Hiking after work is the best way to start the weekend. ;)
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Friday, April 27, 2007
10 things: asparagus
Hey y'all -- New 10 Things guest contribution zooming your way. This time from Liz Shuman. You might remember Liz -- I mentioned her just a few days ago -- from the 1000 Crane Project. Eshu.
She's really great. Go read. Go read. Go read.
She's really great. Go read. Go read. Go read.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
My Current Desktop on my Work Computer
I'm telling you. Mary Jane 2040. She hits 'em home all the time.
speekina the whole compound construction falling dramatically to pieces...
Roger Ebert is hands down my new hero. And with regards to the Sogyal Rinpoche quote below, Ebert's going to be ahead of the game, as he can already separate himself from his body. I wish I had more of that.
One more thing, too, about something else I wrote below. I wish my mouth stayed shut more often. Cuz isn't it right when you are so sad or hurt or frustrated that the most asshole-ish things come out of your mouth? That's my experience. Yesterday I had a 5-second lapse into asshole-ish-ness and man, that always makes me feel terrible afterwards. And probably the only person I hurt was myself. ENOUGH with the internal jib-jab fest already! :)
And one more one more thing... Alec Baldwin. I'm so out of touch with celebrity-news-a-thons that I didn't hear about the Baldwin thing until Monday. And you know what? The whole thing sucks. It sucks that he let his temper take over. It sucks that he verbally treats his daughter that way. It sucks that that tape was leaked. It sucks that the leakage of that tape just compounded the confusion of their relationship. It sucks that divorcing parents can suck it up and try freaking harder.
But it really sucks for that girl. Not just because her dad was verbally abusive (and I had a verbally abusive stepfather, so I know what I'm talking about), but because a whole lot of extra garbage just got thrown in on top of her. Having to choose sides between parents. Having to not let the other parent know who she's siding with. Having such embarrassments hung out for the whole world to see -- such humiliation. And maybe making this a bigger script in her life than it needed to be.
Good lord, who put the chatterbox pills into my finger's coffee? Someone. Please. Make the fingers stop typ
One more thing, too, about something else I wrote below. I wish my mouth stayed shut more often. Cuz isn't it right when you are so sad or hurt or frustrated that the most asshole-ish things come out of your mouth? That's my experience. Yesterday I had a 5-second lapse into asshole-ish-ness and man, that always makes me feel terrible afterwards. And probably the only person I hurt was myself. ENOUGH with the internal jib-jab fest already! :)
And one more one more thing... Alec Baldwin. I'm so out of touch with celebrity-news-a-thons that I didn't hear about the Baldwin thing until Monday. And you know what? The whole thing sucks. It sucks that he let his temper take over. It sucks that he verbally treats his daughter that way. It sucks that that tape was leaked. It sucks that the leakage of that tape just compounded the confusion of their relationship. It sucks that divorcing parents can suck it up and try freaking harder.
But it really sucks for that girl. Not just because her dad was verbally abusive (and I had a verbally abusive stepfather, so I know what I'm talking about), but because a whole lot of extra garbage just got thrown in on top of her. Having to choose sides between parents. Having to not let the other parent know who she's siding with. Having such embarrassments hung out for the whole world to see -- such humiliation. And maybe making this a bigger script in her life than it needed to be.
Good lord, who put the chatterbox pills into my finger's coffee? Someone. Please. Make the fingers stop typ
tomato dream
At present, our body is undoubtedly the center of our whole universe. We associate it, without thinking, with our self and our ego, and this thoughtless and false association continually reinforces our illusion of their inseparable, concrete existence. Because our body seems so convincingly to exist, our “I” seems to exist, and “you” seem to exist, and the entire illusory, dualistic world we never stop projecting around us looks ultimately solid and real.Sometimes I find Buddhism a little scary.
When we die, this whole compound construction falls dramatically to pieces.
— Sogyal Rinpoche
I've been struggling with something lately. That whole owning your feelings thing. Usually I am really really good about it. Too good. I'll own my feelings AND your feelings.
But that's because most of my feelings aren't sticky or riddled with anger or major hurt. A while back though, I did get hurt (not romantically; don't think that). And it's one of those things where I can't get any resolution. It's out of my hands. In other words, I'll have to resolve this on my own. And that is hard. I like things to end nice. And friendly.
So I try to own my feelings and not get sucked into the "you make me feel like this" trap. Because I make myself feel like that, right? Bottom line, though, is that I still feel like this. Not always. Just once in awhile. But when it strikes I feel really confused and my brain begins to run circles with "I wish I would have saids."
I try to remind myself that most times the best words are the ones that aren't spoken. And I try to remind myself that the best thing is to not add to anyone's confusion.
So, the confusion sits squarely with me. And I guess all I can do is trust time to do its job.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
In case I forget
» UPS Whiteboard Site
If you know me, you know I love whiteboards. Love. Lurve. Luff. Lub. Lub the whiteboards. So, it only makes sense that I love the UPS whiteboard ads. The link above is a cool (mostly -- at one point the navigation makes my teeth start splintering) subsite UPS has done all around their whiteboard ad campaigns. Mostly brilliant. Don't miss the ads.
If you know me, you know I love whiteboards. Love. Lurve. Luff. Lub. Lub the whiteboards. So, it only makes sense that I love the UPS whiteboard ads. The link above is a cool (mostly -- at one point the navigation makes my teeth start splintering) subsite UPS has done all around their whiteboard ad campaigns. Mostly brilliant. Don't miss the ads.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Monday Morning Link Line-up
(all links found via kottke)
» Listening to Words
First of all, I really love the title of this site because when it is run all togrther, as it is both in the URL and in the logo, it is listeningtowords which reminds me of listening towards. (Yes, this is how my mind works.)
Listening to Words is a lecture-share site. You can "find, listen, and discuss free lectures from around the web." Really smart. Definitely going into my del.icio.us.
(whoa. and just did that -- saved to delicious -- and did they change their interface? i hope not, but what i just saw was slightly irritating; i had to sign in (i'm always signed in) and my list of all tags to the right was gone. hrmmm).
» Big Box Watch
This is a map of the states with color-coded graphical pins to show you where the next Best Buy, Home Depot and Wal-Mart is going in.
Okay, to be fair, it also lists the new Ikeas and Targets. Here's the deal: I love Ikea and Target. Am I hypocrite to loathe big box stores but applaud when Ikea/Target get closer to my zip code? Probably.
» New Yorker: Adam Gropnik on the VT shootings
» Listening to Words
First of all, I really love the title of this site because when it is run all togrther, as it is both in the URL and in the logo, it is listeningtowords which reminds me of listening towards. (Yes, this is how my mind works.)
Listening to Words is a lecture-share site. You can "find, listen, and discuss free lectures from around the web." Really smart. Definitely going into my del.icio.us.
(whoa. and just did that -- saved to delicious -- and did they change their interface? i hope not, but what i just saw was slightly irritating; i had to sign in (i'm always signed in) and my list of all tags to the right was gone. hrmmm).
» Big Box Watch
This is a map of the states with color-coded graphical pins to show you where the next Best Buy, Home Depot and Wal-Mart is going in.
Okay, to be fair, it also lists the new Ikeas and Targets. Here's the deal: I love Ikea and Target. Am I hypocrite to loathe big box stores but applaud when Ikea/Target get closer to my zip code? Probably.
» New Yorker: Adam Gropnik on the VT shootings
Thursday, April 19, 2007
a-ok
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): "The important thing," said French naturalist
Charles DuBois, "is to be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become."
Did he really mean *at any moment*? Like while we're in a convenience store buying beer? While we're lying in bed ready for sleep and reviewing the events of the day? While we're adrift in apathetic melancholy, watching too much TV and neglecting our friends?
At ANY moment?!
I say yes. At all times and in all places, Virgo--especially this week--be ready to sacrifice what you are for what you could become.
— Rob Bresny
I can't tell you how much the above has been on my mind.
I really love this photo. It is really subtle and even caught me by surprise....a really sharp depth of focus. And prolly, because I'm familiar with buddhism, with rupas, with mudras, with this kind of accoutrement... it really hits home in an ahhhh lovely way.
But not so much with the flickr community, who didn't leave a single comment!
I've been on Flickr now for three years and have lived terms of being a newbie and old skool and popular and just trying to break in. Sometimes the weird "burden" of producing a "hit photo" has weighed on me no matter how hard I tried to say "nuh-uh no it doesn't." So there is a part of me that says, "okay. alright. no comments" and another part of me that kinda sorta quietly freaks out and thinks I better put up something else really quick.
No matter. I, personally, really like it. So I think I'm going to try to ride out the storm of needing to please and be constantly validated. :)
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Leadership
I can't wait to get my paws on the new Iacocca book, Where Have All the Leaders Gone? We (USA) really need a kick in the butt to what is going on around us. I've been hoping for a leader who could spearhead us moving into the right direction. I hope this book is part of a new American attitude.
Meanwhile, who's got it all wrong? Tom DeLay. Talk about needing a kick in the butt. A couple of weeks ago I heard him interviewed on NPR and something he said there has stuck in my craw leaving me with a bad taste and a real disappointment in the attitude of one of our national leaders.
When asked why he wouldn't take meetings with the Democrats DeLay said, "why would I want to meet with the enemy."
I seriously couldn't believe my ears.
We are in a sad state of affairs when our government leaders see people with differing view points as "the enemy."
But what really stuck in my mind is how spiritually bereft the comment is. DeLay is a born-again Christian. I guess I expect more love, respect, empathy, and compassion when somebody says they are a born-again Christian. Jesus taught love, my brothers, so get on board.
In Junior College I had a teacher lecture on Martin Buber one time. One time. And that one lecture has made a huge, indelible impression on me. I and thou. I and thou. I and thou.
Sometimes I think that's what's wrong with our country. We've become "us" and "them." Those guys. They did it. Them. Them. Them.
So often I think we really are all on the same side with the same concerns and basic human decency. But this "them" attitude keeps us afraid, isolated, and spiritually empty.
So to DeLay I want to send Iacocca's new book and a big wish for "I and thou."
Meanwhile, who's got it all wrong? Tom DeLay. Talk about needing a kick in the butt. A couple of weeks ago I heard him interviewed on NPR and something he said there has stuck in my craw leaving me with a bad taste and a real disappointment in the attitude of one of our national leaders.
When asked why he wouldn't take meetings with the Democrats DeLay said, "why would I want to meet with the enemy."
I seriously couldn't believe my ears.
We are in a sad state of affairs when our government leaders see people with differing view points as "the enemy."
But what really stuck in my mind is how spiritually bereft the comment is. DeLay is a born-again Christian. I guess I expect more love, respect, empathy, and compassion when somebody says they are a born-again Christian. Jesus taught love, my brothers, so get on board.
In Junior College I had a teacher lecture on Martin Buber one time. One time. And that one lecture has made a huge, indelible impression on me. I and thou. I and thou. I and thou.
Sometimes I think that's what's wrong with our country. We've become "us" and "them." Those guys. They did it. Them. Them. Them.
So often I think we really are all on the same side with the same concerns and basic human decency. But this "them" attitude keeps us afraid, isolated, and spiritually empty.
So to DeLay I want to send Iacocca's new book and a big wish for "I and thou."
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Two Fresh Air Interviews You Must Listen To
Don't miss these. I mean it.
» Elizabeth Warren on the Credit Card Industry
Elizabeth Warren is a professor at Harvard Law School, specializing in Bankruptcy and Contracts. Which means, Professor Warren knows a lot about Credit Card companies. She knows their games, their motives, their posturing, and their history. It took 80 of her students (3rd year students getting ready to graduate) over an hour to decipher just one "straight-forward" credit card contract.
Bottom line: We, Americans, need to wake up and become hawk-eyed when it comes to our credit card statements. We need to call and then call and then call again when unwarranted fees are charged and not removed. We need to check and recheck when our bill is due every month (they will arbitrarily change your date so that you become a day late in payment). We need to understand that they have all the power -- all of it -- when it comes to how we are charged and when they want to up our rates (basically, whenever they want). It is a crime how they are treating their customers. And we are blind sheep letting it happen. Do not miss this interview.
» Einstein: Relatively Speaking, a Complicated Life
Walter Isaacson discusses his new biography on Albert Einstein. He talks about his childhood, his personal challenges, his personal triumphs and his life attitudes. Even better he succinctly sums up Einstein's major theories in language that is easy to understand.
What I took away from this: One, understanding the theory of relativity a little more. Two, that success and achievement have little to do with following the socially accepted developmental path. Einstein was a terrible student. Couldn't get an academic job. Wasn't liked by his professors. Had tumultuous marriages. In so many ways he could have been judged a loser.
BUT. But but. He lived true to himself. He questioned everything. He followed his dreams and interests. And he wound up being the most influential scientist (or maybe person) in the 20th century.
I love that.
» Elizabeth Warren on the Credit Card Industry
Elizabeth Warren is a professor at Harvard Law School, specializing in Bankruptcy and Contracts. Which means, Professor Warren knows a lot about Credit Card companies. She knows their games, their motives, their posturing, and their history. It took 80 of her students (3rd year students getting ready to graduate) over an hour to decipher just one "straight-forward" credit card contract.
Bottom line: We, Americans, need to wake up and become hawk-eyed when it comes to our credit card statements. We need to call and then call and then call again when unwarranted fees are charged and not removed. We need to check and recheck when our bill is due every month (they will arbitrarily change your date so that you become a day late in payment). We need to understand that they have all the power -- all of it -- when it comes to how we are charged and when they want to up our rates (basically, whenever they want). It is a crime how they are treating their customers. And we are blind sheep letting it happen. Do not miss this interview.
» Einstein: Relatively Speaking, a Complicated Life
Walter Isaacson discusses his new biography on Albert Einstein. He talks about his childhood, his personal challenges, his personal triumphs and his life attitudes. Even better he succinctly sums up Einstein's major theories in language that is easy to understand.
What I took away from this: One, understanding the theory of relativity a little more. Two, that success and achievement have little to do with following the socially accepted developmental path. Einstein was a terrible student. Couldn't get an academic job. Wasn't liked by his professors. Had tumultuous marriages. In so many ways he could have been judged a loser.
BUT. But but. He lived true to himself. He questioned everything. He followed his dreams and interests. And he wound up being the most influential scientist (or maybe person) in the 20th century.
I love that.
would you like one?
Eshu (aka Liz) is a kind-hearted, light-hearted, awesome-photographer type soul who lives in Massachusets. She's been folding cranes. And she'll BE folding cranes because Eshu has decided to fold 1000 cranes and send them to anyone who wants one -- anywhere in the world.
I got my crane and he's a blue-flowered beauty (he's pictured in this photograph... the blue-and-white one towards the back-left). And I think you should get one, too! Even if you don't know Eshu. Even if you don't belong to Flickr. You can get one. She wants you to have one.
All you have to do is send an email (with your mailing address) to thepapercraneproject@gmail.com . Then, when you get it, take a photo of it and send the photo to Eshu, either through email or as a print.
Liz has about 350 people signed up, which means she still needs 650 crane-loving souls to fill out her 1000.
Sign up, sign up, sign up! :)
» See the Flickr Group for the project
» See the photos people have taken of the cranes they already received from Eshu
I got my crane and he's a blue-flowered beauty (he's pictured in this photograph... the blue-and-white one towards the back-left). And I think you should get one, too! Even if you don't know Eshu. Even if you don't belong to Flickr. You can get one. She wants you to have one.
All you have to do is send an email (with your mailing address) to thepapercraneproject@gmail.com . Then, when you get it, take a photo of it and send the photo to Eshu, either through email or as a print.
Liz has about 350 people signed up, which means she still needs 650 crane-loving souls to fill out her 1000.
Sign up, sign up, sign up! :)
» See the Flickr Group for the project
» See the photos people have taken of the cranes they already received from Eshu
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
starfish abandoned by neglectful ocean
"There are rough as well as gentle waves in the ocean; strong emotions come, like anger, desire, jealousy. The real practitioner recognizes them not as a disturbance or an obstacle but as a great opportunity. The fact that you react to arisings such as these with habitual tendencies of attachment and aversion is a sign not only that you are distracted but that you do not have the recognition and have lost the ground of Rigpa. To react to emotions in this way empowers them and binds you even tighter in the chains of delusion.
"The great secret of Dzogchen is to see right through them, as soon as they arise, to what they really are: the vivid and electric manifestation of the energy of Rigpa itself. As you gradually learn to do this, even the most turbulent emotions fail to seize hold of you and instead dissolve, as wild waves rise and rear and sink back into the calm of the ocean."
— Sogyal Rinpoche
"The great secret of Dzogchen is to see right through them, as soon as they arise, to what they really are: the vivid and electric manifestation of the energy of Rigpa itself. As you gradually learn to do this, even the most turbulent emotions fail to seize hold of you and instead dissolve, as wild waves rise and rear and sink back into the calm of the ocean."
— Sogyal Rinpoche
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Oh Happy Easter!....
This is an antidote to the previous photo.
This photo knocks my freaking socks off like nothing else.
I mean it would knock my socks off, if I were to ever choose to wear socks.
So in my world of imaginary sock-wearing, this photo knocks them right off!
This photo knocks my freaking socks off like nothing else.
I mean it would knock my socks off, if I were to ever choose to wear socks.
So in my world of imaginary sock-wearing, this photo knocks them right off!
Friday, April 06, 2007
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Scotland, 17.03.2007
I can't get enough of this photo. I love the colors. The landscape. The mood. And if the photo had only the girl or only the horse, I think it would still work. BUT, the combination of the two... kills me. The is one of those photos that somehow gets me both in the heart and the gut. It's brilliant. There should be a storybook written around it.
Some more of Palko's cool Scottish photos:
Some more of Palko's cool Scottish photos:
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
... Accordian Garp
Sometime, somewhere you need to take something to be the truth. But if you cling to it too strongly, then even when the truth comes in person and knocks on your door, you will not open it.
— Buddha
Ain't that the truth.
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