Tuesday was CSA pickup day, and this was this week's harvest:

I also had some very ripe apricots in the fridge so started to think of a way to combine some of that produce with the apricots in a meal.

I enjoy running.

One of the things I like the most about running is the fact it can be done anywhere and there is no need for fancy equipment. Sure there is a whole industry devoted to running and you can easily spend a lot of money on good running shoes, clothing & supplements. But running is very doable without buying any expensive gear.

The basic notion that moving forward will get you where you want to go can be really empowering and motivating, it can be applied to many goals we set for ourselves.

The other day I was running on a trail that had a few significant hills. Running up hills can be very challenging, especially for beginners.

As I approached one of those big steep hills, I started to think about how important it is to look up hill, assess it and get mentally prepared to go up.

But at the same time looking up is important to be aware of what to expect, keep focusing only on that big picture can be way daunting and can mess up the motivation to continue moving.

After looking up hill for a moment, I turned my gaze to the ground right in front of me and focused on that part, forgetting the whole scale of the hill for a bit. The daunting felling was slowly replaced with a calming sensation. The ground right in front of me looked flat and approachable.

I proceeded focusing on the ground immediately ahead of me and when I looked up a few minutes later, I was almost at the top of the hill.

That moment made me think about the times we give up trying to accomplish something, mainly because we feel anxious and have to deal with unnecessary stress as we keep focusing only on the challenging big picture instead of focusing on each smaller step that will eventually get us to the finish line.

So many ingredients.. so many possibilities..

Ginger definitely makes its way into smoothies and drinks but parsley not so much.

Here's a refreshing combo I made today. I started to blend without any water and then ended up adding ¼ cup of water because there wasn't enough liquid without it.

This week I got this giant fennel in my CSA box.

If you're not familiar with CSAs (Community supported agriculture), you purchase a share of a local farmer's produce, usually pay for the season upfront, and weekly or biweekly you receive or pick up a box with seasonal items. It's an interesting process where you need to use your creativity to cook your meals based on what you get in your box.

This week is being the perfect example of having to get creative to cook with an unusual ingredient to me: fennel! And not only I had never even bought fennel, this one came with this huge green part which I thought would be a crime to just throw away, even though at first I had no idea what to do with it. It's crazy to think how much edible and nutritious produce is discarded and tossed every single day, like carrot greens and beet greens for example.

Yesterday I made some savory pancakes and mixed some of the fennel greens in the pancake dough, it was a great addition! I could have used more, but since this was the first time cooking with fennel greens, I didn't want to risk ruining my meal by using too much.

This week I heard about the Elrond Network for the first time and was very intrigued as I read about it and watched some videos.

From their website:

What is Elrond?

Elrond is a distributed transactional computation protocol which relies on a sharded state architecture and a secure Proof of Stake consensus mechanism. While most other blockchain networks require custom hardware and high energy consumption, Elrond runs on average computers.

By employing sharding, a method of parallelizing data & transactions processing, Elrond’s performance will scale up with the number of computers joining the network, reaching more than 100.000 transactions per second while growing increasingly decentralized.

Why is Elrond different?

The Elrond network is the first to present a viable solution where all the three aspects of sharding – state, network and transactions – have been implemented at once. Combined with its “Adaptive” component, this novel architecture allows for dynamic network configuration to maintain a high level of security while scaling with demand.

In addition to scaling through sharding, Elrond also approaches the consensus problem with a mechanism called Secure Proof of Stake, which mitigates potential attack vectors when compared to Proof of Work, while also enabling large throughput and fast execution.

By solving some of the hardest consensus and sharding problems in the blockchain space, Elrond is able to provide a very high level of performance on a network made of inexpensive computers, resulting in a very low cost per transaction. In addition to performance and cost, Elrond also stands out through the quality of the developer experience and the resulting boost in usability on the end-user side.

In this interview by Scott Melker, the CEO of Elrond, Beniamin Mincu, explains in detail what the project is about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HE1J7fwD9c&feature=youtu.be

On the interview, Beniamin shares his thoughts about ETH, saying ETH has never had a definitive and clear spec, he says it's like you're driving a fast and interesting car but then you're trying to change the engine while the car is moving.

https://twitter.com/beniaminmincu/status/1282792805656600578?s=20

If you are interested in learning more, visit their website:

https://elrond.com/

Their onepager:

The Elrond mainnet launch is scheduled for July 30 and looks like the date proximity is having its effect on the ERD token value:

ERD is not available for purchase in the US yet, so in the meantime I will keep doing my research, please do yours as well!

Cintia

The information and images on this article are from the Elrond website and the price chart is from CoinMarketCap.

There are two varieties of corn: yellow corn and sweet corn, one is perfectly suitable for eating raw but the other isn't.

My mind has been all over the place in the last few days...

I have been working from home since March 15 when all places started to close down because of the pandemic. Before that, I already used to work from home a couple days per week, so my adaptation wasn't too difficult, the hardest part was to adapt to not seeing anyone in person 100% of the time.

Our office building is going to be renovated and regardless of the covid situation, we will not be going back to the office until February/21 and are having to pack our belongings so the renovation can be done. Each day, a group of 4 people are allowed in the office and have that day to pack everything. My scheduled day was last week, July 2, right before the holiday, and that was the first time since March 15 that I drove to work again.

The time it takes me to commute to work varies a lot depending on traffic, it can take from 40 minutes to a bit over an hour. This is one of the reasons I already worked from home a couple times per week before the pandemic, to save time.

Before leaving home to go to the office last week, my mind was operating under the new reality: I'm leaving the house, need masks and wipes.

A few minutes into my drive, as I progressed down the highway to work and the familiar landmarks started to appear ahead of me, the new reality was forgotten and I felt this strange sensation as if I had just woken up from a very, very, very long weird and bizarre nightmare about some bad virus and was back to my old routine: I'm driving to work, soon I will be in the office saying hi to my coworkers. Do I have any meetings today? I got lost in work thoughts, forgot about the pandemic and it was like it had never happened.

Traffic was really light so I was almost at the office within the 40 minute time. As I drove through the local streets approaching the office, I started to see pedestrians wearing masks and was immediately thrown back into reality. My mind shifts again: Remember to grab the mask and the wipes before getting out of the car.

I walked into my office. It was silent. There were piles of cardboard boxes, bubble wrap, tape, all kinds of packing supplies. It felt foreign, it felt unwelcoming, it felt weird.

I ran into my other teammates that were also scheduled to be there, their familiar faces hidden behind the masks, we all looked different, with unkept, untrimmed hair. Are you guys really the folks I used to work with?? It felt unfamiliar, it felt different.

I spent 6 hours in the office, working non stop, taking some things to my car to bring home, boxing other things to leave there, getting rid of what I hadn't used in a while. It felt exhausting, it felt overwhelming, it felt difficult.

Before leaving, I stared at my soon to be renovated cubicle and wondered if we will ever feel safe anywhere in public again. It was time to leave and close that chapter. It felt confusing.

I drove back home trying to process my day, but it was “unprocessable”. My frame of reference of the last 17 years is being replaced by the new reality post covid and the need to pack for the construction gave me a weird sensation of never going back again. That could actually happen since we are working remotely and being very productive, but I think I wasn't ready to face the physical detachment yet, I wasn't ready to see that for real in front of my eyes yet.

I'm sure everyone can somehow relate to this experience, not necessarily a work experience, but we are all having to constantly readapt to this new reality we are being presented each day. Changes can be very welcoming, new beginnings, new experiences, but what makes this change very delicate and complicated is the uncertainty ahead of us all.

There is a lot we can't control right now, but one thing we can definitely control is the time we reserve to do something positive each day, something that brings us joy and allows our minds to disconnect a bit. Even if just for a few minutes.

Cooking Therapy is one of my favorite forms of relaxation and in the middle of all this chaos it has been a lifesaver, but besides that, I've been very open to trying new things lately.

Last month, Nick put together a guitar lesson for Niels and posted it on Cinnamon. Niels took the lesson and posted this video showing his progress and added the tag “MagicTrick”. Cinnamon is running the Magic Trick challenge this month. I was super inspired by Niels and the whole Magic Trick concept, what could be more magical during these crazy times of social distancing than learning a new skill this way?

So I decided to try the lesson too!

And this is my first ever guitar video! I sure have a looong way to go ahead of me, but I was super excited to produce some sound that resembled a real song!

PS: I need a haircut really bad!!

https://www.cinnamon.video/watch?v=352996121582241703&c=353037465742739403

Nick has already followed up with a second lesson about rhythm and I've been practicing a bit each day!

I hope everyone is being able to find lots of magic tricks, little ones, big ones, but enough to keep you sane and strong during these crazy times!

Cintia