food junk

michael pollan is one of the most accessible people writing about food these days. he's just published an article in the ny times about the downfalls of 'nutritionism' and how focusing on nutrients instead of eating sensibly has not helped us get any healthier. and what to do instead, obviously. it's long, but very good.

a quote: "Nutritionism by and large takes the Western diet as a given, seeking to moderate its most deleterious effects by isolating the bad nutrients in it — things like fat, sugar, salt — and encouraging the public and the food industry to limit them. But after several decades of nutrient-based health advice, rates of cancer and heart disease in the U.S. have declined only slightly (mortality from heart disease is down since the ’50s, but this is mainly because of improved treatment), and rates of obesity and diabetes have soared."

it's fascinating how much advertising and industry impact what we eat! and horrible, too. it's also rediculous how obsessed Americans are with diet and 'being healthy' when we're one of the least healthy cultures in the world. strange times.

rubber life

one week into our annual tour of the southeast 'vacation' - i'm writing this from jesslyn and bryan's couch in athens, georgia. not only do they have internet, but it is wirelessly routing itself to my very own laptop. i love civilization.

north carolina was great. it was somewhat cold and windy, but beautiful. we got to spend some quality time in downtown asheville, and with mike and sydney and ben colvin. i like it there - it's very artsy, but also pretty diverse. it's one of those places in the south that don't necessarily feel like the south, until you encounter someone with an accent, or look closely at the foliage. finding a place to live could be a search, though. as with any desirable location, real estate prices are on the rise, and you're often paying as much for where the property is as for what the property is. i guess that's just common sense, but it seems like a bit of a screwy situation to me.

athens is nice too, though it feels like the community is divided into two more distinct sectors - the real college-y types (this is the home of the university of georgia), and the more music-y, indie types. it's interesting. so many fraternities and sororities. but the food is good. very enjoyable restaurants. hank had a tofu reuben at a restaurant called 'the grit' last night (he kept calling it 'grits' heehee) which was excellent. i mean, tofu reuben? amazing

so, i think we could be happy living in either of these places, if that were ever to happen. it's good to know there are other nice cities in the world. they're not as beautiful as missoula, maybe, and we'd probably never find a nicer apartment than the one we're living in now. but it's still comforting to know that missoula's not the end of the world.

lovely evening last night - hank and i got together with stu, bethany, and bethany's new beau, john, who we've never met before. we went to dollar sushi night at nara, which was great - hank and i both tried unagi for the first time. it was actually quite delicious. i'm usually averse to the fishy types of sushi (sushi actually isn't really my favorite thing to begin with), but the unagi looked really good, and it was. sort of buttery, almost.

then we went to the red bird wine bar, which is new, and awesome. red bird is practically the best restaurant in town, and it's in this great building, the florence hotel, but hadn't really utilized the space it had there to great advantage. now, it's perfect. i wish it had been open when everyone was here for our wedding. we split a great bottle of wine, some sort of cabernet, and had enjoyable chats.

then bethany and john went home, and hank and i went to hang out with stu a little bit more. we watched some awful tv and drank some pretty bad wine. then it was time for stu to go to bed, so we left. it was great to hang out with him again. we're going to go visit he and chelsea in helena with bethany sometime, probably in march. looking forward to it.

the pop

"if the coal does not seek to know the flame, can either fulfill its destiny?" the wisdom of the tao is inscrutable. especially as portrayed by the actors in the 1970's drama "kung fu." damn, i love that show. i mean, it's just brilliant. don't give me your petty critiques about the choice of david carradine to play a half-chinese man, or the bad acting, or the strange plots - it is quality. shhhh!
and now you can watch episodes from all three seasons on AOL with their high-quality video player. you can't see the whole season, but the episodes aren't really dependent on one another so you don't have to watch them all in order. granted, you also have to see annoying advertisements about 4 times a show, but it's better than tv. more flexible, too.
thank goodness for the internet.

i tried to do a more serious post yesterday, about the doomsday clock and all, but then my computer froze and i lost it. so i gave up on that.

cold sunlight

my friend emily started a new blog today, a chronicle of her weight loss efforts. it's inspiring, and i'm really proud of her for committing to her goals.

anyway, her ambition got me thinking about my goals and how to achieve them - that's always been kind of my problem. i have these ideas about how i want things to be, but i can never seem to go through with the things that make the future as i want it to be come about. badly written sentences aside, i think i need some sort of detailed daily plan or something that will let me know what i need to accomplish each day in order to achieve the goal i'm setting out to acheive. y'know? but then again, one of my other weaknesses is getting too caught up in thinking about EVERYthing i have to do, getting overwhelmed, and not doing anything as a result. hmm.

but i feel like i should have some specific sub-goals to my aforementioned major goals/"resolutions," if only just to have something to work towards every day. for example, for goal #1 i should either work on my masters project for a specific number of hours a day, or write a specific number of pages a day. for goal #2, i should limit myself to a specific amount of calories (even though i hate calorie counting), and commit to a specific amount of exercise/day or week. i guess these might seem like obvious things to be thinking about, but i need some motivation. i am the least self-motivated person i know. right now i can't even get myself to finish playing a freaking video game because i'm worried it might be too hard at the end. things are desperate! desperate i tell you. my lazy kitty does not help matters. it is very difficult to not want to cuddle with her when she's sleeping in the bed, dammit.

moving on ...
it's a sunny and frigid friday here in western montana, and it makes me wish i had a dog so i could take it for walkies. hank has a cold, so i can't take him, and i get lonely walking by myself. but i should probably try it more often. or maybe i could call one of the friends who are still in town and see what they are up to. i'm sure other people like to go for walks, too. it's only 4ish, and yet the sun already has that "feelin' old" look to it, when you know it's on it's way down, and the daylight is nearly over. i hate how early the sun goes down here in the winter. it makes me all confused, especially since i never get up until 9:30 or 10 in the morning. i need to start getting up earlier. ack. but first i should probably put my clothes away.

gosh i'm boring.

excellent article

from 'the atlantic' magazine - "Is God an Accident?"

i'm very interested in all this new research in neuroscience (well, new to me anyway), and the way the brain works and how we experience things that we may or may not actually be experiencing.

i am also currently reading "stumbling on happiness" by daniel gilbert, a psychology professor from Harvard. fascinating stuff, highly recommended.

perhaps i should get my next degree in neuroscience. haha! there i go again, looking into the future ...

dedication, determination, perseverance and purposefulness

because i'm not a fan of the word 'resolution' ...

but, my life has been somewhat lacking in those title qualities of late, and perhaps, if i write something down, i'll think about it more frequently and maybe even actually do something about it.

so, this year, i promise to myself to:

1. Graduate from EVST (my graduate program in environmental studies) by May;
2. Lose 15 pounds (or more, up to 25 lbs) in a healthy and productive way, and generally be more physically active; and
3. Write at least one personal letter, email, card, etc. to a different important person in my life every week (can write more, obviously).

there are a lot of other things i want to work on improving in my life in the way i live it, but i figured i should get something concrete written down, and i think these three are a good start. especially that first one. oi.

on the upside, i thought i should maybe count a few blessings while i'm thinking about what i don't like about my life. so here's a list of those.

#1 - Hank and everything that he does and is.
#2 - My family, and all the awesome additions to it that have occurred this year (I gained two sisters, a brother, a new mom and dad, a nephew, and a whole ton of cousins!)
#3 - Another year in Missoula, the greatest little city I have ever had the pleasure of living in.
#4 - Finding and adopting Cameo, the best kitty in the world. I am so grateful that she found her way to us, and that Hank loves her, too.
#5 - Comedy in all its many incarnations (god bless Eddie Izzard and Scrubs)
#6 - New spiritual awakenings, as tough as they may be.