Book love....

Grimm's Fairy Tales. We started watching the TV series, Grimm, based loosely on these stories and I thought I should revisit the book. The most common theme was karmic; your actions are repaid in kind. That and the rescuing of many a princess.

Wino....

We've blogged extensively about watching rugby in NZ so it's no surprise that a couple weeks ago we decided to head down to Westpac Stadium and watch our Hurricanes take on the Highlanders. With tickets in hand we bundled up due to the "cold" NZ weather (translate to "cool") and I even got a new Hurricanes beanie to help me stay warm while supporting our team. :) Then after getting some chips (translate to fries) and a couple drinks apiece we headed to our seats. Settling in Timmy cracked a beer while I tried to wrangle my drinks. Now the only bad thing about Westpac is that they don't offer a drop of cider onsite and so, because I don't drink beer, my only option is white wine. I know, it sounds funny: white wine at a professional sporting event. And it is but alas this is how they do it here. So I had two tiny bottles of Sauvignon Blanc. But it gets better. So you're drinking wine at a rugby game but we're civilized here because they give you a plastic glass with a tiny stem. That is, you can swill your vino in style. See below. Bundled in Hurricanes gear and sipping a little Sauv - a challenging task when your paw is in a mitten. :)

Boxy....

Take a gander at the photo below. What do you think of these things hanging on our bulletin board? What do you think they are? Amazingly, the one in the middle is a greeting card made of two pieces of canvas sown together and painted. The other two comprise the box that protected the card like an envelope would a piece of paper. When I was happily opening the birthday parcel that contained this piece of art I didn't see an "envelope" holding a card and so I didn't find this until halfway through. When I opened the box I knew immediately that I wanted to hang it up because the colors were so beautiful with noticeable brush strokes throughout. And it won't be anytime soon that I get a proper frame for it but I figured why wait? As I was putting things away this afternoon I thought, "You know what? I'm putting this up right now" and then I realized that the box is just as interesting as the card itself so there you have it: a new painted grouping.

Helga....

A while back I posted that I was starting to run on the treadmill at the gym. Again, let me just say, that this is a feat in and of itself. Alas, since my crushing data collection schedule has settled down I'm able to drag myself from the office to the gym to run. On one of my workout days I nicknamed the treadmill "Helga" because that sounds like some kind of ruthless personal trainer. :) The name is apt: she kicks my butt each and every workout. Despite my efforts to do the experience justice in words I cannot convey how challenging running is for me. Before every workout I have an internal argument with myself, "I don't really need to go the gym", "I'm too busy", "I don't have time", "I'm sore from the last run". Blah, blah, blah. Some days I give in and skip but other days I scold myself and change into workout gear. Then I walk myself down the hill to the gym where Helga takes me to task. At the end of each workout the most amazing thing happens. Without fail. I feel like I can do anything. Like I can take on the world. Simply incredible. If I had known this would happen perhaps I would've started running long ago. Yeah, probably not because I remember maybe the first month of workouts were awful. I felt terrible. Exhausted. In pain. And that from running relatively short distances. Rather slowly. I don't know what possessed me to keep going.

Update: I had wanted to work towards running 5 km (a little over 3 miles) in 30 minutes. While I haven't reached my goal just yet I'm making strides with each run. No pun intended (it just happened). I am very proud to say that I'm now consistently running 5 km each time I go to the gym. Unfortunately, I can't do it in 30 min yet but I'll continue to work at it. More to come.

Book love.....

Children of the Mind.

Book love....

The Dovekeepers. A whopping 500 pager. Done very well.

Veggie verdict.....

So our vegetarian experiment has ended and I have to say that I'm surprised how easy it was. I guess that makes sense as we hadn't been eating much meat. Still, eating no meat is a considerable step away from eating some. After careful consideration and analysis of the data we have decided to go down the vegetarian path. That is, meat and fish are out but we are still partaking of dairy and eggs. Thinking back I remembered wondering how people were able to give up meat. And yes now I've revised my perspective on the issue but I really can't imagine giving up dairy and eggs. Mostly because I'm crazy about cheese, yogurt, ice cream and scrambled eggs. :)

Since making this decision I've experienced some of those initial experiences of having to scrutinize food to know whether it's an option for me. For example, last week our Animal Ethics Committee, to which I'm the postgrad student representative, was invited to have a catered lunch with a group of folks from the National Animals Ethics Advisory Committee (NAEAC). NAEAC provides advice to the Ministry of Primary Industries on issues related to animal ethics and welfare. This group was visiting Victoria to learn about our animal facilities; they even visited our rat lab. 

When we met for lunch I remember peering at the offerings on the platters and wondering if I would be to tell the veggie and non-veggie options apart. In the end I made an educated guess and after introducing myself to one of the women in the group I asked her if there was meat in the little quiche she was eating. She said no and I was happy to find that my choices were indeed veggie. Not that it was unexpected but it just reinforced the fact that eating vegetarian is a very different way of approaching food. I'm finding the mental exercise an interesting experience.

As part of a separate issue I've realized that over the last several months I haven't been eating particularly healthy. In short, I want to change that and feel better. This decision has made me scrutinize the type of food and drink I consume as well as providing motivation to plop myself on the treadmill a few times each week. It's time to be healthy. 

With that said I'd like to clarify that I haven't made the decision to become a vegetarian because I think it's inherently healthy. I suffer no delusions that vegetarianism is, in and of itself, a healthier lifestyle choice than choosing to eat meat. Done incorrectly it can be incredibly unhealthy. So I am pursuing these two separate issues, eating vegetarian and becoming healthier, at the same time recognizing that one doesn't beget the other. They can both be part of a healthy lifestyle but the onus is on me to actually make it happen. Here's to health!