I love you, avocados!

Health Benefits
There's more to Fresh California Avocados than great taste.

-One-fifth of a medium avocado or about one ounce is 55 calories, but contributes beneficial nutrients such as fiber, potassium, Vitamin E and lutein to the diet.

-Avocados act as a "nutrient booster" by enabling the body to absorb more fat-soluble nutrients, such as alpha- and beta-carotene as well as lutein, in foods that are eaten with the fruit.

-Avocados provide more than 25 essential nutrients, including fiber, potassium, Vitamin E, B-vitamins, and folic acid.

-One-fifth of a medium avocado has 55 calories and provides beneficial phytochemicals such as glutathione, beta-sitosterol, and lutein. Phytonutrients are thought to help prevent many chronic diseases.

-Avocados can help consumers meet the dietary guidelines of the American Heart Association, which are to eat a diet that is low to moderate in fat. The fats should be primarily unsaturated and low in saturated fat and cholesterol. The avocado is virtually the only fruit that has monounsaturated fat.

-Avocados help assist consumers in meeting a major dietary goal of reducing saturated fat in the diet, when they are consumed in place of saturated-fat containing foods.

-Avocados are a good source of fiber and fiber may help maintain heart health.
When used instead of other fats, avocados contain over 25 vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients and can be part of a calorie-reduced diet.

-When used instead of other fats, avocados can be a satisfying addition to a calorie-reduced diet.

-Spread and Dip Nutritional Comparison for Fresh Avocados*

-Fresh avocado on sandwiches and toast or substituted as a spread in place of many other popular foods may help reduce calories, fat, saturated fat, sodium and cholesterol.

-Fresh avocado used in dips as compared to other foods used as bases may help reduce calories, fat, saturated fat, sodium and calories.

Shifty gets shipped out.

My friend Aaron, "Shifty", whom I met in German class here at the university is being shipped out to the war tomorrow. I knew it was coming for some time - I've had the feeling for years... but now that it's actually happening, it's wracking at me pretty hard. I am worried for a friend like I have never been before (except youz, Lees-er, I still worry about youz) and it's even sending me to tears.

Aaron's and my friendship is a very stoic one. We don't hug, we respect each other's relationships (if his girlfriend calls while we hang out, he'll sit and talk to her for twenty minutes while I sit and wait), and his family (who barely knew me) took me in for about a week when my car needed a safe place to reside after the break-in.

My point/plea is this: Please keep him in your happy-thoughts while he is away... like so many others fighting during these rocky times.

Why Pluto, WHY!

I literally gasped when I read the first sentence:

"PLUTO DECLARED A DWARF PLANET: Yesterday at the International Astronomical Union (IAU) General Assembly in Prague, astronomers decided that the Solar System has eight planets, and Pluto is not one of them. Instead, Pluto is a "dwarf planet."

To be a planet, the assembly ruled, a world must meet three criteria:

(1) It must have enough mass and gravity to gather itself into a ball.

(2) It must orbit the sun.

(3) It must reign supreme in its own orbit, having "cleared the neighborhood" of other competing bodies.

So, e.g., mighty Jupiter, which circles the sun supreme in its own orbit, is a planet--no adjective required. Pluto, on the other hand, shares the outer solar system with thousands of Pluto-like objects. Because it has not "cleared its own neighborhood," it is a dwarf planet.

This decision clarifies the vocabulary of planetary astronomy while simultaneously upturning 76 years of "Pluto is a planet" pop-culture. Will non-specialists heed Pluto's demotion? That remains to be seen. Meanwhile, according to the IAU, the Solar System has eight planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune; and three dwarf planets: Ceres, Pluto and 2003 UB313."

You can find out more at SpaceWeather.com

The flakes are soggy.

Welcome to the last entry of my uneducated life. I have to admit, though, I had thought I would be rather more nervous... anxious... on edge than I currently seem to be. Could this be a good thing?

What surprises me the most is that I am not worried about the classes or meeting new people or designing beautiful-yet-functional buildings, but almost scared of not getting a desk in my most desired location in the studio. You see, there is one set of doors by which we will enter the studio, and from those doors you will see a few U-shaped arrangements of desks. This is not to say that they must stay in Us for the whole semester, but picking out your desk is "first come, first served". Imagine my nerves. With only one set of doors mocking my plight, I fear I do not want a desk too close to them for people will constantly be walking "through" the area in which I sit and/or stand to do my work. I've got to get a window desk.

The whole idea of spending the next four years with the same forty-six-or-so classmates has given me a deja vu feeling of the times at music camp. Auditions, picking a roommate, choosing classes, and attending those classes for the first time not knowing what to expect.

From here on out I am not sure which journal I will post more in: Groove Salad or Architektin. I suppose, however, you should be checking Architektin a lot more often because I am sure a ranting or two or four hundred will make it in there. Who knows, maybe I'll post some of my work, too, so you can see what it is that is exactly driving me crazy.

And, with that, I must finish getting ready way ahead of time. To be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late. (Anyone else remember that from music camp?)

Kids will never sleep again.

These new holographic posters rock. Soon parents will be able to buy posters for their kids' bedroom walls that will not only be cool, but scare them into fearing the poster with reckless abandon.

You know what this room needs? ... A large poster of Atlantic City. Oh-ho look! You've got one!

No, but really. A Harry Potter-esque one would be the best. The "magic" would be cool to see. Or a car driving by - for car enthusiasts, etc. Now I want one! *tantrum*