Am I wrong to take people at their word?

It seems like when I actually take people at their word, I end up getting screwed over. When I was with my wife it would always happen. For instance, we would make a tentative plan, say, Saturday afternoon we'll go do such and such. Then come Saturday afternoon it would either be, "Oh, I don't really feel like doing that" or "I'm not feeling well." The I'm not feeling way thing is understandable, it happens ... but it happened all the time.

And now more recently, with one of me new friends it seems to be happening too. We'll talk, and say ok we'll meet up in an hour, then an hour and 20 minutes later I get a call saying "I'm not feeling well, I'll give you a call in a bit." I feel bad even complaining because it always works out fine and I enjoy spending time with these people, but still, how does it happen that within 1 hour of making plans you suddenly don't feel good? I just don't get it.

I mean, I flake sometimes or show up late, but whenever this happens I end up getting screwed over because I have this plan in my head and then it falls through and I've wasted my time.

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My corporate observation for the week

I know this is not a groundbreaking observation, but I have finally realized that in a corporate environment it is not about how much work you do, but more about the appearance of doing work. I saw this at my old job, and it seemed weird. There were some days that I would not be doing a damn thing, and I would go and ask my boss what I should be working on, and wouldn't really get an answer. So this led me to believe that they knew I had nothing to do. Yet I was still expected to stay in the office.

I also know how much I slack at different times during work hours. However, and I'm not just tooting my own horn here, people I've worked with always have considered me a great worker. I am reliable, and I get my stuff done, while at the same time managing to slack off quite a bit. But importantly, I keep up the appearance of doing work, and show concern with the quality of said work.

I finally put it all together when I read The 4 Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich. The author describes these scenarios and how you can work them in your favor by removing yourself from the office environment. Which is when it finally dawned on my conclusively that it's not about the work you do, but the work which it appears you're doing.

An example is a project that you are given one week to do. You fit it into 40 hours, and finish by Friday afternoon and appear to have worked diligently. However, if the boss said, I want this done, and if it is done before Friday, you can take the rest of the week off, you can damn well bet that it would be done in 16 hours. It is a weird phenomenon, and one that since it rarely exists in offices, encourages slacking. Where is the incentive for me to get something done quicker if there is something else to follow it up, with no reward? This, combined with the fact that I am considered a great worker despite my own knowledge of how much I slack off, combined with my ability to keep up the appearance that I work diligently, lead to my conclusion that it matters not what you get done, but what it looks like you are doing.

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Do you think diet affects allergies?

I always see people who suffer terribly from allergies, and I often wonder ... what is the root cause of them? I am always suspicious because I have never really had allergies, I mean if I am sitting in a dust cloud, of course I get a sore throat and sniffles, but in general I've never had chronic allergies.

Am I lucky, or is there more to it? I really want to believe that diet plays a large part in this. Some people think that's crazy, but in general I feel like a large percentage of common ailments could be cured by change in diet. So could seemingly healthy people be causing their own allergies by eating food loaded with chemicals and pesticides and hormones? I think so, of course I have no proof otherwise nor am I a professional.

I do know that since I have changed my diet (I've always eaten healthy balanced meals) to be mostly organic, I very rarely get sick or tired, unless there is a very good reason. I have seen people who seem to be chronically sick go to McDonald's or Taco Bell for lunch in the middle of complaining that they don't feel well. I have also seen people who have chronic allergies drinking many sodas per day while eating candy bars for lunch, then go to the doctor for an allergy shot.

I really have no idea, but I do feel like most people look for a pill or some other sort of medicine before fixing the obvious, and I would like to believe that the way I take care of myself is at least part of the reason that I am healthy.

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Oh this is good

http://www.dooce.com/archives/nubbin/09_28_2007.html

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Federal bill helps huge farmers, not California's innovative ones

An interesting fact I saw in an article:

Federal bill helps huge farmers, not California's innovative ones
Carolyn Lochhead
San Francisco Chronicle Washington Bureau
Sunday, September 23, 2007

"Organic farming has breathtaking potential to improve the environment in ways only dimly understood by the American public and urban lawmakers. If you recycle or drive a Prius, consider this next time you go to a supermarket: One-quarter of California - 27.6 million acres - is farmland, much of it in the heavily polluted San Joaquin Valley. Agriculture covers 40 percent of the land in the United States. How food is grown on that land has big consequences for the air, waterways and wildlife. California now has more than 220,000 acres of certified organic cropland, more than any other state, but still a fraction of the total."

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Tea

I step in the door, see 3 people sitting around a tea kettle.

"Hey, how are you? I bought some of your tea at the market, so I figured I'd stop by and check the place out."

"Cool, would you like to sit down for some tea?"

Of course I would. It seems very inviting, and though the shop is extremely small, it's comfortable. In walks another guy who is friends of those already sitting.

"Sure..." I say, "Do you work here?"

"No, I just pour tea."

"This place sure is cozy huh?"

"Yea, it is."

"I like it in here, it's quiet and nice and chill."

"It is, isn't it? It has a really good vibe doesn't it?"

Random conversation ensues, probably half an hour passes. The energy is extremely positive, like I've never seen before. Four people sitting around drinking tea. 4 in the afternoon. Nothing negative, I didn't even feel like I shouldn't have been there.

"Do many people stop in here?"

"Some, a lot of people come to the window and look in then walk away. Some come in, they either sit for tea then get up right away to leave, or offer us money. We tell them, no, it's free. But some come in and stay ... like you ... I think people who are supposed to find this place find it."

An hour goes by. Another guy who actually does work there comes in. He sits. Talks about a vision he had of speaking with a cockroach. After about 40 minutes he finally realizes that he doesn't know me. We exchange introductions. Another 15 minutes later they begin a jam session.

Anyway, 2 hours later. I leave. What an interesting experience. And 5 blocks from my house.

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Humility

I was waiting for the bus after work, and generally there are at least a few homeless people hanging around by the bus stop. There were two women in particular who I see regularly, one of whom seems to have all her mental capacity, and always appears clean, however I have no doubt that she is homeless. Anyway, I saw her give the other woman who was in rough shape a sweatshirt. And I heard her say she'd give her another if she had it. It just blew my mind, not that I couldn't believe it, but it was amazing to see a woman who probably has nothing, give away the little that she had to help another woman in need.

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You know what else ...

... that I just realized?

I can hear the ocean from my apartment.

The farmer's market was tonight, I got some fresh whole leaf tea, and I'm in a wonderful mood.

I love it. I love it.

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My wonderful little beach community

Man, I absolutely love where I live ...

This is a random listing of the type of people I see on a daily basis in wonderful Ocean Beach, either just in my wanderings around the beach, or on the bus heading out to work.

• Trendy Beach Types


• Surfers


• Tattooed skaters


• Yuppies


• Burly Bikers


• Tourists


• Homeless people


• Crazy people


• Old guys with white ponytails wearing tie dyes and birkenstocks


• Backpackers


• Normal working types


• Barefoot hippies sporting dreads


• Cutie bohemian girls


• Joggers, cyclists, and volleyball players


• Plenty of dogs and cats

And they are all friendly and tolerant.

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Mountaintop Mining

Terrible. This could quite possibly be being done to supply the electricity for your TV or computer (mountain tops blown off; coal removed; power plant burns coal; produces electricity; you buy it; powers your appliances)
Mountaintop Mining

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A passive income experiment

Ok. Generally I would never do this, and think people who typically do this are idiots. However, I have done a fair amount of research, and it seems that there is no real reason not to share this.

I came across a company called Agloco today, in which by becoming a member you get "paid" to surf the web. I know it sounds ridiculous. There are some catches which I will explain, but none that stopped me from signing up. What the hell, I am curious.

Basically, the company operates under the premise that you personally don't have to buy anything or spend any money to reap the benefits of their program. However, inevitably, some people will, and their entire community stands to gain. What this means is you have their toolbar open while you browse the web and you accumulate hours while you do your plain old web browsing. Somehow then your surfing time will be translated into money. Ads are delivered to the toolbar, and like how most online advertising works, Agloco is getting paid to host these ads, thus they are making money for doing nothing, then are going to share this profit with their members. So even if you don't click the ads or buy anything, some people will. How this works or what the payouts are I'm not sure, they are sort of vague about that, but the reality is even if it doesn't pay out, I have lost nothing. If it does, then sweet. It doesn't seem that anyone has been paid any money yet, so far they are just accumulating these surfing hours, which will hopefully one day be translated into cash.

I've read scam pages about this, googled a lot about it, and while they do say this premise isn't a solid one, and it isn't as great as some people are thinking, the collective feeling is that there really aren't any reasons not to give it a shot. Basically the risk-vs-reward is minimal. Nothing to lose. Also, some fairly reputable bloggers are endorsing it. Obviously, they are endorsing it because they stand to gain immensely, but whatever, I'm on the free money, passive income bandwagon. I caught wind of this on Steve Pavlina's website.

The other thing is that they "cap" maximum surfing hours at 5 per month as a means to eliminate people who are trying to scam the system by creating bots. However, as each person you refer surfs, you accumulate "hours" based on their hours as well as your own. It's sort of pyramid scheme-ish, the more referrers you accrue, the more hours you will get, and their referrers also trickle down to your hours, but the reality is that nothing is being sold and I'm not losing any money... So I'll go with it.

So, if you want to give it a shot, check it out. Be my referrers. Obviously I understand why you'd be hesitant, I was, and still am, but what the hell. Even if they go bust and worst case scenario, someone steals my info, what's the worst that will happen? I'll get a few extra spam messages in my email? Who cares, right?

Here is my referrer link. Feel free to let me know if you think I am crazy

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Some photos of my trip to enjoy

Some photos from my trip to Connecticut and New York, September 2007

Grand Central Station - Manhattan, New York City


Imagine. John Lennon Tribute, Central Park



The Mall - Central Park


Manhattan Skyline from Astoria Park, Astoria, Queens


From the walking path on the Brooklyn Bridge


Chrysler Building from near Times Square


And these are my personal favorites, all taken from the airplane, some where the Southeast heading towards Dallas. These are not camera tricks, this is what it really looked like.

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An organic garden by default

Updated: If you like this post, please visit my other website, Idealist Cafe, where I have a blog, some green and sustainable tips, and much more. Also read my article about apartment composting.

I'm back in Connecticut now visiting my family, and I just had this realization today. I love San Diego and would never really want to move back here to CT, but man does my parent's yard make me jealous. I was thinking about it today and all the possibilities in regards to gardening and growing food.


To start with, there is an apple tree in the yard that is producing apples, with zero upkeep by my mom. It was planted many years ago, and she actually had no idea that there were full size apples on it. Obviously organic also. Along the driveway there are tons of wild grapes. They taste like crap, but that's besides the point. During blueberry season in the past there have been wild blueberries growing. There are wild cherry trees all over the place.


Also, she has a basil plant unlike any I've ever seen before. In her garden, there is a plethora of tomatoes, pumpkins, and squash. And all this grows without any attention on her part. She plants them, then leaves them. No watering except for potted stuff, no fertilizers except all the old stuff that has naturally been composted.

It's crazy. She could literally run an organic farm with minimal maintenance if she wanted to. She's got three acres and the garden probably doesn't even use 1% of the space. This that I've listed is the basics, stuff she barely even tends it, but it shows the potential of it. If someone could just reign in the potential she could probably sell produce, sell grapes for winemaking, sell fresh blueberries, sell pumpkins, salsas, apples ... all by barely doing what she does now anyway.

I mean, just look at these photos.




If you liked this post, please visit my other website, Idealist Cafe, where I have a blog, some green and sustainable tips, and much more.

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Dreams and fear

The excerpt I promised in my last post about fear.

...The journey, which prior to this was torture because all you wanted to do was get there, is now beginning to become a pleasure. It is the pleasure of searching and the pleasure of an adventure. You are nourishing something that's very important -- your dreams.

We must never stop dreaming. Dreams provide nourishment for the soul, just as a meal does for the body. Many times in our lives we see our dreams shattered and our desires frustrated, but we have to continue dreaming. If we don't, our soul dies, and agape cannot reach it. A lot of blood has been shed in those fields out here; some of the cruelest battles of Spain's war to expel the Moors were fought on them. Who was in the right or who knew the truth does not matter; what's important is knowing that both sides were fighting the good fight.

The good fight is the one we fight because our heart asks it of us. In the heroic ages -- at the time of the knights in armor -- this was easy. There were lands to conquer and much to do. Today, though, the world has changed a lot, and the good fight has shifted from the battlefields to the fields within ourselves.

The good fight is the one that's fought in the name of our dreams. When we're young and our dreams first explode inside us with all of their force, we are very courageous, but we haven't yet learned how to fight. With great effort, we learn how to fight, but by then we no longer have the courage to go into combat. So we turn against ourselves and do battle within. We become our own worst enemy. We say that our dreams were childish, or too difficult to realize, or the result of our not having known enough about life. We kill our dreams because we are afraid to fight the good fight.

The first symptom of the process of our killing our dreams is lack of time. The busiest people I have known in my life always have time enough to do everything. Those who do nothing are always tired and pay no attention to the little amount of work they are required to do. They complain constantly that the day is too short. The truth is, they are afraid to fight the good fight.

The second symptom of the death of our dreams lies in our certainties. Because we don't want to see life as a grand adventure, we begin to think of ourselves as wise and fair and correct in asking so little of life. We look beyond the walls of our day-to-day existence, and we hear the sound of lances breaking, we smell the dust and the sweat, and we see the great defeats and the fire in the eyes of the warriors. But we never see the delight, the immense delight in the hearts of those who are engaged in the battle. For them, neither victory nor defeat is important; what's important is only that they are fighting the good fight.

And, finally, the third symptom of the passing of our dreams is peace. Life becomes a Sunday afternoon; we ask for nothing grand, and we cease to demand anything more than we are willing to give. In that state, we think of ourselves as being mature; we put aside the fantasies of our youth, and we seek personal and professional achievement. We are surprised when people our age say that they still want this or that out of life. But really, deep in our hearts, we know that what has happened is that we have renounced the battle for our dreams -- we have refused to fight the good fight.

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