Biscuit of the Day - Modern Jazz

Today I'm going to feature links to awesome modern jazz bands and artists. If you don't have iTunes, well get it!

This list tends towards modern jazz. If you like jazz of the 20s and Depression era, I'd recommend Fletcher Henderson. I've divided this list into two parts.

Some of the jazz I've got:
1. The Modern Jazz Quartet - This band was strongly influential on the course of modern jazz during the 50s and 60s.
2. Dexter Gordon - Very expressive saxophone.
3. Ben Webster - Yet another strong, sweet tenor saxophone.
4. Rene Olstead - inexplicably classified as pop. Lots of good covers of old jazz hits.

Tomorrow, when I have more time, I'll fill in the stuff I'd like to get. :)

Biscuit of the Day - In Celebration of Introversion

I had to attend an office party last night and something really hit me. Being an introvert in the land of America is like being a lefty in the world of right handed people.

Since introversion is somewhat maligned by general society, let me say this first. I don't hate people. I enjoy people and people watching and I find their exploits and desires fascinating. I enjoy small groups of people which I intimately know. Introverts don't hate people, we just enjoy people on a much lighter dosage than extroverts do

I always marvel at my extrovert boyfriend and how at ease he is with strangers and being in a large group. He has that magic touch with people that would be called a "green thumb" if he tended plants. I am always amazed at such abilities because it's something that I am not strong at. I can enjoy crowds for a little while, but soon it almost becomes agonizingly overwhelming and I do a quick retreat like a hermit crab into a more intimate place.

But I also remember my abilities. I do not get terrorized when I am alone, as some extroverts I knew in school did, and who ended up with a syndrome of staying in bad relationships so they wouldn't be alone. I enjoy solitude and being able to think deeply on my own and think and work independently without a group. I enjoy my obsession with needing to know everything about a subject that can be known. I am comfortable in my own skin.

At times, I try to ape the outgoing extrovert when it is appropriate or when business requires. But pulling off that false persona at the end of the day has the same relief of pulling off a pair of heels after a long marathon of walking. It always feels good to be back in my own skin. I always wonder when I sit and peoplewatch, who else is doing the same thing? What life would be like and what would I see if society didn't require us to wear masks and conceal our true selves when we were in public.

Since this is a literary as well as personal blog, I'm going to finish this article with a quote:

Quiet people are often found to have profound insights.
The shallow water in a brook or river runs fast:
The deep water seems calmer.
~James Rogers

So busy....

Ugh... It's been a busy week! I'm having to get my ducks in a row for fulfilling all my nursing school requirements. Hepatitis shots....CPR certification....TB booster updates. The fun and the joy! Nursing is a pretty competitive major to get into in my region since the career field is growing so rapidly. We had close to 400 apply for 80 positions at the nursing school at my school this past semester. So any prayers and kind thoughts for this pre-major are appreciated!

Biscuit of the Day - Napoleon Dynamite Review

Remember the Brat Pack movies and formulaic teen movies of the 1980s? For instance, cool dude Marty McFly in Back to the Future. The kids in the Breakfast Club who reconciled their social differences and built happily ever after friendships in the feel good 80s. Karate Kid. War Games with Matthew Broderick as the elite teen hacker. Well, take those formulas and turn them upside down on their head and you have the anti-superhero Napoleon Dynamite.

This movie is one of those rare movies that does not easily lend itself to categorization along the traditional Hollywood party lines. My brain searched frantically for genre cues throughout the first part of the movie. Is this a comedy? A tragedy? How do I respond? For much of the movie, one is struck by the pathos in the figure of Napoleon Dynamite. The poor guy has been stripped of almost every attribute that could redeem him in high school society.

He is gawky and has a face who only a mother (who is dead) could love. His clumsiness with girls and pickup lines provoked winces from the audience, being profoundly painful, sad, and funny at the same time. On top of that, the sting of his social and physical awkwardness is not blunted by the stereotypical 'Revenge of the Nerds' blessing of enhanced intelligence. Poor Napoleon could be called an 'innocent'. Although he is probably about 17, he inhabits the world of a 10 year old at best. As far as high school goes, he is destined to be an outsider, teased and forever looking in on the maelstrom of teenage society.

However, all is not totally lost and dreary in this world. His older brother Kip's search for online love and the antics of his uncle/protector turned antagonist alternate between amusing and shocking. The atmosphere particular to small towns was perfectly crystallized in film, as I remember from my childhood how small towns tend to serve as fossilized records of trends long since passed through mainstream society. Even the lack of special effects and casting of 'normal' people is almost overwhelmingly stark and refreshing after prolonged overexposure to CGI and physical perfection.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie and would recommend it to those who want something different from the normal Hollywood movie overly laced with the emotional MSG of violence and non-stop action. This would also be a fun treat for late 80s kids like me to induce flashbacks of public school fashion (stirrup pants! sideways ponytails! intentionally clashing colors!).

Biscuit of the Day - Poetry Search Engine

Today's Biscuit of the Day is a cool poetry search engine I found while browsing around on the web. I thought it would be useful to those of you who are browsing my site looking for Ibn Jakh and other poets for research papers.

To go to this search engine, click here.

And a quick update on my exercise regimen:

Starting week:

Weight: 126.8 lbs
Time spent walking: 30 minutes per day at target heart rate (132 bpm)
Distance covered: 1.20 miles

Middle of week 3:
Weight: 122.0 lbs
Time spent walking: 30 minutes per day at target heart rate (132 bpm)
Distance covered: 1.76 miles

Goal:
Weight: 110 lbs
Time spent walking: 30 minutes per day at target heart rate (132 bpm)
Distance covered: 2.5 miles

Well, slowly but surely, I am losing weight. Almost at the 5 lb loss mark. The cool thing is I am not dieting at all, so if I wanted to accelerate the weight loss, I could go on the Weight Watchers plan. However, with a boyfriend who loves eating out, it's hard to do this. :)

Biscuit of the Day - Providence, Tale of a Caffeine Junkie

Today's Biscuit of the Day is Providence. What is providence? According to an excerpt from Webster's Dictionary, providence is "Theo. A manifestation of the care and superintendence which God exercises over his creatures; an event ordained by divine direction. "

My little story I will share may or may not be Providence. Either way, I thought it was fun how things turned out.

Yesterday, I was in the middle of the trance-like state programmers enter when we focus our awareness and let code flow out from some deep well of logic in the mind onto the screen. Some athletes call this state of ecstasy "flow." For me, pure productive coding bliss. Suddenly and rudely, the meat carriage that "drives around my brain like a soccer mom" briefly snapped me back into reality to notify me I was very very thirsty. And having a whammy of a caffeine deprivation headache on top of that.

Well, only one way to fix that. My brain in a painful not thinking blur, I grabbed some change out of my purse, enough I thought, for a can of Diet Coke. I walked across the street from my office building to the little gas station run by a small Indian family. Stumbling around the rocky construction work near my building in heels, I started to count change to see what goodies I could get. As I counted, I appeared to have enough so I continued walking. Finally, just outside the station door, I finished counting. Ack, 10 cents short! :(

Well, at this point, there was no turning back. I loathed the thought of wasting that precious time and returning with nothing. My profound thirst was getting worse. After hesitating for a bit, I decided to go ahead and walk in anyways to see what was inside. A man stood near the gas station counter. When he heard the door swing open, he turned around, his mouth arcing in a smile. "Hey, I just won the lotto jackpot. Pick out anything you want in the store and I'll pay your tab. Tell your friends and I will get them anything they want too. "

Oh man! My face lit up once realization hit the neurons that caffeine was on its way. After thanking the man profusely I picked out a 1 liter of Diet Coke and a stick of Starbursts, thanked him again, and merrily skipped back to work.

Talk about good fortune! Sadly, I never did catch the man's name, but God bless him for giving me a small miracle in a time of need.

Biscuit of the Day - Texas in the Fall

The weather outside has been outstandingly beautiful, considering that Texas's normal weather settings are either hair dryer or ice chest, with maybe 2 weeks of human bearable climate. I've been leaving the windows open to let the breath of the harvest season wander in and caress everything with cool fingers. Even better is unearthing the flannels for the bed to snuggle under at night.

Tea for the fall:

Cardamom Cinnamon Tea - Think chai without the black tea.

Biscuit of the Day - Bodum Tea Store and Rooibos Tea

Today's Biscuit of the Day is a review of the Bodum Tea Store and their Honey Rooibos Red Tea.

Charles and I were walking along in Dallas off Knox Street to go to the Apple store in this area. Next door to our destination was a small store with lots of cool teapots and coffee cups. I asked Charles if we could go in once we were done, and he agreed to let me have a look at the store.

We went in and immediately I was struck by the beauty and airiness of the little store. There were cute teapots and sculptural glassware everywhere, and the interior echoed the inside of the neighboring Apple store, with white wall and lots of glass and light colored wood. Also echoing the Apple store is Bodum's philosophy, 'Give up bad design for good. '

Having been esthetically pleased by the interior, it was time to get down to business and look at some tea. I homed in on the tea shelves in the rear right area of the store. Surprisingly, Bodum stocks a sample jar of tea for each type of tea they offer, this way you can see how the tea smells and looks before opening your wallet to make an investment. Another unusual feature for a tea shoppe is that the gracious proprietress is more than happy to make a sample cuppa of any available type for you to take the tea on a test drive.

I was instantly seduced by Bodum's Honey Rooibos Tea. Rooibos tea is currently en vogue due to its health benefits and natural lack of caffeine. However, my original impression of Rooibos, a South African tea, had been shaped by Republic of Tea's Vanilla Rooibos in tea bags. Unfortunately, the blend was awful (watery vanilla, and a smoky, 'stale' taste). Not even milk helped it, so it stayed in the back of my pantry until I finally threw the nasty stuff out. I thought all Rooibos was supposed to turn your stomach (health benefit as an emetic?), so I shied away from trying any more.

Bodum's tea shocked me by being surprisingly smooth and tasty. The fragrance is honey and flowers, but not so overly floral as to be sickingly perfumed. The red tea element provided depth and staying power to the honey element. Overall, I would rank this as a type I would buy regularly. The best use for this tea would be an afternoon or light evening tea, when you want to enjoy tea, but caffeine needs to be kept at a minimum for sleep. The only drawback to this tea is that it does contain pollen as the honey tasting element, so if you have allergies, you may want to use caution.

The next day after I purchased my Rooibos, I asked my South African coworker if there were any special hints as to the proper preparation of red tea. He said there really wasn't, some preferred their cups with just sugar, he liked his with milk. One cool thing is that he offered to bring back 'real' rooibos for me the next time he went to South Africa. I'm hoping he remembers, because I'd love to review the 'real' thing. :)

Biscuit of the Day - Exercise!

Today's Biscuit of the Day is exercise! Yes, that wonderful thing that lets you work off the cream in your tea and lets you live longer to enjoy more tannin laced goodies. :) I've been walking 30 minutes every day on the treadmill for the past two weeks, and it's already slowly stripping off the pounds. Not too bad, considering I'm an engineer, and as a general rule, our creed of efficiency extends to eliminating excess movement (where's my remote control???????).

I am going to post some stuff I've found that makes exercise more fun:

1. Get a partner. Even if they walk at a different time of day than you, they can still bug you until you get on the treadmill and give you ample feedback and praise when you start losing weight.

2. Get an iPod (mini). MP3 players are the best thing since sliced bread as far as walking for exercise. Fill it with cheesy 80s pop or other bubbly music like club music to get you going at a good rhythm. Fill it with audio books so you can learn during your 30 minutes of pounding the pavement.

3. Get good fitting shoes. Nothing like blisters to make you wish someone would just kill you while you are walking. I found this out the hard way, as I wear an extremely small shoe size (ladies 5). Unfortunately, it took my shredding most of the skin off my toes to crush my dignity enough to accept that I should shop in the kids' dept for a dorky kids shoe that fits rather than wear a 6 from the ladies' dept that looked cool but was too big.

4. Get a heart monitor. I am a numbers and math junkie. To me, the feedback of a heart monitor is the butter that goes on the sliced bread mentioned in point #2. Once you look up your target heart rate, you can make sure you are challenging yourself when you walk. Another tip I have on heart monitors is for people who exercise in a gym. A lot of the treadmills say they are 'Polar compatible'. If you want a relatively inexpensive way to get your heart rate to show on the monitor on the treadmill without having to hang for dear life onto the handgrip monitors, you can buy Polar heart rate transmitters at the PolarUSA store. The next time you step onto the Polar compatible treadmill with one of these strapped on your chest, the treadmill will automatically pick up the signal and show your heartbeat rate.

The only thing that's not been very fun about my exercise routine is severe DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness). What's funny is that my soreness is not brought on by my own routine, it's due to my phys ed teacher. The warm up in his routine is practically non-existent and he works us hard, so as a result, I can barely walk (or crab walk) the next day. I haven't really found a very good solution for this problem except for (surprisingly) more exercise of the sore muscles at a reduced intensity. Usually, after this very gentle workout, the soreness goes away within a few hours.

Aeryth

Biscuit of the Day - Soothing Teas

Today's Biscuit of the Day are teas that make you feel better when you are sick. I've been pretty run-down the past day or two, so I've been trying to avoid the caffeine and tannin in my english breakfast teas in favor of something lighter on the tummy.

My personal favorite is homemade Easy Ginger Root Tea. This tea is a good aperitif well as a soother for unhappy tummies after a big meal.

Recipe for Easy Ginger Root Tea:

Ingredients:
A big hunk of ginger (roughly about 1-2 tsps)
A well cleaned small coffee maker (or pot to boil water in and a tea filter)
8 oz of water
Splenda or preferred sweetener

Instructions for Coffeemaker preparation:
Take the chunk of ginger and chop it up as finely as patience will allow. Fill a coffee filter with the ginger, making sure to spread it out so the water will have optimum contact with the ginger. Run coffeemaker. Once coffeemaker is done, you should have a pale, fragrant tisane (herbal tea) to which you can add a teaspoon or two of sweetner to taste.

Instructions for Traditional method:
Chop the ginger as finely as possible. Put the ginger in your tea ball or filter and put in cup. Pour the boiling water into the cup. Wait several minutes (probably about 3-4 minutes depending on how strong you like your brew). Remove tea ball/filter and sweeten with Splenda or other sweetener to taste.

And that's it! The tea, when sweetened, has a spicy fragrance and a yummy candy taste to it which is much more pleasing to the palate than trying to choke down TUMS or pepto.

Drink in Good Health,

Aeryth