the very back of your last tooth? Even though there's no other tooth next to it to trap anything in there, you're still supposed to run floss along it to help reduce plaque (or tartar?). I went to the dentist on Monday and came away with that fun fact. I'm pretty sure I'd gag myself if I actually had my wisdom teeth and had to floss all the way back there.

5. Oh, and hi blog stalkers! I didn't know I had so many silent readers. Hope I make you laugh sometimes.

6. I hope to see this band on Friday. Pomplamoose. Hilarious cover of Beyonce's Single Ladies. FF to around 1:55 for a little artistic license action.

Or, perhaps you're more into Michael Jackson, complete with xylophone? Oh yes.

Happy birthday, Sesame Street!

delicious hetch hetchy water and a shower scene

From a friend of a friend... (I watched the six finalists and was impressed. They're ~ 1 min each, so you've got time for it. Really.)

 

-------------------------------
Recently, some friends and I entered a 60 second water conservation video contest with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and we are among the top 6 finalists! The winner will be determined by votes and will be announced at City Hall on December 8th. The winning video will also get some air time on a local TV station.

We need your help! Please take a second to vote. I won't say which one to vote for but ours is called "Shower Your Garden." Also if you could pass this on to your network of friends, that would be greatly appreciated.

Here is the link:
http://sfwater.org/detail.cfm/MC_ID/18/MSC_ID/429/MTO_ID/733/C_ID/4787

Healthiness of food vs. cost of food

Stolen from my ninja training gym's Facebook page, who stole it from GraphJam.

Save $500 a month on transportation costs

By living in San Francisco vs the burbs.
I buy this if you live & work in the city. I'd like to take a look at the data - like, what if you live and work in Pacifica (monthly transportation estimated at $1246). Wouldn't that bring you closer to the Bay Area Burden's San Francisco figure of $792? I don't know. Check it out later on today when that site goes live with a calculator!


Since getting rid of my car, what are my transportation costs? I'm going to shoot for the high side of my potential cost...
Take the bus six times. $12
BART to Berkeley & back, twice. $16
Get two flats, need new tubes. $8
Plus my own time to fix the flats. Estimate 15 min per flat. Say I'm a $60/ hour kinda gal. $30
General bike maintenance, let's call it 30 min. $30
Cab fare. Estimate $10 a trip, three trips. $30
Get a ride from a friend, pay the bridge toll/help with gas. $15
= $141
Sweet.
It'll go up when/if I do ZipCar. A $50/year fee and then whatever trips I take in the ZipCar. And then longer trips where I spend more on gas money, or even renting a car. Let's say $200/month, on average. Still, pretty great. Of course, that does NOT include the $400 I just dropped on a plane ticket to go to Illinois this weekend. Or what I'll spend on my Christmas airfare. Or what I'd have to spend to get a new bike, or the $150-250 I expect to drop on getting my ride set up with some new panniers and rack. Regardless, I'm really friggin lucky to be able to be car free.

The text or call debate, nicely laid out in this article

We've got a woman who says that first dates should be arranged via phone and a guy who thinks that texting can be appropriate. All in a very cute iPhone text-ish format, for your reading pleasure.

Nerve article

I agree that I like a phone call. It does, as the woman argues, seem to show a bit of courage on the guy's part. They did leave out the making plans via email method, which seems to work well for me. I'm not too much of a phone person, but I am online pretty often.

I definitely blew off a guy that I met this spring who only sent texts. Last minute, hey are you around now?, sort of texts. That definitely didn't work for me and I would always respond that I was busy (which, I probably was, but I'm sure could have made myself free if I really wanted) and finally suggested that he call me, or make plans in advance. And he texted back, asking if it was ok to call me, or when he could call - something like that. Yeah, I never responded to that one.

improper invitation timing

southern comfort just invited me to an event at a winery for DECEMBER 12.

dude, that is more than a month away. i said that i'd be in town then and that it sounded fun (because i'm way too polite sometiems). srsly?!? december 12?

not to mention the fact that i can't even commit to buying a ticket to go home for christmas yet (i mean, i'm going, it's just a matter of *when*) and now i apparently have plans with a dude i've gone out with a few times... for DECEMBER 12?

this is whack.

ok. i just sent a follow-up alerting him to the fact that it's a little far in the future. with humor. hopefully he is not offended, but picks up on my concern.

Pets and sustainable living

A recent study has estimated that owning a dog is, from a global warming standpoint, equivalent to owning and using two SUVs, and a cat is about the same as a VW.

I'm not going to argue with the numbers - it all depends on where you draw your box when doing a life cycle analysis, and carbon footprint calculations can be argued all day long. However, what about the improved health of pet owners over non-pet owners? Surely a healthier human is less of an environmental tax than a sick person. What about those pets that are shelter, or rescue animals, compared to those that come from breeders?

I do have a bit of guilt around my (newish to me, as of April 09, but adopted at age 11) cat. I don't feel guilt about her food, for some reason, even though she's a total carnivore and her food isn't organic. Her litter is Swheat Scoop, which is made from non-food grade wheat, grown domestically (yay!). However, every time I clean out her litter box, I am adding a plastic bag (reused!) of feces to the landfill, which sucks. And I'm not springing for biodegradable litter bags. Nope.

Ba-ay Bridge is fal-ling down. Fal-ling down. Fal-ling down.

An AlertSF email:

The Bay Bridge remains closed indefinitely with no estimate for re-opening by Caltrans. Please avoid impacted areas and utilize alternate forms of transportation. No further AlertSF notifications will be made unless there is new information about the expected opening.

(Ok, I made one little edit. The email came with indefinitely spelled indefinately and so I fixed it.)

Oh, and "a lot of people" = 280,000 cars. Dayum. I am happy to not be one of them as part of my daily (all in-town) commute.
Background and informative article here.

down to one, definitely time for a new crop

Ze boy status.
Got my camera back from Cutie. He dropped it off at my house on Friday evening.
(AB - he had it b/c we were taking pictures at a friend's party and then I forgot to get it back from him.)
And I'm done with that one.

I owe Spork a conversation along the lines of, "You're married, that is not really appropriate to me. Call me in six months."

And I'm going to see Southern Comfort tomorrow evening. He's making me dinner. I called him while I was on my way home after a wedding on Saturday night and he was highly amused. I'm not totally done with him yet and he seems to be picking up on my need for a little more, uh, autonomy.

Potentials at the wedding? Eh, a few. One guy from San Diego who seemed very chill, in a good way...but then when he and I started talking, he was way too nervous. I'm very scary, I know. I think got me a drink at the after party, but didn't really hold my interest...especially since there were non-nervous, chatty cute guys around. Being the stupid drunk girl that I was, I probably set that drink down and went to talk to someone else. Or handed the drink to another friend. Who knows? I didn't expect to find anyone at the wedding.

I have had one random hook-up at a wedding reception... Few years ago a coworker of the groom (my cousin-in-law). My cousin loved that the last picture in the online photo album from the photographer was a shot of the two of us slow dancing and definitely not looking like we just met.

Anyway, time for a new group... perhaps at Halloween?

Belated weekend dating update

Wow. Thanks for all the advice about SST.

Amanda pointed out that I failed to update on Cutie. He's cute. And a little too "fresh out of college" still for me, just in the way he talks about his friends and drinking, etc. Also, a huge turn-off (Ugh. Please, there must be a better way to say that. Not my favorite phrase.) for me is listening to a guy complain about things being expensive. *I'm* not rich. I know that shit is expensive sometimes. But I don't want to hear about how you don't go to the movies because you just can't justify the $12 ticket. That's something my mom (love her, really) would say. Why are we out to dinner? I can't help but think about that when you say, "I've got it" about the check. I feel like an ass then.

Caveat - bitching about something like how expensive it is to buy a house, or tuition or something like that. Totally fine. But normal stuff? Don't tell me about how you save so much money by drinking at home instead of out at a bar - especially if we are in one.

Anyway... he still has my camera so I'll either have to see him again, or maybe he can drop it off for me.

Onward.

SST, or "Southern Comfort," as coined by CP.
We had made tentative plans for Saturday night towards the end of coffee, but then I said I needed to think about it, due to the whole age thing. You all are fantastic with your comments. Really, I loved hearing from you. So, I did email him back...after making him wait/suffer a few hours ;) and told him that I'd like to see him again. We emailed back and forth that afternoon and at some point I found out that my Friday evening plans fell through... and took him up on his offer to go to dinner. Why not? It's not every day that I meet someone and have fabulous, comfortable conversation and flirting, right? And let's not forget the kissable part.

Without going into tons of details... we ended up having dinner on Friday night, kind of last minute and then Saturday, as planned. And then he brought take out over to my place yesterday. Yes, this is a lot in a short period of time. But, whatever. Fun. SST/SC is charming and outgoing. The kind of guy who has a conversation with the bartender and knows people at various restaurants and could get dropped into a party and have a great time. He is generous with compliments and invitations - such as to join him and a friend at brunch on Sunday. But...

He has two (WTF?) cars. Neither is particularly great on the gas mileage.
He drinks bottled water sometimes (but then asked if it was okay to just use a filter, so there's potential for conversion there).
He does not seem sold on municipal composting.
I'm not sure if he's into outdoorsy stuff at all, but he does have a commuter bike and a surfboard.
He is, at least, acting, like he's really, really into me. It's kind of overwhelming. I don't want an insta-boyfriend.

Said that my cat is fat and made fun of her. Poor thing. Otherwise, got along with her quite well.
Oh, and there are the previously discussed issues. The 42 and short&slim.

Spork and I haven't gone out again. He called about going out on Sunday, but I was exhausted. I may try going out with him again, but with the potential to have the "you're still technically married, let's be friends (cuz he really does seem cool)" conversation.

And those are all the updates I have for now. I may email a few new guys tonight. We'll see.

Guilt. Guilt. Guilt.

Articles like this make me feel like such a hypocrite.

We've long said that cutting meat and dairy out of your diet, or at minimum cutting back deeply on their consumption, is one of the most powerful personal steps you can take towards mitigating climate change. But new analysis from Worldwatch Institute shows that the impact of raising livestock and poultry is much greater than previously thought and actually amounts to approximately 51% of global greenhouse gas emissions:

(Treehugger article, by Matthew McDermott)

I don't drive, buy mostly organic food, local when possible. I also try to purchase other locally made products - luckily, there are a few Northern CA organic personal care manufacturers (Alba Organics, for one). I generally remember to buy carbon offsets for my flights. But really... I eat meat. And dairy. And eggs. (you know, except when I'm vegan once a week) And switching to vegetarian (well, actually vegan) eating would potentially be the most impactful change I could make in my life, wrt global warming.

Augh. The guilt.

It gets worse, people. I don't always buy organic meats. Eggs are probably, eh 60/40 (organic/not). Why? It's not generally an accessibility issue. Totally a $ thing. Organic, free-range, grazing... easily double the price of conventional.

Whine.Why is this so haaaaaard? End whine.

I may smell a vegetarian week/month/planned out X days a week coming up. With my current ninja training 2x a week, half marathon training and trying to lose weight... I don't think that full-time veg is the way to go for me. But could I do vegan 1x a week and planned vegetarian 2x a week? Probably. I mean, I'm on my way towards an unplanned vegetarian day right now...

hidden dairy alert - pumpkin spice latte

Coffee. Oh, how I heart thee. My mom, she's a Starbucks mocha addict. Seriously, I can make her day by sending her a Starbucks gift card to fuel her crack purchases. There isn't a Starbucks where she works, so she has to slum it with Caribou sometimes. Poor gal. Anyway, unless I'm back in the I-L with Mom, or out with someone who's totally a Starbucksan, I generally don't go to Starbucks. There are lots of other options around that could use my coffee dollar a little more - from the small cafe, to Peet's (their regular coffee is battery acid, but a dash of milk/soy and it's delicious). And, if I'm near a place like Blue Bottle or Philz, then maybe it's my coffee dollar$, but it's fantastic coffee and worth the extra coin.

However, like so many people out there, I dig the Pumpkin Spice latte. It's a seasonal thing at Sbux and, like seeing people walking around with those red Sbux cups, is a nice reminder that the holidays are on their way.

I also dig food blogs. And while I'm not a raw foodie, or a vegan, I like reading their stuff now and again. Because I learn stuff like....
a soy Pumpkin Spice latte is NOT VEGAN! There's milk in thar! After a short search to find the actual offending ingredients (my usual blogger just commented that she was surprised to find that it wasn't vegan, without the explanation)...here you go -
Here’s the ingredient list for the Pumpkin Spice Latte:  sugar, condensed nonfat milk, sweet condensed nonfat milk, anotta (a colorant), natural and artificial flavors (which she couldn’t give me), and caramel coloring.

Along a similar vein, Happy Vegan Monday! Yep, I'm still rocking the weekly vegan habit. It's been well over a year now. Yay!

Cuz I'm a creep.

No, I do not have an earthquake/emergency kit ready. Yes, I need to make one.

However, this article helps to ease my mind (a little). The Hayward Fault, in East Bay, is c-r-e-e-p-i-n-g along - it moved 4.5mm in the past year. Seismologists think that these small movements help ease fault stress and reduce the chance for a big earthquake. Interesting stuff.

DOOOOOOOD.

Southern Story Teller is cute and we had a great coffee date. He brought me chocolates from See's and was wearing a stylish blazer with jeans, which is a guy look I totally love. Conversation was kind of bouncing all over the place and we were comfortable cutting each other off mid-thought and telling funny stories - not the interview-style first date that's all too common.

He's not tall. 5'8" is probably about right. And lean, so it's totally possible that I'd have the "I'm bigger than him" freak-out if we were to make out. He does look extremely kissable though.

BUT!!!
He lied about his age. WTF?!?! Apparently, one of his girl friends told him to say he's 36 because he doesn't really look like his real age, which is 42. 42. (I'm 31.) He was extremely apologetic about the whole thing and totally embarrassed. Of course, this was towards the end of our coffee break date, which - by that time I was totally thrilled to have met someone where there's the instant (in-person) conversation/flirting/cuteness/chemistry thing.

We discussed going to dinner on Saturday. I don't know. I've been purposefully leaving Saturday open to either do a last minute call to Spork (who said he was free and likes being spontaneous) or SST or friends or just kickin it at home with my cat and some hulu.com (Glee!!!). I am thrilled about the chemistry with SST and would have gone out with him again in a heartbeat... but do I give him a second chance?

fido has found a new home

i sold fido on monday night. it was very strange to do a large cash transaction out in the street on a monday night (thank goodness a friend came to help me), but it worked. fido is in the capable hands of a pizza delivery boy.

i am sad and relieved. fido was my first major purchase, pretty much ever. i bought him on my birthday in 2001, just six weeks after moving to california. and now... no longer mine. however, relieved to not have to deal with a car anymore. that street parking thing was killing me. i had to move my car 1-2 times a week, sometimes driving around for an hour to find a spot. major suckage.

so now, on to zipcar and motorcycles... and, of course, my bike. i'm planning to outfit my commuter with rear panniers again, get her a tune-up and maybe eventually buy one of these super sweet helmets -

Cutie, Spork, SST

Last weekend boy recap:
Saturday night - met a cute boy out (IRL, that's In Real Life). A friend of a friend. I thought he was with someone else... turns out he wasn't. I flirt back, upon realizing this... we share a cab back to our respective homes (there may have been a few kisses along the way to catch a cab) and are going out to dinner tonight (Thursday). He has my camera, so I *have* to see him again, but he's also very cute (that's the second time I said this, let's nickname him Cutie, even though it's generic) and seems fun. I mean, hey, he hit on a girl (me) wearing a mustache! (I was there for a birthday party - and the bday girl said to wear mustaches. Who am I to argue?) He's kind of a baby (27), but I'd date someone four years older - why not four years younger?

Uh, I have nothing snarky to say about Sunday's date. Spork was really nice. We had good conversation and even chatted a little about online dating and our experiences. Apparently a lot of the chicks on OKCupid are really flaky, just want to email, or suddenly freak out about meeting someone they met online in person because of the potential safety risk. I'm happy to kill that trend. I don't like emailing for years on end without meeting in person. Builds it up way too much and you're better to know sooner, rather than later, if there's that click or not.

So... the only potential issue? Spork is still married. Yeah, I could get snarky about this one. But, they split up in early 2009 and then didn't do the paperwork until August. And now they have six months (CA law) until the deevorce is final. I'm not the one to say whether or not Spork's ready to have a girlfriend or date anyone seriously. Only he knows that. But, I'm not going to lie - this does not scream potential LTR. A married friend also said that I shouldn't make a habit out of dating married men, regardless of their separated status. I may or may not agree with that one, but saying, "call me in six months when you're actually divorced" may be a good idea.

Tomorrow I'm going out for coffee with the Southern Story Teller. We've been having delightful, witty email banter and he works nearby. I am looking forward to hearing his accent... which will either make me swoon or think he is really, really stupid. He also appears to have a Corvette, which would have been cool to me when I was 16 and into cars... but not so much now. But, he also has a cat and does yoga and stand-up comedy. SST also claims to be 5'8". 5'8", as you may recall, is one inch below my standard height requirement (5'9" - my height + 6". And no, I won't justify this ridiculousness. I know it's silly and I don't care.). 5'8" can be okay... but 5'7" is not so much okay. Then we're even running into "I could be bigger than you" territory and I have a really tough time with guys who do not seem physically bigger than me (again, silly and I don't care.).

So... to wear heels tomorrow or not?

Fido and Spork

I'm finally doing it - Fido, my dear, beloved, but pain in the ass to park in my 'hood, and infrequently used car, is on Craigslist. Woo-hoo!

Also, things I'm doing.... telling you about my online dating experiences.

First date tomorrow evening. I do not have any witty nicknames for him yet, so for now, we'll call him Spork, because that's where we're going to dinner. He was kind enough to avoid the whole "who's paying/dutch/let me/no I have it" thing out of the equation and suggest a place (I recommended the neighborhood, since I thought it'd be easy for both of us to get to) and then say email that dinner is his treat. That's nice. I mean, nice that he's taking me out, but also nice that he's pre-emptively avoiding that check-dance at the end of dinner.

Concerns about Spork...
1. We haven't talked on the phone
2. His profile lists him as AT my min height requirement. Last time I did online dating, I found that quite a few guys would fib on the height thing, probably because of asshats like me with a stupid requirement. (My height + 6 inches, to allow for heels of any height. I know that's a silly, stereotypical thing, but I know that I prefer guys that are taller than me.)
3. Dinner? On a first date? Kind of a commitment, should there be an inital WTF?!? am I doing here kind of experience. I've historically gone with the first date beer/wine/coffee. Oh well.

Good things...
1. He does motocross racing. Cool, and great that he has a hobby that he loves.
2. Looks cute in his pictures
3. Has a hotdog dog!
4. Been emailing together for the past week
5. Kind/polite/sensitive to awkwardness (?) as evidenced by the dinner conversation
6. Emails have been relatively typo free, with good grammar (I'm a sucktastic writer, I know, but truly awful writing does not make the guy seem very smart, which is important to me.)
7. Some funny stuff in his profile
8. He asked me out, which I know is difficult to initiate

EDIT, to answer Amanda's questions...
Snark will happen sometime. I mean, next time I get a really good one who emails me, I'll let you know. In general, I've got to be positive about a guy before I go out with him, if I've agreed to see him. You dig? Otherwise, I wouldn't waste his time - or mine!

So, Spork contacted me initially. I believe this was after I gave him 4 or 5 stars or something on this "QuickMatch" thing - if both people give each other 4 or 5 stars, OkCupid lets you know and then you can contact each other, knowing that you both thought that the other was at least not a total, um, dork, to use your words, Amanda.

And I openly admit that the first date dinner is not usual for me! But... sometimes rules get bent.

Crock pot arrival!

Yeah! Programmable 5 quart crock pot arrived yesterday. (I am so thankful for the corner store guy. He accepted it from FedEx for me.)

I'm totally looking forward to trying it out soon. Please comment/send emails/links to your favorite crock pot recipes :)

Be a superstar recycler

So I have a profile up on OkCupid.com/. We shall see how it goes. I know at least one of you is excited for the stories :)

In my profile, I was asked to describe some things I'm good at. (Grammar, obviously not one of them... ending sentences with prepositions and all.) Making oatmeal with creative toppings, navigating my way around SF by bike, making friends laugh...a few other things. AND telling people what's compostable, recyclable and trash (Not so much with my eco-fabulous friends, but I do this at least three times a week at work!).

While I can't help all of you sort your trash because we live far away, I found a list of great tips that hold true with municipal recycling in general - check it.

Top 5 Recycling Faux Pas - and How to Avoid Them

1. Unscrew It! - Yes, plastic bottles are recyclable, but in many communities the bottle caps are not. If that's the case for you, then please unscrew the lid before you throw it in the trash. There's nothing more frustrating than sorting through the recycling, and having to remove each bottle cap one at a time. (see Ed Begley's tips on sorting out plastic recycling codes to find out what is and isn't recyclable.)
2. Look Inside - For some reason, every household I've lived in has had somebody that insists on trying to recycle all envelopes - even when those envelopes are mostly lined with bubble wrap. Besides the fact that a plastic/paper multilayered envelope like that will almost certainly be unrecyclable, it's also pretty valuable. Hold on to those things and use them again. (Remember - always look to reuse before you recycle!)
3. Clean It! - I have heard arguments that rinsing out cans negates the energy saved in recycling them, but I'm pretty sure that's nonsense (especially for households like mine where hot water is solar heated). One thing is for certain--sorting through sticky piles of gunky recycling is no fun. So please at least empty containers carefully before you discard them.
4. Not All Glass is Created Equal - In most communities, just because it's made of glass, doesn't mean it's recyclable. Usually glass jars and bottles are recyclable - but drinking glasses, broken windows, vases, light bulbs and the like are not. At least not in regular household trash. Check out Earth911 to find out what is and is not recyclable in your area.
5. Compostable Doesn't Necessarily Compost - Sorry, just because it says it's compostable, doesn't mean you can throw it in your backyard heap. Most PLA plastics require high-temperature commercial composting to break down. If that's not available, you may as well throw it in the trash.

Foot gloves

Kid from my ninja training gym has a picture and quote in SFGate.com/ today. Kind of cool - I was just working out with him this morning and then (electronically) open the paper and poof! there he is again. (Oh, and I think - like pretty much every other guy at my gym - he's married, so don't go all, why don't you go for him on me.) Anyway, the Vibram FiveFingers have been getting a lot of attention lately - they're the latest in barefoot running gear, kind of like the Nike Free was a few years ago. These have even *less* sole and let your toes really do their stabilization stuff individually. I'm a sucker for this kind of stuff and may try them out for some shorter runs this winter. We'll see.

For now... Vibram's FiveFingers foot gloves runaway hit

Green bubbly!

My apologies for the onslaught of food-related posts. This one, however, had to get a nod.

Korbel Makes Its First Champagne with Organic Grapes

Rock on. $15.99, start looking for it in stores now.

Also, I can't possibly be the only UIUC grad who has the hardest time typing champa-gne instead of champa-ign. Right?



Image swiped from Frugal Cafe Blog Zone