Punching things for fun and profit

Okay, so the profit goes entirely to Chaska Krav Maga, but the fun is all mine! Mine, I say! Last night was my tenth class, though it feels like I've been doing it for longer. Vacations and floods and random canceled classes intervened, but I'm mostly on a twice-per-week schedule.

I never knew how fun defending chokes and punching things could be. If I had, you can bet I would have signed up for this years ago. I was a bit skeptical at first. I mean, doing martial arts for the first time at age 30? Turns out to be an idea of legend. Tuxette started it; it's all her fault that I've found a physical activity that it actually enjoyable to supplement my biking. 

Like made of carbon compounds?

This is an organic pepper that I grew; it's organic because I didn't care enough to do anything to it.

As a chemist (sort of), the word organic has a very specific meaning: relating or belonging to the class of chemical compounds having a carbon basis. So, I'm organic. You're organic. Your dog is organic. And pretty much all foodstuffs are organic.

To the USDA, organic has a different meaning: foods that are grown without antibiotics, hormones, pesticides, irradiation or bioengineering. That's it. It does not mean that the food is healthier than foods that do not bear the apparent gleaming gilded halo of a sticker that says "Organic." It has no relationship to processing. You can process the bejeezus out of ingredients that were grown without pesticides.

If you had a batch of organic corn, you could make organic high fructose corn syrup, and I think we can all agree that's just as bad as regular high fructose corn syrup. There are organic toaster pastries, but I can assure you that regular old oatmeal would be a better choice.

Organic can mean a lot of things, but it is not a synonym for healthy.

30 Days of Biking

We've had a rather snowy winter relative to last year, so I was not able to get any biking time in March. Last year, I had been biking for about 3 weeks by this time, but the snow finally melted off of the trails in time for April and the 30 Days of Biking challenge, which I am doing because I otherwise wouldn't push myself hard enough this month. There are only 2 months until the MS 150 and I hope to get at least 350 miles in before then.

It's still a bit cold and some of the trails are closed due to being at the bottom of the Mississippi River, but biking season is officially on! (Yes, I know, the really hardcore people don't observe biking season, but I was too busy drinking hot cocoa and being cold in January to bother shivering through a bike ride and/or nervously waiting for hilarity to ensue in the game of bike vs. ice.)

Nature: Asserting its dominance since the dawn of time

Every once in a while, I'm struck by the notion that this land is not ours. Of course, that's obvious when something like Japan, Indonesia, Haiti, or New Orleans happens. But it never strikes me until I'm standing before nature myself, even though the impacts that I see with my own eyes pale in comparison to the aforementioned catastrophes.

It hit me when I was standing in Pompeii looking toward Mt. Vesuvius. People who stood in that exact spot before fell to the whim of that cantankerous beast. That I could stand there then is only because the volcano allowed me to.

And last night, as I walked down to the newly expanded Mississippi River, I was in awe of how she just takes what she wants and anybody with good sense gets out of her way when she does so. This isn't even a particularly bad flood; everything that is flooded now floods every year. That's the nature of the river, and if we want to live here, we have to do so around it.

And it's so very tempting to kayak down the bike path. Too bad I don't own a kayak.

Land of Enchantment all over the place

I had such a good time last year (the Lake is a Lie incident excluded ;^) that I decided to do another epic driving vacation this year. We have an awesomely beautiful country (unless you're not from the US, in which case I'm sure your country is perfectly lovely as well). This year I decided to venture to the southwest, where I've never set foot before.

March 5-8 were spent in Albuquerque, which is the only place to which I've ever traveled and thought "I could totally live here." The photo below is from Old Town, which is basically where you go to give Albuquerque all of your money.


On March 6, I ventured up to Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument, where I hiked through the very aptly named Slot Canyon. These were some pretty spectacular rock formations.


On March 7th, a friend and I went to Petroglyphs National Monument which is a 1-mile hike along rocks decorated with ancient petroglyphs and more modern graffiti art. Our hatred of vandals intensified throughout the walk. Specifically, some guy named Tom.


Later that day, we went to the aquarium in Albuquerque, which was perfectly lovely but had nothing on the parking lot of said aquarium. For the parking lot contained a road runner! And he ran right at me! He didn't catch me, though, for he is neither as large as he appears on TV nor a coyote.


I woke up in the slightly wee hours of March 8 to drive to Arizona where there was, shockingly enough, snow. Maybe an inch. Enough to leave semis and cars strewn about the ditches in its wake. In any case, I made my way to Petrified Forest National Park, which includes a goodly portion of the Painted Desert and is very scenic. This park was largely a driving park; there are only a few short hiking trails and a lot of the petrified wood has been stolen/vandalized. The top photo is of the Painted Desert with a bit of snow, and the bottom photo shows a petrified log sitting atop the rocks.



On March 9th, I was able to make a photo tour at Tonto National Monument, which features two sets of ye olde cliff dwellings. The upper cliff dwellings (where we hiked to) are only available by guided tour. Thanks again, vandals. Once again, the views were spectacular and made it entirely worth the long slog to the top. It was especially refreshing to be on a tour where I could take as much time as I wanted to set up and take photos.



I stayed in Tucson that night, which was very close to my next stop on March 10: Saguaro National Park, which is very fun to say. Here I took a guided tour about desert life in the saguaro forest. It was really interesting and I saw this really befuddled saguaro below:



I drove to Las Cruces for the night and saw this in my rearview mirror, so had to stop to take a photo of it.


March 11th was all about the White Sand. I went to the missile range first and then on to White Sands National Monument, where I plopped down on a nice, cool dune and stared out at the other dunes for close to an hour. Very soothing and beautiful and all that. I was able to be on the dunes for sunset that night, which I highly recommend!



I spent the night in El Paso, which was the first time I've ever been in Texas. I wasn't there for too long, though. I had to get up to drive in the morning before the sun even rose. It was a beautiful sunrise, though!


The reason for my early rising was that I had a 10:00 tour at Slaughter Canyon, which is a part of Carlsbad Caverns National Park. There was a 45-minute hike to the canyon entrance, so I had to leave plenty of time for that. the hike was pretty brutal. It was a 500-ft elevation gain over half a mile. The cave was not the greatest one I've been in. The floor was very slippery and there was a lot of evidence of guano mining, which is not a good thing. The features all had black goo on them from motorized equipment being used there, despite regulations not allowing it. Still, the columns below were pretty impressive (I included people for scale).

After Slaughter Canyon, I went back into Texas to see Guadalupe Mountains National Park. I only did a couple hours of hiking here. It's definitely more geared toward all-day and multi-day hiking. It looks like a beautiful place to be if you have more time.


After Guadalupe, I went back into New Mexico to the main cave at Carlsbad, which at that time was only accessible by elevator (the natural entrance closes after a certain hour to ensure that there's time to exit before the park closes). I descended 750 ft into the Big Room, which was pretty impressive, but it was a lot more touristy than the other caves I've been to. There was a paved path all the way around and the cave was lit. There were certainly some interesting formations, but I may have been caved out by this time. :^)

I stayed in Roswell that night (no UFO sightings), and then headed back up to Albuquerque for my last day. On the last night, Lael and I took the tram to the top of Sandia Peak to catch the sunset. The sunset was okay, but the view was still fabulous. This is Albuquerque from the top of the tram:

This vacation was completely exhausting, but I would do it all again!

Slowly whittling away at my lists.

It's a fun list to whittle. :^)

Here's my updated list of National Parks, with the completed ones in Bold. Crater Lake gets to be crossed off despite being nothing more than a sign posted on a mountain.

Acadia National Park	Maine	1919
National Park of American Samoa	American Samoa	1988
Arches National Park	Utah	1971
Badlands National Park	South Dakota	1978
Big Bend National Park	Texas	1944
Biscayne National Park	Florida	1980
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park	Colorado	1999
Bryce Canyon National Park	Utah	1928
Canyonlands National Park	Utah	1964
Capitol Reef National Park	Utah	1971
Carlsbad Caverns National Park	New Mexico	1930
Channel Islands National Park	California	1980
Congaree National Park	South Carolina	2003
Crater Lake National Park	Oregon	1902
Cuyahoga Valley National Park	Ohio	2000
Death Valley National Park	California, Nevada	1994
Denali National Park and Preserve	Alaska	1917
Dry Tortugas National Park	Florida	1992
Everglades National Park	Florida	1947
Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve	Alaska	1980
Glacier National Park (part of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park)	Montana	1910
Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve	Alaska	1980
Grand Canyon National Park	Arizona	1919
Grand Teton National Park	Wyoming	1929
Great Basin National Park	Nevada	1986
Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve	Colorado	2004
Great Smoky Mountains National Park	North Carolina, Tennessee	1934
Guadalupe Mountains National Park	Texas	1966
Haleakala National Park	Hawaii	1916
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park	Hawaii	1916
Hot Springs National Park	Arkansas	1921
Isle Royale National Park	Michigan	1940
Joshua Tree National Park	California	1994
Katmai National Park and Preserve	Alaska	1980
Kenai Fjords National Park	Alaska	1980
Kings Canyon National Park	California	1940
Kobuk Valley National Park	Alaska	1980
Lake Clark National Park and Preserve	Alaska	1980
Lassen Volcanic National Park	California	1916
Mammoth Cave National Park	Kentucky	1941
Mesa Verde National Park	Colorado	1906
Mount Rainier National Park	Washington	1899
North Cascades National Park	Washington	1968
Olympic National Park	Washington	1938
Petrified Forest National Park	Arizona	1962
Redwood National and State Parks	California	1968
Rocky Mountain National Park	Colorado	1915
Saguaro National Park	Arizona	1994
Sequoia National Park	California	1890
Shenandoah National Park	Virginia	1935
Theodore Roosevelt National Park	North Dakota	1978
Virgin Islands National Park	U.S. Virgin Islands	1956
Voyageurs National Park	Minnesota	1975
Wind Cave National Park	South Dakota	1903
Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve	Alaska	1980
Yellowstone National Park	Idaho, Montana, Wyoming	1872
Yosemite National Park	California	1890
Zion National Park	Utah	1919

I was able to shade in 3 more of the states, leaving only 15 left to visit.

[Review] Bigelow Chemists : Bigelow Chapped Hands Soap-Free Cleanser

[Warning: potentially TMI photos]

Rating: 12 out of 5 stars

It is the middle of winter, and my wrists are not covered in tiny open sores. It is the middle of winter and my hands are not bleeding. It is the middle of winter and I can exercise without searing pain emanating from the skin on my hands and wrists. I have not had a winter day without pain in at least 12 years. I was the type of person who kept lotion in my purse, desk at work, car, desk at home, bathroom, kitchen, living room, every coat pocket, and anywhere else I thought to stash a bottle. Finding myself without lotion actually constituted an emergency, and I would stop at the nearest convenience store to pick some up if I was going to be away from home for more than an hour. That was just to keep the open sores from worsening. The pain never really went away, and actually most lotions made my skin burn.

It has been about a month since I acquired this stuff, and I feel that I can confidently say that it has changed my life. I have not had to use lotion more than once per day since I started using this once or twice a day, even though I still wash my hands with regular soap very often and use alcohol-based hand sanitizer. My use of lotion has also definitely been of the non-emergent variety.

I was going to give it a mere 4 because it doesn't make my skin perfect and magically silky smooth, but then I looked at a photo of my wrist last year (yes, I am exactly the kind of person who documents bodily grossities-- want to see my bike accident scars?!) and it turns out that, no, it's exactly as awesome as I thought it was.

This is my skin last year:

This is my skin this year:

30 years down, 70 to go (feeling optimistic here)

I keep forgetting that I'm supposed to be lying in bed today, weeping for my lost youth. I just haven't the inclination to do so. For one thing, what loss? I still think the infinite slide is a fantastic use of the Portal gun. Ten year old me would have thought so as well, but now I have the benefit of wisdom that comes with age. I would be sure to wear pants if my infinite metal slide were in the sun, for one thing.

A list, because lists are fun, of things I've done:

• Visited 32 of the US states
• Been caving
• Found out who my real friends are and realized they are greater in number than I thought.
  
• Made mistakes. Big ones. And hopefully learned from them.
• Made it through school. Got a couple of degrees to show for it.
  
• Got a job that I've now held for almost precisely 6 years.
  
• Saw the sun rise over Icelandic glaciers from an airplane window.
  
• Realized that what everybody else thinks about what you do actually doesn't matter. They're not the ones who have to live your life.
• Changed my mind about cats and got one of my own. Have managed to keep it alive.
  
• Had an accident, saw the injustices inherent in the system, got bitter, got better, got over it.
• Took a vacation alone. Embraced the solitude.
  
• On a similar vein... got lost in the middle of unfamiliar land with no cell reception, no satellite reception, and no map. Kind of liked it.
• Sort of figured out what I want and am totally okay with the parts of it that are anormal.
  

Things that I hope I'll do in the coming pre- scrabble-playing nursing home days:

• See the other 18 states
• Antarctica!
• Get a master's degree in materials engineering
• See the sun set over Icelandic glaciers from a ground-based vantage point.
  
• Whatever else strikes my fancy.

Want to be thankful for winter? Browse NPS.gov

Windchills were recently down in the -20F range, though I wouldn't really know, as I spent the entire weekend lying on the couch cursing germ theory. This stint did give me an opportunity, however, to research a possible spring vacation to the southwest.

Apparently the National Park Service is doing their very best to convince me not to, for they have warned me of:

1. Flash floods. In the desert.


2. Mountain lions. At which you are apparently supposed to throw rocks and adopt grizzly bear arms before punching them if they come any closer.


3. Rattlesnakes-- 6 whole species of them! And if you're bitten, remember not to move but to get to a hospital really, really quickly! And call 911 where there's no cell reception.


4. Killer bees-- At least they'll warn you with a gentle nudge before swarming upon you. Fortunatly, you only have to sprint half a mile away from their hive before they'll cease their warfare.


5. Also you might die of heat. Enjoy your national parks!

Blizzards and deer ticks are beginning to seem rather quaint, and I for one am perfectly happy that we have 6 months of the year so cold that they kill off anything that so much as looks at them funnily.

Things I've learned in 4 days with the Nikon D90

• I am addicted to shallow depths of field. It's the most noticeable difference in the photos I can take with the D90 versus my old camera, and I'm afraid I can't stop.
  
• The remote is the most useful accessory I think I will ever buy for this. The heft of the camera seems to exacerbate the shaking when the shutter button is pushed.
  
• Tripods are invaluable.
  
• A fantastic camera alone will not make you a fantastic photographer. The overall quality of my photos has declined, though I suspect I will more than make up for it once I've figured this thing out.
  
• I need a close-up lens. Something to consider the next time I have a spare $500 lying around.
  
• The Quantity Method is still my photographic technique of choice. The D90 will be better for this than my previous camera (which only had a 3-photo burst mode). :^)
• I like having fully manual control over zoom. It's quicker and easier than a motor.
• I should stick to auto-focus.
• It's always going to be hard to photograph falling snow.
• I need more cats. The current one is starting to turn away and hide when he sees the camera coming.
  

[Things I love] The Sigma Aldrich catalog

Despite not being in charge of a lab for 3 years now, and therefore not having placed an order with them, I am still on Sigma Aldrich's mailing list. This is, I think, a good place to be. Every year I eagerly await the Aldrich Chemistry Catalog, which features their annual artistic selection. More recently, the cover has been printed on canvas-texture stock. I adore that this catalog selling all varieties of noxious chemicals and potions gives an artistic nod to the crazies who started it all. The past three catalog covers have been paintings of alchemists. I don't know further back than that. The alchemist discovering phosphorous was repeated on several covers.

Above is "The Alchemist" by Newell Convers Wyeth, which was featured on the 2009-2010 cover.

Yes, I decorate my cube with them and am heavily considering classing up my cut-outs with some matting.

[Review] The Amazingly 3.5-starred EilliptiGO

I saw this guy riding his ElliptiGO in the Minneapolis Bike Tour last weekend. I went to their website and immediately signed up for a test ride, arranged, oddly enough, with this guy right here for the next weekend.

Physical Stuff
The ElliptiGO weighs 40 lbs and is predominantly aluminum, but the elliptical arms are carbon fiber. The handlebar post folds down so that the ElliptiGO can be transported more readily. There are a few bike racks , that can hold an ElliptiGO, but most will not because it lacks a cross bar and is pretty wide. The tires are 80-100 psi and look pretty sturdy-- probably a relatively low likelihood of flats. Because all of the components on the ElliptiGO, most bike shops will be able to do minor repairs relating to the drive train, shifters, etc. The ElliptiGO has eight gears and the stride length can be modified.

How it rode
It took a bit of getting used to. The ElliptiGO requires more active balancing than a bicycle, due to the upright position in which you ride. I found the shifting to be really smooth and had no problems ascending hills. My pedaling movements didn't feel as smooth as I would have liked, which may have been due to the stride length being set too long. It felt a little wobbly, but I think that is the nature of it. The ElliptiGO may always feel a little less steady than a bicycle. I never mustered up the courage to pass a slower cyclist because I didn't feel that I had that fine of control over the ElliptiGO. That may be something that comes in time. I was impressed at the speed that I could achieve, especially considering the upright position.

As an extra bonus, I rode in my Vibram Five Fingers, and they definitely work for shorter rides on the ElliptiGO.

The day after
The ElliptiGO is definitely a better full-body workout than a bike. All that balancing really works your core. I noticed soreness in my abs and lower back (the muscle kind of soreness, not the hunched over on a bike kind of soreness). I also felt it in my arms, again probably as a result of steadying myself. It also really works your legs, which should go without saying. Notably absent were butt pain and elbow pain, two of the most common in my repertoire.

But wait...there's more
There is now at least one stationary trainer that will hold an ElliptiGO, making the price easier to swallow if you were thinking about getting an indoor elliptical. This is the idea that intrigues me the most.

Yowch!
It costs $2200. So there's that.

Verdict?
3.5 out of 5 stars. It's definitely on my list of desired toys. Contributing factors in the non-perfect rating were: the price, the unsteadiness (which, again, may be more me than the ElliptiGO), and the lack of cargo space. It will definitely not be replacing my bicycle, but I am intrigued.

[Things I love] Honecrisp Apple Season

The perfect apple has already been made, and yet apple-breeding programs persist in trying to perfect perfection. It can't be done. Honeycrisp apples are a crispy combination of sweet and tart. They're juicy. They're good keepers (I've had them last up to 6 months in the refrigerator). They're not mushy or grainy. They don't brown too terribly quickly. They are everything an apple should be.

Most recently, Honeycrisp was bred with Zestar to make SweeTango, an apple that is actually less mushy than the name would imply. It has a decent crunch to it, but is still a touch on the grainy side. The mouthfeel isn't as crisp as Honeycrisp, and the flavor is a bit off. It's tart, but not quite as tart as Honeycrisp, the gold standard for tart/sweet balance.

Fun apple fact: Red Delicious apples were first cultivated in Iowa. *chastises IA severely*

[Review] Topeak MTX Trunk Bag and Topeak Explorer Rack

I recently decided that I require more storage on my bike, so I invested in the Topeak Explorer bike rack and MTX Trunk Bag DXP, which is Topeak's largest bag of this variety.

Installation-- It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

The internet reviewers of the Topeak Explorer rear rack made installation sound tantamount to slaying a dragon with a rubber spork. People on the internet are such exaggerators. It can't possibly be that hard. 30 minutes, tops, I think.

Well.

It turns out that installing the rack was more like slaying a herd of angry dragons with a rubber spork. The hardware that came with the rack didn't seem to make a lot of sense. I admit that I am not a hardware connoisseur, so it may very well be superbly elegant hardware far too sophisticated for my feeble mind to grasp. Whatever is was, those nuts were not fitting on those bolts. I did manage to make the bolts work with the holes in my chain stay (is that what it's called? Bikes are full of stays, so I will assume yes). And it only took me an hour!
I went to bed, leaving a pile of nuts, bolts, allen wrenches, and tattered dreams scattered about the living room floor.

The next day, I went to the hardware store to buy different nuts. This is where I learned that I am completely inept with regard to hardware. It was a humbling moment when the hardware expert showed me how to use the nuts that I already had. It turns out that they're locking nuts that are just really hard to screw on. It really does make sense-- with a bike being subject to so many vibrations, you don't want the fasteners on your rack to shake loose. He sold me a better wrench.

Armed with proper tools, I was able to install the rack in about 20 minutes. The adjustable arms that screw into the seat stay are to be bent slightly to fit your particular bike (mine is a Jamis Satellite Sport), and I was able to do that without a problem. The rack clears everything it should and appears stable.

The Trunk Bag of Holding-- more than meets the eye

The bag slides very nicely into the rack and can be removed in less than a second. I don't like that the top handle forces the zipper to bear the forces, so I use the shoulder strap when I need to carry it. The bag itself is very sturdy-seeming. The inside has a divider, so it's easy to keep my tools and spare tube in a separate area, leaving most of the compartment for whatever else I need to carry at any given point in time. The panniers are very simple to fold in and out, and they attach to the sides of the rack with a little elastic cord.

I took my first trip to Target with the bag, and I was impressed both with how the bag/rack rode and how much the bag carried when fully expanded. Here's a shot of the bag with the expandable top and panniers out.


And more awesomely, here's what I fit inside, with room to spare:

Why.

Occasionally, amid the sea of grabby hands and short attention spans, I am reminded of why I volunteer at the science museum. Today was one of those days.

About 2 hours into my shift, a couple of girls in the range of 6-8 years old appeared and I decided to try something a little different... this is the first time that I've had a kid assemble the salt water battery (4 cells, each consisting of a cup of salt water with a galvanized nail and piece of copper tubing) herself. Or, at least the wire part. I was kind enough to leave the metal bits in the salt water for them. I just wanted to see what would happen if I said "here are some leads. Make a battery." It took over 20 minutes, but she did it! And she was so proud of herself, it almost made me cry. I helped a lot, sure, but she did enough of it that she felt accomplished and she wanted to show her parents that she had lit a light bulb "without a battery." That she had the attention span for it amazed me; that's the primary reason that I've never done that large of a "figure it out" type experiment before. Watching kids "get" something is a pretty fantastic experience, whether the kids are 5 or 50. :^)

I'm getting a bit better at recognizing what type of people I'm dealing with so that I can do things that will at least teach them something at their level in the amount of time that they're willing to hang around. And for some of them, that means saying "hey, look! A puzzle!" and pulling out the pentamino puzzles. Batteries just don't captivate everybody equally. If I had to pluck one stereotype from my experience, I would say that it is that fathers at the science museum with their daughter(s) are almost universally awesome. I could hypothesize on why, but I think I've already made enough assumptive leaps as it is.

[Things I Love] The Minnesota State Fair

It's that time of year again, as everybody is fond of saying at every time of the year regarding something or other. But this time, it really is that time of year. It's time to rejoice with a million of my fellow Minnesotans and worship at the altar of cheese curds and a really big pig. There should be a song about fried cheese curds. There probably is, so let me be more specific... there should be a good song about fried cheese curds. If there were I would be singing it right now. To my cat. Tauntingly.

I dearly love the MN State Fair while also dearly hating certain parts of it. The good typically wins out over the bad. I love the feeling of camaraderie with my fellow people that the fair engenders... but do they have to be so everywhere?! Tip: find a booth that sells raw vegetables. Guaranteed to be the quietest place at the fair. Tip #2: I found one of these last year, and I'm not telling you where it is.

Things I love about the fair, an unordered list:

• The livestock. Yes, the poultry barn smells awful, but that is the smell of food on your plate! Rejoice in it. Also, cows are very sweet animals.
• Cheesecurds. Sure, they have been relieved of their squeak, but they have been blessed with meltiness and batter instead.
• The malts in the dairy building. Yum. I never waver from my vanilla. It is the best malt I have ever had, because it is made of memories. Here is the point where I should mention that dairy makes me sick. But I don't care. I fair on!
• The tractors. I actually think there might not be any tractors anymore. This makes me sad, but I still walk over to what is [I believe] still called Machinery Hill each year. I think the combines are now Priuses.
• The free pine tree seedlings at the DNR booth. Because of them, I kill a tree every year. I'm sorry. I really am. May I have another?
• The agriculture building, especially the honey section as long as there are no escape bees.
• The butter carvings. Carvings of people! Out of butter! How can that possibly be not awesome? Plus, the carvees never need to worry about having dry dinner rolls for the rest of their lives. Now that's a particular brand of nice that you just don't see too often.
• Random percussion bands. There have been grills and trash cans in the past. I adore any percussing of the musical variety. :^)
  
• Sometimes foods: mini donuts and Sweet Martha's cookies are items that I do love but must be cut from the food plan when not traveling with food sharing partners.
• Going home and taking a very long shower.

The Girl Effect

I managed to miss this until now, but Think Geek has a "heroine" series of t-shirts. The Mary Shelley one will still net donations for The Girl Effect, which looks like possibly my new favorite organization. This is one of the reasons that ThinkGeek is a company that I am proud to support with my dollars.

Anyway, this series of shirts is phenomenal, and I know which one I need. :^)

Ada Lovelace, lady of the ones and zeroes:


Marie Curie, badass scientist


Mary Shelley, mistress of SciFi:

[Review] Vibram Five Fingers

I've owned my Freaky Fuchsia Five Fingers for 6 months now, so I figured it was time to let the world know how I really feel about them beyond their propensity for being highly photogenic. I have the mary-jane-esque Five Fingers, but there are options if you want more coverage (the KSOs, which do their darnedest to Keep Stuff Out) or more freedom for your feet (the Classics do not have a velcro strap).

Before I purchased them, I had a few concerns:

1. I hate having things between my toes. Toe socks are like some sort of 1970s-era human rights violation as far as I am concerned.
   
2. Will they hurt? Am I going to die of blisters and achy arches?!
   
3. Will I feel like a complete dork walking around in pink foot gloves?
4. They're expensive! Can I really justify the cost?

Within one month of purchase, all of my fears had been allayed.

1. Fit is very important for the Five Fingers. I measured my feet several times before committing to the size. I don't notice anything annoying or irritating about the fact that my toes are separate and clearly not equal. The only discomfort is when the toes are not properly in their spaces. It can take a little work at first to make sure that everything is situated correctly. I truly find the Five Fingers to be just as comfortable as being barefoot.
2. I've found that I don't really need the support of highly cushioned shoes to be comfortable. The only thing that hurts is standing or walking on concrete, but that's a problem with concrete, not the shoes. Asphalt, grass, sand, and interior flooring are all a dream to walk upon in my FFFFs. They protect your feet from minor dangers, such as pebbles, hot surfaces, moist surfaces, etc while allowing your feet to be free the way they were intended to be! I have also yet to get a blister from the FFFFs-- there's no rubbing because they fit like a...well... glove.
   
3. No. It turns out that I have absolutely no shame when it comes to wearing fabulous shoes. I do get a lot of attention from passersby and it is almost universally good. My favorite was "Damn, girl! Look at your shoes!"
4. Absolutely worth the cost for me. I wear my FFFFs everywhere that is appropriate for non-specialized casual footwear. To date, I have used them for walking around town, hiking in the woods, walking on the beach, boating, wading in oceans and streams, and quite a bit more. They have been in both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. :^) The photo above is from a trip that I took to the Redwoods shortly after acquiring the shoes. I wore them exclusively on that trip except where there was snow.

Another great thing about the Five Fingers is that they are machine washable. So far the only slight downside I've encountered is that they need to be machine washable. ::holds nose::

Overall, I give them 6 out of 5 stars. I made up the rating system, so I can do that. I can't bike in them, otherwise they would have scored the elusive 7th star.

[Things I love] Em Dashes

I don't understand why anybody ever uses en dashes. Em dashes are clearly twice as good. An en dash says "I kind of sort of have an aside, but I don't really know." An em dash, on the other hand, is bold and confident. An em dash says "I have an aside, and I am committing to it!" It will still be a part of the sentence, but will be all "whoa! An aside!"

[Things I Love] Trains

I must be one of the few people who isn't annoyed by having to wait at a railroad crossing. I love watching trains. I love looking at the graffiti on trains and wondering where the cars were when they were decorated as such. They're such a majestic form of transport (there's that word again). The train above is from the original Amtrak "Empire Builder" line, the name of which explains a lot about my love and deep respect for trains. (It's at the Jackson Street Roundhouse Museum, if you'd like to touch it yourself. :^)

We have yet to actually replace them, which impresses me, considering the shear number of transportation options available these days. If you have the time, there is no better way to see the country than via train. It feels like stepping back into an era where traveling was special.