House of Swank

Things The Harlot Taught Me

Last night Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (aka The Yarn Harlot) made an appearance in Portland in support of her latest book - Things I Learned From Knitting (whether I wanted to or not).  It was a pretty cool and informative experience on many different levels. 

Things I learned last night (in more-or-less chronological order)

Blue Moon Fiber Arts Puts on a Kick-Ass Event
Blue Moon is a locally based yarn purveyor that many people know for their Socks That Rock yarn and their Rockin' Sock Club.  They were the one that hosted the Harlot.  Proceeds from book sales that evening went to Doctors Without Borders - a charity that Pearl-McPhee personally supports, and has called on other knitters to support as well.  They also has a special sock yarn available for purchase at the event. 

The colorway was, appropriately, named "Knitters Without Borders"

I need more sock yarn like I need another hole in my head, so I TRIED to resist, but the line was long and they really are my colors.  The red is much more prevalent and vibrant in real life, and I am so enamored with the colors the only thing preventing me from casting on a pair of socks right this minute is the fact that the appropriate needles are in use with another sock right now.  But don't think I didn't consider frogging out that sock so that I could cast on the socks immediately last night.

The other really fun thing Blue Moon did was an Inexplicable Knitting Behavior Scavenger Hunt, inspired by a similar Scavenger Hunt sponsored by Pearl-McPhee.  One person scored 88 points on the Portland Scavenger Hunt.  She awoke at 5 am and has a 3-page schedule and cross referenced maps.  Once the Harlot posts about the Portland event on her blog you can see a photo of the winner.  Truly astounding.

Knitting Can Help Break Down Social Barriers
I had my first taste of this lesson on the train on my way to the event.  A high school girl noticed my knitting and started talking to me about it.  She was a knitter herself, and it was obvious through our conversation that her fellow classmates didn't know fully what to make of her.

It also showed itself at the event itself.  Although I knew a couple of people there, I had gone on my own.  And ended up sitting next to two other people who had gone on their own.  We waited and knit and chatted and had a very lovely evening.  We had some big differences between us, but some strong similarities as well (and not just the fact that we were knitters).  I've never experienced anything like that at a book signing in my life.

There Are Some Very, VERY Odd People Out In The World
I'm speaking specifically of the woman who had a knitted (and beaded) mauve colored rooster's comb that she wore on top of her head the entire evening.  I don't know that anyone could say anything that would make me understand that one.  There was also one corner of the room where random squealing would emanate while we were all waiting for no apparent reason.  I do not understand at all.

The Yarn Harlot Is Not Only Funny, But Also Quite Profound
Pearl-McPhee is a very entertaining person.  She can spin a good story and does it in such a way you feel as if she's your BFF even though you've never met.  But the humor was just the candy coating on a pretty strong, inspiring message.  Knitting can make you more patient, can help you with processing difficult information, and can help prevent Alzheimer's and dementia.  The process of knitting can help increase the size and functionality of your brain, can tap into your most creative brain waves, and can help you develop the ability to tap into those creative brain waves at will.  Knitters are a demographers worst nightmare (since we're such a diverse lot), which leads to why we're such a misunderstood and marginalized lot.

I decided to let my inner geek out in preparation for the event, so there's a strong chance my photo will be showing up on her blog once she posts a recap of the event.

Expert Opinion

In the new quest for a heart-healthy diet I decided that I needed a new cookbook to help push me along the path.  Not that I'm not capable of preparing a healthy meal, and not that I don't have a zillion resources at my fingertips, but a go-to guide when I'm bored with all the standards and don't want to dig through all of the recipes I've culled from Gourmet magazine to find one that is appropriate for the new diet.

It seemed easy enough.  Powell's has several shelves dedicated to "Healthy Cooking."  It should have been so encouraging and empowering.  Instead, it was just damn depressing.  The shelves were filled with every get-thin-quick crap plan you could imagine.  "Eat No Carbs to Lose Weight," "Eat Nothing But Carbs and Live a Healthy Life," "Eat Nothing But These Five Foods and You Will Be The Healthiest Person Ever!"  There was the Atkins Diet, the South Beach Diet, the Jenny Craig Diet, and a SPECIAL section devoted to Weight Watchers.  All next to several diet and weight-loss books by Dr. Phil - I'm sorry, but since when is a syndicated TV personality with a degree in clinical psychology qualified to teach me about nutrition?

Luckily, there were a couple of worthwhile books amongst all the crap.  I ended up with "The Stanford Life Plan for a Healthy Heart."  Written by a cardiologist, a nutritionist and a cook.  Now THAT'S how you get to healthy eating.

Of course, it's not just recipes but a lot of reading as well.  Time to start cracking the book!

Two Book Collections Converged In An IKEA Bookcase

It's official, Sweetie and I have now merged our book collections.  We never did it at the condo because when I moved in we bought some new bookcases to accomodate my collection, and it made more sense to keep things segregated than try to integrate at that time.

It was far easier than I expected.  In part due to the fact that my traditional catalouging system was so bizarre and arcane I usually didn't know what I was doing myself, so I deferred to Sweetie.  We now have non-fiction, categorized by topic, poetry and fiction sections, then sorted by author and then title.

Non-fiction sections that exist or will without a doubt include:

• Baseball
• Sports other than baseball
• English
• Business
• Teaching
• History and politics
• Humor
• Nature
• Memoirs and biographies
• Music
• Psychology and Sociology
• Home Improvement
• Travel
• Religion and Philosophy
• Food (cookbooks and writing about food, housed in the kitchen)
• Craft (housed in my office space)
• Coffee Table Books (housed in the living room)

Although, now that I'm typing this, I may need to come up with some new sub-categorization for the religion and philosophy section.  Because who is the author of the Bible?  The Bhagavad Gita?  The Book of Common Prayer?  So many thoughts to occupy my time.

There was, of course, the "guess which books come from the boy and which books come from the girl" dichotomy in our collections.  Although I think it's a lot more "guess which books come from the business major and which books come from the english major" because the food and craft is all mine, and the sports are largely all his.  Although, that does not completely sum up the argument, and there is a case to be made for the first argument.  That case can be made in three simple words, "The Feminine Mystique."

Harry Potter and the Neverending Sequels

Done.

When we moved in with the parents a few weeks ago I started re-reading the Harry Potter series, so as to be prepared for the 7th book.  Apparently looking for a job and living with your parents provides a lot of time for reading, and I finished Deathly Hallows this afternoon.  I have to say it was my least favorite of the books.

The books have a pattern and pace to them that I really enjoy.  You start with the summer, where the days are loose and lazy, and you can spend all sorts of time lining up all the necessary elements for the plot to play out.  There will be some tension, that will be played out later, but mostly it's just setting the table.

Once the school year starts, there is a rhythm and pattern that must be followed.  Despite whatever excitement there is in the world of witches and wizards there are classes and Quidditch matches and Hogsmeade weekends that set the pace of the school, and necessitate a certain pace in the lives of the students.  Tension builds, but at a reasonable pace, because as much as you might want to be out there fighting the dark forces, you've got essays to write and tests to study for and detentions to slog through.  And with Fred and George Weasley and Peeves the Poltergeist around, you are guaranteed plenty of comic relief to keep things light and easy on the soul.

But then the battle arrives, and you are thrown into it full force.  As much as I can usually pace myself during the books, once the battle arrives I know I am done for.  I must sit down and read until the end.  There will be moments when you think this will be the end, but eventually the good side comes out ahead, thanks to all of those lessons that were learned in school this year.  Which is all conveniently spelled out for us once the battle is over, usually thanks to our favorite Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore.

But the final book went and messed with that strategy.  No going back to school, so none of that lightness to keep you happy and carefree while knowing the battle was coming.  Just two to three friends wandering through the forest in the rain and snow.  Fighting, and battling evil, and not having any fun at all. 

All leading up to the standard big battle at the end.  Which started out to be the biggest, baddest battle of them all.  I loved how Dumbledore's Army was growing itself, and just waiting for there chance to get in on the action.  The finding of Ravenclaw's artifact was genius, and I did like that this book allowed both Draco and Dudley some redemption in the end.

But then we get to the big, crucial bits of the battle.  Where Harry has to fight Voldemort mano e mano so that good can triumph over evil.  We're prepared for it, and know the basics of what's going to happen.  But now we interrupt the biggest, baddest battle ever to be seen for a sideline into Snape's memories.  Because he must be redeemed.  And we get past that, and they're there and about to engage in battle, and let's have our handy little wrap-up in one nice little package right now, with Dumbledore, in Harry's mind, the bad guy can wait.  Really messed with the pacing of the whole thing.

And then you've got a handy epilogue, opening up the doors to a never ending stream of sequels.  Because now we have Potter's offspring to send through Hogwarts.  And then they'll probably go and have kids.  And so on, and so on, ad infinitum. 

The Omnivore's Dilemma

I just finished reading The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, and although it took me a good 6 months or more to get through it (I had to pace myself because it would just make my blood boil at times) it was one of the most significant books I may have ever read.

The premise of the book is simple.  The author traces the history of three meals through the food chain:  the first a McDonald's Value Meal, the second an organic chicken dinner, and the third a meal hunted, gathered and grown by the author himself.

Although the primary focus of the book is food, it touches on a lot of other issues as well.  Business and government goings-on primarily, but also biology, economics, history and psychology.

The first portion of the book is basically about our current corn culture, and the problems inherent within.  Cows are not naturally corn-eaters, and the processes by which they process and use food make corn not the healthiest thing to be feeding them.  The government has it's hand deeply into the corn-feeding business, and work to keep production high and prices low.  It speaks to the struggles of farmers to keep afloat in the current system, and how the system just rewards growing more and more and more corn.  And a little bit of soy on the side.  It really makes you never want to eat a mass-produced food item ever again.

The second portion of the book discusses organic farming, and this was the most eye-opening to be.  The first part of the section he discusses corporate organic farming:  Whole Foods and Cascadian Farms and Rosie the Chicken.  Although, technically, these things are "organic" they are not without sin.  These farms do, technically, follow the regulations required in order to get the organic label on them.  But the qualifications to get the label don't require MUCH beyond what your standard corporate farmer does.  And when you go into the produce section of a Whole Foods, although everything there may have been grown in an appropriate fashion, a lot of is is from points around the globe, so that we can have asparagus year round and benefit from economies of scale.  But then, not only is freshness compromised, but environmental tolls on our planet are great when you consider the cost to store and ship the food to your local organic grocery store.  This part of the book really caused me to rethink my eating habits, and do what I can to mitigate the problems caused to the environment while maximizing personal health.

Pollan follows this up with a look at what I would call sustainable farming, rather than organic farming.  This is done through a week spent at Polyface Farms in Virginia.  The author has to travel there because the owner, Joel Salatin, won't ship a steak across the country.  Here you see the food chain, and the circle of life, in all it's glory.  The cows graze the field first, then the chickens come in to clean up after the cows.  The pigs help turn the hay into compost from their foraging habits.  Animals fed and grown as they were biologically adapted to do.  Although the farm may not produce as many cows per acre as a big corporate farm, the overall productivity between all the animals makes it an incredibly productive venture.

This is where it kicked into high gear for me.  You're best served if you know where your food is coming from.  If you can be directly connected to the farmer, and know that they use humane and healthy techniques for growing the animals.  If you can look them in they eye, they're less likely to lead you astray than if they sell their wares to a wholesaler, who sells them to a grocery store, who passes the food along to you.

I'm already a firm believer in the CSA, and looking forward to getting down to my new home so I can find one there.  The new goal is to locate sustainably grown meat.  It appears chicken and pork will be easy in the new home.  Beef would require purchase of a 1/4 cow, and we prepare so little beef at home we'll probably just go with corporate organic when the desire calls.

The third part of the book is the most interesting, although in many reviews I've read of the book people seem to not care for it.  Pollan decides to prepare a meal that he is personally responsible for.  He grows the vegetables.  He forages for mushrooms, with a great discussion of what mushrooms are and how they fit in the food chain.  He goes hunting for the meat.  He collects local, wild yeast to create the bread.  The author explicitly says he does not expect your average human being to go through this, but it does yield a deep connection with the food he creates.  And that, in my opinion, is the main thesis of this book.  We need to be thoughtful about what we eat.

One of the more interesting passages in the third section of the book was a discussion of vegatarianism and veganism.  If everyone in the US were to convert to a vegan diet, it would actually end up in a necessarily compromised food system.  First, if no one at meat and everyone ate vegetables, then all the farm land currently dedicated to raising animals for food production would need to convert to raising vegetables in order to meet the demand.  Except not all of this land is suitable for growing vegetables.  Second, if there were no more animals being farmed then there would be no source for natural compost and fertilizer for all those vegetables, which would necessitate using synthetic materials.  Makes it a little easier to remain a carnivore.

One other thing that's stuck with me, which I don't believe came from the book (may have been from Michael Moore's movie, Sicko, or may have just been something I heard on NPR over the past few months):  people today complain about how much it costs to eat organically and sustainably.  But the fact of the matter is that we currently spend a FRACTION of what folks used to spend on food, in relation to total income.  But now, with cable TV and cell phones and gym  memberships and all those other "necessities" of modern life, the importance of food within the family food budget has diminished.

Me, I'm working on changing my eating habits.  For my own personal health, and for the sustainability of the system and the environment for any kidlets that may end up following me.  If you're interested in doing the same I strongly recommend you read this book.

Dare To Be Different

I believe I may be the only human being on the planet who fully intends to read Harry Potter 7, but has not even acquired the book yet.  This is because:

- My mom always buys the book for me, and as of my leaving PDX at 3 pm on Sunday she had not had an opportunity to do so yet.
- I feel I need to re-read at least the last couple to remember what the heck is going on.
- I have no time right now.

I've seen all the people on the internets begging to be spared the spoilers, but have not actually seen any spoilers yet.  I don't care if I find out the spoilers, and am just going to lay low until I finally get around to the book.  But no guarantees on when that will be.

Textbook Etiquette

While we're on the subject of old college textbooks:

One of my regrets in life (not a big regret, not anything I'm going to go back and change) is the fact that I never took a hard science class in college.  Didn't need to for a Bachelor of Science, apparently.

I WANTED to take physics.  But by the time I got around to thinking about it I no longer needed a science course to graduate.  I contemplated taking it as an elective during my final couple of years of college, but the prime rule of college electives was: Must fit into the required course schedule without difficulty.  And given that a) Between classroom and lab time you were on the hook for six hours of class a week and b) some of those six hours of class would be on a Friday it just never worked out for me*.

Wait, it gets worse.

After I'd graduated college I thought about taking Physics at a local community college.  Just for fun.  But it had to be Physics with Calculus.  Because Physics without Calculus would be a waste of my time.  Except I hadn't taken any Calculus since my freshman year of college - over five years before the idea of taking Physics crossed my mind - and couldn't remember a lick of it.

This is where we get to the heart of the story.  Because my boss and friend at the time was a math guy.  And, as a math guy, he had Calculus textbooks just floating around his apartment.  So he gave me one, to brush up on my Calculus before I went to take that Physics class. 

Except it's 11 years later, and I haven't taken that Physics class yet.  Haven't cracked the Calculus book since about 1997.  (Yes, I did look at it a few times.  Laugh away)

Haven't been in touch with the friend who gave it to me since around 2001.  So do I try to track it down and give it back to him?  Or is anyone interested in an old Calculus textbook?  I'm sure it's a good one.  Two for the price of one if you want a Management textbook as well.

*  One of the big pluses to Oregon State's business program, at least back in my day, was the fact that all upper level courses were four credit courses and, therefore, met twice a week for two hours per session (with the exception of Finance, which was required, and perhaps one or two others which were not required of me so I disregarded).  This meant that you EITHER had class Tuesday/Thursday OR Monday/Wednesday, and, depending on your other courses that term, could EASILY have Fridays off, so you could start your drinking on Thursday nights, which was usually the night the Business Professors would make guest appearances at the local bars, because it was mostly the business students out drinking then.  Not that I ever drank in college (Hi Mom!) but, you know, I heard rumors and stuff.

Outdated Textbook Anyone?

Once upon a time there was a college professor who required his students to purchase a certain hardcover textbook for his class.  He never actually used the book in class, so it was surmised that he required this of his students simply because he could.

It was a class that was required of everyone who wished to get a business degree, one of the big important courses that the faculty would espouse as to why their business school was so darn good.  So everyone had to buy the book.  No one ever told the younger students coming up that the book was a waste of money.  Probably revenge for the fact that they had been required to buy the book as well.  And at least that meant that there were always used textbooks available for cheaper than the new textbooks.

But then, one year they came out with a new edition of the textbook.  There were probably no changes to the textbook, but it meant the professor could require the new batch of students to purchase the shiny new textbooks.  It also meant that the students who had the previous edition in their hands from class that term had lost the game of hot potato, and now had $37.50 used worth of crap sitting on their bookshelves.

Some of those students had great respect for books, and could not see throwing them away.  It was a hardcover book with glossy pages, so they couldn't even use them to fuel the fire during the lean years.  This was before the days of eBay and Amazon and online booksellers, so it just sat on the bookshelf.  When moving time came around it got thrown into a box, and then onto the next bookshelf.

And 13 years later I've still got that damn book, and still feel guilty doing anything other than lugging it around for the rest of my life.  So, anyone want a never used Management textbook from my college years?  It's yours for the taking.

Cultural Notes

1. Douglas Coupland's newest book, jPod, has been out an entire week, and I just realized it yesterday.  I'm upset with myself for not knowing sooner, but remedied that situation today, and am at least happy I did not miss his tour stop in Seattle.  This book appears fatter than any of his previous gems, but expect a review shortly.  For most of his previous books he's somehow channeled my life as it exists at that moment into the book.  We'll see if that happens this time as well.
2. Violent Femmes and Cake are performing at the Oregon State Fair this year.  Saturday, August 26.  I am so totally there.  Tickets go on sale Saturday, June 2 at 10 a.m.  If you want to be so totally there, too, we should make arrangements.  Ted Nugent plays the night before.  Sorry to say that work won't allow me to be there for that show.