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 (just the) "Well Awareness" Entries Heinz Kicked to the Ketchup Kurb October 14, 2008 Since my Klean Kanteen story seemed to be of interest, let's talk some other baby steps towards eating better, starting with probably the one brand I thought I'd never, ever give up. Heinz Ketchup (Catsup? Garfield, you've ruined me for crosswords). For the record, I believe I'm on a gradual course towards eating properly. If I live to be 200, I'll eventually become a vegan with benefits who only eats local, organic, unrefined foods, all in healthy moderation, but I won't because I won't. While I don't believe, at present, there's an organic solution to famine or malnutrition on a global scale, I do believe many of our (perhaps necessary at the time) inorganic, quantity over quality solutions to the same have made eating well more difficult than it needs to be. Huh. Apparently I thought this soapbox was full of ketchup. So. I'm not a huge brand-loyalty kind of guy, but for some reason I was in my late twenties before I was willing to switch to a non-Heinz ketchup. Maybe the commercials were really good when I was a kid, I don't know. I only remember the Hunt's commercials where one guy would trick the other person into please for the love of all that's holy won't you try something new? And the other guy would kick his ass because Hunt's was for losers. Or something. I had a short attention span as a kid. But of course as an adult, my tastes matured, even if I still put ketchup on hot dogs sometimes (deal with it, Chicago!). And even when I longed for that more sophisticated taste, I stuck with Heinz. Anybody else remember the disappointment that was Heinz Ketchup Zingers or Kickers or Zesters or something in the first half of the decade? Added that fake garlic aftertaste? Okay, maybe it was real garlic, but it tasted fake. And the aftertaste didn't last too long. I mean, I'm over it. Well my loyalty finally waned a few years back and I did some experiments. Don't remember which bottles I tried, but the winner was something I didn't expect. Not "as good" as Heinz, but actually better!  As for switching back to Heinz, now that they've go their organic line going? I don't think I can. I still have Heinz ketchup in restaurants and such and... my tastes have changed. I taste more salt than anything, which is odd because the Muir Glen has slightly more sodium. Ah well. Give it a try. Break free from the stranglehold of mindless brand loyalty, though it might make you feel bad for making fun of Hunt's commercials, because maybe their ketchup wasn't so sad after all. We'll never know. Unless, I guess, we try it. Or something.
 Klean Kanteen FTW: Nalgene No More August 3, 2008 So I'm an early adopter of at least one annoying habit. For eight or nine years now, I've carried around a 32 oz Nalgene water bottle almost everywhere I went. Work. Play. Home. Travel. Clarion. Bathroom. I'd fill it with water twice per day, on average. This. Is. What. I. Drank. Out. Of. I remember going to parties and Jen telling me to put my Nalgene back in the car (I brought it with me out of habit, on accident, I swear!! I do have _some_ social skills...).  I had to pry the Nalgene from Thor's cold, furry paws. I championed the Nalgene, because of its health benefits (hydration, hydration, hydration!), as well as the environmental and financial benefits (purchasing one kickass bottle every two years or so vs purchasing disposable water bottles wherever I went). Reasonable, right? Early adopter or no, I bloomed late to the health risks of the BPAs and the polycarbonite plastics Nalgene uses. I took the "sure, isn't everything bad for you in large enough amounts?" line. But post head injury, I've forced myself to become more aware of everything that goes into my body. And something that's bad for you in large amounts is probably bad for someone who drinks 64 ounces of it per day, almost every day, for the better part of a decade.  One of the "publicity photos" Jamie snapped for me a few years back. Wanted to capture the real me... So a few months ago, I finally switched to a 40 oz stainless steel Klean Kanteen. It's a clear winner, though not without downsides.  Hey, I watch your baby-picture slideshows. You can give five seconds to my water receptacles. My big concern was that the metal would make the water taste tinny, as drinking out of aluminum or eating out of a can does. It doesn't. It's as flavorless as glass, which makes water taste _better_ than the plastic Nalgene ever did. And there's no musty smell that I'd get ever after the third or fourth wash of new Nalgene.  Drink-holder desk attachment. Sorry, ladies. I'm taken. It keeps the water cold--or at least feeling cold--longer, the way a can of soft drink can feel colder than a 20 oz plastic bottle in the same refrigerated case. The 40 oz Klean Kanteen is the same width as the 32 oz Nalgene, so my two accessories (the shown desk-holder thing above and carabiner thing below--I think the latter's a Bottle Belt from REI) are compatible.  Thor finds love again. (The white rope to the cap is a homemade thing, to make it easier to carry, to keep me from losing the cap, and to keep me from having to set the cap down where the cats will lick it.)  One second rule: it's on the table for one second, so it belongs to Loki. The Kons of the Klean Kanteen? It's a little bit heavier (though I'm comparing a 40 oz Kanteen with a 32 oz Nalgene; there are smaller models). It's opaque, and there's no measurement lines to tell me how full it is. And I don't like (or at least I'm not used to) the cap options, compared with the wide assortment available for the Nalgene. FWIW, I did have a wide mouth Nalgene, so I don't know whether a small-mouth Nalgene's caps are interchangeable with the Kanteen's. So now I'm the annoying guy who carries 40 oz of water around with him instead of 32. I can live with that.  Sure, Loki likes the Kanteen's shine... ...but preferred (even as a baby!) the Nalgene's chewiness. Why not go with a BPA-free Nalgene? Yes, Nalgene now makes BPA-free plastic bottles. But seeing how they've insisted on the safety of their polycarbonite products up to and after replacing them with bottles they emphasize as BPA-free (as their largest selling point, even!), I think they've worn out any brand loyalty or trust I might have had. That's right, Klean Kanteen. Don't think you can phone it in and automatically keep my business. I'm a mercenary consumer! Note that there's been no recall and that polycarbonite Nalgene bottles still seem widely available in outdoor stores, etc; if you do purchase a Nalgene plastic bottle, look for an indication that the exact one you're purchasing is BPA-free. If I was going to go with BPA-free plastic instead of stainless steel (I think I'm too clumsy for glass), the Kor One looks promising. Supposed to come out this month. Given how much water I drink on a daily basis, I didn't think it would be a good idea to wait any longer.  You put your weed in there.
In Which William S Burroughs Calls Me a Pussy May 6, 2008 It occurs to me that I talk about caffeine in the same way that real writers talk about heroin. I've seen a neurologist. I have post-concussion syndrome. What a relief, just having a name for it. No consensus on prognosis, because the brain's such a crazy place and no head injury is exactly alike. I've definitely shown improvement since December (yay!) but most people show more or complete improvement by now (boo! I mean: good for them, but boo on my own progress). "It takes as long as it takes," is both the general and the Alex-specific prediction, which is exactly as much as I knew before seeing the neurologist, which makes the neurologist bill that much more of a joy to pay. Studies vary, but it looks like I have a 90%+ chance of fully recovering by the end of the year, and there isn't anything I can do to increase those chances or hurry it up. I'm assuming they've considered heroin. Had some dental surgery in the meantime. As long as I'm useless/recovering, might as well be entirely useless/recovering all at once. Among the problems with my teeth: I've had two baby teeth in my mouth with no adults ever growing underneath to usurp them, so those babies have been ready to go for a few decades now. I have had them pulled and have begun the 16-week implants process. I should probably figure out whether pudding qualifies as a liquid before I get on my plane to WisCon, huh? Probably should've waited until the post-surgery drugs wore off before this unaffiliated citizen early-voted in his first ever Democratic primary, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do...
Head Still Attached February 18, 2008 I'm doing better gradually, and I'm mostways able to function like a normal person in spite of my focus issues. Reading and writing are the last holdouts. I've been reading Raymond Carver's intro to John Gardner's On Becoming a Novelist over and over, and I'm able to get to the end without forgetting what I've read only when I tackle it in two and three paragraph chunks over the course of several days. Went for my first brief run since the accident. I haven't been in this out of shape since the days after Clarion (when my pathetic ten runs and minimal pushups/situps over six weeks conspired with the quality of campus protein and veggies to sacrifice to the Clarion gods any muscle mass I pretended to have). I'm hoping the current 24-hour headache, worst in at least a few weeks, is unrelated to the workout; my body can't take much more inactivity, and walking just isn't scratching that itch anymore. One of the things I can do: Clean out my junk mail folder for the first time in a while. Best find: "Turn $2400 into $1000!" It's like they're not even trying anymore... Oh and memory. Memory's another holdout and, no, I'm not just being cute. I thought of memory only after checking and rechecking this entry for grammatical errors. Guess I could have inserted it in the first paragraph, but okay maybe I am being cute. Maybe I can't help being cute. It's a burden, really.
Almost Made It December 27, 2007 So black ice is real. I lived most of my life on northern Ohio roads. When it comes to ice and similar hazards, I'm an annoyingly cautious driver. Sure, I've pulled myself out of fishtails, and I've pushed myself out of snowy ditches. But black ice? Where the first sign of anything slippery is a complete loss of traction? I've only hit black ice exactly once now: it was Sunday night, coming up 77 from Carrboro, North Carolina to Akron, Ohio, in the last half hour of a nine-hour solo drive.  But once is enough, eh? The driver who stopped and called an ambulance for me said I rolled twice, but I blacked out too soon to corroborate that. Walked away with nothing more than bruises and a mild head injury, if any head injury can be mild. Head's still swollen. Still can't focus for long periods, or stay awake for the better part of the day. But that'll get better. The Honda CR-V's finished after taking the worst of it (2000-2007 with just under 160K miles on it; airbag never deflated, but it saved my life regardless). Got sick of picking broken glass out of my beard, so that's gone, too. My glasses were torn off me in the crash, but better torn outward than inward, I guess. So the year ends the same way it begins, with an ambulance ride to the emergency room. Wheeee! I'm thinking 2008 must have something pretty wild in store, if 2007 is that adamant about keeping us from seeing it. But we're alive. We're happy. We're blessed. Drive safely, all!
Sicko and Other Media/Crit Fun July 23, 2007 Congrats on the Congressional Gold, Norman Borlaug! But can we get a moratorium on press about Borlaug (scarce that it is) that begins with "it's a tragedy this guy doesn't get more press?" Because you know who's responsible for that sort of thing, right? It's like starting a sentence with "I'm not a jackass, but..." Michael Moore's Sicko opened in wide release this weekend. Along with Breach, Zodiac, and The Lives of Others, it's among my favorite films of the year so far and I urge anyone and everyone to see it and talk about it--and to think about their own experience with health care in the U.S., and what they'd like it to be. Even if it's far from perfect--and not for the reasons critics keep saying--Sicko is an excellent starting point for the discussion we really need to have. For disclosure: I've been a proponent of universal health care (or at least a hybrid between our system and universal, like what Costa Rica or Australia has) since before the first time my insurance provider declined to pay for my routine physical because it was "a preexisting condition" (what was? my body?). Jen works in health care and feels similarly, though we've decided to keep paying for insurance as long as we can afford it. It's a mixed bag, but in cases of expensive emergency it can be the difference between solvency and bankruptcy. And even a socialized-medicine-sympathizer like myself can think of times when health insurance actually came through for us. I think the best and most informative analysis and extrapolation of Sicko and the subjects it brings up (a continuation of the discussion, if you will) has come from Jonathan Oberlander on Terry Gross's Fresh Air a few weeks back (MP3 podcast still available for at least a few more days here/direct MP3 download here). Among other things, he talks about the history of managed care, the way health insurance is already subsidized less-than-fairly in our country, and the employer-based universal coverage of Germany, which might be a more realistic goal for our system to aspire to, at least in the shorter term. It's because I agree with so much of what Moore says in Sicko, that I wish the film was better. The mistake his documentaries repeatedly makes has little to do with any alleged inacuracies or his decision to put himself front-and-center as a lightning rod (though his name alone pursuades some people I know to avoid his work entirely). It's that he doesn't take opposing views seriously enough. At its core, Sicko is predominantly anecdotal. Yes, I agree with Moore more often than not. But if I didn't, I could cherry-pick the horror stories from countries with universal health care and juxtapose them with the miracle-cure-caliber triumphs of HMOs in the U.S. when they actually come through for their customers. I could create a polar opposite documentary (though lack of skill and heart on my part wouldn't make it nearly as good). And if I'm not an artist, but just a regular member who hears/experiences/believes the other side's talking points, then I won't see those arguments addressed so much as ignored. And if examples that resemble my own anecdotes are omitted, then what reason would I have to trust that Moore's addressing the same reality I'm living in? For example: If I go in believing that double-digit months for surgery was the rule in Canada and elsewhere, and Moore says "not true" and shows a few examples of short waits, I'll probably go away thinking Moore showed the exceptions not the rule. But what happens if Sicko acknowledges that, yes, these systems aren't perfect, and, yes, there can be long waits for non-life-or-death surgeries? And what if he compared that to the U.S. where wait time and access are not doled out based on need (life-threatening on one end, elective on the other) but doled out by providers based on what insurance plan you pay for, based on what you can afford? THEN when the opponents of universal health care bring out THEIR anecdotal examples (or when audience members already know of situations which contradict what they see in the film), Sicko loses none of its thunder. It's a proven method of argument in the written world. If Moore's films are cinematic essays (and, yes, they belong in the nonfiction section), then there's no reason he shouldn't use all the tools at his disposal. I've been a fan of Moore for years, so I think I understand why he does this: the mainstream media dismisses his views as fringe, so why should he give _their_ fringe views time when he's got the microphone? But I doubt a defense of there-are-fewer-problems-with-my-documentary-than-the-average-news-show-on-health-care variety is any better of a justification than it-was-quite-interesting-for-a-Michael-Bay-movie. Raise the bar, raise the debate, and bring a few more dissenters with you in the end. But the thing I cringe the most about is the examples he shows of just _how_ comprehensively some of these governments can provide for their citizens. It makes for a great entertainment, and it's mind-blowing how little we expect from our government by comparison. And doctors making housecalls in the middle of the night is positively utopian (all repect to E.M.S. workers; we're talking about preventative medicine and non-emergency services). But government-subsidized vacation and the state sending a maid to your house to help with the laundry (and who, pray tells, comes to the maid's house to help with her chores?) is exactly the kind of future that opponents of universal health care are trying to scare their constituents with. Universal health care WON'T lead to the socialization of everyday life, but the fodder's there in Sicko for the taking. I do hope I'm wrong. I was wrong in my impression of Farenheit 9/11. I thought it was Moore's weakest film to date, and by the end of it I was actually feeling sorry for our president, which is the effect that attack-ads always seem to have on me. But I know it changed some people's minds. And Sicko is Moore's most important documentary not because of the answers he gives, but because of the questions he asks. For that reason, I hope this is the beginning of the discussion and not the point where people tune it out. Footnote: Okay, now let's say you hate Michael Moore and can't understand why I give props to the guy for anything he's done. You don't want your mind changed. You just want further evidence that Moore's a pussy. Go rent Haro Kazuo's mesmerizing 1988 documentary The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On. Came out just before Moore's Roger & Me and follows Japanese WWII veteran and activist Okuzaki Kenzo's attempts to interview his commanding officers and get them to confess their war crimes. It'll solidify your suspicions that Moore is a lightweight (at least compared to Okuzaki Kenzo), and that torture might actually be an effective method of interrogation outside the world of Jack Bauer. It certainly challenged my ideas about the world. Pay no attention to the fact that Moore presented The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On at this year's Full Frame festival as one of the films that influenced him most. (I'm remembering again why I don't discuss or review "peer and peerless" projects very often anymore; I'm a slow writer and giving them half the comprehensiveness they deserve takes waaaaay more time than I can afford to give my journal right now. Also: getting one of those "Alex Wilson" Google Alerts with my Transformers review saddled with a more important article by BuildingGreen President Alex Wilson... that puts things into perspective, don't it?)
The Year Our Brains Turned Against Us April 20, 2007 Thanks for the well-wishes, everybody. Someone asked me how I was doing last night and I didn't cry. That's progress. I was also able to do some writing. Two mutual friends of Jamie, (and the first guys I emailed on Monday, after trying to get in touch with Jamie and Steffi and then learning that a German class was one of the locations hit) have posted remembrances: Michael Jasper and Jason Lundberg. It was Jason who got through to Blacksburg (from Singapore!) and let us know for sure that Jamie died, and equally important: that Steffi was alive. As announced everywhere: a Virginia Tech scholarship has been set up in Jamie's honor. Donation Info. Go rent Run Lola Run. I don't know that it was Jamie's favorite, but it was it was definitely his go-to movie. If we found any narrative film we both enjoyed, inevitably he'd turn the conversation toward a comparison to RLR. And go get some Daredevil comics as long as you're out, specifically Frank Miller's run (available in trade paperback under the Daredevil: Visionaries series. Volume 2, where Miller takes over scripting chores on top of illustration, is where it really takes off) which I know was a favorite of his. One of a few similar emails starting early Tuesday morning because Jamie's blog links to mine: "Please accept my condolences, regarding your friend Jamie Bishop. The television news program, INSIDE EDITION would like to obtain pictures of Jamie, and interviews so that the world will understand who was taken from us yesterday. Please call me at ... as soon as possible. We are under a very early deadline. Our show feeds to satelite at 3pm est. Thank you for your prompt response to this request." Gee, I would have called, but upon receiving this I was too busy throwing up in my mouth. I guess I should be thankful at least that this wasn't how I first heard the news. Now something else to get over with as long as I'm posting (nothing but happiness and light after this, though): By the end of March we started getting cocky about how that "family medical emergency" was all but behind us. Which of course is probably why it's came back with a vengeance. So we're still dealing with that and something else. A few days before that crap came back, my own body got hit with something, too. My left arm and the left half of my face keep going numb on me. The sensation is like when my foot falls asleep. There's a strong tingling and numbness from lip to ear, from elbow to fingertips. It's happened three times where it lasted 12-15 hours, each about a week apart. And there've been "smaller" episodes in between and as recently as this week where I just feel like there's cobwebs on my left eyebrow or my lips are being tickled. The record number of neurologists currently assigned to our collective ailments don't think (in fact, they CONCUR in not thinking that) these things could be related, though personally we haven't stopped looking for possible environmental causes. I've had an EKG (for which they shaved two itchy little patches on my chest), an MRI (and if you want me to sit still as claustrophobia overcomes me, don't shave two itchy little patches in my chest the day before), and an ultrasound in my neck (turns out my neck's a boy neck, though I would have loved my neck no matter what sex it was; I just want it to be healthy). Next week they ultrsound my heart, which sucks because I spent all my ultrasound jokes on my neck just now. No wait, how about: Ultrasound My Heart? Isn't that a Ray Charles song? Eh. So that might be why some of my correspondence sounded depressing before Monday. Was on the fence about sharing, but now I've decided that it's best to combine pity parties rather than spread them out. Because sound-decision-making is the one thing I've got a handle on this week. Really. Please, no armchair diagnoses; I get that enough with my insomnia and inability to whistle. We'll figure it out or we'll live with it. Yeah it's weird and scary but it's the easiest thing I've had to deal with all year. And so far my situation is entirely perceptual (though they didn't outright say I was making it up) and, because all the acronyms came back clean (in fact the exact result in one case was: "we found nothing remarkable," referring to either to my heart or brain...), they don't think I'm in any danger. So yeah. Good thing bad things only come in threes, right?
Another Milestone Called Thirty October 31, 2006 After turning thirty and sending out Writing Submission #300 within the past few months, here's one more thirty for the books. Just gave my 30th pint of blood to the Red Cross. A few of the staffers dressed up in Halloween costume, but, alas, I did not have my blood drawn by a vampire today.
Clarion Epilogue: Health and Motivation August 15, 2006 First off, a hearty congrats to Livia for being the first Oh-Sixer to make a pro sale with a Clarion-workshopped story (and just ten days out from Clarion no less)! That's one down, 119 left to go? Finally getting over my sore throat and cough, but I'm still struggling to get my momentum back post-Clarion. At the workshop I was never satisfied with either the amount of work I got done or the quality of the very rough drafts I was producing. Now I'm not satisfied with anything. Still a few days away from being able to talk normally without coughing, but I'm feeling well enough to pretend that this is behind me already. Though Clarion was a great experience and I'm glad I went, it's rather frustrating that I interrupted a moderately successful workflow, ostensibly to improve it. And ten days later I'm still producing at Clarion-levels (at best) rather than where I was in early June. Yes, I know I have unreasonable expectations for myself. That's my charm.
Continue reading "Clarion Epilogue: Health and Motivation" Filed Under: Clarion, Journal, Well Awareness The Red Cross - Double Red Cell Donations January 3, 2005 
Save twice as many lives half as often with super-efficient heroism.I remember, after September 11, 2001, for the first time ever I couldn't give blood to The Red Cross if I begged to. I usually try to give at least four times a year since I have a needed blood type and there are always shortages going on, but anytime I went to a blood drive--for a good six months after the attack--I was turned away. They would run out of bags hours before a blood drive would end, even if I'd made an appointment. I had a hope then that maybe blood shortages would finally be a thing of the past, after so many people find out how easy it is to give blood. But of course that didn't last.
Continue reading "The Red Cross - Double Red Cell Donations" Filed Under: Journal, Peers & Peerless, Well Awareness, World of Importance |
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Alex Wilson writes fiction and comics in Carrboro, NC. His work has appeared/will appear in Asimov's Science Fiction, The Rambler, LCRW, Weird Tales, The Florida Review, Futurismic, ChiZine, Pif, and Dragon. Locus Magazine has called him a "promising new writer," and Publishers Weekly also has nice things to say. Alex runs the audiobook project/podcast Telltale Weekly and the writer wiki Guidevines. He publishes the minicomic/zine Inconsequential Art. He is a 2006 Clarion graduate. Blog Archives 2008 - Clever Label TBA 2007 - BadYearNoCookie 2006 - Clarion! 1st Pro Sale! 2005 - Peers and Peerless 2004 - Telltale Launch 2003 - Dog bites, acting out 2002 - In my mind, I'm going... 2001 - Marriage, Macs, 1st Cons 2000 - Setback, Milestones 1999 - Engaged, Graduated 1998 - Creative Independence    Powered by MT 3.35 MySpace Profile Technorati Profile |
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