Day Zero Project #62: Try a new vegetable.

Back in college when everyone goes through a hippie, "Damn the Man!" phase I became vegan, even though the amount of vegetables I ate in my entire life up to that point consisted of corn, potatoes and maybe a little bit of lettuce as long as it was mixed with other stuff so I didn't have to taste it.

Not to be deterred (and generally pig-headed in barreling towards goals that make no sense at all), I purchased the cookbook "Vegan Cooking For One" and set about learning to like vegetables by, naturally, eating only recipes in this book for a whole year.

The book that started it all!

After that year, I said to myself, "That was easy and delicious." and proceeded to be vegan up until just a few years ago when I started working fish and dairy back in my diet.

So, needless to say, trying to find a vegetable that I haven't tried before has proved slightly more difficult that I'd imagined. Every week I would get my vegetable delivery from the awesome Tampa Bay Organics and there would be no veggie I haven't seen before. Stop by Publix, same deal. Stop by the Farmer's Market, same deal. But finally, my box of veggies last week had a new squash I haven't tried before: the Delicata Squash.

It looks like this when raw:

 Then it looks like this:

 
And finally, it looks like this when cooked and stuffed with a quinoa stuffing:

And it's delicious.

And because wasting food is not a good idea, I went ahead and roasted the seeds too. They'll make a good snack and added a nice roasted/smoky flavor to the stuffing.

I also get bonus points for getting confused and thinking I needed to "Try a new fruit," which lead me to eat this weird thing:

And please don't judge the rambutan by it's cover. He's not much to look at, but he's delicious.

Day Zero Project #79: Play a Game of Racquetball

I have a motto that I like to spout off from time to time that is "It's not fun, unless you can die doing it." Do I really believe that? No. I'm having fun typing this right now and I'd like to think that my chance of dying while sitting at my keyboard is minimal. That's just not the way I want to go out.

But this motto does help explain some of the fun (stupid?) things that I do on a regular basis such as cliff diving without knowing how to swim, walking through the darkest parts of the ghetto at 2am, parallel parking or antagonizing my wife after she's repeatedly warned me that she's about to switch from her normal quiet mode into full-on ninja.

And so when I was shipped off to a Corporate Leadership Class I was doubtful that I would have much opportunity to do anything approaching dangerous. Except for public speaking. I'm pretty sure that's been known to cause a few serious health problems.

But on the second day of class I walked deep into the bowels of the Corporate HQ, past the dining hall, down four flights of stairs until I came across a tiny room. And the concept of this room is that people lock themselves in it and proceed to hit a tiny blue rubber ball at what must be about 1,000 miles per hour at each others faces. Now we are talking something a bit more my speed!

I didn't know anyone who plays racquetball? No problem. I just head upstairs and grab a couple of people with promises of the most awesome game of all time.

We don't have any gym clothes? No problem. Racquetball is meant to be played by people in khakis and polos who are running around with just their socks on.

Worried that since we are at a Corporate Class that there should be some sort of business purpose? No problem. I can think of no better way of team building that running around trying to hit co-workers with a ball that will likely leave a welt that will last for weeks.

And so it was that I found myself immersed in an ultra-business complex running around a glass box with two peers all in our business clothes having one of the more fun times that I would have all week.

It was like this...

...except we all were dressed like this.

Day Zero Project #81: Get rid of 50 things.

"Things were nothing"

- Paul Monette, "Borrowed Time"

If you have ever given me anything then there's a good chance that I've either sold it on eBay or donated it to Goodwill. I'll apologize for that now, I really did like the gift.

The problem is I have an aversion to having stuff in my home. If it wasn't for my wife I'd most likely not even have 50 things to get rid of. As is, I already go through the house at least once a year and touch almost everything we own asking "Do we really need this?"

If not, it goes into one of three piles: a donate pile, a sell pile or the trash pile. It's an effective process, really. Our current place doesn't have tons of storage but that's no big deal. Every year I manage to raise a few hundred bucks and we take a mini-vacation. It's a win-win.

That is until you need to get rid of 50 more things because the goal popped up on a list. I wasn't sure if I even had that many items to get rid of, but after some serious Spring cleaning, we managed to get rid of more than the required amount.

In the spirit of TMI, here's the stuff we got rid of. If you bought me something on this list, I loved it, I used it and now it's gone on to a new home that will appreciate it. They won't appreciate it as much as I did, but they'll love it, nonetheless. Unless you gave me Monopoly. That's a wasted gift.

1) Postcards from PostCrossing goal (recycled)
2) FujiFilm FinePix F480 Digital Camera (eBay)
3) 1st Place Trophy - not engraved (donated)
4) Casio fx-300MS Scientific Calculator (eBay)
5) Robe (Women's) (garbage)
6) Hot Stone Massage Set (Craigslist)
7) Beach Umbrella (donated)
8) Deck of collectable playing cards (eBay)
9) Fear Before hoodie (eBay)
10) 4-Track Recorder (eBay)
11) Chez Goth game (eBay)
12) Chez Guevara game (eBay)
13) Chez Cthulhu game (eBay)
14) Wedding Crashers DVD (donated)
15) Spices and Herbs book (eBay)
16) 1 Lot of magazines (eBay)
17) 3 DVDs (eBay)
18) Pier One Picture Frames (eBay)
19) Another Pier One Picture Frame (eBay)
20) Massage Chair (Craigslist)
21) Tiki Torches (garbage)
22) Nintendo Gamecube (eBay)
23) Gamecube Games x 5 (eBay)
24) Massage Oils/Lotions (garbage)
25) Massage Study Book (recycle)
26) Dress x 4 (donate)
27) Women's shirt x 7 (donate)
28) Duffle bag (donate)
29) Jeckyl and Hyde Mystery Rummy game (eBay)
30) Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time special collector's issue (donate)
31) Suit Jacket (donate)
32) Yet Another Suit Jacket (donate)
33) Boxers x 2 (garbage)
34) Jack The Ripper Mystery Rummy game (eBay)
35) Progressive Bass Guitar instruction book (donated)
36) Small beer glasses x 2 (donated)
37) A whole bunch of papers from my desk (recycled)
38) Christmas lights (donated)
39) Christmas ornaments x2 (donated)
40) Heart baking pan (donated)
41) Magic The Gathering cards (eBay)
42) Woman's clothes x 5 (garbage)
43) Wonderland board game (eBay)
44) Destiny Wasjig? puzzle (eBay)
45) Yoga DVD set (eBay)
46) Workout shorts (donate)
47) Woman's sweater (donate)
48) skirt (donate)
49) scarf (donate)
50) scrub pants (donate)
51) shorts x 2 (donate)
52) men's jeans (garbage)
53) men's shirt x 2 (garbage)
54) Woman's boots (garbage)

Day Zero Project #98: Learn how to make a paper crane.

This is a story; a story of paper cranes and friendship. I call it "Shuffleboarding with Jesus." If that sounds vaguely familiar, then kudos to you and your intimate knowledge of Kurt Vonnegut stories.

"In Heaven, shuffleboard is everything" 

                                                                 - Kurt Vonnegut "Happy Birthday, Wanda June"

In the story, everyone plays shuffleboard together. Jesus, scientists, atheists, billionaires, vegans, you name it. I'd like to think that life is best lived like that shuffleboard court in Heaven, surrounded by all sorts of people who are not the same as you, but make life a little bit more fun and interesting.

I happen to think of myself as a middle-class, near vegetarian metalhead atheist with a weak spot for kittens, Elton John and all things fried. And if I filled my time with others who are exactly as myself, where is the opportunity for growth? Where is the chance to learn a little bit more about the world?And, honestly, there are just not many people that I've met who meet that description...

And it was with this attitude that I found myself at a church group shuffleboard night at St. Pete Shuffle. Church groups are about as far from myself as you can get, but you know what? The night was great. Of course it was, there was shuffleboard. And I won.

And if I would have told myself that I'd rather not spend the night with people who don't share the same beliefs as I do then I wouldn't have found myself eating cheese pizza at midnight in a bar being taught how to make paper cranes.

If only Church would have been that cool growing up...

Mine's the one that barely looks like a crane on the left.

Day Zero Project #22/#96 - Go camping on the beach/Go camping with friends

Q: _____ is to outdoors as oil is to water.

A: Dustin

I want to love camping, I really do. There's something about the idea that of being outside without modern conveniences that appeals to me. But, in reality, you are mostly just stuck in an tent in extremely hot weather while getting eaten alive by bugs and hoping that you don't step in some sort of poisonous plant that will ensure that your only lasting memory of your trip is a scar from where you were scratching your plethora of rashes.

That said, I have a list to accomplish and when my friends called saying that they just realized that there were no people without kids going on their annual Mother's Day camping trip and that we had to fill that quota so they'd have a well-rounded group, we couldn't say no.

At least this camping trip was at Fort Desoto, which is pretty much the ideal spot for any sort of camping adventure. Just make sure to book your campsite six months in advance or you'll be like us. Which means that the morning you want to go camping you will have to go stand in line at the Camp Office at 5am. Yes, 5am, a time that, until that day, I had no actual proof even existed. And we were 14th in line.

Eventually we got our site and set up what I considered to be a first-rate campsite:

Turns out this is not a first-rate campsite. Real campers bring tables and lights and bug spray. But we are not real campers and we brought tequila and whiskey and pudding shots and plenty of beer. We might not be comfortable but we can certainly drink until we think we are.

Our view of the Gulf of Mexico

One of the appeals of Florida is the chance to see things like manatees and dolphins. We didn't see any of that. But our campsite was home to Ricky the Redneck Raccoon who skipped right over our food and headed straight for our neighbors cooler full of High Life. No one can say that Ricky doesn't know how to party.

Ricky gets drunk and chills in the trees

There's also birds. Lots of them. Here's a little known fact about me: I hate birds. They are not to be trusted.

Look at him. He's evil.

But seriously, we had a great time. Because even if the tent is 100 degrees and raccoons steal our beer and we end up with some weird plant-induced rashes, the important part is the company that we keep. And I can't think of many better ways to spend a weekend than hanging out with friends.

Day Zero Project #78: Ask 5 friends to suggest one book, and read them all.

Whew, it's been a little while since I've been on here and I suppose it's time to kick it up a notch if I'm going to finish my list on time. The good news is that I haven't been entirely idle during this break from my regularly scheduled posts. I have managed to read a few books that my friends suggested.

I don't know if it is more surprising that I have friends who read or that they suggested some good books, but I was thankful for the chance to read some things outside my general norm (Top 100 book lists and Hubert Selby Jr novels).

I don't fee like typing today so here's a quick review of what was suggested, who suggested it and a thought or two on the book.

1. 11/22/63 by Stephen King - suggested by Vicky.

I have my own mom (who is always referred to as Madre). I have my Aunt Cheryl, whom we can also call Mom #2a. And then there's Vicky, my friend's Mom who I probably saw more of than either of the other two due to the fact that I was at her house so much I had my own bedroom there. We can call her Mom #2b. She's a librarian so I expected her to suggest something a bit more obscure, but in my book snobbery I tend to overlook popular authors and that's a shame. Stephen King is a great author and this is another in a long line of good books. The main problem was that it was something like 900 pages and I think it probably could have benefited from being a little shorter.

2. 50 Shades of Grey by E. L. James - suggested by Kelly.

Kelly is a friend. She watches Bad Girls Club. I'm not 100% sure what that is, but if it's anything like this book, it's horrible. Seriously, why did 50 bazillion people think this was good? The grammar and writing style was atrocious. I guess including one or two sex scenes is all it takes to be good.

3. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Wells - suggested by Annie.

Annie is my wife's cousin. I don't know her very well, but judging by her Christmas letters she's actually a little bit more interesting than me and my wife, which is very difficult! This book, also interesting, was hampered by the fact that I feel like 50% of everything someone writes in a memoir is B.S. "I remember being three years old, staring at the skies and being amazed at the wide open dessert" No you don't. People don't remember being three that vividly. Or maybe they do and my memory is just horrible since I can just vaguely recall something about G. I. Joes.

4. Anthem by Ayn Rand - suggested by Traci.

I met Traci on vacation and she was interesting enough for me to take her advice and read this book. It was good, maybe even great. I'm not happy that I liked it because Ayn Rand fans tend to be more fanatical than a die-hard Philadelphia sports fans with the exception that Rand like guns even more.

5. Long Time Gone by David Crosby - suggested by Jerry

Jerry is my uncle and studying to be a DJ. That's probably cooler than whatever you are doing right now. This book was probably my favorite of the five. I already like biographies of musicians, so this is right up my alley. And who knew wholesome looking, sweet voiced David Crosby was that crazy. The guy constantly lived with at least two girls and took more drugs than Ozzy Osbourne. Amazing stuff.

Day Zero Project #30: Take my parents out to dinner.

You know that saying "Sometimes the apple doesn't fall far from the tree"? Sometimes I think that someone took this particular apple and flung it as far from the tree as they could. The apple bounced around a little bit, took some detours and finally ended up in Florida.

The saying has to do with how kids turn out to be like their parents and more times than not it turns out to be true. How often do we find ourselves thinking that we just did something that is "just like our Mother?" My wife is a shining example of someone who seems to do something every day that is exactly like something her parents did while we were growing up.

But myself? Sometimes I feel like I forgot to pick up all of those habits from my Madre. I don't know if it was splitting my childhood years between two parents that caused this or if is simply the fact that I never did spend much time at home, but a recent visit home just drove the point home even more.

Before I continue, don't be misled. Just because I am unlike my Madre does not mean that I do not like my Madre. As a matter of fact, I don't think that anyone could ask for a better Mother. In a nutshell, she's pretty much the best. No offense to your mother, but mine is better.

Back to the topic onhand. Here's a little table to highlight our differences:

HOME
Madre: Iowa. Always.
Myself: Left Iowa as soon as legally allowed.

HOBBIES
Madre: Video games. And lots of them.
Myself: I do not remember the last time I played video games. When I was a kid, I didn't get to play the Playstation because Madre was playing Final Fantasy. To this day, I find a weird enjoyment in watching people play video games. It's the only sort of TV that I enjoy. Speaking of...

TV
Madre: American Idol. All Dancing reality shows and something called Catfish that she got me temporarily hooked on during this particular visit.
Myself: I do not own a TV. Outside of Catfish, I can't recall the last show I watched.

And finally, and in a way that relates to my Day Zero List.

RESTAURANTS
Madre: I said let's go somewhere awesome, and she said Applebees. It's her favorite.
Myself: I really try not to eat at chains. I'll admit it, I'm a bit of a snob about it. It's a problem I need to work on.

That said, on this particular night, Applebee's was my favorite restaurant, too. Because it doesn't have anything to do with the food, or who owns the corporation or where the tax dollars are going. It's about who you spend your time with. And on this night, in an increasingly rare instance, I was able to sit down and have dinner with my Madre.It was probably the first time in years that just the two of us hung out.

And just in case she got the idea that the apple was rolling back closer to the tree, I made sure to order a beer knowing full well that she's not a drinker. But, like a good sport, she ordered the the menu item with the most meat knowing full well that I don't eat it.

P.S. There are no pictures of this historic dinner, because I do not believe in ruining my first dinner in two years with my Mom in order to get out my cellphone and snap a picture. I'm old-fashioned like that.