The Omnivore's Dilemma

I have recently been reading The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, a journalism professor at Berkeley and a contributing writer to the New York Times Magazine. I have found this book extremely interesting and also quite alarming. The book outlines the natural history of three meals that outline three ways that food reaches our table (or lap in our car). The first is the story of industrialized corn, which unbeknown to most American's, is included in most of the foods we eat, albeit in different forms. The second traces pastoral grass as the basis of a food system that eventually leads to "beyond organic" foods. I'm very impressed with Joel Salatin and Polyface Farm, the main subject of this second section of the book - I wish I could get all my food from him. (I'm currently searching for the equivalent in Northern CA.) The third is the most basic - the original hunting and gathering system that predated agriculture. I've only made it halfway through the second story, but I seriously think that this book is going to change the way I eat. I went to Trader Joe's last night and it was the most confusing, scary, and overwhelming shopping experience of my life. God only knows what it will be like to walk into Safeway again. I nearly lost trust in the "organic" food on the shelves and found myself looking closer at labels and being extraordinarily conscious of what I was putting in my basket.

I just hope eating doesn't become this scary experience, because I really love food. Be forewarned, but I do encourage you to read this book. As Pollan says, we really should have some knowledge of where our food is really coming from, rather than just saying "the grocery store".

I hope my dietician sister loves this post.

A busy past week...

I feel that I have already violated the blogger code of ethics by not keeping my blog at least slightly fresh. It has been about ten days since I last posted, so I'm sorry. My excuse is that I have been crazybusy. I have found an apartment in the Marina district of SF, survived the first 3 weeks of work (my boss has been traveling and I have been immediately responsible for three big projects), got a temporary parking permit, moved all my stuff from a storage container in Oakland into the apartment (thanks to Christina for the help!), got new CA car insurance (surprisingly way more expensive than Boston, by the way), visited the DMV to get a license and registration (kudos to the CA DMV appointment system), got a smog check for my car, bought a new dresser, and finally went to Trader Joes and Safeway (please visit this link - but don't read into my intentions in shopping there) to stock up on food. I've done all of that since Saturday morning. Whew... Next up is buying a mattress (i've been sleeping (if you want to call it that) on an air mattress), finding some more furniture/appliances (coffee table, dining chairs, tv stand, microwave, area rugs), and unpacking.

One additional note about the visit to the DMV - In California you have to pass a written test to transfer a license from another state and I was a bit nervous about this. Surprisingly, I passed with flying colors, only missing 2 out of 36. Apparently, a pedestrian always has the right of way, even if there isn't a crosswalk at an intersection, so I am going to take that as permission to jaywalk as much as possible. A visit to the DMV is always entertaining, but by far the most entertaining part of my visit was a sign posted in front of the lady who grades your test. The sign warned that verbal abuse is punishable by law and may lead to suspension of license. The lady grading the tests must have been 70 years old with completely white hair, had those glasses attached to the chain around her neck, and looked both as nice as can be and that she had been doing this for decades. So, the thought of someone just reaming her out for failing them is abhorrent and deeply comical at the same time.

Despite the fact that I have been running around this city like a crazy man trying to get all this stuff done, my only frustration is that I haven't really had the chance to start my life here. That may sound strange, but I guess what I mean is I have been wanting to start that whole process of meeting people, finding friends, and feeling like I am a part of the city. It was a blessing to be able to go to church on Sunday morning. I had been looking forward to attending City Church of San Francisco, which I have attended twice before. I am fairly confident that this will become my church home, and my visit on Sunday all but confirmed that. It seemed like just the church I am looking for - great pastor with great teaching, a diverse group of people that I think I can relate to, and a solid community group structure. So, I am excited to be able to share more news with you about that church and how I plan to get involved in the coming months.

Hope this post makes up for my week of silence. I promise my next post will come sooner rather than later.

Earthquakes

When you move to California, you have to expect that you will face the threat of earthquakes. This may sound crazy, but experiencing an earthquake is one of the things that I am most excited about with my move out West. Granted, I don't want anyone to get hurt in the earthquake, but I do want to feel what it is like to have the ground shaking underneath me. As a geologist, this display of earth's unpredictable power is just really cool.

However, this story in today's New York Times is not quite what I am looking for. Luckily, as least for us Northern Californians, the risk seems greater in Southern California. Either way, let's all hope scientists can continue to make strides in being able to better predict where and when powerful earthquakes will occur.

Bubba the Driller

I'm not generally one to shamelessly promote my own work, but prior to coming out West I was doing independent education consulting work and educational multimedia production. There are two big pieces of work that I just have to mention.

I just finished a big interactive online game for elementary school students that was based on a cartoon character that I had helped to develop back when I was in DC working for JOI. Check out the interactive game and let Bubba give you a tour of the JOIDES Resolution, a scientific ocean drilling vessel. I loved creating this project and getting to flex my creative muscles at the same time as teaching little kids about science. Plus, I enlisted top help for the voice of Bubba - my brother!

More very exciting news about my past contract work - Last summer and fall I worked with a teacher from Colorado to create a website and poster that documented an oceanographic expedition to the Indian Ocean. Rory Wilson, a middle school science teacher, participated in the Sea90E expedition and had an interactive website to connect with students all over the world while he was out at sea for 2 months. After he returned, we created an educational poster to highlight the scientific discoveries of the expedition, complete with classroom activities on the back.

Here's the super cool part - the Sea90E website and poster have been nominated as a finalist for the Association of Educational Publishers Distinguished Achievement Awards in the Science Teaching Resources - Posters category. I'm told that just being a finalist is a big deal, and it seem like it is considering most of the other finalists are the huge textbook companies and other organizations that do these types of things all the time. There is an academy awards style banquet in June in DC where they present the awards. I probably won't be able to go, but it sure will be exciting if we win.

Check out these two educational resources and let me know what you think...

Yankees vs. Red Sox

I wish I had been around Boston over the last few days to participate in conversations with Red Sox fans about this story. This is classic Yankees/Red Sox rivalry material and very humorous.

Check it out.

An update on this story from today's New York Times. Ouch for Boston fans...

A SF Protestacular!

This post is about a day late, but I got a taste of my first protest in a city that is famous for them. The Olympic torch made a highly contested stop in San Francisco on it's way to Beijing for the Summer Olympics in August. You have to live under a rock not to have heard something about the craziness that ensued yesterday, but basically there were thousands of people supporting Tibetan freedom and denouncing the Chinese government. Of course the SFPD saw this coming and had a contingency plan where the torch disappeared for about 30 minutes and reappeared on Van Ness and headed over the Golden Gate bridge. 

Two of my coworkers were eating lunch with a customer at a fancy restaurant downtown right around the time the protesters found out where the torch had reappeared. So, as they sipped lattes in opulence, hundreds of people rushed by the restaurant windows hell bent on catching the torch. 

Meanwhile myself and several other coworkers went out to lunch and as we were walking to the restaurant, several police cars and a bomb squad truck go racing past us headed in the direction of the torch relay.

All in a Wednesday's work in San Francisco!

 

Days 1 and 2

Yesterday was my first day of work at my new job at Adobe. It was overwhelming to say the least, but very exciting at the same time. Today was much better and I expect tomorrow to be even better. I'm looking forward to the day when I am fully familiar with all the stuff that is going on in my business group and the intricate ways that Adobe works. 

I want to attempt to help you all understand what it is exactly that I do as the new Curriculum Manager within the Education Solutions/Marketing group. Basically, Adobe has all these amazing software titles - there are products that many of you are probably familiar with (Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, and Flash) and newer products that maybe you've never heard of (like Flex and Acrobat Connect). All of these have uses in the education sector - whether it is traditional creative professional education programs or educators wanting to expand their use of eLearning solutions or computer science students who are learning the latest in rich internet application development. My job is to produce the curriculum that shows educators how they can use our software in traditional classroom curriculum or how to technically use our software titles. I'm also going to be working on marketing the curriculum to help educators become more aware of what we have to offer as well as helping to get some professional development programs started. 

I hope this helps you understand a little better what I'll be doing and if not, sorry - it's only my second day and remember it's still a lot easier to understand than all that sciency stuff I did in DC.