Dancing with the Universe

It's pretty warm out there. I'd say it feels like the end of April already, if the sun were a bit more fierce. As it is it's beautiful.

I went to ( lunch. ) I have more time today than usual, as App of Comp lecture is done, so I don't have to be anywhere until 3:10. Given that I haven't had time to post or catch up on lily for a couple days, I'll need it. :)

Consonance was ( good. )

On a more sober note, I mentioned to Dr. J that one of my favorite artists didn't seem to be in evidence; I hadn't seen Blake Hodgetts all weekend. ( Then Dr. J told me why. )

Yesterday was spent wrestling with Access to get an assignment done, and I got done just in time to miss the 7:55 train. It meant I had a leisurely dinner before getting on the 9:35, but I got home much later than I wanted to, and didn't have the chance to study biochem as I really need to. Sigh. This whole week is like that...

Tomorrow I think I'll be well enough to go to the Exploratorium. I need to catch Nick so that I can surprise him with that -- he still thinks I'll be at school. :)

( Lunchtime )

Then came the train ride... I have discovered that a light Croatian accent can easily be mistaken for some flavors of Irish accent. It was a little odd listening to the guy behind me.

I managed to break off my gearshift lever when turning the bike upside down (I was preparing to take the wheel off to fit the whole thing into my trunk). Good thing I have two weeks to deal with it. It's hard plastic, and the break has plenty of surface area, which says "superglue" to me... there are some things on which polyacrylamides really do the job, and hard plastic is one of them. We'll see.

For now, I'm trying to let the fact that I'm done sink in, and I'm contemplating a nap. I got less than six hours of sleep last night, and I'm feeling it.

I don't know who it was that first told me that Chipotle is a subsidiary of McDonalds Corp. It was a while ago. It hasn't stopped me from going there; it's still quick, tasty, healthy, and cheap. Their policy with regards to meat means that I can order any type of meat on the menu and not feel sick for most of a day afterward... I relish the fact that I can get a shredded pork taco without getting smacked by my allergy to antibiotic residues.

In fact, most of the policies I'm aware of there are ones I approve of. Recycling being one -- their paper products are largely post-consumer waste, and they do try to cut down on packaging. They don't buy local, but they do buy sustainably, at least more than almost any other chain I've been at. Not bad from a political point of view.

I know that some of the people at the co-ops, who are even more rabidly anti-corporate than I am, would frown on the fact that I'm giving McDonalds money. I've made a conscious decision not to ignore that fact -- rather, I deliberately give my money to Chipotle. If McDonalds is going to try branching out into the healthy, sustainable, free-range branch of food service, I want to send them the message that people want this stuff. We want healthy, ecological food that tastes good. If Chipotle does well, it serves as notice that there is a demand for this, and maybe McDonalds will consider changing its practices elsewhere as well. Pressure from consumers was what already caused them to give notice to Tyson that they want less antibiotic use in chicken farms, and Tyson agreed to put that into motion.

It's not many corporations that try to branch out into different philosophies, rather than just different areas of the marketplace. Chipotle is a good example of why more of them may want to do that. You get a much better sense of what people actually like and want, rather than what they will settle for.

I registered for classes, and got the ones I wanted -- 10 units, T-W-Th, 10-4:30. Not so bad.

( As for today... )

It was quite a day.

( trains )

( food )

( class )

( exploration )

( and birds )

I'm hoping to have more time to update during the day next week -- these all-in-one posts get long.