The Prose of an Electrate Mind

[January 16th] Yawn: “Yawn. It’s one of the best things you can do for your brain.” – Andrew Newburg for Penn Gazette (read the full article)

(I have again sent you first to The Mindfulist.) I yawned several times while reading the article, which does in fact state that reading about yawning will make you yawn. It brings up the issue in our society in which we consider yawning to be a rude action. Looking at yawning through this article really made me think more about the function as the yawns occurred. The idea that the yawn is to the brain what the fan is to the computer seems very intriguing to me. I’ve always been a little curious about neurological functions, though. I’m a thinker who enjoys thinking about thinking.

Sometimes I simply amaze myself when I set foot into the kitchen. I walk in there with ideas and goals, and I walk out with food in my face and my belly. (It’s no wonder I’ve played yo-yo with my weight over the years.) I’m so grateful to have a very workable knowledge of cooking and baking in order to feed my body, mind, and soul. I’ve definitely developed into a foodie.

I’m grateful for this glorious three day weekend during which I can either be productive or lazy. I suspect I’ll try a combination of the two, seeing as how life is pretty unpredictable with a baby.

Last night I was in the mood to bake something healthy. I finally decided to just wing it with my can of almond paste — I couldn’t figure out what to do with the egg yolk I wouldn’t use to make amaretti, so I had nixed those plans. I had decided that if the recipe worked out, I’d write it down. If it didn’t work out, I would pretend the whole experiment never even happened. Lo and behold, they were great — even my anti-whole-wheat husband liked them, which is saying a lot. Here’s what I concocted:

1 can of almond paste (in retrospect, the food processor should have been my friend, but the kids were asleep and that thing sounds like a tornado ripping Dorothy away to Munchkin Land –put it through your food processor first)
1 large egg
1/2 cup oil (or you could use butter or applesauce)
1 cup of milk (I used 1/3 cup powdered milk with a cup of water because we were low on milk, and it was after 9pm)
1/3 brown sugar (you can experiment and decrease the sugar content — I probably will in the future)
1 1/2 tsps almond extract (I love almonds, people!)
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup quick cooking oatmeal
2 cups whole wheat flour
6oz bag of slivered almonds
Hershey’s kisses (optional way to make them into a chocolaty delight)

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Mix the wet ingredients. Add the dry ingredients. Dump the almonds into the batter/ dough. Drop balls of dough onto a greased cookie sheet (or use parchment paper if you’ve got some on hand). (Optional Hershey’s kiss love: stick a Hershey’s kiss upside down into the dough ball and reform the dough into a ball.) Bake for 8 minutes, or until golden and delicious. Cool on a wire rack, and don’t eat them all at once.

So, I’m not the best recipe writer. I’ll clean this up at a later date when I add it to my recipe section. They tasted good with or without the chocolate addition, though.

[January 15th] “Reflect upon your present blessings”: “Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.” – Charles Dickens

I reflected on the mornings events, a very recent blessing indeed that made up for the very recent misfortune. I had actually been caught up in past misfortunes at the time I read today’s prompt. Between this quote and my daily gratitude post requirement, I was brought back to thinking of the positive things. I had to refocus my thoughts onto my blessings, rather than my misfortunes. In fact, at this moment I realize how truly blessed I am considering I’m living safely with all my family and friends safe and sound, whereas thousands of people in Haiti died and millions have been negatively impacted by the earthquake. I am so fortunate to be relatively healthy and wealthier, even if some days I feel lousier than others.

This morning I left home without a healthy snack to tide me over until lunch time. Not only that, but I had also realized I forgot to take my vitamin. How was I going to survive the first half of my day? Oh, woeful misfortune! As I unpacked my belongings at work, I recalled that I had procured a tangerine yesterday when I went to proctor seminar. The previous class had been handing out citrus fruits and cookies to their students, and we were invited to grab leftovers. Were it not for that tangerine hiding in my bag, I would have been sitting here feeling the side effects of low blood sugar right now. Considering it’s the Friday before a three-day weekend, I’m feeling much, much better about my outlook. Here’s to pleasant surprises — and I can’t wait to cuddle the one at home, growing much too fast for my own personal liking.

[January 4th] Power On: What was your first thought as you powered on/opened up your computer today?

I contemplated the slice of pumpkin loaf I had purchased from the Starbucks in the Reitz Union. I was hoping it was a healthy option considering I had no healthy snack options at home. I had meant to bake whole wheat oatmeal muffins last night, but I never did get around to it. In case you were wondering, I could probably waste about $5.50 every morning on a slice of pumpkin loaf and a cup of hazelnut cappuccino for breakfast if I wasn’t such a frugal person.

[January 5th] Downtime: How do you respond when your favorite site/commenting system/email provider experiences downtime?

When any of the above experiences downtime, I tend to get a bit irritated. My level of irritation depends on what I’d like to do. If it’s Twitter, I simply move on with my day. If it’s the local newspaper’s website, I wax neurotic.

[January 6th] Whodunnit?: Whodunnit? A 1 minute 55 second awareness test.

Follow the link back to The Mindfulist to click the video link (I realize this seems silly, but I’m aiming to send credit back their way). Pay close attention to the video — it’s like one of those picture puzzles in the newspaper almost. I loved it.

[January 7th] Workplace Awareness: Identify three bells of awareness/mindfulness at work. For example you might, minimize Facebook when your boss walks by. Or swivel in your chair when the phone rings. What are your three?

1. Yes, I did indeed minimize Facebook — or any other such websites — when people walk by. Shame on me.
2. When the phone rings, I turn my head to look at the phone so I can see which line it is and what phone number shows up on the caller ID.
3. When a vehicle drives past outside, I look up to identify it: is it a delivery driver needing to get into the package room, a physical plant worker coming to perform a maintenance task, or is it just a random vehicle driving by?

[January 8th] “Relaxation is who you are.”: “Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.” -Chinese proverb

Indeed.

[January 9th] Zone Out: During which activities do you zone out? Actively make note of them today (on paper/in a text doc).

• Web surfing
• Writing
• Reading
• Watching TV/Movies/Streams
• …just about any activity is an opportunity to zone out when you’re sleep deprived and deficient in attention

~Skipping January 10th as the prompt is specific to Sundays~

[January 11th] One Item: Can you remove one item from you work area to give yourself more space to think? Do so now.

I removed a sticky note with out-dated information and a sheet of paper to be recycled. I adjusted my two pet shop collectibles from my tea box.

~Skipping January 12th & 13th as the prompts are more like action prompts, rather than writing prompts. ~

[January 14th] Breath Quality: How are you breathing right now? If the quality of your life depends on the quality of your breath, how’s yours?

I am breathing both from my chest and from my stomach at the same time. My bronchi seem to be mildly constricted. I will allow you to extrapolate from this as to what the quality of my life is right now. Somehow, it seems fitting to me, although I can’t seem to quite explain it properly.

As part of my morning routines, I check my website statistics to see how many people are visiting, where they’re being referred from, what pages they’re clicking on, and where they’re from. (As an aside, I can pretty much associate most of my regular blog readers with who they really are based on locations and even service providers — and I can tell what hits are spiders and spambots. If if you don’t think I know who you are, I really actually do because I’m just good like that.) Yesterday I had a random referrer from some site I’ve never heard of — no, Mr. Spammer, I will NOT give you the good graces of a link. I clicked it, wondering who this person was and why they were linking to my website. Instead of finding my link, I found borderline smutty pictures, ads, and minimal text. I shrugged it off, closed out the site, and decided it was a fluke. But wait, there was another hit from this referrer this morning. So I brought out the big guns… Google! Yes, Google is my answer to just about everything. Lo and behold, this guy is notorious. Um, uh-oh? Here’s what I’ve learned…

1. This guy — we shall consider him like Voldemort and refer to him as “He Who Must Not Be Named” from here on out — practices “black hat” techniques. More specifically, he practices referrer spamming. I assume he was banking on me allowing my site patrons to view the website statistics. Sorry, Voldy, I don’t operate that way. The goal of that is to spam my readers with links to his crummy website and try to turn off profit at my expense. Apparently, people have been banned by their webhosts as a consequence of this guy. (Don’t worry, I’ve already tweeted @hostgator and submitted a support ticket to HostGator to nip this Dark Wizard in the bud.)
2. He Who Must Not Be Named is some 60-year-old pervert in the Philippines. Excuse me? (WARNING: RANT AHEAD) I was once a 13-year-old girl who all too often felt the eyes of older men eying her like a piece of meat. I learned how to give an icy glare at a very, very young age. I blame this on living in Broward County, Florida as a teen, a place where sexual predators run rampant. I have absolutely no tolerance for men (or women, for that matter) who prey upon innocent children for their own deviant desires. I am of the opinion that child molestors are in the same league as murderers and should be treated as such. How dare this pedophile come to my website in the attempts to make a profit off of me. I have three wonderful little children that I would protect like a very rabid momma bear — this means you absolutely don’t mess with my kidlets if you know what’s good for you. Now that he’s made himself known to me, I will be doing my part to bring this black magic hat practitioner to justice. (Hey, the website was premised off of Sailor Moon, what can I say?)

Here’s hoping HostGator can reassure me that my site itself has not been compromised.

[From my local paper, via Eugenia Last] SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): A change of location will enable you greater mobility for travel, learning and applying what you know to something that can be quite lucrative. A lifestyle change will do more than just alter your direction — it will bring you clarity and peace of mind. 3 stars

How convenient — I happen to be working on lifestyles changes that I was hoping would alter my direction and bring me clarity and peace of mind. I realized today that I’ve been doing it all wrong. “Baby steps” means just that: baby steps! I have this ridiculous notion that I must find a quick fix that will transform everything overnight. Of course, reviewing what Marla Cilley says through her FlyLady persona, it didn’t get this way overnight, and it won’t get fixed overnight either. (I paraphased that as best as I could.) I am grateful to realize that I need to just slow down, pick out one little thing at a time, and go from there.

Might I also add that I am extremely grateful that I somehow managed to survive today. Last night, our sweet little bumble bee determined that it was the wakeful time of the day. It’s no wonder they deprive prisoners of sleep to torture secrets out of them. I thank coffee and tea for giving me the caffeine necessary to function as a coherent member of society today.

Once again, Gwen Bell has offered me a source of inspiration for daily writing. She linked to The Mindfulist, which appears to be a site she created to post these daily tidbits (I could be interpreting things incorrectly, though). I intend to play catch-up on prompts that inspire me and begin writing on each topic when it is appropriate.

I’m nearly two weeks late on this post, but things happen in life that tend to distract me. It’s really astounding to me that I was born right on the cusp of the boom in ADHD diagnoses, yet I was never diagnosed with it myself. Do you know in third grade my teacher complained to my parents that I “spaced out” a lot? By “spacing out,” she really meant I was daydreaming about all sorts of fun things that little girls daydream about. I’m still very much a dreamer, and… oh look, is that a butterfly? All joking aside, I do fit the diagnostic criteria of ADHD. Granted, I’m not as hyperactive as I was in childhood. I do wish I still had that sort of energy, but I’ll just be thankful I haven’t progressed into old age yet. I guess I’m trying to make an excuse for my lack of posting. I could go on about more excuses, but that’s not the point of this post.

Health
Healthy eating habits: Include more fruits and vegetables into my daily diet, reduce sugar and white carbs, and tailor my caloric intake to my specific dietary needs based on BMR, breastfeeding, and level of activity.
Exercise: Aside from using the public transit as both a means of activity (I spend about 1 hour, 15 minutes walking in total to and from bus stops), create an exercise plan consisting of several types of crunches, push-ups, squats, lunges, and other exercises that do not require bulky equipment or a gym membership.
Lose 29lbs and 33inches: I may or may not decide to follow Giyen Kim’s format with a weekly picture with weight and measurements, but the baby fat must go.

Home
Get back on the FlyLady bandwagon: I’ve gotten so disorganized these days that I don’t even know where to start most of the time. It’s time to bring myself back under control and form some routines. I’m tired of having to stash the mail and paper pile on my kitchen counter every time we have company, only to lose important paperwork later on because I didn’t deal with the darn things when the got there. I also need to snap back into that “quite whining and playing the martyr role and just do it!” mentality.
Potty Train Tati: Well, she’s coming up on her third birthday, so I guess it’s time to buckle down and get it done. We kind of eased up as my belly got bigger because we knew there’d be regressions anyway, but it’s not pleasant having to wipe two behinds.

Self-Betterment
Write Daily: If I wish to be a writer, I should actually BE a writer. I took the Gwen Bell Blog Challenge in December, and it clearly inspired me to reflect through my writing. I find comfort in seeing my thoughts turned into concrete black-and-white text (or ink and paper). I’m not going to figure out the next Great American Novel if I don’t toy with my writing, and I’m surely not going to get anywhere if all my stories are left unfinished.
Make Friends/ Strengthen Current Friendships: My new is Meredith, and I am a lousy friend and an agoraphobe. I always told myself that I wouldn’t be like some other people in my life when I moved away from old friends. No, I would be keep in touch and remain a true friend. Fast forward to the present, and here I am disconnected from many good friends. While I’m no where near as bad as Paula Deen once was, I do feel that everyday I make it out of my home is a tiny victory. I’m way too much of a home-body, and I guess I’m too scared of giving out my trust too easily. I’ve been burnt many times before, and I supposed that’s made me far too timid in terms of meeting new friends. I’m also enochlophobic, but I’ve been working on it. I mean, I ride the bus home from work at the end of the day without feeling panicky anymore. In any case, I need a social network — and not just the kind you make on the internet.
Religion/ Spirituality: You know, I’m Catholic. Have I actually read the whole bible before? …no. Do I go to church every Sunday? …no. Do I feel bad about these facts? …yes. Granted, I feel more spiritual than most devout church-goers, but I at least want to take the time to try following my religion a little more closely. Of course, I’ll be observing this coming Lent, as I always do.

Ah, I feel so much better putting that out there into cyberspace. Now that I’ve got an audience, I might feel a lot more accountable to my resolutions as well. Here’s hoping I accomplish my goals by December 31st, 2010 at 11:59pm!