Mixed Medium

I was painting a background on a canvas the other day when I noticed how the sunlight was dancing across it. It was really beautiful, and I thought to myself I wish I could paint that. Instead I took a series of photos of the light as it came through the trees and onto my painting. I think they came out really pretty, Like light shimmering on water.

An Old Hang Out

This tiny (3"x2") painting is of one of my old  favorite hang outs in south Florida.
Good times!

Vegan Fare

So I'm in my...3rd week (or 4th?) of being vegan on Mondays and...it's a lot harder than I thought. I've made some progress in finding things to eat, but I've had some disappointments along the way as well. Like last week I got a tomato and artichoke and asparagus salad, only to realize after it had cheese on it. It is really surprising how many thing we eat have some animal product in them!
But I have managed to come up with a few successes. (I consider it a success if it tastes good;). I like the avocado sushi and veggie spring rolls at Safeway. There is Chipotle (as long as I'm careful about the condiments) there is the falafel sub at Subway. There are veggies (but no dip) and fruit. Breakfast is a tough one, so I've been opting for oatmeal and bananas.
I find that a lot of the "convenient" vegan foods that taste good are pretty carb loaded. For example I can have french fries, pasta, rice, or bagels but I've been trying to steer away from those kinds of food in general.
Anyway, it's going OK I guess. I find myself pretty hungry all day, and not quite satisfied food wise. But I also feel really good about what I'm learning during the process, and it has certainly got me thinking and reading a lot about where my food is coming from. Here are some of my better vegan meals so far!

Veggie spring rolls

Avocado Sushi

Falafel Sub (with no sauce though)

Genesis: The Scientific Quest for Life's Origin

For book club this month we chose a book titled Genesis: The scientific Quest for Life's Origin by Dr. Robert Hazen

The topic of the book is a discussion of the current theories of how life may have emerged from the non-living chemical rich primordial earth. The word for this transitional event is autogenesis.

I've read a lot about evolution, but I was really interested to learn more about the beginning of life, specifically its creation. What does it even mean to be alive? It's easy to clarify in terms of humans, and mammals, but when you get down to smaller, simpler things, the answer becomes fuzzy. How did the first life form on earth organize itself? And how do scientists even begin to answer that question a few billion years later?

These were all questions I had going into this book, and I have to say that for the most part my curiosity concerning them has been satisfied. That's not to say the book had complete and definitive answers to my questions, but rather that it addressed them, and gave the best possible answer (as it is understood by scientists today), or answers if there were more than one possibility. It was both an overview and a history of the subject, and for the most part an easy read. The only difficulty was when the author explained certain chemical reactions, and used names like isoprene and phenathrene etc. But they were necessary to document in that they supply the "proof" to the claims the scientists are making concerning the origins of life and ultimately ourselves.

I wrote in the previous blog about emergent systems. Well, this seems to be the prevailing theory on how life on Earth came about. Through an unique combination of chemicals and the right influx of energy, life was able to emerge. I find that utterly fascinating. It was also really interesting to me how large a role geologists are playing attempting to answers to the origin of life questions. By examining rocks and the chemical signatures entombed within them they are helping biologists and chemist find clues to how life evolved. If I ever go for my PhD, I think this is where I'd focus.

The book begins by exploring a few of the many ways that life can be defined. From philosophical, religious, and scientific views come all kinds of answers. But the one that was used as a “working definition” by the author came from Dr. Gerald Joyce a member of a NASA exobiology panel. He said; “Life is a self-sustained chemical system capable of undergoing Darwinian evolution”.  And that works for me. It’s not very romantic sounding, but it gets the job done.

The book also recounts the history of some of the earliest origin-of-life experiments, back in the 1950’s. Among them the most famous Urey-Miller experiments where an early Earth atmosphere was simulated using ammonia, methane and hydrogen. When they sparked the mixture (as a proxy for lightning strikes) they were able to produce many amino acids, which are the building blocks of life! Those experiments, while inaccurate (the composition of the early atmosphere has been refined in recent years) created a lot of interest and basically began modern hunt for the origin of life.

The book also discusses the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe, spending a lot of time to examine the evidences for and against life on Mars through the inspection of the famous Allen Hill’s meteorite, or ALH84001.

The book discusses the methods of teasing out information from rocks millions of years old, and explains in pretty extensive detail the current experiments that are being conducted and what they hope to tell us about the origin of organic life.

There were really interesting chapters on chemosynthetic life (i.e. life that gets its energy from chemical reactions rather than the sun) and discusses microbes living miles beneath the Earth’s crust in in tiny pockets of otherwise dense rock.

There was a chapter about the possible mechanisms that evolved RNA (the precursor to DNA) that led to more complex life.

There was a discussion about how clay particles might have been the template for DNA, and how minerals could have substituted for membranes before primitive cells knew how to make their own!

There was so much unique information that I feel bad not covering it all in this review, but to go into any more depth would require a lot more explaining on my part, and I think in that case you’d probably be best off just reading the book yourself.

Anyway, in closing, I give this book four out of 5 stars. It was well written, easy to read (for the most part), extremely interesting, and I think it covered the subject thoroughly and in depth enough to be educational without being too technical. It also provided a history of how we got to where we are now, and a window into the future research on this mind boggling subject.

ATTENTION: If you are super lazy or don't like reading, but want to learn more about this I found a talk on the book given by the author on YouTube! You can check it out HERE.

Emergence

Termite mound: Example of an emergence system.
(borrowed from getintravel.com)

The book I read for book club this month touched on something called emergence. And because it's so interesting to me I thought instead of trying to incorporate it into my book review I'd write a separate blog about.
Emergence has come up briefly in a couple other books I've read recently, and I'm pretty fascinated by it at the moment.(Like I was with strange attractors a couple years ago;) But what is it? To borrow the definition from Wikipedia emergence is:
"...the way complex systems and patters arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple reactions."
What this means is that in many systems patterns will begin to emerge that could not be predicted beforehand by looking at any single component of the whole system. Saying it another way, emergence is the production of a pattern or a complex systems by many individual components that could never create anything on their own. Moreover, the system cannot work unless all of the components are in place. It's slightly more complicated than just that, since to create emergent properties a specific amount of energy must be added to the system, but I'll try to explain that below. This is a really cool thing, so I'm going to take a minute to give a couple examples.
Sand ripples: If you look at the components that form sand ripples in the bottom of a lake or ocean you have: Water, wave action (i.e. your energy source), and sand grains. If you  look closely at a sand grain, or a molecule of water, it is unlikely that you could predict how they could ever organize themselves into coherent rows of ripples. But they do. The thing is, they only do it when the right amount of energy (i.e. waves) are present. Too little energy and they will not form. Too much (think big crashing storm waves) and the ripples will be destroyed. But just the right amount, and suddenly sand grains can organize themselves into ripple patterns. Cool right?
Termite nests: This works for hives as well. The components to these systems are earth and millions of individual insects. The energy to the system is how much work each individual can do. Now if you took a single termite and inspected it closely you'd never guess that it could build a mound twenty feet tall. It doesn't even know how to "build"! And you'd be right, a single termite can't build a mound. Even several hundred couldn't, but a few million can, and do. A bunch of individually simple termites can build gigantic mounds taller than a giraffe!
The human brain: Same thing. Your components are individual neurons, and of course the energy comes from the food you eat. If you look at a single neuron you can see how it basically works, but it can't create complex thought...or even simple thought for that matter. All it can do is send and receive chemical signals. You can't make a "sort of brain" with a few hundred neurons. You need a whole skull full of them, all connected together, to be able to think, and learn and know. A brain is not a neuron, a brain is an intricately connected assemblage of many neurons that when acting together produce thoughts and regulate body functions.
So why is this important and interesting to me? This subject of emergence is critical for the transition from non-living to living. The primary reason being that it explains how the evolution of life was able to occur and not conflict with the second law of thermodynamics (i.e.entropy of a system never decreases). To be clear, technically nothing gets around the second law, so ultimately everything does increase in entropy. But small isolated systems like termite mounds, or shallow shore lines, or human brains, can under the right circumstances, for a time, produce amazing and complex things. Using only specific quantities of energy, and relatively simple parts amazing patterns and functions quite literally emerge! I think that is so cool.
Anyway, I'm probably not explaining this super well, but it's my hope that if you find this subject interesting, you will look it up and do some reading on your own! I am sure there are authors out there who have done a much better job than me. On is Dr. Robert Hazen who wrote the book Genesis: The Scientific Quest for Life's Origin that I read for book club this month.

2013 The Jungle Run!

Me after my first 1/2 marathon!

I ran my first half marathon this weekend! I was a little worried about registering because I didn't "train" for it..at all. But I do run 3-4 times a week, so I figured how hard could it be? My reason for eventually deciding to do it was that I know for sure I can walk 13 miles, so even if I couldn't run the whole way, I'd still make it to the finish line eventually. So what did I have to loose by trying right?

I did follow a few tips that I found online though, including what and when to eat the day before, how to prepare the day of the race (by hydrating, and eating energy-packed carbs, and stretching etc.) and deciding on realistic goals for the race itself.
I also utilized the "pacers" during my run. They were runners carrying signs with guaranteed finish times. Like 1:45 (an hour and 45 minutes) or 2:35 etc. (That was my main problem in the 10K I did a couple months ago, not being able to pace myself.) I couldn't believe the difference it made! It was so much easier to run 13 miles at a set pace than 6 miles trying to keep up with whoever was in front of me. I started with the slowest pace runner with a finish time of 2:35 (just to make sure I'd make it) and then moved up one every couple miles afterward if I thought I could handle it.
Anyway, I don't have my official time yet, but I was somewhere between the 2:10 and 2:15 pace runners when I crossed the finish line. I didn't have a time goal for this first race, so I'm neither impressed nor disappointed with my time. My only goal was to finish, and I did it!!! I Did it!!! And I am very happy about that:) Here is a little photo gallery of the race (in order of events)! Enjoy!

Getting pumped at the starting line!

The Pace Runners

And we're off!

The faster runners go first.

Going strong!

Self portrait while running!

Woohoo more than half way done!

This made me laugh.

Getting really tired now...

One lap around the track and I'm done!

Got lots of encouraging texts from friends and fam!

I made it! I finished!

My hat got a little sweaty though...

My piece of victory cake! Banana. Yumm!

My Library

My Little Library

So I rearranged my living room to create a little "library" for myself. I've always wanted one, ever since I was 10 years old and reading Nancy Drew Mysteries. The first library I fell in love with was the Troy Public Library. The second was the one in Disney's Beauty and the Beast. (The latter is still my dream!) But it's never worked out. I've either lived in a small apartment, or had too many roommates.
But I decided that I can't keep waiting around for the perfect situation or I'll never have one. So I just took all my bookshelves and put them all on the same wall, and am making the most of the space I have. I also moved the desk and so I have a nice little library "nook" in my living room. It's pretty awesome I think. I love feeling surrounded by books, I love to organize them, and to pull one out at random to browse through. I love all the different kinds there are, and subjects they cover. I love how some are old, dense and musty, while others are light, and easy on the eyes. And I love them more when I know they are all MINE. Wahaha! They are like treasure, only not as shiny, and worth a lot less:)
The ironic thing is that since I've always been so limited on space, I've been very selective about the books I keep. So much so that I only have enough books now for 2 of my 4 shelves! I couldn't believe it! Who would have thought I would have so few books? Amazing.
I'm sure it will fill up in no time (I have next months book club book on it's way right now), but it's all I can do to keep myself from going to the used bookstore and loading up! It's taking all the self control I have.
Anyway, I finally have my library I've always wanted, and while it's small, and not quite perfect, I love it just the same!

Farewell to Manzanar

I read Farewell to Manzanar by  Jeanne Houston this past week. It was one of those books that just caught my eye at the library, and so I checked it out. It's a true story written by a woman who's family was put into, and lived in, one of the Japanese interment camps (here in the U.S.) during World War II.
I've actually driven by the remnants of the camp that they lived in. It's in the Owens Valley ironically located near a town called Independence, and I remember passing it by on a geology field trip. It's a hot, dry, dusty valley.
Anyway, the book was really good. You always think of the "bad guys" having camps, and placing people there on a racial bias, but we did it too to Japanese-Americans. Granted there was no intention of killing anyone, or hurting them even, but still. People, American families (many of which did not speak Japanese, nor had ever even been there), were plucked from their homes and their jobs and forced into barracks in the middle of the desert. And most of what they had "on the outside" was gone by the time they were allowed to go back home. Loans had been defaulted on, cars, boats, etc repossessed or stolen, storage lockers raided or burglarized. I can't imagine how devastating that must have been for them.
It's interesting though, because in a way the story is not entirely sad. It's told by the author, but based on memories from when she was a little girl. And like most kids, it didn't seem as bad to her as it probably did to the adults. She talks about attending school inside the camp, and joining a baton-twirling class. The people living in Manzanar transformed it into a town, with parks and parades and all the normal things that Americans value. She recalls lots of things that she understands now in a different, more serious way , but she also includes those few glimmering memories all kids have, no matter what the circumstances, that even adulthood can't erase.
Anyway, this was a short read, but a really interesting one as well. It's part of our history as a country, and we shouldn't forget about it. Otherwise we will inevitably make the same mistake all over again.

Independence Day

My fourth of July plans are relatively simple this year. But I think I've got all my patriotic bases covered. Hope you have a great one too!
(I'm switching my vegetarian day to today instead.)

Vegan Mondays!!!

I spent the weekend in LA with my brother a couple weeks ago. It was super fun! We went to a concert, went hiking, ate delicious food, and just hung out. On our hike up to Echo Mountain we talked about the reasons why he is vegan, and he got me thinking. (I also read a pamphlet he had laying around his apartment about large scale animal farms in the U.S. Eeesh. Super disturbing.)
I've always pretty much agreed with his reasons for becoming vegan, but I've had a hard time balancing those reasons with my own  for eating meat. I love it for one thing, it's so delicious. And in a way I feel bad about saying that, but I also have to be honest with myself about it. But not only that, I actually think I need it in my diet. I become slightly anemic when I go too long without red meat. That translates into me feeling tired, and weak, and sort of...sick.
But he said something that changed my perspective. He said that he knew a lot of vegans who thought there were only two options, you either care or you don't. But he doesn't agree with that. In the same way that you can't choose what is right for your career based on someone else's expectations, neither can you base what you believe, how you believe it, or your actions concerning it, on other peoples expectations. It reminded me of how I felt about exercise at one point. I thought if I wasn't going to work out everyday, then working out one or two days was pointless. But it's not. Any exercise is better than no exercise. Every little bit does help and does make a difference. And while some folks might have the energy to tackle the gym everyday that doesn't mean that I can't make a difference in my own life by going twice a week. Nor does that mean that I am not interested or dedicated. I'm just dedicated in my own way to the best of my ability under the circumstances in my life.
So after a couple weeks of thinking about that, I have come up with a solution that I think is right for me. It satisfies all my beliefs, and pleasures, and I think I've struck the right balance between what I think, what I feel, and what I love (about food anyway;)
I'm going to be vegan for one day a week. I chose Mondays. I'm calling it "Vegan Monday" because it sounds more like a holiday when it has a name;) On Mondays I am going to be super conscientious of what I am eating and what it's made of. I think that in itself will be an education and help me to be more aware of what I am consuming and where it comes from.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays I'm going to be vegetarian. Mostly because it's easier to just not eat meat instead of having to comb through ingredients to see what has eggs or dairy in it. This is a compromise between veganism and the practicality of my life.
On Wednesdays, and Friday to Sunday I will eat as I need and like to. This satisfies my need for red meat, and my enjoyment in eating food, and creating food, and trying new things at restaurants etc.
It may seem like I'm being wishy-washy, or doing things half-assed, but I'm not. This is a full-ass attempt I assure you;) I am taking into account a lot of different (and conflicting) things that are important to me and creating the best possible solution in which they can all work practically and be sustainable in my life.
But the point is that I am doing something. And that is better than nothing. It's not meaningless. Being vegan for one day a week is not a worthless cause. It's actually a pretty great one. And I feel really good about that. So while I'd never impose my viewpoint on anyone (nor has my brother with me), I would also encourage you to think about what you think about what you eat, and weigh that against what you believe, your health, and your quality of life, and then decide if there is or isn't a better way for you (that could fall anywhere between everyone else's expectations!!!) to bring all of those things into harmony.