30 Days Challenge

What a Year It's Been!

2010-01-10T13:50:00.000-08:00

The 30 Days Challenge presented quite a lot of opportunity for personal growth in 2009. I set quite a few challenging goals for myself. I think it's time to reflect on how I did. While each challenge was only for one month, the goal was to make all of these things part of the daily or weekly routines long term. Here's how I did both during the month and for sticking with it long-term.

January - Drink Enough Water

I did fairly well with this one during January. Since then, I haven't been as strict about keeping track, but I'm certainly drinking more water than I used to drink, and I feel better for it. I'm more conscious about how much water I'm drinking, and as a result it has ended up being a substitute for soda.

What did I learn? I wasn't getting enough water. I feel better now that I am. And I pee more.

In-month grade: A

Long-term grade: A-

February - Get Enough Exercise

I thought this one would be fairly easy for me, but it turns out it has been quite a challenge to meet the minimum requirements. Technically, I met them during the month, but barely. I did fine during the summer, but to be honest, I'm a bit disappointed with my overall performance in this area throughout the year. One thing that has picked up, though, is if I don't have time for an actual workout during the day, I'll try to walk to lunch. Also, the August challenge, which I'll get to later, really helped this one out.

What did I learn? It's easy to exercise in the summer. It's tougher in the winter, especially once we had kids. In order to get enough, I will need to set a schedule I can stick to rather than try to fit exercise in the cracks.

In-month grade: B+

Long-term grade: C+

March - No soda

This is an easy one to grade since I didn't have any soda during the month of March. I've slipped up for a few weeks at a time during the rest of the year, but overall I've done pretty well. I'm OK with having one once in awhile, but I don't want to start getting one every day. It's tough since it is free at work, but drinking enough water helps.

What did I learn? Drink enough water, and you don't crave soda anymore.

In-month grade: A

Long-term grade: B

April - No more than one alcoholic drink a day

I decided that this one was not a fun one to do. I should have said only one drink Sunday-Thursday and a higher limit on the weekends. Technically, I succeeded on this challenge, but I had to consider a 22 oz bottle of beer or a very full glass of wine to be one drink. What did come out of it though, is I make a conscious effort to not grab that second beer if I have to go to work the next day, and it does make me feel better.

What did I learn? I like beer.

In-month grade: B+

Long-term grade: C-

May - Floss every day

I did this every day in May, but I've had a hard time making it a habit. It seems to go in spurts. We have, however, actually purchased dental floss for the first time after using up what the dentist gives out for free.

What did I learn? It didn't take long to get my gums nice and healthy, but for some reason it's hard to make flossing as much of a routine as brushing teeth.

In-month grade: A

Long-term grade: C

June - Minimize your environmental impact

Trash - I think we've really well in this arena, but there is still more we can do. The original challenge was to minimize your trash, but we stepped it up to include a lot of other things. On trash, we did very well and are keeping it up. We compost all vegetable and grain kitchen scraps, we sort out all metal, plastic, paper, and glass for recycling. If it isn't recycled curbside, we store it up until I have a full load to take to the recycling center. We've started using cloth napkins...sometimes. Once we get rid of diapers, we'll average less than one kitchen-sized bag of trash a week. Not too shabby!

Water Usage - We don't let the water run when it isn't being used (like soaping up hands or brushing teeth), and we didn't water the lawn all summer with the exception of when it was 100 degrees for four days. I stopped putting grass clippings in the yard waste bin and leave them on the lawn now. The next step is to install some rain barrels for use in watering the lawn and putting water in the pond to keep the fish alive. I' also plan to investigate a point-of-use hot water heater for our master-bath shower. It's the farthest point in the house you can get from the hot water heater, and it takes a long time to get the water hot for a shower. I think we can cut down a lot of wasted water by doing this.

Electricity and Natural Gas - To be honest, I didn't do much here other than check the electrical usage of all the things we plug in. I did learn a bit about what we SHOULD do, but I didn't put much effort into doing it other than trying to turn off lights in rooms that are unoccupied and shutting down the computer each night when we go to bed. I simply don't want to get rid of my keg fridge. (Having beer in a keg rather than in bottles cuts down on having to recycle bottles.) We did replace every burned out bulb with a CFL, though. As for gas, we turned down our thermostat a few degrees, I fixed some air leaks in our house, and I hung up a sleeping bag in the entryway to our living room, which is converted from a garage and I'm pretty sure is not insulated. The next step here is to investigate having solar panels installed on the roof and see what the return on investment would be. There are a lot of state and federal tax benefits I'd like to take advantage of. I also need to hire a contractor to make sure all my heating ducts aren't leaking. I know there are a few.

What did I learn? There is a lot to learn.

In-month grade: A-

Long-term grade: B+

July - Don't watch any television all month

Easy. Done. I do watch TV now, but if I'm not enjoying it, I turn it off. I don't just watch it to watch it. Also, I give a new show 2-3 episodes and decide to dump it or keep watching. Sometimes it's obvious after 1 show.

What did I learn? Watching TV for enjoyment is fine, but there is a lot of crap on. If you're not enjoying yourself, do something else. TV shows don't deserve loyalty.

In-month grade: A

Long-term grade: B+

August - Don't drive alone in your car to work

I did fairly well on this one. I rode my bike most days, which was great! I got my exercise and my commute done at the same time. I tried various public transportation routes using the bus and the train, but I didn't like it. It took longer than biking. And, it took me 4 times as long as driving and cost me twice as much. I never actually found a carpool buddy. The only two days I drove were one day when I had to go to Lake Oswego for work and one day when Janell and I had to get somebody from the airport.

What did I learn? Taking public transportation from my house to my work simply isn't worth it because due to scheduling it takes me anywhere from 45 minutes to 65 minutes to get to work. I can drive it in about 12 minutes. It adds over an hour of commuting time to my day. Carpooling requires compromise on somebody's part, and that's hard to do. Driving alone is easy and costs half as much as riding public transportation, but it's not very environmentally friendly. Biking is easily the best way to get to work. I am, however, a fair weather rider, so as soon as it started raining the biking stopped.

In-month grade: A-

Long-term grade: C

September - 5 servings of fruits and vegetables

I consider myself to be a meat eater, but this was actually easier than I thought it would be. I grabbed a natural juice (Naked, Odwalla, etc.) for breakfast, picked something with vegetables for lunch, ate a piece of fruit for a snack, and made sure to get vegetables for dinner. And I still got my meat.

What did I learn? Eating vegetables wasn't too tough after all.

In-month grade: A

Long-term grade: A-

October - Eat one of the 14 top "superfoods"

This one was actually easier than I thought it would be, so I bumped it up to two a day. And I even tried several recipes using pumpkin!

What did I learn? Eating the "superfoods" isn't that hard. It just takes a little effort.

In-month grade: A

Long-term grade: B+

November - No fast food

This was another easy one. Simply avoid those places. Although, I think once in awhile is OK as long as it isn't a major source of your meals.

What did I learn? It's not that hard to avoid fast food. And you feel better when you eat better.

In-month grade: A

Long-term grade: A-

December - Write down something you are grateful for

I'll admit that while I had something written down for every day in the month, I didn't actually write it down on that specific day. I noticed that this exercise helped me feel better about some work-related issues. They suddenly seemed to be less important.

What did I learn? It's good to remind yourself of the positive aspects in your life. It makes the negative stuff seem like not as big of a deal.

In-month grade: B

Long-term grade: D+

Things to be grateful for - Dec 27-31

2009-12-31T20:31:00.000-08:00

December 27 - I'm grateful that we were able to collect 232 books to donate to the Children's Book Bank in Portland as my Christmas present to Janell.

December 28 - I read an article in the paper today about the football team at one of the Portland high schools. The article described how some people have started a pasta feed for the team every Wednesday because some of the players were going days without eating due to financial hardship. I'm grateful that I don't have to worry about how I'm going to feed my kids.

December 29 - I'm grateful that Austin's little mishap yesterday only resulted in three stitches. He's in good spirits today, and it's like it didn't happen! I'm also grateful it didn't happen today since we had several inches of snow and couldn't really go anywhere due to slick roads and complete gridlock everywhere.

December 30 - I'm grateful that my parents are watching the boys tonight so Janell and I can have an overnight at Edgefield!

December 31 - I'm grateful for the 30 Days Challenge this year! I was able to make many of the items habits and I lost a few pounds in the process!

Things to be grateful for - Dec 21-26

2009-12-26T22:35:00.000-08:00

December 21 - I'm grateful that the craft beer industry took off in the United States at just the right time! I remember hearing lots of jokes about American beer (how is American beer like a canoe...they're both f'ing close to water). But who's laughing now? The beer here is among the best in the world, and there is lots of it. I'm particularly lucky to live in Portland, where we have more breweries than any other city in the world! 31 and counting! Competition breeds excellence.

December 22 - This one may sound weird, but I'm grateful for all of my ex-girlfriends. I believe that every one of them contributed to the person I am today. I learned something from each relationship. I learned who I am. I learned how to appreciate people who have different opinions than I do. And, I learned different outlooks on life. Thank you for helping me find me way. Most importantly, I learned what I wanted in a woman and in a partner, and I was able to recognize that when I met my wife.

December 23 - I grew up an only child. Yet, I have a huge family. 41 first cousins. Over 200 second cousins. I'm part of a huge, loving family. I consider many of my cousins to be sisters and brothers, and I'm grateful for that.

December 24 - I'm grateful that today is Christmas Eve, and my kids are old enough to sort of get it. I get to play Santa tonight!

December 25 - I'm grateful that my parents were able to make it to Portland safely and relatively on time, even though there was an ice storm brewing in the midwest today and yesterday. Merry Christmas to all!

December 26 - In light of the attempted terrorist attack yesterday (somebody tried to blow up a Northwest flight bound for Detroit from Amsterdam on Christmas day), I feel this one is timely and fairly important. I'm grateful for all the men and women who are brave enough to fight for our freedom and our safety as part of the U.S. military. Salute to the armed forces! I appreciate all you do!

Things to be grateful for - Dec 13-20

2009-12-20T22:15:00.000-08:00

December 13 - Today is my birthday. I'm grateful that my mother thought of me as a child and not as a choice.

December 14 - I'm grateful that we got our Christmas presents for the grandparents all ready to go.

December 15 - I'm grateful that all my vocal and instrumental parts are done for Spontaneous Woo's second album! Only a few bass fixes and mixing left! Hopefully only a few more months...

December 16 - I'm grateful for the funny things my kids say. For example. "Mama hair brown. Owen hair yellow. Austin hair yellow. Mama teeth yellow."

December 17 - I'm grateful that it was announced that we're getting an extra bonus at work, and we have a budget for raises this year. Last year we didn't have raises at all, but considering what was going on with the economy, we were all just grateful to be employed at the time.

December 18 - I'm grateful that the class I taught at the local plumbers and steamfitters union (UA290) went well. Who knows? They may even ask me back!

December 19 - I'm grateful that we got to hang out with Mark and Katie to bake cookies and then got the bonus of seeing Katie's brother Patrick!

December 20 - I'm grateful Ted invited me and the boys over to watch football this morning to give Janell a morning off!

Things to be grateful for - Dec 11-12

2009-12-12T14:52:00.000-08:00

December 11 - I'm grateful I grew up in Aplington, Iowa. There I learned the value of community and the value of hard work. In fact, we had a survey in my department at work here in Oregon, and one of the questions was "Where would you have liked to have grown up?" The two of us from Iowa both listed Iowa. Here are two fantastic examples why.

When I was a freshman at Iowa State University, my dad sustained a head injury in a farm accident that put him in the hospital for nine days and out of farming shape for a bit longer. All this happened in the middle of harvest. After driving to Iowa City to visit my dad in the hospital after the accident, I headed to the farm outside of Aplington to take care of the 500 hogs he raised and figure out how to deal with the 220 acres of crops that needed to be combined soon. When I got there, I found dozens of friends, neighbors, and family members there. Three of them were out in the field with their combines, and there were so many tractors and wagons there that they had to wait in line for the three combines to give them a half a load to take to town. This all continued for the next few days while my uncle Paul and I took care of the livestock. There were also several ladies there cooking for all the men and keeping everybody full. By the time my dad got home from the hospital, all the crops were out of the field, which was a very good thing since he obviously needed to rest and recover. I'll never forget the sense of community I felt in those few days. Keep in mind that when all this started, my dad was in the hospital, my mom was with him, and I was away at school. Nobody asked for any help. Nobody asked for any praise. Everybody just knew what to do, and they showed up and got it done.

The next story has to do with Parkersburg, which is only four miles from Aplington. Parkersburg is where I went to church, I wrestled on their wrestling team (Aplington didn't have a team), and Parkersburg merged schools with Aplington shortly after I graduated. It's sort of a surrogate hometown for me. Last May a category 5 tornado ripped through Parkersburg and neighboring New Hartford. It destroyed 1/3 of the Parkersburg, including about 220 houses, the high school, and 2/3 of the businesses. The devastation was unbelievable. What happened next was even more unbelievable. The rest of the town of Parkersburg and surrounding communities wasted no time coming in to help pick up the pieces. People cam from all over the state to rake debris from the lawns of people they had never met. Students from rival high schools arrived by the busload from as far as 100 miles away and crawled on their hands and knees to pick up glass, wood, and metal shards that had been embedded into the football field. Football players from both Iowa and Iowa State came to help. The sense of community and hard work spread from the immediate area to the entire state. I was never more proud to be from Iowa as I was in the aftermath of that tornado.

December 12 - I'm grateful that I get to go back to a friends' party tonight after the kids go to bed. Thanks Janell! I'm also grateful that it's close enough to walk. :)

Things to be grateful for - Dec 10

2009-12-10T22:50:00.001-08:00

I'm grateful to have several great groups of friends. I am blessed with many good friends here in Portland. I am also blessed with many friends I made in Aplington, Iowa State, Penn State, Saipan, Japan, and many other places that I don't get to see as often as I'd like. I really do treasure every one of you, and I'm proud of the way everybody looks out for each other.

Things to be grateful for - Dec 7-9

2009-12-09T21:14:00.000-08:00

December 7 - I'm grateful that I have a good job to get up and to go today. It may frustrate me at times, but I really do get to work on things that interest me, and I have first-rate co-workers. It also does a good job of paying my bills.

December 8 - I'm grateful that we are getting together for band practice tonight. Never grow up!

December 9 - When I woke up this morning it was 7 degrees outside. I'm grateful that we have a warm house to wake up in. I'm grateful that our furnace is working so far this winter. I'm grateful that we don't have to worry about how we're going to pay our utility bills. I'm grateful that my family members all have warm clothes to wear.

Things to be grateful for - Dec 3-6

2009-12-06T14:15:00.000-08:00

December 3 - I'm sitting here at the Autodesk University conference in Las Vegas. I'm really grateful that I could be here. It has been a great experience. I'm grateful that my boss saw the importance of it both for Intel and as a personal growth experience for me. He put himself out there and fought for me to be able to attend, and I'm grateful for that.

December 4 - I'm grateful that my parents let me grow and develop into the person I am today. They were always very encouraging of whatever I wanted to do. Thank you for letting me be myself.

December 5 - I'm grateful that I picked a job in Portland, Oregon rather than a job in Vermont. Regardless of the job itself, coming to Oregon over 11 years ago was a good decision. I knew when I got here that this is a place where I belonged. Besides, if I hadn't come here I wouldn't have met my wife!

December 6 - I'm grateful for college football at 9am.

Things to be grateful for - Dec 1 and Dec 2

2009-12-02T10:40:00.000-08:00

Dec 1: First and foremost, I'll start with the obvious one. I'm grateful that I was lucky enough to meet Janell, fall in love with her, and convince her to marry me. We've been together now for a total of nine years, and it has been a fantastic journey so far. When people say relationships are hard work, I think perhaps they haven't tried it with the right person for them. My relationship with Janell isn't hard work at all. It's actually quite easy, and I think that is because we are peers and partners in every sense of the word. So, I'm grateful for a having fantastic relationship with my best friend.

Dec 2: The next obvious one. I'm grateful to have two wonderful, healthy, curious, funny, loving, caring little boys. It's very exciting to be able to help them learn, well basically everything. The first time that truly dawned on me was when I showed them how to hold an apple so that they didn't eat the end and chew through the core. Simple things you never think about. I absolutely love it when I can share little private moments with them where we both laugh at something silly without really talking about why it's silly. I don't have to write this down to know I'm grateful for it, but it certainly doesn't hurt.

December Challenge - Write Down Something You are Grateful for Every Day

2009-11-29T16:09:00.000-08:00

It's time for the final challenge of the year. This one is a mental health activity. The idea is that if you write down something that you are grateful for everyday, it helps keep you focused on the positive aspects of your life and improve your overall attitude. It doesn't need much explanation, so good luck!

Jason

Pumpkin Recipes

2009-11-29T15:36:00.000-08:00

Well, I did manage to find a few pumpkin recipes that were pretty good. Some I'll just post a link, but a few I'll have to type out. Note that the big carving pumpkins aren't really the ones you would use for these recipes. I found that there are actually several different varieties of pumpkins, many of which look more like a winter squash. Not coincidentally, winter squash can be used as a substitute in most of these recipes. I'm not going to pretend to be an expert here, so ask your local produce supplier for recommendations on what pumpkins to use.

Thai-Spiced Pumpkin Soup - The soup turned out to be fantastic! It was pretty easy to make, too.

Roasted Pumpkin Salad - This was close to one of the prettiest dishes ever served on our table. It tasted pretty good, too. I'd pay particular attention to what type of pumpkin or squash you use, though.

Pumpkin and Beef Stew - I followed an actual recipe for this one, but I'd just say, "Make your favorite beef stew recipe and add cubed pumpkin." The pumpkins turned out tasting similar to the potatoes but with a much different texture. Basically, both soaked up the flavors of the stew quite nicely.

Pumpkin Puree (compliments of Plumper Pumpkin Patch) - To be used with other recipes

1-2 Sugar Pie Pumpkins (or other good tasting pumpkins)

1/2 c. Water

Cut pumpkin in half and remove seeds. Place pumkin halves upside down on a cookie sheet with water in the bottom. Bake in oven at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Cool. Remove pulp form skin and puree in blender or food processor. Pumpkin is now ready for use in your recipes.

Pumpkin Bread (compliments of Plumper Pumpkin Patch)

5 Eggs

1 1/4 cup Vegetable Oil

2 cups pumpkin puree

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

2 packages Cook & Serve Vanilla Pudding (3 oz)

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

Beat eggs in mixing bowl. Add oil and pumpkin. Beat until smooth. Combine remaining ingredients; gradually beat into pumpkin mixture. Pour batter into five greased 5-in x 2 1/2-in x 2-in loaf pans (or whatever you use to make banana bread). Bake at 325 degrees for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. NOTE: Can use two greased 8-in x 4-in x 2-in loaf pans for 75-80 minutes.

When I made this one I only had one package of instant vanilla pudding, so I used that. Also, I actually made the pudding first. I think you're supposed to put it in dry, but putting in he made pudding turned out quite well!

Try it! You might like it!

Jason

November Challenge - No Fast Food

2009-11-01T20:40:00.000-08:00

This month it's no fast food. If you order your food at a counter and pay for it at the counter, it's fast food. If it has a drive-through, it's a definite no-no. The last few challenges should have set everybody up for this one. It's hard to find a super food at a fast food place unless it's covered in cheese or mayonnaise.

Good luck!

On a related note, I went to Five Guys Burgers and Fries last night (since I wouldn't be able to go there for a month), and they followed through on their promise and they aren't using styrofoam cups for fries anymore! Yeah, Five Guys!

Jason

Pumpkins

2009-10-25T22:33:00.001-07:00

OK. Pumpkins are on the superfood list, but does anybody know of a way to cook them other than pumpkin pie or pumpkin bread? I've not found much out there...

Jason

Up the Ante

2009-10-05T21:35:00.000-07:00

So far I have not found this challenge to be much of a challenge at all. I eat a bowl of oatmeal nearly every day for breakfast, and I'm done. I'm going to up the ante on this one to two superfoods every day. Just do it! Get 'er done! What are you waiting for? Insert company slogan here!

Jason

October Challenge - Eat at least one of the "Superfoods" every day

2009-10-01T07:09:00.000-07:00

Did you know there are "superfoods?" These foods can help lower your cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer. And, they can help put you in a better mood!

Work these foods into your diet this month, and see how you feel!

Beans
Blueberries
Broccoli
Oats
Oranges
Pumpkin
Salmon
Soy
Spinach
Tea (green or black)
Tomatoes
Turkey
Walnuts
Yogurt

For more details on each, see this article.

http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/superfoods-everyone-needs

Enjoy!

Jason

September Challenge - Eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables every day

2009-09-01T12:57:00.000-07:00

This one seems pretty straight-forward, right? Eat five servings of fruits and vegetables every day. Well, how much is a serving? I just had a salad at lunch that included two large cherry tomatos, two cucumber slices, and a pile of lettuce. Is that one serving? Two? I checked the following website to find out. Basically, one serving is about a half-cup.

http://nutrition.about.com/od/fruitsandvegetables/f/servingfruit.htm

Here are some examples:

Fruits

one banana
six strawberries
two plums
fifteen grapes
one apple
one peach
one half cup of orange or other fruit juice

Vegetables

five broccoli florets
ten baby carrots
one roma tomato
3/4 cup tomato juice
half of a baked sweet potato
one ear of corn
four slices of an onion

Good luck!

Jason

Commuting Options

2009-08-26T21:15:00.001-07:00

Well, after three and a half weeks of not driving to work by myself, I've come to a few conclusions. Driving is definitely the fastest option by far. Biking is probably my favorite, because I can exercise and commute at the same time. Public transportation is my least favorite. It takes longer than biking from my house to work, and it takes 3 to 4 times as long as driving. I am stuck with their time-tables, so I usually end up getting places 20 minutes early to avoid being late. And the fare actually costs me about three times as much as the gas it takes to drive there. If I worked downtown, it may be a different story, but I don't.

The only thing I haven't really tried, yet, is carpooling. I'll need to work on that one.

Jason

First week of commuting down!

2009-08-09T13:16:00.001-07:00

This one hasn't been too bad so far, but I was lucky that the 100 degree week hit in July and not August! Here's a quick rundown.

Monday - I rode my bike both to and from work. It took about 35-40 minutes from my door to my desk and vice versa.
Tuesday - I rode my bike to work, and Janell picked me up on the way to the Hillsboro Farmers Market after work.
Wednesday - I rode my bike to work, and then I unexpectedly caught a ride home with Trent after work.
Thursday - I took the bus to work. It took about 45 minutes, and I had to leave home at 6:30 (and arrive at 7:15) to avoid an extra 20 minutes of waiting time for the one that gets me there closer to 8:00. I took the bus home and stopped for a chiropractor appointment on the way. It took about 45 minutes to get to the chiropractor's office. Afterwards, I waited about 15 minutes for the next bus and took a 5 minute ride home.
Friday - I rode my bike both directions.

So far I've learned that my options to get to work are a 15 minute drive costing about $1 in gas each way, a 35 minute bike ride for free, or a 45-65 minute bus ride costing $2 each way where I can't control the time. Public transportation from my house to my work is a hard sell. There are a few other options I'll explore.

Jason

August Challenge - Don't ride to work in a car by yourself

2009-08-02T14:28:00.000-07:00

Before we get to the August challenge, I have a few notes on the July challenge. First, I had the opportunity to watch television yesterday! It sucked. I surfed channels for about 20 minutes and realized that I wasn't having any fun and I wasn't enjoying myself, so I turned it off. Second, about halfway into the challenge, Janell caught me watching YouTube videos of old baseball players. Does that count as watching TV?

Now for August. This month's challenge is to not ride in a car by yourself to work. There are several options available.

Ride your bike. If you live within 10 miles of work, this is actually a pretty good option. I live 8 miles from work, and it takes me 35 minutes to ride there. Considering that my drive home is 25 minutes due to traffic, this is a pretty nice way to get my exercise (see the February challenge) and my commute in at the same time. It also helps that there is a gym with showers at my workplace. One thing I've learned from doing this in the past is that it helps to leave clean clothes and shower supplies at work so you don't have to carry them all on your bike or on your back.
Walk. This isn't an option for most people, but if it is take advantage of it!
Carpool. This is a very underutilized option. The two biggest gates for carpooling are not being willing to compromise with somebody else on a schedule and not being able to find somebody to carpool with. As for the schedule, all it takes is a bit of communication and a bit of effort. As for finding somebody, try carpool postings. There are plenty of them out there.
Public transportation. We are quite lucky to have a good public transportation system in Portland. Although I know that it will take me quite a bit longer to ride public transportation than to drive, or even to ride my bike for that matter, I'll give it a try this month and report my results.

As always, this will be easy for some, challenging for others, and impossible for a few. For those of you who don't work (retirees and stay-at-home parents) and those of you who simply can't carpool (real estate agents), I suggest you revisit one of the previous months you'd like to improve upon or pick something of your own!

January - Drink enough water

February - Exercise!

March - No Soda

April - No more than one alcoholic beverage a day

May - Floss every day

June - Minimize your impact (there is a lot of information in various posts)

July - No television

Good luck!

Jason

No TV...

2009-07-12T09:02:00.000-07:00

Not having the TV on is much more difficult when you're staying at somebody else's house for a week. I may need to extend this challenge into August a little bit.

Jason

Recycling

2009-07-10T11:04:00.000-07:00

We're back to the June Challenge for a bit. I haven't discussed recycling, yet, so let's get going on that. First, let's focus on how recycling programs work and what to do with questionable materials. Thanks to Taco for providing the information!

Recycling Overview:
Just because a material is “recyclable” does not mean that it is appropriate for curbside collection. Some considerations to determine what material is eligible for curbside pickup include:

The material must have a stable market so that it can remain on the “ok” list indefinitely. Think of how confusing it would be if you got a flier from your waste collector every month telling you things that have been added to and removed from your list of accepted materials.
The hauling and sorting machinery necessary to collect and separate the material from other materials must be available in the area. Otherwise “recyclable” materials will get comingled and contaminate each other.
The material requires simple instructions for the public. The more confusing and difficult the recycling program, the less likely people are to use it and the more likely they are to do the wrong thing and cause contamination.
“Contamination” can refer to food-soiled recyclables, but it can also refer to materials separated into the wrong place – such as plastic mixed in with your paper. This not only results in the loss of that material, but it may actually contaminate the other materials too, thus sending recyclable materials to the landfills.
Different types of recycling programs include full source separation systems (keeping each material in its own separate bin) and comingled systems (where various different materials can be combined for collection). Full source separation is always best to minimize contamination, but is more difficult to administer and more difficult for casual recyclers to adhere to. Comingled systems result in slightly increased contamination rates, but due to their simplicity the participation rates are much higher.
The typical comingled system sends mixed recyclables to a Material Recovery Facility, where a combination of mechanical and manual processes are used to separate everything into individual material streams. The first step for incoming material is to move along a fast conveyor belt past several hand-sorting stations, which usually serves to pull out as much trash as possible. Another area along the conveyor serves to separate out large corrugated cardboard pieces while allowing remaining material to fall through for further sorting. Some metal is sorted out using magnets while the non-magnetic metal is sorted by hand. Plastics and boxboard are also sorted by hand, leaving the remaining material which consists of paper (newspaper, office paper, etc.). Because the paper is the last material in the line it often contains the highest level of contamination, since it will contain any items that did not get sorted out properly earlier in the line - this is called a negatively sorted material. Positively sorted materials, such as the metal and plastic, have fewer contaminants because they are specifically pulled off the line (i.e. positively identified).
Remember that recycling does not end in your curbside bin or at the recycling centers, but when you purchase goods that are made with recycled materials.

Factoids & frequently asked questions (as with any recycling information, especially for the folks outside of the Portland area, it’s always best to call your waste hauler to verify information since policies & practices differ greatly from area to area):

What should I do with plastic bags?

Plastic bags cannot go into your curbside recycling bins because they jam the machinery at recycling facilities and cause safety risks for workers.
Take clean, dry plastic bags to a grocery store collection point (ask if you have questions about which different types of bags they accept). Better yet, try reusable bags when you shop to avoid the plastic bags altogether.

Why does glass typically need to be kept separate in our curbside recycling programs?

In markets where machinery is used to sort your comingled recyclables, glass can easily break which can hurt workers and damage the machinery. Keeping glass separate minimizes this safety risk.
Always contact your waste hauler if you have questions about how materials must be separated prior to collection.
Recycling one glass bottle saves enough energy to power a light bulb for four hours.
Sending 10,000 tons of waste to the landfill supports six jobs, while recycling the same amount supports 36 jobs.
Just by recycling, Portland residents and businesses save enough energy to power half the homes in Portland for an entire year.
The Portland metro region recycles about $80 Million worth materials per year.

Where can I recycle light bulbs?

CFL & fluorescent bulbs should be taken to your local hazardous materials depot due to the mercury they contain.
Standard bulbs can be disposed of in the normal trash, or put onto craigslist for artists.

What can I do with metal spray cans?

As long as they are empty, you can recycle these curbside after removing the lids.

Can I put lids and bottle caps in the curbside recycling bin?

Plastic lids are flat and thus often get missed in the sorting process, which means they end up with the paper and can contaminate that recycling stream. Even if the lids are made of recyclable plastic, they should be recycled through an independent recycler who accepts them outside of your curbside program.
Metal lids of jars, beer bottles, etc. are recyclable even with the rubber or plastic seal. To help the sorting process, put these smaller metal items into a metal can and crimp the lip of the can over to prevent the smaller items from falling out.

Do I need to remove staples, plastic envelope windows, spiral binders and sticky notes from my paper prior to recycling?

No, these can all be removed during the paper recycling process.

Can I recycle shredded paper in my curbside bin?

Call your hauler to be certain but usually YES. Also, you can avoid a mess by putting it in a paper bag and folding or stapling the top.
Keep in mind that paper fibers can survive roughly 7 cycles through the recycling stream, since the fibers get smaller and smaller each time through the process.

Can I recycle delivery pizza boxes?

Usually not, due to food contamination. Grease can attract vermin in the recycling centers and can contaminate other paper supplies that it contacts making them unusable. If the boxes are very clean (no grease), then they can be recycled.

Can I recycle frozen food boxes?

No. These boxes have “wet strength” in order to protect the product within even in the freezer environment. This wet strength is achieved by weaving plastic in with the paper fibers, which cannot be separated out in the recycling process. Since plastic contaminates paper recycling, these frozen food boxes are unfortunately not recyclable.

What about milk cartons?

Yes. Even though they hold liquid, these containers (called aseptic containers) typically get their moisture resistance from wax instead of plastic.

Can I recycle motor oil bottles? They have the little number on them.

No, you can't recycle any plastic that has had hazardous materials in them, including motor oil, pesticides, etc. Assume that any recycled plastic will end up as a food conatainer.

What can I do with materials that I believe should be recyclable, but that are not accepted in my curbside collection program?

For Portland area residents, you can contact the Metro recycling information hotline by website (www.metro-region.org/recycling) or phone (503-234-3000). They can assist you with questions regarding curbside recyclables as well as which local business accept non-curbside materials such as Styrofoam, plastic lids, take-out food clamshells, etc. In fact, they can also answer questions on composting, natural gardening, general garbage disposal, and hazardous waste. They are an invaluable resource!
For non-Portland residents, try contacting your waste hauler to see what other businesses in the area might accept these items, or contact your local government to see if there are any other resources in your area.

Thanks!

Jason

July Challenge - No Television

2009-07-02T22:32:00.001-07:00

As with all challenges so far, this one drew a mix of "No problem, I don't do that anyway." to "There's no way I can live without it!" Well, based on my experiences of the last six months, you can live without it! Especially TV. In July. Basketball is over. Football hasn't started, yet. Baseball doesn't get interesting until September. All the network shows are in reruns. You can get news and weather from the internet. If you're watching TV in July, it's likely because you're bored.

Take this month to enjoy the summer and rediscover the outdoors. Go on a bike ride. Take the kids to the park. Take a mini trip for the weekend. Tend your garden. Play cards or a board game. Learn to play the guitar. Practice your guitar if you already know how to play. Read a book. Better, yet. Write a book. Pick up a new hobby. Go to happy hour. Join a softball team. Call your mother. Live life!

Jason

Energy Usage

2009-06-22T21:31:00.001-07:00

One thing we all can do is reduce the amount of energy we use around our house on a daily basis. This basically means curbing electricity and natural gas usage. Here are some helpful tips. I quoted all the usage facts from the Portland Metro website, and there are quite a few I didn't include, so check it out if you would like to see more.

Appliance Usage - See previous blog for money saving details

Home appliances are the world’s fastest-growing energy consumers after automobiles, accounting for 30 percent of industrial countries’ electricity consumption and 12 percent of their greenhouse gas emissions. –Worldwatch Institute, State of the World 2004 Special Focus: The Consumer Society, January 2004,I SBN: 0-393-32539-3
About 80 percent of the energy used by a clothes washer is used to heat water. –Rocky Mountain Institute, Home Energy Brief #5 Water Heating,” 2004
http://www.rmi.org/images/other/Energy/E04-15_HEB5WaterHeat.pdf

- With modern detergents, using cold water to wash your clothes should meet your needs most of the time. Not only will it keep your hot water heater from running as often, it will also keep your clothes from fading.

- Consider using a drying rack or even a clothes line, dryers consume high amounts of energy. It also helps your clothes last longer. I started putting all my shirts on hangers to dry about 10 years ago, not to save energy, but to save the shirts. And I inadvertently saved energy in the process!

- Use a toaster oven or microwave to cook or heat up smaller portions rather than using a conventional oven.

Light Bulbs

The incandescent light bulb is so inefficient that about 90 percent of the energy it consumes is given off as heat, while only 10 percent is converted to light. –U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, “Energy Information Administration, 2001 Residential Energy Consumption Survey,” 2001
An incandescent light bulb costs 75 cents or less at the store, but it will typically cost six to 10 times that for electricity over its relatively short (750-hour) life. –Rocky Mountain Institute, 2002
www.rmi.org/sitepages/pid352.ph
The average American household has 2.5 incandescent light bulbs on for 4 or more hours each day. If every household replaced those bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs, the nation would save nearly 32 billion kilowatt hours every year, or about 35 percent of all electricity used for lighting homes. –U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, “Residential Energy Consumption Survey,” 1993

- Consider using CFL (Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs), the payback is considerable over the life of the bulb. This one does come with a catch, though! Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs do contain mercury. This is a hazardous material and should be treated as such, so you shouldn't just throw them in the trash when they burn out. In Portland, you can take them to hazardous waste collection events or permanent Metro stations. See this website for details. If you live elsewhere, check with your local authorities on how to properly dispose of them. Also, be aware of proper clean up if one should break. Here are the cleanup instructions from the EPA if you do break one. The procedure is quite extensive.

- LED bulbs are also new options, but to date pretty expensive.

Heating and Cooling

- It doesn't matter how efficient your furnace is if your ducts are leaking. It's a good idea to have a professional come make sure everything is sealed up.

- Set your thermostat as low as is comfortable in the winter and as high as is comfortable in the summer.

- Clean or replace filters on furnaces once a month or as needed.

- Clean warm-air registers, baseboard heaters, and radiators as needed; make sure they're not blocked by furniture, carpeting, or drapes.

- Bleed trapped air from hot-water radiators once or twice a season; if in doubt about how to perform this task, call a professional.

- Place heat-resistant radiator reflectors between exterior walls and the radiators.

- Turn off kitchen, bath, and other exhaust fans within 20 minutes after you are done cooking or bathing; when replacing exhaust fans, consider installing high-efficiency, low-noise models.

- During the heating season, keep the draperies and shades on your south-facing windows open during the day to allow the sunlight to enter your home and closed at night to reduce the chill you may feel from cold windows.

- During the cooling season, keep the window coverings closed during the day to prevent solar gain.

There are also lots of other great energy saving tips on this website.

Jason

Panda Express

2009-06-18T22:36:00.000-07:00

Since I had such good luck with Five Guys, I thought I'd try a few others. I went to Panda Express to get some take-out after our recent trip to Iowa, and I found that the to-go containers are made of styrofoam. So, I wrote to them. Below is their reply. Not quite as encouraging as the Five Guys reply, but not terrible. We'll see what actually happens.

Jason
==============================================================

Dear Mr. Hosch,

I would like to thank you for sharing your feedback regarding the food containers at our Panda Express locations. Please feel confident our Marketing department was made aware of this matter and can have this feedback for their information and review.

Panda Restaurant Group continually looks for ways to be green and more environmentally friendly. In the corporate offices, all polystyrene and Styrofoam have been removed. Associates are encouraged to use reusable cups, plates and flatware. Recycle and energy saving programs have been adopted. In Panda restaurants, new and innovative packaging is regularly tested in the search to find materials that perform for the Guest while being better for the environment. Menus are recyclable and printed with vegetable based inks. Equipment, like a waterless wok range, is engineered to reduce the use of natural resources. There are challenges but Panda is committed to diligently finding solutions because we value the preservation of the earth and its resources

Please accept our sincerest apology for any inconveniences that may have resulted from this visit. Thank you again for contacting us about the take away containers. Your feedback is crucial to our success, and you can be sure we will use it to improve.

Natalie Matsumoto

Guest Relations Coordinator

Energy Efficient Appliances

2009-06-13T12:56:00.000-07:00

There's big money to be saved here. The obvious incentive is that appliances that are more energy efficient will use less energy and cost less to run. However, there are some great opportunities out there. Between now and the end of 2010 is the time to do any appliance or windows upgrades. If you need to replace an appliance or have home improvement, pay attention to energy star ratings. Often any additional cost will payoff with less energy cost and there are typically tax rebates (washers, windows, furnace). In fact, for 2009 & 2010 there is one time federal $1500 tax credit for items like windows and furnaces. In Oregon , we are very lucky to also have state and energy trust that also provide incentives. Below are links for the services they provide. Actually, a friend of mine just had a net expense for a 95% efficiency furnace a month ago for what it cost me to install an 80% efficiency furnace in 2008 after all the tax incentives and rebates he got.

Note: Most are tax credits, not deductions which have a much bigger impact.

o Federal: http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=products.pr_tax_credits

o Oregon State : http://www.oregon.gov/ENERGY/CONS/RES/RETC.shtml

o Oregon Energy Trust: http://www.energytrust.org/residential/index.html

Portland General Electric is also offering $150 off of a new electric water heater for those of you living in their district.

NW Natural is offering incentives to install a new air conditioner along with a new energy efficient furnace. Total incentives when combined with the Federal and Oregon Energy Trust money is up to $2100.

I also discussed some incentives from local water companies for improvements that will help you reduce water usage in a previous blog.

If you have installed any new appliances or windows in 2009 or plan to you should definitely check out these websites.

Good luck!

Jason

Water Use

2009-06-12T09:09:00.000-07:00

Let's move off of garbage for awhile and talk about water use. Clean potable water coming out of a faucet in our house is something we all take for granted. We all treat it like an infinite resource, but I personally feel that we need to rethink how we use our water or we may someday find ourselves without the clean drinking water we enjoy today. It drives me crazy when I go to places like Phoenix and Las Vegas and see all the putting green lawns while the Colorado River is drying up. So what can we do about it? Here are some tips that we call can do.

Consider low flow toilets, or if you have a normal to larger size tank or can't afford to replace the toilets in your house, use a two liter bottle filled with water to consume some of the space in the tank.
Don't just let the water run down the drain when you're washing dishes or brushing your teeth. It isn't difficult to turn it off when it isn't actively pouring onto a dirty plate or a toothbrush. From my personal observations, I estimate that many people can cut their usage by about 70% while washing dishes simply by not letting the water run.
If you’re going to water your lawn, aerate it first b/c it allows the water to soak into the roots. Either water in the early morning or late evening to reduce the amount of water that evaporates before soaking in to the ground. Or better, yet. Don't water it at all. If you're in a climate where you get rain like Oregon, it will come back.
If you're in a desert, plant something that grows native. Actually, you should probably plant native vegetation wherever you live. It has adapted to the local climate.
Use drip lines when watering specific locations such as shrubs or gardens.
Rain barrels can be used to capture the run off from you roof. That water can be used for watering flowers or a garden. You save on your water bill, and in addition, if you have the set up inspected the water company may give you a discount on your water bill.
You can let your hands air dry after washing them in a public restroom instead of using paper towels (or using your hair is one of Charles’s beauty secrets) .
Reducing or eliminating pesticides and herbicides reduces the chemicals and toxins that are eventually absorbed into our water system.

If you live in the Tualatin Valley Water District in the Portland area, there are quite a few residential rebates you can get for various things.

$50 for purchasing a more energy efficient washing machine
$10 for purchasing a more energy efficient dish washer
$40-$100 per toilet up to two toilets for replacing older water wasting toilets
A landscape rebate of up to $50 for using newer goods and services.
$200 for installing a weather-based irrigation system

The state of Oregon also gives tax credits for certain appliances. Check this website for details.

If you live somewhere else, check with your local water provider and state government.

Good luck!

Jason

Composting

2009-06-10T11:46:00.000-07:00

Another great thing to do to reduce the amount of waste produced is to compost kitchen waste. The double benefit is that you can make organic material for your garden at the same time. Very large compost piles will do pretty much all food scraps, but for a normal household bin you would need to limit it to materials that decompose faster and don't attract unwanted critters. For example, you wouldn't want to put meat scraps, dairy products, or sauces in your bin. These will start to smell fairly quickly and attract all of your neighborhood raccoons. I would recommend keeping it away from where you normally congregate in your yard, as it does attract fruit flies.

If you plan to use your compost for your garden or lawn, you want to make sure to keep out weeds that have gone to seed. You'll just end up unintentionally planting weeds in your garden!

You can put in all kinds of surprising stuff, including napkins, paper towels, and newspapers. One big trick is to keep leaves from the fall raking, as they are a very important ingredient in the composting process. Put a handful in whenever you empty your kitchen bin into the larger bin. It helps the process and helps keep bugs down.

Grass seems to compost fairly well, but I have found that it fills up the bin very quickly. Also, it is actually better for your lawn to just leave it where it lies after you cut it. Think of it as an easy way to fertilize the lawn later.

Reducing trash through composting and recycling (which we'll discuss later) may allow you to share a waste bin with a neighbor, reduce trash pickup frequency, or go to a smaller trash can. Portland metro has compost bins that make composting very easy. Unless you are trying to produce compost quickly, the mix of what goes into the bin does not need to be regulated. See the May 20th post for information on where to get a bin.

Janell and I have been composting since February, and our normal waste is now less than one bag a week. Sheila has also seen some fantastic results in her school's waste reduction project. See her comments here.

Good luck!

Jason

Junk Mail

2009-06-09T12:33:00.000-07:00

Now here's something we can all agree on. We all get way more junk mail than seems even remotely necessary. Here is, quite frankly, an appalling statistic. 100 million trees are cut down every year to satisfy junk mail. Junk mail! The stuff we all hate to get and throw away as soon as we see it come out of the mailbox. There are a lot more impacts as well, but that should be staggering enough.

There is some hope, however. Rather than duplicate all the methods in the following website, I'll just direct you there. http://www.obviously.com/junkmail/. It has a lot of great tips. My favorites are:

Don't sign up for things like contests if you don't want to get junk mail.
Don't fill out the warranty cards every time you purchase a product unless it's actually required to make your warranty void. In most cases it's really a marketing technique for data gathering.
Ask charities you deal with to not share your information. One trick they share is to put in a fake middle initial and keep track of which organizations you give the fake initial to. This may be very revealing.
The three main credit bureaus actually sell your information to people wanting to extend you credit, such as all those annoying credit card mailings. You can get them to stop doing this by calling 1-888-5 OPT OUT (or 1-888-567-8688). We called this number a few yeas ago, and it cut our junk mail significantly. Although the current economic crisis did its part to cut down on this type of junk mail, it's probably still worth it to do this.

Also, you can petition to stop mail with congress http://donotmail.org/ and reduce today at http://donotmail.org/form.php?id=50.

Although it is not explicitly junk mail, you can eliminate most of your paper utility bills and bank statements as well. Most of these companies actually prefer to send you a monthly email to view your account rather than having to stuff an envelope and mail it to you. Simply sign up for paperless statements.

Save some trees or there may not be any left to hug.

Jason

Five Guys

2009-06-08T06:40:00.000-07:00

Writing works! As I mentioned, I wrote to Five Guys yesterday about getting rid of their styrofoam cups that they use for fries. Well, I got a note back from them today. Here it is. Note the end of his signature line. I find it a bit ironic. Anyway, feel free to write and congratulate them for making the right choice.

Hi Jason,

Thank you for taking the time to let us know the you appreciate our product. I also thank you for commenting on the cups that we use to serve our fries. We have listened, and have taken steps to move to a different cup, and you should see them within the next couple of weeks.

I hope you continue to patronize our locations in the Portland area, and if I can answer any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Best regards,

Jeff Mannion
District Manager - West

FIVE GUYS Enterprises
10440 Furnace Road, Suite 205
Lorton, VA 22079
Cellular: 321.427.2649
Email: jmannion@fiveguys.com

Web: www.fiveguys.com
P Please consider the environment before printing this email

Packaging

2009-06-07T08:51:00.000-07:00

Let's talk about packaging. If you take a look in your trash can and recycling bin, I would bet that around 75% of the waste is related to packaging. It's something we can't get away from, but we can make smarter choices about it. There's a basic hierarchy of good and bad packaging.

The obvious best choice is no packaging. This is kind of hard to do, but there are a few things. First, as described in a previous post, you can buy things from the bulk bin at the store and reuse the baggies or other reusable container. Also from the previous post, reusable shopping bags will eliminate "plastic or paper" question as you'll need neither. Eating fresh food vs. processed food will reduce overall packaging, and it's better for you, too.

Next, something biodegradable is good, although that may be hard to find or identify.

Recyclable packaging is next. When buying things in plastic, try to avoid things without the recycling numbers. Cardboard is recyclable (and it actually isn't too bad on the biodegradable scale).

Very last on the list and the worst thing is styrofoam. Styrofoam takes hundreds or even thousands of years to break down, and recycling it usually isn't an option. Even though it often has recycling numbers on it, most recycling places don't take styrofoam. Therefore, it should be avoided as much as possible. For example, rather than buying meat on a styrofoam plate wrapped in plastic, go to the meat counter and get it in butcher paper. Also, encourage your favorite restaurants to make better choices. Encourage furniture manufacturers to use cardboard instead of styrofoam for protective packaging. For me, we had a Five Guys Burgers and Fries open up close to my house. Their burgers and fries are great, but for some reason they serve the fries in a styrofoam cup. I just wrote to the corporate office and told them I won't be going back to their store until they stopped putting their fries in styrofoam.

Also discussed in a previous post, buying in bulk will reduce the quantity of the waste due to packaging. For example, instead of buying individual serving sizes of things like yogurt or pudding, but a larger container and send the kids off to school with their yogurt in a reusable container. Also, consider reusing the larger containers. My boys have a few nice tubs from Nancy's yogurt that they like to put cars and rocks in. :)

Finally, try not to buy stuff that is ridiculously overpackaged. Remember when CDs first came out and they came in the giant cardboard boxes?

So, what we've done is literally looked in the trash can and recycling bin to see what we can do differently to reduce the impact.

Any comments?

Jason

Reduce Waste - Drink keg beer

2009-06-04T21:30:00.000-07:00

Keg Beer reduces waste? This topic may seem a little bit silly, but if you think about it it's quite true. Drinking keg beer is far more environmentally friendly than drinking beer from bottles or cans. This is really just another version of bulk packaging. And the super special bonus is that every part of the containers used (kegs and glasses) are reusable. Just wash them and you can easily use them again. Even the plastic top on the keg is reusable if you want to get really technical. You can simply bring it back to the brewer (assuming you got it directly from the brewer as is common in Portland), although recycling is probably a more likely option. Now, while cans and bottles are both recyclable, it does take quite a bit of energy to recycle them. It doesn't take as much energy as starting with raw materials, but I'll get to that one later in the month. Also, I noticed since my last keg ran out that I really don't like dealing with bottles.

Anyway, I digress. Let's for a moment assume we're talking about a keg fridge in your home. One argument is that many keg fridges are made from older, energy inefficient refrigerators. My counter argument to that is if you are the type of person to have a keg fridge in the first place, you would most likely have the exact same fridge in your garage full of bottles of beer anyway, so that is kind of a wash. Also, drinking your beer at home has environmental advantages in that you're not driving to the bar and social advantages in that you're not driving home.

There are 15.5 gallons in a keg, which translates to roughly 165 12-oz bottles or cans of beer. So in the same time period, you can either deal with one keg to bring back and a few occasional glasses to wash or you have 165 bottles that you'll need to store for awhile and either bring to a recycling center, recycle curbside, or bring back to the store for your nickel depending on what state you live in. Worst case, like when I lived in Texas in the mid-90's, the only option was to throw it in the trash. Coming from a state where we got a nickel back for the bottles (Iowa), that was a very painful thing to do.

Of course, not everybody wants to have a refrigerator full of beer in the garage (although I can't understand why not). Depending on where you live, a growler or jar of beer to bring home from a local brewpub may be an option. Also, I encourage you to drink draft beer instead of bottled beer when going out. It's good for the environment. I wish that was an option at the casinos in Vegas. Man, they go through a LOT of bottled beer.

Incidentally, does anybody know why bottles are now crushed and recycled rather than reused like they used to be? Remember the white groves around beer and pop bottles? That's from the bottling line when bottles are reused over and over. I haven't seen that for awhile.

Save the planet...one beer at a time.

Jason

June Challenge - Minimize Your Impact

2009-06-01T19:49:00.000-07:00

OK people. This is the big one. For the last five months we've been doing good things for ourselves, and it's been great! Now we're going to make a concentrated effort on doing good things for our environment. Whether you get your environmental news from Al Gore or Rush Limbaugh, the things I'm going to discuss over the next month are indisputably beneficial things to do for our environment...and for our wallets. Obviously, I don't expect everybody to try everything, and I don't anticipate it all sticking. But, if by the end of the month you've made one or two of these things a new habit, then I feel we've succeeded.

I need to thank Charles Lockwood and Jen Miller for doing a lot of the research you'll see over the next month. General categories we'll cover will include:

Reducing Garbage
Around the House
Appliances
Utility and Water Consumption
Transportation
Advanced Topics

For the first week or so, let's talk about garbage. Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. Let's start with reduce. This is actually a pretty simple concept. Don't use as much stuff. However, putting it into practice takes a little bit of effort.

Reusable shopping bags - This is a fairly simple thing to do, and most major grocery stores now sell them for about $1. I have, however, found it somewhat difficult to actually remember to bring it into the store. There are a few tricks, though. Once you've emptied your groceries into the refrigerator, hang the bag on the door knob so you remember to bring it into the car. Put it on the front seat on the way to the store so that the odds of remembering to bring it in the store go up. If you're only getting one or two items, skip the bag altogether. Also, you usually get a 5 cent refund for not taking a bag!
Consider buying things in bulk with minimal packaging. Think of this as the evolution of taking your own reusable grocery bag. If you often buy the same things in bulk, you can reuse the packaging. In stores like New Seasons, you can buy cereal, spices, grains, nuts, dried fruit, coffee, and you can even buy soap and shampoo in bulk. Also drives to buying fresh fruits and vegetables which I hear are good for your health. :)
Buying local reduces fuel required to supply the products and keeps money in your local economy.
Reduce consumption of plastic bags and saran wrap by using washable storage containers.
Be aware of purchasing individual serving size items.
Some stats from a Mother Jones article on American waste created. I can't vouch for these statistics, but the point is that we "waste" a lot.
o 106,000 Aluminum cans every 30 seconds
o 1 Million plastic cups on airline flights every 6 hours
o 2 million plastic beverage bottles ever 5 minutes
o 426,000 cell phones every day
o 1.14 million brown paper bags each hour
o 60,000 plastic grocery bags every 5 minutes
o 15 million sheets of office paper every 5 minutes
o 170,000 energizer batteries every 15 minutes
Yes, all these can be recycled, but please think about reduction first. The materials may be reused through recycling, but quite a bit of energy is used in the recycling process. Even the best city San Francisco only recycles 50% of waste…and national average is closer to 10%. Oklahoma City wins the worst crown at 3%. Boulder, Colorado is shooting for 100%...Good luck to them!

OK. Let's get started!

Jason

Getting Ready for June

2009-05-20T22:11:00.001-07:00

Well, there really isn't much to write about flossing, is there? My gums feel better, and my dentist will be happy at my next appointment.

Now, on to more pressing business. One thing you'll need to get ready for June is a compost bin. We got one a few months ago, and literally cut out a half-bag of trash every week. Also, in a few months from now we should have some great compost to put on our garden and get some yummy tomatoes!

If you live in the Portland Metro area, you can pick up an "Earth Machine" and the Metro Paint store on Suave Island for only $35. You can also get a bottom to keep critters out for $7 and a very handy kitchen bin for another $7. If you don't live in Portland, you can pick up compost bins in a number of stores, including Costco.

http://www.oregonmetro.gov/index.cfm/go/by.web/id=557

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11332894&search=compost%20bin&Mo=2&cm_re=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&lang=en-US&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Sp=S&N=5000043&whse=BC&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=Text_Search&Dr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ne=4000000&D=compost%20bin&Ntt=compost%20bin&No=0&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nty=1&topnav=&s=1

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11257115&search=compost%20bin&Mo=2&cm_re=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&lang=en-US&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Sp=S&N=5000043&whse=BC&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=Text_Search&Dr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ne=4000000&D=compost%20bin&Ntt=compost%20bin&No=1&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nty=1&topnav=&s=1

Also, for you condo dwellers, don't feel left out! You can use a worm composter!

http://www.amazon.com/Worm-Factory®-4-Tray-Black/dp/B000S6I5VW

Of course, you can use anything for a kitchen bin, but you really don't want one that is too big. You want to empty it every other day or so or it will start to smell and attract fruit flies.

June will be a great month!

Jason

May Challenge - Floss

2009-05-01T21:07:00.001-07:00

Ok. This challenge isn't so glamorous, but it's something we all know we need to do. I know this because my dentist tells me so every six months. It's simple to do, but for some reason it's hard to make it a routine. So, for the next months, flossing every day is the challenge.

Good luck!

As for the April challenge, quite frankly I'm glad it's over. I did end up with a trimmer waistline, but man, the weekends were tough. What did I learn besides beer makes you fatter? Well, I learned that I really don't need more than one beer on a night where I need to go to work the next morning. I also learned that on the weekend, I usually want more than one beer!

Jason

This is a tough one...

2009-04-14T22:56:00.000-07:00

April is tougher than I thought it would be. Between the end of the NCAA basketball tournament, a movie at the Mission Theater (they serve beer), the Spring Brew festival (which I skipped), a visit from my parents, and an Easter party at a friend's house, there were lots of opportunities to have more than one beer. But, I'm still holding strong! Only 16 more days!

I'll admit that I cheated just a little bit tonight, but I have a good reason. Our fridge suddenly stopped getting cold today (the freezer still works though, so I'm working on figuring that one out). Anyway, we had to move all of our food into the beer fridge in the garage. Well, there are several large bottles of beer that don't fit anywhere standing up and had to be lying down. They were simply taking up too much space to fit everything, so I had to drink one of the big bottles of beer to make room. Just one bottle, but it was a big one. I do have another reason to drink the big bottle. Tonight I learned why you're not supposed to use a screwdriver to defrost a freezer...

April Challenge - No More Than One Alcoholic Drink Per Day

2009-04-01T08:22:00.001-07:00

Well, the March challenge of no soda turned out not to be too hard, except for the two days I spent in the Rose Garden watching basketball with no beer sales. Other than that, it was pretty easy, and with all the water I'm drinking, I don't miss soda at all.

Now, on to the most controversial month, April. The goal is to have no more than one alcoholic drink per day. Why? While there have been several studies that have shown some health benefits to drinking small amounts of alcohol per day, they all pretty much agree that having too much is more detrimental than beneficial. I had contemplated cutting it down to zero, but that would be no fun.

The responses to this month varied from "No problem, I don't drink anyway" to "No way!" to "You mean an average of one a day for a month?" So, I may be on my own for this month.

If you decide that this challenge is unnecessary or undesireable, I encourage you to pick something else on your own. I'd also like to see how other people are doing with their own challenges. Please take a little time and add your comments to this post.

Good luck!

Jason

Change of Plans and Alternate Challenges

2009-02-28T10:19:00.000-08:00

I was going over the list with Trent a few weeks ago, and he actually talked me into switching two months around. The reason is that I have the fruits and vegetables challenge in May, but if we wait until later in the summer we can get lots of good stuff at the local farmers markets. Good idea, Trent! I ended up swapping May and September, since I think the timing on June-August is still pretty good.

Here is the new order for my challenge.

January - Water

February - Exercise

March - No soda (and continue the exercise challenge)

April - No more than one alcoholic drink a day

May - Floss every day

June - Minimize your trash

July - Don't watch any television all month

August - Don't drive alone in your car to work

September - 5 servings of fruits and vegetables

October - Eat one of the 14 top "superfoods"

November - No fast food

December - Write down something you are grateful for

On a related note, I know that many people have used this as a template for their own 30 days challenge. That's great! This is my list. I encourage everybody to make their own if this doesn't quite meet their goals. Please take some time to let us know what your list looks like. It may give others some ideas.

Oh, by the way, we got a head start on the June challenge. We picked up a compost bin a few weeks ago. If you live in Portland, you can get one at Metro Paint on Swan Island for only $35. We've already eliminated one bag of garbage from our weekly collection! Now if we could just get the boys potty-trained...

Jason

March Challenge - No Soda

2009-02-28T10:15:00.000-08:00

OK. This one is pretty simple. No soda for the month of March, and that includes diet soda. I shouldn't even have to explain why on this one. Although I really don't drink that much of it, I'd prefer not to drink it at all. My work instituted a free beverage program several months ago, and I'd say that certainly contributed to me drinking more soda again. Anyway, for those of you who don't drink it anyway, I encourage you to pick something different for yourself. For all you Catholics out there, since it's lent, I imagine you're probably doing something anyway.

No soda should also be fairly easy if you're still drinking enough water.

Good luck!

Jason

Tough week for exercise

2009-02-26T20:18:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's been a tough week for exercise. Up until this, the final week, I'd say I've been meeting the stated goals, but just barely. Even the week the kids were sick I managed to walk to lunch several times and get my 30 minutes in. This week, however, I had noon meetings EVERY DAY! These people are crazy! And, I had personal commitments every night, so working out after the boys went to bed wasn't an option this week. I realized that in order to really get the exercise to become a habit, I need to make a schedule that I can stick to rather than counting on being able to just fit it in. So far I only have one day in, and I actually went Thursday to Thursday without exercising. That's pathetic. However, since I set the exercise bar relatively low, I can still meet the goal this week if I work out the next two days.

Although the goals will technically be met for this challenge, I'm not really satisfied with the results. I'm going to roll this one over into the next month for myself . After all, since I started drinking more water, it's a lot easier to avoid having a soda anyway.

How's everybody else doing?

Jason

Movement

2009-02-05T22:17:00.001-08:00

I had a visit to my chiropractor today. She has been very supportive of the 30 Days Challenge. She helped me come up with some of the challenges, and she has gone as far as including it in her monthly news letter to her patients. This month she had quite a long news letter about exercise, and the key point was movement. Basically, we've evolved into a society that doesn't move much compared to what are bodies are designed to do. Where kids used to play outside, they now play video games. Where people used to make a living with their bodies, they now sit in a cubicle. There seems to be some correlation between this and many of the health issues we're seeing today, from obesity to stress to heart disease...even to dementia.

Exercising doesn't necessarily mean going to the gym and slogging it out on a stairmaster. It can be much simpler than that. Go for a long walk at lunch. From my workplace, there are several places that are a 15 minute walk. I can walk there, eat lunch, and get back to work in an hour. Wallah! I've gotten my 30 minutes of exercise and stayed within my hour for lunch! There are other simple things to do that can increase movement, and therefore increase exercise. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Park a little farther away from the front door and get a few extra steps in. Do some simple exercises and stretches while watching television. That's what this month is all about. Get us all out moving!

On silly thing I noticed I was doing was after working out at the gym, I would drive across the street for lunch. What? On a side note, this gym is in the suburbs and has a strip mall across the street. If I had been downtown, I wouldn't have even considered driving that short a distance. Now I walk it.

Also, strength training doesn't necessarily mean lifting weights. Do some pushups. Work on some core exercises. There are a lot of things you can do without hitting the gym (although that is good, too!).

Anyway, please root for me to be successful this month. I'm rooting for you!

Jason

Life Gets in the Way

2009-02-02T22:54:00.000-08:00

Well, between the Super Bowl, sick kids, and the in-laws in town, I'm off to a rousing non-start on February's exercise challenge. At least I'm still drinking water!

Jason

February Challenge - Exercise!

2009-01-30T09:04:00.001-08:00

All right, it's almost time for the February challenge to get enough exercise!

Drinking water was sort of the boring task, but it was also the most important. Getting enough water sets the stage for many subsequent tasks, exercise being the biggest one. I've had people report to me that they are drinking far less coffee and soda than before they started drinking water. Others have told me that their skin cleared up, they have more energy, and generally feel better. Oh, and they have to pee more, too. I hope the challenge for this month has become more of a habit than a task.

Now, the challenge for February is to get the minimum amount of exercise recommended by the American Heart Association and the American College of Sports Medicine for people under 65 to maintain a healthy lifestyle. The minimum is recommendation is 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity (think brisk walking or swimming) five days a week or at least 20 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity (such as running) three days a week, plus strength training exercises twice a week.

See this website for more details: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/exercise/AN01713

Remember, when you exercise, you need more water.

Jason

Water for a day of snowboarding

2009-01-22T10:30:00.001-08:00

Since I'm heading to Sunriver this weekend, and Mt. Bachelor is supposed to get some decent snow, I decided I should recalculate my water needs for the day. Using the handy calculator from the Water Logged post, I put in 90 minutes of exercise (the max in the calculator), high elevation, dry climate, and cold weather. And, since I'll be on vacation at Sunriver, I'll have at least 4 beers. The total ended up being 151.5 ounces of water! This is double a normal day for me! Considering that about 20 percent should come from food I'll need to drink 121.2 ounces of water. Good thing beer counts in the total!

I guess the important thing to remember is when you are doing something out of the normal, like snowboarding for a day, your water needs change quite drastically from the baseline.

Jason

Milk Bad? Diet Soda...Not Bad?

2009-01-13T22:15:00.000-08:00

I was talking with a co-worker about the challenge and we were discussing the merits of drinking enough water and what qualifies as a water substitute. I had said that while soda actually counts in the water tabulator, it really isn't that good for you. He contradicted me saying that there was no evidence that diet soda is bad for you and even went so far to say that MILK is bad for you. Now, before I get into my rant, I need to give a little background information. This particular fellow has admitted in the past that he likes to pick the opposite side of an argument, whether he believes it or not, just to get the other person to think about the issue...or to get them fired up depending on your perspective. Anyway, if he wanted me to think more about my position he succeeded (and he taught me about Google Scholar, which only references scholarly publications). I did quite a bit of research on both topics on regular google and found some interesting, although not very credible, results.

There are a surprisingly large number of people who believe that milk is actually bad for you! On regular Google you can find several links to websites professing the terrible things that milk will do to you. I personally think it's all hogwash, so I won't repeat what I found here. If you really want to know you can search it yourself. However, on Google Scholar I didn't find anything beyond if you drink too much whole milk you'll get fat and have high cholesterol.

Now for diet soda. There are studies that suggest that drinking diet soda is a marker (not necessarily a cause) for obesity. There are other studies linking diet soda to diabetes. The main study cited in several different articles for these two findings was an eight-year study at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. My chiropractor told me that whenever she runs across a health issue that is a little odd she asks about diet soda consumption and more often than not the answer is that the person consumes quite a bit of the stuff. I've also noticed this same trend in some friends of mine who drink a lot of diet soda.

Anyway, stick to water.

Any thoughts? Feel free to comment.

Jason

Beer Counts!

2009-01-07T22:50:00.000-08:00

Good News! It seems that beer actually counts in the overall total! It is, after all, mostly made out of water. However, the alcohol in the beer drives your daily requirements up a bit, but it is less than the beer. Check out the link to the water calculator in the previous post for exact details, but it seems that each beer drives up your daily requirements by about 5 oz. It's still a net gain. Wine is pretty much a wash. That being said, unless I do a lot of excercising, 64 oz of actual water a day seems to be a pretty normal intake for me. Of course, things like juice and milk count. As do coffee, tea, and...surprisingly...soda. Just caution that too much coffee and tea is bad for you, and any soda is bad for you.

It's been going pretty good so far, and I must admit. I do feel a bit better than before I had enough water. Although bathroom trips are more frequent.

Good luck!

Jason

Water Logged

2009-01-01T13:00:00.000-08:00

I did a little digging, and found a calculator that takes in a lot of factors and not just body weight. It also includes excercise, altitude, dry climate, alcohol consumption, hot or cold weather, fever, and a few other factors. Remember that most of these things are different from day to day, so your water requiremens are also different from day to day. Also, I've seen multiple sources that say rougly 20% of your water comes from the food you eat, so that is subtracted from the total.

http://nutrition.about.com/library/blwatercalculator.htm

For example, it told me that I need 79.5 oz of water today, but taking food into account, I'll need 63.6 oz of liquids. Ironically, after all of the research and opinions, this is pretty much right where I started! Eight 8oz glasses a day was the original recommendation!

OK! Let's kick this thing off! I need to go get a glass of water.

Jason

January Challenge - Drink Enough Water

2008-12-30T20:11:00.000-08:00

Well, here we go! The 30 Days Challenge officially starts on Thursday! The first challenge is to make sure that you get enough water. I've found several differing sources on how much you need per day, so I'm going to go with the advice of my chiropractor. She says that if you divide your weight in pounds by 2, that's how many ounces of water you need to drink each day. So, if you weigh 150 pounds, you need 75 oz of water. Now, this does seem like quite a bit to me, but I'm willing to try and see how it goes. Now, pure water is not the only source of water. According to the Mayo Clinic website, a normal daily intake of food accounts for 20% of the water you need. Certain foods like watermelon are 90-100% water. According the website, even beer, wine, and caffeinated beverages contribute, but they also make you need more water...confusing I know.

Check out this website for more details.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/water/NU00283

Let the challenge begin!

Jason

30 Days Challenge

2008-12-16T22:05:00.000-08:00

For my New Year’s Resolution I decided rather than trying to do one thing to improve myself, I decided to go for 12! However, I know that realistically all 12 won’t happen at once. Instead, I’m going to focus on one a month while trying to incorporate the other eleven into my routine. Although this is really one thing to focus on a month, “30 Days Challenge” sounds better than “Monthly Challenge.” Anyway, if Morgan Spurlock can eat at McDonald’s every meal for 30 days, surely I can avoid eating there for 30 days.

With that being said, I’m inviting you all to join me! Here is the entire year’s list. Again, remember the goal is to do all of it, but focus on one thing each month. I will update the blog with the definition of the task each month.

Who’s with me!!!

Jason
=================

January Task – Drink eight 8-oz glasses of water every day

February Task – Exercise!!!

March Task – Do not drink any soda at all

April Task – No more than one alcoholic drink a day

May Task – Eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables every day

June Task – Minimize your trash

July Task – Don’t watch any television…all month

August Task – Don’t drive alone in your car to work

September Task – Floss every day

October Task – Eat at least one of the 14 top “superfoods” every day

November Task – No fast food

December Task – Write down something for which you are grateful