Vegetarian Adventure - Prep Week Two/Day One

Two days this week: today and Friday. Meal plan is as follows:

• Breakfast
• PB Sandwich
• Dunkin' Donuts Cinnamon Spice Coffee (awesome)
• Lunch
• Two of Chung's Frozen Vegetable Egg Rolls (without Sweet & Sour Sauce)
• A cup of Basmati rice (I know...it's Indian and the Egg Rolls are Chinese...get over it)
• Apple Sauce
• Dinner
• 3-egg Omelet w/ 2% cheese
• Broccoli

Still don't have a tasty spinach recipe for Friday. Help.

Jon & Amy's Washington, D.C. Trip: 1/20/10-1/24/10 - Google Maps

Amy and I are taking a trip (sans child) to D.C. to celebrate our 10th anniversary. Here is a map that I am making to highlight key places on our trip.

Jon & Amy's Washington, D.C. Trip: 1/20/10-1/24/10 - Google Maps

I’ll be blogging while we’re there so that my mom can show Sam what we do everyday. I’d love your suggestions for things to do.

Rep. Steve Driehaus (D-OH) has a great staff in D.C. and one of them put together an awesome day of tours on Thursday, including the White House! To end that day, I have secured a meeting with Rep. Driehaus to discuss (care)cincinnati.

Jen Ludwin Update: Unbelievable News

The most recent email recieved from my former colleague:

Greetings!



I know it has been awhile for an update, but the wait is worth it as I have some absolutely awesome news!

First of all, Jen has, as we all know, overcome some absolutely unbelievable odds. After close to 12 weeks of ICU, she is now BREATHING on her own and OUT of ICU! Two wonderful things. This also means she can finally talk. [Breathing and talking are two things I generally take for granted.] I would imagine that breathing on her own and talking are two things she is certainly enjoying now.


Jen has also had almost weekly reconstructive surgeries on her hands. Sandy Ludwin says, whereas Jen has lots more healing to go, she is progressing along the doctors’ expectations. The conversations now center on when she can move to the next space for healing as opposed to if she can move.


As always, the Ludwin family is most grateful for ALL support, both spiritually and otherwise. I know they are still shuttling back and forth between Columbus on a regular basis and can still use small meals or whatever food you can provide. See me if you can help in that way.


Once again, I see the power of prayer at work; keep those prayers coming!

My new toy (and tool) - Toshiba NB205 Netbook

As you probably know, one of the exciting things going on in my life right now is the founding and running of (care)cincinnati. Unfortunately, it is extremely hard to find time in my busy schedule to run this organization. I can't do it during work because...well...I'm getting paid to work. My employer is already very supportive and understanding, but that just wasn't an option.

I won't do it at home because I value my time with Sammy and Amy too much. I'm already away every Thursday night for Southwest Ohio Symphonic Band rehearsal and some Wednesday nights for Microsoft Office classes that I teach at The Healing Center. The last thing that I want to do is be unavailable even more. Not only is it inconsiderate, but we all really enjoy this time together. He'll never be four again.

So, the only time left is my lunch hour. However, if I stay at my desk, I can never get anything done. People come up to me all the time to talk or ask questions. My phone will ring and I will invariably answer it. Plus, I just can't clear my head of all of the work stuff to concentrate on the outreach stuff.

I had been praying about it for awhile and finally found a solution. If I can afford to purchase a laptop computer, I can work from the lunch/break room at my place of employment and, in addition, have all of the information in one central place. This seemed dead-in-the-water since I didn't have any money...until I remembered that I had just recieved a vested stock grant from my employer. If I sold a percentage of the shares, I would have enough money to buy the netbook (and needed stuff), register us as a not-for-profit corporation, gain our 501(c)3 status, and start fundraising.

It took me all of 5 minutes to find a buyer. In fact, 4 people offered to buy the stock. Later, Amy reminded me that the shares wouldn't be available in my portfolio until February; the buyer offered to pay me advance anyway. Awesome.

So, after much research, I settled on the Toshiba NB205. It has everything that I wanted (small size, large keyboard, Windows 7, and long battery life) and it was affordable. Best Buy had the best price and one was in-stock at our neighborhood store.

So, (care)cincinnati now has an office. I will start updating the website often, blogging about out activities on the website, and writing grant proposals to benefactors. I will be writing thank you's, requesting donations, organizing outings, and designing newsletters. I am so excited.

Anyone else have a netbook? Like it? Love it? Hate it? This sounds interesting: Hackintosh.

Jon's Vegetarian Adventure - Prep day 1 recap

So...it wasn't that bad. I think that it was the first time in...ever that I had a salad from a salad bar that did not contain bacon, turkey, ham, or chicken. I tried to like hard-boiled eggs...I don't. Here are some things that I learned from yesterday:

• Mixed veggies aren't that bad with a little balsmic vinegar and red pepper flakes
• Almost every soup known to man has beef/chicken stock or some kind of meat in it
• I hate hard-boiled eggs
• Little Caesar's Pizza is only good if there is pepperoni on it
• You don't get much indigestion when you don't eat meat, but you get more gas (apologies to my Durango)

The only stuff outside of my comfort zone were the mixed veggies and the eggs. So, we had a split decision. As I said yesterday, my goal for next week is to find a vegetarian dish that I enjoy containing spinach.

Vegetarian Adventure - Prep Week One

As I said in a previous post, I am going to spend the month of February 2010 as a vegetarian. More specifically, I am going to be a Lacto-ovo vegetarian. So, I will not be eating meat, poultry, and fish. This differs from other forms in that I will eat eggs, dairy and honey. For a good description of each, you can check out this page: http://vegetarian.about.com/od/vegetarianvegan101/tp/TypesofVeg.htm.

I found PETA's Vegetarian Starter Kit through a google search. They will mail it to you, but I try to keep my personal and contact info from fanatical groups. Although, anyone that can get Natalie Portman and Paul McCartney do make free appearances can't be all bad. My reasons for going veg are entirely different than what they have going on, but the recipes look good.

I would fill out the Pledge to be Veg, but (again) I don't want to be on their mailing list. I know that February is only 28 days, but I'll just eschew meat on the 30th and 31st of January, as well.

Today's menu is pretty innocuous:

• Breakfast: Peanut Butter Sandwich on whole grain/double fiber bread.
• Lunch: Tossed Salad with Balsamic Vinegar, hard-boiled eggs (which I hate, but provide good protein and fat), and a Thai Noodle Salad that they have here at work. If the Potato Soup doesn't have bacon in it, I may have a cup of that.
• Dinner: Little Ceasar's cheese pizza and Crazy Bread

The only departures from the norm for me on this are (1) no bacon or turkey on the salad and (2) no pepperoni on the pizza. Honestly, neither one of these are dealbreakers or especially tasty.

Next week: Tues & Thurs Veg. I'm going to push myself to find a recipe involving spinach that I enjoy.

Jon's Vegetarian Adventure

I saw a story on local media over the couple of weeks about a guy from Cincy that lost over 350 pounds over 3 years. Now, I don't have that to lose. If I did, I would be Jimminy Effin' Cricket. I do, however have about 1/3 of that to lose. He exercised...a lot. The biggest life change, however, was going vegetarian.

Those who know me know that I am a big fan of everything meat: bacon, beef, chicken, pork, bacon...all of it. However, even I am not so delerious as to think that this doesn't have an impact on my health and weight. So, I decided to have a controlled experiment.

Starting on February 1st, I will not eat any meat for 28 days. I will still eat EggBeaters, cheese, and all other animal products. I am not doing this for ethical reasons. God created all of the animals of the land, sea, and air for man's use, and I have no problem with cookin' up a good burger or chop.

Starting next week, I will spend 1 mire day per week not eating any meat. Then, on 2/1, I will cut it all out for 1 month. I want to do this for more than just health reasons, as well. Amy (my wife of 10 years) hates that I am so limited in what produce I will eat. So, I am hoping that these 28 days will provide a chance for me to find preparation methods for some of my least favorite vegetables that Amy, Sam (my 4-year-old), and I all enjoy.

I welcome you comments, recipes, and mockery on this blog's comment pages. Here is a list of my least favorite veggies:
-lima beans
-peas
-brussel sprouts
-cauliflower

Okay...I have about 20 more on this list, so let's just say that I only like corn, potatoes, baked beans, and iceberg. I will also eat soy beans and green beans, but I don't like it.

Bring it on...I need some inside info. What do you veggies and vegans enjoy?