View From the Duck Pond

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Synchronized Treadmill Workouts

So, the guy I work next to sent me this link.  It's crazy!  I hate treadmills but I think synchronized treadmilling could be the dance artform of the future, man.
In fact, maybe we could take it up as a house hobby.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Poisoned Apples

The guy next to me at work today was eating a nectarine and trying to eat the seed (he was REALLY hungry!).  I was intrigued.
 
So, apparently, apples and apricots store poison in their seeds.  In fact some apricots and bitter almonds(not the kind we commonly eat) have caused children to die from cyanide poisoning.
 
However, it's not just apples, apricots, and almonds.  Cherries, peaches, and more also have amygdalin in them which can be converted by bacteria in our digestive system into cyanide.
 
It totally gives new meaning to the story of Snow White, you know?  Poisoned apples and all.
 
 
 
NOTE:  I could find no proof of anyone actually being poisoned by an apple, only apricots and bitter almonds.  And, yes, I was definitely bored at work.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

A Flying Car (almost)

I don't think that at 1.4 million dollars a piece I'll ever have to worry about it, but I don't think I'd feel safe driving one of these puppies. . . AT ALL!

Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day!



Aarrgh!  me mateys!
 
Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day!
 

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Fall Nights on the Porch

Fall is coming. It's here. Tonight was chilly and I rocked on the porch while having a conversation I only have remember because I was sleepy. I said out loud tonight for the first time that I thought we were forming an intentional community here. It seems so real. All of the sudden I'm not willing to think of myself as a loner who might not fit in. I will make this a place where I do fit in. I refuse to not feel at home in my own home anymore. It's my home. I'll make it what I want it to be and I want it to be a home, a family, a place where we each belong.

Tonight I had a breakthrough in explaining to myself and others why certain statements and terms make me uncomfortable as a woman. A male friend of mine called the neighbor a "trophy wife," not in anger, but just as a way to refer to her. He doesn't know her, though, has never met her, and knows nothing about her except that she's young and beautiful and lives in a nice house with a nice car, and appears to not work outside of the home and she's a woman. It made me feel disquieted, but it was hard to make him understand why.

Then, I finally understood why. And it finally made sense why I don't like it when the guys I live with, the guys I work with, the guys I'm friends with, and even the women in my life make such comments. It's because it's a dismissive and marginalizing label based solely on one obvious aspect of the person - her sex, and it makes me all of the sudden wonder what does that person think about me, because I'm the same as her. It's the same as if I were a racial minority listening to a white person call some passerby of the same race by some slur. I'd feel marginalized and uncomfortable. They may not mean it that way, but that's how I feel.

I pointed this out to my friend, thinking that I had finally come up with a way of explaining why those comments are upsetting, but he said it was different. And I think anyone I try to tell this to will not be willing to listen to a comparison between racism and sexism. As a society, we are willing to tolerate sexism where we find racism abhorrent.

But why? It's the same thing. It's the marginalization of a person based solely on a physical aspect that they cannot change and did not choose. It's the assumptions we box them into upon first glance, that we use to pin them into a pattern that we will not let them escape. And I'm finding it within myself as I write this. I feel challenged to deal newly with the prejudiced things I do and say, to understand them and see them for what they are, recognizing the ugly thing inside me that says them, and changing that mindset that translates into an unfair behavior that disempowers others simply because they are not identical to me.

Smelly Good Houseguests

We have another houseguest! Her name is Rachel Eckenrod and she travels around the country in her VW van performing intuitive energy work and aromatherapy. She's sleeping on the comfy couch for a few days before heading down to Schwagstock this weekend to set up shop.

Note: This woman smells really good, so that's my recommendation for her aromatherapy products right there.

In addition to having a houseguest, we spent the evening working on the immediate marketing plan for True Edge Consulting and working on the investment opportunities for Gano Place.

Furthermore, I've discovered that my roommates eat crazy stuff on their pizza. Jalapeno slices, barbecue sauce, spicy Chinese mustard, and Ranch dressing. And the cracks in our sidewalk provide amazing good fun with lighter fluid. Seriously, the patterns of fire are beautiful.