Archive for the 'lifestyle' Category
I love the update to this very popular internet video. It’s so transcendent, and I love that he got to travel the world making people smile and Dance. Thanks to Seguinwoodworks.com’s David Terry for letting me know about it!
Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.
- One can chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
- About one quarter of a jar of tahini. Officially one to two gloms of tahini. You choose how much oil.
- A glom of habenero sauce - we used the one we got at the Marylebone London farmers market from Edible Ornamentals. It was called Inferno. She’s there every other sunday, if you’re in the neighborhood.
- Lemon juice, and salt to taste.
We don’t have a food processor, so the best thing I did was lay out the beans on a cutting board and mashed them with a fork first, then transferring them to a bowl to mix with the rest of the ingredients.
For the meal, we used some ingredients left in the fridge. Sauteed the ground beef, spinach, and yellow pepper, with assorted spices. Fresh tomatoes, and everything all together in a hot pita pocket. Voilá le “Meeta Pocket”. Our proximity to the Edgware road ‘hood is definitely influencing our cooking at home. That and me buying a way too big bag of bulk couscous at whole paycheck.
Tomorrow we’re going to try chicken guy’s Stuffed Butternut Squash recipe.
Anyone want to check the format of this for me in hRecipe microformat? Or have other cooking suggestions? Let me know in the comments.
About a month ago, I found a place to live, by myself. It’s a cute studio on Telegraph Hill. Yes, there really are wild parrots here. As you can see from the picture of the kitchen - wait, actually that’s practically the whole apartment - everything is small. The fridge is just under the countertop. I haven’t seen one this small since I lived in London in the ’80s and the milkman delivered pints of milk, OJ, and eggs. A small fridge for me actually means fresher food, since I can’t let things rot away in the “crisper”, or “rotter” as my friend Arthur calls it.
I guess I’ve always had a slight fetish for small things. Small keeps things simple - and possibly sustainable, because a small apartment means less stuff. And less stuff should mean less impact on the environment. A consequence of small things and small spaces, is that it takes more intention to winnow things out, which promotes a presence of mind for me that clarifies and simplifies the million potential tasks that float around my brain every day.
E.F. Schumacher wrote in Small is Beautiful:
It is clear, therefore, that Buddhist economics must be very different from the economics of modern materialism, since the Buddhist sees the essence of civilisation not in a multiplication of wants but in the purification of human character. Character, at the same time, is formed primarily by a man’s work. And work, properly conducted in conditions of human dignity and freedom, blesses those who do it and equally their products.
Most of the book he talks about the problem of economic growth and it’s unchecked impact on the environment. (I would add people / human relations, too) I think that with sustainability and organics becoming ever more popular this year, which is good, our intention should remain to solve the problem of our economy only measuring “growth” as the ultimate good. I’m not against economic growth - but it’s not the end, it’s the means. Read Tara’s blog to find out more about Genuine Progress Indicator versus Gross Domestic Product.
Speaking about living with less, I’ve joined a local hourly car-sharing service called ZipCar - I figure since parking is $200 a month in the apartment’s garage, I might as well spend that money on actually driving a car instead of parking it. With ZipCar, they pay for the insurance and even gasoline. The tradeoff is that a car is not always available in your neighborhood in the most popular times, but they do take reservations. And it’s really only on weekends - and I could have walked to another neighborhood and got a car. I guess a lot of people in North Beach use zipcar! During the week, it’s been really easy to get a car when and where I want it at a moment’s notice, with their online bookings or even over the phone. It’s really come in handy during the move and I plan to use it quite a bit!
This post also marks a slight change in the blog’s focus, or at least back to its roots of being just a personal space for me to ruminate. I will be mashing everything together now - one blog is enough for me to keep up with! I’m combining the geek stuff, with the sustainability stuff, with the entrepreneurship, and travelogues, etc. If you want to subscribe to only one category I will be setting up separate feeds on those pages, which I’ve added to the menu up top.
Ok, I’ve been reading Crossroads Dispatches (one of the blogs I read first) and wondering when I would get tagged with the five things you don’t know about me meme. And then it hits my office mate Tara Hunt. I start reading her entry and wonder again when or if it will happen to me. And then, the very last words of her post are my name! So here they are:
- I am an (optimistic) atheist and a scientist, and I believe in spirits, too. It’s hard to make sense of, perhaps it’s like speaking English and Spanish, or programming HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Ruby in the same day. I believe different belief systems and modes of consciousness are just tools in the toolbox to be explored and utilized appropriately. I’m pretty sure everyone does that to some degree - you don’t use science to relate to your family and loved ones. And it’s hard to use pure love to get your car started in the morning. (although I’ve tried). So I explore and enjoy practicing Core Shamanism, Tibetan Bon, and Zen. And, more recent explorations of Binaural beats. I am always seeking more opportunities to achieve Flow in my life. I try to integrate these practices into my daily consciousness depending on my time available and the willingness of others to participate, or the availability of quiet time alone. By the way, the expression “optimistic atheist” comes from H.H. the Dalai Lama . When I saw him talk in Boulder, he answered the question “Do you believe in God?” with - “I am an optimistic atheist” It’s really quite amazing that the head of a major world religion would say such a thing, and I was forever impressed. The statement has a zen koan like quality to it. More in #2 on my belief in socialist anarchy.
- I am a socialist anarchist. I usually don’t talk politics because my mission is to help spread green values and methods to all sides of the political spectrum. The environment is too important an issue to not be able to communicate in a respectful and engaging manner to liberals and conservatives. However, I’ll say it again: I am a socialist anarchist. I guess that’s two of the most hated and misunderstood words in american politics - commonly misinterpreted to be opposites of each other. However I don’t believe they are. The fundamental principles I believe in are social equality, caring for others and more importantly helping them succeed, peace, and lack of hierarchy and coercion. “Unlike the popular definition of the word, anarchy does not mean chaos, disorder, lack of organization, or lawlessness. Anarchy – literally, an (”without”) archy (”rulers”) – is a lack of hierarchy and coercion.” This is also how the internet works, (mostly). I have a strong feeling looking at the open source community that its ethos will eventually translate and permeate to all aspects of our culture, bringing evolutionary political change that will balance out the unhealthy lean towards hierarchy that our society has today. If you are curious, check out “The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations” (Ori Brafman, Rod Beckstrom) for starters. And then check out “1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus” (Charles C. Mann) , especially the stuff about people in the northeast US including the Iroquois Confederacy and the Massachuset tribe, to see how some of these values really are core American values.
- (un)Green Guilty Pleasure - this is a meme I have been meaning to start among the enviro-blogging crowd. While we spend most of our time being huge proponents of everything green, and voting with our wallets, there has to be one or two things that everyone does that’s not quite so good that we can’t give up. I think admitting these things makes us more human and shows the rest of the world that it’s not impossible to make the leap to green purchasing. For me, I take long showers. I know that’s really bad for water conservation, but it’s really good for my peace of mind. It’s one of the only private spaces of my day - time to think and be creative after I get up, and the warm water on my frequently sore legs (from trying to be a better runner) feels so good. Related to #1, the shower and steam is a mix of liminal states - water and steam, sleeping and waking, that promotes a creative and fresh outlook on life.
- Although the last several years I have been known as a great personal networker and outdoor adventure guy, I was an extremely shy teenager, and I was bad at sports. I’m still bad at team sports. I didn’t actually go camping until I was 18. And, recently in SF I’ve become a bit of a slacker, but I’ve been trying to get more active in the city! I am always up for a hike, a bike ride, a rollerblade, snowboarding or kayaking. And if anyone is crazy enough to join me on a Tierney board, awesome.
- This is a little personal and sad, but my girlfriend and I just split up. I want/need to move into San Francisco, and I’m asking the universe for help finding a good living situation that is affordable, calm, and fun.
- I started Sustainable Marketing while renting out my condo in Boulder and living in a 1999 VW Eurovan Winnebago camper edition and traveling around the US. with a Verizon AirCard for internet access. All I can say is many thanks to girlfriends, family, friends, and even clients that gave me regular showers and support! oh, and… FESTIVAL!!!
O.k. - enough disclosure for me! I’d like to take this out of the tech world and start tagging the green blogosphere asking for their five things, hopefully including their (un)green guilty pleasure (and pass it along to five others): Gil Friend, Joel Makower, Green LA Girl, Sustainablog, and Ethotec (when Lee gets started with is blog, check his site for the link)
Technorati Tags: fivethings
It’s hard to describe how awesome WineCamp (wiki) was. It really combined my favorite things - being outside, geeking it out, great conversations, wine, yoga, community and swimming through a cave!
An impromptu, “un-conference” - the participants created the sessions saturday morning, held them outside on saturday during the day, and then Sunday we decamped to a winery to code some of the things we were talking about. I ended up meeting the Drupal and CivicSpace super rock stars! and we’re working on a video/screencast together to highlight how the software can help non-profits, and chatted about how to improve the Drupal theme system. Neil says that more .tpl files instead of functions are headed our way, which Mani will love.
I had a great ride up there thanks to Eddie and Sarah (who organized a serene outdoor yoga for geeks session Sunday morning!). I had an fun conversation with Tara ( one of the organizers, thanks!) about pinko marketing, and it’s commonalities an differences with my emerging idea of sustainable marketing. Many thanks to Chris, Andrew, the bands, and others for organizing such an inspiring and fun event.
Check out all the photos.
I’ve been adapting the Rational Unified Process (software development) to a micro-scale: my Sustainable Marketing clients. Drawing inspiration from the teachings of the Native American medicine wheel and Buddhist mandalas, I adopted the four stages of the process and aligned them to the four cardinal directions.
The circle is our most common symbol of completeness, movement, and harmony. The four cardinal directions are used by many ancient and modern traditions as a vehicle for guiding change and maintaining balance. The chart above illustrates the fusion of modern method and ancient wisdom. Applied to project management, they describe four stages of a project lifecycle. We use the chart to ask, "Where are we headed now?" to focus during each stage - and as a reminder, in order to keep time for all four directions in balance during the project.
I used to have a VW Eurovan that I toured the country with (Maine to California!) - I had to give it up, but now am thinking about my new dream vehicle - as soon as it becomes available (and somehow I come up with an extra $50K ! (not likely) - a Diesel-Electric Plug-In Hybrid Mercedes/Dodge Sprinter Van, customized by Sportsmobile.
anyone know what kind of flower this is?
Until I get the Flickr plugin working, I’ll just have to link
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