Having Time, Taking Time

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Coco

At 11:30 am on Monday I was tapped for an urgent work project that had to be completed by Tuesday. When a friend asked if I could go out for lunch, my first thought was “I’d love to, but I can’t.” But it was a gorgeous day, and I knew the rest of my day was going to suck, so I took the time anyway.

On Tuesday, I had to tackle the work that I had intended to do on Monday, and was hoping to leave early for my son’s lacrosse game. I didn’t have time to stand outside for half an hour in the hope of seeing the space shuttle Discovery, but I took the time anyway.

On Wednesday, I didn’t have time to get my hair cut, go to the dentist, and keep my car repair appointment, but those things could not be put off any longer, so I took the time anyway. When I got home at 4:00 with three things still on my work “must do” list, I didn’t have time to walk the dog, fix dinner, or watch Revenge, but I took the time anyway.

 

When you don’t have time, what do you take time for anyway?

Posted in Life, Work | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Wordless Wednesday (The Discovery Edition)

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Coco

Taken by a colleague with better photography skills and a better camera than I have,
as the space shuttle Discovery was flown over our office on its final tour before it is retired
to the Smithsonian Institution’s Udvar-Hazy Center in Dulles, Virginia
Posted in Life | Tagged | 3 Comments

Going Halfway

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Coco

When I was losing weight, I saved calories by switching from my beloved Half & Half to
Fat-Free Half & Half. Once I reached my goal weight I switched back, and I haven’t looked back until I recently discovered Low-Fat Half & Half.

Taste-wise, it gives full-fat Half & Half a run for its money, and with only 25 calories and 1.5 g fat in each 2 tablespoon serving (compared to 40 calories and 3 g fat for the full-fat version), it seems like an easy way to save calories and reduce my consumption of saturated fat.

But one morning as I was pouring some Low-Fat Half & Half into my coffee, the ingredient list caught my eye.

Ingredients: Milk, Cream, Contains less than 1.5% of the following: Whey Protein Concentrate, Carrageenan, Potassium Citrate, Dipotassium Phosphate, Vitamin A Palmitate, Color Added (Ingredient not in regular half & half)

The ingredient list for the full-fat version is much shorter:

Ingredients: Milk, Cream, Contains less than 0.5% of the following: Sodium Citrate and Disodium Phosphate (Stops cream from separating in hot liquid).

Maybe “less than 1.5%” of additives isn’t worth this much thought, but it is still three times as much as in the full-fat version.

So which is worse, three times the additives or twice the saturated fat?

Posted in Food | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Banana Oatmeal Pancakes

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Coco

I finished my long run early on Saturday, and took advantage of my free morning to browse the internet for some healthy pancake recipes. With several overripe bananas on the kitchen counter, I decided to search for “banana pancakes.” The first recipe I found called for 6 Tablespoons of butter, so I decided to add “healthy” to my search.

This YouTube video is one of the first things that came up:

I don’t usually take the time to watch video clips when I am looking for a recipe, but I decided I could spare a few extra minutes. The recipe looked simple, healthy, and had the potential to be delicious.

  • 4 egg whites (1/2 cup)
  • 1/3 cup rolled oats
  • 1/2 banana, sliced
  • 1/4 – 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 T flaxseed

I decided to give it a try, but made some variations:

  • 1/2 cup Eggbeaters
  • 1/2 cup rolled oats
  • 1 banana, sliced
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 T flaxseed

I measured the ingredients into the small bowl of my Cuisineart.


After a few pulses, I poured the batter onto a pre-heated skillet

and cooked them until they reached a nice golden brown.

pancakes

I topped them with a drizzle of maple syrup and served them with some sliced strawberries.


They were delicious, and quite filling! I used a bit more than half the batter to make three pancakes, and that was plenty to satisfy my post-run hunger. I made the rest on Sunday, rounding out the meal with some Greek yogurt.

Do you have a favorite pancake recipe?

Do you like watching YouTube videos for recipes?

Posted in Food | Tagged | 11 Comments

Editing The Bible

Posted on April 15, 2012 by Coco

Have you heard of The Jefferson Bible?

As the story goes, Thomas Jefferson took a razor to the New Testament and cut out the portions that he thought strayed from Jesus’ own teachings. He removed passages relating to the mystical, and passages relating to doctrine that he ascribed to the Gospel authors. He then arranged what was left from the Gospel books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in chronological order. He titled his work “The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth.”

When I first heard about this, I thought that Thomas Jefferson was quite bold and conceited to think that he could re-write the Bible and just eliminate the parts that he didn’t like! (Although, honestly, there are many of Paul’s writings that I could do without!) But now that I have learned more about Jefferson’s own beliefs and the context in which he undertook this project, I have a new respect and appreciation for this work.

Jefferson believed that faith was an individual, personal matter, and advocated the separation of church and state (literally, he worked to cut the ties between the state of Virginia and the Anglican church). He faced tremendous personal and political attacks for these views, but pressed on to fight for religious freedom. Of course, I know that our Founding Fathers adopted this as a foundational principle of our Constitution and Bill of Rights, but I forgot how truly revolutionary their ideas were at that time. When I think about it in this context, I can understand how such a brilliant, free-thinking man might want to free his Bible of passages that he found inconsistent with true Christian principles.

I certainly have no plans to re-write my Bible, but I have to admit that during our Easter service one passage from our Gospel reading (Mark 16: 1-8) grated on my nerves.

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint Jesus. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?”

When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here.” . . . .

I actually like this telling of the Resurrection, but the split construction in “had already been rolled away” got under my skin. (I want it to say “already had been rolled away.”) Maybe it’s not as egregious a grammatical sin as a split infinitive, but it is the type of phrase that I revise when I spot it in my own writing, or in writing that I am reviewing for work.

As I was trying to get beyond the grammar and bring my attention back to the miracle we were celebrating, I smiled as I thought of the person who instilled this reaction in me–someone who has mentored me for 20 years at work. Not only is he a stickler for grammar, but he also is a pretty devout Jew with a wry sense of humor.


(His self-portrait with a note: “Please see me–Guess who?”)

He probably would be quite amused if he knew that the writing style he taught me had me wanting to edit the Easter Gospel!

Is there a common grammatical error that really annoys you?

Posted in Life, My Faith | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments