The problem with heroes.

This morning I started my day by perusing some vegan news sites (gotta hear what's what in the daily abuse of non-human animals) and it appears Mr. Jake Gyllenhaal said a rather unappealing comment in the February edition of GQ Magazine (I don't exactly have a copy sitting on my coffee table next to the Country Living, ReadyMade or Herbivore magazine so I can't check for myself) about enjoying going to a farm and watching a pig get slaughtered. Who says shit like that? Apparently "nice guy" Jake does. That comment made me sad (because I have always bought into the "I'm just a super hunky guy who stands up for the environment and does cool arty films because I care about the way Hollywood presents certain topics, blah blah blah) which got me thinking about the danger of pedestalizing (not a word but I'm choosing to make a verb out of the phrase "to put someone on a pedestal) anyone, much less famous people that it feels like we know from their portrayals on screen and from the 15 second spot coverage on Entertainment Tonight. If it is true and he did say something like that, I bet his publicist is just shaking his or her head. Even if you do enjoy watching pigs get slaughtered (again, who says things like that?) why would you admit it publicly, especially when much of your fan base is a young, liberal crowd (hello, most vegetarians no doubt fit into that category Jake darling)? Purposely alienating a large percentage of a population for the mere sake of admitting something that your own mother probably doesn't even know doesn't make a lot of sense. So, take down your posters girls (and boys), toss out the October Sky, The Good Girl, Brokeback Mountain DVDs and begin again for the search of a hero. Once you find one you better quit reading the news and watching TV because no doubt that person will let you down as well. Instead, recognize the heroic acts in your daily life from the people that you know and pedestalize (there is that non word again) yourself by recognizing your marvelous acts rather than looking for perfection from others.

Except of course Michael Stipe and Woody Harrelson who at this point have still yet to disappoint me.

Food for Thought

Last week I signed up for a weekly delivery service with Organics-To-You and today came home to my first shipment of fresh, organic, local, nutritious and beautiful vegetables.

Years ago I belonged to a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) veggie service where you would "buy" a share of an organic farm and on a weekly basis go to a designated area to pick up your veggies. I liked doing the CSA because I was directly supporting and seeing and talking to the people who grew my food. I also liked it because I was getting amazingly fresh (often picked the day you get them), organic veggies, therefore eating better and even trying vegetables that I normally would never dream of purchasing. The downside of the CSA was that you had to come up with the entire amount of the season at one time (generally about $300) and one share could feed a family of three so I always had way too much food. Additionally, going to pick up the food was a bit tricky being that I ride the bus to work.

Along came Organics-To-You. This business brings the veggies to you. While at first it seemed a waste of resources to have someone bring the groceries to my house but then I decided one person delivering groceries to many makes more sense than several people making multiple trips to the grocery store. The website offers a choice of several different delivery options so you can get fruits and veggies, just fruit, weekly or semi-weekly deliveries, etc. The one I chose gets me a huge box of veggies on my porch every Monday for $30 a week.

Today's delivery included a 2 pound bag of carrots, 2 turnips, 4 purple potatoes, 2 red onions, 3 russet potatoes, 2 bulbs of garlic, 4 tomatoes, 1 head of celery, 3 leeks, a bag of salad mix, 1 bunch of red chard, 1 bunch of spinach and 2 heads of lettuce. All organic, all fresh, all local. I spent an hour or so washing and storing the veggies (I have a great book which has recommendations for proper cleaning and storing), steamed some of the red chard, turnips and carrots and ate them (drizzled with a little olive oil, Tabasco soy sauce and garlic pepper) along with a green salad with celery and tomatoes. Before you get too impressed with my dietary willpower, I should confess that I washed it all down with a root beer.

If you live in Portland I encourage you to consider this service or find a similar option near where you live. If you are like me you don't tend to buy as many fresh foods as you should and even when you do you stick to the old standbys instead of branching out. Plus, if you mention I referred you, I get a free week of veggies!

How a Corgi eats a spinach salad:

Eat all the vegetables besides the spinach, lick the dressing off both sides of the spinach, leave the spinach on the kitchen floor.

It's Spring and I'm Cleaning

I've been busy. I decided it was completely nonsensical to have my den decorated with books I haven't touched in years and knick knacks that were kinda fun to look at occasionally but served as the inevitable landing pad for dust to land on while most of my craft and art supplies languished in the basement. I mean I generally only read one book at a time whereas I'm crafty all the time. More times than I can count I have thought "Oh, I could use one of those so-in-so things that I have in the basement" only to be frustrated when I couldn't find it. So last week I decided to change that. I made the decision to take out any item in my den that did not have to do with craft (with the exemption of this laptop which I use to post about crafts and my printer/scanner/fax/copier combination which I use to make prints of my craft) and replace it with art supplies.

This process has taken way longer than I expected. I worked every night last week on it, most of this weekend and I'm still not done. When I clean and organize I leave no stone unturned (I've been like that since I was a kid...my room would get completely trashed and then I would spend an entire weekend cleaning). I have sorted bags and bags of beads, sequins, glue sticks, buttons, magnets, pins, stickers, paint...and determined the appropriate container and location for each item. I have way more supplies than I can fit in my craft room so the basement will serve as an overflow area (and a workspace for the messier crafts such as making paper and mixing resin). I find the task of sorting and organizing soothing and I love looking at containers full of colorful supplies. A sense of order out of chaos and the potential for barrier free art work! This is a momentous step towards following through on an intention I have been harboring for the last six years since I moved into my house.

Completing long put off tasks is very fulfilling. So is being productive. I didn't watch tv this past week at all, neither did I even open the Netflix envelope sitting on my kitchen counter.

I'm Back

I am back in Blogland. Took a bit of a break unintentually. I'd like to say it had something to do with me accomplishing some great task but the truth probably has more to do with my obsession of maximizing the value of my newly upgraded Netflix account (unlimited rentals one at a time for $9.99/month). This was my first month with this arrangement and I managed to get 6 separate tapes which is pretty darn cheap. While most people would be horrified losing that much time in their lives to the first two seasons of Dawson's Creek, I take pride in being able to juice my ten bucks as far as possible. Plus, each disc has nearly 5 hours of footage, over double what a crappy movie provides. And to think I only have three seasons left to go!

Other than hibernating in front of the 27" light every evening (after putting in a long, not too eventful day at work) nothing much is new, which might have something to do with the absence of blog posts here. From time to time I have these thoughts that I think are blog worthy (the fact that the Chinese are raising tigers in a factory farm type scenario to make them into wine for instance, or the fact that one of the saddest sights ever is to see the tears of a three year old child leaving a jail after visiting his father or a lessor depressing notation on the fact that I was an absolute green marketing ad today wearing organic/recycled/hemp shoes, recycled seat belt-belt, salvaged bike spoke bracelets and salvaged cocktail fork ring) but none so much that I have gotten around to writing about them. I am working on the art of living in the grey. That isn't as easy as it seems for me. I am much more familiar with black and white, drama, catastrophe and strife than I am merely living, going with the flow, relaxing. Sometimes I overhear a conversation on the bus with folks talking about having to attend this meeting and that meeting and how busy they are and for a moment I think I'm wasting my life away and then I remember how I spent years and years of my life spending every waking minute working to save the world, pay the rent, care for an animal, anything to avoid stopping and breathing. So that is what I am doing now. I'm practicing the art of just being. I'll leave the drama to the cast of D.'s Creek.

Out with the old, in with the new.

In my personal attempt to stimulate the economy I have purchased a new car. Not just new to me, but "new, new." Though the experience was miserable and I hope not to do it again for at least ten years, I am very happy with my decision.

My old steed was really quite an impressive car. I bought it over 5 years ago from a woman who I used to work with who had bought it from a woman she used to work with who was the original owner. The car came with all of it's receipts, including the original purchase paperwork. I purchased the car for $800 which was below the Blue Book value even though it had low miles on it. Becky, the woman I bought it from, had just graduated from Naturopathic college and was moving to the East coast and it didn't make sense for her to take the car with her. I hadn't owned a car in several years prior to that and had recently bought a house further out than allowed for Tri-Met commuting multiple trips a day and I had a significant back injury that made walking difficult and biking out of the question.

Over the years I put very little money into the car and it never broke down on me. It always ran, sometimes noisily but it served it's purpose. In just under 7 hours on Craigslist, my 1986 Honda Civic was gone. Just like that. I sold it for $400 to a young guy who was a student teacher and drove up in a Honda Prelude the same color as mine but in much worse condition. He had gotten that car for free a few years prior by hauling it out of the back yard of a house that one of his coworkers had just purchased. It didn't have a title and the Washington plates were several years expired. The car had a shattered windshield (somehow still in place) and this nasty habit of not shutting off when the key was removed. Needless to say the guy was thrilled with my car. I know it went to a good home but I couldn't help but be a bit sad to look outside and see an empty driveway.

After an awful last minute attempt to buy a pick up from a dealership in Hillsboro I had a very intense conversation with my friend Greg who has known me for a long time and who I have had many car conversations with. The thing that I both love and hate about Greg is that he always tells you exactly what he thinks. Even if it makes you mad or hurts your feelings. The good thing about that trait however is that I tend to listen to what he says. He is my own personal Dr. Phil (Greg, I mean that in a good way...you don't have a mustache and you have way more hair but you do have his candor). Well I called Greg after the pick up deal fell through and I asked him why he seemed so against me buying the truck in the first place. For the next 20 minutes or so Greg called me on all of the decisions I was making regarding buying a car. Since I first saw one in the parking lot of New Season's I had decided to buy a Toyota Yaris. Yet for some reason I was being reluctant to do so. I thought it was maybe because it seemed practical but I wasn't excited about it. Greg knew my long standing love for Mini Cooper's (in fact he gave me my first toy Mini which has been followed up by half a dozen more). I told him that I didn't think I should be paying that much for a car. Greg told me that I should go for it, it would be a fantastic 40th birthday gift to myself (yes, this is the big year), that it would be reward for living frugally for so many years and reward for finding and tolerating a job in a corporate environment which would allow me to make such a purchase. After getting off the phone with Greg, I called a dealership that had a used Mini with low miles and the exact colorings that I wanted, and scheduled a test drive.
A funny thing happened when I test drove the Mini Cooper, something that was very hard for me to admit. It turns out that I like looking at Minis from the outside more than I like being on the inside. A lot more. The inside is very cramped (yes, it's a small car but is needlessly cramped) and feels much like the cockpit of an airplane. It was hard to admit that I didn't like it though as I had fantasized about it for so long. Similar to having a crush on a boy for years only to date him years later and realize he wasn't as great as you thought he was (I had this experience with the valedictorian of my high school). I placed a deposit on the Cooper before I had fully realized my feelings. I had always loved Coopers and here was one that I could more less afford so of course I wanted it, right?

From the Mini dealership I went to the Toyota dealership that had the Yaris I had been negotiating for on the internet. I hadn't actually driven one so decided I needed to before I made any decision. After all, if I didn't like driving a Cooper maybe I wouldn't like driving the Yaris either. I was wrong. Pretty much immediately I knew this was the car for me. I liked driving it, loved how roomy it felt even though it was a hatchback. Finally, I was excited by this little car that is so economical and sensible and from a company that is known for manufacturing such reliable cars.
The actual process of buying (or selling a car) is not one made for somebody like me. I'm not found of purchasing new things in general, especially not one for thousands of dollars, I don't like hanging out in dealerships with a bunch of smarmy guys (I used to be the only female employee at a Carpeteria filled with salesmen and installers so I know what smarmy men they can be), I don't know a whole lot about cars (I just know what I like and what I don't) and in this environment it is very hard to know what is a good price and what isn't which drives a bargain hunter like me nuts.

My approach was to do most of my shopping by internet. I know from past history that dealerships make a lot of profit in their financing and by all the little add ons such as undercoating and service packages so I wanted to steer clear of those. I applied online to my credit union for a loan and got a call back in 20 minutes approving me for a loan. That took a lot of the pressure off because that meant wherever I found the car I wanted to purchase the bank would pay them which essentially meant I was bargaining for a cash purchase.

The next step came in emailing all the local Toyota dealerships to see who would give me the best price. I got a huge range in offers, with as much as $1,500 difference. One dealership stood out as the guy was very pleasant and attentive (some were downright rude and condescending). When one dealership would offer me a better deal I kept going back to the first guy who was the easiest to deal with and tell him that I had received a better offer. Every time he matched or beat the price that I asked for. In the end we agreed on a price that was only $100 more than what I had initially offered and it was for a car with additional features that I hadn't realized were mandatory for West Coast vehicles. One of the best decisions I think I made though was sticking to what I really wanted. I wanted the car in black. They had the same model on the lot but in grey which I didn't like. They did have a black one but it was a model with more bonus features and a price that was $1,000 higher than I had planned on paying. I told them I wanted a black base model and that I would wait until they found me one. It only took them a day and a half. There aren't many Yaris around (Toyota marketed them heavily before they were even done with manufacturing which created a glut) so the pickings are skim but my dealership was motivated enough to have another new car sale to report to Toyota that they actually went to Eugene to get my car.

Yaris are inexpensive, especially the super duper base model that I got. Way more bells and whistles than I am used to so it feels like I'm driving a Lexus but basic nonetheless. However, the base Yaris lift back (hatchback apparently is considered derogatory in the car world) is one of the most inexpensive new cars you can buy (it sells for less than $12K). The mileage is great (it ties with the Civic and Mini for 8th best mileage of any U.S. sold vehicle. It is cute (I read one review suggesting it looked like a car that would happen if a Scion xA and a Beetle had a baby). It is fun to drive. It will last me 20 years if I want it to. I've found that there are people who buy "new" cars and people who don't. I come from the camp of people who do. My very first car when I was freshly 16 years old was new. That was the car that got me voted "Senior Girl with Best Car" my graduating year in high school and I've never lost my appreciation for being the first person to break in a car. I've only personally purchased one new car myself, a Toyota 2WD pick up in my early twenties that I eventually sold to a friend's dad because I had so many tickets I couldn't afford the insurance (oops). Buying new cars doesn't make financial sense if you are going to sell it in five years or so but even Clark Howard (a millionaire consumer advocate tight wad) supports buying a new car if you plan on keeping it a long time. And I do. I love my Yaris and it loves me.

The night I bought my car I had a lot of time to talk with my sales guy as I had to wait for the "finance" person to sign the papers and give them the money, etc. I asked him a bunch of questions that I had always wondered about the car selling business. The guys who work on the front line get minimum wage plus commission. My guy was the "internet manager" so he only deals with the inquiries that come in online. This is the preferred position. The most cars he has ever sold in a month is 31. The fewest was 13 which was February, the month in which I was buying mine, which perhaps helped me get a good deal. 65% of the inquires he gets over the internet are from women (no big surprise, what woman likes going to a dealership?). People who buy Yaris cars came to the lot specifically to buy that particular car. Toyota is one of very few car manufacturers that are actually growing. That I am a high maintenance purchaser but way more enjoyable to deal with than most.

The accidental omnivore.

I've been vegetarian for approximately twenty years (I remember "coming out" to my family when I was home for college during Thanksgiving break) and vegan for about 18 years (the evolution is gradual so exact dates aren't realistic). Until yesterday I have only eaten food with meat in it twice (that I am aware of), both unintentionally. The first was at Amalfi's, an Italian restaurant in N.E. Portland on Fremont, many, many years ago. I ordered spaghetti with tomato sauce, the restaurant was dark and suffice it say I had a few bites before I realized those little chunks were not tvp (fake meat). When I confronted the waitress (actually my mom did it because I was trying not to puke) the waitress blamed it on me because I didn't request no meat. So I asked her what the difference was between the tomato sauce and the meat sauce. Her reply was that the meat sauce had more meat than the tomato sauce. I never returned to that restaurant.

The second time was when my friend Teagen and I went to Hot Lips Pizza downtown by P.S.U. We had planned to have pizza and then go to a movie. The first pizza they made had come with cheese even though we requested it without (this happens a lot). So they made us another but by that time it was getting late and we had to go to a movie so we asked them to make it to go. We took the pizza, got in the car and as I was driving I reached down, picked up a piece and took a bite. I did this without looking at the pizza because well, one, it was dark and I couldn't see much anyway and two because I was driving after all and didn't want to get in an accident. Well, I noticed something funny so I looked down and saw a piece of pepperoni on the pizza. Turns out this one didn't have cheese but it did have meat! You can imagine how frustrated we were at that moment and were really late to see the movie so we didn't have time to go back and demand a vegan pizza. The problem then became what to do with the pizza that we didn't want. Somewhat on a whim we drove by the old Baloney Joe's homeless shelter on the Burnside Bridge and placed the still warm pizza on the curb and drove away. I can imagine several people scratched their heads over this as who leaves a hot, perfectly good pizza on the side of the road with only one bite taken out of it?

Well, it happened again yesterday. I was having a late lunch at The Iron Horse restaurant on Milwaukie Avenue in S.E. Portland. I frequent this restaurant as they are quite vegan friendly (which is a rare find for Mexican food), no doubt due to their proximity to Reed College which hosts a large vegan student base. Rather than the veggie burrito or veggie fajitas that I normally get I decided to branch out and ordered a tostada. On the vegan menu they point out exactly how you should order an item to ensure it being vegan. I did as instructed. The waitress confirmed that I wanted a tostada with no dairy and no meat. When the food came I dug in as normal (the top was all lettuce and salsa so you couldn't see anything else) and with the first bite noticed something different, something other than what I had ever tasted in their beans and rice. It only took one movement with my fork to uncover one of several pieces of meat nestled inside this bed of lettuce.

I was sick to my stomach almost instantaneously. When I've occasionally had a bit of cheese or sour cream on my meal there I will sometimes scrape it off and eat the remainder of the meal, but those are byproducts of animals (with the exception of rennet in cheese which isn't even vegetarian but I'll save you that lecture for now), but certainly not the flesh of animals!

I am vegetarian because I think it is morally wrong to eat animals. Period. No questions. It isn't difficult for me to be a vegetarian because I think it is wrong to do otherwise.

Needless to say I was quite furious when this happened yesterday. The waitress, of course, offered to get me another one but when you unexpectedly have meat on your dish and you unexpectedly eat part of that meat the last thing you want to do is eat another thing out of that kitchen. The waitress made a big deal out of deducting the cost of our sodas off the bill and acted like that should be sufficient even though she charged us for my mom's meal (she had already begun eating and I couldn't exactly expect her to leave until she was finished) and the guacamole side I had ordered. As the daughter of a second generation restaurant owner I knew that the proper way for them to handle the situation was to make me a vegan tostado to go and then give that to me along with my mom's entire meal for free. This lack of customer service made me mad but I was too upset to challenge her (I will be sending a letter to the owner however as well as a request for a full refund). The waitress then offered to get me some dessert to which I had to remind her that none of their desserts are vegan. I don't entirely blame the waitress as she obviously doesn't get the whole "vegan" thing but I don't think it is too much to ask that a restaurant which has a vegan menu, and is obviously trying to gain vegetarian business, should brief their staff on what the word vegan means. When we left she said "Hope to see you again soon!" to which I mumbled, "Yeah, right" under my breath.

Lately I have been reducing the restaurants that I eat at, preferring to stick with all vegetarian ones or ones that have vegan on the menu which at least causes you to think that they know what the word is. Now I am questioning that philosophy. If restaurants that even go so far as to have separate vegan menus are still mistakenly putting meat in the food perhaps I should only be visiting all vegetarian establishments?