Sleep
bed by 11, up by 6 (good luck, us!)

Exercise
we didn’t discuss our goals for this one, but mine is to keep doing a 30 minute brisk walk/light jog like I’ve been doing, and to do the exercises assigned by my trainer (Saturday, Tuesday, then we meet again on Thursday…). I’m focusing on Range of Motion, balance, and core training.

Food
Eat! Every 3-4 hours. I think for me this ends up looking like: 7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 7pm, although if I eat a small meal at 7, I’ll for sure be hungry again before I go to bed, so I need to figure this one out.
Eat a protein with every carb.
Eat a big breakfast (>20g protein, 2-3 carbs, 1 fat) (this is easily done with a protein shake that includes fruits and seeds).
I’m also trying to keep with my goal of 1300 calories a day with 80g protein, which turns out is more calories and WAY more protein than my body is used to.

Hydrate
My trainer says a gallon a day, and I have this weird thing of wanting to believe the fitness recommendations of a man with 6% body fat, so I’m going to buy a jug (it’s been too hard for me to keep track otherwise) and just bring it with me to school, etc.

So, those are my goals. The driving force is spite (a nutrition teacher who thinks a vegetarian diet is not conducive to being fit, and who is testing us next week). I realize I can’t make enormous changes in a week, but anything I can do to remind my body that it’s a machine capable of change will probably serve me well.

If you want to set your own goals for “week of fit” and play along, you’re welcome to

For years (at this point we’re talking decades) I’ve heard guys complain that if women are not interested, they should say so and not just go out with them to be nice. This may be unique to the LDS dating world, I don’t know, and that’s not the point. The point is that for years I sympathized with the plight of men who were being toyed with by women too cowardly to be honest. Even though I hate saying I’m not interested, I somehow bought into this idea that it’s the right and decent thing to do.

So here’s my realization: men want to know if women are interested, but that’s not what they’re asking. That puts an unfair burden on the woman, requiring her to interpret the intention of the invitation and then respond to it as if something else had been asked. If you want to know if she’s interested in you romantically, ask her whether she is, not whether she wants to go see Toy Story 3. Men can’t hide behind “the code” and call women out for playing the same game. If you want a more direct answer, ask a more direct question. Thank you and good night.

Then I tried logging into my account. I can never remember the URL to my site. But at least once I get there I can remember the password pretty easily. You could probably guess it. I hope you do. Then you could update my site and I’d have more content without additional work. Seems like a good plan.

Here is my conversation with Becca that I liked:

becca: and i was going to go to bed an hour ago
and i keep putting my laundry on my bed in the hopes that i will fold it, but all that happens is i move it every night onto my chair
when i even make it into my bed

me: haha
yeah my bed has no sheets on it
and i’m on the couch

Becca: i want orange juice bad right now
me too

me: knowing i should brush the candy cane jojos off my teeth

Becca: oh it’s like we’re in new york again
meh

me: but seriously just lying here
you have perfect teeth
my teeth are like enamel coated cavities

Becca: oh yeah, you have regular teeth
ok seriously i really really really need to sleep now
good night

me: night

Becca: awesome
the beatles just wished me good night
i can hear ringo in my head
singing thtat ridiculous song

I am embarrassed by my childlike hands. It works for Kaki King, but I’ll never release a guitar album, and I wouldn’t have appeared in August Rush even if I had her talent. When I picture the better version of me she is always more defined with higher cheek bones, a longer neck, and of course hands that don’t belong on the body of an eleven year old. How easily I overlook all that I accomplish with these perfectly functioning fingers that can type like crazy, convert the images in my head to paper or screen, button the hardest button to button, turn the pages of a book, dial, text, touch, plant, hold, and even play easy guitar.

That was all it took. I am so grateful now when I think of my hands. And in the process of registering for (spoiler alert!) massage school, it’s something that I return to. The ability to comfort and heal through touch comes not from having perfect hands but from intuition–from discerning and responding to what is needed. And as I think of what it means to be Christ’s hands, it is tragic for me to think of how easily and often I allowed myself to place form above function, focused on an idealized version of what hands should “look like,” divorced from what hands should do.

Water is not my favorite beverage, but it’s the stuff our bodies need to run well. The solution to ingesting so much chemically altered artificially flavored products that we are not interested in water is *not* to find a water replacement. It’s to rethink our diet.

time + convenience: cab or car service

http://www.jfkairportguide.com/jfk-taxi.html
$45 + tolls and tip, car services can be negotiated at the airport but will be similar in price.
Considerations: most expensive option, but you’ll go straight to your destination with minimal stops. Up to 4 passengers.
Instructions: Go to ground transportation and grab a cab or car.
Total Time: 30 - 60 minutes (depending on traffic and destination)
Total Cost: about $55

time + cost: LIRR

http://www.mta.info/mta/airtrain.htm
(note: I’ve never done this, but it is a very quick and reliable option.)
Considerations: Involves transfers (bad for luggage) and ability to find one’s way (bad for visitors).
Instructions: Use HopStop to plan your trip in advance. Follow transportation signs to AirTrain. Take AirTrain to Station D (Jamaica) depending on where you are going. You will buy a $5 ticket AFTER you leave the AirTrain. Follow signs to LIRR. Take LIRR to Penn Station. Transfer from Penn to Subway if necessary.
Total Time: 35 - 60 minutes (depending on destination)
Total Cost: $13 - $15.25 per person

cost + convenience: shuttle

http://www.jfkairportguide.com/jfk-shuttle-information.html
Considerations: Expect to share the van with up to 10 other passengers. Arrival time is very unpredictable as a result. If you have luggage and time on your side, this is a reasonable option.
Instructions: Follow signs to Ground Transportation. Ask for the super shuttle. You can also book in advance on their site: http://www.supershuttle.com
Total Time: 30 min - 180 minutes (depending on traffic and which stop you are)
Total Cost: $23 + tip, $10 for additional passengers.

cost: subway

http://www.mta.info/mta/airtrain.htm
Considerations: You will probably have to use stairs and carry your luggage an uncomfortable distance. You will have to ask people to help you get to where you are going.
Instructions: Use HopStop to plan your trip in advance. Follow transportation signs to Air Train. Take Air Train to Station A (Howard Beach) or D (Jamaica) depending on where you are going. You will buy a $5 ticket AFTER you leave the Air Train. Follow signs to Subway. Buy a Subway ticket if necessary. Take E train to Manhattan. Transfer where HopStop tells you to transfer.
Total Time: 80 - 120 minutes (depending on delays and transfers)
Total Cost: $7.25

I will tell you some sites that I’ve found helpful: Kristen Suzanne’s Kristens Raw and Esme Stevens’ The Best of Raw Food. Mostly I’ve been having smoothies and juices, and I’m introducing new foods to my diet and magic bullet.

Here’s the tally so far, after about a week and a half of being mostly (not completely) raw, but avoiding refined sugar completely:

• I already have lost a craving for processed foods. Bananas seem overly sweet to me.
• With a few notable exceptions, I can enjoy almost anything I make in the magic bullet. Kale, spinach, and carrot smoothie? Bring it on. I don’t love eating salads but I really don’t have a problem with liquefied veggies.
• I had faux oatmeal yesterday that left me happy all morning. Banana, apples, flax seed, and cinnamon- it was delicious.

Today I made this salad.
I call it antipasta salad. Here is my recipe:
1 zucchini squash
1 roma tomato
some pinenuts
some hemp seeds
a splash of oil and vinegar

I shredded the zucchini using some sort of device that just happened to exist in this kitchen of dreams where I live. I was expecting it to taste slightly unpleasant, which is why I went heavy on the nuts and oils. But it was absolutely great and I was wishing for more of the zucchini. Next time I might just eat it plain.

Also of note: I was just looking back at some old posts and I saw this from 2005. I had forgotten what a deliberate goal it had been of mine to learn to prepare food. It’s all the more satisfying to remember, and motivation to continue.

The Smart Choices Program website states:
Because shoppers are often strapped for time and need to make choices quickly, the Smart Choices Program provides at-a-glance information on the front of the package. This includes: A symbol to help you make smarter food and beverage choices within product categories.

Here’s what Dr Eileen T. Kennedy, president of the Smart Choices board, had to say about the checkmark in this NY Times article:

“The checkmark means the food item is a ‘better for you’ product, as opposed to having an x on it saying ‘Don’t eat this,’ ” Dr. Kennedy said. “Consumers are smart enough to deduce that if it doesn’t have the checkmark, by implication it’s not a ‘better for you’ product. They want to have a choice. They don’t want to be told ‘You must do this.’ ”

Dr. Kennedy, who is not paid for her work on the program, defended the products endorsed by the program, including sweet cereals. She said Froot Loops was better than other things parents could choose for their children.

“You’re rushing around, you’re trying to think about healthy eating for your kids and you have a choice between a doughnut and a cereal,” Dr. Kennedy said, evoking a hypothetical parent in the supermarket. “So Froot Loops is a better choice.”

So, to review, Froot Loops is a better choice WHEN COMPARED TO A DOUGHNUT. That’s amazingly helpful. When I lived in Belize, the women I knew there thought it was ok to fill baby bottles with Coke. The argument could certainly be made that it’s better than alcohol. You can always find something worse than what you’re doing, but that has no bearing on whether what you are doing is indeed “smart.”

However, if we as rushed consumers deserve to be making informed choices, and the clearly subjective checkmark system works, I have a suggestion to make it even more informative: put a graphic of the food it is better than next to the check. A box of cereal would have a picture of a doughnut so that those consumers can feel good about their decision to not start the day off with a greasy pastry. A doughnut could come in a box with a picture of, say, a dozen doughnuts. Or a turducken. The turducken could have an image of lead paint. And the lead paint stands alone.

The Smart Choices Program website also felt it important to include this kid cereal endorsement:

On average, only about 5% of the sugar consumed by U.S. children comes from ready-to-eat cereals, according to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Pre-sweetened cereals have been demonstrated to be a good source of vitamins and minerals for children. Studies around the globe have consistently shown that kids who eat breakfast have more physical and mental energy than those who do not. Cereal eaters are also more likely to have healthier body weights and greater vitamin and mineral intakes.

Again, it is significant to note what is being compared here. First, sugar cereal is compared to a poor national diet so full of bad food choices that it is only 5% of the problem. Nice work, America. Next, it is compared to a meal plan in which breakfast is not served. So basically eating is better for you than not eating, and if your kid has juvenile diabetes anyway, better to give him Count Chocula than a bowl of corn syrup and a can of Mountain Dew.

I’m not a perfect eater- I’ve had doughnuts for breakfast before and that’s not the worst decision I’ve ever made. A lot of us knowingly choose to be unhealthy, and I wish it weren’t so convenient or casual to do that, but that’s what we’re up against. My concern is that so many people don’t know. We are misled by claims, sponsored research, inaccurate reporting, and a false belief that if something were bad for us, the FDA would intervene and stop it. Froot Loops may not be the leading cause of obesity, but if we’re being told it’s a smart choice, we deserve to know, right on that same label: compared to what?

And guess what? I’ll take it!

With every day that I live in this gracious home of abundant plant and animal life, I become more convinced I don’t want to live anywhere else. Not for now, at least. Home ownership was a means to an end: the doorway to building a chicken coop and digging up the lawn to grow vegetables. But on this property where no grass grows, I have found all that I thought would make me happy. And so far, it does. And until I find the man who will build me a cob house, I’m more than content living here. Rent is affordable, roommates are fascinating, and there are nine chickens, several pullets, and many more chicks less than 100 feet from where I sit.