Death to the Easel and Flip Chart!

I went through months of altercations with my boss over the ordering of an easel. First, she was upset I didn't just pick and easel and order it. Then she was upset I consulted a man in the office who seemed to be knowledgeable about easels and showed her the one he suggested. She said I thought he was the boss instead of her. She finally picked an easel she wanted; however, there was then a staff meeting where everyone was fighting over what kind of easel they needed. So I held off. I then got blamed for wanting an easel another guy in the office really suggested. This guy could care less about having an easel and had not suggested any easel. I was accused of thinking he was really the boss. I finally ordered the easel. The wrongly accused guy joked, "Finally, my easel has shown up!" The easel sat for several months. Finally, my boss told me to get it out and put it up. Naturally, in our crowded office, there was nowhere to put it, but up it went. It has a white board, but I also mounted our partially used flip chart. My boss has not stopped since. Every night there has been a meeting keeping employees very late. Employees have just started putting on their coats and trickling out. Still, every morning, I come in to pages and pages of diagrams. Yesterday, I found it curious that one of the work studies has been working such late hours. Last night, I got caught at one of the meetings where my boss continues to perform as employees trickle out. As I finally put on my coat to trickle out, the work study student was still there glued to my boss's performance. Now I understand. Easy money for the work study student sitting there providing an audience every evening!

Dog Days of Winter 2

When I was living in France many years ago, an Algerian taught me to make Algerian cous cous. Well, through the years I have refined the recipe into a healthy low-fat version. I decided to make some last night. I didn't have time to make garbanzos to add to it, so it was mainly cous cous and vegetables. I have switched to whole wheat cous cous and I don't add all the oil and butter I learned to use in France. I make it without any fat. I put some of my frozen tomatoes saved from my garden this past summer in the broth. I added carrots, celery, onion, turnips, potatoes, and zucchini. When I got back from France, I didn't even know how to say zucchini in English, Italian, or whatever. I was scrambling to find someone who knew what a courgette was! My cousin Bobbie has had some of the same problems returning from French-speaking countries where he lived with French-speaking girlfriends, trying to cook something and not knowing how to say courgette in English!

In Quebec my problem was finding out how to talk about hockey in French. I couldn't find a Quebecois who knew what goaltender, goal, glove, net, etc. meant, so I had to buy a bunch of French hockey publications and figure out the words for myself. I've been to Sorel several times and am now capable of having a perfectly decent hockey conversation in French with Marc-Andre Fleury himself.

Last night Kimberly admitted to me that her neck and shoulder has been killing her for some time, so I gave her a massage. We have decided I need to get seriously back into massage. I got my books out and my next plan is to give her the same Shiatzu massage I gave my sister a few years ago, which I found in one of my books.

The Dog Days of Winter

In the typical year here in southwestern PA we tend to have a three-week period of below normal temperatures. We're in it now. It always seems it will never end. We had a brief reprieve yesterday, and I did my best to enjoy it. It's nice to just be able to go outside and do a few chores without freezing. We are now supposed to go back into the deep freeze until February 9.

After going about some errands in the milder weather, I got to work on household chores. While Kimberly was out doing her errands, I logged onto www.rock-detente.com, a set of Quebec radio stations. Yesterday, when I clicked on the Ecoute en directe option, I got lazy and chose the Montreal station. Since bleuet. the Quebecois version of blueberry, which is myrtille in French, is my favorite word, I usually pick the station in Chicoutimi, up in the Lac St. Jean Saguenay region. I've visited it several times and like it up there, as long as it's not winter! They grow great blueberries up there and even refer to the locals as blueberries! Anyway, it was fun listening to them talk French in their Quebecois accent. I got to hear a few French songs, but they played mostly English songs yesterday. I tried to get in some dancing for exercise.

I ate fairly healthy yesterday. I got some millet and some whole wheat spaghetti. I also ate some raw vegetables, and I did a big supply of tofu. My birthday was on the 20th. I am an Aquarius by 5 hours, since that was the one year in every three that January 20th is Aquarius instead of Capricorn. I turned 54. Kimberly and I were very tired from the recent trip to the Hampton/Virginia Beach area over Martin Luther King Day to visit my mother in a nursing home in Poquoson. So we really were too tired to celebrate my birthday last weekend and decided to celebrate it a week late. Kimberly's birthday is next Saturday. She will be 52.

They celebrated my birthday at work on Tues. Jan 23. One of the young men I supervise had his the 23rd, so we had both together. My boss bought a huge cake. The young man is extremely huge. He is very tall, very big, wears a 6 XL shirt, etc. They took a picture of him with his arm around me, and you couldn't see much of me in the picture! Kimberly celebrated my birthday by getting me a card with a polar bear on it and giving me a beautiful mug. She really knows how to wrap presents too. I hated to open the package! She also baked a red velvet cake. It was delicious. She is becoming very talented at baking. Other than my whole grain corn bread, which I bake for my health, I try not to get much into baking, because I'm always trying to keep my weight down.

The Penguins have won two straight since the All Star break and they are in playoff contention! GO PENS!

Getting My Health Back--Small Steps at a Time

I have been through some major challenges when it comes to my health. I was a person who jogged six miles at a time up steep hills that no one else would tackle. I am living with a person who lives a largely unhealthy lifestyle now, and I have a demanding job. This presents wonderful opportunities for growth but has turned my life upside down, as well. All day, I am at a job where, not only is there no time for a lunch hour, there is nothing healthy to eat in the vicinity. I come home to a house mate with an unhealthy lifestyle. So I am basically fighting for my health.

Most of the people where I work are not into a healthy lifestyle. One guy does work out a lot, but he doesn't seem to care much about nutrition. Oh well, he's only 25! At least he still lives with his parents. Surely, they provide him with some acceptable meals. A number of the people where I work are smokers. Probably most of my coworkers are obese. One guy is a diabetic nursing student, and he seems to care about nutrition and exercise. There is a very young Moslem woman who has many dietary restrictions, but they have seemed to inspire her in the direction of healthy food. One young man I supervise is a vegan. Another middle-aged woman I work with really cares about healthy food and exercise. She's really quite obsessed with it, although she is not vegetarian. A bunch of people in my office decided to go to see Angela Davis speak at a dinner held by the Thomas Merton Center, who was giving her an award. Well, the meal was totally vegan, and most of them were NOT happy!

It has been a constant battle trying to stay healthy with the job and the roommate! My health has basically gone down the drain. I realized I had to do something, so I've started with small steps to getting my health and my life back. Number one was no more restaurants! My house mate loves to go out to eat. I finally told her I just couldn't do it very often. I could not keep my weight down in this manner and it was just terrible for my health. I also have tried to get back into exercise in small ways. I do get some walking in at my job. I even have to go downstairs to print things, then walk back up. They make me park in the boondocks, and I get to run around doing errands. I got an ax for Christmas and have been learning to split logs. I go up to the mountains frequently and pick up sticks and logs to bring home to burn in my firepit.

The main thing I've started on is healthy eating. Of late, I've had a pretty constant supply of tofu on hand. I've been eating kasha (made of buckwheat), quinoa, brown rice, and millet. I'm back into legumes, eating split peas, beans, and lentils. I eat lots of vegetables. I decided to take whole grain corn bread to work to wolf down during my nonlunch hour. I found a recipe on Bob's Red Mill Coarse Ground Corn Meal. I bought the corn meal and some whole wheat pastry flour and I was in business. I even put blackstrap molasses in my corn bread. I am starting to feel better. I'll keep you posted on my struggle!

It's Been a Year!

I didn't even realize it's been a year since I've written! I've been working almost a year at a college. I am working for a program which helps African American students go back to school for jobs that are in demand in the Pittsburgh area so that they can have a decent job in this tough job market and can stay in the Burgh. I've met many wonderful people on the job. I have gotten to do a lot of writing. One of the most rewarding things I've done at this office is help with a series of talks delivered by prominent Muslims in the Pittsburgh area. Kimberly and I have spent a lot of time in the mountains and forests of Western PA. We go up to the Ligonier area regularly. We also went camping a number of times at Raccoon Park and Shawnee Park. The sports scene is very exciting in Pittsburgh with our new coach, Mike Tomlin, and new young faces such as Sidney Crosby and Evegeny Malkin on the Penguins. The Pirates--well--still a work in progress!