There was an article today in the Huffington Post about one of Shell's arctic drilling ships running aground in Dutch Harbor. Of course, Shell has issued a rather huffy response saying that no such thing happened, but the pictures tell their own story.
Lots of focus will be--and should be--spent on what this means for Arctic drilling. The fact that they can't keep control of one of their ships in waters far south of the Arctic Sea is a troubling sign of what will probably be a more exaggerated problem when (if! please, if!) drilling gets started. This is a serious problem and not something to be taken lightly. I'm glad the article even called out Senator Murkowski for trying to help block Greenpeace.
But the one thing they never talked about was the economics. Yes, they mention the billions of dollars that can be made from such a venture. I'm sure that, if this gets going, plenty of workers will come from other places and make a lot of money. Will it actually help the average Alaskan? Only because those outside workers will be forced to spend some of their money here. And yes, there will be some Alaskans who get hired on, mostly for things like grunt work. But the bulk of the jobs will most likely go to people from outside the state.
Alaska has already been through several boom and bust cycles. The gold rush, the pipeline days. My parents still talk about the pipeline days and just how easy things were around here. You know what happened after the pipeline finished? It caused a state recession which forced my family to move because there simply were not enough jobs, let alone jobs that paid well enough to keep a family of six afloat. The boom years are great, and I'm sure people around here would love them. But the article didn't focus on what happens after the boom, when bust comes around again and people who can afford it flee the state. Those who don't have the money or resources to flee are stuck in a place where money has suddenly dried up like a creek in a drought. I don't think I need to describe the devastation that happens to a place when funding dries up, since that's what we're seeing nationally right now. It can be rather catastrophic, no? Would that make you happy, to see what's coming and not be able to stop it? That's the position I feel like I'm in right now.
Nationally, we're going through a bust cycle coming off the boom years. It's been a long time coming, and what usually happens is happening. Poor people are figuratively being thrown under the bus with services, public transportation, and welfare being cut. When the average person can't make it, can you imagine what it's like for the poor? Now imagine that in Alaska, where it's easy to freeze to death if you can't pay your heating bill. Where the electric company shuts off your electricity even in the depths of winter for not paying. Where poverty is already quite high, and people live on the brink of destitution even in the best of times. Think of the starvation as people make the decision, heat or eat? (This is already quite a common problem for many Alaskans.)
I don't want any of this for my state. I think we need to find a more sustainable economy. If people don't make as much money in the short-term, I'm fine with that. A more sustainable economy would mean that everyone gets their fair share, not just those willing to rape the environment. We need to work our way away from an economy based around oil. We have so many other natural resources which are threatened or damaged by the extraction industries, and the politicians just don't get it. What they see is the money, not the land or the people who will be truly affected.
Can you tell I'm getting a bit jaded about our supposed "leadership"? I'm just not sure what I can do to create change, other than by speaking out in my silly little blog. I know there's a way to create a more sustainable Alaska, to capitalize on all that we have in a way which doesn't wreck the environment. I just don't feel that it's getting enough attention, from the media or the politicians.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Monday, July 16, 2012
Pardon Me
I've been a bit absent lately. I've been busy, yes, but really I just haven't felt much like writing.
The opera went well. Opening night, when we stood for the applause, I could see that a girl in the front row had been crying. What an indescribable feeling to know that we moved someone to tears! Apparently at the end of the show when Rodolfo realized that Mimi was dead and threw himself over her in grief, many people forgot that he was acting. I wish I could have seen it. That is absolutely the only thing I don't like about playing in these shows!
It was also fun just to see people walking into the theater. Most had pulled out their evening wear for the night at the opera. It's such a change from Fairbanks's usual super informal dress code that it made it all the more fun. The show was held at one of the local high schools, not some fancy concert hall like the Disney Concert Hall in L.A. or Benaroya Hall in Seattle, but that didn't matter. I love this community.
I did get around to weeding my garden several times over the weekend and discovered something that made me rather ashamed--two pea plants I hadn't even realized I had. Whoops! They weren't on my little garden chart at all, and they were in the area I'd let go wild. Not any more. I cleared some space for them and they're doing better than they should be. One of them even has a pea started on it.
When I checked on my tomatoes I was shocked to discover that they actually have fruit on them. And not just one or two, either, but over 30! I've been watching my plants mostly from a small distance, knowing that in their buckets they don't need much beyond water and a little fertilizer now and then. Now I can't stop obsessively checking them to see if the tomatoes have grown at all, as if they'd visibly grow between when I started weeding the garden and when I ended. But I still need to check.
Lazy gardening has paid off once again. I meant to water the garden last night but completely forgot in the flurry of getting things done before Shane left this morning. However, it started raining during the night and hasn't stopped yet so there's no need to artificially water. Like I said, lazy gardening.
I harvested more rhubarb over the weekend. Some from L's neighbor, who has a large plant that she doesn't do anything with, and some from my own plants. Hurray! I've got just about two gallons of rhubarb stored so far, though I need more like 10-15 for how much we eat over the winter. :) L also told me that lately she's been making rhubarb scones. I must get the recipe from her! Those sound amazing.
We bottled Shane's latest homebrew (a pale ale) last night while cooking dinner, and decided to try something unusual. Shane wanted to see if he could make hard apple cider. Since, of course, it's not apple season, and anyway it would be hideously expensive to make it straight from apples (it requires a full bushel, 42 lbs.), and there's no cidery at which to get said apples pressed, we bought 5 gallons of apple cider from the store. Shane did the heating and then cooling, adding the yeast and some brown sugar (to help the fermenting process) last night and we pitched it (put it in the fermenter) just before bed. It was slowly bubbling away this morning, so it's started the fermenting process. We'll see how that goes.
I'm a bit worried about our cat. Like most of his species, he's generally rather graceful. He's also an accomplished jumper since we've seen him getting over the back fence, which is taller than I am. This morning, however, he knocked over the dog gate a couple of times because he apparently didn't clear it. That was odd enough by itself, but then when I fed him breakfast he failed the leap to the top of the chest freezer, about waist-high for me. The last time I saw him jumping so badly was when he hurt his back after being gone for the better part of three days. So I'm wondering, could he have gotten into a fight with something during one of his nightly sojourns? I followed him once when he hopped the fence and found him facing off with another cat, hissing at each other from a short distance. (As soon as he made the other cat leave, he hopped back over our fence into the yard. Apparently, he just felt the need to defend the house.) Perhaps he met a cat that wasn't scared off by a bit of posturing and hissing? I'm going to watch him carefully for a bit to make sure he doesn't need a trip to the vet. I can't even imagine how I would do that by myself, except by borrowing J&L's cat carrier and getting a ride from someone. What a pain that would be!
The dog managed to mess the floor, twice, within ten minutes of Shane's leaving this morning. That was lovely to wake up to, especially since I didn't sleep much from 5:00 (the time of Shane's first alarm) on. >(
The opera went well. Opening night, when we stood for the applause, I could see that a girl in the front row had been crying. What an indescribable feeling to know that we moved someone to tears! Apparently at the end of the show when Rodolfo realized that Mimi was dead and threw himself over her in grief, many people forgot that he was acting. I wish I could have seen it. That is absolutely the only thing I don't like about playing in these shows!
It was also fun just to see people walking into the theater. Most had pulled out their evening wear for the night at the opera. It's such a change from Fairbanks's usual super informal dress code that it made it all the more fun. The show was held at one of the local high schools, not some fancy concert hall like the Disney Concert Hall in L.A. or Benaroya Hall in Seattle, but that didn't matter. I love this community.
I did get around to weeding my garden several times over the weekend and discovered something that made me rather ashamed--two pea plants I hadn't even realized I had. Whoops! They weren't on my little garden chart at all, and they were in the area I'd let go wild. Not any more. I cleared some space for them and they're doing better than they should be. One of them even has a pea started on it.
When I checked on my tomatoes I was shocked to discover that they actually have fruit on them. And not just one or two, either, but over 30! I've been watching my plants mostly from a small distance, knowing that in their buckets they don't need much beyond water and a little fertilizer now and then. Now I can't stop obsessively checking them to see if the tomatoes have grown at all, as if they'd visibly grow between when I started weeding the garden and when I ended. But I still need to check.
Lazy gardening has paid off once again. I meant to water the garden last night but completely forgot in the flurry of getting things done before Shane left this morning. However, it started raining during the night and hasn't stopped yet so there's no need to artificially water. Like I said, lazy gardening.
I harvested more rhubarb over the weekend. Some from L's neighbor, who has a large plant that she doesn't do anything with, and some from my own plants. Hurray! I've got just about two gallons of rhubarb stored so far, though I need more like 10-15 for how much we eat over the winter. :) L also told me that lately she's been making rhubarb scones. I must get the recipe from her! Those sound amazing.
We bottled Shane's latest homebrew (a pale ale) last night while cooking dinner, and decided to try something unusual. Shane wanted to see if he could make hard apple cider. Since, of course, it's not apple season, and anyway it would be hideously expensive to make it straight from apples (it requires a full bushel, 42 lbs.), and there's no cidery at which to get said apples pressed, we bought 5 gallons of apple cider from the store. Shane did the heating and then cooling, adding the yeast and some brown sugar (to help the fermenting process) last night and we pitched it (put it in the fermenter) just before bed. It was slowly bubbling away this morning, so it's started the fermenting process. We'll see how that goes.
I'm a bit worried about our cat. Like most of his species, he's generally rather graceful. He's also an accomplished jumper since we've seen him getting over the back fence, which is taller than I am. This morning, however, he knocked over the dog gate a couple of times because he apparently didn't clear it. That was odd enough by itself, but then when I fed him breakfast he failed the leap to the top of the chest freezer, about waist-high for me. The last time I saw him jumping so badly was when he hurt his back after being gone for the better part of three days. So I'm wondering, could he have gotten into a fight with something during one of his nightly sojourns? I followed him once when he hopped the fence and found him facing off with another cat, hissing at each other from a short distance. (As soon as he made the other cat leave, he hopped back over our fence into the yard. Apparently, he just felt the need to defend the house.) Perhaps he met a cat that wasn't scared off by a bit of posturing and hissing? I'm going to watch him carefully for a bit to make sure he doesn't need a trip to the vet. I can't even imagine how I would do that by myself, except by borrowing J&L's cat carrier and getting a ride from someone. What a pain that would be!
The dog managed to mess the floor, twice, within ten minutes of Shane's leaving this morning. That was lovely to wake up to, especially since I didn't sleep much from 5:00 (the time of Shane's first alarm) on. >(
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
What makes a healthy diet?
Am I the only one who's getting disgusted with nutritional advice? Sometimes I feel as if I'm the only one who's made the connection between the advent of nutrition science and the fact that we've only gotten fatter and sicker since scientists started telling people how to eat. Not that I want to bash science, or scientists, but I think that we don't have nearly a complete picture of what makes and keeps us healthy and trying to give nutritional advice based on science, which is necessarily reductionist in nature, is both absurd and harmful. The fact that people simply are not educated in science as well as they should be adds to the problem.
Add in the number of myths that are still circulating and our system of divining what's healthiest for us is perfectly designed to confuse, rather than educate and enlighten. Take eggs, for instance. It used to be gospel that eggs were bad for you because they'd raise your cholesterol. People said this simply because egg yolks have cholesterol in them. But you know what? There is not one scrap of scientific evidence that eggs actually increase your blood cholesterol. That didn't stop companies from jumping into the market (there's always a new market for "healthy" processed foods that replace "bad" natural foods when science says something is bad for us) with egg substitutes. I still read plenty of articles from nutritionists about eating only egg whites and I want to slap my forehead. People have been eating whole eggs for thousands of years and how many of them died from eating eggs? (Remember, it's only been a very recent phenomena in human history that we've died from diet-related diseases.)
I laugh at the ads I've seen for food products that tout their supposed healthiness. Margarine sold with omega-3 fortification, almond or soy milk with B12 fortification for vegans and vegetarians, "pro-biotic" yogurt, "Vitamin Water", sugar-bomb children's cereals shouting about the vitamins they've been fortified with, things proclaiming how healthy they are because they're no fat, low fat, or low in calories, low in sugar. "Lite" foods crack me up--they've started using fake words to market their fake foods.
None of those things makes a food inherently good. Adding into our diets one thing that's healthy doesn't negate all of the crap we feed ourselves with. The reason all these foods need to be fortified, or to have things added into them, is because they're inherently unhealthy. They have no nutritional value beyond what's been artificially put into them. Scary thought, right? Think of how many truly empty calories you've eaten in your life. Blech. Thinking of my own diet from childhood up until the past couple of years, it was really terrible.
The best diet advice that I know of is simply this: eat foods that don't need to be fortified, choose the least packaged foods (they tend to be less processed), go organic when possible, and stuff as many fruits and vegetables in yourself as you possibly can. When I see that something has been fortified, I drop the box and run for the produce aisle. (Ok, maybe I'm not quite that dramatic.) Whole fruits and vegetables don't need to be fortified because they have everything you need already in them. As long as you're not eating just one type of fruit or vegetable, you'll get the full range of nutrients you need to be healthy. It's simple, really.
There's been a lot of news over the last few years about lawmakers trying to ban people on food stamps from buying unhealthy foods like chips and soda. Yes, I can agree that chips and soda, and processed cookies, are bad for people. Do I think food stamps should be spent on them? Not really. But I also don't think that anyone should really be spending money on those items. Eating crap food is not, as so many would love to believe, simply done by poor people and I feel that this is just one more way to stigmatize being poor. It feels not so much like an effort to make poor people healthier so much as it is something new to show them, "You're poor and that makes you not as good as the rest of us, so we can take away your choices and rights." Not cool.
It also gets back to the realm of who decides what constitutes "healthy". Food corporations? Science? The government? They've clearly already done a great job with that. Hearing from other people about supplemental programs, it's crazy what's considered "good" and what's "bad". Someone who used WIC when she had young children said that sugary juice and Life cereal were on the ok to buy list, while fruit wasn't. I can't be the only one who wants to ask those in charge of WIC, "WTF?"
I don't need science to tell me what foods are healthy. The ones humans have been eating for all of history, up until the 20th century, are the ones I'd prefer to stick to. I'm very thankful that science can tell us why something is good for us, but I'm going to leave my decisions about what to eat to centuries of human knowledge.
Add in the number of myths that are still circulating and our system of divining what's healthiest for us is perfectly designed to confuse, rather than educate and enlighten. Take eggs, for instance. It used to be gospel that eggs were bad for you because they'd raise your cholesterol. People said this simply because egg yolks have cholesterol in them. But you know what? There is not one scrap of scientific evidence that eggs actually increase your blood cholesterol. That didn't stop companies from jumping into the market (there's always a new market for "healthy" processed foods that replace "bad" natural foods when science says something is bad for us) with egg substitutes. I still read plenty of articles from nutritionists about eating only egg whites and I want to slap my forehead. People have been eating whole eggs for thousands of years and how many of them died from eating eggs? (Remember, it's only been a very recent phenomena in human history that we've died from diet-related diseases.)
I laugh at the ads I've seen for food products that tout their supposed healthiness. Margarine sold with omega-3 fortification, almond or soy milk with B12 fortification for vegans and vegetarians, "pro-biotic" yogurt, "Vitamin Water", sugar-bomb children's cereals shouting about the vitamins they've been fortified with, things proclaiming how healthy they are because they're no fat, low fat, or low in calories, low in sugar. "Lite" foods crack me up--they've started using fake words to market their fake foods.
None of those things makes a food inherently good. Adding into our diets one thing that's healthy doesn't negate all of the crap we feed ourselves with. The reason all these foods need to be fortified, or to have things added into them, is because they're inherently unhealthy. They have no nutritional value beyond what's been artificially put into them. Scary thought, right? Think of how many truly empty calories you've eaten in your life. Blech. Thinking of my own diet from childhood up until the past couple of years, it was really terrible.
The best diet advice that I know of is simply this: eat foods that don't need to be fortified, choose the least packaged foods (they tend to be less processed), go organic when possible, and stuff as many fruits and vegetables in yourself as you possibly can. When I see that something has been fortified, I drop the box and run for the produce aisle. (Ok, maybe I'm not quite that dramatic.) Whole fruits and vegetables don't need to be fortified because they have everything you need already in them. As long as you're not eating just one type of fruit or vegetable, you'll get the full range of nutrients you need to be healthy. It's simple, really.
There's been a lot of news over the last few years about lawmakers trying to ban people on food stamps from buying unhealthy foods like chips and soda. Yes, I can agree that chips and soda, and processed cookies, are bad for people. Do I think food stamps should be spent on them? Not really. But I also don't think that anyone should really be spending money on those items. Eating crap food is not, as so many would love to believe, simply done by poor people and I feel that this is just one more way to stigmatize being poor. It feels not so much like an effort to make poor people healthier so much as it is something new to show them, "You're poor and that makes you not as good as the rest of us, so we can take away your choices and rights." Not cool.
It also gets back to the realm of who decides what constitutes "healthy". Food corporations? Science? The government? They've clearly already done a great job with that. Hearing from other people about supplemental programs, it's crazy what's considered "good" and what's "bad". Someone who used WIC when she had young children said that sugary juice and Life cereal were on the ok to buy list, while fruit wasn't. I can't be the only one who wants to ask those in charge of WIC, "WTF?"
I don't need science to tell me what foods are healthy. The ones humans have been eating for all of history, up until the 20th century, are the ones I'd prefer to stick to. I'm very thankful that science can tell us why something is good for us, but I'm going to leave my decisions about what to eat to centuries of human knowledge.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
How's that treatin' you?
My legs are exhausted, but they're not going to get a break until tomorrow. I've managed to follow through on my plan to bike everywhere for a while. Biking to work, to the store when I need to go, to the farmer's market, and even across town to the opera rehearsals with my instrument on my back. (It's about a 20 minute ride, depending on the traffic lights and how many cars try to run me over.) From all the bumps, cracks, and pits in the sidewalks, roads, and bike trails my tires have gone about half flat, making things even more difficult. Shane stole the tire pump and took it up to work when he took his bike up, for recreation and exercise and so that he gets to do stuff like bike on top if the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline. How many people get to say they've done that?
To top it all off, I've been trying to break land speed records getting home the past couple of nights to spend as much time as possible with Shane. It hasn't happened...yet.
He's home! Yesterday was my first ride on a non-human-powered vehicle for about a week and a half. With almost no vegetables, and no fruit beyond what I've been preserving, we had to go to the store. We started up the truck and...it was acting just as weird as it had been the last time I drove it. So we took the motorcycle instead. We didn't get much, since aside from fresh fruits and veggies we didn't need all that much, so it easily fit in a backpack.
I haven't told Shane about the horrible malaise that attacked me last time he was gone. (I don't want him to worry, and that would just make it all more difficult for him.) I'm still trying to adjust to this schedule, but it's hard. When I'm home by myself I just don't feel like doing much. I made no-knead bread because it took the least amount of effort. I didn't weed (awful!) so the garden is once again completely overgrown. (I still got twelve large pea pods out of it yesterday, though!) The only thing I actually cooked for myself were grilled cheese sandwiches, which I ate for a whole week. We didn't have any sandwich meat (and I was too lazy/busy to go to HGMarket when it was open) so I didn't even have anything to dress it up with.
Having an actual dinner last night was fantastic. Not that I don't love grilled cheese (obviously) but it just doesn't seem like a complete meal. Shane cooked, and we planned out what we want to have for the rest of the week. Good and yummy things, with lots of vegetables!
The only good thing I can say is that I discovered the joys of bok choy, and my favorite way to eat it. It's great in stir-fry, of course, but it can stand on its own as well and it's very simple to cook up. I simply chop it into bite-sized pieces and finely chop some garlic. Heat up the cast iron skillet and add a little bit of sesame oil. Saute the garlic and bok choy for just a couple of minutes, until the leafy parts look a bit wilted, adding some soy sauce about halfway through. (Just a dash for flavor, you don't want it to dominate the delicate bok choy.) The whole thing takes about five minutes and it won't heat up your kitchen unbearably. I imagine that if you were planning to grill, you could also cook it on a grill in a cast iron skillet. Sliced radishes are also a great addition, if you happen to have some.
I'm trying to figure out things that I want to cook for just myself when Shane's gone, so that I don't fall into a morass of grilled cheese sandwiches again and I've got a few ideas. The biggest problem, really, is finding the motivation and I think that will be better when I have more than two hours at home in which I'm not sleeping.
The plus side to Shane being gone so much is that it's more difficult to take each other for granted. I've been trying to do something special for him every time he gets home. One week it was to make a special dinner and have it waiting for him. One week it was, um, lingerie. :) This time, since I was at rehearsal when he got home, I left him a scavenger hunt. It ended up at the freezer, where I had a pint of Hot Licks ice cream waiting for him. Originally I was just going to leave a note on the door telling him about the ice cream, but I realized that was sort of sad. So I sent him all over the apartment with little notes telling him, "Nope, still not here! Why don't you check...." and a couple of bad puns thrown in for good measure. I'm trying not to repeat myself, at least not for a while, so if anyone has any other ideas about what to do, tell me! The more creative, the better.
To top it all off, I've been trying to break land speed records getting home the past couple of nights to spend as much time as possible with Shane. It hasn't happened...yet.
He's home! Yesterday was my first ride on a non-human-powered vehicle for about a week and a half. With almost no vegetables, and no fruit beyond what I've been preserving, we had to go to the store. We started up the truck and...it was acting just as weird as it had been the last time I drove it. So we took the motorcycle instead. We didn't get much, since aside from fresh fruits and veggies we didn't need all that much, so it easily fit in a backpack.
I haven't told Shane about the horrible malaise that attacked me last time he was gone. (I don't want him to worry, and that would just make it all more difficult for him.) I'm still trying to adjust to this schedule, but it's hard. When I'm home by myself I just don't feel like doing much. I made no-knead bread because it took the least amount of effort. I didn't weed (awful!) so the garden is once again completely overgrown. (I still got twelve large pea pods out of it yesterday, though!) The only thing I actually cooked for myself were grilled cheese sandwiches, which I ate for a whole week. We didn't have any sandwich meat (and I was too lazy/busy to go to HGMarket when it was open) so I didn't even have anything to dress it up with.
Having an actual dinner last night was fantastic. Not that I don't love grilled cheese (obviously) but it just doesn't seem like a complete meal. Shane cooked, and we planned out what we want to have for the rest of the week. Good and yummy things, with lots of vegetables!
The only good thing I can say is that I discovered the joys of bok choy, and my favorite way to eat it. It's great in stir-fry, of course, but it can stand on its own as well and it's very simple to cook up. I simply chop it into bite-sized pieces and finely chop some garlic. Heat up the cast iron skillet and add a little bit of sesame oil. Saute the garlic and bok choy for just a couple of minutes, until the leafy parts look a bit wilted, adding some soy sauce about halfway through. (Just a dash for flavor, you don't want it to dominate the delicate bok choy.) The whole thing takes about five minutes and it won't heat up your kitchen unbearably. I imagine that if you were planning to grill, you could also cook it on a grill in a cast iron skillet. Sliced radishes are also a great addition, if you happen to have some.
I'm trying to figure out things that I want to cook for just myself when Shane's gone, so that I don't fall into a morass of grilled cheese sandwiches again and I've got a few ideas. The biggest problem, really, is finding the motivation and I think that will be better when I have more than two hours at home in which I'm not sleeping.
The plus side to Shane being gone so much is that it's more difficult to take each other for granted. I've been trying to do something special for him every time he gets home. One week it was to make a special dinner and have it waiting for him. One week it was, um, lingerie. :) This time, since I was at rehearsal when he got home, I left him a scavenger hunt. It ended up at the freezer, where I had a pint of Hot Licks ice cream waiting for him. Originally I was just going to leave a note on the door telling him about the ice cream, but I realized that was sort of sad. So I sent him all over the apartment with little notes telling him, "Nope, still not here! Why don't you check...." and a couple of bad puns thrown in for good measure. I'm trying not to repeat myself, at least not for a while, so if anyone has any other ideas about what to do, tell me! The more creative, the better.
Monday, July 9, 2012
Work/Life balance...in customer service?
When I tell someone, "The library is closing," what I really mean is "I will do just about anything short of setting your hair on fire to get you out of here faster."
Well, maybe not. But it certainly means, "I have a life outside of work that I'm desperate to get to, and you're the last thing possibly standing in my way." It just needs to be said politely, and with a smile.
Only a few of my jobs have actually been "customer service" type jobs, and this is by far the longest running. And you know what? I hate it. It's not even rude customers (or in this case, "patrons") who bother me so much. Thankfully, those seem to be few and far between and I've managed them so well that when they've left, through the window in her office my boss has mouthed, "Good job!" and given me a thumbs-up. They never realize that her door is open, they're standing two feet from it, and she can hear exactly how rude they're being.
What I hate the most about customer service jobs is the fact that I have to be at the whim of other people, constantly. I was talking to a friend the other night about wishing I could find a job that would fit itself around my life, rather than having to fit my life around my job. "That's the dream, anyway," I concluded and she laughed a little bit. "Yeah, that would be nice."
I'm never going to find that in a customer service job. I can't work from home, and I have to be on a set schedule, because we have to be there just in case someone decides to come in that day. And my boss, who is wonderful in many ways, panics at the idea that we might not be available to serve everyone who might possibly need us, at any moment. I don't know what sort of library-related emergencies she thinks people will have--perhaps someone pounding on the doors in the middle of the night screaming their need for the "Journal of Experimental Brain Research". (Yes, it's a real journal and yes, it makes me giggle to myself every time I see it.) Despite drastically falling numbers of people who come into the library, thanks to the world wide web and many of the resources we have available there, it took me and my coworker two years to convince her that we didn't need to be open on Sundays when school is not in session. Having to work a few Sundays last summer, and having not a single person come in, sucked.
So what's a person to do? Is it possible to find a bit of work/life balance within a customer service job? Or do I just have to get a different job altogether to try to find that? It's something I've been asking myself a lot lately. I've known for a long while that I didn't want to make working in the library my career (I know people who've worked there for 30 years, and the thought makes me cringe inside) but I'm not sure what I want to replace it with. In fact, I'm not sure I want "a career" at all. To say you have a career implies a love of what you do, yes, but also that you're totally content to be working steadily along some path and toward some ambition. I'm not sure I'm that kind of person. I don't seem to have an ambition, beyond saving enough money that I can live comfortably without needing to work anymore. I think that, like the guy in the movie "Office Space", I might not ever be totally happy in my job. Most people aren't, are they? Even among people who are happy in their profession, they tend to have some sort of "dream" job they'd give up their current money and power to get if it wasn't for...whatever circumstance they feel is holding them back.
I'm sure there's a lesson in there about going for your dreams no matter what, but I'm not going to touch it. It's already been said way too many times.
Of course, there are always nagging doubts. If I get another job, there's no guarantee that I'd find something that would suit me better. Might as well stay where I am, bored but comfortable, right? I'm trying to push those doubts away, to figure out what I want. I have to work, there's no question of that. At least for now. I wrote up a list for Shane of the pros and cons if I got a part-time job. (I had a specific one in mind.) The list of cons was way shorter than the list of pros, but it had what felt to me like the biggest obstacle. The loss of money. When I calculated it all out, it would have meant a loss of almost half my take-home pay, and probably a loss of benefits too. So I didn't apply for it. It's a mercenary decision, but I don't feel bad about it simply because we are young, we're recovering from one partner's joblessness, and we have goals that we're working toward. I decided that our mutual goals, and our long-term happiness, are more important to me than my immediate happiness, at least where work is concerned. If I was unhappy in any other part of my life, making my work life happier might shoot up in my list of priorities. As it is, every other part of my life rocks. Which sort of works to make the contrast between being unhappy at work and being happy everywhere else greater, and thus I'm even less content at work. Awesome, right?
I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who would say, "Screw the money, do what makes you happy!" And a lot of people will tell you, from the comfort of the homes they own, surrounded by the cars and all the other things that money can buy, that money can't buy happiness, and dreams are worth so much more, etc., etc. Well, I already said that I don't seem to have a real dream in terms of a "career" but I do have dreams, modest dreams, about what kind of life I'd like to have. The life that Shane and I want to live together. Some of those dreams (like buying or building a house) involve money. So for now, I've moved "part-time work" into the "someday" file in my head. Now I just need to remember to take that file out and evaluate it once every year or two.
Well, maybe not. But it certainly means, "I have a life outside of work that I'm desperate to get to, and you're the last thing possibly standing in my way." It just needs to be said politely, and with a smile.
Only a few of my jobs have actually been "customer service" type jobs, and this is by far the longest running. And you know what? I hate it. It's not even rude customers (or in this case, "patrons") who bother me so much. Thankfully, those seem to be few and far between and I've managed them so well that when they've left, through the window in her office my boss has mouthed, "Good job!" and given me a thumbs-up. They never realize that her door is open, they're standing two feet from it, and she can hear exactly how rude they're being.
What I hate the most about customer service jobs is the fact that I have to be at the whim of other people, constantly. I was talking to a friend the other night about wishing I could find a job that would fit itself around my life, rather than having to fit my life around my job. "That's the dream, anyway," I concluded and she laughed a little bit. "Yeah, that would be nice."
I'm never going to find that in a customer service job. I can't work from home, and I have to be on a set schedule, because we have to be there just in case someone decides to come in that day. And my boss, who is wonderful in many ways, panics at the idea that we might not be available to serve everyone who might possibly need us, at any moment. I don't know what sort of library-related emergencies she thinks people will have--perhaps someone pounding on the doors in the middle of the night screaming their need for the "Journal of Experimental Brain Research". (Yes, it's a real journal and yes, it makes me giggle to myself every time I see it.) Despite drastically falling numbers of people who come into the library, thanks to the world wide web and many of the resources we have available there, it took me and my coworker two years to convince her that we didn't need to be open on Sundays when school is not in session. Having to work a few Sundays last summer, and having not a single person come in, sucked.
So what's a person to do? Is it possible to find a bit of work/life balance within a customer service job? Or do I just have to get a different job altogether to try to find that? It's something I've been asking myself a lot lately. I've known for a long while that I didn't want to make working in the library my career (I know people who've worked there for 30 years, and the thought makes me cringe inside) but I'm not sure what I want to replace it with. In fact, I'm not sure I want "a career" at all. To say you have a career implies a love of what you do, yes, but also that you're totally content to be working steadily along some path and toward some ambition. I'm not sure I'm that kind of person. I don't seem to have an ambition, beyond saving enough money that I can live comfortably without needing to work anymore. I think that, like the guy in the movie "Office Space", I might not ever be totally happy in my job. Most people aren't, are they? Even among people who are happy in their profession, they tend to have some sort of "dream" job they'd give up their current money and power to get if it wasn't for...whatever circumstance they feel is holding them back.
I'm sure there's a lesson in there about going for your dreams no matter what, but I'm not going to touch it. It's already been said way too many times.
Of course, there are always nagging doubts. If I get another job, there's no guarantee that I'd find something that would suit me better. Might as well stay where I am, bored but comfortable, right? I'm trying to push those doubts away, to figure out what I want. I have to work, there's no question of that. At least for now. I wrote up a list for Shane of the pros and cons if I got a part-time job. (I had a specific one in mind.) The list of cons was way shorter than the list of pros, but it had what felt to me like the biggest obstacle. The loss of money. When I calculated it all out, it would have meant a loss of almost half my take-home pay, and probably a loss of benefits too. So I didn't apply for it. It's a mercenary decision, but I don't feel bad about it simply because we are young, we're recovering from one partner's joblessness, and we have goals that we're working toward. I decided that our mutual goals, and our long-term happiness, are more important to me than my immediate happiness, at least where work is concerned. If I was unhappy in any other part of my life, making my work life happier might shoot up in my list of priorities. As it is, every other part of my life rocks. Which sort of works to make the contrast between being unhappy at work and being happy everywhere else greater, and thus I'm even less content at work. Awesome, right?
I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who would say, "Screw the money, do what makes you happy!" And a lot of people will tell you, from the comfort of the homes they own, surrounded by the cars and all the other things that money can buy, that money can't buy happiness, and dreams are worth so much more, etc., etc. Well, I already said that I don't seem to have a real dream in terms of a "career" but I do have dreams, modest dreams, about what kind of life I'd like to have. The life that Shane and I want to live together. Some of those dreams (like buying or building a house) involve money. So for now, I've moved "part-time work" into the "someday" file in my head. Now I just need to remember to take that file out and evaluate it once every year or two.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Biking, whether I want to or not
Before Shane left for this work shift I filled up the gas tank of the truck. Well, both tanks. And I thought to myself, I wonder if we can make it to September on less than one of these tanks? I figured it was possible, and vowed to myself that I would start exclusively biking everywhere while Shane is gone. After all, I'll miss the biking once it snows, and it's good for me.
I forgot about one crucial thing, though: the opera and accompanying rehearsals. Oh. Right. The rehearsals, as originally given out to us, were all supposed to be across town (about half an hour by bike) in an area that I wouldn't really feel safe biking. Additionally, while I can bike with my violin, and rather easily since I have backpack straps on the case, I don't like to for one simple reason. This violin was my great-grandfather's. It's precious to me. Even with a hard case, and a padded case over that, I always worry about what would happen to it if I got hit by a car. (Not to mention that I wouldn't be able to play anyway if I was in the hospital, or broke my arm or something.) Even if I just crashed myself, would I damage it? If my violin was damaged beyond repair, I would be devastated for so many reasons. Not only would it be hideously expensive to buy a new one, but family heirlooms like this are functionally irreplaceable. So I hesitate to bike very far with my violin.
I drove to the first rehearsal. And all the way there, the truck protested. It was making a lurching, jerking motion that scared me, and stalled at pretty much every stop. Since it had been driving fine just four days earlier, I wasn't sure what could have gone wrong while it was just sitting in the driveway. And obviously, this wasn't a good thing. I made it to rehearsal, but I didn't want to drive the truck until I could talk over with Shane what had to be done. (When I talked to him later, he told me to just not drive it and he'd look at it when he comes home.) So during the rehearsal's break I talked to a friend who lives not too far away and asked if I could bum a ride from her, explaining what was going on. She said yes, so that's how I got to Friday's rehearsal. However, we're not just doing an opera. We're doing a concert first (on Thursday this week, if anyone wants to come!) and my friend is only in the concert, not the opera. So there was still the question of how to get to the opera-only rehearsals.
Thankfully, the location was switched. The acoustics in the original practice site were pretty awful, so we were moved to a church not too far from my house. A distance I feel confident biking to and from, even with my violin. For the concert, I can get a ride with my friend. As for the opera and its rehearsals next week, I'll probably end up biking. If not, I'll find a ride with another friend who would most likely be willing to give me a lift.
By the way, "La Boheme" makes Mahler's Symphony #4 seem easy. Mahler didn't write easy pieces. I came home from the first concert rehearsal thinking, "I can do this! I'm awesome!" I came home from the first opera rehearsal thinking, "I suck. What made me think I could ever do this?!" It's getting better, but I'm looking forward to the time I have off for Independence Day so that I can practice!
Since I started running with her again last week, I've been trying to take the dog for a run nearly every day. We missed yesterday, which is funny since I got to come home from work early. (I'm staying longer today and Friday, being the only one in town to keep the office open.) But you'd think that with all this exercise I'd be eating more. Nope. In fact, I realized that I eat less when Shane's gone than I do when he's here. It just seems like so much work to cook for myself. The other day, other than fruit, the only things I ate were a couple of grilled cheese sandwiches. Yes, I made scones the other day. But other than that...? It just seems like so much work, and so many dirty dishes (according to the landlord our new dishwasher is on order, hurrah!), just for me. And times when I might stay up for a few minutes chatting with Shane and nibbling on something, I don't. Even when I'm actually hungry in the evenings, I'll think, "Nah, I'll just eat tomorrow." Yes, I realize that lack of appetite like this can be a sign of depression, and while I don't feel as happy when Shane's gone I don't think that's it. I'm just being too lazy with myself and I need to figure out how to start cooking for one. So last night, I actually did. I made a pizza. It was pretty simple to reduce the amount of dough, which usually makes two pizzas, to just one. And I loaded it up with veggies, since I've been eating lots of fruit but not so many vegetables.
Any other ideas on good, summery things to cook for just myself? I love sandwiches, but even I probably have a limit to how many I can eat in a week without getting sick of them.
I forgot about one crucial thing, though: the opera and accompanying rehearsals. Oh. Right. The rehearsals, as originally given out to us, were all supposed to be across town (about half an hour by bike) in an area that I wouldn't really feel safe biking. Additionally, while I can bike with my violin, and rather easily since I have backpack straps on the case, I don't like to for one simple reason. This violin was my great-grandfather's. It's precious to me. Even with a hard case, and a padded case over that, I always worry about what would happen to it if I got hit by a car. (Not to mention that I wouldn't be able to play anyway if I was in the hospital, or broke my arm or something.) Even if I just crashed myself, would I damage it? If my violin was damaged beyond repair, I would be devastated for so many reasons. Not only would it be hideously expensive to buy a new one, but family heirlooms like this are functionally irreplaceable. So I hesitate to bike very far with my violin.
I drove to the first rehearsal. And all the way there, the truck protested. It was making a lurching, jerking motion that scared me, and stalled at pretty much every stop. Since it had been driving fine just four days earlier, I wasn't sure what could have gone wrong while it was just sitting in the driveway. And obviously, this wasn't a good thing. I made it to rehearsal, but I didn't want to drive the truck until I could talk over with Shane what had to be done. (When I talked to him later, he told me to just not drive it and he'd look at it when he comes home.) So during the rehearsal's break I talked to a friend who lives not too far away and asked if I could bum a ride from her, explaining what was going on. She said yes, so that's how I got to Friday's rehearsal. However, we're not just doing an opera. We're doing a concert first (on Thursday this week, if anyone wants to come!) and my friend is only in the concert, not the opera. So there was still the question of how to get to the opera-only rehearsals.
Thankfully, the location was switched. The acoustics in the original practice site were pretty awful, so we were moved to a church not too far from my house. A distance I feel confident biking to and from, even with my violin. For the concert, I can get a ride with my friend. As for the opera and its rehearsals next week, I'll probably end up biking. If not, I'll find a ride with another friend who would most likely be willing to give me a lift.
By the way, "La Boheme" makes Mahler's Symphony #4 seem easy. Mahler didn't write easy pieces. I came home from the first concert rehearsal thinking, "I can do this! I'm awesome!" I came home from the first opera rehearsal thinking, "I suck. What made me think I could ever do this?!" It's getting better, but I'm looking forward to the time I have off for Independence Day so that I can practice!
Since I started running with her again last week, I've been trying to take the dog for a run nearly every day. We missed yesterday, which is funny since I got to come home from work early. (I'm staying longer today and Friday, being the only one in town to keep the office open.) But you'd think that with all this exercise I'd be eating more. Nope. In fact, I realized that I eat less when Shane's gone than I do when he's here. It just seems like so much work to cook for myself. The other day, other than fruit, the only things I ate were a couple of grilled cheese sandwiches. Yes, I made scones the other day. But other than that...? It just seems like so much work, and so many dirty dishes (according to the landlord our new dishwasher is on order, hurrah!), just for me. And times when I might stay up for a few minutes chatting with Shane and nibbling on something, I don't. Even when I'm actually hungry in the evenings, I'll think, "Nah, I'll just eat tomorrow." Yes, I realize that lack of appetite like this can be a sign of depression, and while I don't feel as happy when Shane's gone I don't think that's it. I'm just being too lazy with myself and I need to figure out how to start cooking for one. So last night, I actually did. I made a pizza. It was pretty simple to reduce the amount of dough, which usually makes two pizzas, to just one. And I loaded it up with veggies, since I've been eating lots of fruit but not so many vegetables.
Any other ideas on good, summery things to cook for just myself? I love sandwiches, but even I probably have a limit to how many I can eat in a week without getting sick of them.
Monday, July 2, 2012
A little bit here, a little bit there
This weekend ended up being a food preservation weekend. I decided to try a couple of things I've never done before, and I'm so glad I did.
For the last couple of weekends I've collected cucumbers from the farmer's market. I'm not a huge fan of fresh cucumbers (except with hummus, but I didn't feel like making hummus) but I am a fan of pickles. I've never made them before but I found an easy recipe in the book "Put 'Em Up!" and tried it. It worked! At least, I think it did. I haven't tried them yet. Vinton put a lot of different pickle recipes in her book, for many different vegetables (including carrots and beans) but I figured I'd start with the classic cucumber pickle. I don't have a crock, however, or anything that would work as one. I know you can use a plate in a glass bowl, but we have the problem of round bowls and square plates. Luckily, the recipe I used was meant to be water-bath canned rather than crocked. Some people like pickled foods for the beneficial probiotic bacteria that can be found in fermented foods, but the canning process kills any bacteria (that's what it's meant to do, after all) so these pickles won't have that. I'm just going for yumminess.
The canning process tenderizes the pickles. I'm going to wait about a month before I bust a jar open to taste them, just to be sure the flavors mix properly.
I got seven jars from about 20 pickles, two jars of which are quite large, and I thought that at the rate we eat pickles it would probably be enough. But now I'm so excited that I just want to make more. So, I think I will. At the very worst, I can give some away as Christmas presents. Or give some to any friends who get pregnant.
In addition to getting the cucumbers from the farmer's market, I also bought the dill for the pickles there. I used a whole bunch, so these might be very dilly pickles! (I'm going to taste them before I give any away.)
I also canned some cherries, using a recipe from the same book. L and I both had some cherries that were about to go bad so I wanted to preserve them. After we biked to the farmer's market together, we biked back to my place to clear out my bag, then to her place for her cherries, then back home for me. (And then to the store for the pickling items I didn't have...lots of biking that day, since I also biked to the opera rehearsal.) The recipe I chose was "Classic Cherry Preserves", but what I ended up with was more like preserved cherries than cherry preserves. I think I just didn't boil it long enough because it never gelled. Oh well. They're still going to be yummy and useful for lots of stuff.
I'm imagining warm winter tarts or crumbles or crisps. Mmmm.... The amount of cherries I had made four jars plus a little bit. Two jars will go to L and two to me, which is not nearly enough so I need to buy more cherries this week.
I tasted the little bit that was leftover and, even after I realized I wanted to bake them in something, it was hard to stop eating them! They're quite tasty. But I finally stopped munching them and had just enough leftover to justify using them (and their juice) in my scones recipe. (Since there was so much liquid from the cherries, I just omitted some of the milk.) If you want to know how they tasted, well, I had two scones for breakfast. :)
There are not many sounds more pleasing than the "pop" of a canning lid as it seals. What should I attempt to can and preserve next?
One final note on canning: my mom always said to put the jars upside down while you're waiting for them to seal, but from what I've read on the internet there are people who are absolutely horrified by that practice. I have no idea why, or why it's considered unsafe (my mom, and probably yours too, if not your grandmothers, canned things that way for years and everyone lived...) but I didn't do that with these jars. I just left them right side up, listened for that pleasant "pop", and then checked the seal by pressing down on the center of the lid. If there's no give, it's properly sealed. A basic internet search will tell you what to do to can safely, how to look for signs of spoilage (like bulging lids) and things of that sort. Any canning book worth buying, like the one I have, will also have that basic information. "Put 'Em Up!" also has a section on signs that look bad, but really aren't.
Never skimp on the processing time your canning book tells you (both of these needed ten minutes in the boiling water bath, but others need 15 or more) and you should be ok. Honestly, if I can preserve food this way I'm sure you can too. There are so many people out there who seem to think that home-canned food will lead to death and that's rubbish. Follow a recipe, check occasionally for signs of spoilage, don't eat anything that seems suspect (follow your instincts) and you'll be just fine.
I really, really should get an actual set of canning tools. Like a jar lifter. That would make my life so much easier, rather than using regular (slippery) tongs and Shane's long beer-brewing spoon to carefully lift things out of the water. Anyone have some they want to loan me?
For the last couple of weekends I've collected cucumbers from the farmer's market. I'm not a huge fan of fresh cucumbers (except with hummus, but I didn't feel like making hummus) but I am a fan of pickles. I've never made them before but I found an easy recipe in the book "Put 'Em Up!" and tried it. It worked! At least, I think it did. I haven't tried them yet. Vinton put a lot of different pickle recipes in her book, for many different vegetables (including carrots and beans) but I figured I'd start with the classic cucumber pickle. I don't have a crock, however, or anything that would work as one. I know you can use a plate in a glass bowl, but we have the problem of round bowls and square plates. Luckily, the recipe I used was meant to be water-bath canned rather than crocked. Some people like pickled foods for the beneficial probiotic bacteria that can be found in fermented foods, but the canning process kills any bacteria (that's what it's meant to do, after all) so these pickles won't have that. I'm just going for yumminess.
I got seven jars from about 20 pickles, two jars of which are quite large, and I thought that at the rate we eat pickles it would probably be enough. But now I'm so excited that I just want to make more. So, I think I will. At the very worst, I can give some away as Christmas presents. Or give some to any friends who get pregnant.
In addition to getting the cucumbers from the farmer's market, I also bought the dill for the pickles there. I used a whole bunch, so these might be very dilly pickles! (I'm going to taste them before I give any away.)
I also canned some cherries, using a recipe from the same book. L and I both had some cherries that were about to go bad so I wanted to preserve them. After we biked to the farmer's market together, we biked back to my place to clear out my bag, then to her place for her cherries, then back home for me. (And then to the store for the pickling items I didn't have...lots of biking that day, since I also biked to the opera rehearsal.) The recipe I chose was "Classic Cherry Preserves", but what I ended up with was more like preserved cherries than cherry preserves. I think I just didn't boil it long enough because it never gelled. Oh well. They're still going to be yummy and useful for lots of stuff.
I tasted the little bit that was leftover and, even after I realized I wanted to bake them in something, it was hard to stop eating them! They're quite tasty. But I finally stopped munching them and had just enough leftover to justify using them (and their juice) in my scones recipe. (Since there was so much liquid from the cherries, I just omitted some of the milk.) If you want to know how they tasted, well, I had two scones for breakfast. :)
There are not many sounds more pleasing than the "pop" of a canning lid as it seals. What should I attempt to can and preserve next?
One final note on canning: my mom always said to put the jars upside down while you're waiting for them to seal, but from what I've read on the internet there are people who are absolutely horrified by that practice. I have no idea why, or why it's considered unsafe (my mom, and probably yours too, if not your grandmothers, canned things that way for years and everyone lived...) but I didn't do that with these jars. I just left them right side up, listened for that pleasant "pop", and then checked the seal by pressing down on the center of the lid. If there's no give, it's properly sealed. A basic internet search will tell you what to do to can safely, how to look for signs of spoilage (like bulging lids) and things of that sort. Any canning book worth buying, like the one I have, will also have that basic information. "Put 'Em Up!" also has a section on signs that look bad, but really aren't.
Never skimp on the processing time your canning book tells you (both of these needed ten minutes in the boiling water bath, but others need 15 or more) and you should be ok. Honestly, if I can preserve food this way I'm sure you can too. There are so many people out there who seem to think that home-canned food will lead to death and that's rubbish. Follow a recipe, check occasionally for signs of spoilage, don't eat anything that seems suspect (follow your instincts) and you'll be just fine.
I really, really should get an actual set of canning tools. Like a jar lifter. That would make my life so much easier, rather than using regular (slippery) tongs and Shane's long beer-brewing spoon to carefully lift things out of the water. Anyone have some they want to loan me?
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