Loxosceles

I'm off to Yellowstone, where there is no internet. I'll be back in July if the bears don't eat me.

Photo by Fort Photo.

Yes, I did get used to walking in them. It takes time for your feet to get stronger - a few weeks. At the same time you learn how to place your feet for maximum comfort. Experiment and you will see.

I wear them everywhere, including hikes in the woods and walks around town. I wear them kayaking and gardening and shopping.

EVERYONE notices, and asks where I got them. Then I have to explain about VibramFiveFingers.com. I sound like a commercial.

After walking in the FiveFingers, I'm no longer afraid of going barefoot. Gravel on the driveway? Whatever. I just step carefully.

I have a greater appreciation of soft ground like dirt, moss, grass, and playground padding. Mmm.

The Flow is good in cold weather, but doesn't keep you dry. FiveFingers in the rain = waterlogged. I wonder if the R&D people are looking into gore-tex?

It seems I am drawn to weird footwear. High heeled sneakers, say - I've owned more than one pair. Saddle shoes. Dance shoes of all different kinds. And don't forget the shoes with wheels on the bottom, or knife edges on the bottom, for skating on various surfaces. I've even owned the Air Rift.

This one is even weirder than all of those. It even comes with a nutty ideology that, I suspect, is grounded in truth: your feet work fine without any shoes. Better, in fact.

So, here they are: shoes to walk barefoot in.



A recent New Yorker article entitled "You Walk Wrong" put words to a suspicion I've been having for a while: even though I "need" running shoes that correct my overpronating gait, there is probably nothing actually wrong with my feet.

Normal running shoes make my feet hurt in one way. Special shoes make my feet hurt less, but differently.

Yet, no matter how my feet hurt - whether after a run or a day in dress shoes - taking the shoes off always returns me to normal. If running shoes really corrected some problem with the way I naturally use my feet, wouldn't I feel better with the shoes and worse without?

The You Walk Wrong" article suggests that most people's barefoot stride is just fine, and supportive or extra-cushioned shoes might do more harm than good.

But enough about me. What about these shoes?

They're called the Vibram FiveFingers. They have a very thin but tough rubber sole, individual toes, and my version has some velcro closures to adjust the fit.

It's almost not right to call them shoes (the first time I stepped onto a gravel driveway was my wake-up call). Think of them like a strap-on callus for your bare feet.

In shoes, I (and, probably, you) slam my heel on the ground pretty hard. The heels of my shoes are always the first part to wear out. I took the Fivefingers for a trip to the store. On parking lots, sidewalks, and hard floors, my heels hurt.

But then, what about those times at Alfred when Amy and I took our shoes off and walked across campus? We avoided gravel driveways, for one thing. And when we got to a grassy field, I'd put my foot down to enjoy the feel of it. I did not put my foot down heel first.

In fact, when I step on unknown grass, or a kibble-strewn floor like the ones in my house, I step with the flat or the ball of my foot first. I land softly. Barefoot hikers call this fox walking.

Now, I have two problems. One is re-learning how to walk, since I drop into my heel-slamming habits whenever I'm outdoors. The other is strengthening the muscles in my feet. After a few hours in the Fivefingers, my arches and toes feel tired! This is normal in the beginning, they say.

Will I one day be able to run without running shoes? Hike without hiking boots? Here's hoping.

I posted this as a comment at Ask the Readers: Advice for College Grads over at Get Rich Slowly. The question: what financial advice would you give a recent or soon-to-be college grad?

When you’re unemployed, and interviewing for jobs, remember that the light at the end of the financial tunnel does not come when you start your job. Not even when you get your first paycheck, since that check will be paying last month’s bills. It takes a couple of paychecks, even a couple of months, to get a comfortable cash flow going. Resist the urge to celebrate too early!

Ask. Negotiate. Do not wait for perks, raises, or fun assignments to be handed to you. While you wait, they are being given to people who had the guts to ask.

Do not buy lots of stuff to fill up your empty first apartment. Your future self does not want your poor ass student self picking out furniture.

Similarly: when you buy stuff, consider its whole life cycle. What will you do when the item goes out of fashion? When you give up that hobby? When you move? Go through a couple of moves and you’ll realize that every time you are trashing stuff that you once thought was worth spending money on.

Career-wise, figure out what you WANT to do, not what you feel like someone with your major should do. Remember there are always more opportunities in the world than anybody has thought to tell you about.

Develop a hobby that could, theoretically, pay the bills. This may become an alternate career path, OR you may be able to blend your expertise here with expertise in your regular field. Similarly, if you change majors or careers, don’t forget that your former field left you with skills that are still useful in future jobs. Real world jobs/careers/opportunities are rarely contained within exactly one field.

Another race, this one a 5K. My time was a little better - 31:29.

I don't plan on running any more races for a few months. Hopefully then I'll be a little faster.

Photo by Chris

Check it out! Just a month after deciding to take up running - and despite having a cold - I entered and ran a 10K race. Woohoo!

My time was 1:08:08 (according to the photo, thanks Chris) which is an even 11:00 min/mile pace. Slow compared to most runners, but fast enough that I'm quite proud of myself.

There are a few more pictures on flickr. Chris was my support crew, waiting to see me at the finish line and wearing a ridiculously bright colored shirt so I'd be sure to spot him. Together we watched about 5 more people come in after me, which means I wasn't last. Yay for me!

Fun fact: the skunk cabbage race is just as old as I am - this year was its 27th running. It's so called because near the turnaround point there are some skunk cabbages, sprouting and stinking to herald the beginning of spring.

Speaking of which - it was a beautiful sunny day, one of very few we've had. When we got home I noticed flowers in the front yard - the owners must have planted them last year. Hello springtime!

(Look closely, it's there.)

I stepped out onto the porch today to drink my breakfast coffee, and guess what I saw? A softball-sized brown lump with a beak wandering around. It found an opening in the fence, walked through to the neighbors' yard, and I moseyed inside to look it up. (Here are my notes.)

It's an American Woodcock. A ground-dwelling bird with a long beak that it uses to probe for earthworms.

Putting dinner in oddly-shaped containers is fun!

Left: pan-seared brussels sprouts and potatoes in olive oil, butter, and salt.

Center: salad with spinach, mozzarella, and roasted tomatoes

Right: whole-wheat pasta with roasted tomato sauce (from a jar) and grated cheddar.

Last night I sent Marty a recipe for peanut lime noodles, and he responded with this one for Mayan hot chocolate. Amazingly, I had all the ingredients on hand (except the whipped cream). I did run out of milk and have to substitute a little goat's milk.


2 cups boiling water
1 chile pepper, cut in half, seeds removed (with gloves)
5 cups light cream or whole or nonfat milk
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1 to 2 cinnamon sticks
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate or
3 tablets Mexican chocolate, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
2 tablespoons sugar or honey, or to taste
l tablespoon almonds or hazelnuts, ground extra fine
Whipped cream

In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, add chile pepper to boiling water. Cook until liquid is reduced to 1 cup. Remove chile pepper; strain water and set aside.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine cream or milk, vanilla bean and cinnamon stick until bubbles appear around the edge. Reduce heat to low; add chocolate and sugar or honey; whisk occasionally until chocolate is melted and sugar dissolves. Turn off heat; remove vanilla bean and cinnamon stick. Add chile-infused water, a little at a time, tasting to make sure the flavor isn't too strong. If chocolate is too thick, thin with a little more milk.

Serve in small cups and offer ground almonds or hazelnuts and whipped cream.

If you go ice skating at Cass Park (or, now that it's spring, if you come to roller derby practices) you will see this mural:





Yes, that's right. One side has an angry evil octopus, the other has angry evil snowmen, aliens, and killer bees.

I don't know who painted this. It's as beautiful as it is nightmare-inducing.

Here are some more views of pain, suffering, and a small amount of fun-in-the-sun (the park also has a swimming pool):



Here, a girl is being chased by a snowman, right into the path of the red-toothed evil snowman you can see in the photo above. In the background, a UFO is abducting most of the landscape's remaining objects.



And here, some people swim (enjoying themselves or eating fish, according to their preference) while a girl who was flying finds herself stung. Maybe that's in the pool rules: no running, no horseplay, no flying?

No picture today, but here's a few recent writings: a blog post about Michael Pollan's new book, a little something on rainforest restoration and a couple cover stories (one, two) for a local paper. Some serious controversy in that last one, let me tell you, because up to a few months ago most people hadn't realized the village even had a government.

FitMusic has free downloadable workout music designed for particular BPM ranges. Another site that sells similar mixes has a chart of BPM and running speed. I don't know there's anything to those numbers, but it's worth a try on my next run.

I haven't made a habit of running with music, but I did listen to most of The Areas of My Expertise on last weekend's long run. Here is the device I use - the Sansa Clip. It's the size of a Shuffle, plus it has a nice display, can receive FM radio, and has a built-in mic to do voice recordings (with, amazingly, no background noise). And only $39 at Target for the 1GB model! Highly recommended.

Some more running music:
Jog Tunes Indie

When the Finger Lakes Running Company moved into this building, they started painting the side of it. This is one of my favorite murals in town.


Here is some more art. This one is in front of a gift/art/craft shop called Spirit and Kitsch that is located in what they call an "art vacuum" in Ithaca. It's on a street where every building is either a garage or looks like it wants to be one.

Chris and I are still alive. This is what we look like.

If it snows, they'll write the sky a nasty ticket.

To help encourage myself in my newfound love of running (I had a few good runs without my feet hurting, but I'm not signing myself up for a marathon just yet) I got a little music player. It's matchbox sized (does anybody remember when matches came in boxes?) and it does FM radio as well as mp3s.

(Yes, it's linux compatible - it's just USB mass storage.)

Apologies for the boring picture. I didn't go anywhere interesting today.

People rarely take photos of subway stations, but for me that's a big part of your trip. Some dumb statue? You passed it once. But the T stop is one of the first things you see, one of the first systems you have to navigate, and the infrastructure to get you around town.

OK, so I'm a rube who never sees subways at home. Is that so wrong?

(By the way, that song gets stuck in my head every time. Argh.)

Lots more Boston photos here.

A mural in one of MIT's engineering buildings. Surely you know the story.

I forgot to include a quarter for scale. The XO makes my laptop (right) look big.

The mcdonald's employee sweeping up told me that MY laptop was really small and cute.

I'll be traveling over the weekend, so in case I forget tomorrow's photo, here are some extras. They're from tonight's roller derby practice.

We're doing a great job recruiting new girls, and the new girls are doing a great job too! They're dedicated - for some, this is their 3rd practice in a week - and they are definitely up for a challenge. We did practice bouts (in our tiny gym space) and some of the fresh meat jammed! How awesome is that.

In the photo above, the girl in the white shirt and red helmet is jamming. And it's her second practice EVER.


This is a bonus on the bonus photo - in case the motion blur hurts your eyes, this is one of the few shots I got of derby girls sitting still.

Taken with the new cheapie camera, the one that actually fits in my pocket. I'm loving it.