Dear Kraft

I wish some really talented person at Kraft foods would design a more friendly graham cracker package. Something for instance that doesn't require a knife, scissors, possibly some bandages, and several broken crackers to open. But sadly, Kraft would probably never pay that talented person to do such a thing.
Graham Crackers have complete market penetration. Kraft would probably not gain enough in incremental sales to cover the cost of the research, design, manufacturing and process updates required for such a venture. Even I will admit that I will not stop buying Graham Crackers even though they make me justifiably crazy. They are just that good.
I'm all for free markets and the gains that competition creates, but sometimes capitalism just misses the point. Japan gets this. Many European countries get this. Fun and useful and thoughtful packaging. Lovely, inspiring presentation that requires so much costly labor and careful handiwork that you have no choice but to stop and appreciate it.

What Kind Of Smart Are You?

I get all my great ideas in the shower or on walks. Something about the sound of the water falling drowns out the noise in my head and I’m able to work through my thoughts. Maybe it’s the metaphysical equivalent of singing in the shower. All my thoughts are bounced off the walls and the steam until they converge into one harmonic chord.

So this morning, in the shower, I was thinking of all the different kinds of smart a person can be. I have friends and colleagues, each with one or more of these types of smarts, and I admire each of them. I began to create my shower list of all the kinds of smart I could think of, and the list was endless; cleverness, emotional intelligence, street smart, business savvy, topic smart, leader smart, influence smart, patient smart, quiet smart, creative smart, color smart.

Dictionary.com lists a few definitions for the adjective ’smart’ that I think categorize my list well:

• Having or showing quick intelligence or ready mental capability: a smart student.
• Shrewd or sharp, as a person in dealing with others or as in business dealings: a smart businessman.
• Clever, witty, or readily effective, as a speaker, speech, rejoinder, etc.
• Dashingly or impressively neat or trim in appearance, as persons, dress, etc.
• Socially elegant; sophisticated or fashionable: the smart crowd.
• Saucy; pert: smart remarks.
• Equipped with, using, or containing electronic control devices, as computer systems, microprocessors, or missiles: a smart phone; a smart copier.

The one thing that all of these kinds of smart have in common is the requirement that the subject be aware. It seems as though being smart is really more of a receptive quality; the ability to receive information. So what kind of smart are you? How can you be more aware to your world?

The Greatness Magnet

I found a post today from one of my mostest favorite bloggers, Danielle LaPorte about one of my other bestest favorites, Gwen Bell. At first I thought my Google Reader was bugging out. And then I thought, of course, this makes sense that they are connected. I don't know how they connected, but I'm not surprised. Greatness is magnetic. These women vibrate so cleanly in their frequency, how could they not find each other? I think Danielle Laporte once called it 'acidic'. Truth is acidic, sharp, precise. It cuts to the chase, to the bone, to the quick. Can you feel what I'm saying? I mean it, can you feel it? The sharpness of it, the cleanness of it. You feel it when you've stumbled onto your truth, maybe just for a split second, maybe you're lucky enough to hold it for sixty whole, luscious, timeless seconds, and you live all of your years in that one minute. I see it, I've felt it, I know how to get to it. I avoid it, but I know how to get there.

This is my raw truth today, Gwen Bell.

Recreate Fitness

I belong to a Crossfit gym in Portland, Oregon, called Recreate Fitness. It's run by a fiercely dedicated and fab couple, Tina & Nathan Jeffers. I love my gym more and more all the time. Gym owners, pay attention. There are many things these guys do well, follow-through, relationship building, sound fitness advice... But they also do two things, that are very subtle, and seldom appreciated, but that set them apart from any other gym I've been to.

They are 100% reliable. I have never once shown up at 6:30AM to find the place not open. They are never late, and without exception, they are always prepared with the workout at the class start time. Their class schedule never deviates from what they post online. Like clockwork. Too many gyms have a reputation of flaky staff, no shows, poorly maintained class schedules. Burn me once, it's not likely I'll be back. Burn me twice, I definitely won't be back, and I'll be telling everyone I know not to go.

They encourage effort and strength, not a barbie & ken image. I've never heard them say, 'good job, looks like you've lost weight'. But you will hear them say often, 'Nice work today. You look strong. Great effort.' The focus becomes being your strongest, fittest self, not fitting yourself into a visual image. And guess what, we do all look strong, and our lean muscle mass increases, and we kick ass.

Thanks Recreate!

Hang Out In The Gap

Expectation is interesting, isn’t it? It’s truly a self-realizing force.

One way corporations generate capital is to issue debt to investors. Those investors, or creditors, are paid some premium to temporarily give up their cash to these corporations. This is called debt issuance or bond issuance.

The current expectation is that there will be high return on investment in clean technologies. Venture capital funding in clean technologies has almost doubled since the first quarter of this year, from $836 million to $1.9 billion in the current quarter. While this figure doesn’t come close to say, corporate debt issuance, at about $419 billion in the second quarter of this year, what is interesting is the percentage change. Bond issuance hasn’t grown significantly in the last ten years.

So the numbers above would suggest that investors have a relatively mature, stagnant appetite for issuing credit to corporations. But investors have immature, exponential growth in appetite for return on Cleantech. In terms of mice and cheese, the mouse is still chasing the cheese in the world of corporate credit. Whereas, the cheese is chasing the mouse in the Cleantech world.

So go back to the interesting part. The expectation of return creates opportunity, or gaps. For example, gaps in technology, in a skilled workforce, in knowledge and awareness, in social consciousness. The gap was always there. But now we can see it, it becomes defined by the boundaries of what is known. And as the known portion increases, the opportunity becomes more focused and accessible by a smaller number of people. So find your thing. The thing that you are so good at that you are sure you were born to do it. Hang out in the gap.

Lucky Monkey

Recently, I've been given the opportunity to work with an incredibly bright, generous, and clever woman, Rachel Kjack of the Oregon Training Network. She is at her core an educator. She will teach me to choose my words and to choose them efficiently. She will teach me to step back and take a look.

More important, I will teach her how to make sock monkeys.

My Grandma's Blog

Sometimes I think about how cool it would be if my grandma had kept a blog from her youth. And my mom. To know them in this way, as they wanted the world to see them. The modern day version of the little journal, complete with lock and key, locked away from peeping eyes. Only now, not only do we not lock it away, we tweet it, we blog about it, we hope for it to go viral.

My grandma would laugh at the idea of sharing her innermost thoughts with the world. Maybe quite accurately she would ask, 'Who wants to know what I'm thinking about and doing?' My mom would have dug it. She was a connoisseur of people, like me.
Where do we keep our secret thoughts now?

LEED Certification Basics

Certification is provided by a third party vendor called the Green Building Certification Institute. Via the leadership and standards provided by the US Green Building Council.

1) LEED AP specialties may be obtained in the areas below, after passing the generalized LEED Green Associate exam and achieving the designation.
- LEED AP Operations & Maintenance (LEED AP O+M)
- LEED AP Homes
- LEED AP Interior Design & Construction (LEED AP ID+C)
- LEED AP Building Design & Construction (LEED AP BD+C)
In addition, a 'Neighborhood Development' specialty is slated for offering in 2010.

2) Individuals must now prove eligibility to take any of the certification exams by providing documented related sustainability experience (See Eligibility Requirements within the Candidate Handbook).

I am researching this requirement. How does one re-educate themself in a field in which they have no experience. Kind of a chicken and the egg issue. Can't get the education without the experience, can't get the experience without the education. Ideas??

3) Exams are vary in length from 200-400 questions, and in allotted time, 2 hours- 4 hours.

4) Fees vary, from $200 for the Green Associate exam, to $450 for an AP specialty exam. Members of the US Green Building Council receive a discount. There is also a $50 application fee for each certification. Student pricing is available for the LEED Green Associate exam.

5) There are restrictions as to time in which the exam must be passed, and how many attempts may be made to pass the exam within the application period.

PCT to Crater Lake

I am covered from head to toe in a thousand mosquito bites. Forty, on my face and head alone. Don't itch. Don't itch. Backpacking the PCT to Crater Lake in June, um, bad idea. Not recommended. We turned a leisurely 3-day backpack, into a 2-day death march/jog through mosquito thickets. The lake is lovely. Truly a wonder. Get in a car and drive up there, take your photos, have lunch even, then drive back down and get the hell out of there.

Writer's Block

My blog is dusty. I think I have writer's blogck. Blocked-blog. Bog-blocked. Blog-locked. Block-logged.

Testimonial of Niceness

My friend Jill is generous without exception. She has a heart for animals and people that astounds me. A dog 'fell' (or was possibly pushed) from an apartment window in her neighborhood. She witnessed the injured dog and went over to help. The couple who owned the dog came outside but the story as to how the dog fell out the window was sketchy. Regardless, the dog was injured and needed emergency care. No questions asked, Jill offered to take the pooch to her vet. When the couple didn't have any money to pay the vet, Jill donated her tax refund to get him all patched up. I don't know about you, but I never would have gotten involved. She's just about the darned nicest person I know. Do you have a Nice Testimonial? Share it with Melissa at Operation NICE!

Pedal Power Magic

Portland Pedal Power pioneers the PDX bike-powered biz renaissance. How's that for a tongue twister? Find the article on the bike-powered biz revolution at BikePortland.org.

Crossfit

Am loving getting crossfit at Recreate Fitness. I am sore every time. This isn't a yoga class, and nobody is pretending it is. It's aggressive, and that's what I love about it. And I love watching people be strong, damn strong, and still struggle. It's competitive and an equalizer at the same time.

How strong are you? Strong enough to fail, to shake, to fall flat on your face, to be last, and come back for more?

A Good Day

Today was a good day. Got to run in the rain, sit and listen to music with my cat, talk with an old co-worker, and try some new local goodies. All of which felt good.

Running in the rain, I feel wild and boundless, covered in mud.

Tunes with feline:
I love the way music can pinpoint an emotion the way a smell does. It's like music bends time. Black cat-green eyed friend.

Call from an old co-worker:
After this spell of unemployment, it's good to remember the people that you deeply respect and to feel engaged with the outside world again.

Of course treats make me feel good!
Today I'm diggin' a local find:

www.thelittleicebox.com
Dangerously, pre-scooped frozen cookie dough balls. Conveniently packed 14 per pint, in case, um, two of them don't make it to the cookie tray.

Set The Pace At Tempo Cycles

Maybe it's the cool breeze coming through the front of the studio as we all sweat our way up Kirk's finely-tuned interval ride. Maybe it's the vibe of the artwork or the soundtrack, at perfect volume, perfect beat, making you wonder if you are in spin class or dancing. Maybe it's Jenny's strength and poise, guiding us through the pilates portion of the class. But hands down, what makes me love Tempo Cycles is the grace of this place. In this studio you feel strong, beautiful, and cared for.

When asked what Jenny wanted her clients to get from their time at Tempo, she said 'confidence' and 'strength'. It's not possible to leave this place without both of these things because you are given such personal focus. Being at Tempo feels more like a spa treatment than a workout. Don't get me wrong, your legs will quake, and you'll be dripping sweat. But Kirk and Jenny's sincere devotion to their clients will leave you feeling pampered.

Reset the pace of your routine by signing up for a class. Try something new. Try something old in a new way. Just get curious and try.

http://www.tempocycles.com

My Booty Loves Barre 3

Sadie Lincoln, the founder of Barre 3, is a savvy entrepreneur, a mom, an athlete. Barre 3 is about balance, and focuses on achieving balance through principals from a few different modalities such as yoga, pilates, ballet. Sadie is also catering to a vital group of women in Portland, moms. She's implemented a childcare center on-site, so moms can make room for their fitness routines and even some shopping while down in the Pearl.

What do I love about Barre3?
My booty loves Barre 3. It's seriously getting firmer. I love that it's about experimenting with movement and observing how your body feels with minute adjustments. Such a parallel to life in that, no? We make all these tiny little adjustments that gradually bring us in line with our purpose. I love that at Barre 3 I am in the company of inspiring, beautiful, supportive women. I love the sense of community Sadie has created through her collaboration with other local businesses, and through her incorporation of a childcare center.

Come check her out!

http://www.barre3.com/

Portlandia

Portlanders fascinate me. They aren't always instantly warm people. Their care is not superficial. They are tireless knowledge seekers. And they are a bit skeptical. I think this is why so many New Yorkers make natural transplants in Portland. New Yorkers are good people, as good as anywhere. But they don't instantly trust. Their first instinct is to try to figure out what your angle is, what you want from them. Portlanders are very similar. They are skeptical. But they aren't skeptical of your motives for them, they are sizing up your motives for good. They truly want a better, greener, more evolved world for all people. They make you want to be human-interested rather than self-interested. They discover and preserve the innate perfection in all living things. To be among Portlanders, you feel a part of some immeasurable shift. You forget yourself. And you want to think BIG.

Move It, Baby

I tend to think that for 99.9% of us, there is no single 'ah-ha' moment that explains it all. It is an accumulation of mini revelations that add up to your truth. And I would guess there is no destination, either. No sum of these revelations that means you have arrived, you are finally brilliant, and enlightened, and perfect. But each ah-ha moment in itself is the truth. A beautiful yoga instructor I had used to say, 'How perfect it is what you are doing. How beautiful it is. Your own right way.' Such simple statements of love and acceptance. This is grace. Meaning, 'In your crooked, inflexible, impatient movements, you are doing. And that is all you need to do.' It took me thirty four years to hear these words, and even then, I only heard them in this hot yoga room. When will I learn to hear them in my writing, on the street, in my thoughts?

Yet when I look back, I am astounded that I am here. I am strong and safe. I am married to a bright and generous man. I have magnificent friends. I have solid professional credentials. I have lived in New York City and I own an apartment there! How did I get here? I certainly wasn't headed here, if left to my own devices. I was headed more for substance abuse and destruction. And I can't say I did some brilliant thing to turn it all around. All I can say is that it was some combination of luck, destiny, and my angels feverishly arranging my good fortune. And to my credit, I listened and I moved. When I began to move, I began to heal. These words slipped out of me the other day when talking to a friend and she said, 'Wait, wait! That's your mantra!' And so it is.

At first I ran. Pretty much as far as I possibly could, and still hold down a full-time job. I ran like a crazy woman who had discovered how to control her weight, her depression, her world. I've never been one for moderation. And somehow, the running got me hooked, hooked on feeling my body, hearing my breath, my heartbeat, my rhythm. Running was my gateway drug. Then came other things, spin, weights, yoga, pilates. All to the max, of course. But enough of it stuck in the right places to work on my head, too. I began to hear my voice with my body. Don't make me explain it, maybe you know what I'm talking about. Like a slow magic, the running, the yoga, it all became more balanced.

So what's the point of this story? Move. Just move. You'll likely do it wrong sometimes, but even the wrong is right. Find the voice in all that busyness. Walk to the grocery store and pick out something colorful, fresh, and extravagant to prepare for yourself. And carry your groceries home with your own arms and legs. Run. Your head doesn't run the first mile, your legs do. Dance. And when you are still, be still. And listen. Your body has a wisdom that will make you strong. And it gets more and more fun the stronger you get.

Portlander's Love Forest Park

Wednesday evening Forest Park hikes are back! 6PM - Wallace Park on Raleigh between 25th and 26th. Fee is $1 for members, $2 for guests, can't beat that for a night out. Check out the event calendar at www.trailsclub.org.

Master of the Universe

My problem is that I think anything is possible.

Truth Serum

I always want to tell you the good stuff. Look how smart I am, how driven I am, how disciplined. When I don't have something pretty to say, I don't write. When my mind is a blizzard of indecision, a torrent of sadness, when I am lost, I go silent. I don't want you to see the ugly. I am afraid to be ordinary, fragile, unlovable.

The truth is that I am intense. That is my constant.

I am one hundred shades of green, and sometimes fuchsia, and yellow, and red, and some days, silent white.

And you just never know what you're going to get on any given day.

Narcissilence

There is something about city silence that comforts me more than wilderness silence. City silence is more human, more pensive, more charming, more aware of my existence. Wilderness silence, snowflakes tapping on glass, trickling water, birds, crickets, all performs so unaware of me, so unrequiring of me, as if it always has been and always will be. And there is something about a silence that involves you, seems to wait for you, that exists for your observance.

Makesumption

This morning, I was in the shower having a solo brainstorming session. What can I create from my garbage instead of putting it in a landfill? What can I make with all the newspapers I recycle every day? How can I use my old clothes in the giveaway bag? And how can I do all of this to create something fun, stylish, or useful? I like to call it, Makesumption. It's consumption and creation all wrapped up in one. While I didn't solve the economic crisis, or world hunger, I did come up with a few fun ideas to share with you, using basic, household items.

1) Set up a Red-worm composting bin. Some people sell the vermicompost and the worms for a little profit on the side. I have a red-worm compost bin that we just started a week ago. One bin doesn't quite keep up with how much organic waste two people generate, it handles most of it, including coffee grounds and pulverized eggshells. And it can be expanded into multiple bins over time. The best feature of this project, in my opinion, is that it can be done in an apartment or in a garden. Check out this 10 minute how-to YouTube video by Barb Finnin. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbjX2tt-oQw&feature=related.

2) Make your own chalk. A fun and easy project made from pulverized eggshells, which are composed of 94% calcium carbonate. Puppet maker Markie Scholz tells us how to make chalk and other creative crafts for props and art on her website at: http://www.dragonsaretooseldom.com/craft_recipes.html.

Eggshell Chalk
6 eggshells (washed thoroughly)
1 teaspoon very hot water
1 teaspoon flour

Put eggshells in a electric blender and reduce to fine powder. You can also use a mortar and pestle or a rock on a board. Pick out any remaining big shell pieces and discard. Put water and flour in a bowl and mix until a paste is formed. Add 1 teaspoon of shell powder and mix until well combined. You can also add food coloring or tempera for colored chalk. Roll into a chalk-like stick. Wrap tightly in a paper towel. Let dry for 3 days until hard. Remove paper towel and draw a driveway mural.

3) Recycle your junk mail. If even after calling to remove yourself from mailing lists, you are still receiving pesky junk mail, reuse it. Cut your junk mail into 3x5 rectangles to use as scratch paper for grocery lists and other notes and save money on notepads. Or tear newspapers lengthwise in strips to use as packing material and save on costly bubble wrap.

What kind of Makesumer ideas do you have?

Brooklyn

I am lonely for home tonight. I wasn't born in Brooklyn, but it is home, for so many reasons. It belonged to me when nothing else did. I can smell the pink-green-white of the buds on the cherry blossoms, soon to make an appearance.

Sleeps That City Never

She moves through me like a ghost
Severe, tight, exact, crystalline
I keep moving so she won't settle in my chest, my wrists, my ankles
I push the pavement down with my heels to keep her from moving up my legs
She seizes me, invites me even
Coaxes me close enough to feel her breath on my eyelashes
I am silent, cauterized by her icy truth
But that second I looked away, she turns on me
As if I was never there
Forever uninvited
And she makes me watch
She makes me watch while she twists her arctic arms around the new ones, the ones who never dared, the ones who knew better
She makes me watch while they are born on my streets
I am the afterbirth, the sticky placenta
No longer the living