[PLUG-TALK] Visiting from Tacoma

[Jason Dagit]

(again with apologies for not properly quoting)

On Sat, 2009-01-03 at 15:31 -0800, Andrew Becherer wrote:
> Hi Portland!
>
> I've been subscribed to the plug lists for a few years now and I
> participate in Taclug (Tacoma Linux Users Group). The fiancée and I
> decided to have a weekend away and rode Amtrak down on Friday. I got a
> heck of a deal on a room at the Nines through Hotwire.
>
> Today we woke up and had breakfast at The Blossoming Lotus (my fiancée
> is a vegan with raw vegan tendencies). Following that I dragged her to
> the Powell Technical Books store. We are now hanging out at Living
> Room Theatres enjoying some appetizers and free WiFi.
>
> I brought my new Lenovo Ideapad S10 with me on this trip. It is a Atom
> based netbook with a 10" LED backlit 1024x600 screen. I upgraded the
> RAM to 2 GB and I will be swapping out the Broadcom Mini-PCI Express
> card for a Atheros based one capable of performing packet injection.
> The machine runs Ubuntu well. I am having some trouble with an
> over-active fan (annoying in the quiet hotel room). Also I am having a
> bit of trouble with Skype and the integrated microphone. As I can hear
> the mic through the integrated speakers (when I set the mixer settings
> properly) I know the mic "works." Overall I am quite pleased. It is
> much nicer to carry this machine around instead of my hulking Thinkpad
> t61p with 9 cell battery.
>
> Regardless, we are enjoying Portland a great deal.
>

Why is your fiancee a vegetarian? Are you hanging out
alone together already? I hope you aren't ruining your
honeymoon by not waiting to be in a room alone with your
bride until after the marriage ceremony. The dress is
generally white for a reason, it signifies purity.

I think vegetarianism is misguided unless you are allergic
to animal products. God said of the animals, these are to
eat. I truly do not understand the whole vegan thing.
Yeah one needs to eat their vegetables, but it is hard
to get all the nutrients one needs from vegetables alone.
Does your bride even eat eggs?

There are other reasons to avoid eating animals.  Have you read the book
"Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan?  The short version is, we should be
careful where the food comes from before we partake.  Food that comes from
industrial agricultural sources are not only less healthy for us as
individuals, but they are also worse for the environment and also bad for us
as a nation as they help complete the cycle of oil dependency and debt for
farmers.  Eating lower in the food chain can help reduce the impact.
Supporting local, non-industrial, agriculture is even better of course and
hard to do when traveling.

Did you know there are vegan endurance athletes?  I'm talking about athletes
that compete in events stress the body to its limits, marathoners,
ultramarathoners and ironmen.  I can barely think of a more physically
demanding lifestyle and yet these people are able to get the nutrients they
need from a vegan diet.  Of course a vegan diet isn't meant for babies, but
then again they shouldn't eat like an adult anyway.

Jason
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