Red-Handed Jill

There's a "new" concept in running - going barefoot. Going barefoot allows you to maximize your contact with the ground, since your toes are allowed to spread out. Studies have been done comparing the feet of folks who mostly go barefoot and the feet of people who predominantly wear shoes and the evidence is pretty overwhelming in favour of going barefoot. Over time, a person's feet will actually conform to the shape of their shoes. And the feet of women who wear heels a great deal of the time become downright grotesque. So going barefoot is actually good for your feet. And apparently, running barefoot is better for your feet, back and joints.

However, since the typical urban/suburban landscape contains all sorts of broken glass and other unpleasantnesses waiting to tear up your feet, a company has created a shoe that gives you the benefits of running barefoot with the protection of a shoe. Check this out:



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September 10th - 16th

I got to Amsterdam in the late morning and after getting my rental car squared away, I headed out. Folks had told me that it was going to be a big challenge driving there, particularly without a second set of eyes and a navigator, so in order to better prepare, I memorized my route (had plenty of time to do that on the ten hour flight over...) I made it to the hotel and, once I got my stuff stowed, walked around the neighborhood to get myself situated.

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Have you ever discovered something that is just so good it's almost addictive?

I'm a big fan of salty, savoury snacks. And I like salt on some sweet snacks as well. For example, a sprinkling of salt on fried bananas really heightens the flavour. Same with chocolate - dark chocolate with salt is heaven in a bar. (I've really become a fan of Vosges chocolate with Himalayan salt bars - although I prefer dark to milk chocolate, these have a respectable 41% cacao content.) And I've recently discovered salted caramels. I wonder how these delectable bites of bliss made it under my radar for so long - they are just SO GOOD.

Here's the best recipe I've found for them so far. If you can make cookies without burning 'em you can do this. It just takes the ability to pay attention and follow the directions (really - stir frequently.)

So without further ado...
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And lots of other good food as well can be had at Merit Vegetarian restaurant in Sunnyvale, California. It's a hole in the wall in one of the business regions - almost hidden, unless you know where to look.

Most restaurants I go to have only a few things I can eat - I'm almost overwhelmed by their menu because I can eat everything in it and I'm just not used to having that many food choices. And everything is incredibly good - their menu is mainly Southeast Asian with some interesting twists in it. If you're ever in the area, get yourself over to this restaurant as fast as you can.

http://meritvegetarian.com/

"Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?" (High Fidelity)

Apropos of nothing at the moment except that I'm listening to The Smiths right now.


Addendum: enough musical angst - I've moved onto Bob Marley. ("Don't worry, 'bout a thing, 'cause every little thing's gonna be alright...")

Years ago I saw Will Ackerman in concert and between sets, he told stories. One of his tales involved a time when he was in a fairly bad funk and in the middle of it received a fortune cookie; the fortune read: "Sinners may repent but stupidity is forever." This seemed fairly apropos to his situation at the time and he went even deeper into his funk.

Soon, he found himself headed toward a gig in Seattle, a journey that flew him past Mount St. Helens, which had recently erupted. He had hoped that his side of the plane would be the one with the view of the wreckage but as was his luck at the time, it wasn't. But since it was fairly dark, he didn't feel too bad about it. Then he observed a man on the other side of the plane attempting to take a picture of the scene. The man held up his camera to the window; then, upon discovering that it was too dark, snapped the flash attachment onto his camera. Rather than explain the logistics of lighting up that section of the state of Washington, Will handed the man his fortune.

http://failblog.org
http://itemnotasdescribed.com/

I just read something in the news today that really shook me up. A woman decapitated her baby and ate part of him, including his brain. When the police showed up, she told them that Satan made her do it. It was all Satan's fault, officers! Now, the whole process had to take quite a bit of time and she had plenty of opportunities to stop. But since "Satan" was controlling her actions, she was able to continue doing the unthinkable because of course she wasn't accountable for what she was doing. Her relatives alluded to mental illness but I believe that if she wasn't overly-religious and thus not apt to blame an outside source for her actions, she may not have gone through with it.

I think that must be part of the allure of organized religion - you don't have to have any real accountability for your actions. Did something bad? No problem - the devil made you do it. I realize that this puts me very much at odds with religious folks, but I'm of the opinion that this is a really dangerous mindset, one that I'm sure has been used to justify an entire history of atrocities (other than the host of atrocities that have already been connected with organized religions...)

And not being religious, I can't understand this kind of thinking at all. My actions are my own - I can pick apart my motivations (and do all the time) but at no time has it ever occurred to me to blame a mythical outside source. This is just inconceivable.

Recently, upon skimming the local news, I read about a local aquarium that recently celebrated the birth of some rather rare sharks. I found this rather fascinating, until I got to the part of the article that mentioned the curator of husbandry. I knew this woman. And recalling her brought back lots of memories around why I changed careers from marine biology to tech.

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I spent my birthday weekend in the back woods of Calaveras County at a black powder rendezvous. Essentially, this involves re-creating a historic event: back in the day, mountain men (and women) lived fairly isolated lives but they were a vital part of the local economies. In order to facilitate trade, rendezvous were organized so that they could buy, trade or sell goods, as well as catch up with folks they otherwise wouldn't get to see.
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... or at least it does for some people.

To the person who posted that anonymous and ignorant comment - did you know that there are scientific organizations that, if you send them a sample of your DNA, will help you discover all sorts of surprising things about your family history? I'd say it's a good bet that you didn't know anything about that. You might want to give knowledge a try rather than automatically posting anonymous snarky remarks that do nothing but expose your ignorance.

What was it they said about the best laid plans of mice and men? We HAD planned on sailing yesterday but our boat had other plans.

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Happy Mardi Gras!

Laissez le bon temps rouler!

Jack just made me very happy.

He actually made an appointment to see the doctor this week. He's been talking about going for three years and although it's not in my nature to nag, I did hint at it from time to time. And he's finally going. Did I mention it's been ten years since he's been to the doctor? And that it was for emergency surgery?

I don't know what the deal is about men and their reluctance to seek medical help. Is the underlying reason the same one that prevents men from asking directions?

Last night, the Bloody Scupper Plunder Club had its first public gig after a year and a half hiatus. We sounded pretty decent, considering how rusty we were - it's not as though we had stopped playing, but we hadn't really done any performing and there were some songs that we hadn't played in a long while.

Last night was also my singing debut. Drummers tend to avoid singing as they can get pretty damn winded playing the drums and it's tough to coordinate keeping a fairly complex and changing beat going and concentrate on singing at least reasonably well. But, since we voted the fourth member out of the band and she was the harmony singer, someone had to fill the void. So I girded my loins and decided to give it a shot. I didn't see anyone wince last night - perhaps they were being kind...

The upshot is that we did well enough that we were hired as part of the regular Thursday evening entertainment schedule - every second Thursday in the month. And we picked up another gig as well - traveling musicians at the Tartan Day gathering in April. So it looks like we're back in the music business.

I want one of these:



Jack and I are celebrating Chinese New Year with friends of ours next weekend and crowds permitting, maybe I'll find something like it.

Well, it looks like I'm back to being a professional musician. The Bloody Scupper Plunder Club was invited to play at Ye Olde Royal Oak on Thursdays, for some pay and free grub and drinks! We took a break for awhile to regroup and haven't performed in public for awhile but we've been practicing. So when the time comes, we'll put on a pretty decent show. I'm fairly excited because I'll be playing my ukulele as well as my usual bodhran (not at the same time, mind you...)

It seems to me that many people don't realise that economics is a social science, based on human behavior and reactions. The CEOs of companies who are laying off employees right and left certainly don't get it. Part of the reason we are in our current mess - besides greed - is short-sighted thinking by people who have been making decisions that affect the lives of so many others. If I were in a position to dictate how companies were run, I'd make these two changes:

Companies would be a lot smarter about cutting costs. In particular, rather than laying off a chunk of their employees, they should allow the employees to vote whether they would be willing to take a pay cut rather than potentially lose their jobs. I'll bet the vote would be for the pay cut. And the cuts would be higher for those employees in the higher ranks, since they can afford pay cuts more readily than those at the lowest echelons. That way, since folks wouldn't be so worried about losing their jobs, they wouldn't be so paranoid about making new purchases. They might buy less but the economy would dip slightly, rather than crash, and I suspect would rebound much more quickly.

A second rule I'd make is that CEOs can only make a certain number of times what the least-paid employee makes. No more of the CEO making $25,000,000 a year and folks on the manufacturing floor making $25,000. If the CEO wanted more money, he or she would have to raise everyone's pay, within certain parameters. Companies would not only save money (so they could sock it away for tough times), but this would also promote more solidarity and give folks the sense that they weren't just a cog in the wheel.

But of course, most folks at the higher echelons in companies didn't get there by being either pragmatic or altruistic, so I don't see either of these things happening, sorry to say...

Blessed rain! The land was starting to get parched, which is so odd for this time of year. A couple of years ago, Northern California experienced forty days where only three out of them didn't rain or snow That was much more typical, but with the recent climate wackiness all bets are off.

A friend in Calaveras isn't looking forward to the snow, since he lives too far away from services such as road clearing, but we truly need it. Sorry Patt, but I'm hoping for a lot more rain. Keep a shovel handy.

Our soon-to-be president Obama has asked that we make today a day of volunteer service. However, a lot of folks don't get the Martin Luther King holiday off from work to do volunteer projects. But there are lots of ways we can help our communities even if we're at our desks or out at lunch such as:

*Make an on-line donation to your favorite charity
*Give the homeless guy on the corner a buck
*Drop off canned food at your local food bank
*Donate pet food to your local animal shelter

Even the smallest efforts add up, so anything you can do will make a difference!

Don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out, Dubya!