Thursday, January 5, 2012

Ruminations on a Holiday ...

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Now with the trifecta of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years over and as the stores stock up on Valentines Day goodies, it's time to take a look back at the past holiday season...

A good thing about being kinda of "meh" this Christmas and only (barely) getting the tree up : not having to take down the outside lights this year & having the HOA send you a nasty letter because you forgot a string ...

It olny took me an hour to get the house back into pre-holiday shape...

With no party invites , we got to spend a quiet New Years at home avoiding the crowds and the DUI's...

New Years resolutions are being kept simple this year : 

1) Learn to tie a bow tie

2) Get to the gym

3) Eat better 

4) Avoid the gym like the plague this week until the "resolution people" give up in desparation of not looking like a magazine cover-model after a whole week of working out  ...   

... that last one is kinda snarky , but when you usually workout at 11pm and still have to wait for machines whilst a group of pe.ople sit on them and text ... well , it's a nice time to take a week off !

5) Try to get better at blogging :  I've started my Daily Tao postings again, it's a nice way for me to start my day.

I really need to get a little more personal in my postings -  I read other blogs and feel that I don't really let people in to my life.

6) Learn how to do HDR photography ( and in turn take more pictures ) ... I really wish I could take a class or two but with my work schedule, it's almost impossible.

7) Wish everyone a very Safe & Happy New Year !

 

 

 

Daily Tao / 5 - Sound

 

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SOUND

 

Wind in the cave :
Movement in stillness.
Power in silence.

In a cave, all outer sounds are smothered by rock and earth, but this makes the sounds of one's own heartbeat and breath audible. In the same way, contemplative stillness turns us away from everyday clamor but allows us to hear the subtle in our own lives.

When listening not with the ear but with the spirit, one can perceive the subtle sound. By entering into that sound, we enter into supreme purity. That is why so many religious traditions pray, sing, or chant as a prelude to silence. They understand that the repetition and absorption of sound leads to sacredness itself.

The deepest sound is silence. This may seem paradoxical only if we regard silence as an absence of life and vibration. But for a meditator, silence is sound unified with all of its opposites. It is both sound and soundlessness, and it is in this confluence that the power of meditation emerges.

 

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Daily Tao / 4 - Reflection

 

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REFLECTION

 

Moon above water.
Sit in solitude.

If waters are placid, the moon will be mirrored perfectly. If we still ourselves, we can mirror the divine perfectly. But if we engage solely in the frenetic activities of our daily involvements, if we seek to impose our own schemes on the natural order, and if we allow ourselves to become absorbed in self-centered views, the surface of our waters becomes turbulent. Then we cannot be receptive to Tao.

There is no effort that we can make to still ourselves. True stillness comes naturally from moments of solitude where we allow our minds to settle. Just as water seeks its own level, the mind will gravitate toward the holy. Muddy water will become clear if allowed to stand undisturbed, and so too will the mind become clear if it is allowed to be still.

Neither the water nor the moon make any effort to achieve a reflection. In the same way, meditation will be natural and immediate.

 

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Daily Tao / 3 - Devotion

Golden

DEVOTION

Make the crooked straight,
Make the straight to flow.
Gather water, fire, and light.
Bring the world to a single point.

If we have devotion -- total faith and commitment to our spiritual path -- our determination will naturally build momentum. Fewer and fewer obstructions will come before us. Our path becomes like a crooked one made straight. No matter what tries to keep us from our purpose, we will not be deterred.

Proper devotion lies not simply in a headlong course. It also requires fortitude. Our bodies, our hearts, and our spirits must be totally concentrated upon what we want. Only by uniting all our inner elements can we have full devotion.

If we see our path clearly and our personalities are completely unified, then there is no distinction between the outer world and the inner one. Nothing is faraway anymore, nothing is not open to us. That is why it is said that the world is like a single point : So strong is devotion that there is nothing that is not a part of it.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Daily Tao / 2 - Ablution

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ABLUTION

Washing at dawn:
Rinse away dreams.
Protect the gods within,
And clarify the inner spirit.

Purification starts all practice. First comes cleansing of the body -- not to deny the body, but so that it is refined. Once cleansed, it can help us sense the divine.

Rinsing away dreams is a way of saying that we must not only dispel the illusions and anxieties of our sleeping moments but those of our waking ones as well. All life is a dream, not because it isn't there, but because we all project different meanings upon it. We must cleanse away this habit.

While cleansing, we naturally look within. It is believed that there are 36,000 gods and goddesses in the body. If we continually eat bad foods, intoxicate ourselves, allow filth to accumulate anywhere outside or inside of ourselves, then these gods abandon us in disgust.

Yet our concerns must ultimately go beyond these deities in the temples of our bodies to the universal One. After we clear away the obscuring layers of dirt, bodily problems, and delusions, we must be prepared even to clear away the gods themselves so that we can reach the inner One.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Tao - Beginning

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BEGINNING

This is the moment of embarking.
All auspicious signs are in place.

In the beginning, all things are hopeful. We prepare ourselves to start anew. Though we may be intent on the magnificent journey ahead, all things are contained in this first moment : our optimism, our faith, our resolution, our innocence.

In order to start, we must make a decision. This decision is a commitment to daily self-cultivation. We must make a strong connection to our inner selves. Outside matters are superfluous. Alone and naked, we negotiate all of life's travails. Therefore, we alone must make something of ourselves, transforming ourselves into the instruments for experiencing the deepest spiritual essence of life.

Once we make our decision, all things will come to us. Auspicious signs are not a superstition, but a confirmation. They are a response. It is said that if one chooses to pray to a rock with enough devotion, even that rock will come alive. In the same way, once we choose to commit ourselves to spiritual practice, even the mountains and valleys will reverberate to the sound of our purpose.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Retro Saturday ( Holiday version ) 3.0

well , only if last year is considered retro - I just really love Annie Lennox & this version of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen off of her 2010 Christmas album A Christmas Cornucopia ...

 

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Retro Saturday ( Holiday Version ) 2.0

Sherman , set WABAC machine .....

For this post , I 'm going waaaay back to the late 60's / early 70's. Or as I like to call it, my childhood.

    Christmas was always a magical time for me ( in my mind ) . I loved everything about it. The tree, the lights, seeing Santa on almost every corner. I loved going with my parents to pick out the tree from one of the lots that would spring up around Denver. Then I'd get to help my Dad saw off the bottom of the trunk ( always making sure that it was as level as we could get it so it would stand up straight ). Filling up the stand with water, then watching my Dad string up the lights. That was his job, no one else could do it. Just like it was Mom's job to put the tinsel on the tree after all the decorating was done. That was a job that was much too important to relegate to a 7year old.

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I'm sure some of you remember tinsel. The stuff we had was heavy lead-laden foil that Mom would put on strand by strand and then take off again after Christmas, making sure to keep it nice and neat for the following year. It was a Christmas staple in most homes up through the early 70's, when they banned all lead-based products ( poisonous you know ) and went to flimsy mylar-type stuff.  Mom hated it. 

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Well every year after we got the tree, my Dad would go to the Firestone tire store & the Goodyear tire store. Because , you see, every year you could  pick up a free album of Christmas songs by popular artists. People like Julie Andrews , the Morman Tabernacle Choir, Percy Faith.  It makes you laugh now but this was one of the highlights during the holidays. Then we'd get to listen to the albums on our coffin sized stereo hi-fi system as we decorated.

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One song that's always stuck with me to this day was a little-known song by Bing Crosby.  Not actually a Christmas Carol , but it had the sleigh bells for backround rythm and a bouncy melody, and I think ( in my 7 year old mind ) it gave me an idealized version of what Christmas/Winter would/should be ...

Anyhow - I've always loved Bing Crosby, I watch Holiday Inn & White Christmas every year instead of that sappy thing with Jimmy Stewart.

So for my retro Saturday - Bing Crosby & The White World of Winter ....

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01_The_White_World_Of_Winter.mp3 Listen on Posterous

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

La Fée Verte ...

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Last night I had the pleasure of introducing my roommates to Absinthe . It was fun to watch their expression as the water dripped down onto the the sugar then into the shot of Absinthe, turning the light green/yellow Absinthe to a milky green ( the technical term is la louche ). 

It was also fun to watch them go from " that tiny shot of booze mixed with water can't be that bad " to being kicked back on the sofa saying it was one of the best "mellows" that they'd had in a long time...

 ...  aahhh , la fée verte strikes again. Two more souls now firmly in her grasp .

 

 

Sunday, December 11, 2011

One step forward ...

Lowbackpain
After months of procrastination I finally got my butt back to the gym. Everything was going great, my weights were decent, I felt teriffic.

There was a bounce in my step as I started my "back" day. Dumbbell rows completed I walked over to the squat rack to start barbell rows. 

Two sets in everything was hunky-dory, I grabbed two 10 pound plates , slid them onto the bar, got in position. Hands on the bar I lifted it off the rack and the next thing I knew I was on the ground, sharp pain shooting through my body.  

I guess I must've twisted just enough getting the bar off the rack that my lower back decided it wasn't having any of it. I spent the next two days in bed taking percocet and trying to stretch out muscles. 

I'm mobile now ( although I remind myself of my grandfather - and my father on his really bad days). My Dr. said it'll take a bit to heal, so no weights for a couple of weeks, but I can work on my cardio until then. So I guess the treadmill will be my new best friend !

Saturday, December 10, 2011

The Onion Week in Review -

Retro Saturday ( holiday version )

yeah - i've been lazy ....

Back to Retro Saturday - 

One of the first holiday cd's I remember buying was A Very Special Christmas. I thought it was "cool" that all of these modern artists would put their own twist on pretty staid Christmas standards. 

I've always had a particular fond spot for Madonna's "Santa Baby", I've thought that she she delivered a fun cross of Eartha Kitt/Betty Boop ....

 

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Student arrested for burping, lawsuit claims -

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The lawsuit alleges the boy was transported to the juvenile center without his parents being notified. It also says he was denied his due process rights because he was suspended for the rest of that school year without "providing him an explanation of the evidence the school claimed to have against him." He was not allowed to call witnesses or defend himself against the burping allegation.

The boy was never charged. He scored a - 2 on a scale of 1 to 10 according to a risk assessment given by the jail staff, 10 being extremely dangerous.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Untitled

Movember ...

yeah - I've been gone for a while , but that's a subject for another post later .....

It's now Movember, that time of the year to focus on men's health. Specifically prostrate cancer. Grow a moustache, get donations, raise awareness : 

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I'll be posting my (first) attempt to grow a 'mo & would appricate any donations that y'all can spare - http://mobro.co/ScootrMonkey

 

 

 

MOVEMBER – THE MONTH FOR MEN’S HEALTH

 

Moustache Season is finally upon us and just in time for Mo Bros everywhere to get their annual health check up. Lets face the facts, most men are known to be more indifferent towards their health, and studies suggest that 24% of men are less likely to go to the doctor compared to women. Maintaining a good diet, smart lifestyle choices, and getting regular medical check-ups and screening tests can dramatically influence your health. Regardless of age or background, stay on top of your health by following these very important steps: 

HAVE AN ANNUAL PHYSICAL
Find a doctor and make a yearly appointment each Movember for a general health check.  Getting annual checkups, preventative screening tests, and immunizations are among the most important things you can do to stay healthy. By regularly visiting your doctor, you can greatly minimize your risk level for a number of conditions, from high blood pressure to diabetes to cancer. What better way could there be to celebrate Movember than calling your doctor to schedule a check-up?

KNOW YOUR FAMILY HEALTH HISTORY
Start a discussion with your relatives about health issues that have affected your family. Men with a family history of prostate cancer are twice as likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer, so know your family history.

DON’T SMOKE! 
If you do smoke, stop! Compared to non-smokers, men who smoke are about 23 times more likely to develop lung cancer.  Smoking causes about 90% of lung cancer death in men.

BE PHYSICALLY ACTIVE
If you are not already doing some form of exercise, start small and work up to a minimum of 30 minutes of moderate physical activity most days of the week. If you're already there, set your sights on 60-minute days. 

EAT A HEART HEALTHY DIET 
Fill up with fruits, vegetables, whole grains; include lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, and nuts; and eat foods low in saturated fats, trans-fats, cholesterol, salt (sodium), and added sugars.

STAY AT A HEALTHY WEIGHT
Balance calories from foods and beverages with calories you burn off by physical activities. Over two-thirds of U.S. adults are overweight or obese! The USDA and leading cancer researchers suggest that we all fill up on vegetables, fruit, and whole grains, and choose lean proteins like fish and legumes over fatty ones like red meat. Evidence suggests that about a third of the 571,950 cancer deaths expected to occur will be related to obesity, physical inactivity, poor nutrition and thus could be prevented.

MANAGE YOUR STRESS
Stress, particularly long-term stress, can be the factor in the onset or worsening of ill health. Managing your stress is essential to your health & well being should be practiced daily.

DRINK ALCOHOL IN MODERATION
Alcohol can be part of a healthy balanced diet, but only if it’s in moderation, which means no more than a few, drinks a day. A standard drink is one 12-ounce bottle of beer or wine cooler, one 5-ounce glass of wine, or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof distilled spirits. Alcohol consumption is ok, but should be kept to no more than two drinks per day for men, and one for women.

 

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Remembering Bandit ...

my first attempt at a video ... saying goodbye to a friend :

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Oh, Mickey you're so pretty ...

Retro Saturday

After the sadness of the last two days,  I decided that I would put up something fun for today's video :

Mickey 

 

 

enjoy !