I recently realized that my “Vote for Pedro” post has an internal ID number of one hundred. This may not coincide with the total number of posts in this blog, because a few drafts have been deleted without having ever been published. In any case, this blog must be over one hundred posts by now.

A few days later, I noticed a couple of days, not too far apart, with over one hundred hits. I had never seen anything like that. I even thought one of my friends’ computers probably caught a virus that kept opening recently visited websites (this one included) for no reason or something. Granted, a single visitor may easily account for ten or twenty hits, if he or she keeps browsing older or related notes during his or her visit. But still, the issue here is the number of hits being over one hundred.

I am sure some bloggers get to one hundred posts in less than a month, and their posts get over one hundred comments (let alone hits) in a couple of hours. Good for them! I only got past these (so to speak) “milestones” after several months, but, you know what?, like the song says… I feeeel good!

All these months waiting for it, and now that I finally received it, it turns out the “green card” isn’t green. What is this? I had not felt such disappointment since the day my parents talked to me about Santa.

This crisis is really hitting everywhere:

Internet To Reduce E-Mail Delivery To 6 Days A Week

(The Onion… )

If you want to find the “leaks”, you’d better write things down. So, I keep track of things, some all the time, some for short periods of time only, to get a sense of where the leaks are.

Money earned, and money spent. That’s a permanent task; if I stop doing it, I start getting anxious. Yeah, I have an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) there. So, though Olesya helps me with this task, I assume my (OCD-induced) responsibility on this, and I sit down regularly to update earnings and expenses. We pay attention to early warnings (”how come we spent so much last month?”, etc.), and feel nice about occasional good news (”last month we saved this much”, etc.).

Calories eaten, and calories burned. That’s only when we are gaining weight. Yes, we (both Olesya and I) watch our weight regularly, and when the scale shows a higher number for several days, we start doing something about it (unless it’s holidays season; I rarely check my weight during holidays). The first thing is to start writing down the calories we eat (roughly, a somewhat conservative estimate) and the calories we burn during our workouts (again, a conservative estimate). Sometimes that’s all it takes to skip that tempting but unnecessary late-evening snack, or to get the motivational kick to hop on the bike and follow one of the “spinervals” workouts after dinner. Once we are back on target, we stop counting calories, though we still try to keep the inertia of good habits.

Gallons in, and miles driven. And oil changes, new brakes, new tires, … That’s just me. It’s probably useless, but it plays its therapeutic role with my OCD.

Hours worked (per project), and hours doing other stuff (internet, errands, etc.). I have only done that from time to time. It certainly helps me work more and waste less time on unimportant things, but somehow it’s hard for me to keep doing this on a regular basis. I guess consultants are pretty good at that. I am sure I could gain something by doing it. But I rarely do. Maybe I just don’t want to know how long my breaks are

Miles run, laps swum, … No, I don’t keep a log of workouts. I did for a while, but I just don’t get used to it. For important or more challenging races I am sure it can make a difference. But for the day to day, for the average week, I just don’t do it.

I am not saying I enjoy the actual process of keeping track of things —it kind of sucks sometimes, to be honest. It’s just that I have found it extremely useful to build good habits and to achieve mid- and long-term goals. The basic principle always proves right: If you want to find the “leaks”, you’d better write things down.

Keep Left

In the US Virgin Islands, you drive on the left side of the road, even though it’s an American territory. That wouldn’t be so bad, except for the fact that the roads are so narrow that it’s hard to believe there is actually a left and a right side. To add insult to injury, these are “three dimensional” roads, that go up and down like crazy, and twist and turn unexpectedly. Sometimes you see some road ahead, but a few seconds later you realize that, no, that’s a side road, you actually need to turn 150 degrees (and 30 degrees down) right here. It’s like riding a roller coaster —except you are driving.

Ah, the Caribbean!

Needless to say, the beaches in the Caribbean are amazing. Besides enjoying the views, we ran barefoot on the sand, we swam, we snorkeled, we played frisbee, we ate burgers, we lay on the beach. I am not really a beach person, but from the pictures and videos, I think it’s pretty clear I don’t seem to mind being on a nice beach.

Skinny Legs

That’s the name of the restaurant. We only went to St. John one day (back and forth), to hike, snorkel, hike more, and… by chance we ended up at Skinny Legs. Laid back place. I got a burger and a hot dog, both goooood. Some (well… like 30 or so) college students from North Carolina (UNC) showed up to watch the basketball game against Duke, and the place got pretty fired up. Entertaining, though.

In St. Thomas we tried Cuzzin’s, Fungi’s and Oceana. All recommended.

Our hosts and their pets and talents

We stayed in St. Thomas, in a small apartment, pretty much on the top of a mountain (literally). We had hummingbirds and sugarbirds “visiting” all the time (self interest, though, as they just came for the sugar in the feeders). Our hosts, Cindie and Jon, who live upstairs, love animals (hence the bird feeders) and have their share of cats and dogs (one of the dogs a really cute, mischievous-looking one). And they (our hosts) turned out to be really talented. He works with wood and makes amazing things. She bakes (really good bread, by the way) and does all sort of stuff (she was finishing some pretty cool shirts when she showed us the house).

Video

And Olesya’s videos just keep getting better:

Happy Anniversary!

I deeply believe that a “nut-free” school is a really sad one —and an extreme. I am sure some kids are truly and badly allergic to nuts (or milk, or eggs), and that breaks my heart. But I think there is a collective obsession with this issue that may be making the situation worse, because kids with mild or no allergies don’t get exposed to nuts, which in turn make their bodies less familiar with them, making the collective problem even bigger. And everybody lives in a constant state of fear about the possibility of finding some nuts in the classroom —I mean the food, not the kids .

I recently read about a study in the UK (I don’t have the link handy, sorry), and here is a similar one, in which kids with allergies are exposed to the “aggressors” to reduced their sensitivity to them:

Therapy to suppress peanut allergies is reported

These studies suggest that that kids with allergies (at least those with mild allergies, which must be the majority) can get used to the food that causes the problem by eating it in progressively larger amounts. Which on the other hand is pretty much common sense (don’t we humans get used to all kinds of things if we really have to?). So, give the kids nuts, let them play in the dirt (see “Why dirt is good”), and everybody’s life in the family will be so much easier.

After a long wait, the appointment for the interview came, the day of the interview came (it was today), and everything went well. I am now a permanent resident of the US.

Yes, we waited a long time, and the process involved a lot of paperwork and a good amount of money in application fees. It was painful at times. I got upset at moments, and I was impatient early on in the process. Eventually, I learned that I could only be meticulous with any paperwork that had to be submitted, and wait and take it easy. It was a good life lesson for me.

After all it’s over, though, I feel obliged to say a couple of good things about the immigration process:

1) They didn’t lose a single file, they didn’t have a special treatment for us (for good or for bad). They just followed the rules, requested what they always request, checked what they always check, and eventually approved the application. I am not sure the process would have been as smooth in other countries —I actually can think of many countries in which the process could have been pretty much a nightmare. Despite the bureaucracy, it is comforting to personally experience the rule of law.

2) The people we had to deal with, both over the phone during the process, and at the immigration office today, were gentle and helpful, and they knew their stuff. I have complained many times about the immigration officers at the airports, because some of them can be extremely disrespectful and I have seen some who do not know what they are doing. But the immigration people in the offices and customer service, in our experience, are a whole different story, and I thank them for that.

In any case, Olesya and I are very happy about the green card —we are “free to travel abroad” again.

I found this in Scott Jagow’s blog:

Take that, CNBC!

Nothing personal about CNBC, really, but the clip is just fantastic.

No, this is not about the movie (I haven’t even seen it). This is about milk. Yes, the stuff you drink —and eat.

Do you realize how many things you eat contain milk? I didn’t either. I had no idea until a few weeks ago, that I got a stomach infection that completely ruined my capacity to digest milk. Temporarily. Or that’s what the doctor says. For now, I need to stay away from milk and anything derived from milk. It took me weeks to realize how many things I had to remove from my diet.

I used to eat one cup of yogurt a day. Not anymore. Cookies? No, they contain butter. No butter. That rules out pan cakes, too. Pizza? With all that cheese? I don’t think so. Cakes, pastries? Nope. Energy bars? No, I have four different kinds at home, and they all mention milk in the list of ingredients. Chocolate? All chocolate bars contain milk. Ice cream? No way. Bread? Need to check the labels, but very often, no. And the list goes on and on.

Fortunately, the problem has extended for several weeks now. Yes, fortunately, because in such a long period, I have had the time to find out what I can eat. First, and foremost, peanut butter. Hot chocolate is thankfully OK, as long as it is made with water. Soy milk is perfectly fine, of course, and that means cereal in the mornings. Fruits, veggies, meat, fish cooked in many different ways are all fine. Rustic bread, crackers, nuts… In fact, there are so many things I can eat, that I have been working out at a pretty intense level to avoid gaining weight.

The best part is, sooner or later, my stomach will be able to take milk again. And then I won’t take it for granted. (I guess that’s what some people call “growing up”.)