deeper thoughts

Here you’ll find posts about big ideas, interesting words, or introspective imaginings. This is a big bucket of writing that might be a little bit navel-gazing, but at the heart of any personal, blog-for-the-fun-of-it blog is a place where the author can write about personally interesting topics that may not necessarily appeal to every reader.

Posted on episode 252

My Little Orphan Plant Project

I’m overstating it a little bit, but for the second time in as many months I found myself browsing through the reject tropical plant rack at another local hardware superstore and filling an handbasket with a motley assortment of discount greenery to bring home.

Yesterday I came home with (another) six potted indoor plants, all on death’s doorstep from a season of rejection and neglect, all steeply discounted to literal cents likely because the seasonal holiday replacements need the shelf space.

A fern. A couple palms. An indoor rose. And a couple other interesting leafy explosions that were encased in root balls of dirt so dried out that even the trash bin may have questioned their existence.

I feel a bit sorry for plants like this.

Not that plants have feelings.

Not that I haven’t neglected and doomed my share of indoor foliage over the years.

Rather, because it seems a bit like a charity project, albeit a small and ultimately self-serving one, to save a few of these dregs of the greenhouse from final obliteration and see if I can’t coax some life back into them and potentially give each a new home in mine.

If they die, aw shucks and a few bucks.

If they live and thrive, I have a new houseplant on the cheap.

In short, in the last two months I’ve added at least a dozen listless but leafy loafers to my weekly watering schedule and sparked something of a small project into the notion of filling the house with a bit more organic décor. I don’t know if it’ll be worth revisiting here on the blog, but like anything greenish, with a little sunshine and water and almost anything can happen.

Posted on episode 246

Questions & Admissions

Do you ever get the feeling that people don’t get you? It doesn’t keep me awake at night by any means, but occasionally I’ll have an insight into how others see me, and it’s an interesting epiphany.

For example, every day I have a morning check-in meeting with a group of my colleagues. It’s a chance to get the work day off to a good start and build rapport with the team. We give status updates on our various areas and go through some of the emergent issues that need to be worked on together. The person who chairs the meeting also tends to bring a fun question of the day and does a roundtable for everyone’s answers. These are simple things, light and fun.

Today she asked: What’s something you’ve been spending too much money on lately?

My coworkers know that I run. They also know that I’m into technology (it’s part of my job, after all!)

I guess that’s about all they know.

See, I haven’t really copped to the cast iron and cooking obsession.

So, today I replied: Well, I’ve been spending a lot of money on cookware lately … referring to some recent cast iron purchases, my investment in re-seasoning pans, and the money I spent over the summer to outfit an outdoor firepit, essentially so I can cook over it.

It’s funny the small secrets we keep from people, not necessarily by a deliberate act of exclusion, but simply because we haven’t shown certain people one side of our personality.

I do web design and digital technology stuff at work, and most of my coworkers think of me as the techie guy who is probably into video games and eclectic nerdy hobbies involving science fiction or soldering irons or databases. For some reason, it blows their minds a little when they find out I spend my free time outside exploring the world or inside cooking amazing meals.

Some people wear their personalities on their chest, but I guess I’m a little more cryptic these days. I’m okay with that.

Posted on episode 243

Sn’oh Canada

Well, it was inevitable.

This morning there was a few skiffs of snow around the city, but for the most part I could have still raked the autumn leaves dawdling in my backyard.

By this evening, a generous blanket had covered the park and streets.

I guess it really is time to dig out the winter running gear.

Posted on episode 239

Friday Frights: Cast Iron Versus Magic

There are countless great arguments to switch to cooking with cast iron, but a socio-political one was outlined recently by the HBO Comedy show, Last Week Tonight, as they profiled a report on the effects to both our health and the environment from the types of chemicals used to make other non-stick frying pans.

You can watch the twenty-minute clip embedded below … which if you are unfamiliar with the show is a late-night, no-holds-barred news-comedy program. (And a language/political-bend warning for those with sensitive minds.)

To sum up ( if the clip doesn’t play in your part of the world) a group of chemicals called PFAs have been used to make all sorts of modern products since the 1950s. While there have been countless conveniences from these products, there have also been many environmental and human health problems that have been identified from the manufacture or disposal of things containing those chemicals.

One of the big, well known products is Teflon™ which could be considered the non-stick alternative to a well-seasoned cast iron pan.

But where cast iron becomes non-stick through seasoning, a process that can be done at home and involves the polymerization of food-safe oils into a thin, slick surface on top of the raw iron, chemical non-stick coatings are factory applied and involve typical sorts of industrial side effects.

Of course, manufacturing cast iron cookware is undeniably a resource intensive effort, too. Mining, refining, extreme heat, and casting, not to mention the costs of shipping heavy pieces of cookware around the world.

Neither of these are perfect.

But as the scales weigh out the pros and cons, cast iron versus coated non-stick pans, factoring in things like longevity of the cookware itself, sustainability of the manufacturing process, impacts to our well-being and our world, and the accumulation of chemical debt that is incurred by the mass production and disposal rates of both these options, I more and more feel like those scales are tilting out towards cast iron.