There comes a time in the life of a Flying Star counter server when the taste of near victory lingers betraying the reality of defeat. Sure we’ve all been trained the same way: take the order next to the pastry case, ask if they want drinks and desserts, work on those as you work your way down the line -thereby shaving seconds, if not minutes, off of your time and providing the satisfied customer with drinks, desserts and bread rolls to nibble off of while waiting patiently for their dinner… Continue

It all started with some chutzpah.

It started after reading “True Colors” by Anthony Haden Guest –one of those books that would change my life. It didn’t change my life because it had some anecdotal philosophies, or Oprah’s Book Club inspirations. The book was simple -it was the “He Said She Said” of the Neo Expressionist Movement in Greenwich Village in the 1980’s. I was inspired, empowered, I believed in the raw potential of collective activity –the thoughtless actions that snowball into… Continue

...I think its more like a religious conversion really. Kind of like a biblical "take up your bed and follow me" moment. My husband and I went to see Bill McKibben speak at UNM yesterday. And all I can think about is how twisted our economy is. If the elementary rules of economics were true, then we wouldn't have such a demand for such useless stuff, right? In a free market economy our own deterministic forces would drive down the cost of excavation for raw materials, and locally produced goods… Continue

I once made a friend online. We were talking about world views, and in the middle of it be apologized and said "I'm sorry, occupational deformation". When I asked what that meant, he said that in France they often use that phrase as a disclosure to any potential biases -stating that one's occupation distorts their way of thinking.



Well, last night I dreamed about water -again. I dreamed that we were on one of the islands, sitting in the shallow water as we watched cruise ships… Continue

No fasting today. Unless you count the six hours in between brunch and sunch -an unintentional consequence of a spontaneous mall trip and poor planning.



I'm not even a mall person. I just found one of the few public scales to be one that you pay 50 cents for at the GNC at the mall. Yes its strange, I chalk it up to body conscious bikini country, but south Miami has scales at all the major grocery stores and what not. So I don't know what else to use to calibrate my own scale… Continue

Two months ago I told my husband "I don't care where we go just get me the heck out of here"...

Although the Florida Keys seemed like a tropical paradise, it was really more of a looks-good-on-paper kind of place. Although I was in love with the water and the fish, and the idyllic island life; my 8-5 involved being a bureaucrat in the worst possible way. Learning sustainable development in an island setting was different in person where it actually meant driving every potential developer… Continue