Food, Inc - Digested Thoughts

Call me naive. Okay, I'll save you the effort, I'm naive. I wanted to like, no love, this movie.

I was looking forward to an expose showing how cattle are stunned, bled-out and mechanically de-hided; how veal is mass produced with the baby calves being confined to small cages so to not use their muscles which promotes a more tender meat; how chickens live their full lives packed in small cages stacked 10 ft. high never seeing sunshine and are discarded, still alive to suffer a slow death, at the first sign of illness; how pigs are lined snoot-to-ham in single file to feed from each others feces because of their inefficient digestive tract; how ducks and geese are force fed grains to cause a swelling of fattiness in their liver to produce the prized foie gras. I want to know what happens in a packing plant, the nastiness, the conditions, the real story. How about following the graft from plant GM to USDA inspector/grader? I want reasons to swear off meat for the rest of my life. I want to know what happened to Shorty.

I was expecting to see how animals are mistreated in a mass production operation. I'm naive.

I was looking forward to a deeper understanding of how the mass production of crops is having a negative impact on our environment. How herbicides are creating new strains of undesirable and resistant, yet invasive plants; I want to know how new, more economic(but oxymoronically wasteful), farming methods and techniques are turning our nation's once rich and fertile farm land into a simple sterile growing medium. I wanted to know how raising corn and soy beans have affected the American diet causing an epidemic of obesity. I wanted it made clear, to all Americans, if we continue to "feed the world" as we are now doing, what long-term price is being paid.

I've always subscribed to the thought "give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime". Could that not have been at least constructively suggested by filmmaker Robert Kenner?

Again, I'm naive.

I was also expecting the issue of labor and lifestyle to be addressed. How under educated, commonly undocumented workers toil long hours at low wages. How they're often cheated of their wages and how they have no other options, no recourse, no health insurance and no chance for an improved future. I want to know how the few large corporate farms/developers are using genetically modified plants to not only intentionally incapacitate small, family farmers, but are controlling the global commodities market. I wanted an analysis of how small farm communities have been a host for the parasitic factory farms that continue to cause lifestyle decay and how farms that were once passed from parent to child are now forced to be sold to cover mortgages and other debt; and future farmers only option are to take low paying jobs the corporate farms create.

Overestimation on my part because I'm naive.

Instead Kenner elects to sit on the sidelines and throws darts at large corporations such as Monsanto, Tyson, Cargill and Conagra. Easy targets are they. So benign were the claims, representatives from the corporations wouldn't comment. Really, how hard is it to establish a point, especially with these topics, to get a corporate PR person to "at least" respond? These issues, labor reform, animal cruelty and environmental impact are current hot-button issues with a plethora of information and supporters. I'm calling it lazy filmmaking.

But I'm admittedly naive.

A couple high points of the film gave me hope. Michael Pollan was a consultant and his book Omnivore's Dilemma is heavily relied upon. And Polyface Farm in Virginia is given well deserved exposure showing exactly what can be done in a sustainable, organic and transparent operation. Polyface is also a major player in the book Omnivore's Dilemma. I highly recommend the read.

Perhaps I was expecting a movie version of Pollan's book. Naive thinking.

Can I recommend this film? Only for required curriculum in a basic nutrition course, but in a perfect world it be required viewing in every Junior High health class.

I do; however, recommend spending a few more bucks and time reading Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma. You'll finish satiated and with much less naivety.

Here's a wrap-up with the most redeeming quote from the film:
"to eat well cost more than to eat poorly, to eat poorly cost more than to eat well"

Now, that's food for thought.

Michael Jackson (1958-2009) - RIP

No matter how many jokes were made, no matter how much crazy and enigma he elected to pack in his baggage, no one can deny this man was a genius and a master musical talent.

Admit it or not, he touch most of our lives.

Here's a video (crappy quality) of him at Texas Stadium in Dallas...umm, Irving...in 1984 performing "Beat It". Not commonly known, one of my guitar heros Eddie VanHalen, wrote and recorded the guitar solo. This video documents the only time EVH performed with MJ on stage.

Did I Short Shorty?

I know a few things.

Many who know me will say "a very few things", I concur. But let me get serious about something very dear to me...

I've worked, unwittingly, in most parts of the "farm/ranch-to-table" movement. Problem is it wasn't called "that" then.

I grew up riding a tractor, farming mostly wheat, raising cattle and breaking horses. I've spent several seasons on a harvest crew; several years working in a feedlot; implanted cattle with steroids and shot'em full of antibiotics; spent a year butchering in a meat market (still doing hanging beef then, thank you very much); a year of agro-science studies; worked closely with the acclaimed meat judging team from OSU; culinary school; and cooked along side two of Dallas' "celebrity" chefs.

I know what farm-to-table is, more so than most.

Regrets, I have many, but on the anticipatory eve of viewing the film "Food, Inc.", one is now standing proud. His name is Shorty.

Shorty was a hip-locked calf I delivered early one Sunday morning when I was eighteen-years-old. His mother died during the delivery and I, for the bargain-basement sum of fifteen dollars, was able to purchase Shorty. He was sickly, not expected to spend much time on this earth and I considered it a bargain from the twenty to thirty dollar going rate. After all I at least attempted to save him from being taken (alive) to the "dead pile". Fifteen Washingtons from a guy making $2.80/hr...pfffft.

I loaded him (encrusted in placenta) in the front seat of my 1970 Ford F-150 (mustard and white with cloth seats for those wanting to know) and took him home, stopping along the way at the feed supply to pickup formula and nursing bottles.

I taught the runty brown and white spotted calf to nurse by smearing my fingers with sugar and forcing them in his mouth. Shorty was a trooper. He learned quickly, he fed and grew...but always wanted to suckle my fingers.

When the time came I sold Shorty back to the feedlot for a princely sum of a few hundred dollars. The cash in my pocket eased the loss of my "pet".

For a short while...

The following weekend at the feedlot, when I was "walking pens" and looking for sick cattle or other things needing attention, I spotted Shorty and he spotted me. It turned to a nightmare that still occasionally haunts me.

Shorty charged, I froze. Just before the point of impact he skidded to a stop and opened his mouth, extended his neck and tongue wanting to suckle my fingers. He recognized me, he missed me. I obliged his wants, right there in pen #78.

Two days later was a day to "work" the cattle and included worming, hormones, antibiotics, earmarking, vaccination and castration. Pen #78 was on the short list.

My job for the day was running the squeeze chute, worming and castration.

I'll be honest, working cattle is not a pretty sight. There's blood and other bodily fluids, excrement, moaning, struggle and stench. And that's from the cowboys.

The cattle have it worse. Needles re-used, Bic lighters sized pill forced down their throat with an eighteen-inch stainless steel plunger, holes punched in their ears, red-hot branding irons, subcutaneous ear steroids, horn tips clipped to the point of spewing blood, and most cruelly, castrated with dull and unsanitary instruments.

I wept when Shorty came through the chute. Even the most hardened cowboys were moved, knowing that I had raised Shorty.

After that day everyone respected that any chore needed in pen #78 wasn't to be put on my to-do list.

Until...

*{The backstory - "Asphault Cowboys" (aka truck drivers that haul cattle) are a special group. They drive long hours and aren't able to "take a four or more hour break" because they have a "live load". They drive, they have a schedule, they're appreciated and accommodated.}

The call came in late one night that a driver was waiting on his load. I was told the cattle were sorted and waiting in a holding pen near the loading chute. All I needed to do was unlock the gates and load the cattle, in numbered groups, as the truck driver requested. Easy money. I thought.

In the largest group to be loaded on the bottom of the double-decker truck was an eight-hundred-something pound brown and white spotted steer from pen #78 still wanting to suckle my fingers. I had to prod him with a Hot Shot to get him to turn and move towards the ramp to the trailer and repeatedly prod him up the ramp as he continued to look back with a "whatssup" look in his eyes.

Want to know what happened next? Watch for my "Food, Inc." movie review tomorrow.

And folks laugh at a farmer's tan

Whateva...

Grapes: You Like?

I love grapes. If being hard-pressed to pick my favorite fruit (see what I did there), I bet it'd be grapes. Admittedly, I mostly enjoy mine fermented in long stemmed crystal (or a tumbler or a mug or best a box). However, when I eat'em straight I prefer the frozen variety.

Next time you're in the grocery store and reach for a bag or two of table grapes to casually toss in your basket you might consider thinking about this LA Times article.

Logistics Anyone?

I'm all for cross-marketing, shared resources and other techniques to create a win-win partnership, until this...Did anyone give serious thought before putting a Beef Jerky sign in front of a porn shop?
Just. Not. Right.

U. S. Open - Strokes, Pokes and Notes

A hacker's perspective of the U.S. Open:

• Bethpage Black-best golf course name ever; take note thrash metal bands
• NBC = all Tiger, all the time
• how can a commentator say "that putt was perfectly struck" when it didn't go in?
• Johnny Miller busted Al Roker's chops.
  
• Phil M's pinstrip britches were cool.
• I've seen better putting on a public course in Richardson.
• Pro golfers (I'm looking at you, Tiger) dropping the f-bomb lowers your Q rating; asking your god to damn something you just did moves you to "within the leather" of hell.
• Sound bites of the day - "just drop the club on it and poop it out", "hope he's not starting to leak oil", "how many balls to these guys have", "we're waiting on Tiger to finish so we can signoff".
• Fantasy Twitter: thetiger @coach_butch you gotta opening? Need help, miss you.
• I may be the only guy in the universe to have picked Tiger to NOT finish in the top ten, how'd that work out? (written on Sunday evening)
  
• USGA...why not play the full eighteen on Monday?
• Anyone else think Verve! is a sparkling wine?
• Best golf story of the Open = David Duval

Guys Only: PMS alert-no more chocolate chip cookie dough

Just when you think it's safe to eat...this kind of stuff comes along again:

A recall of chocolate chip cookie dough; sixty-six reported cases of sickness in twenty-eight states over a four month period doesn't scare me. Come on Wall Street Journal, give me the where, how and when. This stuff is easy to trace. Details, please.

Note to self: don't eat raw stuff (except sushi, carpaccio, oysters, tartar and ceviche).

Garnishes beware!

When Old Champions Get Lonely - Part II

First Bernard Hinault, now on the forefront is Greg LeMond, and apparently the almost dead newspaper industry leader The Wall Street Journal.

If boredom affects you as it does me, take a minute to read this article from the WSJ, then read Lance's response which they won't publish without heavy editing.

WSJ, get classy or I'll pull you from my bookmarks.

Mise en Place - Juneteenth

1. Pizza Hut makes a bold (and expensive) move, and for some reason I believe it's a smart one. However, the name still makes me think Ginger vs. Mary Ann...I'm a Mary Ann kinda guy.

2. Want to join me for a 26.2 mile journey? Here's an interactive cool tool from the New York Times for a guide.

3. It's my 2nd favorite golf weekend of the PGA season...U.S. Open. Hummm, why do I get joy watching such talented athletes (yes, they're athletes) struggle? And speaking of interactive (see item #2) check out this interactive golf competition on the Dallas Morning News' website. Amble down the DMN leaderboard to...say 6th place. Then take a wild guess who "Pin High" is.

4. After finally finishing watching the recorded Prefontaine Classic I've reinforced, in my mind, women runners are God's special creation. Especially hot. Vinny...she trains at Mammoth Lake. Can you help a brother out?

Whisky, Tango, Foxtrot - Shoe Salesgirl Edition

Me being me, and having finished my research, read all the info Nike puts on the internet, read the reviews, selected the color, looked for a cheaper price and I made the decision.

Then I counted my pennies, made a trip to the nearest Coinstar and finally bought a pair of new running shoes. Yeah...you know the ones.

So I get to the shoe shop and a sweet young girl...I'd say about 18 years-old waits on me. I find the shoes, tell her my size, try on the shoes - perfect fit, go to "check-out".

And I say, "oh, by the way, do you have Lace Locks?"

"What are those?" was the reply.

Me = explain

Then it got weird.

This 18 yo, 5'2 youngster who is slightly north of two Ben Franklins recites a verbal dissertation of how "runners" lace and tie their shoes so they don't come untied while running.

And caps it off with "my shoes have never came untied while I'm running."

Well, duh.

Perhaps more training? ...in more ways than one?

White Rock Marathon - clock is ticking as of today

December 13, 2009...mark it on your calendar, it'll be my third marathon and a landmark for my 5th decade. I expect to complete it much faster than my previous marathons. Three hours and thirty minutes is my goal...perhaps less.

During the middle of June, December seems so far away. But when you realize it's only 24 weeks the pressure increases.

Today's training = easy, breezy...3 miles < 9:15/minute miles. Tomorrow's is a bit tougher...4 mile tempo at 8:00/minute miles....oh, yeah...it'll be in the afternoon heat.

Being a Vegetarian - Week 1 Report

Okay, I'm not really a vegetarian, but I've spent the last week as a strict vegetarian. (Wine is vegetarian, right?)

It's really not so bad, but I do (occasionally) miss me some meat.

And my objective is not to become some holier-than-thou, you-shouldn't-eat-anything-with-eyes, self-righteous thing-a-ma-bob. I just want to feel right, sleep tight, dream bright and run light.

And I did when I pulled this stunt. So I'm on a mission to find a proper lifetime eating habit to fit me.

I recently read a column in the Saturday Evening Post (which I usually don't read, but only look at it for the pictures) fantasizing an email to Ben Franklin regarding his recommendation to:

“Eat and drink such an exact quantity as the constitution of thy body allows of, in reference to the services of the mind.”

I totally buy it.

I'm not sure where this (changing eating habits) is going (perhaps this blog, too), but my immediate intention is to become mostly a Lacto-ovo-vegetarian with a frequent Pescatarian vibe; what the heck, stir it with a spoonful of Flexitarian.

The point is...I'm giving up the regular consumption of beef, chicken, pork and other traditionally-non-sustainable meats.

At least for a little while. We'll see what happens.

Nike, is this for real?

I first saw (an edited version) this during the televised PreClassic. Don't miss the Nike shoe saleswoman


Count me in, but first I better get some new shoes.

What's a Bicyclist's Life Worth in Colorado?

During my few trips to Colorado it's always struck me as a bicycle-friendly place...almost as much as California. And recently they passed this really cool law, going into effect in August, as quoted by KKTV of Colorado:

"The new law clarifies traffic rules for bicyclists. It allows drivers to cross the center line when safe to avoid bicyclists, and it allows bikers to pass one another or ride side-by-side if they are not impeding traffic. The law also makes it a misdemeanor for a vehicle driver to throw objects at a cyclist."

And then yesterday, a Colorado judge sentences a DUI driver to only 3 years for killing 2 cyclists.

My limited math skills say a life is only worth 1.5 years in Colorado.

Effin' sickening.

If judges and juries would get tough maybe we wouldn't need this.

Snap Judgement - My New Girl Crush

I want to do this run so bad my toes curl when I think of it. But SHE did it and, sadly, is taken. As usual "a day late and a dollar short", give or take.


And to the guy in the far, far left of the photo: "feller, when your belly doesn't fit in the picture but your "junk" does, time to rethink your eating habits...or perhaps your wardrobe."

But seriously, Mei - Congrats! Great training, great performance!!

When Old Champions Get Lonely

Some like Lance Armstrong make a comeback. And contrary to my initial thoughts, he's doing a bang-up job.

Others, like the great French bicycling champ and genuine old fart Bernard Hinault, just need to fade away, but still try to grab a smidgen of publicity.

Okay, time to start gearing up for the Tour de France.

BTW...congrats to Lance and Kelly (Kelly did all the hard work) on the new son, Max. What a great name!

Visionary Supplies schools Amazon.com on Customer Service

I think I promised I'd never buy from Amazon.com again...but, dammit, they make it so easy. I just login and click. Enablers they are.

But the past three orders in a row have had delivery problems and I still go back. WhatamIthinking?

And I send a simple email inquiry (through their massively buried inquiry form page) and get nothing but form replies. No one want's to help. No. One.

But when my Oakley Wire 2.0s broke I was desperate. I was lured back into the Amazon fold and ordered the Half Wire 2.0s. The perfect model was available in the color and lens shade I was looking for and BONUS..."ships in 24 hours"!

Not that I paid attention, but Amazon's seller was actually Visionary Supplies, who I think purchases the glasses from some other shop who purchases them from Oakley and then are sold through Amazon. Got that? Good...explain it to me.

Back on topic...I ordered on Sunday so with 24 hour shipping it should go out on Monday, right? Wrong. Tuesday? Nope. Wednesday? N-A-D-A.

Thursday evening I get an email from Amazon stating with glee, YOUR ORDER HAS BEEN SHIPPED!

As if I'd won the lottery.

Frankly, since I am now familiar with how Amazon's business practices have degraded , I wasn't surprised.

But, deeper in the email I noticed an email address for the provider, Visionary Supplies. So at about 6:00pm on Thursday I shot an email asking why wasn't my purchase shipped in 24 hours.

I had a personal reply back within 90 minutes from a gentleman named Mike DeMasi.

And an apology. Listen-up Amazon...AN APOLOGY! Not only that, Mr. DeMasi accepted responsibility, not trying to pawn excuses.

And get this...he also issued a $25 dollar refund.

Guess who gets a 5 star buyers approval? Not Amazon, but close.
Guess who gets my return business? These folks.
Guess who knows customer service? These folks.

Okay, I'm a shill. But seriously Mike, well played.

Happy Running Day - 6-3-9

Why am I always the last one to find out this stuff...

Go. Run. Now.