Yin Yanging Through Life

Last week was very turbulent. I'd known for weeks that it would be crazy: I had several papers due for grad school and my 6-month long/80 page Trail Master Plan for work due before Chris and I cut town for Thanksgiving. So I warned myself over and over that I was going to be a stressball until I stepped on the plane...and then everything would be okay. But in the true nature of life, I was thrown a few curveballs. Monday night I was rear ended as I was scrambling from meeting to meeting. It was disappointing to have to spend several hours talking with the culprit's parents about how they were going to pay and getting estimates, but it was just painful to know that I was losing my valuable paper-writing time. [and it's even more painful a week later since the other party is completely uncooperative and downright dishonest.]

Then Tuesday came, and we got on a few planes to head to Florida. I got really cold in the Memphis airport and my little sausage fingers deflated...and...poof, my engagement ring was G O N E. And, we hadn't had a chance to get it insured yet. GULP. I don't need to elaborate there - I'm sure you can imagine how horrible that felt.

So, I was feeling pretty sorry for myself (and Chris). But then we got to Florida, and within a few hours, were surrounded by 35+ family members (both Peters and Sembera!). One of them said to me something to the effect that yeah, it sucked to lose the ring, but think how fortunate we are to even be able to have had the ring in the first place. And I starting thinking about how true that is on many different levels. I'm fortunate to be alive, to be happy, healthy, and very well fed. But I'm also very fortunate to be surrounded by an amazing family, which continues to grow larger every year. I'm fortunate that Chris and I have not only found each other, but our families are easily merging. I couldn't ask for more.

This all got me thinking about my favorite subject, science. In fifth grade science, I used to teach the concepts of constructive and destructive forces. It was easy for the kids to think of earthquakes and hurricanes as bad, but it was a little harder for them to understand that a little bit of good can come out of those as well. Of course I'm majorly oversimplifying by using the terms "good" and "bad." But the kids needed to understand that tsunamis can create new land as well as destroy it. That nothing is black or white. So I started using the Yin Yang to teach the concept.

There's always a little good in the bad, and a little bad in the good. The kids really seemed to grasp that concept. Some even made their own personal connections: "Like Michael Jackson, Miss?" :)

So my reflection about this simple yet wise symbol really helped me get over the financial losses Chris and I have experienced lately. The ring was a symbol of us and our future, but the important things are still here. And my reflection made me realize that in the black half of my Yin Yang, my little white circle isn't all that little. It's filled with loving family and friends.

So it's time to close a door, Mr. Ring.

R.I.P. Ring

You had a good life. Saw some mountains, did some dishes.

October 10 - November 25, 2008

And my Aunt Sharon did give me a thoughtful gift over the Thanksgiving holidays. It's a magnetic ring box for my next ring. (She bought it before I lost my ring.) It will be a perfect complement to Mr. Ring2 sometime in the future :)

Alaska Wants its Cool Back

I saw a band called Bearfoot Bluegrass last weekend, and I am completely smitten. My old bluegrass tunes have been around a while, and I was really excited when my friend Priya suggested that we see these guys play. Priya used to live in Alaska and caught them at a small restaurant there a few years ago. Turns out they just signed with Compass Records (their first major deal) and are working on a release for next spring. So hopefully they'll make it back to Austin some time next year.

They are young, extremely talented, and well, pretty damn sexy.


The other thing that's so freaking cool about Bearfoot is that they put on Bluegrass Camps for kids all over the world!


This music makes me want to spend a lazy Sunday in the backyard. It's scrumptious. What I love about it the most is that I would bet money that my grandma and mom will love it just as much as I do. Just like Allison Krauss and Union Station, it's in our blood.

Here are two of my favorite songs: Molasses and Follow Me.

Yeah, Gas is Cheaper, BUT....

So yeah, gas prices are half what they were a few months ago. It may relieve us a little in these scary economic times (two friends lost their jobs just today!), but it's not a good thing. It's the simple law of supply and demand.

In reality, many factors are involved, but demand did slow up for gas over the past few months as a result of higher prices and changes in consumer transportation preferences. I read some pretty amazing figures in Mother Jones today:

Decrease in total miles Americans drove in June 2008, compared to June 2007: 12.2 BILLION

Transit rides taken in the first three months of 2008: 2.7 BILLION

Increase in transit rides from last year: 88 MILLION

Transit ridership in 1946, when US ridership was at its peak: 23 BILLION

So even though gas prices really stunk last summer, they brought some great benefits to our country. Which makes me worried about these $1.75/gallon prices I've spotted. Just when people were considering lifestyle changes, we're back to where we started.

On a related note, I blogged last month about the revolutionary car insurance company, MileMeter. Today I finally had the time to compare my current insurance costs @ State Farm to a quote for identical insurance from MileMeter. I found that for my current driving habits, switching to MileMeter won't save me much money :( The main culprit is commuting to my office, which is out in Bee Cave unfortunately. I love my job and am lucky to be able to telework at least one day every week, which helps...but the distance factor is the one thing keeping me feeling guilty about it. If I worked downtown or somewhere closer, MileMeter would be a much better deal. So for anyone thinking about switching, check out a free quote on their site.

My Pep Upper = Peppermint

I'd like to dedicate a few minutes of my day to my best friend, peppermint. Peppermint has been known for its health effects for centuries:

• alleviates allergies and asthma
• aids with motion sickness, upset stomach, and nausea
  
• opens nasal passages
• gets rid of bad breath
• cures headache
• refreshes and alerts
• cools the skin
• improves blood circulation
• many more benefits here

I grow peppermint and chocolate mint, although there are dozens of other varieties of mint out there. It's easy to grow and really, really tasty.

Aside from my mint plants, many of the products I use on a daily basis are mint-based. Here are a few of my favorites that are very useful this time of year (with allergies sneaking on in...).

I start my day off with a refreshing mint shower. My Dr. Bronners mint soap really opens my nasal passage after a stuffy night of sleep.

I also like to use peppermint hand soap throughout the day:


And my favorite thing (especially after eating to aid with digestion and freshen my breath) is to dring peppermint water. I simply add a drop or two of peppermint oil to my water...yum.


And my guilty pleasure this time of year that got me excited about peppermint again: peppermint nougat!

It's also been a while since I've made backyard mojitos...

Poor Squirrels

Hermie, Chris, and I love our backdoor squirrels. They provide Hermie with countless hours of entertainment as they bark at him from just high enough that he can't reach.

I'm feeling a little bad for the squirrels this fall. Last year was heaven for them. The pecan crop in Austin was humongous because of the crazy rain in the previous summer. But this entire year we've been parched, and there are no pecans.

We didn't have time to carve our Halloween pumpkins this year. So earlier this week I sacrificed one for some soup and roasted pumpkin seeds, but decided to leave the other one outside to see if anyone would take a nibble. Sure enough, take a look.

It started out as nibbles, but I'm thinking now either our backyard buddies have brought in the troops, or some larger critters I don't want to think about are at play. Either way, I'm glad to provide a superfood to the neighborhood in time of need!

Race in America, 2008

NPR just completed a great series on race in the 2008 election called The York Project. They interviewed a group of people of all races and backgrounds living in York, Pennsylvania (a battle ground state that ultimately chose Obama) over the past few months about their experiences with race and how they affected their voting choices. The series wrapped up on the air this morning, when the participants shared their voting choices, but also what election day meant to them, regardless of who they voted for.

I've been following the series since September, but this morning's segment was especially notable to me. The participants touched on the feeling of celebration among everyone on election day, including McCain voters. One McCain voter noted that even though she was sad because he didn't win, she felt joy over the "social justice" that was won that day. A Black participant talked about wanting to buy an American flag for the first time in her life. The moderators asked if anyone felt "left out" by the outcome, and everyone said no.

Leah, a 76 year old McCain supporter who previously expressed worries that Obama is secretly a Muslim and terrorist, let her guard down when she discussed his first press conference. She said she thought Obama's calling himself a "mutt" (when discussion the family's ideal choice for a pet) was comical and she enjoyed it. This was the same woman who said there "might be chaos" if O were elected, and here she is now, chuckling about his mixed heritage.

Here's the main page, where you can listen to all segments of The York Project.

Portraits, backgrounds, and audio excerpts from each of the participants.

Photo gallery of York, Pennsylvania.

The Wagon with Square Wheels

Lately, I've been so busy that I feel like I'm one of the guys in this picture - just working so hard to be "working" and getting things done, but not thinking about the bigger picture and the best ways to accomplish things. It's easy to feel like that in the insanity that is the end of the semester.

I am happy to say, though, that I've been reflecting on "systems thinking" after some course discussions about this skill. Given that I'll be graduating after one more semester, I can use this skill to help me with my career planning. I've always thought about starting my own non-profit here in Austin, and I'm stoked that I'm enrolled in a course in social innovation next semester. Through the course, I'll be able to enter a social entrepreneurship competition with a prize of $50,000 for the winning idea. Time to really starting thinking about the big picture...

I'd like to share an experiment we discussed in my systems analysis course. It really made me think about the status quo and how we often learn to accept things the way they are without challenging why.

Primate Communities Experiment

The experiment involved 5 monkeys, a cage, a banana, a ladder and, crucially, a water hose.

The 5 monkeys would be locked in a cage, after which a banana was hung from the ceiling with, fortunately for the monkeys (or so it seemed…), a ladder placed right underneath it.

Of course, immediately, one of the monkeys would race towards the ladder, intending to climb it and grab the banana. However, as soon as he would start to climb, the sadist (euphemistically called “scientist”) would spray the monkey with ice-cold water. In addition, however, he would also spray the other four monkeys…

When a second monkey was about to climb the ladder, the sadist would, again, spray the monkey with ice-cold water, and apply the same treatment to its four fellow inmates; likewise for the third climber and, if they were particularly persistent (or dumb), the fourth one. Then they would have learned their lesson: they were not going to climb the ladder again – banana or no banana.

In order to gain further pleasure or, I guess, prolong the experiment, the sadist outside the cage would then replace one of the monkeys with a new one. As can be expected, the new guy would spot the banana, think “why don’t these idiots go get it?!” and start climbing the ladder. Then, however, it got interesting: the other four monkeys, familiar with the cold-water treatment, would run towards the new guy – and beat him up. The new guy, blissfully unaware of the cold-water history, would get the message: no climbing up the ladder in this cage – banana or no banana.

When the beast outside the cage would replace a second monkey with a new one, the events would repeat themselves – monkey runs towards the ladder; other monkeys beat him up; new monkey does not attempt to climb again – with one notable detail: the first new monkey, who had never received the cold-water treatment himself (and didn’t even know anything about it), would, with equal vigour and enthusiasm, join in the beating of the new guy on the block.

When the researcher replaced a third monkey, the same thing happened; likewise for the fourth until, eventually, all the monkeys had been replaced and none of the ones in the cage had any experience or knowledge of the cold-water treatment.

Then, a new monkey was introduced into the cage. It ran toward the ladder only to get beaten up by the others. Yet, this monkey turned around and asked “why do you beat me up when I try to get the banana?” The other four monkeys stopped, looked at each other slightly puzzled and, finally, shrugged their shoulders: “Don’t know. But that’s the way we do things around here”…

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words...

These two boys waited as a long line of adults greeted Senator Obama before a rally on Martin Luther King Day in Columbia, S.C. They never took their eyes off of him. Their grandmother told me, "Our young men have waited a long time to have someone to look up to, to make them believe Dr. King's words can be true for them." Jan. 21, 2008. Callie Shell for Time Magazine.

This photo epitomizes my most personal reason for being so moved by our country and our future leader. I hope to write about my other reasons for being so proud very, very soon.

More wonderful shots from Callie Shell: http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0810/callie-bp.html, including this lovely magazine cover.