Ken's NYRs
Howdy. Hi all. I'm Ken, Phil M.'s neighbor-in-the-physics-building as well as -across-the-parking-lot. I steal his wireless connection, among other things. One could call me a parasite, and one would be correct. Changing that is not one of my resolutions.
I had been planning on taking some time to write down my New Year's Resolutions in a coherent form, but I made an 11pm resolution (with witnesses) while out drinking to write them down when I got home tonight, regardless of my state of mind.
My resolutions can be split into 2 somewhat overlapping dichotomies: food/non-food and global-/self-improvement. Here goes:
1) Eat a meal (and better yet, cook a meal) with someone else at least once a week (not counting campus meals), as well as host more dinner parties. As an effective bachelor (the better half lives 300 miles away and I live solo), I can easily go several weeks cooking and eating dinner by myself. Eating should be a communal activity appreciated with other people, and it's hard to appreciate food when you eat it alone while reading a magazine. As for the non-campus caveat: when I'm on campus, I often just grab a hasty lunch with the officemate, which doesn't really fall under the guise of food-savoring nor socializing, since we often talk about science.
2) Eat more sustainable / less unsustainable food. In my ideal world, I would raise all my own food or personally know and visit the people raising my food (and participate in the slaughtering; people who can't stand the thought of animals dying shouldn't be allowed to eat meat!). That's pretty tough in this day and age, but one can make some headway by shopping more at the farmer's market (which also has meat stalls in addition the plentiful local produce), eating more local sustainable seafood (montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch has a nice list of sustainable seafood, and the SB fish market has knowledgeable people), and eating less meat in general, which is tough because meat is so freaking delicious when it's good. At the very least, I can avoid so-so meat and try to make meat as a side dish rather than the main attraction. In related news...
3) Construct and plant a nice vegetable garden with trellises and beds and the like. I don't even mean my own garden, since that would be pretty tough logistically with no yard and minimal space for pots, but just a garden at all for others to benefit from. One option is Emily's house, which has a giant backyard currently devoted to an unproductive grass lawn. This would take a day or three of serious effort and then maintenance/watering on their part, bless their green souls. But I'm pretty sure Emily's on board, right? Another project is the significant other's balcony, which gets some sun and could be put to use.
4) Clean a major part of the apartment every other week. I haven't really scrubbed down the range or oven since I moved in 1.5 years ago. The bathtub has pink bacteria cultures where the curtain meets the porcelain. These are not the worst offenses in my apartment. Let us move on.
5) Go outside of SB-proper at least once a month. The surrounding area has a lot to offer: wine-tasting, hiking, biking, camping. I never do these things out of sheer laziness. I've only got 1.5 years left here, so I'd better take advantage.
6) Make my bike something to take pride in. I got a bike off Craigslist that's been finagled into a quasi-single-speed. It can be made better. It should.
7) Have a regular chamber music group, ideally with a performance for charity. I played violin for ~15 years, but stopped when I got to college. I can still play okay, but I've found that playing solo is not nearly as fun as playing with others. Even better would be a performance with the side-benefit of proceeds for charity. But that's sort of a long-shot. Isn't that what New Year's Resolutions are for?
8) Achieve the advanced Crossfit standards (http://www.crossfitseattle.com/Skill%20Levels%20poster.pdf). This one will be sort of tough. Some of the things I've already met, but others (like the rowing-related ones) are not even close. A more realistic goal would be the intermediate standards by July.
Okay, it's extremely late. We'll see what gets edited after I read this in the morning...
-Ken
I had been planning on taking some time to write down my New Year's Resolutions in a coherent form, but I made an 11pm resolution (with witnesses) while out drinking to write them down when I got home tonight, regardless of my state of mind.
My resolutions can be split into 2 somewhat overlapping dichotomies: food/non-food and global-/self-improvement. Here goes:
1) Eat a meal (and better yet, cook a meal) with someone else at least once a week (not counting campus meals), as well as host more dinner parties. As an effective bachelor (the better half lives 300 miles away and I live solo), I can easily go several weeks cooking and eating dinner by myself. Eating should be a communal activity appreciated with other people, and it's hard to appreciate food when you eat it alone while reading a magazine. As for the non-campus caveat: when I'm on campus, I often just grab a hasty lunch with the officemate, which doesn't really fall under the guise of food-savoring nor socializing, since we often talk about science.
2) Eat more sustainable / less unsustainable food. In my ideal world, I would raise all my own food or personally know and visit the people raising my food (and participate in the slaughtering; people who can't stand the thought of animals dying shouldn't be allowed to eat meat!). That's pretty tough in this day and age, but one can make some headway by shopping more at the farmer's market (which also has meat stalls in addition the plentiful local produce), eating more local sustainable seafood (montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch has a nice list of sustainable seafood, and the SB fish market has knowledgeable people), and eating less meat in general, which is tough because meat is so freaking delicious when it's good. At the very least, I can avoid so-so meat and try to make meat as a side dish rather than the main attraction. In related news...
3) Construct and plant a nice vegetable garden with trellises and beds and the like. I don't even mean my own garden, since that would be pretty tough logistically with no yard and minimal space for pots, but just a garden at all for others to benefit from. One option is Emily's house, which has a giant backyard currently devoted to an unproductive grass lawn. This would take a day or three of serious effort and then maintenance/watering on their part, bless their green souls. But I'm pretty sure Emily's on board, right? Another project is the significant other's balcony, which gets some sun and could be put to use.
4) Clean a major part of the apartment every other week. I haven't really scrubbed down the range or oven since I moved in 1.5 years ago. The bathtub has pink bacteria cultures where the curtain meets the porcelain. These are not the worst offenses in my apartment. Let us move on.
5) Go outside of SB-proper at least once a month. The surrounding area has a lot to offer: wine-tasting, hiking, biking, camping. I never do these things out of sheer laziness. I've only got 1.5 years left here, so I'd better take advantage.
6) Make my bike something to take pride in. I got a bike off Craigslist that's been finagled into a quasi-single-speed. It can be made better. It should.
7) Have a regular chamber music group, ideally with a performance for charity. I played violin for ~15 years, but stopped when I got to college. I can still play okay, but I've found that playing solo is not nearly as fun as playing with others. Even better would be a performance with the side-benefit of proceeds for charity. But that's sort of a long-shot. Isn't that what New Year's Resolutions are for?
8) Achieve the advanced Crossfit standards (http://www.crossfitseattle.com/Skill%20Levels%20poster.pdf). This one will be sort of tough. Some of the things I've already met, but others (like the rowing-related ones) are not even close. A more realistic goal would be the intermediate standards by July.
Okay, it's extremely late. We'll see what gets edited after I read this in the morning...
-Ken
posted by kenshen at 11:15 AM
6 Comments:
yes, let's make our grass lawn productive! i can't remember what vegetables we discussed, but there's very little i would not be excited about. a range of hard to easy things is probably best, you know, hedge our bets.
resolution #1: can you invite me over for thick-cut bacon? i will tell you all about why i'm eating less meat this year, in fulfillment of my resolution #3.
your resolution #4 makes me question my standards. somehow i've never noticed these things in your apartment. but, i'm not the one that got an A on the sanitation exam.
what got edited at 11:15 AM?
Ooh, good ones - I didn't understand #1 when you were trying to explain it but now I get it. And will be grateful for all the resulting invitations. I predict #6 and #7 will be hardest - and will be impressed if you manage to do the garden in "a day or three" but would be happy to help by providing encouragement from a deckchair.
Oh, and just in case Phil K is reading this, I suggest you make the balcony into a salad garden! I bet you could grow everything you need for a good salad on a balcony (although you'll have to improvise the tuna)
Emily, we can have thick-cut bacon tonight if you need a fix. And as you now know, everything here's in GMT because Phil is Foreign.
Phil, I actually predict #4 will be the hardest. I should probably change that time frame to every 2 or 3 weeks...
Sounds like #4 is the hardest, but related is #6... Actually cleaning a bike is a good first step, because you are forced to look at all of it!
I would also move away from a single speed bike; I rode a single speed racer in NYC for a month and detested it. My hybrid with gears was a delight to get on afterwards!
I've been riding my bike as a single-speed for the past few months; I love it. No giant hills in SB (at least none that I've gone up yet), which is a benefit. I just like the idea of fewer moving parts and simplicity. Of course, it's currently got a cheap/old derailleur to keep the chain tensioned, which is one of the main things I need to work on.
I'm really keen to try a single speed racer myself - they have an alluring mystique about them!
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