A Sort-of-Hellish Sunday

After Yesterday's Bliss, I should have known I was in for a long day.

But, I had no idea, so I woke at a reasonable hour and put on my workout clothes and tried to lace my new running shoes from Zappos. Alas, the top right eyelet was broken on my left shoe. So, I sat at the computer, printed a return label, packaged up the shoes for return, and put on my old shoes.

Then, it started to rain.

So, instead of the planned workout, I started the day by filing an amendment to our taxes due as a result of receiving a corrected form 1099-Div from Ameritrade. 2 hours and multiple forms later, we were entitled to $8 from the Feds, and $3 from the state. I would have just let them keep the money if I could have kept my 2 hours. Seriously...

In the course of updating our forms, some financial investigations led me to realize that paying quarterly taxes wasn't just a requirement this year (which I knew), but we were *already late*, since I earned money in March, which is Q1, and estimated payments for Q1 were due in April. Good times.

So, I calculated those, printed the vouchers, and had the fun conversation with E about the big check we needed to write, like a month ago, (and the upcoming one of equal value in 5 weeks).

Somewhere in there, I fit in a quick trip to the farmer's market in the rain. Sadly, I confirmed that the good tomatoes are just not available yet.

At least I got some good asparagus spears, delicious strawberries, swiss chard, dill & fresh bread! Oh, and a kumamoto oyster from the fresh shucked-in-front-of-you oyster tent -- I consoled myself from the rain and taxes with the treat and justified it by reminding myself that oyster season would be over soon.

Where was I? Oh, yes, lamenting about my horrid day. Ignore the blissful break of the farmer's market and feel sorrow for me as I returned to my office and sat before the beast of Quickbooks for at least 5 hours. For about 4 weeks (February-ish), I incurred expenses on behalf of the business before I had a business bank account or business credit card. Reconciling and accounting for, and repaying myself for those amounts was the exact opposite of fun, I assure you. I am now very understanding of the reason for ridiculously detailed expense reports. I cannot wait to have enough business to justify handing the bookkeeping back to my bookkeeper.

Anyways, in the grand scheme of things, it really wasn't that bad of a day at all. Taxes are paid, tax payments and future due dates are known (instead of unknown dreads), bookkeeping is current, shoes will be returned and new ones are on their way, and while the run didn't happen, I did manage to fit in a 4 mile walk while chatting with R.

In short, it was a productive day, but nowhere near as cool as yesterday.

Recipe for A Perfect Saturday

Wake early, rested, to perfect weather and a quick enjoyable view of the garden on the way out the door.

Get coffee and head to a beautiful local 10K. See local friends you didn't know would be there, meet their baby, and catch up for half an hour before the race. Run harder than you expected through hills to catch much better views than you realized were available. At the point where you most want to walk up the steps cut in the trail, encounter a mom with a jogging stroller who gives you the perfect excuse to walk and help her carry the stroller up the steps.

Long shower.

Bike downtown with E for a 2-hour outdoor brunch in perfect weather with wine at a local mediterranean food restaurant.

Nap.

Watch a hilariously cheesy movie where English is spoken in hell, Spanish on earth, and French in heaven while shelling fava beans that you harvested from the remaining plants before they were sacrificed for the compost pile (see the tall plants in the front box that are falling over? They are now a memory.)



Continue to shell fava beans while watching an hour of the Ken Burns documentary on the National Parks.

(Good thing favas fix nitrogen into the soil and plant matter for great composting. Because otherwise, the labor necessary to get to the edible portion would not be worth the ridiculous work of shelling and re-shelling. Here's the entire take after about 2.5 hours of lazy work by me, aka post de-podding, but pre-2nd shelling of the skin:)



Prepare an impromptu dinner of angel hair pasta and pesto made from random bits of deliciousness that were hiding in the kitchen (antipasti, croutons, 5 chili preserves, anchovies, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, olive oil, what?).

Eat pasta and continue to enjoy the National Parks documentary. Fall asleep to images of beautiful nature on husband's lap.

Eventually move to the bed. Sleep. Well.

Ahhhh...

Vicarious Adventure

A friend of mine is packing up all of her stuff and moving to Homer, Alaska to work this summer.

I'm going to enjoy reading about her travels, and bet you might too.

So, if you're looking for some entertainment this summer check out Clarke Photo Goes to Alaska.

Whatever You Do, Do It Well

Brother came home with donuts yesterday. Not just any donuts, however, Psycho Donuts:



Yes, those are individually placed and frosted Captain Crunchberries, graham crackers, and oreos.

Apparently, they take their marketing fairly seriously, and they have a padded room.

I pretty much never eat dessert at home. But, I enjoyed a donut for dessert, and it was amazing.

Airship Ventures -- Best Birthday Present Ever!

For E's 30th birthday, we went on a trip on our local Zeppelin.

It was easily an order of magnitude cooler than I expected (and he was thrilled).

The view of any part of the beautiful state of California from 1,000 - 2,000 ft. above is not to be discounted. There were several points during the trip where I was speechless with appreciation for just how gorgeous our state is.

It didn't hurt that we had the airship to ourselves:



(Apparently, these flights are usually booked full, but we lucked out and were treated like a private charter, with 2 pilots and a flight attendant).

Of course, I wouldn't stop working, even though it was E's birthday, so finally, he threatened to throw me out:



Once I understood the importance of the situation, we were able to calmly appreciate the beauty of highway 1:



The Pacific Ocean:



And the size of the ship against the backdrop of the military base where we landed:



I would do it again in a heartbeat.

There are 3 functional Zeppelins in the world. Our trip was piloted by the only female Zeppelin captain in the world, Captain Kate (with back-up from Captain Jim):





If you are looking for an awesome California experience, I cannot recommend them enough. Also, their sister-company in Germany is booked solid 6 months in advance. I suspect, based on the names they dropped about previous passengers that the Californian ship (EUREKA!) is not that far behind.

So, if this is the type of thing that is interesting to you. E and I recommend you go now. It was awesome.

Linguistic Milestone

Apparently, my Spanish is finally good enough that the staff at our local Mexican joint feel free to speak with me entirely in Spanish. It's been a long time coming.

Tonight, one of the servers greeted me with a pat on the shoulder:


Hola. Amiga. Estas muy bonita! Estas esperando bebe, non?



Culturally, this is not something this server would ever say to an English-only customer.

So, I was flattered.

But also, it would appear that I'm not the only one who has noticed the 5 extra pounds I'm carrying...

Good Times.

Adjustments

It turns out, I still work weekends.

Evenings.

Early mornings.

Who knew? I thought when I quit the law firm, by default, I'd bought myself a year or two of lull. You know, time to build up the practice.

I can't complain about being wrong. My practice is busier than I dreamed it would be, and so much earlier than I expected.

But, wow. Unbeknownst to me, I am learning that I secretly dreamed of and pre-enjoyed weekends and mornings and evenings and relaxation.

I'm only now realizing how strong those dreams were while I mourn their loss. This weekend, E and I took a 3 day weekend away. I worked Saturday AM but managed, through guilty herculean efforts, to avoid the computer the entire time until Monday evening. In exchange for that privilege, I had to send many emails from my phone apologizing, promising responses, and fretting about my failure to set an appropriate out-of-office message.

Today, I didn't fit in my run. I woke early, but instead of running, I worked. All day, I cranked away on legal stuff, with "breaks" for networking and meeting with the bookkeeper (Who laughed at my receipts from my first month vis-a-vis my initial estimate of my annual collections -- It would appear I was a bit too conservative...).

As E pointed out, I am personally experiencing the hyper-growth shock that many of my successful startups have experienced. I will need to hire soon. The whole experience is very educational. And I am thankful.

It Gets Harder

Yoga is unlike any *sport* I've ever done.

I've had a pseduo-regular yoga practice for about 10 years. And a pseudo-zen philsophical practice for a little less than 20 years.

In the last 3 years or so, I've tried to step up my commitment to yoga and combine it with my zen practice as well. Recently, as a result of starting my own law practice (I'm practicing quite a bit these days!) and managing my own schedule, I've been able to return to a regular studio-based yoga practice -- which is awesome.

The thing about Yoga that is completely different from any other regular physical activity in which I've engaged is that the longer I practice, the more difficult it becomes.

Not in a bad way.

Quite the opposite.

It's just that with every additional day of practice, I learn more things I can focus on, pay attention to, and isolate in each pose.

As a result, I now find even the most basic class to be very difficult.

When I started, I only sought out advanced classes because it was the only way I could exhaust myself into a state of relaxation. Now, I can take an hour long class for people who have never done yoga that allows for many rest breaks and never deviates from the basic fundamental poses and I'll still find it challenging and rewarding. In fact, sometimes I find myself dripping with sweat in these basic classes even more than in a more advance class, as a result of breathing deep yoga breaths, paying attention to where my mind is, where my eyes are focused, and what the various muscle groups are doing because they hold the poses for so long while allowing the new students to get used to them.

Today, I've found that no matter what type of class I take, if I go to the studio, by the finishing sequence I'm always exhausted and relaxed.

I find it very comforting to realize that this is a practice that I will be able to have for the rest of my life. The well-rounded combination of a mental, spiritual, and physical practice means that even when I am very old or sick I will be able to find some aspect of the practice to challenge me.

I am grateful.

Fruits to Come

Sunday, after a fairly hard-core 9 miles with E2, I came home to garden obsessively alongside E, who built yet another garden box for our yard.

After 8+ hours of labor, we're done (more or less) with the summer garden planting.

Pictures will show up on Tech Law Garden once they are available, but in the meantime, let's celebrate that there are very few things in the world more exhausting than manually turning, shoveling, moving, and amending soil.

In other news, I expect to sleep well this week, and, I think this year's garden may be the best one yet!

Big Monday

A law suit that was filed by a student group when I was a law student is making its way to the United States Supreme Court for oral arguments tomorrow.

The law -- she is slow, at times. As a student, I had thought this was a cut and dried issue. As a lawyer, several years later, I laugh at my confidence back then. I now know that this issue was a fight waiting to happen, and that anyone with the resources to fight it could have taken the opportunity (as the CLS did) to make it a long, difficult, resource-intensive argument, no matter what the outcome.

It's times like these that I wish I lived in Washington DC. I'd love to be in the courtroom tomorrow and hearing the arguments in person. Some day I'll cross that todo off the list...

Roasted Cauliflower with Bacon, Baby Carrots, Leeks, Mustard, and Bread Crumbs

This recipe is currently winning the 2010 unofficial home-based contest for unexpected awesome (and it puts some of the last of the Spring Harvest to use).



-1/4 lb bacon, chopped into 1 inch strips
-2 Leeks, chopped into 1 cm rounds
-1 head cauliflower, chopped into florets of 1 inch X 1 inch X 0.25 inch
-2 T fancy German non-sweet mustard (pick your favorite mustard from a talented friend, if you can)
-1/2 lb. miniature carrots from the garden
-2 C. bread crumbs
-fancy salt flakes (pick your poison)

-Pre-heat oven to 450F.

1. Chop leeks and cauliflower. Scatter throughout pan. Place dry in oven.

2. Sauteé bacon on medium. Cover to preserve liquid in addition to grease. Add chopped leeks after bacon has started to release grease. Add mustard, stir. Cover.

3. Once leeks are completely translucent, layer bacon, leeks, mustard, etc. over slightly browned cauliflower. Return, uncovered, to oven for 20 minutes.

4. Stir all layers to ensure even coating of bacon grease and any other spices that have been added to you taste. Layer baby carrots, salt flakes, bread crumbs, and a sprinkling of olive oil on top. Return to oven for 20 minutes.

5. Remove from oven and serve immediately. Add black pepper and salt flakes for texture to taste.

My Patron Saint: Santa Chiara di Asisi

When I lived in Italy, my language school took weekend cultural excursions every week. And, one weekend, we went to Assisi.

Ordinarily, I paid the fee and visited the relics wherever we went.

But in Assisi, I was overwhelmed by the number of Catholic nuns, many of whom hailed from very poor countries and had saved for years for the privilege of visiting Saint Claire. It just felt wrong for me to get in line with them and try to appreciate the holiness and wonder attributable to her relics when they considered their visit a pilgrimage and mine was a stroke of luck due to a bus that brought me there through no planning or forethought of my own.

Years later, I was sworn in as an attorney at the California Mission of Santa Clara. At the time, I was thankful, emotional, and asked for a blessing on my future career, but I paid no heed to the role of Santa Clara in that day, other than to note that it was the name of the location where the big emotional event occurred.

Today, I found myself back at the Church with time to spare before an event sponsored by the affiliated law school. Much to my surprise, I was compelled to go in, to breathe and cross myself with holy water, to kneel (with my laptop at my side) and say a prayer of thanks for the career blessings I am currently experiencing, and just generally, to say thanks and ask for blessings for life, and love, and the opportunity to grow in the face of everything I've been given, and all of the things that one feels thankful for when in a spontaneous spiritual state.

I left, emotionally buoyant -- as if my trip into the Church was something that was fundamentally correct -- pleased with myself that I had taken the time to do it (an amusing feeling for a self-proclaimed buddhist to feel while walking out of a Catholic Church after performing a Catholic ritual).

And then, on my way out, as I walked to my event, I saw the placard explaining that Mission Santa Clara was the first Californian Mission dedicated to a female saint. All of a sudden, the unexplained reverence and connection I felt in this place felt even more right. I am deeply Californian. My family worked this land for five generations to earn me the right to become a college educated female who didn't have to work the land. And yet, my hobby is the garden. I have found that I am inexorably connected to the land.

The Missions of California are such a part of the story of the California land that it makes sense that I, as a Californian, would feel connected to them. And, to feel a stronger connection to the first female-dedicated mission, well, duh, as a female, that makes sense. But, today, after reading the placard explaining that Mission Santa Clara was the first Mission dedicated to a woman, I finally remembered that I had seen first hand, in her burial grounds, the reverence that Santa Chiara can invoke. And, I recalled that I had so much respect and awe for the love that she invoked, that I abstained in favor of the pilgrims.

So, tonight, I am feeling an indescribable sense of awe for the circle of life and our experiences and how they can weave together to create a wholeness we could not have imagined. Through no planning of my own, I visited her burial grounds long before I knew her Mission would be a part of my career. Upon my return to the US, I opted to live down the street (the El Camino Real) from her Mission. At the beginning of my career, I unknowingly asked for blessings in my career and thanked the powers that be for my luck in a house of worship built in her name. And today, again, when I felt grateful, I walked into that same house of worship and performed ceremonies I haven't felt the need to perform since the last Catholic wedding I attended.

I guess she is my patron saint.

What a great thing to learn.

Losing Your Balance is Contagious

Last night, during our home Yoga practice, E and I both started wobbling in tree pose. Soon enough we were both wobbling more and more and finally, we both fell.

E commented:

Unbalance is contagious

And, in that wacky mind-state that yoga can sometimes produce, I thought

That is true.

Yoga teaches us to focus on our own breath, to maintain our inner calm, and to stay with the yin and yang of our own breath in the midst of the chaos that our mind thinks our body or the outside world is throwing at us.

But, if you are anything like me, you find that it is much easier to focus on your own breath when you are in a room full of other people practicing intently, focusing on their own breath as well, insulated from the madness outside the yoga sanctuary.

Several of my yoga instructors have talked about taking your yoga practice with you, outside the studio, into every day life. And no doubt, that is the ultimate goal -- to breathe and have perspective so you can be calm and peaceful while moving throughout the storm of everyday life.

But, I've also heard many instructors talk about the importance of regularly coming to a class. The importance of giving yourself a supportive community, an instructor, and a space where you feel immediately calm -- where you can focus and breathe and increase the strength of your practice.

E's comment made me realize that these two goals -- 1) to take your yoga practice with you into the chaos; and 2) to seek a supportive peaceful environment where you can deepen your practice -- are not at odds.

Just as unbalance in the yoga studio is contagious, so it is in real life. So yes we can seek to bring our balanced perspective and life with us wherever we go and with whomever we interact. But, it is important to recognize that while we are developing our sense of balance, we need to be mindful of our environment -- we will find it easier to be balanced in a supportive peaceful environment (with supportive, peaceful people). Similarly, we may need to limit our time in unsupportive, chaotic environments if we find that we are "catching" the unbalanced energy that often exists there.

Alright, that's enough new age hippy crap for now.

The Glory of the Unscheduled

This weekend, for the first time in about 6 months, after 5:30 PM on Friday, I had no obligations scheduled until Monday at 9:30 AM.

Sure, E2 and P may stop by on their way through town on Sunday and we may need to celebrate their engagement properly and ooh and ahh over the ring in person, but that's just a maybe and if they don't have time or we aren't here, no big deal.

In short, I can't believe how relaxed I feel. It is a glorious, wonderful feeling. And how have I used this time, you may ask?

Just perfectly, so far!

First, on Friday night, I spoke to R on the phone, uninterrupted for almost 2 hours.

Saturday morning, after waking to ensure brother was in good hands, I cleaned out my email box, cleaned the kitchen a wee bit and headed out for a solid 8.5+ mile run. It was slow, but steady, and not so slow as to be anything other than an obvious step on the return to my former (pre-sciatica) fitness level.

This afternoon? Impromptu lunch with friends followed by lots of todo list crossing off, gardening, and garden planning.

Tonight? Another impromptu meal with friends at a local izakaya (I love living in such an immigrant rich community).

And tomorrow? Perhaps some yoga with B, perhaps not. But definitely a medium/short run and catch up session with B before lunch. Brother, E and I had planned to head to the local farmer's market to shop and plan the week's menu and eat brunch, but given the predicted rain -- it'll likely be just me quickly raiding the farmer's market stalls and a mellow afternoon at home doing more work and personal chores.

Basically, I'm elated to be living such a normal (impossible to be late because there's nothing scheduled) life this weekend.

It has been entirely too long.

Roasted Mustard Pork-Chops Over Winter Veggies

Easy and delicious made-up recipe from the contents of our fridge, served to guests. Good Mustard is the key.

-1 pork chop per person
-port mustard from Heavenly Mustards
-1 cabbage, chopped
-1 cup leftover vegetable minestrone
-3 leeks from the garden, chopped
-olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Layer cabbage and leeks in a baking dish
3. Pour minestrone over cabbage and leeks
4. Lather both sides of each pork chop with a liberal layer of mustard, place on top of veggies.
5. Drizzle with olive oil.



6. Bake for 20 minutes. Drizzle with more oil.
7. Bake for 10 minutes. Drizzle with more oil. Turn to broil.
8. Broil for 5 minutes.
9. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Tomatoes in Waiting

The latest post at Tech Law Garden shows the current state of the tomatoes.

All 362 of them.

But, what I'm most excited about are the varietals we're growing this year. After much experimentation last year, we determined that tomatoes with more flesh and less liquid were better for many of the uses we enjoy such as canning, sauces, roasting, salsas, etc.

Don't get me wrong -- nothing, and I mean nothing, can compete with a big juicy liquid-filled tomato in its prime during the height of tomato season. It's just that if you want to do something other than eat it raw, the liquid starts to be less and less useful, and this is balanced against the fact that the plants can only take up so much liquid, so production is lower for high-juice tomatoes.

Accordingly, we jettisoned many of last year's higher juice/gel-sac tomatoes in favor of more paste tomatoes. If it's a repeat, it's come from seeds I saved because we felt it was on the high end of quality when taste, heartiness, and production were taken into consideration. This year's 28 grown-from-seed entrants are:

-Amish Paste (new)
-Black Cherry (1-1 1/2 inch diameter cherry repeat)
-Black from Tula (medium/large purple from saved seeds)
-Brown Berry (3/4 - 1 inch diameter brown repeat)
-Coustralee (ruffled, large, pink, repeat)
-Federle (new)
-Green Giant (huge green-when-ripe beefsteaks, repeat)
-Green Zebra (small green and yellow striped globes, repeat)
-Health Kick (new, high lycopene)
-Heinz 2653 (new)
-Howard German (new)
-Husky Cherry Red (compact, hearty, determinate, disease resistant, good for lower sunshine locations, repeat)
-Japanese Black Trifele (dark brown shouldered pear shaped tomato with potato leaves, delicious repeat)
-Kentucky Beefsteak (huge, orange, prolific, favorite, repeat)
-Mini Carol from seeds saved from fruits grown from Knapp's Fresh Veggies (sweet, early producer, orange minis, repeat)
-Orange Russian 117 (red-orange/yellow striped beauty, medium/large, repeat)
-Powers Heirloom (new)
-Principe Borghese (new)
-Purple Calabash (new)
-Purple Russian (new)
-Roman Candle (new)
-Sun Sugar (sweet and delicious saved for repeat, although supposedly a genetic hybrid, so perhaps not..)
-Super Marzano (prolific red paste tomato that does well in pots with sufficient calcium, VFNT (disease resistant), repeat)
-Sweet Horizon (orange oxheart, repeat)
-Thessoloniki (red juicy taste test winner in our home, medium sized, repeat)
-Top Sirloin (largest tomatoes from last season, huge red beefsteaks, late bloomers, amazing, repeat)
-Viva Italia (new)
-White Oxheart (white oxheart with amazing sweetness and acidity, a favorite, if not the favorite from last year, repeat)

Sister has a new last name

I am sad, but much, much, more happy.

It was a beautiful event.

Need to Evolve

Tonight, while catching up on facebook with some very long lost friends, I encountered this response:


add\n*Jenn*



Seriously. I have no idea.

And I parse language for a living.

Google had no good first-page answers.

Am I supposed to dig deeper than that?

*very confused.....*

Reason Number 10,004,079

Why my husband is awesome?

He religiously looks up the ISS passes over our hometown, and insists that we go outdoors to view them when they are good.

So, tonight, while at our local Mexican Joint with H and O and baby-in-the-oven, we all ran outside at 8:17 PM to view the bright ascent of the ISS across the sky. Our hasty departure caused many of the waitstaff to follow us, and they were impressed enough to run around back and clear out the kitchen so that they could see it too.

E proceeded to show pictures of the ISS on his phone and explain its purpose, height, speed, etc, to all within earshot who stopped by our table to ask what? why? how come?

I was so proud.

Also, it was one of the best viewings I'd ever had, so it was very cool to share it with all of these folks who'd never seen it before (and many who'd never even heard of it).

Smart Reader?

There is something very disturbing about the fact that a smart grid energy meter in silicon valley looks like this:



I swear I saw something like this next to Buck Rogers in a Sci-Fi flick as a kid, no?