42 - Rhubarb

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. What do you do when life gives you rhubarb? Or in my case, a rhubarb plant that is an overachiever? That's easy! You grab the strawberries that came in with your Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) box and make yourself some homemade strawberry-rhubarb pie!


This week's mindful consumption involved more of the mindful aspect than the consumption as I set out to make one of my favorite pies totally from scratch. I don't like to buy convenience items, like pre-made crust or canned fruit. Pie is best when the ingredients are (more or less) freshly harvested from the garden.

A good pie takes time to prepare: slicing each strawberry, washing and chopping rhubarb stalks. You must pay attention to what you are doing, otherwise you may have an unintentional ingredient in your dessert. (That may be why they call it "finger food".) You must be aware of when your dough reaches the right consistency. And you must be patient as you wait for things to chill or blend flavors.

Of course, mindful patience doesn't necessarily mean standing around staring at the dough and fruit and waiting for it to be ready. I took that opportunity to do my Friday workout: j-ropes, wide angle stretches, and meditation. Yeah, I know the meditation wasn't on the list, but I figured why not. It's not like I had anything else to do but sit and wait!

The mindful creation continued with rolling out the dough and putting into the pie dish, then filling it with the fruit mixture, and finally letting inspiration take you as to how you want to top it. I went with a full pie top crust with "moon" cutouts for venting. Into the oven so it can bake, and another chance at mindful patience. I was hungry and it was a good time for my KFB dinner!

Although the timer went off, it's always good to check the pie itself for doneness. It's not a cookie-cutter world—everything and everyone is different. All pies are not the same. Some may need to cook longer or shorter. Some fillings may need more or less sugar. Some crusts may need extra butter or not. Each pie is just as different as people. We're not all the same—why should a pie?

This pie needed to stay in the oven a little bit longer. Once the crust was a nice golden brown, out it came to sit on the rack to cool. More mindful patience, although a bit of mindful excitement started coming into play. Just the thought of sweet fruit juices dancing upon the tastebuds.... Patience, young grasshopper!

Finally the time came when I could cut into it and have myself a respectable sliver of pie—not too big for that would be gluttonous, and not too small to leave one craving for more, but one that was just right to allow satisfaction and no desire for the rest of it.

But the best part about a pie—being able to share it with friends. A pie is far too big for one person to consume in a sitting, but just the right size for others to become part of the momentary mindful creation that you began all those many little nows ago.

41 - Arms

So, as I was standing in line at the grocery store, I was looking around at everyone else who was waiting for their turn to be checked out by the cashier. About three people ahead of me was this guy whom, in my opinion, looked pretty fit. His chest was toned, his stomach was flat (with just a hint of ab definition that could be seen through his t-shirt), and nicely developed arms upon which the veins were just popping out.

Curious, I looked at my own arms in comparisson to his. Somewhat to my surprise, my arms were almost like his—veins and all! That definitely helped to perk up my day a bit! I had toned arms! Woo-hoo!

(Now if only I could get rid of the last vestages of the fat around my mid-section so the abs could peak through. I know they're there—I can feel them—just can't see them yet. *sigh*)

40 - Quake

One of my co-workers stopped by my cubicle to make a little small talk before going back to her desk. We had only conversed for a few minutes when suddenly another of my other co-workers asked/announced rather loudly, "Did anyone just feel that?"

Some people were on the same page as her. "Oh my god! You felt it too?" Meanwhile, there were those like me who were a little confused as to what she was talking about. "Feel what?"

"It was the weirdest thing," she said. "It was like somebody came up behind and shook the back of my chair. Then I saw that my printer was shaking."

Another person chimed in: "I was looking at the cubicle and it was wobbling."

Yet another person piped up: "My coffee had ripples running through it!"

Finally, someone said the words that had been floating through all of their minds. "That was an earthquake!"

Now there were those of us who hadn't felt any trembling whatsoever. "Are you sure? It could have just been the vibration from the train out behind the building." There was a quick check out the windows to see if the train was there. It wasn't.

"It was an earthquake I tell you!" insisted the first co-worker who made the observation. Quickly a debate arose between those who had felt it versus those who hadn't. Was it a quake or wasn't it?

Immediately a number of people in our little section of the building began logging onto the internet and searched the website of one of the local news stations. They had nothing about the tremor. The debate continued.

A few minutes after the initial event, an article popped up on the news website. The vibration had been felt all over the city, but there was no confirmation that it was an earthquake.

Because there was confirmation of something on the news, the doubters finally began to concede that maybe something happened that they didn't experience. The conversation eventually evolved into stories from those who felt the tremor, and the doubters began eating it up—almost as if they were trying to force themselves to live something that they had missed.

The complete tale is that there was a 5.0 earthquake that occurred near Ottawa, Canada. The seconds long tremor was felt as far south as Pennsylvania, maybe even further.

The interesting thing about the whole experience was watching my co-workers who had not felt the shaking. Despite the number of people in the building who experienced, those people refused to believe it until it was confirmed on the news website. Now, one could hardly blame them—we don't live in an area that is prone to earthquakes, so it was a little bit out of the realm of their realities.

But still, to ignore the evidence of people right next to them in favor of a news agency halfway across the city is just a little odd. People are just a little too detached from the life around them.

39 - Humid

There's been a lot of rain and the temperature doesn't want to seem to drop. This equation means that humidity level is freakin' high. It also means that I am sweating up a storm when doing my workouts, regardless of the time of day.

First thing in the morning I start off with 10 minutes of stretching, 15 minutes of j-ropes and 8 minutes of abs, all before breakfast. Usually somewhere in the middle of the j-ropes, the sweat just starts pouring down my face and into my eyes. I think I'm getting better at "zen jumping" 'cause I can't see a thing when that happens! My workout clothes immediately go into the hamper after that.

Then, after my half-hour walk around downtown during my lunch, I'm back at my desk hugging my little fan in an attempt to cool down. Yeah, the building has air-conditioning, but the breeze from my fan seems to help me cool down faster.

And by the time I get home after work, the humidity is so high that all I have to do is look at the j-rope and I start breaking out into a sweat! When I've finished with the KFB exercises for the day, another set of workout clothes go right into the hamper. I've only got about 6 sets of outfits, which means that I have to do laundry about every two to three days just so I can have some clothes to workout in the next day.

Of course, the upside of all the humidity is that it usually makes me more thirsty than normal, so water consumption is up. I don't necessarily like the flavor plain water, so I've been making fresh brewed ice tea with some of my favorite Celestial Seasonings teas, sometimes with a touch of agave nectar. Mmmmmmm! Tasty!

Gotta go now. I've got to throw another load into the washing machine.

38 - Shadow

The first day of shadow-boxing—man, was that fun! Okay, so I probably went a little overboard screaming "hiya!" with each punch and kick, but it made for a great time that ended all too quickly! (The lowest my iPhone timer will go is 1 minute, so I do more than the 40 seconds recommended by the sheet. The time still flies by!)

Slowly I'm getting better with the pull-ups. It's taken most of the year, but I'm actually getting closer to getting my nose to the bar—at least for the first couple of reps. The rest of the time I'm able to pull myself up (without needing to put my toes on the floor!) so it doesn't look like I'm just hanging there in some sort of seizure.

Yeah, nothing too profound to post today.

36 - Pride

Today is Pride Celebration Weekend for the Gay & Lesbian community here. The starts off with a rainbow flag raising outside of city hall, followed by a parade, which ends at a cultural event in a plaza outside one of the museums. There will be lots of music, food, merchants, dancing, community groups, and—because the weather will be hot—lots of shirtless guys! (Some will definitely be good looking and then there's the other who really should put their shirts back on.)


So, with all the fun and festivities going on in the city, what am I doing sitting at home?

It's called plumbing issues. The sewer drain is backing up into the cellar. Luckily we caught it pretty early so it was just a small puddle, but that meant we couldn't run any water until it got fixed. It also meant that someone had to stay home to wait for the plumber to arrive.

Today was going to be a pretty busy day beyond Pride. We also have a graduation party to attend but it's a bit of a distance away. I knew I was going to have somehow squeeze KFB in there somewhere this day—and amazingly enough, the universe provided the answer.

Off I ran with the day's new "reduced time" KFB exercises. It was a breeze to go through! I think I must have gotten use to the longer routine because it felt like it went too quick. Well, I only had time to kill, so I ran through the targeted punches and kicks from last week again.

The plumber eventually arrived around 1pm. A relatively quick roto-rooting later and the problem cleared up. Soon I'll be on my way to Pride (after a quick shower). I'm going to walk all the way there—it's about 3 miles down the hill and into the city in 90 degree weather. I'm prepared for it, though. I've got my water bottle and sunscreen lotion sitting by the door.

Later dudes!

28 - Indulgence

Every Friday, a group of my friends gather together at someone's house to watch movies—and eat. Pretty much it's a potluck dinner anytime we socialize with each other. Sometimes we seem to non-verbally coordinate very well and have a healthful spread fit for a king. Other times it's not so good as it is desserts as far as the eye can see. Tonight was a mostly healthy night.

My indulgence really didn't take on the typical quality of craving something sweet or salty—items that are usually associated with junk food. Strangely enough, I had the desire for eating more than my 140 grams of veggies for dinner.

Ever since I went vegetarian, my friends have been pretty good about bring some sort of veggie dish for me. Over the past few months, the number of vegetarian items have increased as many of them have been on a health kick—going to the YMCA or the gym. I don't know if my success from PCP had anything to do with their motivation, but I like to think it did.

The way the spread was set-up, we didn't have to walk very far to grab something to eat while the movie was playing. In fact, we didn't need to walk at all. We literally covered this rather large coffee table with food which we then proceeded to sit around. Although some items did need to be eaten off plates, most were pretty much of the finger-food variety.

The evil about this kind of grazing is that a person can have absolutely no idea how much food they have put into their system. The movie is playing, people are talking and having a good time, and you've only eaten one carrot stick—or at least you think that's all you've eaten.

I've shrunk a number of sizes since last summer and I'm a bit more conscious about what I'm eating. I allowed my self a little extra helping of pasta salad; noshed on roasted parsnips topped with cheddar cheese, sour cream, and chives; took a bit more of the artichoke dip; and hit the point where I could say that I was 100 percent full.

Meanwhile, I'm watching everyone else eat. And eat. And eat. And eat some more. I'm not sure if their cognizant of how much food is going into their bodies, but I am. Granted, there were a lot of distractions going on with veritable smorgasbord before them that required no energy whatsoever to retrieve. It was the total opposite of "mindful consumption" which could be best described as "mindless grazing".

Unfortunately, my partner and I couldn't stay there much later than 10pm. We had a bit of a walk ahead of us (yes, we hoofed it to our friend's house) and I wanted to be home early enough so I could get some sleep before needing to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at work the next morning. (Yay Saturday work schedules.) Plus I wanted to hit the farmer's market for my weekly supply of veggies before I needed to clock in.

And now it's time for me to punch out. Goodnight all!