[EDIT: I recorded a podcast episode on why I unplugged my fridge Now back to the original post] Last year, sometime in late December, after reading about some cultures preserve food more through fermentation, drying, and other methods than refrigeration, I unplugged my fridge to see how long I could go without a fridge. I also noted how cool my windowsill was, providing some natural refrigeration so I could keep[…] Keep reading →

Someone asked about getting rid of stuff. What’s the point? Why not just avoid getting attached to it? I responded. . . Avoiding acquiring things in the first place is the point for me in Things I already possess I may keep using until they wear out or get rid of. Deciding what to get rid of forces me to consider and act on my values, which improves my life.[…] Keep reading →

I’m pleased enough with the side effect of regularly meditating that I can sit in a full lotus position for an extended time that I don’t mind posting possibly the most boring video on the internet. After first meditating at a Vipassana retreat in 2007, starting with a ten-day no reading, writing, phone, etc experiment, I practiced irregularly but deeply, doing more 10-day, 5-day, 3-day, and 1-day retreats slightly less[…] Keep reading →

I happened to check: today is my 1,300th consecutive day picking up at least one piece of litter per day. It’s my dirty sidcha. I do it to develop leadership experience and skills to hasten the day when we view single-use packaging how we now view asbestos and leaded gasoline. Yes, you too will cringe at takeout and to go, now matter how much you relish it today. One day[…] Keep reading →

Call me vain or unprofessional if you want, but I’m sharing the results of my recent decision to reach a fitness goal I’ve meant to work on for years, maybe decades. Call me self-obsessed if you want for how many words follow, but the journey has been for more enlightening, satisfying, and delicious than I expected. For context, as a child I felt ashamed enough from being teased for excess[…] Keep reading →

Following rowing on my roof, since my tomato plants weren’t pollinating in my bee- and bug-free apartment, I put them on my roof. Since I avoid taking the elevator, watering them means walking up 11 flights every day until tomatoes form or the season ends. I share some of the story. Sorry for the sound but I wore a mask and was behind the camera. Here are the plants Here[…] Keep reading →

I haven’t missed a post here in almost ten years. My left mouse button broke—rather the track pad, an integral part of the computer. I found a used mouse on Craig’s List I can get tomorrow I think I can use while ordering a new track pad, which I think I can install myself. In the meantime I’m seeing if I can post without a left button and keep the[…] Keep reading →

I recently reread Frederick Douglass’s What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?, which he delivered on July 5, 1852—a celebrated condemnation of slavery by a man born a slave when it was legal in this country. You’ll do yourself a favor to read it if you haven’t recently. Here’s the passage where he turns the corner from praising the nation: I am not included within the pale of[…] Keep reading →

I knew my daily streaks of writing in my blog and doing burpees of nearly ten years were just starts. I like to find role models. I discovered sidcha streaks that dwarf mine, in fact that started before I was born. Two organizations—Streak Runners International and United States Running Streak Association—track people who have run at least a mile per day. Their slogan: “Through weather, injury, illness, and life events,[…] Keep reading →