Teleidoscope

Thu, Jul 31, 2008

Semi-Ept

Posted at 1:43 pm MDT to Current Events

Interesting.

The Shafroth campaign has enough awareness of the blogoverse to have someone scanning for mentions of him in blogs, but they respond to what they say are inaccuracies in an email.

Apparently my little 'add a comment' link is merely decorative. Or else maybe they don't want to commit to a public discussion?

They included an offer of a followup phone-call, if I will provide them with a number to call. I think not. I am sufficiently unimpressed by their website, and I have no intention of getting on a list consenting to incoming spam-calls.

I'm not going to quote from the email either: I assume if they wanted a public discussion they would have used the comments, so I am going to respect their privacy.

Somehow this reminds me of those bozos who were claimed to be representing the blogging world in negotiations with the AP, but you needed to use email or the telephone to get information about them.

I should probably check my logs and find out if anyone is actually reading this blog these days besides the handful I more or less know about.

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Democratic Primary

Posted at 9:07 am MDT to Current Events

There are three Democrats in the race for my local Congressional District: Jared Polis, Joan Fitz-Gerald, and Will Shafroth.

A few weeks ago I was called by a political poll about the race. As far as I could tell from the questions they asked, Will Shafroth was running on a platform of having a wife and kids, not on policy matters. I found that a little odd and suspicious until this morning, when I checked wikipedia on all three candidates. The article on Jared Polis describes him as 'openly gay'. Suddenly all the 'family' questions made sense. Shafroth was running on a "I am a man and not gay' platform". Ewww.

According to Shafroth's website, he has been endorsed by both Denver newspapers, which swing much farther to the right than the Boulder area that the Representative will actually be representing. This would suggest to me that he is the surrogate Republican in the race (this is a fairly solid Democratic seat) even if the push-poll questions had not made me suspicious.

I'm having trouble deciding between Polis and Fitz-Gerald.

I like Jared Polis' policies on various issues, and his website seems to address more of them and in more detail than Fitz-Gerald does. He has been a successful creator of several businesses and worked as head of the State Board of Education (an elected post), and created a foundation that, among other educational endeavors, supports education for immigrant children and homeless and at-risk children. He has also pledged not to take PAC money.

He seems competent (unlike Shrub's business background of repeated failures), and I like his ideas. He has a well-done personal website and one for his educational foundation as well as the political one that's tied to the campaign, so he seems to be a resident of the 21st century. But he does lack legislative experience.

Fitz-Gerald was the first woman President of the Colorado State Senate, and is very plugged into the old-style Democratic organization. She was previously a County Clerk (in a strongly Republican county) who introduced Vote-by-Mail to Colorado. She has most of the big endorsements from Democratic politicians and unions.

Legislative experience is desirable, but I am very disappointed with the way the organization Democrats in Congress have failed to do the things we elected them to do in 2006. They threw away two years in which they could have made corrections to the appalling course this country has been on. Legislative experience is way too likely to mean 'business as usual' in all of the worst ways.

I think I am going to vote for Polis in the primary.

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Mon, Jul 28, 2008

Blood Test Results

Posted at 11:49 am MDT to Miscellaneous

The results are coming in from the various medical tests I had last week.

From Wednesday's tests, I am immune to measles. This is good: the DTP injection site it still tender, and this means I don't need to have another shot. I'll see if they can test for mumps immunity the next time I get my thyroid levels checked.

From Friday's tests, my hormone levels are not yet post-menopausal. This means I stay on tamoxifen instead of switching to one of the alternative therapies. (Perhaps the tamoxifen is why my external symptoms of menopause are more advanced?) It also means my hormone levels will be staving off osteoporosis for a while yet, which is good.

Friday's tests also indicated I'm still testing as anemic, even though I take a multi-vitamin/mineral supplement with iron in it. Not sure what to do about that. Now that the swallowing problems seem to be mostly under control, I should probably try to switch more red meat back into my diet.

There is organic elk and bison, and grass-fed beef available at the farmers' market, besides the chicken and lamb. I should clean the ancient stuff out of my chest freezer that freezer-burned during the years I was mostly out of town, and restock with fresh food. (I was mostly coming to the end of the side of lamb and pork, and quarter of beef I had before I started travelling, and needing to think about restocking, so it isn't a huge waste.) If I had meat red meat in the house, I would probably eat it.

I should probably invest in one of those food vaccuum sealers, too, to prevent freezer-burn in the future.

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Sun, Jul 27, 2008

Chard

Posted at 5:48 pm MDT to Technology

Man, that immunization really knocked me out. I've been a slug for the past few days, and after 4 days I still have a noticeable bump where the injection happened, though at least it has gotten smaller and less itchy.

I worked farmer's market yesterday. Rowan was in San Diego for the big comic convention, so it was just Nanette who did the picking and the two of us setting up. I went over to Nanette's for a little while afterward, and stopped at my local Whole Foods (that used to be Wild Oats) on the way home, and I was exhausted when I got home.

I brought home some zucchini (which I need to do something with tomorrow) and chard. I made the chard for dinner today.

My traditional use for chard is in a frittata, but it is kind of hard to make a frittata without eggs, so I experimented a bit.

I stripped the stems out of the chard, chopped them, and started them sauteing in a little olive oil while I chopped the leaves, then added the leaves to the skillet and put on the lid, so the leaves would partly steam in their own moisture.

While that was cooking, I chopped up some thin-sliced cooked salami and added it to the pan to render out some of its fat blend the flavors a little.

After cooking another minute or so, I grated a little hard goat cheese --'Sunlight' from Haystack Dairy -- on top. Stirred it through, and added a little more on top when I dished it up. (I got the cheese at the market last week from the Haystack Dairy folks, but the local Whole Foods carry it too, so I can get it in the off season.)

The mixture was interesting but a little strong, and the proportions were a little off. I stirred some into some cooked and cooled elbow noodles, with a little more cheese. and I think I've got the beginnings of an interesting pasta salad, once I get the proportions balanced. The mouth-feel was rich enough to satisfy some of the craving for mac and cheese that's been attacking me when I shop.

The next batch needs to be a bunch of chard, an ounce or so of chopped salami, a quarter to half a cup of grated cheese (I didn't have nearly that much this time) to about a half pound of pasta.

I'm starting to watch some of my cooking shows so I can clear them off my DVR, and I encountered the concept of a veloute, which is like a bechamel but based on stock instead of milk. I wonder if I could do a chicken veloute-based mac and cheese casserole with some goat cheese. Maybe when the weather gets cooler.

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Thu, Jul 24, 2008

Vaccines

Posted at 4:16 pm MDT to Technology

I went to the doctor replacing my previous internist to get my thyroid levels checked yesterday. She seems OK, so I may stay with her instead of looking for a new doctor.

While I was there I mentioned that I thought I was due for a tetanus shot, and she suggested I get the DTP (diptheria, tetanus, pertussis) shot they give to little kids. It seems the ones people my age got as children are wearing off, and there are outbreaks of whooping cough (pertussis) these days because idiots are not getting their children immunized, so the diseases are able to spread. The DTP shot sounded fine to me: I don't need more crud in my lungs after the winter I had.

There have been recent outbreaks of measles, too, so they are going to test some of my blood they took for antibodies. The vaccine was after my time, but I never had the measles even though they were prevalent in the grammar schools I attended.

I should probably get tested for mumps antibodies next time, if they have a test for mumps antibodies: I missed them too. The only one of the 'standard' childhood diseases I actually experienced was chicken pox.

My Mom made sure I got immunized for German Measles when I was in junior high, since I had never had them, because they would cause birth defects if I caught the later in life while pregnant. And I think my youngest brother might have gotten the full set of measles immunizations: Chris is 7 years younger than me, and measles immunization was commoner by the time he reached school age.

I really don't understand people who don't get their kids immunized. But then, I'm old enough to remember when mumps and measles were things you hoped would come through your neighborhood without any of the nastier effects for you or your classmates.

Polio vaccines (both Salk and Sabin) were new and wonderful lifesaving treatments that stopped parents' nightmares and opened the public swimming pools in the summer time in my lifetime. I don't remember the pools being closed, but I remember my parents talking about the change. I was very sick with something when I was one year old, in the summer of 1955, and polio was one of the things they worried about. That was the year the Salk vaccine first became widely available, so I had not been immunized before I was sick. I'm sure I was immunized not long after, and I remember being re-immunized with the oral vaccine later.

And I've read about the European 'childhood diseases' wiping out the Mississippi valley civilizations. We really don't want to have an unexposed, un-immunized population.

I received the actual original 'vaccination' -- against smallpox -- twice that I know of. Once as a small child and once in high-school or junior-high.

Googling, it looks like there is a West Nile vaccine for horses, though it needs to be renewed every year. And West Nile vaccines for humans are in clinical trials in Hawaii and elsewhere. That's one I'd definitely be interested in getting when it becomes available.

And if tropical diseases move north as the climate shifts, we will eventually need to be immunized for some of them on a regular basis, not just when we travel.

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Choices

Posted at 2:34 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

Cool.

Found via a link on matociquala's LiveJournal. An article from Scientific American about how the decision-making part of the brain can get worn out.

No wonder programming and writing stories are both tiring: they both involve a constant choosing of details.

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Wed, Jul 23, 2008

Graham Cracker Packaging

Posted at 1:13 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

It seems that the marketing guys have been playing games with the HoneyMaid Graham Cracker packages.

The boxes are still the traditional size, and there are still three packages of crackers per box, and the crackers are still the same size. But the 3 packages no longer fill the box completely as they once did.

Judging by the amount of empty air space in the box, I suspect the packages used to hold 12 crackers each. Now they only hold 9 each.

I'm glad to have any graham crackers -- most other crackers seem to have one or more ingredients I can no longer eat -- but if they are going to skimp on the package contents, they should reduce the amount of packaging. Or fill the box and raise the price. Just be honest about it.

Insert ritual comments about the good old days here....

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Christian the Lion

Posted at 12:19 pm MDT to Media

This video was linked by Lori Coulson in the Making Light comments (#88). It is wonderful. The availability of thing is one of the wonders of the internet.

If I'm being a little quiet this week, it is because I am on vacation, and as the pressure of work came off, I found myself able to write fiction again. Which means I am not getting as much done around the house as I had planned, but I am not complaining.

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Mon, Jul 21, 2008

Digital XRays

Posted at 11:30 am MDT to Technology

The locally available medical technology has taken a jump in the past year. Both my dentist and the mammography department at the local hospital are now using digital x-ray camera instead of film. This gives them much clearer images: the computer can get the focus exactly right. The new mammography system is supposed to see through fibrocystic tissue a lot better than the old one, too.

It also gives faster turnaround on the images, of course. At the end of my mammogram this morning the technician showed me the pictures she had taken, after she emailed them to the radiologist. They looked nice and clear to me. This is good. They should not need followup untrasounds or whatever to decide on my status.

The technician was very nice. She did the right-side lateral imaging in two shots instead of one to allow for the fact that the tissue on that side is stiff from being cooked by the radiation treatments. That side just doesn't compress well.

My dentist showed me the images from the digital bite-wings, too, when he was discussing what they had found. He just swung the screen he was using to view them around so I could look at it too.

I still want vise-free Star Trek medical scanners for mammograms, though. The new systems don't hurt quite as badly as the old ones did, but that is not saying a whole lot.

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Sun, Jul 20, 2008

Blogroll

Posted at 1:35 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

I regularly read two forums: Shadow Unit and the Girl Genius Yahoo forum. I'm occasionally active on the Shadow Unit forum, but I get GG by email and seldom post: the moderators on that forum are fairly obnoxious and the forum software doesn't work that well with Konqueror. I was more active on GG a couple of years ago.

Some of the sites I follow live in a strange limbo between fiction and the 'real' internet.

Othar Trygvassen (Gentleman Adventurer), a character from Girl Genius has a Twitter account, where his adventures are reported more or less daily. There is a portal and archive available.

Four of the characters from Shadow Unit have LiveJournals, where the Shadow Unit story has been continuing over the summer in the journals and comments. Hafidha Gates is 0metotchtli, Daphne Worth (who just announced that she is getting married to her girlfriend) is trollcatz and Chaz Villette, who is usually the most active blogger, is cvillette. Solomon Todd is ace-cub-reportr, but he doesn't usually use his account for posting. He just comments on the other characters' LJs.

The actual blogroll:

People I 'met' through the Shadow Unit forums and character blogs

Elizabeth Bear matociquala on LiveJournal

Emma Bull coffeeem on LiveJournal

Sarah Monette truepennyon LiveJournal

Amanda Downum stillsostrange on Livejournal

The Mad Gastronomer at inaurolillium and Ask Zombie Chef, both on LiveJournal. She was very supportive when I was freaking out about my new dietary restrictions.

And txanne, a real person (I think), with a fun LJ, who commented in the character blogs and ended up with a cameo in a Shadow Unit episode.

As you can see the Shadow Unit fourth wall is kind of porous in both directions.

The rest of these sites I check regularly.

Tech

Groklaw

Slashdot (I very very rarely read comments here, but the articles link to interesting places.)

Literature, Science and Culture

Making LightLiterature, publishing, politics, poetry, puns, emergency medicine. A ferociously civilized community of commenters.

More Words, Deeper HoleLive Journal of James D. Nicoll, whom I first encountered on rec.arts.sf.written. Cats, books, lnguage, SF and miscellaneous commentary, politics with a Canadian POV

Antick MusingsBlog of Andrew Wheeler, who used to be an editor of the Science Fiction Book Club, and used to post on rec.arts.sf.written. Publishing industry, books reviews and miscellaneous

WhateverSF author John Scalzi's blog had a million visitors in June (I was 30 of them). Pets, photos, music and movie and book reviews, guest interviews with other authors, politics and miscellaneous essays. Scalzi does a great rant when he is on a roll.

Language LogLinguistics

C. J. Cherryh - Progress ReportThis gets updated once every few weeks with the SF author's diary for the preceding time.

Neil GaimanNews about Neil and his professional acquaintances and activities, also his family and pets and bees. No comments on this blog, but he answers questions frm email in the articles.

WWdN: In ExileWil Wheaton: actor, geek and big-time blogger. He was on one of the Geek Cruises I took a few years ago, and the blog has kept me reading since then.

Charlie's DiaryCharles Stross, British SF author and former technology journalist. SF, politics and technology

Dynamics of CatsSteinn Sigurðsson, Icelandic born astrophysicist and former poster on rec.arts.sf.written. Science, politics, Icelandic culture, the iPod I Ching

Fullmetal AnalystA literature professor and fan of manga and anime. I first encountered her writing on rec.arts.anime.misc. I wish she had time to post more often.

Shawn's WeblogMy business partner. We talk back and forth in comments to our blogs.

Tetrapod ZoologyScience blog by paleontologist Darren Naish. Extinct species, extant species, endangered species and occasional species that probably don't exit. With illos and footnotes and links to the primary scientific articles.

PharyngulaScience blog by PZ Meyers. Atheism, biology, evo-devo, cephalopods and politics, especially fighting against creationism and Intelligent Design in schools and religous influences in government. I don't read most of the comments here (some of the atheism and political posts get a LOT of comments, but the articles are interesting.

HiggaionStudies in Biblical Hebrew. Hard to describe. Hasn't been updated much this summer, but it had some interesting articles during the school year.

Sing a Song of Sixpence Live Journal of an Emergency Department Physician in 'City X' (which may be somewhere in Michigan). Updates very occasionally, but the stories from the hospital are amazing when they occur.

Sauropod Vertebra Picture of the WeekArticles by three paleontologists, including Darren Naish of Tetrapod Zoology

SF NovelistsWriters discussing writing in the articles and the comments

The Daily CoyotePhotos of Charlie the coyote. He's beautiful, and Shreve Stockton is a wonderful photographer.

The Edge of the American WestArticles about American politics, history and culture by history professors and guests

Robin McKinleySF writer Robin McKinley. American expatriot in England. Sf, writing, music, horses, hellhounds, gardens (especially roses),recipes, bell-ringing

There are other blogs I visit occasionally.

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Sat, Jul 19, 2008

A Crossover of DOOM

Posted at 7:06 pm MDT to Media

On fmanalysts's live journal I found a link to The Royal Society (a crossover of DOOM).

This is a crssover fanfic for: "deep breath Torchwood/Discworld/Nero Wolfe/Lord Peter/Harry Potter/SGA/Jeeves&Wooster/Sherlock Holmes.".

While on the subject of fanfic crossovers, there are a couple of stories online that crossover Bertie Wooster and Lord Peter Wimsey. The suggestion is that Bertie Wooster's odd world, where World War I never happened, is the world-view of a former officer with massive PTSD. It works very well. The first story is Green Ice. There is the beginning of a sequel Armistice which is just heartbreaking. (Now I have them linked I will be able to find them again without googling.)

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Dr. Horrible

Posted at 6:26 pm MDT to Media

Joss Whedon spent the writers' strike writing a superhero musical: Dr.Horrible's Sing Along Blog. It stars Neil Patrick Harris as Dr. Horrible, Nathan Filion as Captain Hammer, his nemesis and Felicia Day as Penny, thir mutual love interest, and it has been posted this week for free, one chapter at a time. Starting tomorrow it will be available on iTunes, and eventually there will be a DVD with extras.

I finally watched it today: I needed to plug phones into my laptop to hear it. The speakers on this laptop suck royally. I hope the new laptop has a better sound system... my previous laptop had speakers that I could actually hear.

The music is great.

I want to see the adventures of Bad Horse, maybe as an online comic. The head of the super-villain group that Dr. Horrible wants to join (the Evil League of Evil) is a horse. An evil horse with henchmen in western clothes.

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Thu, Jul 17, 2008

Sean Tevis for Kansas

Posted at 7:52 pm MDT to Current Events

A liberal inhabitant of the 21st Century and the Internet is running for State Representative in Kansas against an incumbent, who is anti-choice, anti-gay marriage, pro-censorship and pro-'intelligent design in schools'. He has a fundraising website in the style of the XKCD comic, and is trying to get 3000 donors by July 28 (according to the site, no candidate for State Representative has ever had more than 644 donors) partly because setting a record will get him publicity.

He was told he needed $26000. And calculated that $500 from two people he knew plus an average $8.34 each would put him over the top

According to the website, he currently has just under 2900 donors.

I think Kansas would benefit from having someone to counterbalance the creationists.

I recommend clicking through to see the website, even if you don't donate.

I also recommend XKCD.

I heard about this on Pharyngula, a science/liberal/atheist blog.

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Tue, Jul 15, 2008

Chirp

Posted at 10:34 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

Years ago when I had my back porch built and the back door installed on my house, the inspector refused to sign off on the permit unless I had smoke detectors on each level (which I had) and in each bedroom, which I didn't at that time.

So I have 5 smoke detectors in the house. Two of them are new last fall: the original upstairs and downstairs ones finally bit the dust. And I replaced all the batteries this past winter.

So it is doubly annoying that one of them is chirping at intervals. Its battery is apparently dying. Or it is. And the chirps are far enough apart that it is difficult to tell which one is complaining. They never seem to chirp when I am standing near one.

I suspect it is the one in the basement which is one of the next ones. I'll try changing that battery in the morning. I will be very annoyed if the problem turns out to be with the detector.

At least it isn't the one in my bedroom, so it won't drive me completely crazy over night.

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Mon, Jul 14, 2008

Marinated Mushrooms I

Posted at 9:24 pm MDT to Technology

These came out very strong. Maybe change the ratio of oil to vinegar next time. Also, red wine vinegar makes them dark: invest in some white wine vinegar, if possible, for the next batch.

Some recipes call for cooking the mushrooms, etc. in vinegar, draining them, then adding oil to the mason jar to cover. That might give a mellower result, too.

Lots of recipes call for red chile flakes. I might stir in a tiny bit after the cooking, just before the mixture goes from the pan to the jar.

Some of the extra kick maybe from including wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil instead of the less flavorful varieties they use in the marinated mushrooms from the store.

I used an oil-packed roasted pepper. A fresh, or freshly roasted, red bell pepper would be nice.

1 pound fresh mushrooms 
    halved or quartered depending on size
1 roasted sweet pepper chopped into shreds
cloves from one head of garlic, sliced thin
1/2 tsp pickling salt
1/2 cup each light and extra virgin olive oil
1 cup red wine vinegar
dried marjoram and other herbs
dried parsley

Put ingredients in a saucepan. Mix together. Add equal parts oil and vinegar to barely cover the mushrooms. Bring to a boil and cook 5 to 10 minutes.

Allow to cool slightly, then ladle solids and enough liquid to cover into a mason jar. Add oil if needed to cover the solids (this batch there was a little extra liquid left in the pan). Refrigerate at least over night before serving.

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Sun, Jul 13, 2008

Annoyances

Posted at 5:03 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

I received a letter from my internist, who is my primary care physician. He's leaving his practice. This is the third or fourth internist I've outlasted, the second or third at this clinic, depending on whether you count the temp who covered between when my first doctor there left and the current one took over my care.

Now I need to decide whether to stick with this same clinic (which at least has years and years of my records: I started seeing my first doctor at Internal Medicine Associates in 1999) or go looking for another internist. If I knew anyone who was happy with their doctors I might be inclined to make a change.

Another annoyance:

The Readerware software I use to catalog my books, CDs and DVDs has stopped working. It may be a problem with using Java on a 64 bit Linux system.

I've been holding out on the migration to the new laptop (which is 32 bit) because some of the files and apps I need for my current contract are configured on this one in 64bit. But since the contract is up in a week I should start migrating things over. It may not be worth it to fuss about getting Readerware working again on this box.

But I really don't understand Sun. They claimed to want Java to be a cross-platform system, but even though 64 bit machines have been around long enough for me to wear out a 64bit laptop, they still don't have official support for Java on 64bit.

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Sat, Jul 12, 2008

Goat milk

Posted at 3:53 pm MDT to Technology

At Farmers' Market today I had Sisters' Pantry Dumplings for breakfast. Yay. I also bought two kinds of goat-milk cheese.

On the way home I stopped at Whole Foods. They had powered and canned goats' milk. I got some powdered: tomorrow I'll make a batch of waffles with goats' milk and egg replacer, and vanilla to compensate for some of the missing richness of the eggs. I hope this batch will be less lame than the pancakes I made with the egg replacer a few weeks ago.

Whole Foods also had goat yogurt. It's very expensive, but at least it is there. So it is available for use as an ingredient.

And they carry lots of kinds of goat and sheep milk cheeses (including cheese from the farm I buy from at the market, so I can keep buying it over the winter). I'll get a sample of sheep cheese to be tested with before my next allergist appointment.

I bought some meringue cookies, too. Sugar and egg whites, with no dairy or egg yolks. It's nice to buy some regular things. it would be even nicer to find a brand of hotdog and hamburger buns without malt in them, but I think that quest is hopeless.

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Thu, Jul 10, 2008

Long Day, Short Night

Posted at 8:34 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

Next week is my last week on this contract, so we are rolling out script changes to production, which needs to be done after hours, Boston time.

I worked 10:30 AM my time to 8 PM to day, with a meal break. That made up the time from the doctor's appointment yesterday.

And I need to be available at 8am Boston time (6 am Colorado time) in case there are problems in the rollout aftermath. Sometimes it's really handy to have a commute that runs from the bedroom to the living room.

We'll do some more rollouts early next week, probaly Tuesday/Wednesday so my schedule will be strange again. But by Friday evening this contract will be done.

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Wed, Jul 09, 2008

Mediterranean Food

Posted at 7:57 pm MDT to Technology

The allergist's office hadn't been planning to do more skin tests today but they did three: olives, Russian olive pollen, and goat's milk. They all came back negative.

The Russian olive is interesting: I was pretty sure i was allergic to it in the early 90s. Either it was something else that pollinates at the same time (like ragweed and goldenrod) or I've adapted to it over the years.

The olives and goat's milk are a big relief. I can have goat cheese, in small quantities. And olive oil I've been using in place of butter should not be a problem. (I suspect that means I need a fresher bottle of extra virgin olive oil) I can eat some Greek food, or Moroccan. As long as I stay away from eggs and butter... and maybe find a source of goat milk yogurt. I don't think I've ever seen goat butter for sale.

The Doctor also agreed that I can add small amounts of egg whites back into my diet, since I tested negative for them last month. I can have Sisters' Pantry dumplings for breakfast at Farmers' Market!

My next appointment is scheduled for September 8, and this time they have scheduled more skin tests. I think there is still something occasionally triggering allergic reactions, so I'll be trying to keep track of what kinds of things I've been eating before I have swallowing problems.

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Tue, Jul 08, 2008

Ingredients

Posted at 11:13 pm MDT to Technology

I got another piece of birthday present from work today: a set of Mario Batali utensils to accompany the cookbooks.

I went down to Salvaggio's deli to see if they had any Pecorino Romano cheese, but it was very disappointing. It's just a sandwich shop. (Years ago it had some actual imported stuff.)

Herb's Meats, which I visited last week, does a better job of being an Italian deli. But it didn't have imported cheeses. I have a rabbit from Herb's in the freezer.

I think there is an Italian deli in downtown Louisville, but I didn't go there. Instead I explored some of the other international markets in Boulder, to see what other ingredients are available.

Next door to Salvaggio's is the Mediterranean Market and Deli. Arab rather than Greek: they sell halal meat, along with a lot of other interesting stuff. I bought some orange blossom water (they had rose water but only in large bottles) and pomegranate concentrate. I suspect there may be a kosher deli somewhere in town... I should explore. Probably starting with the yellow pages.

A few blocks away there is a strip mall with a deli/sandwich shop and three sources of international food. I didn't go into the Panaderia Mexican bakery. But I bought rice, tapioca (pearls and flour), fresh ginger and soba noodles at the Asian market (which also stocks Mexican ingredients).

The Indian market was more sparse, but smelled wonderful. Incense and curry. I mentioned to the shopkeeper that I was recently diagnosed with allergies to milk and eggs (many of the packages did not have English ingredient lists), and he said he was a nutritionist who had spent some time in medical school, and had experience dealing with allergies and Ayurveda. I think I need to look up Ayurveda cuisine... I got some bake-at-home naan bread, and a curry sauce mix for chicken to try. The shopkeeper said he has 65 different sauce mixes.

I came home the long way, and picked up (finally) the Mario Batali lasagna pan I've been thinking about. Now I need to figure out how to make a dairy-free lasagna. Or buy a roasting chicken. I need to check the allergy cookbooks I got for my birthday.

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Mon, Jul 07, 2008

Rest

Posted at 11:24 pm MDT to Exercise

I spent most of the four-day weekend resting and relaxing, but it doesn't seem to have done me much good. Today I felt like I was coming down with something again, though I don't know where I would have caught it.

No walking today.

I hope I can edge back a little way toward a more normal diet after my appointment with the allergist on Wednesday. It's nice to be able to swallow most of the time, but the rest of my digestive system does not seem to like the new dietary balance, even after a full month.

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Sat, Jul 05, 2008

Annoying

Posted at 11:11 am MDT to Exercise

For the past few days, my weight has been up and my daily mileage has been down.

My left shin and ankle are getting sore very quickly, so I'm only doing a mile a day. But the pattern of the soreness is like what I felt in the right shin the first week I started walking, so I hope it is a sign that the left leg is beginning to function more normally. That foot and ankle are still thicker than the right one, but they are showing more definition, so they may be flexing more now.

Walking a mile doesn't make the right leg sore at all now, which is a good sign. Once the left leg muscles get used to actually working, I'll increase the milage again.

The weight re-gain of the few pounds I had lost is annoying, but may be partly due to an increase of muscle mass. Body fat percentage is down slightly, rather than going up. This would be good in the long run: muscle burns calories better than fat. My ring fits a little better than it did at this weight previously -- another sign that I may be swapping bloat for muscle. There are a couple of pairs of jeans that are fine through the thighs and hips now, but I'll still need to lose or rearrange a few pounds of belly fat to button them.

I was trying to taper off the St. John's Wort dosage this weekend, since I'm on a mini-vacation and should be less stressed. But I'm going to put the dosage back up in case that is interacting with the weight loss and energy for exercise. Weight gain is a known side effect of depression. And the restlessness that led to the beginning of the walking happened when I was on the higher dose. If the higher dose lets me lose weight and gain muscle, I'll stay on the higher dose. St. John's Wort is cheaper than buying clothes, and much cheaper than the prescription alternatives, with fewer side effects.

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Thu, Jul 03, 2008

Cool Stuff

Posted at 12:41 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

I've gotten some deliveries of cool stuff. (It's a good thing the driveway is usable.)

First, on Tuesday, I received a package from an order I made to Crate and Barrel. I've been wanting a free-standing pot-rack since I started acquiring good cookware, and their summer catalog had a bamboo and steel one on sale for under $200. I received the second box of the shipment today, and just finished putting the rack together. I need to reorganize things in the kitchen a little to make room for it, but I think it will be very useful, and look nice, too.

The wood-tone of the bamboo is a pretty good match for my light oak kitchen. And 6 shelves of storage space will be great to have. The bottom shelf space is tall enough for the catfood canister, which I had been a little worried about.

Yesterday I received a Shadow Unit lined windbreaker I had ordered. A similar jacket can be seen here, modeled by author Emma Bull.

Those were both expected deliveries.

The surprise was a delivery from Amazon: my company sent me three allergy cookbooks. Probably in lieu of a birthday lunch, which is just as well: I had a hard time finding something to eat at the nice restaurant Nanette took me to last night. The meal I finally selected was very nice, though the dessert menu was hopeless.

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Wed, Jul 02, 2008

Birthday

Posted at 7:34 am MDT to Exercise

I have survived another year.

It's a good thing I din't make any bets about the powerline work being finished before my birthday, but I think everything is done now except patching the hole in the porch roof. The pole and the backhoe are gone. The house looks strangely detached, from a distance, without the dark lines of the powerlines connecting it to anything.

1. mile today, beginning the second day of Bilbo's journey. My legs were sore, but I think that was from tension because I had a dental appointment yesterday

I stopped at the big King Soopers on the way home and spent quite a while reading labels, looking for things I can eat. I really hope it turns out I can have goat cheese, when I see the allergist again next week.

At least, between the dietary change and the walking, my weight is trending downward slowly. I'm actually tracking the sum of my body-fat percentage and my weight. This tends to compensate for weight fluctuations due to hydration differences.

My brother Larry called last night, and I'm having a birthday dinner with Nanette.

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