Crappy Day

To be honest I don't have much to say today besides the fact that I wanted to record that it had been an absolutely horrible day. Got to work late, customers were terrible today and yelled at mentally handicapped co-workers, got splinters in my fingers, forgot my lunch at home, forgot my book at home, co-workers tried to get in un-aggravated fights with me about Prop 8 and Sarah Palin, register computer broke in new and horrible ways, driver flicked a cigarette at my car, World of Warcraft still doesn't feel like working properly on my computer, cable box didn't feel like working, and cat ate part of a poisonous plant (don't worry, neither of them seem sick at this point). At least when I came home my Stewie had a nice big hug for me and a tissue for my tears.

Frustrated and concerned

So right now I'm completely frustrated with my computer when I should probably be instead spending my valuable time working on school work. My printer has decided to piss me off by refusing to print anything. Now, it's understandable that it doesn't want to print color documents because it is out of color ink, but to not want to print anything is a bit beyond my comprehension. Also, my new copy of Wrath of the Lich King for World of Warcraft does not want to work correctly. When I get into the actual game I am only getting about 4 frames per second which makes the game effectively unplayable. I sit and watch frustrated as Stew's computer runs the game beautifully beside me. On top of all this frustration I'm worried about getting all of my school work done before the semester is over. I have decided that independent study just doesn't work for me. I need deadlines and someone telling me each week that something is due. So, either way, stress and frustration seem to be the order of the day (month more like). I need a vacation!

To take my mind off all of this crappola I will post some of the pictures from the pressed flower workshop for all of my relatively non-existent readers to enjoy.

Pressed Flowers and Herbal Teas

Just got back from Lincoln where I helped Jane put on a workshop about pressed flowers. We also did a squash themed luncheon and an herbal tea tasting. It was definitely an interesting experience. Sun City in Lincoln is a 55+ retirement community so nice that it made me want to find a sugar daddy or get a fake ID so that I could qualify to live there. The houses there are nice and the community center and facilities made me feel most definitely like a starving 20-something. I wouldn't mind driving around one of those cool little GEM cars either. The workshop we did however was a lot of fun, and gave me an idea of what I'm getting myself into with GreenCraft Conservatory and all of Jane's schemes. Hopefully good things will come of it, but all this work has made me tired. I have some nice pictures from the workshop that I will post later, but for now I need to get some veg-out time and sleep.

Backyard Chickens and Urban Farming

Today Stew found this site and sent it to me, so I share it with you:
The Greenhorns

This second site I found the other day and thought it was a lot of fun:
The City Chicken

Finally, this is a really neat blog that I put as an RSS feed on my iGoogle because it puts up really interesting articles:
City Farmer News

These are all interesting site about urban farming, young farmers, and some of the current agricultural movement that's going on in our country. Over the last few days they got me thinking about a lot of things like farming that I could do, sustainable living, and where I fit into this whole scheme.
I think that ever since Stew and I moved back to CA we have been finding ourselves amongst the bizarre culture of 20-somethings here. Chico seems to run the gamut from ultra-new-age-hippie to uber-conservative-"screw the planet"-consumer-types. We are both interested in the urban farming movement and are currently figuring out ways to get more out of our tiny yard. At the same time however, we aren't quite ready to stop enjoying In-N-Out burgers or our occasional trips to Costco. Are there ways that we can enjoy the best of both of these worlds? I am hoping that as we as a society figure out ways to fix the sh*t we've messed up, we can also find some happy mediums. I am totally behind changing the way we treat our urban environments, but I still would kind of like to be able to get a "double double with onions" once in a while. I can only hope that with a bit of my own help, my generation will be the one to find that middle ground.

Stew and I in front of the worlds largest artichoke in Castroville, CA.
I felt this was an appropriate picture for a rant on farming.

From Farmers Market to TeacherTube

It's a cold overcast Saturday here and once again, when I don't have to go to work, Stew of course does. He is off giving a tour of the brewery to some bicyclists who are interested in organics. We did, however have a very nice morning together, biking down to the Farmer's Market and having a little breakfast at Upper Crust Bakery. Both were quite nice and we came home with cat grass, a nice collection of gourds, a beeswax candle, Obama and Steven Colbert "Chico Bags," some onions, pistachios, toffee popcorn, some cranberry pumpkin bread from Upper Crust, and a bunch of the fattest carrots I have ever seen. Hopefully some of that will go towards some really nice chicken and dumplings tomorrow.

I spent most of my morning perusing TeacherTube and working on a wiki for one of my classes. Found some interesting videos and have decided that CommonCraft makes the best videos for explaining stuff. They make a lot of things, especially in regards to technology a lot simpler to understand. I'm always a big fan of simplifying things because I think there are too many people in this world who like making things seem far more complicated than they really are. I feel most things can be broken down to their parts and made understandable. It's all in the explaining!

Either way, I'll get off my soapbox and post a video that I thought was strangely moving. I didnt expect it to be, but reliving the excitement of the moment was neat and almost brought me to tears. To say the least I will be really interested to see what the next few years will bring...

A timid toe into the pool.

I have been tossing around the idea of making a new blog for the last couple months, and with the last few days seeming so profound I felt it an appropriate time to toss my hat into the circle and start fresh online. Ever since the our country shocked the world by electing Barack Obama two days ago, the world has seemed strangely new and different. I know that sounds overly dramatic and idealistic, but I can't deny the strange newness of the whole situation. Conversely however, by striking down Prop 8 in the same day and banning gay marriage in California, the waters of change have been muddied by old fashioned prejudice. The strangeness of it all has frankly left me feeling a bit numb. My excitement over something new and historic is muted by the sadness and frustration I feel over something old and antiquated. I am eager to see where the events of this week will take us as a country. Have we really just witnessed the start of a new era or are we simply making symbolic gestures that will be forgotten when reality again takes hold?