PLU codes in the Produce Aisle

An ad on Buzzfeed led me to this about PLU codes. Here's the ad:

So I looked it up and found my way to Snopes: http://www.snopes.com/food/prepare/produce.asp 

Unfortunately, suppliers are not required to use the "8" for GM produce if they do not plan to price them differently from the conventionally grown stuff, and no one is required to actually issue a PLU code for everything so a lot of things go un-PLU'd. In a nutshell (from the article):

"At this point PLU codes are more of a concept than a consistently and universally applied standard (as far as we know, no supplier or vendor has ever used the '8' digit that identifies GM produce), and they were not created for the benefit of consumers, so shoppers concerned about the nature of the produce they buy should rely upon other sources of information. If you only want organic produce, look for items that are specifically labeled as "Organic"; if you want to ensure you avoid any GM produce, buy only items that are USDA certified as "organic" or "made with organic ingredients" (which cannot by law be produced from GMO's). In the latter case consumers might also look for "non-GMO" or "GMO-free" indicators, but that option is still somewhat problematic as the U.S. government does not yet directly regulate the use of those terms..."

Cajun sausage stuffed mushrooms

Up in the air

Guys. I am on the internet. While flying in a plane. 10,000 feet in the air.

TECHNOLOGY IS AWESOME.

Chaya - see you sooooooon!

Maya - wish you were going to be there toooooo!

Guess what I am having for dinner!

I know what you're saying to yourself right now, Maya had a glass of chocolate milk for dinner?! Whaaaaa?! 

Oh no, mon friers, this is no glass o' chocolate milk. It is a power smoothie! Spinach, bananas, blackberries, coconut milk yogurt, and almond butter. And, totally paleo! Woo! 

It's so thick I need a spoon to drink this. 

I also had my crazy fitwit workout today. It was brutal - but more so because of the weather - sticky, hot, HUMID. I could barely breathe. I'm not sure what to do about this. I'm going to try allergy meds and see if that helps. 

so many workouts to update you on!

i have been slacking on my fitwit updates!

• Last Friday's workout was the TIMED fucking mile. Seriously? I haven't done that since middle school. I'm pretty sure I was "sick" for all the times I needed to do it in high school. That said, I did it in 11:38! I was stoked, not gonna lie. I was pretty sure it would take me 15 minutes to run it haha. My next goal is to run it without stopping.  My 1/2 mile time was 5:20 or something like that so I think if I train regularly/properly, I will be able to run a 10 minute mile someday which would be cool.  The person who had the fastest time a) was a girl (woo!), b) looks like a fucking gazelle, and c) finished in 6 minutes and change. Whoa. I was really impressed. She won the CoW award. (Camper of the Week).  I find it hilarious that it's called COW and it's a "fitness" award. 
• Saturday: Running workshop where I learned proper running technique:  keep a 180 bpm cadence, lean forward (only slightly - about 2 in from upright position), short strides, land on midfoot (not heels). I bought new sneakers which are amazing - see my instagram for a picture of them. I was also going to go to the kettlebell workshop, but breakfast with some of my new fitwitter friends won out over kettlebells. 
• Sunday: tried making baby booties. hella difficult. they're so fucking big, they look like they're for bigfoot's baby. ugh. No workout. Sat on the couch..all...day...long.  
• Monday: this workout was called the WALL WALKING DEAD. and as the name suggests, i was definitely walking funny the day after. I don't even know how to describe this other than a circuit of insane exercise combinations, which of course was timed. The minimum goal was to do three complete circuits.  This shit was so hard that I could only get through 2.5 circuits. Only one person reached the "goal" (5 circuits). 
• Tuesday:  this was a short workout b/c FitWit built in some "team building" time (for the morning campers, they paid for coffee for the group @ a nearby coffee shop, for us evening campers, we just had a short workout and went out to dinner).  However, let me be clear that a short workout does not make an easy one. We had to do burpees and wallballs. BRU-fucking-TAL. Wall balls are when you throw a medicine ball high against a wall, catch it, squat and repeat. Those things are AWFUL after you have just done a number of burpees (drop to the ground, throw your feet back, bring your feet back in, jump up).  We had to do a "ladder" of these meaning that starting with the first minute, we had to do 4 burpees and 5 wallballs. Every minute, we did the same number of burpees, but increased the # of wallballs by 1 each minute... we did this for sixteen minutes. I was pretty sure I was going to puke. Thankfully, I didn't.  
• Wednesday: off day from fitwit, but i did free yoga @ Atlantic station (sponsored by exhale spa).  It was a harder class than i expected - I really just wanted to stretch out on the grass - but it was really nice to do yoga outdoors.

I'll add tonight's workout with my #s assessment in a new post. Gotta run to a meeting.  TTYL!

Ugh

Having the worst 2.5 weeks of my life probably. Between my neck and my car, I am feeling pretty low. The car leaked out all its coolant at some point on the way home while we were still not far from Vegas, in the Mohave desert. The temperature gauge went to HOT. We pulled over and got towed to the nearest town. We left the car with the mechanic and got a rental to go home. Were fucked up the ass on prices for everything. Thought it would be a $1,000 radiator replacement. Just found out today that the head gasket looks like it's blown too? Getting a price quote on that. Might just leave it in the desert. But, without a car, out thousands of dollars, and feeling pretty damn sorry for myself. Now I have to go do what I meant to start 2 weeks ago, which is plan the itinerary for next week. Sorry Jaya, I don't have anything but some vague ideas on that so far. To be honest, not looking forward to having D here at this time, I fear we will spend all week arguing about purchasing a brand new car for me, which I most certainly cannot afford.

it's 6am and i've been up for an hour and a half...

because i have 30-something reflection papers to grade. to all my teachers and professors i've ever had: i really, really appreciate how difficult grading is.

i need some coffee.

weekend was fun - dinner on friday night at la calaca feliz (mexican restaurant that we tried to go to when you were here, maya, but it had the 2 hour wait? i was smart this time and made a reservation haha) - so that was chorizo tacos and guacamole and a beer. saturday dinner was at dasiwa (saturday night sushi instead of friday!) with kira's parents and her aunts janice and penni - both of whom are very excited to meet our whole family in scotland, by the way haha.

AHHH I CAN'T WRITE THIS RIGHT NOW. all i've been doing is procrastinating. must get back to grading. the reason i am writing this: what's the deal on your bday, maya? still thinking about CA? if you are, would you be willing to go in sept, instead of july??? because i'm seeing all these fares for around $300 r/t for fall travel to LA.... and that seems a lot more feasible than airfare would be for july. :-/ at least for me, anyway. let me know!