I was walking south of Market yesterday, and a man coming toward me caught his loafer on the curb and fell at my feet. He dropped his newspaper. I picked it up, and asked him if he was okay. "Yeah," he grumbled, more embarassed than hurt. I handed him his paper and kept on.
My friend L confided in me: she falls down all the time. "I don't know what it is," she said. "I just trip and fall." Last time, it was in traffic. But so far, she's escaped serious injury.
My friend P empathized. She once got on the MUNI bus wearing a pair of new sneakers. 'Wow,' she thought to herself, 'this is really slick.' The bus pulled away and her feet flew out from underneath her. "The only person who really said anything was this homeless guy," she told me. "He said 'Whoa'."
"What I learned is that the best thing to do when something like that happens is just get up as quickly as possible and take a seat," P said in her matter-of-fact way. Which was exactly what she did.
I don't have anything especially remarkable to say about falling down, except that everyone does seem to do it at some point. Me, I've been testing gravity lately by dropping things. Yesterday, when my workplace bought lunch for everyone, I dropped my plate. (Empty, happily.) Today, at an early morning coffee engagement with that Autodesk editor (the job is still open), I dropped my handkerchief. In all cases, gravity is working just fine.
I'm at work, listening to the U2 CD my sister D got me for Christmas and wearing my new Christmas sweater. And thinking how nice it was to have people around who care about me. I miss that. On the flip side, I'm seeing friends tonight, ringing in the New Year, and enjoying that the rain has stopped, for now, in SF. Yesterday, it hailed. Freakish. I still have high hopes for 2005.
Friday, December 31, 2004
Wednesday, December 29, 2004
home again
My nose is a mess. 7 days in bone-dry NY-style cold, and 8 hours on an airplane, and my nasal passages are like jerky. Poor nose.
Happily, San Francisco is warm and wet with rain and everything I need is here: tea, coffee, steam room, and an unlimited supply of filtered tap water. It's nice to be home.
NY is cold. I complain when SF gets chilly, since so many places indoors are not heated. But it's been awhile since I've experienced the "how-many degress-below" cold of real winter, where the air that sneaks in on your pant legs and in the folds of your coat can chill you in an overheated room.
Christmas was nice. I and 20 members of my immediate family gathered in the Adirondack mountains, in a few rented cabins, and ate. The little kids were cute, and the older kids were a riot, playing with them. J especially, home for a few weeks from officer's training in Alabama, spent time with the three boys under 5. He's great with them.
Memorable times? My sister S carved a face on little E's banana, then dropped it. "Dirty, dirty nana," E said, in his British accent. He got so much attention for that that he repeated the scenario (without the face and dropping) with each morning's banana. It was pretty cute. Frankly, he's adorable, and the whole family hopes we get to keep him. (He's the son of D's new boyfriend.)
Oddly enough, I ended up getting a ride to the airport with my sister D's old boyfriend, who she announced her engagement to at last Christmas' gathering. Things change fast these days, what with Internet dating. (Although I have to note that I haven't had any luck whatsoever.) D's ex was on his way to Luxembourg -- he'd been transferred for work. So we had a good chat in the car, and I saw him off. Good guy. Just not quite right for my sis.
It's my first day back and I'm settling in. Odd how coming home can feel so familiar and so foreign at the same time. It's like you age while you're away, and then you have to catch up again to fit into your old life, feel normal in your old space. I walked into my apartment last night (sans luggage, I might add) and it was like a pretty litle space that someone set up just for me, full of things I would have chosen. "Oo," I thought last night when I walked into my closet for the first time. "Those are nice boots." Yes, and they're already mine.
Welcome home.
Happily, San Francisco is warm and wet with rain and everything I need is here: tea, coffee, steam room, and an unlimited supply of filtered tap water. It's nice to be home.
NY is cold. I complain when SF gets chilly, since so many places indoors are not heated. But it's been awhile since I've experienced the "how-many degress-below" cold of real winter, where the air that sneaks in on your pant legs and in the folds of your coat can chill you in an overheated room.
Christmas was nice. I and 20 members of my immediate family gathered in the Adirondack mountains, in a few rented cabins, and ate. The little kids were cute, and the older kids were a riot, playing with them. J especially, home for a few weeks from officer's training in Alabama, spent time with the three boys under 5. He's great with them.
Memorable times? My sister S carved a face on little E's banana, then dropped it. "Dirty, dirty nana," E said, in his British accent. He got so much attention for that that he repeated the scenario (without the face and dropping) with each morning's banana. It was pretty cute. Frankly, he's adorable, and the whole family hopes we get to keep him. (He's the son of D's new boyfriend.)
Oddly enough, I ended up getting a ride to the airport with my sister D's old boyfriend, who she announced her engagement to at last Christmas' gathering. Things change fast these days, what with Internet dating. (Although I have to note that I haven't had any luck whatsoever.) D's ex was on his way to Luxembourg -- he'd been transferred for work. So we had a good chat in the car, and I saw him off. Good guy. Just not quite right for my sis.
It's my first day back and I'm settling in. Odd how coming home can feel so familiar and so foreign at the same time. It's like you age while you're away, and then you have to catch up again to fit into your old life, feel normal in your old space. I walked into my apartment last night (sans luggage, I might add) and it was like a pretty litle space that someone set up just for me, full of things I would have chosen. "Oo," I thought last night when I walked into my closet for the first time. "Those are nice boots." Yes, and they're already mine.
Welcome home.
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
money money money
It's time to reanalyze my retirement fund.
Thanks to Charles Schwab's nifty online tools, I can do portfolio analysis at a click and get a readout of how much I need to invest in which categories. Then comes the tricky part of choosing funds.
My target allocation is "Moderately Aggressive."
1. Large Cap 45%
2. Small Cap 15%
3. International Equity 20%
4. Fixed Income (bonds) 15%
5. Cash or Equivalent 5%
After I rebalance and choose a new fund for small cap (looking at RDIVX), it's time to make a budget. Can you say New Year's Resolution? I can. But doing it is something else.
Thanks to Charles Schwab's nifty online tools, I can do portfolio analysis at a click and get a readout of how much I need to invest in which categories. Then comes the tricky part of choosing funds.
My target allocation is "Moderately Aggressive."
1. Large Cap 45%
2. Small Cap 15%
3. International Equity 20%
4. Fixed Income (bonds) 15%
5. Cash or Equivalent 5%
After I rebalance and choose a new fund for small cap (looking at RDIVX), it's time to make a budget. Can you say New Year's Resolution? I can. But doing it is something else.
Sunday, December 12, 2004
one less mystery
Many thanks to my friend S from Santa Cruz, who sent an article that identified my weevils. They are Stegobium paniceum, otherwise known as "biscuit beetles." They eat everything: cereal, grains, sugar, spices, and yes, oatmeal.
This from Wildlife Magazine's Dec. 04 issue:
Stegobium has been a domestic pest since humans started storing food. They were even found in sealed jars in ancient Egyptian tombs dating back 4,500 years ago.
So that makes me feel a little bit better. I haven't had a sighting in awhile, so I think I'm in the clear.
The recurring theme these days is finacial planning. I have one friend who is sold on real estate as the only sure-fire investment. And another who has her retirement $$ parked in a low-interest money market fund, distrustful of the stock market after last year's losses. I sit somewhere in between, with worries that the markets are a rigged game with crappy rules, and a belief the US real estate is overpriced 10-20% (Economist, April 2004 or thereabouts).
Friend #1 predicts the U.S. economy will hit the skids in 2008, which seems about right. It's a concern I share: the U.S. economy relies heavily on consumer spending, and consumers are about tapped out. Case in point: pre-Christmas sales. Perhaps I'm oblivious -- I didn't buy Christmas gifts last year -- but I don't recall deep discounts by retailers before Dec. 25. Seems like a big sign of weakness.
How much is the average citizen in debt? Something to the tune of 7k for every man, woman, and child in the US. And there's China buying our debt. What will that mean in ten years? Twenty? I wonder. And am concerned. And have no idea what's a good move, at this point in my saving/retirement/home ownership plans. Perhaps I'll start an investing group, to see if I can sort it out with folks who are smarter than I am. Anybody want to join?
Happy holidays. Take advantage of all those great sales. I have. For instance, I now own igh-threadcount sheets (400-600, thank you) that make it damned hard to get out of bed in the morning. Can't recommend them enough.
This from Wildlife Magazine's Dec. 04 issue:
Stegobium has been a domestic pest since humans started storing food. They were even found in sealed jars in ancient Egyptian tombs dating back 4,500 years ago.
So that makes me feel a little bit better. I haven't had a sighting in awhile, so I think I'm in the clear.
The recurring theme these days is finacial planning. I have one friend who is sold on real estate as the only sure-fire investment. And another who has her retirement $$ parked in a low-interest money market fund, distrustful of the stock market after last year's losses. I sit somewhere in between, with worries that the markets are a rigged game with crappy rules, and a belief the US real estate is overpriced 10-20% (Economist, April 2004 or thereabouts).
Friend #1 predicts the U.S. economy will hit the skids in 2008, which seems about right. It's a concern I share: the U.S. economy relies heavily on consumer spending, and consumers are about tapped out. Case in point: pre-Christmas sales. Perhaps I'm oblivious -- I didn't buy Christmas gifts last year -- but I don't recall deep discounts by retailers before Dec. 25. Seems like a big sign of weakness.
How much is the average citizen in debt? Something to the tune of 7k for every man, woman, and child in the US. And there's China buying our debt. What will that mean in ten years? Twenty? I wonder. And am concerned. And have no idea what's a good move, at this point in my saving/retirement/home ownership plans. Perhaps I'll start an investing group, to see if I can sort it out with folks who are smarter than I am. Anybody want to join?
Happy holidays. Take advantage of all those great sales. I have. For instance, I now own igh-threadcount sheets (400-600, thank you) that make it damned hard to get out of bed in the morning. Can't recommend them enough.
Wednesday, December 08, 2004
Flexible is bad
Besides bathing irregularly, I've got another pet project: avoiding plastic. Paranoid, you say? Perhaps. But then again, the prevalence of plastic just about everywhere in the retail food market could explain the soaring rates of breast and uterine cancer in the US.
My sis-in-law B works for an environmental think tank in D.C. and sent some articles, most of which aren't online without paying. Here's one from the Wall St. Journal in 98.
Does Plastic in Microwave Pose Health Problems?
You can also dig around at Environmental Health, though it's a membership site.
The gist is that plasticizers -- additives to plastic, which is otherwise a very stable polymer, that can leach estrogen-like compounds into your food. Plasticizers enable flexibility of the material, so are commonly found in plastic wraps, bags, and packaging. Rules of thumb: Never microwave in plastic or in to-go tubs, and don't reuse those yogurt containers.
The safest plastic wrap, according to the authors, is Glad Cling Wrap Crystal Clear Polyethylene. Reynolds Plastic Wrap and Saran Wrap = bad.
Me? I moved big into glass. Luminarc working glasses come with (ahem, plastic) lids, so you can use them like Tupperware and they take up less room in the fridge. Glass containers have become big birthday presents for friends -- I even made a set of Luminarc lids into Christmas ornaments for friends R&R, using acrylic paint so their daughter could chew on them in relative safety.
Other precautions: I wrap my cheese in fabric before putting it in a rigid plastic container. And invested waxed paper sandwich bags, which were not so expensive. And I was given wide-mouth bell jars, which are fab. Will try to add links soon.
My sis-in-law B works for an environmental think tank in D.C. and sent some articles, most of which aren't online without paying. Here's one from the Wall St. Journal in 98.
Does Plastic in Microwave Pose Health Problems?
You can also dig around at Environmental Health, though it's a membership site.
The gist is that plasticizers -- additives to plastic, which is otherwise a very stable polymer, that can leach estrogen-like compounds into your food. Plasticizers enable flexibility of the material, so are commonly found in plastic wraps, bags, and packaging. Rules of thumb: Never microwave in plastic or in to-go tubs, and don't reuse those yogurt containers.
The safest plastic wrap, according to the authors, is Glad Cling Wrap Crystal Clear Polyethylene. Reynolds Plastic Wrap and Saran Wrap = bad.
Me? I moved big into glass. Luminarc working glasses come with (ahem, plastic) lids, so you can use them like Tupperware and they take up less room in the fridge. Glass containers have become big birthday presents for friends -- I even made a set of Luminarc lids into Christmas ornaments for friends R&R, using acrylic paint so their daughter could chew on them in relative safety.
Other precautions: I wrap my cheese in fabric before putting it in a rigid plastic container. And invested waxed paper sandwich bags, which were not so expensive. And I was given wide-mouth bell jars, which are fab. Will try to add links soon.
Wednesday, December 01, 2004
Have a holly jolly
I slept through my ATA Access meeting tonight. I am a bad, bad volunteer. I signed up with the Taproot Foundation a month ago, and this is my first project: rebuilding a Web site for blind and disabled web surfers. The project has been in the preliminary stages of development since June. This is what happens when there's no budget, no accountability, and no pay. Service grants are a nice idea, anyway.
Eugene was lovely for Thanksgiving. OK, let me qualify that. It was cloudy. cold, and it rained. But the company was good. I got to hang at my niece's pad, watch Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and bounce on a trampoline with my very adorable nephew F. I told him about Godzilla -- how big he is and how he steps on everything. And what he doesn't step on, his tail knocks over. And that he lives underwater and breathes radioactive fire. He and his sister A were a bit wide-eyed. They don't get a lot of mainstream culture. But little F's eyes lit up at one point: we were hiking, he saw a spider and got scared. I told him, "Godzilla's not afraid of spiders. He eats them." This excited him tremendously. Crazy what kids cotton onto.
My friend S gave me a CD by the Kings of Convenience. I quite like it. Sometimes it sounds like highly produced jingles from bad seventies TV shows, but then it's slow and folksy like CCR. THey're kindof like The Church on qualuudes. I think. I've never had qualuudes. I think.
Christmas shopping has begun. I put in a massive Amazon oder today. And I've got to make a list. No matter how much shopping I do in August, I never get half of what I need. OK, and sometimes I raid the gift drawer. Until there's nothing left. ("Well, I wouldn't have bought it if I didn't like it!")
Work is slow. Autodesk is days late calling me. I am regretting not taking the job. I mean, my life's not that great. Then again, there are projects of my own I could develop. For instance, I have this burning interest in libraries. What on earth will they look like in 10 years, I wonder? And, of course, I could take my volunteer committment more seriously.
Eugene was lovely for Thanksgiving. OK, let me qualify that. It was cloudy. cold, and it rained. But the company was good. I got to hang at my niece's pad, watch Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and bounce on a trampoline with my very adorable nephew F. I told him about Godzilla -- how big he is and how he steps on everything. And what he doesn't step on, his tail knocks over. And that he lives underwater and breathes radioactive fire. He and his sister A were a bit wide-eyed. They don't get a lot of mainstream culture. But little F's eyes lit up at one point: we were hiking, he saw a spider and got scared. I told him, "Godzilla's not afraid of spiders. He eats them." This excited him tremendously. Crazy what kids cotton onto.
My friend S gave me a CD by the Kings of Convenience. I quite like it. Sometimes it sounds like highly produced jingles from bad seventies TV shows, but then it's slow and folksy like CCR. THey're kindof like The Church on qualuudes. I think. I've never had qualuudes. I think.
Christmas shopping has begun. I put in a massive Amazon oder today. And I've got to make a list. No matter how much shopping I do in August, I never get half of what I need. OK, and sometimes I raid the gift drawer. Until there's nothing left. ("Well, I wouldn't have bought it if I didn't like it!")
Work is slow. Autodesk is days late calling me. I am regretting not taking the job. I mean, my life's not that great. Then again, there are projects of my own I could develop. For instance, I have this burning interest in libraries. What on earth will they look like in 10 years, I wonder? And, of course, I could take my volunteer committment more seriously.
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