He posted on the WFD thread last week.

Last I heard, he was in Florida trying not to get the flu. He's around.

He better not be in FLA without letting me know!!!

Cathy, he's in FL but sequestered in some hotel that I can't remember at a conference. Those business conferences used to be fun but nowadays they barely give you time to sneeze in private...breakfast at 7:15 am and the last meeting at 8:00 pm.

Ugh, I'm so glad neither of us are doing those gigs anymore.

/tricia

Thanks Tricia. Yeah, I remember those conferences. I was eager to go but always wondered what value they were. Then we replaced a lot of them with virtual meetings.

Cathy, John's was at the Fontainbleau Hotel, Miami Beach. he flew home late yesterday arriving back in Portland after midnight.

/tricia

I"m glad he's still around. So many people are gone, and I miss them. I welcome all the new people, but I miss a lot of the others that don't post any more, for whatever reason. I just appreciate all the people here.

Sally

Hi Sally et al, sorry I have been scarce.

Too much biz travel, I haven't really been home much in two weeks. Too much work generally, this morning I went to the gym early, then was in the office for five hours, and I have more to do tomorrow. Too much sickness in the house, when I have been home, I've been making chicken noodle soup non-stop and someone is always needing it. Too much avoirdupois, after gaining 10 lb in 2H12 I'm on what Garfield calls "DIE" with a "T", eating mostly raw fish, egg whites, fruit, blah blah.

This may sound familiar to the women here and bizarre to the men, but there's these pants I'm trying to fit into . . . I got nostalgic for these striped skinny punk jeans that I wore backpacking around Europe in 1980, so I bought a pair off eBay. Well, I might have done better to pick a bigger size. But darn it, I'm going to make these work!

Bottom line, there has been very little cooking here. But I've a Chinese New Year dinner to put on soon, and we have some Iranian friends who want to alternate dinners-cooking classes - they come here and we make something Chinese, next dinner is at their place making something Iranian.

1980's trousers - that has the mind boggling!

I have a pair of hip-hugger, bell bottom Levis from the late 60s. Needless to say, they could no longer can hug my hips, and it my own bottom that is bell shaped. They are in a dresser drawer and remind me of those halcyon days of my skinny youth.

Ah, John, I'm sorry your family has been sick. It's been a lousy year for good health, so far. Fingers crossed, I think we got through all that stuff last fall.

Your cooking classes with your Iranian friends sound interesting. What a fun idea.

Sally

I'll look forward to posts and reports of Iranian food, a cuisine of which I know nothing. And photos of you in your 80's vintage punk jeans. :)

Eileen

I was wondering about you, too, John. I'm really interested in both sides of that cooking class exchange. Culinarily the only thing that pops into mind when I think Iranian is saffron. Hope you take lots of pictures and post in detail.

Good luck with those pants. I have a whole row of almost-new khakis hanging in a spare closet that I keep kidding myself I'll wear again someday.

Hey, the pants are not that bad after all. Turns out they stretch out as you wear them. If I keep stretching them out, they'll probably get loose enough.

These aren't actually 1980's pants, but a modern UK-made pant that is the closest thing I could find to my old punk jeans. 'Xcept my old pants were lime green and white stripes, and I think that is just too much for a guy who's almost fifty, so these are more muted.

Bad lighting there, this one shows the stripes. I'm reading a book on ceviche.

They may seem weird but honestly, these pants won't get a second look in Portland. This is a pretty hipster town.

Off to get something else. I figured out that for the last few months of 2012, I was probably suffering a bit of seasonal depression. Things were going wrong at work, all I could do was stare at the screens and feel bad. I was gaining weight, didn't care about cooking or much else, I would come home and sleep all the time, I couldn't figure out what was wrong or what to do about it. Recently we had a two week period of sunny and mostly-blue skies, it felt like something lifted, and I realized what's been going on. So I'm off to buy a couple of sun lamps for my office and will get a vitamin D prescription from my doctor. Most winters, riding to work everyday is enough to keep me chipper and energized. But I guess it doesn't always work.

I was thinking of suggesting vitamin D as I read your post, but you went on to say you're going to get some. I keep thinking I need to send my kids some vitamin D. It couldn't hurt. Jerry was recently diagnosed as D deficient, which surprised us, considering we get a lot of sun here.

Cool pants!

Sally

Hey John, I sure hope you get back to your happy productive self quickly. You are a treasure.

Oh, love the pants!

John, some pants I wore in Portland in 1981 got much more than second looks, but they were a zebra print, black, white,and fluorescent chartreuse, made in London, but I bought them in Vancouver. I loved wearing them at discos because the chartreuse stripes would glow very brightly. I did find Portland to be more hip than Seattle at the time, however, although neither could compare to Vancouver. Some people in Seattle would cross the street rather than walk past me on the sidewalk, and I could see them trying not to laugh when they looked at me. No one in Portland did that. Vancouver had a lot of English tourists who brought London fashion with them, and so I blended in there a lot better.

I ended up giving my zebra pants to my sister in law when I moved to Austin. After a couple of years of weight training and intensive squats, my thighs did not fit them any more. Too bad you couldn't find your pants with the lime green stripes - I would love that!

I did buy a black, white, and gray leopard print umbrella in Portland in 1981 that I still have and use to this day. I got caught in a summer rain storm (which I did not expect) and had to buy an emergency umbrella.

Lars

John - I won't lie. You are always talking about cooking healthier and keeping your weight down. You look pretty skinny and fit to me.

That said - what catches my eye in the picture.....is that a built in dining hutch in the background? Do you live in an older home?

Don't mean to go OT - but you did post the picture!

Teresa

Great pants. My 22 year old son would love those. :)

Eileen

Lars, I think I'd like your wardrobe! Are your still wearing fun stuff?

My son think the pants are okay but a bit boring. At 13 y/o, he is the glam dresser in the house. Routinely wears ties, glittery vests, striped and checkered pants. He goes to the coolest middle school, an arts magnet that is full of musicians, artists, actors and dancers (he's a dancer). Sort of like that '80s TV series "Fame" except these are younger kids, so less drama.

I got into the office at 4:50 AM and set up my lights. I'll post a pic. SWMBO says the bulbs I got are not real sun-like, anti-SAD light bulbs, so she will get me the correct bulbs.

On the weight and fitness side, four years ago I was 40 lbs overweight, walking with a cane from gout, suffering gallstone and kidney stone attacks, on 4 different lipid and blood pressure meds, borderline pre-diabetic, and generally feeling poorly. Today I'm off all the meds and suffering no illnesses, all lab values normal and I feel better than I have for 15 years. I've been astonished at the difference made by dropping 25-30 lbs and riding my bike daily, to medical conditions that I didn't think were particularly related to weight or fitness. I still have about 10-15 lbs to lose to get to an optimum weight, and I'm very curious to find out what happens when you get there. I should ask triciae. Maybe my eyesight will revert too 20-20, yes that'd be nice.

The house was built in 1911, so it had its 100th birthday not too long ago. It is a four-square, which is a common type of house in Portland. It is an old house with all the inherent inconveniences. It doesn't have enough electrical outlets, the kitchen is dysfunctional, the garage is about the size of a garden shed, the closets are risible, the A/C just kind of works, between the laundry and the family room we have to scamper up and down four floors. But we like it. There are a lot of built-ins.

John, a few years back, I bought a 250w and a 400w metal halide lamp for starting seedlings. Amazing light output. I have noticed that when the lights are on, occupants in the house are in a better mood. So whenever gets cloudy outside I will turn the lights on. It's like having your own sun.

The problem with most, if not all, the so called SAD lights, they are lacking in intensity.

You may want to look into:

The highest wattage balanced daylight CFL bulbs on Amazon.

Daylight metal halide lights more than 250 watts, pr3eferably with digital electronic ballasts.

dcarch

Thanks dcarch! I will definitely do that. I really appreciate the information and help.

Here is my workstation with my new lights on, using 15 watt daylight CFLs (60 watt incandescent equivalent). The pic was taken at about 5:15 am this morning. The wall to the left is all window, but the shade is drawn and it is dark outside.

Seems like I still don't have nearly enough light, compared to what you are describing. I have plenty of room in the office to put larger lights on a stand, and will start researching those now.

Edit: I found this information. http://www.sltbr.org/sadfaq.htm

I'm thinking I could set up stand-mounted high-intensity lights here. My office will look like a paint booth and my photos will fade prematurely, but oh well.

This post was edited by johnliu on Mon, Jan 28, 13 at 13:00

John, I get depressed just looking at your work area. :-)

That's not natural for our bodies which have been evolved thru millions of years of working in bright daylight the entire day.

Search Amazon for "Daylight" "Photo light" "Grow light" and find the brightest and cheapest bulbs.

If you search "SAD" light you will be paying more for the same light.

As humans who now have to adapt to modern living conditions, IMHO, we all have S.A.D. conditions to varying degrees. You may find it benefitial to significantly increase light intensity where you spend the most time.

Besides, your herb garden will be in much better shape. :-)

dcarch

John, there is also a lighting forum here that I used to visit somewhat regularly. You might get some advice there - my questions were with manufacturing and that forum is geared more to residential lighting design/planning - not the manufacture of lighting products such as the chandeliers, sconces, and table and floor lamps that I design.

I don't dress as glam as I used to, and I stopped probably around the age of 55. When I went to Las Vegas for a furniture convention in 2003, I took all my lamé and sequin shirts, to wear for going out to dinner, and people there (at least women) really appreciated them. When I lived in San Francisco from 1973 to 1984 I was a fashion designer, and I worked with two other designers who eventualy moved the company to Manhattan, where most of our business was at that time. We did fashion shows stores like Saks Fifth Avenue (our biggest buyer), and we made everything to order. We specialized in plus size eveningwear. Our model was a size 12 or 14, and our dressform was a size 12 - an old one that was not adjustable. We made a lot of evening dresses with cascading pleated organza ruffles and also revived the "balloon" dress of 1960. I made a few of my own clothes as well and continued to do so into the 1980s and early 90s.

I will say that people in Portland appreciated me, and it has always been one of my favorite cities. They weren't quite ready for me when I moved back to Austin, but I still felt comfortable wearing my own fashion there - but it made me stick out. Austin is getting better, but it hasn't caught up with Portland yet IMO. It's really too hot there to be a great fashion city, but Houston does a better job and is even hotter (by heat index).

Lars

Here is what I've been using as a source of energy - really need to get the bright lights instead . . .