Driving Distance from Door to Desk: 2.5 miles
Door to Desk Time Driving: 7 minutes
Biking Distance Door to Desk: 2.3 miles
Door to Desk Time Biking: 26 minutes
Number of Days I've biked to work since moving in: 3
Number of Days per week I plan to bike to work: 4
People I startled when announcing that I was passing on the left this morning: 6 (all of them)
People at work who were impressed by me riding my bike to work: 9
Times I've had to get off my bike and walk it up a stupid hill: 7
Times I got lost on the bike paths: 5
Approximate calories I burned each way:143
Approximate total calories burned: 858
Fuel savings per week: 1 gallon (about $3.50 these days)
Fuel savings per month: 4 gallons (about $14)
Units of satisfaction that I get from biking to work: about a hundred billion.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Politely Vegan
So, my friend Erin who eats vegan at home got tired of everyone asking her what she eats, so she started a blog (politelyvegan.blogspot.com). We got to talking one day, and I was like, THAT'S GENIUS! And invited myself to be a contributer to said blog, even though I don't always eat strictly vegan.
Anyway, if you are at all interested in vegan/vegetarian cooking, you should check it out, because hopefully we will be awesome and continue to post our menus and reviews so it should end up being a good resource for finding tested recipes.
Also, if you HAVE delicious vegan/vegetarian recipes you can leave links and comments and if you're cool enough Erin might even let YOU become a regular contributer too!
Seriously, Go check out Politely Vegan.You will not regret it. I promise.
Anyway, if you are at all interested in vegan/vegetarian cooking, you should check it out, because hopefully we will be awesome and continue to post our menus and reviews so it should end up being a good resource for finding tested recipes.
Also, if you HAVE delicious vegan/vegetarian recipes you can leave links and comments and if you're cool enough Erin might even let YOU become a regular contributer too!
Seriously, Go check out Politely Vegan.You will not regret it. I promise.
Monday, August 6, 2012
The Ultimate Road Trip
Did you know that there's a professional ultimate frisbee (ahem, disc) league? There is. It just started this year. You can check out the American Ultimate Disc League's website. Having learned of the existence of such a thing as professional ultimate frisbee from my new friend Joe, I determined that attending a professional ultimate frisbee game was an experience that I was required to have in this life. LUCKILY! I discovered my urgent need to attend a game just a few days before the eastern division championship. So on Saturday after spending some time unpacking my house (a job that is nearly done, finally) I gathered up Joe and Annie and we headed to Philedelphia.
Of course, we had to stop at get philly cheesesteaks. We went to a place called Pat's King of Steaks and it was delicious.
The game was an absolute joy to watch. Seriously. We were rooting for the Philedephia Spinners and they turned in a nearly flawless game. Beautiful passes and good momentum and just superb execution. Which is why they crushed their opponents ending the game with a huge point spread.
And then we had to make the three hour drive home. It was way past my bedtime, which means that words began flowing out of my mouth and I couldn't stop them and now my new friend Joe knows WAY more about me than he ever really wanted to. But mostly it was just a really fun ans awesome thing to do. Maybe we'll have to go next season too.
Of course, we had to stop at get philly cheesesteaks. We went to a place called Pat's King of Steaks and it was delicious.
The game was an absolute joy to watch. Seriously. We were rooting for the Philedephia Spinners and they turned in a nearly flawless game. Beautiful passes and good momentum and just superb execution. Which is why they crushed their opponents ending the game with a huge point spread.
And then we had to make the three hour drive home. It was way past my bedtime, which means that words began flowing out of my mouth and I couldn't stop them and now my new friend Joe knows WAY more about me than he ever really wanted to. But mostly it was just a really fun ans awesome thing to do. Maybe we'll have to go next season too.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Potty Talk
There are two kinds of automatic toilets in this world: the ones that you're afraid are never going to actually flush, and the ones that flush too soon. The ones at the office I was in last week were pf the latter type. Seriously. If you just leaned a little for more... leverage, if you know what I mean, they would flush. Imma have to vote no to that. Though it's better than the ones I used once that I somehow always managed to make flush twice. Every time.
Tangentially, I've found I get a little flustered when a public toilet is NOT auto flush. Like, you really going to make me touch the toilet flush handle with my HANDS!? What really weird is that my new office has manual flush toilets, but automatic sink faucets.
Related: the stalls in the bathroom at my new church building were obviously designed to get as many toilets in the smallest space possible. What they were not designed for: having toilets AND people in them. It requires a bit of fancy maneuvering to get in, get the door shut, and do your business, if you know what I mean.
Not quite as relevant: I was at theater the other day and the bathroom there had the fancy new hand dryers in them. Have you seen those? The ones where you like dip your hands into a jet stream of air that blows your skin into ripples. This particular dryer brand claimed to be the fastest and most hygienic hand dryer ever. Really? I'd like to see the studies on that. In what ways is this hand dryer more hygienic than any other automatic hand dryer with a sensor.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Gym Shower Fail
I'm taking a hiatus from running. The tops of both my feet have started bothering me while running, and my hip has been kind of achey, and it's always 100,000 degrees when it's a good time for me to run. So instead, I've decided that I'm going to go to the gym at work and use the elliptical.
The first day that I was going to go to the gym, I very carefully packed my bag with a towel and clean underwear and my hair dryer and make up because I was going to go out to dinner with a friend afterward. However, he texted earlier in the day and moved up out date by an hour. No time for the gym.
The next day that I was going to go to the gym, I wussed out and decided to visit Adopted Family instead.
Monday was the third day that I was going to go to the gym. I carefully packed my bag with gym clothes, etc planning to gym and then take a quick shower before the 45 minute drive home. Because I did not want to smell myself for 45 minutes. As I was changing, another lady stepped out of the shower wrapped in a towel and I realized that I hadn't packed a towel. Because I'm awesome.
Today was the fourth day I was going to gym. Remembering my 45 minute ordeal from Monday, I very carefully packed a towel so that I could shower. This was going to be extra great, because I was meeting friends later for half price movie night and that way I wouldn't have to drive all the way home first. When I got to the gym and started changing, however, I realized that I hadn't packed any clean underclothes. Because, as I mentioned before, I am awesome.
And then traffic was bad, so the commute was actually an hour and change. Gross.
I feel like it shouldn't be that hard to pack a gym bag...
The first day that I was going to go to the gym, I very carefully packed my bag with a towel and clean underwear and my hair dryer and make up because I was going to go out to dinner with a friend afterward. However, he texted earlier in the day and moved up out date by an hour. No time for the gym.
The next day that I was going to go to the gym, I wussed out and decided to visit Adopted Family instead.
Monday was the third day that I was going to go to the gym. I carefully packed my bag with gym clothes, etc planning to gym and then take a quick shower before the 45 minute drive home. Because I did not want to smell myself for 45 minutes. As I was changing, another lady stepped out of the shower wrapped in a towel and I realized that I hadn't packed a towel. Because I'm awesome.
Today was the fourth day I was going to gym. Remembering my 45 minute ordeal from Monday, I very carefully packed a towel so that I could shower. This was going to be extra great, because I was meeting friends later for half price movie night and that way I wouldn't have to drive all the way home first. When I got to the gym and started changing, however, I realized that I hadn't packed any clean underclothes. Because, as I mentioned before, I am awesome.
And then traffic was bad, so the commute was actually an hour and change. Gross.
I feel like it shouldn't be that hard to pack a gym bag...
Sunday, July 22, 2012
On Eating
When I lived in Key West I participated in this organic vegetables co-op called Annie's Buying Club. The theory was that sourcing organic food in bulk reduces the cost, so a bunch of people pool their money, Annie orders bulk organic items, and then distributes a box every week. Or in my case every other week. I didn't care so much about the organic part (I think that organic farming has it's own tradeoffs), but when I joined I was looking to add vegetables in my life, and I was sick of broccoli. The co op forced me to learn new cooking techniques and to use tons of different vegetables, some of which I'd never even heard of.
The thing I liked most about the box was the Iron Chef like element to it. Here's a pound of green beans, kale, and and an eggplant... Go! Annie's provided an extensive list of recipes for the produce in the box and it was fun to scour the Internet to find a recipe because all I had left was, say, carrots and kale. It actually made menu planning really easy because I had to plan around the box.
By the end of my time in Key West, though, I was starting to feel like I wanted a little more control. I discovered that I'm not a huge fan of most root vegetables (though unlike many people, I do like beets), and I learned that I have exactly zero skill with Asian cooking which means that daikon radishes and bok choy were a major cooking challenge for me. So while I did look into the CSA option when I moved to maintain that same "here's a bunch of ingredients, go!" thing, in the end I decided that I didn't want to join one, first, because I wanted more control, and second, because CSAs source from a limited geographic area (unlike Annie's which sourced globally) which limits the kinds of produce you get.
It's been kind of hard, though, to make the shift between "here's a bunch of ingredients, plan a menu" and "here's a menu, go buy a bunch of ingredients." I'm still learning how you decide what to make, because there are SO many yummy looking recipes in the world, it's hard to decide what I want without any limiting factors. So, all of you people who regularly make menus and then go shopping, how do you decide what your menu is going to look like? Where do you get your inspiration from? How do you avoid getting stuck in ruts? How do you sort through recipes?
Tangentially, here is what I'm planning to make this week (totally stole this idea from Erin):
by Simply Recipes
on Serious Eats
by Serious Eats
The thing I liked most about the box was the Iron Chef like element to it. Here's a pound of green beans, kale, and and an eggplant... Go! Annie's provided an extensive list of recipes for the produce in the box and it was fun to scour the Internet to find a recipe because all I had left was, say, carrots and kale. It actually made menu planning really easy because I had to plan around the box.
By the end of my time in Key West, though, I was starting to feel like I wanted a little more control. I discovered that I'm not a huge fan of most root vegetables (though unlike many people, I do like beets), and I learned that I have exactly zero skill with Asian cooking which means that daikon radishes and bok choy were a major cooking challenge for me. So while I did look into the CSA option when I moved to maintain that same "here's a bunch of ingredients, go!" thing, in the end I decided that I didn't want to join one, first, because I wanted more control, and second, because CSAs source from a limited geographic area (unlike Annie's which sourced globally) which limits the kinds of produce you get.
It's been kind of hard, though, to make the shift between "here's a bunch of ingredients, plan a menu" and "here's a menu, go buy a bunch of ingredients." I'm still learning how you decide what to make, because there are SO many yummy looking recipes in the world, it's hard to decide what I want without any limiting factors. So, all of you people who regularly make menus and then go shopping, how do you decide what your menu is going to look like? Where do you get your inspiration from? How do you avoid getting stuck in ruts? How do you sort through recipes?
Tangentially, here is what I'm planning to make this week (totally stole this idea from Erin):
by Fat Free VeganTropical Black Bean and Collard Green Soup
Pesto Stuffed Zucchini
by Simply Recipes
Zucchini, Corn, and Poblano Tacos
on Serious Eats
Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Charred Chile and Corn
by Serious Eats
Thursday, July 19, 2012
A Series of Short Epistles
Dear 2012,
Please stop picking on me. It's not funny anymore.
Love,
Not Your Own Size
Dear Chipotle,
It was great catching up with you after our long separation. Let's get together soon.
Yours,
Is There Any Cilantro In My Teeth?
Dear Reed's House,
Thanks for letting me stay with you, but is there anything we can do about the lighting situation in the vanity? Please?
Sincerely,
Had To Put on My Make-up in the Car
Dear Work Wardrobe,
I'm sorry I've been neglectful of you and you're now sad and depleted and one size too large.
Respectfully,
About To Be Much Poorer
Dear Household Effects,
Don't worry; I'll be springing you out soon. Hang in there!
XOXO,
Can't Wait To Move In
Dear Work,
I think we are going to be friends.
Much love,
Having a Pretty Good First Week
Dear Machu Picchu,
Maybe next year...
Disappointedly Yours,
Not Enough Leave
Dear Washington Metro Area,
I get that it's Summer, but let's bring it down a notch, mkay?
Regards,
Would Like To Go Running
Dear Ernest Hemingway,
Fine, you wrote one good book.
Grudgingly,
Just Finished Old Man and the Sea
Dear Target,
I don't understand how my cart magically fills up when I'm with you. Please stop having such awesome stuff. Just kidding. Please don't ever stop.
Yours Forever,
I Only Needed Three Things
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