Beware the perils of caffeine withdrawal

I may have discovered the culprit for yesterday’s horrible relapse…..caffeine withdrawal. For some reason I thought I’d go off coffee cold turkey to help get over this illness. Turns out, that was probably a bad idea. By last night I was nauseous, light-headed, deeply fatigued and my head was pounding with a killer headache. It [...]

I wish I was Boy Scout – I want to Earn these Merit Badges

Last week I mentioned that I want to learn more skills. A number of coincident events got me to thinking about the Scout’s and how great it is for teaching young people worthwhile skills. Since we are never too old to learn new things, I’ve decided to focus on gaining some new skills this year. Using [...]

Where in the World? Engelberg, Switzerland

In May of 2009, Brendan and I spent eight days in Switzerland. I had a couple of days work on, but after that we spent some quality days visiting little villages and hiking in the mountains. Honestly, this is one of the most beautiful countries I’ve ever been to. I’d live there in a heartbeat! [...]

Working on fitness: Becoming more resilient

Today I wanted to talk a little about my goal of getting in shape.  Thirty days ago, I began an exercise program called “ChaLEAN Extreme”. I got this idea from the strangest place… the Chris Martenson website. I’d started following Chris about a year ago and at that time he seemed like the lone voice [...]

Wishing I had some Cayenne Pepper right now

I have a shocking headache and I wish I had some cayenne pepper on hand. I swore off pharmaceuticals last year for a variety of reasons. I wanted to reduce the amount of toxins I was putting into my body and therefore making their way into the water supply. I didn’t want to support the pharmaceutical industry either, because I [...]

Being prepared for an Earthquake (or any other natural disaster)

By now, we’ve all heard about the terrible earthquake that struck Haiti this week. Living in Southern California I’m no stranger to earthquakes, but until now I’ve been very lucky to not have experienced a big one. This latest disaster has served to remind me that a similar sized quake could happen here….and I simply don’t [...]

Why we choose a bike over a car

Photo by wvs. I’ve always owned a bike, but mostly it sat in the garage collecting dust. When we moved to the USA, however, we decided not to get a second car but to rely instead on our bicycles. For the first six months or so, my bike remained in the garage, but on the [...]

Going Grey Gracefully…and some Greenwashing

Photo by: The Rhumb Line At 17 I noticed my first strands of grey hair. At first it was just a few and they were easily disguised by my bleach blonde streaks. Throughout my twenties, a distinctive patch started to emerge and I started to fancy I was going to look as distinguished as Maxwell Sheffield [...]