Insignifica

On Freedom

By Michael Doss on October 18, 2011 3:13 PM | 4 Comments | No TrackBacks

It's good to know when to quit.

Last week, I officially passed control of Orange County Atheists - an organization I founded in 2005 - to three long-time members and friends. They'll plan the meetings and be in charge of all the little things like restaurant reservations, website updates, and mailing lists, and I'll just be a member, coming to meetings as I please, with no larger responsibility.

When you break it down, I'm only freeing up about 20 minutes a month (not counting the meeting), but on a grand scale, it's been absolutely liberating.

No longer am I "in charge". I don't have to be the "face" of the organization, deal with new (and sometimes very odd) group members, or feel responsible to be at every meeting. And while no one thing was actually stressful, combined it become something I no longer loved doing, and that was reason enough for me to pass it on.

To a lot of people, this is quitting, and there's nothing good about it. I used to feel the same way, too - my life is full of projects like this that I eventually gave up on, or stopped doing, or sometimes passed on to others. I was always happy for the free time, but there was often something lingering in the back of my head that said "you could have done better, and you should have spent more time on it".

For a long time, I believed it.

But more recently, I'm finding that so many of the stresses in our lives are entirely up to us to handle. And for me, pending, regular obligations (even of things I love/loved) grate at me like nothing else. To use the cliche, they take up valuable real estate in my brain, the same way that long-term work assignments or homework do. They're always back there, and while not overwhelming, I'm generally happier without them. And as soon as I made the decision to stop leading OC Atheists, I felt that happiness again, so I knew it was the right decision.

So what's next? Somewhat paradoxically, another project. It's not that I don't enjoy doing these things, but everything has a life cycle, and I have a part in that cycle that I'll love for a while, put up with for a while, and perhaps learn to hate after a while. Knowing when to get off the ride (while keeping things tidy on the way out if others count on you) is knowing yourself, and a path toward happiness.

What is "processed"?

By Michael Doss on September 28, 2011 1:04 PM

It all started with a simple question: Could I go without processed foods for 30 days?

Sure, I thought. I'd done a similar 30-day challenge before (buying no prepared foods like bread, sauces, etc. for a month), and while it was difficult, I learned a lot. So, I said to myself, what exactly does "processed" mean?

Then the fun began.

I like definitions, and bounderies. You can't break a rule (on purpose) until you know what it is, and it's better if you know where it came from and why it's there. I've heard my entire life that "processed" foods are bad, we should all eat fewer of them, and that obesity/poor health/malnutrion/low resale value of your car are all the fault of these damn processed foods.

Like many things nutrition, "processed" is most often defined by the "I know it when I see it" test. Cheese puffs? Processed. Apples? Nope. Hot dogs? Oh yeah. Cookies? Well, that depends on what kind. How about cheese? Those yellow squares have to be, but what about a block of cheddar? Does it matter if it's made by hand and sold at twice the price at Whole Foods?

But what, exactly, makes those foods processed? Is it the ingrediants? Many of the definitions I've found specify one of two tests (if not both) - you have to be able to recognize and pronounce all the ingredients, and it has to be something you could make in your kitchen. But if I can't pronounce or don't recognize something, does that make it processed, or just mean I'm uninformed? And I certainly can't make most breakfast cereals at home (Make a corn flake. I dare you), or cheeses for that matter. But neither is commenly placed in the "processed" pile.

Maybe it's what happens to the food - tearing it down, recombining, adding some fillers - that makes it bad. But that would lump hot dogs in with everything with flour in it - that can't be right. Almost all food preperation requires similar steps unless you're eating raw, so I'm not liking this defintion either.

Perhaps a food's "closeness to nature" is the best way to judge. Fruit off the tree? Awesome. Same fruit in a can - "processed"? Maybe. Meat off the bone of any animal you killed? Assuming cooking isn't "processing", you're in good shape. How about milk? Sure, if it comes straight from the cow to your glass. But almost all milk is pasteurized to kill bacteria and homogenized to keep it from separating, both done through some funky processes. And that's how I like it, thank you very much.

In the end, there isn't a good definition, because "processed" or not isn't the right way to look at our food. We need to see how food is prepared, what's lost or retained via processing, and eat everything in moderation and as part of an overall healthy diet.

iPad2 cases made in the USA

By Michael Doss on August 24, 2011 4:09 PM | No TrackBacks

As a newly rich man following my $200 food budget for August, I decided to buy an iPad. It's a fun toy, it plays nicely with my family's iPhones, and it's popular-therefore-well supported (debate coming another time).

So now to accessories. I have pretty strict standards for buying things made in China - generally, I don't do it unless I can get it used, or if there's absolutely no other way. The iPad is, of course, made in the PRC, so I have a used one, very happily. But I can afford to be a little more picky about my iPad case - I want one made in the USA.

Whereas I only had one option for a good USA-made iPhone4 case (Thanks, TRTL BOT!), I seem to have many more choices when looking for a case for my new toy. Many companies compete in the case market, and most of the locally-produced options are catering to a classier clientele, looking for a classier case. Some options:

Treegloo (http://treegloo.com/) - Treegloo makes book-style cases, built to order, for the iPad. They focus on sustainable, animal-friendly, environmentally-conscious materials, and make the cases by hand. They give a lot of options for internal and external colors, as well as finishes and little touches. This one's high on my list.

Portenzo (http://shop.portenzo.com/) - Portenzo's cases look a lot like Treegloo's offerings, but with more options for case design, more use of leather, and higher prices. Just like Treegloo, they offer options for things like a back camera hole, and different kinds of closures. They seem to be one of the more popular picks out there in the market.

Dodo Case (http://www.dodocase.com/) - The third of the popular "made in the USA handmade" set, Dodo cases are made by craft bookbinders in San Francisco. Like Treegloo and Portenzo, the iPad sits in a wooden frame which is placed in a book-like binding. They don't seem to offer as many color choices, however.

Grove (http://www.grovemade.com/) - Grove cases are less book-like than the other choices, but much more interesting. They're all wood (with custom leather or magnetic covers), with many materials and color options. They're handmade in Oregon, and custom work seems to be a specialty. They cost a little more, but you're unlikely to get a look like this anywhere else.

Built (http://www.builtny.com) - Built, largely a bag and tote company, designed and manufactures their "Ergonomic Hard Case" in the USA, and compared to the other offerings, it much more closely resembles the molded plastic and rubber cases typically made overseas. The polycarbonate body is made to be knocked around, and it looks to fit very nicely, and give a nice hold. It's also the cheapest of the bunch, at $35.

Right now, I'm leaning toward the Treegloo case - I like the look and the price, and the liberal-friendly, "no animals involved" company makes the vegetarian in me very happy. But if I'm feeling rich, I might also pick up one of the Built cases - it looks very functional, and will let me treat the iPad more like a rough-and-tumble kid than a fragile baby.

Either way, though, it's nice to have choices, where in technology-not-made-in-China there often are none. If you've used any of these cases, or know of others made in the USA, drop me a comment here and let me know!

$200, budgets, and olive oil.

By Michael Doss on August 16, 2011 4:55 PM | 1 Comment | No TrackBacks

I'm a little more than halfway this month's challenge - spend no more than $200 on food for my family in August - and it's been a very interesting experience so far. Some highlights:

Going out to eat is almost impossible, with the exception of very occasional cheap fast food. But even that costs more than I should spend on any given meal. With a few exceptions (detailed below), we haven't dined out since the challenge started.

Some foods are naturally inexpensive, and luckily for us, they're staples. Rice, beans, lentils, and common veggies (carrots, onions, potatoes) are filling, easy, and cheap. The rub comes when it's time to pair them with a protein (usually something fake-meat for me, and either real or fake meat for the Girlfriend and kid). I've also given up most of my cheese habits, since we're still sticking to standards for dairy (all dairy we buy is organic or small-farmed), so that's generally out too.

I'm always on the lookout for free food. Usually this comes in the form of stuff from our families, or party leftovers. I've stocked up, and it's been a savior, especially for my beer habit.

Salsa is expensive. Good bread, too. And olive oil: I'm just about to run out, and I'd much rather spend $9-$10 on the large bottle of the stuff I like, instead of $4 for 1/5 as much. What do I give up to buy in bulk? Regardless of the fact that I'm "saving" with the larger purchase, it's still more money, right now.

Little things add up. A vending machine soda (mine here are $0.85) per work day would use up just over 8% of my weekly food budget. Getting a pizza on the way home on Friday (no delivery - too much extra!) would eat up almost 25%. These are things I never pondered before this challenge.

I'm not pretending that this is anything like actually being poor, but it's provided some interesting insight into what it's like being on a strict budget. You immediately know what you can't do (going out to a restaurant, spending your week's budget on beer and cheese at Whole Foods, etc.). You still want to eat well, so you look for both deals and ways to make what you've got more interesting. And all of this is interesting when it's a social project - if I had to explain to friends why I couldn't go out with them, month after month, it'd be embarrassing.

As mentioned above, there have been exceptions. I go out to eat every Saturday with my mom, and lunch for the kid and me is usually $10. Not a lot, but I'm still not counting it in the total because it's important for me to do. I didn't count a going-away party at a restaurant, because the social aspect was more important to me. And I didn't count (most of) the food I picked up for another going-away party, for the same reasons. Still, not counting these things has made me realize how much harder this really is.

One other thing I've learned: In a regular month, I probably spend between three and four times ($600-$800) my August budget on food. I'm not sure if this is really high (I don't go out to eat THAT much, really), or if it's standard for my social class and location. Either way, I'm saving enough on food this month to pay for an iPad. This project keeps surprising me.

Calories, "Healthy", and Restaurant Menus

By Michael Doss on August 3, 2011 3:03 PM | 1 Comment | No TrackBacks

I love information. Absolutely love it. The more I've reflected on this fact, the more I realize that my job, my hobbies, and my interests all tend to revolve around acquiring interesting data. So when California instituted its menu labeling law (California Health and Safety Code Section 114094) two years ago, I was very pleased, not only as a data-lover, but as someone who'd rather eat 600 calories over 1,100, given the choice on a menu.

One problem I've faced, however, is that not all restaurants are required to give nutrional information for their food - if a company has fewer than 20 locations, they're exempt. This is apparently because a "small" restaurant or chain can't afford the costs associated with food testing to determine nutritional info. I think that's a load of manure, personally (a chain with 15 restuarants is by no means small and poor), but it's the law.

What really surprises me, though, is that restaurants that sell themselves as "healthy" refuse to go above and beyond the legal requirements and provide nutrional info. The worst offender I've found so far, and also a restaurant I love, is the Veggie Grill. But their opinion on the matter is pretty well spelled out in the following I received from them after complaining loudly on their Facebook page:

We apologize that we do not have full nutritional details on our menu items. The yet to be released FDA menu nutritional labeling guidelines requiring restaurants to have full nutritional details will apply only to restaurants with 20 or more locations as the government acknowledges that the effort to compile and maintain this information is too burdensome for smaller restaurant companies.

We have been advised that we would need a large food analysis lab to do the analysis since we need to have a company with liability insurance to stand behind their work (we live in a very litigious society). This of course makes it an expensive proposition (approximately $30,000), particularly for a new, small company such as ours.

That being said, we are very proud of the fact that our menu is 100% plant-based with absolutely no cholesterol, animal fat, trans fat or high-fructose corn syrup.

Numerous studies have shown that eating 100% plant-based foods is the best way to reduce your risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and to maintain a healthy weight. We recommend "The China Study" by Dr. T. Colin Campbell (http://goo.gl/WAbzZ) for anybody who would like to learn more about these studies.

As I believe you may be aware, additional information regarding our nutritional philosophy can be found at http://www.veggiegrill.com/primer.html.

Our mission to build an enduring brand that helps people and the planet can only succeed if we listen carefully to guests such as yourself. Opening 7 restaurants and hiring 220 people over the past 4 tough years has been very difficult and expensive, but we are trying hard to make a go of it.

Are calories everything? No. And I agree that eating a plant based diet is almost by default healthier than one with meat, especially if that meat is factory-farmed. But calories, as well as other pieces of nutrional information, are vital for many people on many kinds of diets (weight loss, and otherwise). I've touched on this topic before, with swear words.

If you've never eaten at Veggie Grill, you're missing out on two things: very delicious passable-as-real-chicken-sandwich vegan food, and grease. Their food tastes good, in part, because it's high in fat, and likely high in salt as well. This is all well and good if you know what you're getting into, but when all the marketing material for a restaurant touts its health benefits while refusing any mention of meal calories, there's a strong likelihood of confusion.

Above all else, it makes me wonder if the company is just too poor to do a nutrional analysis (not likely, given they only open in boutique locations with high rents, and charge full-service prices for their counter-service food), or if they're hiding something. All I know is that if I'm looking for low-calorie, I look elsewhere.

(This entry has been cross-posted to my oft-neglected food blog, TofuFighting.)

Step One: Be Happy.

By Michael Doss on July 27, 2011 1:55 PM | 2 Comments | No TrackBacks

A major influence in relaunching this blog was my desire to share with others what makes me happy, in the hope that it'll make them happy too. I don't fancy myself a self-help guru, but I've discovered a few things in my life that I'm sure others could use - little things, mostly. But the little things add up, and for me, they make me the positive person I am.

I think I've long realized that happiness (and it's close cousin, optimism) depend very much on your perception of the world, and not just the things that happen to you. One way to look at it is that good and bad things happen to everyone - some get more of each, some get fewer, but we all have a mix. What you choose to spend your time focusing on and worrying about shapes you as much or more than the actual stimuli.

For some of us (the naturally optimistic), this is easy. There's a lot to feel good about, be positive about, and look forward to, so we deal with negative things as they happen, but don't dwell, or let them take over. I count myself lucky to be in this camp, because being happy is less work. Anyone can learn to be optimistic, though.

Step one, and your lesson for today: Enjoy what you're doing, no matter what it is.

To me, this almost sounds like "fooling yourself for your own good", but only until you realize that we color every perception with preconceived notions. So why not make those notions positive ones? I've felt this way a long time, but it was put into perspective (and well-written words) by two things a few weeks back: A Star Trek novel called "Watching the Clock", which among other things details an alien race that finds pleasure in all new experiences simply because they're new, and this post I read online. An excerpt:

Let's say you're washing the dishes. Wouldn't you rather be having a delicious meal instead, or talking with your best friend? Sure, those things are great, but they're only better if you believe they're better, and more importantly, the comparison is totally unnecessary. Why should you compare what you're doing now (washing dishes) with anything else? Wouldn't almost anything lose out if you compare it to something you like more? Will you ever be happy with what you're doing if you always compare it with something you like more?

Washing dishes can be as great as anything else, if you decide to see it that way. You're in solitude, which is a beautiful thing. If you do it mindfully, washing dishes can be pleasant as you feel the suds and water in your hands, pay attention to the dish and its texture, notice your breathing and thoughts. It's meditation, it's quiet, it's lovely.

Too often, we create the comparisons that disappoint us. We see the world how we'd like to see it, and sometimes this means not liking what we're doing. But what if it was as simple as just enjoying your everyday activities, no matter what they are?

You're not going to be able to do this in practice at first, at least not easily. The key in starting to change your mindset is finding at least one thing you enjoy in everything you do. I don't love the drive every afternoon to my daughter's daycare, but I do love 15 minutes of time to myself. I love watching to see if the lemon tree on the center divider has fruit yet. I love the small-world feeling of spotting some the same cars most days, since I'm on the same road at the same time.

It's the little things. It's always the little things.

Another step, and this one seems obvious, is work at not doing things that you know you won't enjoy. If you don't like arguments, don't find your way into them. If you really don't want to attend an event, don't. In time, you'll find more joy in more things, but starting out, focus on putting more things you already enjoy into your life.

A lot of the above seems a little weird-hippie-new-age, even to me - it's the first time I've ever put it all in one place, though I do my best to live it. But it's a semi-accurate reflection of how I've been living my life for the last few years, and what makes me the happy person I generally am.

Random Sunday Thoughts

By Michael Doss on July 24, 2011 10:00 AM | 1 Comment | No TrackBacks

Ah, blogging, where you remember spammers still exist, and occasionally come up with clever ways to keep their comments on your site. Gmail filters email spam so well that i forget how much still exists.

The good thing about comment spam, however, is that it reminds me that I have a blog, and I should write in it. Some observations from the week:

I attended a non-midnight screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the UU Church in Costa Mesa yesterday. It was all the fun of mildly offending those around you, with none of the "I'm too old for this late night shit" feeling after the Time Warp. Bonus: being able to swear and yell out sexual innuendo in a church. One more thing crossed off my bucket list.

While I don't hold being huge against a company (Apple, you're pretty cool), there's a lot to be said for savvy small(er) tech companies. Roku, which makes my internet-enabled set-top box of choice, has an active forum community for support and feature discussion, and I spend a little while most days reading, helping out other users, and answering questions for the things I know about. When Roku released a new product this week, they rewarded my (and others, I assume) contribution there, and are sending out free $80 devices as a thank-you. Now I'm telling everyone that not only is the product cool, but the company cares about its active customers and does nice things. Word of Mouth FTW.

Southern California has the best weather in the country. Really. While almost everyone else has been sweltering in high heat and humidity, we've had mildly warm days and cool nights - in July. It's worth the mortgage payment, really.

My garden is exploding. The tangerine tree has some fruit and a lot of new leaf growth, the pumpkin and zucchini are growing visibly every day, and I've never had my basil look better. We've also been trimming back the "pretty but large and invasive" stuff, so it all looks nice, too. Pictures and more to come.

Thanks for reading, friends! Try to beat the spammers to commenting!

On Love, and Google Plus

By Michael Doss on July 19, 2011 11:53 AM | 1 Comment | No TrackBacks

Google Plus has received an insane amount of love since its release - much more than it's deserved, I think - and people seem to be touting it as a "Facebook-killer" and worthy of their exclusive social attention. Don't get me wrong - it's a nice social networking site - but it's nothing special, to me. Circles are novel but not unique (I've been using Facebook's friends lists to the same effect for two years), and the "following" of famous people is just Twitter on steroids.

I think a lot of this has to do with Google's as-yet unspoiled reputation amongst the geekier social set - "Do No Evil" usually applies, and Gmail just works. It's kinda like the love that Apple gets, without the hate that Apple gets. And when some of those Google-loving regular Facebook users saw a chance to jump to a new, not-broken Google product (Wave and Buzz, I'm looking at you), they did.

But what's interesting, and weird, is that many people decided to make using G+ contigent on leaving Facebook. All of a sudden the Facebook hate came on strong from people who used to use it every day - Google Plus is the future, and Facebook is the past. It's an interesting and elitist attitude and I'm not totally understanding; just because one site is cool doesn't mean the old site is suddenly not worth using. I understand that as interesting people we often do this to new technology, but it's still odd to me.

(Let me explain about interesting people. I'm not specifically talking about you (though I'm sure you're interesting too), I'm talking about "people", as in the amalgamation of thoughts, comments, and presented information of everyone I run into on a daily basis. This view allows me to generalize without being too insulting, because I can say, "no, not you, I was talking about 'people'".)

No matter what you think of the features, three weeks really isn't enough time to declare that Google+ is doing anything except perhaps "still working nicely". It certainly has potential: the interface is clean, the site doesn't have the major database errors we see with Facebook and Twitter, and it's being very quickly adopted. But to hear some people discuss it, Facebook was never worth anyone's time. That's an odd position to take, especially for people who have been using it daily for years.

I'll leave you with an interesting post from author Neil Gaiman, who's decidingly not on the G+ bandwagon:

I like Twitter. I tolerate Facebook. Google+ seemed (for me) like an awkward mash-up of the two. I found the continual stream of notifications telling me that another 500 people I did not know had put me into circles and that lots of other people I didn't know had mentioned me really irritating and distracting, and I couldn't turn them off or easily find the signal in the noise (or find my friends in the flood of people putting me into circles), and when I grumbled about it mildly (agreeing with Warren Ellis that I couldn't find friends I'd actually want to put in circles among the thousands of people who I was being told were putting me in circles) a couple of hundred people explained to me that I was Doing It Wrong.

It was the "You're Doing It Wrong" messages that were my personal tipping point. As far as I'm concerned, the mark of a good social network is that it either does what it was made to do easily and cleanly, or it's bendy enough that you can make it do what you want. And being told "you're trying to use it like Facebook but really it's like Twitter!" just made me strangely nostalgic for Twitter. And as Twitter was still there, I cancelled my Google+ account, feeling at this point that I didn't need another time sink, another place to check, another distraction from work or from life.

Those that are widely followed are going to have a very different social experience than the rest of us, but I think he makes good points. As always, thoughts and reflections are welcome.

Relaunched.

By Michael Doss on July 15, 2011 3:10 PM | 2 Comments | No TrackBacks

It would appear that I've started writing at Insignifica again.

I'm hesitant to call this a "Relaunch", as it's a different format than the "old" insignifica - I'm hoping to have mostly longer posts, essay-style, instead of the short daily posts that charactized this blog in the last few years. There's plenty of room for short updates and photos at Facebook and Google+, but both those sites are lacking a way to share longer pieces, and it'll be nice to have them in one spot here.

So what will you find here? Stuff. Everyone and their mother writes about social media, so I'll try to keep that to a minimum. There'll be food posts (perhaps in conjuction with tofufighting.com, my poor, neglected food blog), and craft posts, and pop culture stuff, and rants and raves. I'll wax poetic from time to time, and generally enjoy the fact that I can do whatever the hell I like, since I own the joint.

Thanks for reading (again), and let me know what you'd like to see, read, etc.

Insignifica Redux

By Michael Doss on July 15, 2011 1:28 PM | No TrackBacks

Oh, hello.