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	<title>Concepts in the Paradox &#187; reviews</title>
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		<title>Mental organics</title>
		<link>http://markballew.com/blog/2006/07/26/mental-organics/</link>
		<comments>http://markballew.com/blog/2006/07/26/mental-organics/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 27 Jul 2006 02:29:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>MarkBallew</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[cable car]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mark ballew]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[reading]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[shopping]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[urbanism]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[If there is any point in the day I look forward to the most, it is sitting in Snow Park beside Lake Merritt. After being cooped up in my noisy and stuffy cube-city of an office, picking up a book and sitting out there for an hour gives me a chance to find a different [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><IMG SRC="http://markballew.com/blog/usericons/joyoflife.png" align=left vspace=1 hspace=6>If there is any point in the day I look forward to the most, it is sitting in <A HREF="http://www.flickr.com/photos/echoman/172948359/">Snow Park</A> beside <A HREF="http://www.oaklandnet.com/parks/parks/lakemerritt.asp">Lake Merritt</A>. After being cooped up in my noisy and stuffy cube-city of an office, picking up a book and sitting out there for an hour gives me a chance to find a different head space. </p>
<p>My latest set of books are both by Dan Brown, which <A HREF="http://christaandclan.blogspot.com/">my older sister</A> graciously sent me. The first is the famed <A HREF="http://www.danbrown.com/novels/davinci_code/reviews.html">Da Vinci Code</A>, which I felt was at best luke warm. The character development is so so, and the plot is somewhat predictable. It is junk literature, but easy to pick up where I left off.</p>
<p>The next is <A HREF="http://www.danbrown.com/novels/deception_point/reviews.html">Deception Point</A>, which is much more to my liking. It has action, intrigue, mystery, and politics! It is still junk in my mind, but some times I run over my lunch break doing the whole &#8220;one more chapter!&#8221; scheme.</p>
<p>On the San Francisco side of the pond, I&#8217;ve found this great up and coming grocery delivery service called <A HREF="http://www.planetorganics.com/">Planet Organics</A>. The way it works if you go to their website and pick a weekly packet for delivery. I&#8217;m doing half veggies and half fruit, but I can have all fruit, all veggies, or some other sort of combo. In addition, I can have regular items added to my cart. They carry the same or similar product as <A HREF="http://www.traderjoes.com/">Trader Joes</A>, and have outstanding customer service.</p>
<p>Every Tuesday, I come home from work and shortly there after I get a phone call from my front door buzzer. I let the delivery person in, they come up to the 9th floor and drop off a reusable plastic and/or polystyrene bin, and my shopping for the week is done. As far as pricing, they require a minimum $32 order. They have sales, but everything is pretty much full retail. No delivery charge, but that is really just built into the price.</p>
<p>The quality of the fresh food is outstanding. I used to eat out most weeks, and with the  exception of going over to the <A HREF="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?o=1&#038;f=/chronicle/archive/2000/12/13/MNW121615.DTL">cable car turnaround</A> for some of <A HREF="http://www.yelp.com/biz/TaEMkOv70Yf8JsJjxMEZdg">Blondie&#8217;s pizza</A> now and then, I can make food at home and eat like a king. The veggies and fruit must be picked only a day before being dropped off, because they are more fresh than anything I&#8217;ve gotten at any store, including TJ&#8217;s. It all also goes bad come Tuesday, but then I just get restocked!</p>
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