Muchacho Polaco

Although it has been rather cold in the evenings. the days have been rather pleasant. This seems to have a positive effect on the seeds sprouting. I’ve also been putting an incandescent lamp over them each night when I bring them inside to keep them warm and to perhaps give them the benefit of the light.

As of this afternoon, I am up to 93 tomato sprouts. I am hoping at least one will make it, but tomatoes have been particularly difficult for me to grow in the past.

16 of my cilantro seeds sprouted from last night. They look nearly identical to the tomato sprouts.

And with the calabaza sprouts, I am up to 15 now. They are much bigger than the rest and I suspect I may be able to grow them outside with no problem. I’ve grown watermellons, cucumbers, and squash around the dogs before with no problems, so I am hoping this will be the same.

Fake Mexican Monopoly. And I’m getting crushed.

I read 42 books in 2014. That’s not too bad, but if I applied myself, I could do much better. In 2002 I read 47. I have yet to average a book a week. But with my schedule in 2014 and what I anticipate it will look like in 2015, I should be able to do 55-60.

I set my goodreads.com goal tonight at 55.

Here are a list of 25 books I own which I’d very much like to get to this year (and some which I’d like to re-read this year). The lack of focus (other than the trinitarian study) should be apparent.

Confessions of Augustine (I haven’t read this since college and I don’t remember much)
Augustine: A Very Short Introduction (because I have it and I should be able to read it in a day)
The Wounded Heart by Dan Allender (I started this book today, it’s awesome)
Godless by Dan Barker (I’ve never been impressed with his debates, maybe his books are better)
Content and Consciousness by Daniel Dennett (because I have it and I should know it)
The Moral Landscape by Sam Harris (because I have it and should know the content better than those that subscribe to this silliness)
Against Atheism by Markham (because I have it – I don’t expect much)
The Letter to the Philippians by G. Walter Hansen (I enjoy commentaries and DA Carson edited this – At 400 pages, it should be fairly thorough)
Calvinism: A History by DG Hart (I’ve wanted to read this for a while)
The Brilliant Reality of ADHD by Hutchinson
What’s Your Worldview by James Anderson (because I used to have interactions with James ~15 years ago and he’s brilliant)
Every Good Endeavor by Tim Keller (because I have it and I like the author)
Sort Your Brain Out by Lewis and Webster (because I have it and I love popular level books on the brain)
The Orthodox Church by Anthony McGuckin (I loved his book on Cyril, so I hope I’ll feel the same with this one)
The Retail Champion by Rayner (because I want to be a champion)
Glorious Ruin by Tullian Tchividijan (because I really like this author a lot)
Pain: The Science of Suffering by Wall (because after reading related books and my shoulder problem being resolved, I’m very much interested in understanding more)
Calvin and Calvinism by Warfield (because I have it and my friend Ben referenced it today)
The Trinity and Subordinationism by Giles (very much interested in this since watching a debate of his on youtube)
The Triune God: A Historical Study of the Doctrine of the Trinity by Fortman (I love these sort of historical surveys and I hope it will be like Letham’s book)
Rediscovering the Triune God by Grenz (because he deals with Rahner, Barth, Moltmann, and other recent work on the trinity that I’d like to get a grasp of)
The Quest for the Trinity by Holmes (because I am interested in this author’s contribution)
De Trinitate by Augustine (because I should read the whole thing carefully)
Augustine and the Trinity by Ayres (because I hope it will shed light on the above)
The Trinitarian Theology of St Thomas Aquinas by Emery (I anticipate this will be very difficult)

Bienvenidos a 2015!

Time flies. We had family over last night for celebration of the new year. We had dinner at midnight and then lit some balloons to release over Hermosillo. That was fun and it was not too terribly cold. I passed out around 3am. Yun didn’t go to bed until 5am.

I’ve never set New Year’s goals, but as cliché as that is, I am doing so this year. My gut is getting out-of-control. So I am going to try to commit to doing the South Beach phase 1 once again given the success I had the first time (nearly 20 pounds lost in the first month).

My hope is to reduce the weight in my stomach and in my face. Today was the first day and it went pretty well. I had three hard boiled eggs for breakfast and two carrots. I didn’t realize until later carrots are off limits for phase 1. Later for dinner I made chicken breasts with broccoli, scallions, and half an onion. I added olive oil and vinegar. It was actually pretty good and I haven’t been hungry all day.

I watched some videos today and read some articles to re-familiarize myself with the process. I am supposed to snack a lot, so that works out just fine for me. I can eat cheese and nuts, which are things I especially enjoy, so that will help.

Also I really want to make an effort to exercise more. I played squash today at the park with the family and ran for about an hour with the dogs. I enjoyed it but it was quite evident what bad shape I am in. I think audio books will be a really helpful motivation, so I’ll give that a try.

According to the calendar, today was the expected date for the cilantro to sprout. That didn’t happen. Instead, the cherry tomatoes sprout as did one calabaza. The calabaza was scheduled to sprout on December 30th, so is 2 days behind. The tomatoes are 2 days early.

I’m thrilled the seeds are sprouting. I wasn’t sure about the soil and the temperatures have dropped recently which I suspect effects the process. I have been keeping the seeds inside at night and then put them out in the sun all day as it has been rather nice during the day.

I’ve though about making a planter with wheels that I can transport inside should the temperatures drop too much.

Below is one calabaza (this is the word for pumpkin and squash, so I don’t exactly know what I am getting) poking through the soil. It looks like a pumpkin seed, so perhaps that’s what it is.

Christmas Eve was on Wednesday this year. Yun’s parents and Gabriel came over for dinner, which is traditionally done at midnight. It was a spectacular meal of pork roast and turkey, along with various dishes. But eating that late and going to bed around 4am destroyed me. I’m still not quite recuperated. But the leftovers have helped!

I planted three additional sets of seeds.

Here are the germination times given on the back of the envelopes:

Cherry Tomatoes: 10-14 days (January 3rd-January 7th)
Cilantro: 8-12 days (January 1st-January 5th)
Chives: 12-18 days (January 5th-11th)
Calabaza: 6-8 days (December 30th-January 1st)

So in theory, the calabaza will sprout first, then the cilantro, then the tomatoes, and then lastly the chives. I wonder if the size of the seed has anything to do with their germination time, because in the case of these seeds, there is a correspondence.

This is a great way to water the seeds.

I made calendar entries to check progress and to remember to water them as they are in the casita (which I don’t go to that often).

I just planted some cherry tomatoes. After watching numerous youtube videos of people planting them and growing them inside, I got excited. Since it is generally in the mid 70s in the winter here, I may be able to grow them outside. Maybe a planter with wheels so I can bring them inside in the event it gets too cold might be a good idea.

10-14 days to germinate. So we’ll see…

We had 37 people over last Saturday for some fiesta. This was mostly younger people from our church. We had a white elephant gift exchange which turned out to be really fun (it was my first time doing one). We had an ugly sweater contest, a pinata filled with treasures, an enormous amount of food, and games. My french fries from the fry daddy were life changing.