For Want of a Straw

I'm admitting it here: Last year, I had a drinking problem. Or, more accurately, a hydration problem.

Sometime last year, I started cutting back on my soda consumption. It started slowly- I'd grab  can of Coke at work, but only finish half of it. The sticky-sweetness of it started to appeal to me less and less, and I was glad to be putting less of all those unpronounceable chemicals in my body. Over the winter, I replaced my soda consumption with hot tea, or the occasional glass of water. I got addicted to peppermint tea and a couple Celestial Seasonings flavors, and seriously would have 3 mugs-full a day on some days. Other days it was just one- and that's all I have to drink all day at work.

As the weather got warmer though, hot tea didn't sound as good, so I stopped making it as much. I didn't replace it with anything, though, and wasn't really drinking anything during the day. I'd get home & realize I had maybe one glass of water since I woke up- and sometimes not even that. It's like my brain doesn't register that I'm thirsty. I thought about it some more- where DO I drink a lot/enough? Do I ever drink? When I'm at home, I don't often grab something to drink, except with meals. When I'm at work, I may grab something at lunch. But, when I'm eating out? I work the waitress ragged- I usually get two or three refills. Why is that?

While I do prefer fountain soda to cans or bottles, which could be why I drink more at restaurants, I do the same thing if I order tea or water. At a restaurant, if the drink is in front of me, whatever it is, I drink it. I finally figured out what it was- the straw. If there's a straw in front of me, I drink. Period. So what's the solution, for me, to get that recommended 64oz of fluids a day? A water bottle like this, picked up from Meijer on clearance. Over the last two months, I have consistently drank at least two full bottles of water per day, sometimes more. All thanks to the simple straw.

Yay for hydration! My sister posted about the benefits of drinking water in a post on Monday, and my brother-in-law posted about his journey giving up soda recently, too, and I can enthusiastically agree with both of them. I knew I wasn't drinking enough before, but I never knew how MUCH I wasn't drinking. Drinking problem, solved.

We're Treehuggers

Well, we hug near trees, anyway. That's our engagement portrait with a tree. We have others. Really.

I'm not about to go out and find a job as an environmentalist, though- I'm admitting my Earth Day failings over at Homemakers Who Work today. I'm not as green as I'd like, but I'm still trying to tread softly. Creation care matters to me.

To celebrate the day, I'm planting vegetables tonight at the Grace Garden. Anyone want to join me?

What's growing

Saturday, I finally went around with my camera to capture what's growing around my house. Here's what I came up with.

Watch it.

Josh and Joanna, a love story...



Make your own search story Google ad.

Bonus points to someone who can explain each of those searches.

A Beautiful Sunday

What was I up to yesterday? Well, it was a full day. Here's a little of what I joined the extended family in doing...

Easter Egg hiding


Easter Egg finding


Blowing bubbles


Shaping balloons


Building


Wresting


Riding


Running


And a lot of sitting around...


But, mostly, we were celebrating!


See all the pictures from the weekend (Yes, there's more!):

mammaw bday 10

Time-independent

Last night, we were driving around during the first thunderstorm of the season, trying to see if there was any stormchase-worthy cells nearby. Josh turned on the ham radio, and a club meeting was in progress. It was kind of interesting to listen to the radio protocol and the ham radio news- a whole world I barely knew existed. Something that was said struck me as odd- then I realized that the fact it struck me as odd was evidence of my age.


An announcement was shared and then it ended saying "To get involved, contact Jim, call sign AB1XYZ"


Knowing how ham radios work, my first thought was, "What? How is someone supposed to get a hold of him? There's no way to leave a message on ham radio, so people will only be able to contact him if they happen to be on at the same time as he is, and on the same frequency."


After thinking that, I realized that ham radio was a time-dependent communication medium. You and the person you're communicating with must both be sending and receiving at the same time for any communication to take place. Every other communication medium I've used, save face-to-face, is time-independent. If I email someone, or IM them, or send them a letter or a text message, they can read the email at their convenience. TV can be DVR'es, and newspapers have always been time-independent. If I call someone and they aren't there to answer the phone, I can leave them a message. The time I'm sending the message is independent of the time they receive the message and reply. The two actions can happen hours or days apart. This is what I am used to. Voicemail and digital answering machines were invented before I was born. In my experience, "being present" has never been a requirement to communicate.


So, what type of communication is time-dependent? Face-to-face, obviously. If I speak to someone else, and they're not within earshot, communication doesn't happen- the message is lost. In the same way, telephones without answering machines are time-dependent- both parties must be present on  the line to communicate.  People in secretary or admin jobs rely on time-dependent communication- they're he ones greeting visitors or answering the phone when it rings. Radio is typically time-dependent. The only very-modern invention I can think of that is time-dependent is the live chat room, assuming no transcripts are available. Well, and the new Chatroulette- but that's a risky (or risque?) proposition.


Sadly, I participate in very little time-dependent communication every day. I send emails and IMs at my convenience, and answer them when I have time. I blog and twitter so others can read it later. I'm ashamed to admit I even avoid answering my cell phone when it's inconvenient, knowing that I can tell who called at a better time. Time-independent communication is ingrained in me.


So, is this bad? I don't think so- I mean, time-independent communication has existed as long as the written word has. But, I feel like I ought to be time-dependent more often. Make time for face-to-face conversations. Be present more. Drop everything an answer the phone, even when I know a long, inconvenient conversation could ensue. I love listening to the radio, and do so daily.


OK, so this is a really random rambling on a concept that's really not that groundbreaking. I can't believe you got this far. What do you think about communication- is time-dependent or time-independent more valuable?

Casey

Strange Spam

A spam email this weekend got past TWO spam filters and ended up in my inbox. Most spam is concerning pharmaceuticals or good-looking women or electronic cigarettes, gets caught by the filter, and I tune it out. This one slipped by. The subject was a dubious "hello". I opened it, curious as to what could have bypassed both filters, only to discover it was in a language I didn't recognize. Gmail did recognize it, however, and offered to translate it from Croatian to English. Hmm, that's odd. I don't know anyone in Croatia. Here's what the email said, in English:

Make a pact with Satan for riches now! this is your chance to be very rich. Make a pact with Satan now. You'll be the richest person in the world. I am a priest at the alter of his temple and I will guide you through the pact. now contact me for more information and to be rich in 2 days.

First, the Croatian email isn't that enticing. On Easter weekend, would I really make a pact with the devil? Or, really, ever? It's a new tact I haven't heard of- I thought all riches on the Internet came from Nigeria. Second, besides the subject of the email being in English, something in the text of the email makes me suspect that the message was written in English, then translated to Croatian before being sent- what is it?

Passover lessons

Passover began Monday night. For the first time this year, I celebrated the first night of Passover with a seder supper with friends. Among our bible study, I was the most familiar with the Jewish traditions, so the responsibility fell on me to get the order of service for the evening put together. I wasn't exactly sure what all that entailed, but I spent Sunday afternoon figuring it out (for a Monday meal. Yes, I procrastinate sometimes) The biggest takeaway for me was about food, go figure. I'm posting it on this blog instead of my food blog because it's more 'reflection' and less 'recipe'.

The idea of "leaven" (yeast) being like sin is all over the Old and New testaments. I had heard the parables and analogies, but I never really "got it". I mean, I understand how yeast works- little microorganisms that make bread rise- but never understood how that was like "sin". Something in the haggadah made it click.

Nowadays, we buy yeast in little packets, or in jars- dried yeast flakes that "come alive" when added to warm water. Once upon a time, there was no yeast packets. All bread was the sourdough variety- where, to keep the yeast alive, a bit of the old dough (the sponge) is added to the new dough, to transfer the yeast. The yeast from the old dough grows into the new dough, making the new loaf rise.

This passing-down from the old dough to the new dough, and the new dough being "contaminated" with the same strain of yeast that every sourdough bread preceding it had- this is like the sin nature being passed down generation to generation. To be human is to have a sin nature. To be "bread" is to have this yeast. The yeast works through the whole dough, and is consumed by it.

For Passover, observant Jews rid their house of all bread and grain, chametz. This isn't just simply eating through that last loaf before Passover rolls around, this is wholly and completely ridding the house of everything with grain in it- the frozen pizza in the freezer, the crumbs under the counter, and, for some, even the sodas that contain corn syrup, a derivative of corn, a grain. (This year, Josh and I actually picked up some kosher-for-Passover Coke at Costco sweetened with sugar, and it is good!)  All that to say, they are serious about getting leaven out of their homes. It is consumed, thrown away, burned, and sold, and, for a week, they live without leaven.

Reading about the extremes and rules followed to get leaven out of these homes, it made me think- why don't I go after sin in my life with such ferocity? Why don't I sweep under the counters of my life and find every crumb and cupcake and frozen breaded chicken nugget and get it out? It's terribly inconvenient, and even painful, to do a search like that. Bread is much more convenient than matzah. And yet. God is that serious about sin. Every little crumb matters.

Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth. - 1 Cor 5:6-8

And Jesus? He was without leaven - sin- and he was striped and pierced, just like pieces of matzo. This set-apart food reminds me of who I should be, and who my Savior is.