trials, trails, and travails

GGB from below, originally uploaded by zyrcster.

a photo of the bridge I am finally happy about.

hello…. again… help for Haiti – see description, originally uploaded by zyrcster.

I’m auctioning this photo to raise money for charities supporting the Haiti Earthquake Relief effort. You can bid on it here or you can go here to find another photo you’d rather bid on.

So, I haven’t updated since last weekend, still haven’t gotten into the gym yet, but am making headway on the eating better resolution. The first week that I started noticing my diet and counting calories was a true revelation. My food intake has been horrible the past year or two; that combined with my inactivity clearly is the root cause of the weight gain that happened the past two years.

So, it took the first week of counting calories just to notice my habits and the second week to figure out what works – what food do I need to eat to maintain equilibrium and what times of day do I need to be eating? This Monday starts my 3rd week of this resolution to ‘get fit’ and so it’s more the beginning than the past two weeks have been, since I’m going to stick to a certain calorie level and start working in more activity (workout!).

And, of course, working out my brain by thinking of insightful, relevant post to start blogging. Yea.

Mission creek plaque, originally uploaded by zyrcster.

I went down to the Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market today, because I wanted to see what was there and fresh. But I also went because I wanted to buy a whole chicken from Prather Ranch, since the chickens are raised the right way there. All the meat there is raised the right way. And if you’ve seen Food Inc., you’ll know what I mean.

I really had my mind set on a whole chicken, so walked up to the counter and just asked for one. Then I saw the cost: $23.

Um.

Wow.

But I went ahead and bought it anyway, because I had it set in my mind that I didn’t want to support the food industry anymore, I wanted my food from the ranch. My dad raised chickens (and pigs, too), so I wanted to get back to that. And support a local rancher. And eat better.

But really, $23 for a fryer did give me pause. I’m pretty sure I could have bought a less expensive free range chicken at Whole Foods. I don’t know; I walked away with my chicken happy that it was raised on a nice 55 acre ranch and ate grubs and non-GMO feed. And I don’t mind supporting local ranchers and growers. Nor do I mind paying what food is actually worth, instead of this subsidized garbage masquerading for food at the local stores.

But it really gave me pause, because I cannot imagine the average family paying that much for a chicken, which means the average family is still going to go buy a Tyson chicken… an unnaturally large thing that vaguely resembled a chicken when it was alive. I also wondered about that free range chicken at the stores… they aren’t $23 each, so what gives?

At any rate, I saw this plaque on the ground about Mission Creek (RIP) at the rail station on the way home. I dunno. I left there with a bunch of good, fresh, veggies, fruit and the chicken. It’s all good.

CCC crew using horse teams for road construction, Gifford Pinchot National Forest, Washington, originally uploaded by Oregon State University Archives.

I’ve always liken my line of work (Info Tech) to the wild west. It’s getting less so these days, as processes and procedures get formalized, but working as a consultant was always a little bit more cowboy than working for a mega-corp. I don’t generally do well with mega-corps, since I’m more of a wrangler, a loner, an outsider and pretty spirited. And willful.

But there’s something to be said for working on a team, especially a team that gels well together. And there’s something really special about working where I work, since peeps here really gel better than any other team I’ve worked on. I do feel like I’m at a small company, which is keen. It almost feel familial, with a sense that we all love what we do and what it is.

Sometimes, I do need to remember that to be a good advocate, persuasion works better than striking out on your own horse in a puff of smoke. And this environment feels right to learn that one.

I especially like evenings like tonight, when a problem surfaces and a few people scattered across the globe all pitch in to diagnose, troubleshoot, and fix the problem. And, as a team, it’s done with humor (sometimes cowboy crass humor, which is great), careful urgency, and a regard to make it right.

Those moments count, and I’m learning to embrace the team, not rebel against it. It’s more fun than going it alone, too.

Chicago girls at Sokol Sports, Prague, Austria (LOC), originally uploaded by The Library of Congress.

Today I found a great little iPhone app called Lose It!, via Jesse Stay. The timing couldn’t be better, since I have my iPhone with me everywhere I go… and I was just thinking I needed something to track caloric intake and exercise in an easy and convenient way.

Yesterday, I found a website called Calorie Count, which does the same thing and has a ton of info, but the iPhone app is just better for me, since I need something at hand… not something to remember to update hours after I’ve eaten or worked out. I also briefly checked out SparkPeople, but I work in social media… the last thing I need is some super-comprehensive social networking thing for weight loss. I don’t have that sort of time or energy.

Anyway, I need to get in shape and drop weight, and right away the idea of counting calories in an easy manner seemed a good fit for me. I like numbers. I like that it’s easy to do with technology. I like that it gives me a daily goal. I like pausing to think about whether I really need sour cream on the potato.

The lightbulb came on in my head that I am sooo sedate and that it’s sooo simple to burn a few calories doing, well, household things. 10 minutes of vacuuming daily is a simply thing I can do instead of doing it once a week. Getting off the bus a few stops earlier gives me another 10 minutes of walking I wouldn’t otherwise do. The iPhone app’s convenience is ridiculous.

Last month, I also bought a gym membership, so this week I’ll be getting in there twice a week. I’ll be doing weight training because I know it best (from my trapeze days)… and – conveniently – it’s a good way to drop weight since it raises your metabolism if you do it right. I also don’t mind building up muscle.

Tally ho!