Magic Spot Flowing

I was starting to find my 101 list very hard to read, especially with all the commentary and editing I had done, so here is the trimmed-down current list. Completed or negated goals removed, including completed parts of goals (so, e.g. sushi and onigiri is now just onigiri), and all goals in edited form only. (I went on an editing spree a while back when I decided I had made this too hard and it was annoying me.)

Reposted from the original, and from 101 in 1001: my list (go there if you want to see where I’m at with commentary/completion dates).

My 1001 days goes until Nov. 9, 2009. When a task is complete, I’ll remove it from this list, strike it out on the original and note the completion date, and perhaps post about it.
I’m substantially behind percentage-wise, but W2W ’08 was not initially on my list of goals, so I’m interested to see what will happen after I finish that.

Cooking/Food
1. Bake my own yeasted bread.
3. Make vegetarian tom kha gai that I like so much I actually want to make it again right away.
5. Compile all my regularly-used recipes into a personal storage system (database, recipe box, website).
6. Make onigiri.
7. Cook a full Japanese vegetarian meal.
8. Make 20 more Vegan With a Vengeance recipes from among a list of recipes that pop out to me as interesting (recorded elsewhere).
9. Go a whole week without eating random crap as a substitute for any meal. Making progress in understanding why this happens.
11. Find a recipe with barley but no mushrooms that’s tasty and easy.
12. Figure out how to use amaranth so it tastes good.

Travel
13. San Diego Zoo
15. Seattle
19. Washington DC and see friends/family there.
20. Yosemite.

Local Interest
24. Hike on Angel Island.
26. See the Monterey aquarium.
27. Camp in Big Sur.
28. Go on 6 more new-to-me stairway walks listed in the Stairway Walks in San Francisco book.
29. Photodocument at least 2 more of the stairway walks.
30. Ride on each of the ten public transit systems that reach the inner Bay Area at least once specifically to see new destinations.
31. Visit the area around the five remaining Caltrain stops I haven’t explored: 22nd St, Broadway, Belmont, Lawrence, and Santa Clara (walk or bike around, go to a restaurant or place of interest).
34. Go wine-tasting again in Napa or Sonoma or Santa Cruz county.
35. Visit 3 more museums in the Bay Area.

Habits
37. Give up soda except for at parties/dining out.
38. [private]
40. Make emergency preparedness kit and keep it stocked (rotate perishables).
41. Stop feeling my blood pressure go through the roof when I see cyclists on the sidewalk. I’m making progress on this. Toronto helped, and for a while I thought I was cured, but I still get a strong aversive reaction at first.

Cycling
42. Ride a century. (Does not have to be in a race.) I’ve ridden several half-century-length rides in prep for W2W 2008. The century will have to wait for next year at a minimum…
45. Ride my bike everywhere I need to go for a week. (No transit or anyone else’s car!)
46. Get a cart for my bike to haul stuff, or a cargo bike, or retrofit current city bike as cargo bike.

Physical/Environment
51. Grow 3 herb plants for a season.
52. Frame at least 10 of my interesting posters and best photographs.
53. Get a cat.
54. Take another Pilates class and develop a routine I do at least once a week.
55. Get strong enough to do 50 modified pushups (allowed to do 2 sets of 25 but no smaller ones count).
56. Get strong enough to do a bridge.
57. Stretch 3x per week for 1 month.
58. Find a massage therapist and get a massage every 3-6 months.
63. Go running at least 20 mins 1x/week for 1 month.
64. Do Feldenkrais 2x per week for 1 month.

Computer/Tech/Internet
67. Tag all my past LiveJournal entries in both journals.
68. Set up a regular backup routine for my computer.
70. Set up “data guardian” mutuality with someone.
71. Don’t check my email, blogs, etc. at home for one week while not on vacation.

Intellectual/Spiritual
72. Learn conversational French or German and return Spanish to fluent-level.
73. Learn all the countries of the world: name, capital, and location.
74. Meditate 3x per week for a month.
75. Submit a linguistics paper for consideration for a conference or journal.
76. Attend a course about sustainable living (permaculture, etc).
77. Knit at least a scarf.
78. Find a spiritual group that I feel comfortable with and go to a gathering at least six times.
80. Read the book Design Patterns.

Social/Artistic
81. Volunteer in a non-advocacy way. E.g. Humane Society or teaching reading at the Menlo Park library.
82. Do something where I play at least once a month, like start a clarinet choir with my friends in the area or buy a recorder and play it during lunch breaks.
83. Do/help organize in a board game or dinner party night five times.
84. Draw at least 15 pictures in my art notebook.
85. Procure the complete works of Eddie From Ohio, Carbon Leaf, and Mary Chapin Carpenter.
86. Explore my whole music collection and make a list of new artists to check out.
87. Donate blood. (This counts if I go and find out I can’t for some reason. If I can, I have to do it at least twice.)
89. Write to or call [family] at least once a month.
90. Help put the family photo albums into new albums on archive quality paper with labels.
91. Try to negotiate a change in policy by an organization that affects me.

Financial
94. Get renter’s insurance.
95. Make a will.

Literature/Movies
97. Finish watching the complete Buffy seasons. Currently in mid-S3.
98. Read 5 books about modern politics (no biographies).
99. Read all fiction Cory Doctorow has published.
100. Read 8 more books about European history (max 3 more books can be about the UK).
101. Watch two modern movies and read two modern books in Spanish.

I was looking more closely at the W2W route profile and noticed that the peak elevation is only 600 ft. The first major climb of the route covers 600 ft in about 2.5 miles, which is only a bit more than half the grade of Old La Honda. Assuming the map is even slightly accurate (certainly in question given the fact that it reports 8000 ft of climbing for a route that has been variously quoted by the organizers at 4500-5500 and barely even looks like that much), this is a real relief to me because it means the hill climbing will look more like the kind of thing I do regularly and less like the really hilly rides I’ve done the last few weeks.

I’m really happy I did the coast ride (and the Grizzly Peak ride, which is probably more similar for most of its length to the climbs in the profile, but goes up consistently for a much longer distance) to challenge myself, but looking at the profile it reminds me much more of climbing Edgewood (which certainly is plenty challenging but no longer the bane of my existence — an amazing fact of training). You ascend to 500-600 ft three times (once starting from about 200-300 already), plus lots of other rollers.

But the little flier I received recently misleadingly says “Be sure you are prepared to climb Mt. Tam and the coastal hills of Marin…”

Unless their route is just way off, “climbing Mt. Tam” is a serious exaggeration. Mt. Tam’s peaks are around 2000 ft and it is quite possible to climb up there on a road bike (assuming you don’t bonk/end up with jelly for legs first), and there’s strong evidence from my quick Google that “to climb Mt. Tam” has a very specific meaning, referring to a particular road to a particular point. Our map does not go that direction, which requires going substantially inland. A better description would likely be “the lower slopes of Mt. Tam and the coastal hills of Marin”.

I have to say that this is one thing about the W2W experience so far that hasn’t impressed me. You’re asking people to ride a long, hilly course that may be unfamiliar to many of them and may stretch their capabilities substantially. It behooves you to: make good maps, go out there and ride the course yourself to get a reasonably accurate elevation gain and route profile, and carefully and clearly advertise the route, elevation gain, and profile and what method was used to get them. Don’t give a map that shows 8500 ft gain without a disclaimer when it’s really much less, don’t quote it as 5500 on the website if it’s really 4500, and don’t say “Be sure you are prepared to climb Mt. Tam…” if the route doesn’t. To quote the Princess Bride, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

Barbara of Tigers and Strawberries, and others, had posted a meme of the “Omnivore’s 100″ — 100 foods that every omnivore should try, and which ones they had tried or wouldn’t or couldn’t try, with commetary (here’s the original post. I casually remarked that someone should make a vegetarian’s 100, and Barbara obliged. Thanks Barbara! And now of course I’m bound to spread the meme, since it was made on my request!

I’ve eaten at least 69 of the items on the list, and possibly a few more I’m not certain about — not bad! Maybe because Barbara and I both like Indian and Middle Eastern food…

1. Real macaroni and cheese, made from scratch and baked Thanks to my former roommates, who made the Barefoot Contessa version once, I have had this!
2. Tabouleh A nice cold salad.
3. Freshly baked bread, straight from the oven (preferably with homemade strawberry jam)
4. Fresh figs Not a big enthusiast of figs, honestly. They’re okay.
5. Fresh pomegranate Fun to eat!
6. Indian dal of any sort I’m positive that I’ve had some dal at some point, since I eat a lot of Indian food.
7. Imam bayildi No, but I want to make it next week!
8. Pressed spiced Chinese tofu
9. Freshly made hummus I make my own hummus often.
10. Tahini Took me a while to get used to it, but I love it now.
11. Kimchi I may have had this, but I’m not sure. I’d definitely like to try it.
12. Miso Ditto #10. My most common use of it is in Isa’s Chickpea Noodle Soup.
13. Falafel One of my favorite foods, ever. Fried chickpea balls! What’s not to like?
14. Potato and pea filled samosas Ditto #13. Good samosas are YUM.
15. Homemade yogurt
16. Muhammara
17. Brie en croute I ate this (just this) for dinner once when I was about six or seven, as a special treat. I love, love, love brie, and anything baked in pastry is just awesome.
18. Spanikopita Spinach = yum.
19. Fresh, vine-ripened heirloom tomatoes I just recently enthused about the best ones I’ve ever had: Ella Bella Farm Dry-Farmed Early Girls.
20. Insalata caprese Another of my favorite dishes — a staple of my summers.
21. Stir-fried greens (gai lan, bok choi, pea shoots, kale, chard or collards) I like most of the dark green veggies (collards are a tad basic for me, they make my mouth feel funny), and sauteing/stirfrying them simply in a bit of oil is a great way to eat them.
22. Freshly made salsa Yup, I make it regularly. Yum!
23. Freshly made guacamole Ditto #22.
24. Creme brulee Tasty, but I’m not a fiend for it like some people. It’s very rich for me.
25. Fava beans I’ve made ful medames several times since I discovered fava beans, and have also eaten them fresh!
26. Chinese cold sesame peanut noodles Mmmmm. Nooooodle.
27. Fattoush I think I’ve had this at Middle Eastern restaurants, as a side dish.
28. New potatoes I recently made new potatoes with peas and dill (no cream sauce, I wanted something lighter). Very tasty — new potatoes have a great flavor and texture.
29. Coleslaw I hate it with mayonnaise, but my mom makes a great version with vinegar.
30. Ratatouille Yum.
31. Baba ganoush Double yum. It’s like hummus, but eggplant rather than chickpeas. Win!
32. Winter squash A staple of my winter diet; my favorite is butternut, but I also like acorn, kabocha, and other varieties.
33. Roasted beets Just tried these recently. They’re flavorful, but it’s a little bit ‘beety’ for me. I prefer beets mixed in with other things.
34. Baked sweet potatoes Yum.
35. Plantains Yum when fried.
36. Chocolate truffles Not a big fan of chocolate, but a friend used to make white chocolate lime truffles that I liked a lot!
37. Garlic mashed potatoes YUM.
38. Fresh water chestnuts I may have had these, but I may have only had canned.
39. Steel cut oats Interesting stuff, but strong-flavored. I prefer the rolled kind.
40. Quinoa A wonderful and quick-cooking grain. Good for breakfast! I want to try it this way.
41. Grilled portabello mushrooms I’ve had them but I don’t like mushrooms, in general, and portabellos are not an exception.
42. Chipotle en adobo
43. Stone ground whole grain cornmeal I’m pretty sure that I’ve had this in cornbread.
44. Freshly made corn or wheat tortillas Yup, my brother was nannied by a Mexican woman who made tortillas for us a few times.
45. Frittata Meh.
46. Basil pesto I make this often. I love basil.
47. Roasted garlic Yum.
48. Raita of any type I make my own after my dad’s method, with lots of toasted spices, tomatoes, cucumber, onion, and plain yogurt.
49. Mango lassi Yum.
50. Jasmine rice (white or brown) I’m not a rice connoisseur I guess. Jasmine rice is fine, but so is plain rice.
51. Thai vegetarian coconut milk curry I’ve made my own and had it in restaurants many times.
52. Pumpkin in any form other than pie In curries, stews, and roasted. (I like it in pie best though.)
53. Fresh apple pear or plum gallette
54. Quince in any form
55. Escarole, endive or arugula I really like arugula, though I don’t buy it often.
56. Sprouts other than mung bean Does alfalfa count?
57. Naturally brewed soy sauce
58. Dried shiitake mushrooms Sorry, I don’t like mushrooms.
59. Unusually colored vegetables (purple cauliflower, blue potatoes, chocolate bell peppers…) I like blue potatoes!
60. Fresh peach ice cream
61. Chevre Oh, how I love goat cheese, in all forms.
62. Medjool dates Vegan candy!
63. Kheer My favorite Indian dessert.
64. Flourless chocolate cake Not a big fan of chocolate, so, eh.
65. Grilled corn on the cob
66. Black bean (or any other bean) vegetarian chili I love the Black and Red chili I made a while back, and in the winter often make various types of veggie chili.
67. Tempeh I just tried tempeh recently. I’m still a bit ambivalent about it, but it’s nice in tempeh reuben!
68. Seitan or wheat gluten A nice change from tofu. I’ve had mock meat in many forms, but prefer not to make it a staple.
69. Gorgonzola or any other blue veined cheese Have had these, not wild about them, but they go nicely in moderation in some salads.
70. Sweet potato fries Really not my favorite, actually. Usually burnt or mushy.
71. Homemade au gratin potatoes A friend made these for Easter brunch this year — I’m sure I’ve had them before, but his were great!
72. Cream of asparagus soup Eh…not a huge asparagus fan. I may have had this but don’t recall.
73. Artichoke-Parmesan dip
74. Mushroom risotto I don’t! like! mushrooms! :)
75. Fermented black beans I may have eaten this. If so, I recall not liking it.
76. Garlic scapes
77. Fresh new baby peas Yep, these come to the farmer’s market in the spring and cost way too much and are YUMMY.
78. Kalamata olives I may have tried one of these. If so, I didn’t like it. Don’t like olives much.
79. Preserved lemons
80. Fried green tomatoes
81. Chinese scallion pancakes Love. Garden Fresh, here I come! I had some great ones in a handmade noodle restaurant in Vancouver too.
82. Cheese souffle I feel like I’ve probably eaten this — would have to ask my parents.
83. Fried apples
84. Homemade frijoles refritos Don’t really like refried beans.
85. Pasta fagiole I made a version of this and wasn’t hugely wild about it, but it’s good.
86. Macadamia nuts in any form Excellent in Macademia Blondies.
87. Paw paw in any form Had to look this up, to find out what it was!
88. Grilled cheese sandwich of any kind Classic!
89. Paneer cheese Saag paneer is my favorite, but paneer is interesting in other things too.
90. Ma Po Tofu (vegetarian style–no pork!)
91. Fresh pasta in any form We had a pasta maker briefly when I was a kid.
92. Grilled leeks, scallions or ramps
93. Green papaya salad Just had this at a Thai restaurant!
94. Baked grain and vegetable stuffed tomatoes
95. Pickled ginger Ginger in every form, that’s my motto.
96. Methi greens
97. Aloo paratha Yum.
98. Kedgeree Had to look this up too. Commonly a fish dish, but authentic versions use dal.
99. Okra Unlike many people, I love okra fried or in bindi masala and other Indian dishes.
100. Roasted brussels sprouts A great way to make these tasty little buggers.

As of today, I’ve officially joined the Borg.*

We all got our V1s today.

It’s exciting to finally have my hands on a production version. Everything about the production version is shiny and refined: the packaging makes the V1 look like a trophy, and there’s all these cute little things that go with it, from charging cables to an extra ear hook.

I’m still playing with it, so not much more to say now, but the most fun part so far is watching everyone at work going around looking like a member of the Borg.

Sensory has been assimilated. Will you be next?

*Standard disclaimer: Everything I say is my opinion only and not that of my employer or any of our customers.

I took a small detour from my normal route this morning to avoid construction and happened on a park in Palo Alto I didn’t know existed. My world felt a bit wider and brighter after that.

I’m getting to the point in training where I’m feeling pretty ambivalent about riding my bike so much. There are many mornings when I just want to get on the train and not hassle with traffic. I’m riding from an hour and a half to eight hours six days a week, and I feel like it’s eating my life. I’m not getting the heavy legs feeling, but my legs are nearly always feeling tired and sore, and I especially feel it when I start a new ride: I don’t feel fresh and rested, but rather still tired from the day before.

Because I’m almost always tired, everything seems like a struggle, and it’s easy for me to feel overwhelmed. After I got back from the coast on Saturday, I was doing some chores, and I felt like I do when I have the flu: like after every movement, I wanted to lie down and rest. (I slept for over ten hours that night, but still woke up tired.) Cooking seems like a hassle, even if it’s something really simple and quick, like muffins, cutting up a few tomatoes, or boiling pasta. Finding out that Mike’s Bikes is all booked up and can’t tune up my bike before the ride without some serious schedule convolutions on my part nearly undid me today.

But training has been rewarding in other ways. It’s reminded me that accomplishing things requires me to decide, commit, and follow through. It’s easy for me to decide that I’d like to do things, and it’s easy for me to follow through once I commit, but it’s the moment of commitment that I tend to have trouble with. If not for my riding buddy Michelle, I could have hemmed and hawed about W2W for quite a while. But with her quick decision, it became my commitment, and following through by finding a training plan and getting on the bike six of every seven days became surprisingly easy.

I’m hoping that I can apply this to accomplishing other things in the future, perhaps other athletic goals (I’ve already joked about running the SF half marathon next summer) but perhaps more importantly, other personal goals — the kind that are easy to think about doing, but hard to really commit to. Remembering that the moment of commitment is the hardest part for me may help me get over that hump. And knowing that I’ve managed to find the time and energy to do this vaporizes my excuses that I don’t have the time. Most of the goals that I’ve considered and failed to implement would take much less time than training for the MS 150.

One other way I cope, perhaps more practically, is that I know how close I am to being done. The ride is a week and a half away; this Saturday is the last time I have to ride 60+ miles before the event itself. Seeing the goal so close is that extra little bit of motivation I need to get up and ride 25 miles tomorrow. (And looking forward to my day off on Thursday helps too. Any little bit!)