Barack Obama for President

It's time to get political! :) Can you believe the election is just a few months away?

I wanted to let you know that I am supporting Barack Obama for president. I think he is our best shot at real change in this country. I have donated to his campaign and I am also making calls to unregistered voters to try to get them to register to vote, and to vote for Obama.

I encourage you to check out his website and read up on his policy positions and background. I really think he is the best choice for our country. He rocks!

http://www.barackobama.com

Here are links to learn more about his positions on the three things that I think are most important in this campaign:

The Iraq War
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/iraq/#bring-home

Health Care
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/

Global Warming
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/energy/

Five years of war

Five years. It is hard to believe that we have been at war that long. The picture to the left is of me and Cecile in 2003, protesting the start of the war in a massive demonstration in SF. It makes me so sad to look at it. How can the war still be going on?

I attended a candlelight vigil in Mountain View last night that was put on by MoveOn and Mountain View Voices for Peace. We had a good turnout, about 50 people with signs and candles standing on the corner of El Camino Real. We had an amazing response from the cars driving by. Over half of the cars honked in support or gave us a thumbs up or a peace sign. People shouted "thank you!" and "bless you!" out of their car windows at us. What a contrast to the protest that I organized in 2004 in Mountain View where almost no one honked. In 2004 we even had one guy shout "You're a bunch of COWARDS!" out the window at us.

After we had held up signs and candles for about an hour, we got together to listen to the vigil organizer, Karen, speak. She told us how her son was killed while serving in Iraq four years ago. Ken would have turned 30 last year--along with Vince and I--if he had not been killed. It was heart-breaking to hear her story. It haunts me. She asked us to do something everyday to end the war. I told her that I would. As we were packing up from the vigil she shook her head and said, "We don't want to have to be here next year."

Eatin' Local

Spring is in the air, finally! This winter has been terrible here in the Bay Area. Everyone I know got really sick--myself included. I spent much of January in bed with multiple bouts of cold and flu. So it is very exciting to have a chance to get into the garden and get out to the farmers market! My other big resolution this year is to eat locally as much as I can. It is really scary when you realize how much of the food we eat come from countries located THOUSANDS of miles away. How can that apple possibly be fresh if it was shipped from Chile a month ago? I challenge you to take a look at the food you eat on just one day and see where it is from. Then, try to incorporate some local foods into your diet. You don't have to go whole hog (pun intended). But it is a great idea to support local farmers in your area, reduce the use of fossil fuels to ship your food around the world, and eat healthier, fresher produce. The folks at '100 mile diet' have put together a great website about eatin' local. Check it out here.

My favorite way to eat local is by shopping at the Sunnyvale Farmers Market. Vince always makes a bee line for Acme Breads. You can find me in the line for fresh tofu (!) at Toofu and then we meet up at Happy Boy Farms. Did you know that butter lettuce actually tastes like butter? That carrots can be as sweet as honey? I didn't know these things until I went to the farmers market.

We also get local organic produce delivered to our house every two weeks as we can't get to the farmers market every weekend. The folks at Capay Organics do a really great job. For 29 bucks you get a huge box of food. And it forces us to cook at home, because we don't let anything go to waste. We can actually cook with kale and radicchio now, though we are still struggling with mustard greens. Does anyone have a good recipe for mustard greens?

And of course, our garden is the ultimate source of local grub. We start planting next weekend and I will keep you posted.

Buying nothing in 2008...or at least buying used

My new years resolution--ok, Chinese new years resolution--is to try to not buy anything new in the Year of the Rat. Here are my rules, which were inspired by the cool folks at the Compact.

1) Buy as little as possible new. (medicines, food, and hygiene products don't count, you will be happy to note)

2) Stay away from stores and online shopping. They are just there to tempt you into buying what you do not need.

3) Use Goodwill, craiglist, garage sales, used book sales, to buy things used, when you need them.

4) Recycle as much as possible, and give away things you don't need to Goodwill so that others can use them.

5) Tell people that I am trying this, so that the idea spreads and people start thinking about what their purchasing decisions.

I really like the way the compact folks sum up their reasons for not buying things:

"1) to go beyond recycling in trying to counteract the negative global environmental and socioeconomic impacts of U.S. consumer culture, to resist global corporatism, and to support local businesses, farms, etc; 2) to reduce clutter and waste in our homes (as in trash Compact-er); 3) to simplify our lives (as in Calm-pact)"

I have found in the last month that it has been really easy to follow my rules 95% of the time. But I fell off the wagon a couple times:

• new sunglasses from walgreens when I could not find them used
• new suit at outlet mall when I was in a pinch for a client interview
• fabric at Joann's for a sewing project
  

On the positive side, I have been getting a good response from the people I talk to about my resolution. My mom was really cool and gave me a used sewing tool as part of my birthday gift. My sister and I have a great used clothing exchange. One of my coworkers started shopping at Goodwill.

I will give you a Compact update every few months so you can track my progress. But stay tuned to my blog...I am trying to add new posts on a regular basis now!

Lemonade in the Time of Global Warming

Here is the most AMAZING and easy recipe for lemonade, a la Christine:

Squeeze one lemon, preferably fresh from the tree.
Add one large tablespoon of maple syrup. Stir.
Fill the cup with water and ice and enjoy!

It was wonderful to drink this on the porch today. I gave Vince a glass right after his bike ride to the hardware store. The maple imparts a yummy depth of flavor that you dont get from sugar or honey.

30 years of life

Oh February, where did you go?

I always look forward to February; the almond and cherry blossoms (see photo to right from my backyard), my birthday (30!), my anniversary (6!) and Valentines Day all rolled up into one month of fun.

And 2007 was no different, yet entirely different. Thirty years of life hit me in different ways throughout the month. At times happy (birthday party! drinking!) at times melancholy (wrinkles! love handles!) I feel like I am still absorbing my thirty-ness, still taking in the meaning of it. Now, as we approach March I have come to peace with being thirty, but I haven't come to peace with getting older and eventually dying.

I guess it is only appropriate to have an existential crisis at this point.

I don't know why, but saying that makes me smile...

Vince and I are getting away for the weekend, and I am really looking forward to it. Two days up in Bodega Bay in Marin. Hiking at Point Reyes; watching storms come in on the Pacific; getting our boots muddy. Will we see any banana slugs? I do not know, but I will be sure to report back.

I should also mention that I passed the PE exam, finally! I am officially a registered civil engineer in the State of CA. I can be sued! I can build sewers! You can look up my creds here on the State website. It's legit. :)

Career Fair Blues

I just got back from the Stanford Engineering Career Fair and boy do I have the blues. The four hours I spent their recruiting for my company made me feel crummy. I really struggled to get a job when I was just out of college and the career fair brings back some really bad memories. Sending out dozens of resumes and getting no calls back. Finally getting an interview and then being offered slightly above minimum wage. Having to sell myself in front of people during the 2 minutes they would speak to you. Dressing up in my black suit to go on interviews. And then the endless waiting...

Since I am recruiting instead of looking for a job, I am not experiencing the same stress as before. But I just really feel for all of the job seekers that I met today. I had to tell a Ph.D that he would be hired at the same level as a person with their masters degree. (He asked, and I wanted to be honest with him.) I had to tell countless people that their skill set was not what we needed. Their faces would fall, but they would try not to show it. They would mumble thanks and then float back into the crowd of students.

Argh, I just dont have the heart for this recruiting stuff! And combine that with being on the Stanford campus, a place I hate and love at the same time. Going to Stanford is like being a trust fund baby. You are forever blessed with privilege, yet you feel crummy being associated with rich Uncle Leland who is a conservative prick.

Introducing...Count Bassy!

I would like to introduce everyone to my new bass, Count Bassy.

Yes, at the ripe old age of 29 and 11/12 I have decided to start playing the bass again! Count Bassy is a beautiful 3/4 Korean-made student bass that I bought from a guy in Hollister off of Craigslist. He has a beautiful sound and is only a little finicky in cold/wet weather.

I want to learn jazz bass, but I am not sure if it would be better to formally learn classical bass and jazz bass at the same time, or just learn jazz bass. Does anyone have any advice?

I am waiting to get an instructor until after I hear back from the State on whether or not I passed the Professional Engineer (PE) exam. I will find out in a couple weeks. If I didn't pass, I need to start studying again (sigh); if I did pass, I get to start bass lessons!

In the mean time I am relearning all of the scales and doing some simple tunes in my old student books from high school. I am not really using the bow as the bow that came with the bass is crappy. So I am plucking a lot and trying to get my callouses built up. So right now Vince is putting up with a lot of crappy, out-of-tune scales, until I get up to par.... :) I need a metronome. Do any of you Bay Area folks have one you don't need? I found one on Craigslist that I might go check out next weekend too.

Happy Music, everyone! Count Bassy has a mellowing affect on me. I am glad to have some music back in my life.

The New California Ice Age

BBbbbbbbbbrrrrrrrrrr.....

If you aren't here to experience it yourself, take my word for it, it is damn cold. Bone-chilling-can't-feel-your-toes-C-O-L-D! I was sad to see that many of the plants in my garden are dying from the frost. The weather is normally so temperate here that we plant things that can't withstand frost, since a real frost only comes every 20 years. When I saw the brown deadness of the frost in my garden, I went out to pick all of the lemons on the lemon tree. I wonder what will come back and what will be lost...I will know in the next couple of weeks...

While I am mourning seven or eight plants, CA citrus growers might have lost an entire crop, right before harvest. Small farmers already have a tough life and this frost will surely push many families into bankruptcy.

On the topic of small farmers, I am a big advocate of farm subsidies, but not in the "grow corn sugar and genetically processesed soybeans" sort of manner. Rather, I like the idea of farm subsidies to preserve greenspace and the farm culture that we (allegedly) revere here in the US. Other countries have found inventive ways of helping out small farmers. In Italy, they encourage farmers to rent out converted barns or guest houses to tourists, as part of their agriturismoitalia campaign. In France, the gite program brings tourists out to rural areas. A similar goverment funded program in the US would help preserve small farms here. But we would rather have corn syrup I suppose...

On a more upbeat note, I found a wonderful blog called I Heart Farms, that highlights life on a small farm in Santa Cruz County...

Drinking without a picnic

This blog was inspired by the crime blotter of the Sunnyvale newspaper in 2005. Amist the clips of "theft" and "disturbing the peace" was a single entry that stated "drinking without a picnic". It seems that a couple of dudes in the local park were fined for consuming alcohol...

...without a picnic.

A couple pieces of white bread sandwhiches and sliced apples would have saved them from a hefty fine. The police wanted to get a couple of guys out of the park. After all, if there had been a serious problem, they could have arrested them for disturbing the peace, drunk in public, or something of the like.

Why did the lack of a couple pieces of bread make a difference?

Like a lot of things in life, small "inside" cultural clues made the difference between an enjoyable afternoon and a several hundred dollar problem. If you know the clues, you are a member of the part of society that does not get arrested, that does not get sent to war, that does not have to worry about where your next meal is coming from. And don't get me wrong, it is not just about knowing the clues, it is also about access to the clues.

With these musings, I welcome you to my blog. I hope you will stay tuned to my political thoughts and everyday occurances.

a new era

She stands
In the quiet darkness,
This troubled woman
Bowed by
Weariness and pain
Like an
Autumn Flower
In the frozen rain,
Like a
Wind-blown autumn flower
That never lifts its head
Again.

~Langston Hughes