Two Cool Cats

Happy Halloween

Weekend List - Me, all me!

Carve jack o'lanterns  - Not our best this year
Roast pumpkin seeds - Yummy
Pay bills
File financial documents Q3  - Stabilized, hoping for solid by end of the year :-)
Do laundry
Put it away
Bake banana bread - Delish, with walnuts and chocolate chips
Swim 40 minutes
Buy apples and cider at farmer's market
Early Vote!
Shop for clothes/shoes  - Success!
Eat out Saturday night - My second lobster roll this week!
Laze around in bed, drinking coffee, reading paper - Indulgence
Short hike
Swim 30 minutes - Again!
Return boots, exchange shoes
Trick-or treat
Begin London packing/piling
Go grocery shopping  - Oh well, it's a short list for tomorrow, and we have milk for coffee
Make food for the troops for the days, I'm gone - Didn't happen

Phew, what a weekend...very productive, and I'm tired.  It's not always like this - but it sure was satisfying.

Sometimes you have to kiss a few frogs...

I saw it coming.  As we walked and paused to admire some funky pumpkins, he leaned into me.  A few moments later, he touched my arm, and I (against my better judgment, but following the stage directions) let my fingers graze his elbow.   A pregnant pause.  "Here it comes," I thought.  His thin fish lips came toward me in a grotesque twisty pucker, and landed on my mouth which knew the drill and went into the pucker reflex.  It was short and tepid, kind of like kissing a frog.   I withdrew, smiled, and said, "Thank you for a lovely dinner.  I had a nice time."  "Hello, I must be going," my sub-conscious screamed with alarm.

A first (and last) kiss.  Sigh.  More adventures in dating...and yes, I did extract myself - as directly and kindly, as possible -  the following day.

Wasabi - Modern Japanese Cuisine

London-bound

I'm off to London again next week - Tuesday through Saturday.  This will be my 3rd trip there since May - not bad for a non-profit job doing social good.  I've been setting up meetings, and have been highly dependent on Google maps and the kindness of my Brit colleagues to guide my journey on the underground and on the surface.  I always get a little smile on my face when I hear London place names.  Next week's destinations include Waterloo, Piccadilly, Baker Street (Bakerloo line), Westminster Bridge, East Ham, and Uxhall!  Lucky me!

Blog Stats for La Nouvelle Observatrice (and random things we can glean from all that)

Blogger provides real-time stats on page views, referring sources, and audience.  The stats tracking has only been available since July, but it has provided me with endless fascination, inspiration, and imagination on my readership out there on the World Wide Web!  I have turned off tracking of my own page views from my home and work computers, so all current stats only reflect my 5 or so known readers, and the other random people who stumble across the writings of La Nouvelle Observatrice.  There are lots of things I don't know from the stats tracking, like unique users/viewers, and those of you who visit time and time again. Welcome one and all, please browse around, and feel free to follow or comment.  And don't worry, I have no idea who you are.

With one week still left in October, I had already surpassed my all time high of monthly page views - though I'm still just a blip out there in cyberspace. And that exciting milestone - spurred by my love of both metrics and blogging - inspired this post.

Click through to see some other interesting facts on my reader stats:

Menu: Fall Harvest Supper for a Dozen or So Good People

Mexican Mole Chili

- brimming with beans, corn, peppers, and flavored with rich, deep mole sauce

(vegetarian or turkey) 

Corn Muffins

- with sweet cream butter and honey

Spinach Salad

- with walnuts and dried cherries & champagne vinaigrette

Apple Crisp

- served warm with homemade ginger ice cream

Wine, Oktoberfest beer, Cider

Fabulous real estate!!

Once again, the NYTimes has written an article just for me - Who Lives There - Making a Home in a Pyramid 462 Feet Above Seattle.  This one is on the space and its inhabitants of a 2-story, 1700+ ft2 pyramid apartment atop the Smith Building in downtown Seattle.

The common living space - LR, DR, K - sits on the second floor of the apartment, while the nook-like bedrooms sit on the first floor.    Built-in shelves and window seats house books and eclectic collectibles (like empty bottles of Moet & Chandon from the last party with U2) or a small child reading on cushions framed in a cathedral-like window.  Smallish, triangular windows dot the sloping walls, letting in light, and each one frames a unique cityscape.  Structural innards are exposed.  A catwalk and narrow spiral staircase lead to the "Globe" - a glass enclosed observation room with a 365-degree view of the city from 40 stories high!  Here's the slide show.

Quite quirky - and no thanks, I wouldn't live there - but fun to imagine nonetheless.

A few of my favorite things: design, food, public health

Today's NYTImes Op-Ed includes a graphic, Lunch Line Redesign,  that illustrates how some simple design tweaks lead to better, healthier choices in the school cafeteria.  Design tweaks like fruit in a large fruit bowl, rather than a flat metal pan, increased sales.  An ice cream freezer with a closed opaque top reduced ice cream sales.  And an express line for healthy lunches (no chips or dessert) doubled sales for healthy sandwiches.

All of this is indeed very cool, as the US faces an obesity epidemic, and healthy fresh food options must find their way into our behavioral choices.  If these design fixes can help subtly influence these choices - not just our nutritional knowledge alone - then all the better.

Recently, I've found myself in two sandwich chains - Au Bon Pain and Panera Bread Company - which post calorie counts on the billboard menus from which I ordered.  On each occasion, I subconsciously considered the 2 or 3 most appealing selections, and then steered toward the lowest calorie option of those.  I made some assumptions in these choices - for example, that the calories were relatively equal in nutritional value - protein, fiber, Vitamin A or iron content, etc.  I also assumed that the calorie counts were wrong (having been tested in some food lab somewhere, and likely varied slightly, and likely for the worse, by food preparer).  Still, I assumed the relative calorie counts among the various choices still held true.  All this, in the flash of a few milliseconds of decision-making in the mind of a relatively well-informed, health conscious person.

Lots of disciplines melded here - and I appreciate the interdisciplinary application of design, public health, behavioral psychology, and economics.  I wonder how all this plays out in other choices we make - spending decisions, condom use, working out, etc.  I also wonder if school lunches are any less gross than they used to be.    

Merger Meeting

  TV screen shot from Thunderbirds.  (c) 2010 Vegitect

Words We Love Too Much

The NYTimes has a fabulous blog on English grammar, usage, and style.  This post on Words We Love Too Much discusses the Times' overuse and misuse of the word "epononymous."  Epononymous is hardly a word that rolls off the tongue, and it certainly slows down the fingers on the keyboard, yet the Times used this highfalutin word 64 times in the last year!

Highfalutin, on the other hand, does seem more commonly used in every-week-or-so language, yet I certainly had no clue how to spell it until I just checked.  The more commonly used "highbrow" is probably in daily use.

I love words, language, grammar, and punctuation (the last being my weakness).  One of my favorite books is Eats Shoots and Leaves  on how punctuation use and misuse can really alter the meaning and intent of a written sentence, often to humorous (to a nerd) effect.

A panda walks into a café. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and proceeds to fire it at the other patrons. 'Why?' asks the confused, surviving waiter amidst the carnage, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder. 'Well, I'm a panda,' he says, at the door. 'Look it up.' The waiter turns to the relevant entry in the manual and, sure enough, finds an explanation. 'Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.'

Eats Shoots and Leaves has been adapted to a younger audience, intended for those in grades 1 to 3.  Here, "Eat here, and get gas," or "Eat here and get gas"  really illustrates the critical importance of proper comma use!

Michelle Obama: Re-Fashionista

The last 24-hours have been nothing, if not intense.  You know - board meetings & merger deals, and trying not to look, care or get upset while watching my ex's life implode or freak out about how that might ultimately affect me and Dear Daughter.   Sigh. It all seems heavier now than it will with some perspective, some sleep, and a good swim....But in the meantime, I'll distract myself with some fluff and stuff.

Stuff like Michelle Obama's wardrobe - and some good re-use of basic pieces and accessories.  Black jacket, green pumps, wide black belt, yellow cardigan, white bow blouse provide great inspiration for her multi-purpose, but singular, style....check it out for yourself here at the Yahoo! slideshow.  It takes a time and some initial investment to build a stable of go-to wardrobe basics and stylish accents that can be cleverly and creatively re-purposed  to express one's personal style (particularly as a public figure with constant media documentation).  Michelle Obama has a great eye and fabulous fashion sense that will serve as some inspirational, diversionary tactic to me, far away from my other cares.

My girl

Banh Mi. Yummy.

Banh mi - or as we say in Philly - a Vietnamese hoagie - is the ultimate fusion cheap street food.  A hoagie - Philadelphia's version of a sub sandwich - long soft roll, filled with meat, veg, and condiments - is a Philadelphia specialty.  Italian hoagies are a particular regional delicacy from the Old World - filled with the best Italian cured meats (salami, cappicola, prosciutto) cheese (a nice sharp provolone), lettuce, tomato and splashed with oil and vinegar (never mayo - oh horror!) on a Sarcone's long roll.

But a fabulous twist on the hoagie has become popular in Philadelphia and other cities.  This Banh mi - Vietnamese sandwich - is filled with pulled chicken, crisp carrots, cucumber, cilantro, and a fishy aioli was fresh-delish.  A pulled pork version is available, as is a vegetarian one with tofu and crunchy fresh Asian vegetables like daikon.  We lunched at this two-seater hole-in-the-wall today before heading back to DC - Cafe Nuh y (806 Christian Street, Philadelphia).   Other options around the city are reviewed here in Philadelphia Weekly.  Yum.

Street Scene: South Street, Philadelphia

OMG! Here's an excellent quiz on world religion

From the Pew Research Center national survey on religious knowledge, we learned that Americans don't actually know an awful lot about it - not about their own self-professed religion, and certainly less about anyone else's.  Self-identified atheists scored highest.

Here's a pop quiz from NYTimes  columnist Nicholas Kristof.  Admittedly, I did not do so well - 3 or 4 correct answers out of 13. And I hardly count those because I was either guessing or trying to psych out the test objective.  The quiz focuses on more extremist views of social and moral values, and it illustrates that religious tenets are more complicated and nuanced than one might be led to believe from the geopolitical bent of media and crazy, uninformed religious and political extremists....(Grrrrr....don't get me started).  I like that several questions on the quiz have more than one correct response.  Well-researched and provocative, it makes one stop and think.  Too bad, so many people don't bother doing so.

Lumenhaus: Design within Reach

Congratulations to the Virginia Tech team for winning the 2010 Solar Dacathalon Europe!  Their beautiful Lumenhaus (gorgeous film and interactive site) incorporates beautiful eco-design principles, and its infinite flexibility to upsize and downsize off the central module over a lifetime makes it even more ingenious.

The small 580 ft2 footprint looks and feels more expansive with the connections of the inside with the outside, the abundance of natural light from its wide windows, and its adaptable, multi-use spaces.  I am taken with the passive heating and cooling of the sliding screens and perforated panels that invite or deflect sun, or allow for a lovely cross ventilation.  I'm also in love with the adaptability of the central module - the way the table can be wheeled out to the pavilion patio (a new room in nice weather), and the kitchen counter detaches to additional counter space.  And as mentioned, the central, most expensive pod with the solar cells and controls, can have plugged in shells to expand up to a 4-5BR/2BA house as the family grows, and back down again in downsizing and empty-nesting  How marvelous is that? There's also all sorts of eco-tech features, that I hardly get, like bio-filitering grey water, rain catchment, and a smartgrid that works with the local utility company, both providing energy back to the grid and allowing a data feedback for its own use.  

The linked interactive feature here at the NY TImes gives a better tour and explanation than I ever could, so please check it out.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Dear daughter and I were having an early morning conversation today while snuggling in bed before facing the day.  Lights still out, shades still drawn, talking in soft voices - a wonderful moment that I hope to preserve in my heart because she is growing so fast (It's not a cliche, I swear!).  We were talking about what she wants to be when she grows up:

Dear Daughter: "If I can't be a rock star, I want to be a fashion model. If I can't be a fashion model, I want to be a detective. If I can't be a detective, I want to be a hair stylist."
Mama: "How about a teacher?
DD: "Yeah, if not a hair stylist, then a teacher."
Mama: "How about president of [my Non-Profit Organization]?
DD: "No, by the time I'm working you'll be retired."
M: "How about President of the United States?"
DD: "No, too hard."
M: "How about a judge?"
DD: "No because if my friends were having a challenge, and I liked them all, I couldn't decide."
M: "How about a doctor? Or a nurse?"
DD: "I don't want to see naked children," she says with a grossed-out look on her face in the dim light.
M: "How about a scientist?"
DD: "No, that's not me. I like fancy stuff."

She is nothing, if not a marvel.  She knows herself, and I can't say I disagree with her assessments.  I will love watching her grow up.

Sex Research

The results of a national sex research study were released today from Indiana University's Center for Sexual Health Promotion.  The findings are interesting, but not too shocking.  And phew! - it seems, I am, in fact, "normal."  The study was underwritten by Trojan, the condom company, and has the largest, most comprehensive sample size in almost 20 years, across a wide age range of 14 to 94 .  You can read it for yourself, but overall, it seems we're not doing so great on condom use (particularly among the 40+ age group), and we have a wide variety of sexual behaviors to keep ourselves and our partners happy.

I have always been interested in sex.  "Duh - who isn't?" you say.  But really, I am especially interested in sex - and not only from a personal pleasure point of view, but also from a sexual health perspective.  As a teenager, on Sunday nights, I'd listen to Dr Ruth (Westheimer) late into the night.  In high school, I bought the Shere Hite 500+ page report on female sexuality at a used bookstore.  In my early 20's, I was a Dr. Drew (Pinsky) fan on radio's Loveline, before he became famous on MTV.  And, as mentioned in a recent post, I am a savage fan of Savage Love by Dan Savage.  I stayed home one evening when I was 25, planning my night around a PBS documentary on Alfred Kinsey, underwritten by Hugh Hefner and the Ford Foundation :-).  The good people are My Heroes for being frank, direct role models and spokespeople for healthy, informed, consensual, positive, pleasurable, communicative sex.

I was a Planned Parenthood supporter, long before I had even been kissed.  In college, I was a family planning counselor.  In grad school, I studied public health, with a focus on Population and Family Health, now more commonly known and practiced as Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights. In my career, I've worked on family planning and reproductive health programs.  And not so long ago, I even had to discuss anal sex in a job interview.

Weather Forecast for Saturday, October 2

Sunny, clear, cool with a high probability of gorgeous!   (Thanks Capital Weather Gang)
Woohoo!  Fall is here.

I [HEART] maps; I [HEART] Philadelphia.

Graphic designer, Joel Katz, of the amazing city of Philadelphia has created a redesign of the map for city's regional public transit system.  While it is apparently geographically inaccurate - hmmm, seems sort of counterintuitive for a map, no? - it is apparently user-friendly and clearly lays out the order of stations, an important function of a transit map.

Personally, I find the map striking in its design - bold, simple, artistic - to be praised for its form, as well as its function.  The soft curves of each line is not a usual feature of a transit map - a lovely distinctive feature.  One really gets a sense of systems - public transit systems, flowcharts, bodily systems.  It reminds me of a  modern family tree, a scale, a collection of vases and urns.  I like the way the important stuff - Center City, the major subway and elevated lines are bolder and more distinct than the secondary lines to suburbs.  I like the way Philly's two rivers - the Delaware and the Schuykill - are displayed as washes of light blue ribbons.

Born a city-child, I began taking the subway to my public school in seventh grade (Lombard to Spring Garden stations) through high school (Lombard to Olney stations) on the Broad Street line.  I think I turned out OK.

From my sub-conscious

I had an erotic dream about one of my colleagues last night.

M is beardless and on the shorter-than-average side - so not my natural "type."  Nonetheless,  I find his dorkiness charming, his humor sharp, and his intellect impressive - indeed, qualities that are part-and-parcel of my natural type. In real life, I enjoy our rapport and all his endearing qualities have led to a closeness and chemistry between us (the boundaries of work and his marriage are fully respected!), and which occasionally leads to some involuntary fantasizing (on my part, at least) during management meetings.  We have been working particularly closely together recently, including a nice business dinner the other evening with a third party with delicious food and wine, and delightful conversation.   And last night, the whole thing played out in my sub-conscious...