November Resolutions.

I've been neglecting this blog. I feel vaguely guilty, but only vaguely, because I don't actually have time for concentrated guilt. If you've been waiting for a post, my sincerest apologies.

I know most people write down their resolutions on New Year's Eve (or Day), but as I've never really felt a connection with that "holiday", I decided a couple of years back that resolutions were better made during periods of change in my life. So, I made resolutions in February, after I quit my job and applied to grad school. And I made new resolutions when I got to grad school. And now, I'm going to re-do them again, because I'm burning out, and I need a new perspective like tuna need deep water.

I'm not alone, either - a lot of my fellow second years are also struggling with motivation, workload, expectations, and the bleak career future. Lots of us are also struggling to juggle the other brightly colored balls labeled "student jobs" and "volunteering." So. Here are my resolutions, which should last throughout the rest of the academic year, and maybe beyond, but I sort of expect to be making new ones as I furiously hunt for a career-related job after graduation.

1. Grad school does not equal life. This also falls under Keeping Perspective. I will work toward an even work-life balance that includes twice-weekly exercise (soccer and swimming, for now), solitude, recreation with friends, eight hours of sleep, time outside, and household chores, in addition to schoolwork and volunteering responsibilities.

2. I will eat healthily, and at home. For many reasons, most importantly a shortage of disposable funds, and health and comfort.

3. I will get out more. I have a habit of staying home, but that never leads to adventures. I require time outdoors and in the company of others in order to be happy.

4. I used to work only when I could focus 100% on the work I was doing. Meaning, if I was hopping on and off Facebook, Gmail, and Google Reader, I wasn't working efficiently, and I might as well take a break and come back to the work later. This works when I don't have more work than I do focus, which is sometimes the case, but does wonders when I have time for focused work and relaxed breaks.

5. Do you find that music alters your mood? I do. Sometimes, I think it makes focusing more challenging. Thus, I will try to listen only to productivity-enhancing music, such as classical music, when I am working. The latest Florence + the Machine album is reserved for strictly non-working hours.

6. I will prioritize my responsibilities to other people, over responsibilities to classes and assignments.

7. I will spend less time in front of my computer. 

The underlying foundation for all these resolutions? I only have this one life to live.

Problem: Being Cold. Solution: Space Heater

I hate being cold. Period. If I'm out of doors, having fun, say playing in the snow or something, then I can tolerate it. I tolerate being cold in the winter on my walks from work. I can't stand being cold indoors. There's just something inherently wrong, in these days with heating units and indoor temperature controls.

I live in a sunroom. It's a beautiful sunroom, and warm during the day when the sun coming through the windows heats the room beautifully.

NB: If you get direct sunlight through a few windows, it might help keep a room or two warm in your house/apartment if you leave the windows clear. On the downside, when they're not covered and the sun is not shining light directly through, it will be colder. In which case, you might want to cover it with heavy curtains or plant some shrubberies outside for insulation.

So, if you're like me and you hate being cold, live in a sunroom, and don't live in the tropics, you might be interested in space heaters.

First step, in my hunt for a reliable, safe, high performance, shall we say perfect, space heater, is to research safety. And what I should be looking for in the perfect space heater. I found a brilliant website earlier this week, but managed to lose it - here is another, an article produced by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in February 2001, which seems to be the latest edition.

But I'm very into this safety-of-product information, especially when such a high percentage of house fires are caused by space heaters. "For the years 1999-2002, there were about 9,900 residential fires per year and about 190 deaths per year associated with portable and stationary space heaters " (CPSC 14 Dec. 2005). Pretty scary.

Here's to being an informed consumer - Powers That Be willing, I will not burn down the apartment.

Organic Dairy, Organic Meat, Organic ... Beer?

True story! According to the Green Guide (here), the next big organic product is beer. Well, I might be exaggerating. But Anheuser-Busch, Miller and New Belgium have already brought out organic products. There are also a number of microbreweries and smaller labels that brew organic beers.

Read a pretty thorough article on why one should drink organic alcoholic beverages (yes, it includes wine and even "teetotalers"! Also has a section on buying local beer, as opposed to imported or mainstream American labels.

Read this article (also by the Green Guide) for more information on buying local and the reasons to drink organic when you want to get foxed. Or buzzed, if you're like me. This article includes some pretty creepy and unsettling facts about non-organic beer and other spirits.

Here are some things I learned: Reasons to drink organic include saving birds and fish that die after ingesting pesticides and fungicides sprayed on fields. If you're democratically minded and would like to see small family owned and local organizations gain more business, instead of financing large corporations (which are rarely well-read on ethical behavior, IMO), buying local, which can also be organic, wins. Lastly, they taste good! Perhaps it's similar to the difference between tap water and filtered water. Though last I checked tap water doesn't cause cancer...

To Do List: Taste organic beers.

Read these informative articles and enjoy, maybe with an organic brew in hand!

Dear Diary: I am a horrid gardener

Dear Diary,

I spent the week catsitting at my mom's house (I miss the kittens already), living a life of luxury with a car, a giant house (as compared to my shoebox apartment) all to myself... the WHOLE time I was there, I comPLETEly forgot to check on my vegetable garden. Read: I have no idea if I'm growing a pumpkin that needs to be protected from ravaging racoons, or rabbits, or opossums... (which reminds me, I was in a museum in Sweden once, where opossums were considered a rare rodent creature in the creepy dark nighttime/underground section, whose main habitat is a small area located in and around northern Virginia).

I guess that's not entirely true, because I did spray it with fungus-killer last weekend. No new fruits then, so maybe there still aren't any. Finally saw the beautiful orange pumpkin flower when it was open. It's large, star-shaped, and about two shades lighter in color than the pumpkins themselves. My tomato plant, when I sprayed them all to kill the mold, was encroaching on my bell pepper plant, but hopefully hasn't overtaken it yet. Speaking of which, I'm sure they all need weeding, too. Bah.

Well, I did get back to my apartment last night to find all of my house plants thriving, a little bit taller and a little bit crookeder than they appeared when I left, which means they got enough sun and didn't miss being watered. So I won't complain about having a black thumb. Not yet, at any rate. But I won't claim it's green, either.

Yours truly,
a forgetful gardener

How To: Avoid the Evils of Junk Mail

Just visited another article on New American Dream's website, that lists and explains the various ways one can reduce junk mail. It also contains a link to an electronic petition, which follows on the success of the Do Not Call legislation.

Keeping Your Refrigerator Happy

A friend passed me this link, a Consumer's Report about how to get the most efficient and cost-saving use out of one's refrigerator:

Consumer Report's Happy Refrigerating Tips

If I had cash, I'd go home tonight and perform the "dollar test".

To Do: Check refrigerator operations.

To Do: Nashville, TN

Unfortunately, I'm a late planner. So when other people know they're going on vacation from date x to date y several months in advance, I start looking at flights oh, the month before I'd like to go on vacation. For Boston it wasn't such a big deal. For Nashville at the end of September, it makes a huge difference.

So I'm planning my trip, which now involves not only the Metro and two flights each way, it also involves a MARC train to BWI. Which could be fun, and only takes an extra half an hour. But it seems a bit ridiculous. Thank goodness it's also cheap.

Usually I prefer to take a POV to the airport, it being more comfortable and less reliant on my ability to leave and arrive in time to catch my flight. But in this case, it will fit in with my efforts to travel more by train, as a preferred method of (greener) public transportation. The MARC also, surprisingly, can travel to BWI faster than I can get there by car. So there are at least two advantages, plus the money I'll save by not traveling out of Reagan or Dulles airports.

Now I just have to make sure I can get there without any mishaps.

To Do: Train Fare to Boston

My vacation hours expire at the beginning of October, so right now I'm looking at spending those hours in faraway places. Well, sort of far away, at any rate. First on my list is Boston, then Nashville. Unfortunately, Nashville doesn't have a train station, nor are there any others in central Tennessee. Imagine my disappointment when I found out I couldn't take the train west, as in the olden days. "Go west, young man". Or something.

However. Boston has not one, but several train stations. I signed on for Amtrak Guest Rewards, so by buying tickets within three months of joining, I get extra points (very like frequent flyer miles).

Probably most people have seen that commercial for the national railways, where they say one train can go 423 miles or so on one gallon of gas? Well, that's one reason I'm taking the train north. Also, it might be cheaper than flying, especially because I'm a last-minute planner. Not to mention the rising gas prices and extra costs and fees being placed on airlines (and thus customers). I just hope the scenery makes the nine hour trip enjoyable.

Lobster dinners, here I come!!