Ms. News Goat

Speaking of Wal-Mart, this week’s report about the potential collapse of many seafood species reminded me of Charles Fishman’s discussion about Chilean salmon in The Wal-Mart Effect.

“If current trends of overfishing and pollution continue, the populations of just about all seafood face collapse by 2048, a team of ecologists and economists warns in a report in Friday’s issue of the journal Science.”

While the new report discusses the effects of overfishing and environmental destruction on wild fisheries—instead of the problems with farmed salmon Fishman discussed—both problems have one major thing in common. They could be reversed.

“It looks grim and the projection of the trend into the future looks even grimmer,” [Dr. Boris Worm] said. “But it’s not too late to turn this around. It can be done, but it must be done soon. We need a shift from single species management to ecosystem management. It just requires a big chunk of political will to do it.”

At long last, I’ve compiled the numbers from our Wal-Mart experiment, and they were a little surprising. But before I share them, let me tell you a little more about the experiment.

The Setup

Our experiment was to avoid shopping at Wal-Mart for 1 month (we later expanded it to 3 months). For us, avoiding Wal-Mart also meant avoiding Sam’s Club. Since it’s the same company, we assume shopping there has basically the same implications as shopping at Wal-Mart. The Sam’s Club part turned out to be harder than the Wal-Mart part of the experiment. But more about that later…

My characters gave up on me today, on this, my second and final day of NaNoWriMo 2006.

I’ve got a lot of things fighting for my attention right now, and as it turns out, I’d rather focus my energies on those. I think maybe it’s like that old trick for when you’re having trouble deciding between two things. Flip a coin between the options. If you feel disappointed with the result, it’s a good indication that you should go the other way—because that gut-level feeling tells you more than all the over-analyzing in the world. I was very undecided about doing NaNoWriMo this year, and I debated it right up until the last minute. But once I decided to do it and started working on it, that’s when I realized it wasn’t really what my gut wanted to do.

Oh well… maybe another year. In the meantime, I’ll be cheering on my husband and all the other NaNoWriMo-ists out there. Best of luck!

So, I give you my final chapter of my 1,819 “novel”:

Felicia and Jake glared at the self-pitying author. “Well?” Felicia prompted, “What’s next?”

No response.

Jake tried a different approach. “Look,” he said softly. “I’m just not sure we’re right for each other. You obviously need some time, and we—well, we need someone who cares about us, who wants to be with us—”

“And someone who knows I’m really a better Tricia!” Felicia interrupted. But Jake’s hard glance stopped her from continuing.

The author was still silent, but Felicia and Jake could see tears filling her eyes.

“No hard feelings, okay?” Jake said. “We’re just going to leave now. Maybe we can hook up some other time…”

Jake took Felicia’s hand, and they quietly slipped out the door, leaving the author sitting there. Alone.

Yes, I suppose Tricia would have been a good name, she thought. Then she gently closed the notebook and fell asleep, exhausted.

It’s November, and that can only mean one thing… it’s time for NaNoWriMo!

This is my second year to participate in National Novel Writing Month. I finished successfully last year. Over the course of the month, I spent more than 72 hours writing 50,372 words. I finished just 2 hours before midnight on November 30th. My eyes and my body ached, and I was sure I had written the worst piece of fiction ever. I wouldn’t have thought I’d sign up for it again…

But here I am.

I think there’s something addictive about it. It’s a challenge. It’s a creative rush. And it’s a lot of fun. Of course, it helps that I re-read my book and realized it’s not that bad. All those things inspired me to sign up again.

Granted, I’m far less prepared than I was last year. At least last year I had a genre and a main character. This year, I’ve got nothing. I had grand plans of trying out new novel-writing software. I wanted to have worked out a plot and characters… or come up with some general plan. But October flew by, and none of those things happened.

So here I am, blank page in front of me, ready to start another adventure…

Wish me luck!

As I was running the marathon, a lady running alongside me asked, “How can you stand to carry all that stuff? I’m just running the half, and I strip down to as little as possible.” I didn’t tell her that wasn’t even everything—I’d ditched a bunch of stuff before the race!

That wasn’t the first time I’d been questioned by a fellow runner. Almost every training run, someone would ask about one of my running gadgets or another. One time some ladies remarked, “Well, aren’t you prepared for everything!”

And I suppose I pretty much am. My ForeRunner lets me run anywhere without pre-measuring distances. My ShoeID and pepper spray give me a little peace of mind. The HydroBowl makes sure my dog doesn’t get too hot and thirsty. And my CamelBak—well, I just couldn’t live without it. Not only does it keep me from getting dehydrated, but its pocket gives me a handy place to stash small things like keys and Gu. Its straps also serve as handy holders—that’s what the pepper spray and HydroBowl hook onto, along with a cell phone or MP3 player if I’m taking one of those. And since the Camelback has various adjustable straps, it fits snugly to my back. It’s comfortable, and it doesn’t bounce.

Granted, all this stuff means I can’t just just walk out the door and start running. It usually takes me a good 10 minutes to fill the water pack and get all my junk together.

But if all this stuff makes me safer and keeps me from dehydration, it’s more than worth it. In fact, just one race with poorly-organized water stops was enough to teach me that the CamelBak is a good safety net for races too.

So, yes I am carrying a lot of stuff. But being good & prepared makes running more enjoyable for me. And besides… what fun is a hobby that doesn’t involve lots of gadgets? :-)

The Wal-Mart Effect: How the World’s Most Powerful Company Really Works—and How It’s Transforming the American Economy, by Charles Fishman

Back when I got on the library’s waiting list for The Wal-Mart Effect, my husband and I were still just toying with the idea of boycotting Wal-Mart. Boycotting is too strong a word, really. More of an experiment in living without Wal-Mart for a month, just to see what difference it made in our lives and our pocketbooks. I reserved the book, hoping it might provide answers to some of the questions we were asking ourselves. Like, is Wal-Mart really cheaper? Is shopping there bad? Does “boycotting” it do any good? (more…)

When I started training for the marathon, I wasn’t sure if it was truly a good healthy thing to do. After all, running is a high-impact sport and can be tough on the body. And watching the finish line of any marathon—people collapsing and having to be wheeled to a medical tent—is enough to convince you it’s hard on a person. Add to that friends and family calling you crazy… and you start to wonder why exactly you’re doing this.

I had two main reasons in mind for running the marathon. (more…)