Jim’s Brain Online

Posted by Jim at July 3rd, 2007

So I was driving to a client’s house late last week and I saw a rock.

It is owned by the River City Excavation Company. River City Excavation sells mulch, rocks, dirt and presumably excavation.

I happened to speak to someone who works there (my wife wanted me to find out how much mulch cost) and learned that the rock weighs 1300 pounds and would ordinarily cost $120. Nonetheless they are currently selling it for $82.99, dropping it by a dollar a day until it’s sold.

I hear that they’re a little worried because while it is on the corner, the people in the cars that pass seem to be talking on their cell phones instead of noticing it.

They’re considering placing a manikin in a bikini next to the rock (because there’s nothing that convinces you to buy rocks like a hot manikin…).

Anyway, if you’re interested, they’re located on Hall just on the east side of 131.

You know, they ought to be paying me for this.

Posted by Jim at May 30th, 2007

Wow. Though it’s not over yet, May has been a new low in writing blog entries. I’ve managed to write only three this month (not counting this one) one of which had what, three sentences? For what it’s worth, I have been writing. It’s just that most writing I’ve been doing lately has been on my novel. The rest of my time has been spent reading books (most of it) and playing video games (a little). For example, last night I spent a few hours dying while playing Star Wars Battlefront 2.

As evidence that I’ve even been trying to blog, I give you this entry about the River Bank Run that I started more than two weeks ago, but never finished till now.

Some of you may be curious how I did in the River Bank Run on May 12. I did OK though not incredibly well. I ran it in 2:25–which is about six minutes slower than last time. My goal had been to hit consistent 9 minute miles and finish around 2:20. Admittedly, two hours and twenty-five minutes isn’t that far off, but I’m still sure I could have done better.

I like to think that my slowness can be blamed on pulling a muscle in the course of training. This is at least partially true, but it wasn’t a really bad pulled muscle. I could feel some soreness when I walked, but no pain and I had full range of motion in the leg.

When I called the doctor I was told that I could run, but if I felt extreme pain at some point during the run I needed to stop immediately.

I like to think that I would have done that anyway.

The beginning of the run went phenomenally well. I was running consistent 8:49 minute miles through about the halfway mark. Actually, that’s just what the official race splits say. As I remember things, I did decently until mile 10 or so.

That’s when I began to hit the really bad hills.

At first I was okay even then, but ultimately I couldn’t make myself continue at a consistent speed. I let myself walk a little while and then did it several more times (all rather briefly) despite the fact that running felt better in some ways than walking.

That’s when I lost a lot of ground, getting passed by a number of people–including Spiderman and my cousin Mike.

Some guy ran the race in a Spiderman costume. We passed each other a few times, but I ultimately lost out when I took a bathroom break. I didn’t see him after that.

As for my cousin… I didn’t even know he was running until Kristen noticed that he got a time about five minutes faster than mine.

As I ended the run, I reflected that I felt surprisingly good for having run that far. Approximately ten minutes later, I had to rethink that as my body’s endorphins wore off. I felt the pulled muscle quite well, but that was balanced out by the fact that my other leg felt just as bad for different reasons.

If just one leg had felt bad I would have been limping. As it was…. Well, can you limp on both legs? If you can, I probably did.

I had good time anyway. I’ve been thinking about how I’ll train next year already–assuming I can. The pulled muscle still hurts a little. I plan to call the doctor about it again, but the fact that it’s been feeling consistently better each week since the run makes me less motivated than I ordinarily would be.

In the meantime I’m thinking that I’ll be exercising via bike, rollerblades and swimming and give running a bit of a rest.

I’m also tempted to take up rock climbing. We’ll see if I get around to it.

P.S. Did I mention that Kristen also ran? I should have.

P.P.S. Though many races offer free beer at the finish, I strongly recommend fruit. I have no idea how much watermelon and orange slices I ate, but at that moment they were wonderful.

Posted by Jim at April 18th, 2007

So here’s a strange juxtaposition: A few weeks ago, I attended the ninth annual Summit on Racism. The next day I attended a cooking seminar entitled, “The Spirit of Soul Food.”

Summit on Racism is a little bit of a downer. It’s not supposed to be. It tries to be positive and goal oriented as opposed to concentrating exclusively on what’s wrong with the world. Still, the only reason anybody is there is that our society treats some people badly for no good reason. You can’t expect to come out of something like that cheering.

“The Spirit of Soul Food” by contrast is more of a celebration of the style of cooking that came out of the combination of North American environment, slavery, and African culinary sensibilities.

What sort of food do you learn how to make? Many different sorts of food. A key point is that the food you learn how to make is the sort of food that people make at home everyday. Thus you get things like meatloaf, pork chops in gravy, and macaroni and cheese. There were also a lot of interesting vegetable side dishes (greens) and desserts (sweet potato pie, for example).

Oddly enough, it served to reconnect me with the cooking I grew up with as much as it did Soul Food. Since teaching myself to cook, I’ve spent most of my time cooking Indian, Mediterranean (Italian, Greek, Provencal French, Lebanese), and Southeast Asian (Thai, Malay) food. Occasionally, I also cook a few favorites from my childhood, but not all that many. My kids have seen a lot more basmati rice than grilled cheese sandwiches.

Soul Food doesn’t use curries as often as it does garlic or onion powder. It uses Campbell’s Soup (cream of mushroom) in more than a few recipes. The recipe for macaroni and cheese actually required me to buy Velveeta for the first time in my life.

It’s worth noting that “Soul Food” isn’t a homogeneous entity. It varies by region. In Louisiana, it includes red beans and rice. In places near the ocean, it includes crab cakes. Bearing in mind that Jaye and her father Jim originally come from Kentucky, this particular seminar included a recipe for Kentucky Bourbon Pie (bourbon comes from Kentucky). I tried the pie. It’s good.

Those of us who wanted to could also try a sip of the bourbon. It’s powerful stuff.

The instructors: Jim Beeler is a (semi-retired) self taught cook who worked in restaurants for his professional life. Jaye Beeler is the food editor for the Grand Rapids Press (my local paper). Even beyond learning about Soul Food, the family dynamics were entertaining.

During the seminar, each person was responsible to cook one dish. Despite not liking macaroni and cheese, I chose that one. Why? Mostly because my kids do like it. I thought it might be interesting to know how to make Mac and Cheese from scratch and flavor it with actual cheese as opposed to from a box flavored with Mystery Cheese Powder.

It turned out pretty well. I’ve made it at home since then and my family seems to like it (with the exception of one of my daughters who simply doesn’t like cheese). The same is generally true of the other dishes from the seminar. I’ve been trying to make one or two a week.

Next year they were talking about doing a slightly different seminar–a Soul Food brunch. I’d go.

Posted by Jim at July 21st, 2006

Via Urban Planet’s Grand Rapids forum…

Take a look at the this old map of Grand Rapids. In addition to streetcar lines and a general sense of what Grand Rapids looked like early last century, you’ll find that each part of town has been labeled with the ethnicity of it’s residents.

For more, take a look at the thread “Grand Rapids Then and Now.” If (like me) you’re looking at it as a guest, you’ll have to click on the pictures to look at them. Members get the pictures within the messages.