Bike Season Has Begun

I biked to work today for the first time since last October and I could not be more elated.  It has been too long, I have been waiting and waiting for the factors to come together.  Well, today the sun, the warmth, the weather forecast, and my morning finally all came together with a perfect storm of biking thunder.

After I finally got out of the house and on my way it was a little cold and I could certainly tell that I had lost some of my physical fitness since last October.  But, this is one of the reasons I am so happy to be able to get back on the bike for my commute to work.  I am really hoping that this will be a new starting point for me to change my health and fitness level for the better.  For as long as I can remember I have been fat and every year I have toyed with the idea of actually exercising and eating well in order to loose some weight, but I have never actually done anything about it.   So, as I sit here writing this, after biking 6 miles to work, I feel more motivated than ever to eat better and be more active. 

There are many more reasons I love biking to work besides motivating me to actually get healthier.  First of all I love being able to enjoy the beauty of the city by bike, it is slower the train or bus goes, it is slower than a car.  Even though it takes me 30 minutes to get to work by bike (which is still faster than public transit) I get to enjoy seeing people, trees, the sun coming up over the Boston skyline, and I get to smell bakeries baking their morning breads.  

I consider myself an environmentally conscious person and this is another reason I love biking.  Driving a car to work not only adds pollution  to the earth but it adds noise pollution and it adds to traffic.  Plus, I hate the idea of sitting in traffic and not moving when on my bike I could just be zipping around that darn traffic and headed on my way home.

The freedom that biking gives me is also amazing, when I take public transit to work and from work I have a very set route, if I need to go some place out of my way it could take another hour to get home, on my bike I can quickly make my pit stop (I don’t even need to find a parking space) and be back on my way home.  Now I don’t want to discourage people to use public transportation because I still think it is much better than driving, but the freedom of biking is fantastic.

Now get out there start biking darn it, I love it and I know you will too.

Apples and Oranges

I have to admit that one of the things that has drawn me to the idea of simplifying my life is that I am a bit of a lazy procrastinator.  One of the areas of my life where this is overwhemigly the case is preparing my lunch for work the following day; working from an idea of simplicity I have come up with something that really seems to be working for me.

Instead of making myself a meal, or a sandwich or preparing leftovers from dinner for my lunch, I simply take raw fruit, veggies and nuts.  So before I leave my house every morning I grab 2 or 3 oranges, a banana, an apple, and I measure out about 2 onces of walnuts and 40 grams of raisins, this is all I eat until dinner when there is time specifically set aside to make dinner as a family.  Some of you might be suprised by this and think that it would not be enough food but every day when I leave work I feel quite full and satisfied.  What about protein?  Being vegan that is a question I often get anyway much less since doing this new minimalist lunch.  There is more than enough protein in the walnuts, which are also second only to blueberries in antioxidant power, plus if I get little cravings throughout the day, which most people do, I can just eat a couple of walnuts, there is enough fat in them that they help me feel full.

The advantages of this minimalist lunch and breakfast approach are amazing.  First of all I don’t have to worry about what I am making for lunch the next day, as long as I have bought enough fruit at the beginning of the week I know that I will be able to grab 4 or 5 pieces, it is wonderfuly simple.  Secondly, I don’t spend any money on food eating out.  It is also amazingly healthy, most days I get my 5 – 6 servings of fruit and veggies before I leave work.  Finally, and the most amazing thing, is that I have rediscovered how amazing just enjoying raw organic fruit can be.  Peeling an orange has become sort of meditative and once I begin eating it it is like heaven, there are times when I feel like I am just discovering how good oranges are and I must tell everyone around me.

I would certainly recommend anyone looking to simplify their work lunches and eat a much healthier throughout the day to give this a try, it has really worked for me.

New Family

So Michelle and I moved from one side of Davis Square to the other on August 31st, 2008.  We moved in with our very good friends Tim and Thom.  They have lived at their current address in some form or another for nearly 6 years and when the bottom apartment in the house they live in opened up they called us and I could not be more thankful.

Thom came up with the wonderful idea to share the whole house instead of each couple just sort of living in their separate spaces.  The idea being that we could share most of the things like the kitchen space, cleaning supplies, grocery items, etc. in turn sharing all of the resources those things end up using and lightening our load on the earth.

Aside from the fact of helping save the world which is all well and good I am mainly excited about creating an even closer relationship with our good friends.  We have been living there for several days and after 2 trips to ikea and 1 Vegan BBQ the house is still a disaster as we unpack and move one kitchen from upstairs to downstairs.  But even though there is still a lot of work to be done it is wonderful to come home to my new family

Biking Again

So, I live in Somerville, Davis Square to be exact, and I work in Boston, the South End, to be exact and I am finally biking to work again.

I was biking back in the Spring when I had purchased a bike off of Craigs List for $50.  At that point I had not been on a bike in 10 years and getting back on and riding was wonderful, fantastic, I loved it.  Then my bike got stolen right out of my back yard, I was pretty upset, shooken up I think, I was loving my commute to work and someone I did not know, a stranger just comes along and puts and end to it, only thinking about themselves.

My Wife, Michelle, after 2 months of me taking the T to work, practically forced me to find a new bike.  So we walked down to our local bike shop, Ace Wheel Works, and checked out the options.  I ended up buying a Gary Fisher Mako, last years model so it was at a super discount…and I am back riding to work again.

Today was day 3 riding me new bike and I love riding even more than previously.  I think it has something to do with the fact that I was riding and loving it and that was taken away from me and now I am able to do it again.

It is so wonderful to ride over the Charles River in the morning across the Mass Ave. bridge, smelling the water, seeing the sun rising, hearing the rowers.  Getting to work after riding 6 miles, getting my heart rate up, and struggling up some hills and through traffic feels so accomplished.

I think everyone should be able to bike to work, I can’t express how good it feels to get some exersice, not spend any money on gas, and see the city from a different perspective.

New Job = Simplification

For almost four weeks now I have been working at the Boston University School of Medicine’s Instructional

Media Department and I love it, for those of you that like titles I’m an Instructional Media Specialist.

I think that part of the reason I am enjoying it so much is because of my new perspective on trying to simplify things in my life. The reasons I love my new job are not because I am suddenly feeling fulfilled. All my hopes and dreams of a career have not suddenly come true. But by new position has allowed me to further simplify my life in ways that I was not able to at my previous employer.

The First “Real” Snow

Well it is the first real snow of the year over her in the Boston area and it is so relieving (if only it had snowed a ton at the beginning of the week so Michelle, my wife, could stay home from school). I love it when it snows it helps remind me that mother nature truly is in control.

Have you ever stepped into snow in your bare-feet? It is such a wonderful experience, like stepping on clouds, very cold clouds, (I would not recommend extended barefoot snow dancing) but everyone should try it at least once.

Photo by Ms. Kathleen