A Good Denver Post Article

My dear friend from Texas, one of the 90% of Boulder's population of non-locals that migrate themselves to the area, once said, ever so eloquently, that in Boulder "you gotta hustle". He was alluding to the fact that, though Boulder is a mid-sized city and allegedly laid back, this is an expensive place to live filled with busy people trying to make a buck and survive. Driving (or biking) around Boulder between the hours of 10 and 2 you begin to wonder if you aren't actually in a 3 million person city in the center of an urban hub. To live in Boulder, you gotta hustle.

In a recent conversation with another friend we discussed the rise of You, Inc. Gone are the days of long-term stable jobs offered by single employers. You are your career. As I launch my own personal career I view myself as my most stable employer. My experience is my cmpany history, and my online socal networking is my marketing arm. Today's DP reiterates just this.

Death of full-time jobs

These days...

Currently I am sitting in Amante, the location of my new favorite java fix. I am here finishing a project for the latest start-up I am working with, a Boulder style start-up making investments in philanthropic-oriented enterprises, and where we ride bikes to work and sport flip flops around the office. I have begun to fear that I inherited my grandfather's disease of chronic entrepreneurialism will never be able to escape the need to work in small, growing, unstable environments. but this is a good gig and I'm thrilled about it.

In other news I AM working for the Man at another deal I reluctantly accepted at the Vitamin Cottage, a job I was forced to accept after two weeks of unemployment and facing the reality of my financial situation. Needless to say, it has been an interesting job. I am a cashier, and perhaps the worst cashier ever too. My lack of attention to detail has really bit me in the ass on this one. My drawer is consistently under by several dollars at the end of the night and one time--just once--I (accidentally) let a woman slip past me without paying. Whoops. But I am friendly, perhaps too much so, and chat it up with every weirdo that comes through my line, and then some. Check back for a series of unbelievable Boulder natural grocer customer stories...

Wrapping up projects with a couple other companies, I am trying to find time to get my thoughts out on the net. They are stored in the noodle and wanting to make their way to Unbridledtoungue. Ugh.

Boulder remains Boulder. The People are protesting Roundup Ready sugar beets, summer is lovely, and the first weekend of August resulted in an abundance of garbage exceeding the capacity of every dumpster in my alley. The annual student move-in-move-out at the turn of August is always an adventure, particularly for my neighbor Sydd, who collects garbage and adds it to his treasury of exterior house decorations. You know the house I speak of... with the infamous peak of irons, shrine of old shoes, and collection of rooftop vacuums. Sydd may be the only Goss/Grove citizen that looks forward to the Aug 1 weekend. But hey, even I benefited from the massive purge and Sydds's subsequent thriftiness, as I scored a new vacuum, which he found among the debri and fixed right up for me. Zing!

Kayleigh and friends also moved out of their apartment. It was a sad moment in time. We sat upon the empty floors for one last circle of peace and laughed about the nutty things that had happened in that dump of an apartment during their one year stay, including the time that their schizophrenic neighbor, having run out of his medication, stopped by to ask if he might borrow a phone to call emergency services or the time he stopped by to borrow cardboard and a sharpie to make a sweet panhandling sign - no joke. Or the countless nights out the ended in scarcely recalled dips in the ghetto Canyon-side pool. Ah how youthhood ends so swiftly and presently I find myself working 60+ hours, wondering when I will next have dental coverage.

Well, no complaining from this blogger.... I had a season of Play (many, in fact, and a few loonnnngg seasons) and now I emerge myself in a season of Work. The cycle of life balances itself.

A quiet re-entry

It won't last long: it never does. But I'll post occasionally...

Spending Diary- Days 3, 4, and 5

Ah the weekend. Obviously the weekend is the time of week where spending money is easy and fun. Lately I have been experiencing a series of Play Day weekends, where playing begins usually before noon and does not stop until the wee-est hours of the following morning, which takes a toll on the cash. There are errands to run, bars to tour, concerts to be seen, farmer's markets to visit, cooked breakfasts to be consumed, and on and on. There are weekends that are so damaging to my budget that to check my account totals on Monday I need a shot of whiskey and a stick to bite. I refused to allow my spending freeze to deter Saturday/Sunday Play Days, so I had several strategies for saving:

-I took out $40 in cash on Friday and vowed not to touch plastic for the remainder of the weekend

-Mom came up on Sunday for Easter, which is a nice break for the wallet

-I compromised some of my liquor standards and decided to drink cheap beer and down some nasty shots

Friday I was busy working all day and made no time for spending during the day. Breakfast at home, and a homemade salad for lunch.  

In the evening I lifted $40 from the account and had my money for the weekend. To this my two kindest friends, Megan and Kayleigh, laughed and called me a fool, which only served to increase my defiance about over-spending during weekend fun. That evening, I found $25 in my backpack I forgot I had, which I decided would be my secret overwrite protection in case the $40 disappeared quicker than expected. 

Friday evening began with free yoga-score! Thereafter we indulged in a delicious meal of lentil tacos made by Kayleigh- yum!! Nice one Kayleigh. We dressed ourselves to head out to the bars, but at the last minute changed our course and headed to..... oh this is good...... a TOGA party at a house, which was choice not only because toga parties are bitchin, but liquor is on the house. Spending freeze tip: HOUSE PARTIES! We did, however, have to a take a cab home, which totalled a ridiculous $17 for 4 people. I contribubted $5 to the tab and that was the day.

Total spent for Day 3: $5

Saturday morning began with an abolsuely delicious breakfast at The Kitchen with the Raab family, where I ordered braised chickpeas and gawked at Cal Ripken Jr, who was also enjoying breakfast with his family two tables away from us. Thereafter we hit up Farmer's Market, which was full of energy and many Boulder People. Yay Farmer's Market! I bought a jar of Whiteside Honey Co raw honey for $4, and a bag of arugula from Isabelle Farm for $6. It was easy to resist spending at Farmer's Market, since it is still too early for all the real veggie goodies.

Onto the next event: sitting around for a while at Alex and Kayleighs to digest and recover from the previous evening. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was on TV, which we watched almost all of- free! Next, Kayleigh picked up her 80-pound charity bike from Megan and we went on a bike ride to Pearl since the weather was so delicious. We met Alex and proceeded to walk around Pearl for 75 minutes seeking the PERFECT location to have a beer. After several circles and much confusion we settled for Boulder Cafe, and had 2 rounds and some shrimp. Due to our delay in finding the perfect locale, we slipped in just in time for happy hour and the total bill was only $13, tip included- not bad!

For the evening we all headed out to the bars. To save on bar spending we had some drinks at home, which included but was not limited to shots of blanco Sanza and Jim Beam (yes a serious breach of standards I know)  and I personally had a 0$ bar tab.

Total spent for Day 4: $21

Sunday began with church, which cost me 1$ that I put into the offering plate, such a cheap Christian. Brunch was on mom, and treats following on the farmer. For a rainy day activity my mother and I drove around North Boulder to look at the unreasonably beautiful, gutted homes at the edge of the foothills, a completely fascinating endeavor that was totally free (if you do not factor in the small quantity of gas consumed to drive around). For dinner we cooked and later we headed to the Laughing Goat for a sweet, FREE performance from Dj Zuk, which was so chill I almost floated away. 

Total spent for Day 5: $1

I stayed well under my $40 for the weekend, had tons of fun, and didn't tap into the extra $25 I found! Take that Megan!

Spending Diary, Day 2

So the trick is to stay really busy. When you are busy spending money is at the bottom of your list. But also when you are busy, you are eager for a nice drink at the end of the day, which was the case yesterday. 

In the morning I prevented myself from spending on the usual--chai, food, errands, etc--by going on a long run, the result of which made me simply crave lots of water....free!

Having done the grocery store the night before, I saved on breakfast, lunch and dinner with items from my fridge, and there was even some left over chocolate from the previous evening's affairs, which held me over during the afternoon lull of trucking RFPs and emails emails emails.

After work, however, Kayleigh got paid and finished an exam so it was beer time. I picked up the Liquor Mart special, a 12-pack of Widmer Brew Fest variety pack, on sale for 12.49.....ah how I love you Liqour Mart....and we indulged. Not feeling particularly energetic later, I opted not to visit Walbut Brewery with the rest of the crew and went home for some reading and music, both of which I have already paid for.

Today has to be tight, because tomorrow is Farmer's Market, where spending too much money is all too easy and has not guilt associate with it because, duh,  its the Farmers's Market. 

Total spent for Day 2: $13.51

Spending Diary- Day 1, part II

The $0 I spent yesterday very quickly became $32.30 due to a cooking oversight, so I have to amend Day 1. 

It all came down to butter. My tasty dinner, a zesty fresh salad with delicious mashed potatoes and fresh green chilies from Abbondanza, was on the stove and on its way to finished when I remembered that I had no butter, no milk, and no olive oil, rendering the perfect mashed potatoes with green chilies dish impossible. To Sunflower we went and my bill rang up as: 

Napa Valley olive oil: $12.99

3 boxes of cereal: $13.57

Nature Valley butter: $4.99

Fresh strawberries: $4.00 (note: Tis the strawberry season! Organic strawberries 2 for $4!!)

Nappa Valley grapeseed oil: $9.49

Rudi's bread: $5.29

2 Chocolove chocolate bars: $5.18

Total:  57.30 

minus: $25 from my partner in crime

My damage: $32.30

Granted, only one item was necessary for the completion of the potatoes, but this is likely my last grocery store visit of the week, so I had to prepare. Since Sunflower incurs the majority of my spending money I figure it will have to take the greatest cut during my great cut-back. But it was nice to be home again at the old Sunflower. I absorbed as much of the lovely produce display and aroma of natural food products as possible. This will sadly be my last last Sunflower visit for the week. 

Real total spent for Day 1: $32.30

Spending Diary, Day 1

On Saturday I opened my online checking account and promptly stopped breathing. I had way less money than anticipated and what's worse is that all the spending was on food and booze. I am embarrassed and mad about my unconscious spending and have decided it is time to start better monitoring my spending money. I know there a plethora of fancy online tools and other banking features that automatically document this for you, but writing about it is clearly more fun. 

So the next week is dedicated to documenting my now very tight budget and the clever ways in which I can save money. 

Prologue Day (yesterday): I expected to have lunch with my friend Bethany at Saxy's, a new deli I was excited to check out, and in typical form she overslept. Rather than pick up a sandwich on my own, I abstained from the restaurant and grabbed lunch at whole foods instead. I am on a veggie kick this week so I went for sesame kale, a very inexpensive selection at just $2.52 for one of the small plastic containers at the deli, and roasted beets, which was more expensive at $4.15 for the same size, due to the weight. Note: Go for the greens rather than roots veggies because you'll save on weight. 

A side  note about salad bars... Whole foods should really offer an smaller alternative to the large cardboard containers at their bars. The temptation to fill it to the edges and with all the heavy goodies like tofu, boiled eggs, peas, and artichoke hearts is unfair. What begins as an endeavor to create a simple, low cost salad quickly becomes a massive $12 purchase. To date, the least expensive salad I have managed to purchase at the Whole Foods salad bar was $6.80. Next time, I'm gonna stick it to 'em, and make a salad thats less than $5.

With my food, I grabbed an organic Recharge for $2.99 (the organic is only .49 cents more) and I had to get the larger size because I was in need of electrolytes after a morning run. The food, drink, and an emergency box of tampons totalled$17.25, which ended up being perhaps comparable to what I would have spent at Saxy's, but I also got the veggies and tampons I needed, so I'm pleased. 

This was my only purchase yesterday. I developed a massive headache at the end of the day and really wanted to grab a chai to test if it was due to caffeine, but opted to taek two Aleve, which I had at home, and called it good. No more purchases for the rest of the day.

Money spent yesterday: $17.25

Day 1 (today): So far I have spent nothing, but entirely by accident. I didn't spend anything all morning, but later had to get out of the house to do some work and determined I deserved a chai so stopped at Brewing Market. After ordering I realized I didn't have my wallet with me and the hot barista I made small talk with gave it to me for free. Score! I was glad that I didn't pay, however, because their house chai was shitty. I have to spend another few hours in a coffee shop tonight so I will have to make another small purchase, but I will spend 150% on my drink with 50% going to the barista tip to balance out the karma from this morning. 

I am bumming because I ate the remainder of my cereal this morning, which means I need to make a purchase decision. Do I purchase the delicious, tiny box of organic granola at $4.49 and wake up tomorrow delighted about my first day's activity, or do I forgo spending and eat the equally healthful but not nearly as motivating for getting out of bed eggs already sitting in my fridge??  Okay, so $4.49 is not a lot of money, but going to the store is, especially on double savings Wednesdays at Sunflower Market. If I go, I will pick up a loaf of bread, Rudi's for $5.99, which will, annoyingly, be my second bread purchase of the week, since I somehow misplaced my previous loaf. On that note, I will save myself some food money by keeping better track of my food, but that is another story....

I am getting around on the scooter and bike due to nice weather. The scooter still has half a tank, which should give me another 25 or 30 miles, at least another week, when I alternate it with biking. So my gas budget--about $10 monthly-- is also reduced. Score!

No money spent on lunch today, I packed a bit of the very large salad I made on Sunday, which I have been portioning out throughout the week. I can extract only one more salad from that one, and will need to find a new lunch solution for the rest of the week. Definitely thinking I need some bread...

Money spent so far today: $0

The Techne of Food or Sex

An interesting article was passed onto me which suggests that food has become a great deal more significant than mere sustenance, and that breaking society's accepted eating codes is now comparable to breaking sexual morality codes. Simply, the author states "there is a new scarlet letter in town: its spelled XXL."

For context on my comments to follow, read the article....

I am strongly convicted by this article. I try my best not to sell out to contemporary trends or dogmas, but it seems I have incrementally and blindly fallen into the snobbish ways of the foodies. I recently heard Christian Lander, author of Stuff White People Like, speak in Boulder. He suggested that the premise of his media concept is that classes remain divided and one's class is designated by that which he consumes. In congruence with this notion food is, above all, a designation of one's lifestyle, education, and community. Do you eat small or large portions? Do you eat organic? Do you eat local? Do you eat often? Do you sit down to eat or eat on-the-go? Each answer connotes something different and ultimately serves to classify the individual. 

We have fashioned an entire moral code based on our food consumption and bought into it with such diligence  and fervor that we are completely unaware of it. I, for one, have recently fallen hard for it. Last summer, a couple friends and I participated in a community supported agriculture (CSA) program. We did it to learn how to cook vegetables and to save money on produce for the summer. Little did we know we had actually bought our ticket into a whole new social class where "proper" consumption of food (local, organic, etc) was the superior moral behavior. I found myself mentioning this little tidbit in random places to test how widely we might receive affirmation for our good behavior. In church, on the bus, at the grocery store, at parties, the conversation would come up (or rather, I would force it up) that we "had to pick up our food share this weekend" and people everywhere gave us deep nods of approval and pats on the back. It was the most socially acceptable and progressive activity I participated in all year. We were also introduced to a whole new world of like-minded people, where good food consumption is like superior morale behavior; understanding of food and all its nutrients and chemical components is like understanding theology; organic farmers are like high priests; and a good chef like an archdiocese. It is a sub-culture, a marketing scheme, a code to which one subscribes, a manufactured lifestyle,  a techne, truly no different than any other throughout all of human hsitory. As such, any techne can be broken down and classified into its various parts, so let us analyze the food techne of Boulder by identifying its terminology: 

Organic

Local

Natural

Food blogs

Fresh ingredients

Omega-3

Raw Food

Healthy

Progressive

Whole

Hearty

Seasonal

I studied my new techne, and put it into practice. Food blogs, cooking, eating out, talking about food, diagnosing ailments according to what I ate, essentially making food a definitive part of my entire existence. My superior food lifestyle provided me a better position to make mistakes, criticize others, and preach a dogma. 

But here is the scariest part about this societal techne over others. It is disguised. The foodie does not believe he is subscribing to a code or marketing ploy. In fact, of all lifestyles, this appears the least commercialized, but for this reason it is the most sneaky. My own excitement with good food is one very much manifested out of a shameful Food History. My family, in our great struggle for resources, relied exclusively upon WIC when I was a child, and of course none of the above-listed terminology made it into our vocabulary. Our lack of resources and education, aka our social class, is that which prevented participation in the foodie club. Now, with my  participation in this exclusive new food club, I feel I have taken a step forward from my WIC days. 

But this must stop. Immediately. I, along with foodies everywhere, have entered a place that does not lead to better individual health and a better society, but to snobbery, leading only to division and classism.

We can argue that society drew awareness to our consumption of food in order to address the adverse health effects of obesity, etc, but now we are left with just another canon, and one which continues to leave significant populations marginalized. Can every person, with all the diversity of lifestyles and varying access to resources, reasonably be expected to adhere to this moral food code? Absolutely not.  We must criticize and deconstruct the discourse in order to understand the ways it may be hurting, rather than helping us. Food is, and always should be, sustenance, not a social symbol. 

The author's parallel between sex and food is quite pointed. Both food and sex provide varying degrees of sensuality, depending on the person/food consumed, and both can become "dangerous" when consumed or engaged in irresponsibly. But above all, food has replaced sex in its ability to outcast and marginalize unconventional use of it. Anyone who has read The Scarlet Letter understands the risk associated with marginalizing those who do not comply with a community's social norms, even if those norms are framed as the best interest of all. Boulder (and I above all) must heed this warning. We must tread carefully as we build a food philosophy that risks resulting in less, rather than more, freedom.

Bon apetit!