Carried Away with Double Tasking

Last night I caught myself trying to balance my cell phone against my shoulder while brushing my teeth and trying to talk to my dad...as you can imagine, I wasn't able to do either task very well. I couldn't really TALK to my dad while I was brushing my teeth and trying to brush your teeth with your head leaning onto your shoulder while trying not to drop the phone isn't very effective either. Then I realized, what the heck am I doing? I am clearly getting a little too obsessed with trying to get things done efficiently, accomplish all the little tasks that build up, AND get into bed at a decent time. But as I think about it, the way our society is becoming, everywhere you look there are "time savers" that allow you to do lots, at once. This morning I walked out of my house to drive to work at 8:30am and watched a young woman walking her dog down the street while talking loudly on her cell phone to a friend about some problems she's having...the poor dog was was being starved of attention during his/hers one time of day she/he has to spend with his owner...I realized I wasn't getting to have a very quality conversation with my dad while trying to brush my teeth too. I often find myself checking e-mail while talking to my friends on the phone (or vice versa) and realize, why are we talking on the phone when we aren't really focusing on having a quality interaction? This has all been a reminder that I need to bring a little mindfulness back into my life and take the time needed to focus on important conversations AND tasks...like brushing my teeth, but doing them at the same time only jips them both.

I want clean air!

I can't wait for an end to this administration. This article discusses how the feds aren't letting California have stricter clean air standards than the federal laws. Not only is this a problem for California, but several other states were planning to follow California's lead and will also be unable to if this persists. The whole thing is even more ridiculous because California has a long history of having stricter standards--which really seem needed if we are to get out of the global warming mess. Read this short editorial from NYT about the topic:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/opinion/04tue3.html?th&emc=th

The Nutrition Question

Two articles today in the NYT focusing on fruit and vegetables (f & v), and the difficulty getting them to people.

First, this article discusses how the government's crazy subsidy programs make it so difficult for small f & v farmers to produce much:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/01/opinion/01hedin.html?th&emc=th

It is ridiculous how the government so overtly supports huge farms that grow subsidized products only (like corn). The subsidized products are mostly what goes into making crappy fast foods so cheap and healthier f & v so expensive.

The other article offers a cool idea to me in order to get more fresh fruit and veggies into the areas that need them most.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/01/opinion/01sat4.html?th&emc=th
In New York City, mayor Bloomberg is working to get green carts filled with fresh f & v into areas that need them most--low income areas without access to stores that carry much f & v. Also in those low income areas, little stores that carry some f & v usually charge a lot of money and people cannot afford them anyways.