New Thing 178, New Thing Every Day: Visit the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco

Leigh and I spent much of today at San Francisco's Museum of Modern Art, and it was fabulous! We saw so many great works of art, and I particularly enjoyed the special exhibit that just opened, dedicated to the work of Edvard Munch. Honestly, I am embarrassed to say that all I have ever known about him is The Scream. It turns out, though, that he was an extremely important artist who produced a massive, influential body of work from his 20's until his 80's.  It was great to learn about him and so many other things, and to experience hours of true beauty and genius.

Here is a link to the museum -- https://www.sfmoma.org/

New Thing 177, New Thing Every Day: Visit Napa Valley in California

[Note: This post is late because I was having trouble with Internet access in my hotel room last night.]

Leigh and I looked at a variety of ways to do this and we finally settled on a service with a small touring van -- a Mercedes Sprinter that seated ten. It was a very fun day that started about 9:30 and got us home about 8:30. Here are 10+ things about the day.

1. There were a total of ten of us on the tour, plus the tour guide. It was a great group of people we had never met before and they made the whole experience much better.
2. The tour guide was a great guy who had gathered information from us all, the day before, and tailored a trip that he thought we would all particularly enjoy. He was right.
3. Here is a quick breakdown of the other four couples -- very successful retired couple who have been to hundreds of wineries in Napa; young couple from Philadelphia -- hot, super-fit, very nice, fun; couple from Scotland on three-week vacation; couple our age, she was an attorney and he was a transplant surgeon. All were nice and fun, with unique qualities that made the day special.
4. We hit four wineries over the course of the day, which means at least 20+ tasting-portions of wine, or maybe 4-6 glasses. All very good wine, and a little intoxicating for this not-in-college-anymore lightweight.
5. The first winery was probably the most fun because our host was entertaining and gave us a lot of wine history/trivia.
6. We went to Mario Andretti's winery and I got my only souvenir for the day, a hat.
7. At one winery, each of four wines was paired with a little piece of chocolate. That is not something I eat anymore, but I decided this was a rare experience, so I did.
8. For lunch, I also ate a few things I do not eat anymore, because we were served by our guide/host and I felt like it would be rude to not eat, and there were no other alternatives. I am sure that sort of situation will present itself from time to time in my life and I am not going to feel bad about it.
9. Peter, the retired gentleman on our tour, had a great story about running into Frank Sinatra in the late 80's, getting a drink with him, and going back to his house to listen to him play the piano. Peter was an extremely successful guy and I believe the story is true (also, I don't ever really care if a story I hear from someone I do not know is true, as long as it is good).
10. At the third winery, we discovered that the wine really had gone to my legs (which, with my MS, it does long before it hits my brain) and the transplant surgeon actually had to lift me into the van. That was weird (and very nice of him).
11. For the fourth winery, I stayed in the van because I did not want to have further MS issues with getting in and out. Honestly, three was enough, anyway.
12. Leigh made every second of the day more fun, as always.

New Thing 176, New Thing Every Day: Eat a Cricket Snack

More and more, I am seeing crickets as part of one food or another (twice on my beloved Shark Tank!). Several times, I have said to myself that I would try something made with crickets at some point, and today I got my chance. Leigh and I were just bopping around at the Ferry Building market in San Francisco, with lots of gourmet restaurants and fun shops, and we found a place with Don Bucito "Tasty Edible Insect Snacks". I grabbed a bag of Chili-Lime Crickets with Pumpkin Seeds (obviously meant to serve the same general snacking purpose as potato chips).

Now, some cricket-filled foods mask the cricket to look like corn chips or an energy bar or whatever. That is not the case here. What I ate today were basically handfuls of dried crickets, coated in chili-lime, paired with pumpkin seeds. There was basically no way to convince myself I was eating anything other than crickets. And it was just fine. Do I crave them now? No. But they were just fine.

New Thing 175, New Thing Every Day: Launch a Local Business Blog with the Columbia Daily Tribune

Today, we launched Business Matters (name suggested by Olga Morris of Culver's), the Columbia Daily Tribune's new local business blog. It will be all about local business, and supporting local business, written by great local writers. I am the administrator, and will also be posting there, mostly in my role as regional director of BBB (although, my relationship with the blog is personal, and I am just glad that my role with BBB will help me provide valuable content).

Here is a link to our first post, live as of earlier today -- http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/20170627/introducing-business-matters

Enjoy!

New Thing 174, New Thing Every Day: Go to the Oldest Sourdough Bread Baker in San francisco

Tonight I had dinner a Boudin Bakery, in San Francisco. It is the oldest baker of sourdough in San Francisco, and also has an excellent restaurant. No, I did not have any bread, any of the awesome desserts, or even the mac & cheese. What I did have was totally tasty, and it totally reminded me that I do not have to deprive myself of delicious food to eat the way I want to. It was a great evening.

New Thing 173, New Thing Every Day: Attend a National BBB Conference

BBB has sent me to San Francisco for my very first national conference, Communications and Marketing. BBB folks are here from all over the country and I am looking forward to meeting them and to learning a lot. This should definitely be a great experience.

New Thing 172, New Thing Every Day: Complete All of My Prerequisites for an MBA

Yesterday I completed my last exam and today I have received my final assignment grade and the class is officially closing, at 11:59 pm. I really am enjoying working toward my MBA. My jobs tend to have a level of mental rigor, but academic pursuit really is different. It is exercising my mind in a way that it had not been exercised for over 20 years. I feel like it is helping me be a better thinker, and I love it.

Now that I have finished my five prerequisite classes, I will be able to officially enroll in the MBA program in a few weeks. It is going to be awesome.

New Thing 171, New Thing Every Day: Complete an Online College Class

Working toward my MBA, my goal is to take as many in-person classes as possible.  I also want to take one class after the other and get out as quickly as possible, so that will occasionally require me to take an online class. I have just completed my first one -- a marketing class -- and enjoyed it more than I thought I would. There was actually quite a bit more discussion than I expected -- because it is required, really -- and there is a lot more time to think about what I want to say and what others have said. I am sure I will have to take at least a few more, and look forward to it.

New Thing 170, New Thing Every Day: Read Demosthenes' "The Third Phillippic"

Known as one of the greatest orators of all time, Demosthenes loved his city-state of Athens. However, while Philip II of Macedon became more daring in his incursions in the Greek peninsula, the Athenians were stuck in an apathetic stupor. He then employed his influential oratorical skills to awaken his fellow Athenians. Sick of his brethren’s apathy, he rallied them in 342 BC just as Philip was advancing on Thrace and boldly called them to action. After hearing his inspiring speech, they all cried out “To arms! To arms!”

New Thing 169, New Thing Every Day: Attend an MS Support Group Meeting

This might be cheating a bit because my mother says I attended a meeting when I was first diagnosed, and did not like it because everyone was so negative. That sounds right, but I have absolutely no memory of it, so we are calling tonight my first time.

Everyone was very nice and I enjoyed the conversation, but I doubt I will become a regular attender. For me, I just do not see the value in setting aside 90 minutes to talk about MS. I get that it can have lots of value for others, but I already have an incredible support system, and I really do not have a lot of need to talk about my situation. That meeting tonight probably included more conversation about MS than I have had in the last few months. I'll probably sit out the next one.

New Thing 168, New Thing Every Day: Be Awarded Chamber Ambassador of the Year

My favorite community activity is being a Chamber of Commerce Ambassador, and I have been doing it for five years. It is my favorite because I get to represent the business community, I learn a lot, I get to meet a lot of people, and I get to spend time with other ambassadors, who really are becoming like family to me, after hours and hours with them, over the five years.

Tonight, I was named Ambassador for the Year, easily the most-important-to-me award I have ever received, by far.

Thank you.

New Thing 167, New Thing Every Day: Make Stuffed Jalapeno Peppers

This was an extremely tasty New Thing. My recipe was very simple -- fresh jalapenos stuffed with a mixture of crab claw meat, vegan almond ricotta cheese, and vegan mayonnaise. I baked them at $425 for 30 minutes and they were absolutely delicious. Next time, I will try them with cornbread breading, which is something I eat and could be totally awesome.

New Thing 166, New Thing Every Day: Visit a Site that I Am Now Embarrassed to Share

In the end, there is nothing horrible about the site (it did not turn out to be porn or something like that), and there were some things about it that were very funny, but lots of it was kind of obscene or embarrassing or inappropriate enough in some other way that I do not want to be affiliated with it. I am, however, taking the credit for doing a New Thing, and now I can go to bed!  : )

New Thing 165, New Thing Every Day: Create a Pop-up Restaurant

Tonight was the culmination of the last three months or so. With lots of help, we create Bleu Boone, a reimagining of Columbia favorite Bleu, held at Boone Historical Museum and with any profits going to Boone Hospital Foundation,

Here is the key marketing information.

Please join us as we create Bleu Boone, a one-night-only pop-up restaurant. Enjoy a unique evening with fun folks and entertainment. Our primary goal is to create a special event that could only happen in Columbia (with proceeds going to Boone Hospital Foundation). For one night, the Bleu we loved for so long returns in the form of Bleu Boone, sharing old favorites and new culinary creations. Dinner will be accompanied by pianist Pack Matthews, playing the historic Blind Boone piano. Signature cocktails will be provided by The Broadway Hotel.

$75/person • Seating is limited.

Hosted By:
Judy & John Baker • Jan & Wilson Beckett • Susan Hart • Ron Leone • Leigh & Sean Spence • Janet Thompson

Sponsors:
bleu Events • The Broadway Hotel • EveryEventGives

Then, after this was written, we added a 15-minute mini-concert of great American standards by Columbia favorite Lindsay Lopez. We also added Serenity Valley Winery late, and they added two incredible case of wine.

In the end, the evening went well. The room was packed, food was delicious, music blew my mind, and everybody seemed engaged and happy from beginning to end.

Such a great evening. (And we will post pictures to Facebook tomorrow).

New Thing 164, New Thing Every Day: Visit https://iwastesomuchtime.com/

The latest on my list of weird websites. This one is pretty fun for off-the wall photos and articles.

https://iwastesomuchtime.com/

New Thing 163, New Thing Every Day: Make a Stuffed Portabello Mushroom

This is something I invented myself, in the spirit of my new eating plan (I hate the word "diet"!). It was a large portabello mushroom, stuffed with crab claw meat, garlic-flavored vegan nut cheese, and vegan chipotle mayonnaise. It was absolutely delicious.

New Thing 162, New Thing Every Day: Apply to Be on The Tonight Show

Later in the year, it turns out that Leigh and I are going to New York (as we try to do every year because it is Leigh's favorite city), so I have applied to be on The Tonight Show. The whole things was online and took about ten minutes. Fingers crossed!

New Thing 161, New Thing Every Day: Send President Trump a Birthday Card

Tomorrow is President Trump's birthday (turning 71) and I have never sent a President a birthday card, so I sent one to President Trump. I found a pretty basic, animated card that made a little age joke -- to be truthful, my mother picked out the card -- and I wrote a brief note, "Mr. President, please help make the world a better place." I hope he figures out ways to do that.

New Thing 160, New Thing Every Day: Visit http://www.oddee.com/

I have looked at several weird and sometimes interesting websites as part of my New Thing Every Day. I have to sat that Oddee.com is my favorite so far. It is just a collection of weird articles that you can see over and over throughout the day, but of a particularly high quality, in terms of weird fun. Check out http://www.oddee.com/.

New Thing 159, New Thing Every Day: Read William Faulkner's Nobel Prize Speech

This is another from the list of 25 Speeches that Changed the World, and it is pretty short. I liked its optimism and, of course, the beauty of the language. It makes me think about our own time, and all of the others where people think we are somehow nearing the end of our society. More than anything, part of the human condition is that we keep going, and I tend to think that will continue.

Here's the speech -- http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1949/faulkner-speech.html

New Thing 158, New Thing Every Day: Try a Spinach Peach Smoothie

With my new way of eating, I am trying an awful lot of new things that otherwise might have repulsed me. I have to eat three cups of green, leafy vegetables every day, and this smoothie took care of two full cups of that. Really, I thought it was delicious (thanks in part to agave nectar, a natural sweetener for which I am very thankful).

New Thing 157, New Thing Every Day: Try Vegan Nut Cheese

Well, so I am doing this diet that includes total abstention from dairy, so Leigh tried buying this fake cheese made from almonds. Earlier in the afternoon, I tried a forkful, and it was fine, but nothing I really cared to ever try again.Then, before dinner,  tried it with some raw baby carrots, and it was pretty tasty. I suspect I will grow to like it very much, and it will become a regular thing I eat.

New Thing 156, New Thing Every Day: Watch a Waitress Give My Friend Her Phone Number

I think I must be living a more sheltered life than I realized because this really is a New Thing for me. It was pretty funny, really. Leigh and I were ut to dinner with a friend and her college-age son. At one point, our waitress interjected herself into our conversation. Then, when we left, she gave our young dinner companion a message with her phone number, on a receipt. It was very cool.

New Thing 155, New Thing Every Day: Try Golden Kiss Melon

The Golden Kiss melon looks very much like a cantaloupe, but smaller and with ribs down the sides. I like cantaloupe, and Golden Kiss takes like an especially sweet, delicious version. I am definitely eating it more often, and really appreciate Leigh for getting it for me.

New Thing 154, New Thing Every Day: Start Following The Wahls Protocol, for MS

For years, I have refused to consider any kind of nutritional treatment for my MS, and pretty much everything else not prescribed by a physician. My position has always been that there might be value in looking for alternative treatments, but that I do not want to be one of those people who spends hours and hours thinking about what is wrong with me and trying to find ways to heal myself. Instead, I have just done whatever the doctors tell me and then have given it basically no additional thought.

Mostly, I think this is still the right approach for me, because that kind of thinking generally leads to nothing, and focusing on other things helps me keep my positive attitude, which I believe makes a big difference in my physical condition.

I finally took a look at The Wahls Protocol because at least one million people suggested I should.  have long believed that nutrition might make a difference for people with MS, so I was a little more open to it. Once I confirmed that the creator of the protocol recommends staying on MS medication until a physician recommends otherwise, I decided to give it a try. Also, I realized that the worst case scenario is that I will lose a lot of weight and be much healthier.

Here are the key elements of The Wahls Protocol.

• No gluten
• No dairy
• No processed sugar; dramatic reduction in all sugar
• Lots of fresh vegetables
• Plenty of protein

We shall see how it goes.

New Thing 153, New Thing Every Day: Have Brunch at Room 38

As we have seen, I have tried to eat at a few great places before embarking on what could be a lifetime of eating differently (and, at least many months of eating differently and much healthier). Today, Leigh and I decided to try brunch at Room 38, and it was such a good choice. I had Eggs Benedict with pulled pork and chipotle hollandaise sauce, with a side of fried potatoes that were as good as I have ever had. Leigh had a great breakfast burrito with a side of absolutely the best sweet potato fries I have ever eaten.

I definitely recommend the brunch at Room 38.

New Thing 152, New Thing Every Day: Trade Super-Gross Stories at a Wedding

[Warning -- Do not read further if you do not want to read something pretty gross. Seriously, if you are offended by anything you read here, it is your own fault and I don't want to hear about it. Smiley face!  : ) ]

I attended a wedding today, one of the nicest, more fun ones I have attended. For that reason, the day will always have a place in my memory.

It will also have a place in my memory because of the story someone shared with me. She just spent an incredible week in Mexico, everything one could want from a vacation. Sitting on the plane, heading home, she noticed a young woman just within her field of vision, vigorously picking her nose and eating it. She said it was like the scene of a horrible car wreck, where she just could not take her eyes off of what was happening. Finally, after a few minutes, the young woman realized she was being watched, immediately stopped, and tried to pretend like it had not happened.

As nasty as this story is, it reminded me of my own story, from just a few months ago. I was at a conference, waiting to speak to a group of 60 or so high school students about ethical behavior. As I sat and waited, watching students slowly meander in and find seats, a young girl came over and sat right by me and offered to keep me company while we waited to start.

The girl was obviously a kid with special needs, including an unusually low IQ. As we talked, maybe three minutes into the conversation, with maybe 10 minutes left to go until my presentation started, she started picking her nose aggressively, and eating it, sitting maybe three feet from me. I seriously wanted to dry heave, and was not sure how to deal with the situation in a way that the girl's feelings would be protected, and so that others in the room -- also just feet away -- would not know what was happening. The end result was that I got to spend the next ten minutes trying to keep my lunch down, while she basically ate hers, right in front of me. Thank goodness my presentation was about to start, and her back was to the audience.

Today was the first time I had ever traded stories like this at a wedding. Hopefully it was also the last.

New Thing 151, New Thing Every Day: Read Ronald Reagan's Big D-Day Speech

I am working through that list of "25 Speeches That Changed The World" and today's installment was excellent. I am not sure I agree that this was a world-changing speech, but it was awfully good. Reagan really was one of the great communicators of my lifetime.

Here is the speech -- http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/reagan-d-day.htm

Here is the list of "25 Speeches That Changed The World -- http://list25.com/25-speeches-that-changed-the-world/

New Thing 150, New Thing Every Day: Eat My Last Pizza for the Foreseeable Future, Maybe Forever

I am not one for diets. When I want to lose weight, I eat less, more healthily, and I exercise more. I have now decided, though, to start an official diet, one that I may stay on for the rest of my life, and that I will definitely be on for the next 18 months.

For maybe two years, I have been hearing about The Wahls Protocol, a diet designed to help people with MS, with the potential to actually reverse the progression of symptoms. The physician who figured it out actually used to be a wheelchair user (like me), and today she rides a bike.

Finally, I have looked at it, and it is not some kind of new age crap (no offense). Also, importantly, the program is supportive of doctors and the modern medical profession; it just thinks there is room for modern doctors to learn about the power of nutrition.

So I am going to try The Wahls Protocol, which basically eliminates everything that tastes good. I will do it for at least 18 months and will revisit from there. If it works, there will be a significant reversal of my symptoms; if it doesn't, then I will lose a bunch of weight and be in much better shape. Win. Win.