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Yael’s Variety Hour

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Is it just me, or was this week especially awesome on the internets? Here are seven great posts I found, plus two resources and a couple of my own articles around the web.

For Laughs

47,143 people liked this hysterical cartoon of obnoxious or annoying e-mail behaviors, so chances are good you’ve already seen it. But just in case…

From the Onion. Sounds about right.

For Foodies

Leslie Kruempel wrote this insightful article on reasons you should eat local, even if reducing your carbon footprint ain’t one. (She’s @realfoodmn on twitter.)

Michael Pollan is my hero. And who hasn’t wanted to make as many dishes as possible in 30+ hours for all meals? Got and produce and mushrooms, oh my!

For Writers and Bloggers

There are some! Kelly James-Enger explains.

Nuff said.

Without ripping them off from others.

Some recommendations

  • Wisestamp helps you create beautiful e-mail signatures on Gmail (using Richtext, on Firefox). They can also include your facebook, twitter and LinkedIn profiles as well as your latest blog post. And it’s free!
  • Remember the Milk is an awesome site for task management, including an online to-do list and other bells and whistles. Also free.

It’s Me! On Other Sites!

My guest post for Tim Brownson’s awesome blog, A Daring Adventure. I’m honored.

In which I accuse UFC president Dana White of whitewashing.

Your turn…

Any posts I missed from the past week that you thought were especially awesome? Leave ’em in the comments.

My Paleo Experiment (Or: 30 Days Without Ice Cream)

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I’ve been almost Paleo for as long as I can remember. Meals are easy. I like eating eggs for breakfast, have been known to order freezer packs of grassfed beef directly from farmers, and absolutely love a nice fresh salad. It’s the snacking that always gets to me. As much as I love eating meat and vegetables, I also love eating chocolate, jellybeans and other sundry snacks. Sugary soft drinks were a problem when I was working as a teacher, and I find them slowly creeping back into my diet during high-stress weeks riddled with deadlines.

When I lived in Tucson, it was a lot easier to limit snacks to weekly or bi-weekly cheat meals. Living in Eau Claire has made this a lot more challenging. I can’t ride my bike to community acupuncture when feeling frazzled, and don’t really have anything that could be considered a support system (at least, not compared to my wonderful desert friends.) Finding an outlet has been pretty challenging.

However, as a long-time advocate of the Paleo diet (managing editor of the Performance Menu, one of the proofreaders for Robb Wolf’s book and co-conspirator in the T-Nation interview, etc.) I really want to put my money where my mouth is.

It helps that Scotty’s recipes are awesome. Plus, all the cool kids are doing it. That includes Tim Brownson and Tim Ferriss.

SO I am about to embark on the 30-day Paleo challenge. And as a huge believer in transparency, I’d like to cover this process openly. Here are the questions I’d like to answer for myself and, of course, for all of you.

  • Is it affordable? I’m not really big on pasta or anything, but have been known to eat rice and other cheap carbs from time to time. I’ll be documenting the exact cost of groceries for the Paleo diet, as outlined in the Paleo Solution, for two people.
  • Will it make me crazy? Specifically, I’m wondering if my mood improves after the first 10 days or so and how I feel on this diet (no cheats included). I was noting to a friend the other day that eating gluten always leads to existential crises, so even when I do start incorporating 10% meals again I’d like to completely eradicate gluten from my diet.
  • Will it support my workouts and sport? I’m a BJJ player on hiatus and am about to start this killer intense workout program written by Troy Anderson to help me get my cardio up so I’ll be ready to train again after we move in just over 6 weeks. As much as I think health is important, I’d be lying if I said succeeding in the gym and on the mat wasn’t a priority. Will I be tired on such low carbs, or will it help me ramp things up and kick some ass?
  • Am I going to lose weight? Actually, I’m more concerned with body fat percentage than poundage. Specifically, I am wondering how big of an effect my non-Paleo snacks have been having on my body composition.

I will not be doing blood tests at this time. The last time I got them checked my numbers were very good and my doctor even asked me if I was an athlete. It was a grand moment.

I’ll be posting weekly updates for the next month or so. Feel free to chime in if you’re also doing the 30-day experiment, or if you have any questions or anything to add.

If You Are Here, This Is For You

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If you are here, this is for you. That was the name of the one-man performance art show written by Rob Horne, which I saw it performed by Brian Ora Coya back in 1998.

I met Brian at Cleveland Food Not Bombs, where I’d show up every Sunday to help cook soup for the homeless. Brian was passing through on a two-day tour. (The second day he performed in Chicago at the amazing Hotel Kafka; read the Chicago Tribune review here.) Brian rode freight trains and did performance art, and he sold copies of photographs he took while he was traveling.

Although I’ve never wanted to hop trains myself, I was drawn to his ideas on freedom and following your dreams and finding your way in the real world, not the one that has been created for you. And yet there was such a strong sense of restlessness, discontent and longing… It was raw and honest and grating and real. I wanted to share some quotes from the script. I’ve left the typos, etc. intact to maintain the spirit of the piece.

“once, it was said of me that i showed promise, of what i am not certain, but i felt early on that this promise, in the world of those who would say such things, could only mean a slow spiritual death for me, and that if i were ever to assume the raiment of my true self that this promise must remain unfulfilled in the eyes of the world. in this way it could gain some sort of a meaning, even for me.

i have tried entering the gates of the spectacle, mingling with the guests, engaging in late night barroom confidences & drunken feats, great sudden pooltable smirks like a mongol in a mall, a haj in detroit, a flame under water. there is nothing there for me, nothing but laments, sighs and unsung dirges and from these i am tired unto wakefullness. i must leave….” [Read more…]

Yael’s Variety Hour

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I’ve been inspired by Marissa Bracke’s Friday Menagerie, Havi Brooks’ Item! posts and Eric Cressey’s Random Friday Thoughts, and I want to play! I tried to come up with a good title, but words like smorgasbord and random miscellaneous came to mind, and that just wouldn’t do. Anyway, here’s my collection of random thoughts, observations and recommendations.

Life Skills
I went to Chris Guillebeau’s Unconventional Book Tour in Minneapolis last Sunday night. Chris wrote this amazing book called the Art of Nonconformity: Set Your Own Rules, Live the Life You Want, and Change the World and is currently in the process of visiting all 50 states and 10 provinces on a a whirlwind book tour which you should check out if he’s coming to your town. It was nice to see so many people come out to hear Chris’ message of living a meaningful life of purpose, and I was particularly moved by seeing so many young people there who are already asking the right questions and trying to figure out how to set their own terms for living–but in a thoughtful and nonconfrontational way. (I did the nonconformity thang as a teenager, but didn’t pick up on the latter part until much later in life.) Anyway, I’d highly recommend the book, and wrote a review up on Amazon.

Creative Writing
I am teaching a series of three creative writing workshops in Chippewa Falls, starting tonight, for the next three weeks from 6:30 to 8. I’ll be drawing on the work of  Natalie Goldberg, Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge and Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy (aka SARK). I am pretty excited about helping people turn blank sheets of paper into those filled with prolific, insightful prose… in three very different ways. If you know of any other writing experts with great practices, please leave their names in the comments.

Contemporary Social Issues
I actually enjoyed the book Eat Pray Love, but I also thought this interesting article, Eat Pray Spend: Priv-lit and the new, enlightened American dream, offered some pretty thought-provoking analysis.

Sociology
I found an interesting article on what is called Suburban Warrior Syndrome in Psychology Today. It describes how fantasy movies can tap into our impulse to be heroic. My favorite quote? “Quiet heroism is showing up for your child’s school play when it’s  difficult to get off work, or being honest and ethical in the face of  someone’s disapproval or scorn,” says Tessina. “That’s the kind of  heroism that really counts in life.”

Psychology
Dean Rieck wrote an excellent post on Copyblogger entited 8 Bad Habits that Crush Your Creativity and Stifle Your Success. Definitely worth reading.

Phys Ed
Got tight hip flexors? Check out some tips from Coach Keats on assessment and self-massage.

Computers
Wired magazine had an amazing article entitled Sex! Hackers! Embellishment! The Inside Story of the Facebook Movie. Not only was the movie fascinating, this article is so craftfully written that it made me wish I only read Wired and magazines like it.

Extra Credit
I wrote a guest post on ProBlogger, Five Ways to Prevent E-mail Overload, which you may want to check out if that’s an issue for you.

Thanks for reading and, as always, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments–feedback on these articles or anything else I posted, interesting items you’ve found so far this week, or anything at all, really…