GeekFest '08

I discovered my "inner geek" today as Charis and I visited CPCC's GeekFest '08. The first session we attended was an unexpected jewel - after the initial disappointment that Iqubal Quadir would not be presenting live but featured in a DVD presentation of a conference held in San Francisco earlier this year, I began to listen to what he had to say.

"When Iqbal Quadir applied to US colleges from his home town in Bangladesh he was surprised to discover that not all American universities were found in Washington, DC. That’s how it was in Bangladesh, where everything of importance was centralized in the capital city, Dacca. He later realized that Bangladesh was not unique; in most developing countries, the infrastructure is concentrated in one or two cities, leaving the rural areas almost blank. As he acquired degrees and experience in finance, he realized that this centralization is not only a mark of poorer countries, it is probably a cause of their poverty. Quadir presents this broad outline of development in order to give context for his belief that technology can alleviate poverty."

Quadir convincingly presented technological applications that shot down the typical "hands-out-give-our-poor-country-money" pleas, and systematically showed instance after instance where decentralizing power enabled the people in 3rd world countries to make life-altering connections that transformed the marketplace placing power back into their own hands. Thought provoking presentation.

We also attended sessions on 3D animation presented by a gentleman who has worked for all of the largest animation projects - most recently, Disney's Madagascar 2, a session on innovation and society, and two sessions on distance education - Moodle and BlackBoard.

Bonuses for the day were the door prizes - Charis and I had favor (of course!) and walked away with tons 'o swag - a 4 gig SD card, a USB Snowman Robot (yes, you read that correctly!), two tee shirts, two thermal coffee mugs, and a hat. I was secretly hopeful for the USB lava lamp . . . oh well, there's always next year's GeekFest!

Going Organic

Our family is on a quest - a quest for health. In that, we've decided to go organic and pursue weight loss through a program our chiropracters in Texas recommended. Switching over to all organic has been an interesting journey, and frankly, it has not been easy. Here in North Carolina there are not as many organic shopping outlets as we had in Texas. Oh, how I dream of the day that Whole Foods will open a Charlotte location. The nearest WF now is an hour and a half North of here in Winston Salem.

Our grocery budget seems to be "through the roof" right now. We're replacing spices and staples in our pantry with organic alternatives. Finding those requires trips to several stores - being that NO store carries everything that I need in its organic form. What used to be a quick stop at Sams or Costco + a trip to WalMart or SuperTarget now requires additional stops at several other markets to pick up what the other grocery stores didn't have.

On a lighter note, I did find an organic farm only 3 miles away from us. Time will tell on this one. We paid $150.00 for 5 weeks' of organics. This time of year, it's "iffy" for us. In my grocery bag picked up from the farm last week were a small bunch of tiny carrots, 2 bags of mustard greens, 2 other bags of unidentified greens, a little bunch of rosemary, and a small bunch of lettuce. Can I help it if I'm craving juicy tomatoes, squash, corn & cantelope? Eating in season isn't all it's cracked up to be!

This is a learning experience for us. Because I'm cooking a LOT more, it seems as if our lives REVOLVE around food prep, eating, and clean up. I'm sure this will change as I learn new routines. I'm beginning to experiment with grinding my own grain for baking bread, although I have to confess the first rolls I made were like hockey pucks - yuck! I'm told that I need to find a source for soft wheat berries so I can make pastry flour which should negate the "hockey puck" effect. We'll see!

All in all, it's a good thing for us. I can visualize our family healthy, at normal weight, and whole! God is good!