spacemonk

just finished my first commencement as faculty - first time in 20 yrs wearing cap and gown - felt like yelling out "science" like the guy in the thomas dolby video...

iron chef featured a vegetarian buddhist monk as the challenger. the theme ingredient was yams. the monk made all vegetarian dishes. having a theme ingredient which was not wriggling around was a welcome reprieve, even, i imagine, for meat eaters.

bbc6 is featuring 1979 on their flashback (hence the previously sited joni tune) now they are on to zappa's DANCIN' FOOL - must be trying to cheer me up

out of the blue on bbc6 - it's the undeniable sound of jaco - from joni's mingus album - suddenly i feel real sad...

speech recognition - take 2 - after another training session

Speech recognition: on help the weather is nice liking goes skating this week and
What I said: I hope the weather is nice so I can go skating this weekend

Speech recognition: I had a delightful sandwich for lunch
What I said: I had a delightful sandwich for lunch

Speech recognition: I may and Biden a bearer to this evening
What I said: I may imbibe in a beer or two this evening.

Speech recognition: a must leave for class M.
What I said: I must leave for class soon

Speech recognition: top topper now
What I said: tata for now

bought a $9.99 microphone from best buy. they tried to sell me a $4.99 service contract on it!

i got a microphone and have been playing with microsoft office xp speech recognition. i have gone thru one training session and here are the results:

Speech recognition: I'm the weather's nice liking goes skating this week and
What I said: I hope the weather is nice so I can go skating this weekend

Speech recognition: I had a delightful sandwich for lunch
What I said: I had a delightful sandwich for lunch

Speech recognition:I may imbibing in a beer or to receive main
What I said: I may imbibe in a beer or two this evening.

Speech recognition: I must leave the plan soon
What I said: I must leave for class soon

Speech recognition: at topper now
What I said: tata for now

See Star Wars - A New Hope, like you've never seen it before!


1. Click the Start menu
2. Select Run
3. Then type telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl

thanks to dan

happy purnima

i am going to start using bks iyendar's light on yoga more in my daily practice. i have had the book for a while and read thru it, but i think it will be very beneficial to use it to drive my practice. there are quite a few sequences at the end of it - a multiple week course plus sequences for different ailments. i think this will help me approach my practice more systematically rather than going on the mat and winging it - though seesions like that are cool too, once in a while...

hmm - perhaps i spoke too soon as the m-w toolbar does not want to install...
oh, never mind, there it is, it and the google tool bar are having a turf war...

here is merriam-webster's toolbar
best browser add-on since the google toolbar

found a way to promote your site: blogsnob

fun!

visit my new blog word du jour

joke of the day: death walks in a pub. bartender looks at death and says: "you look like keith richards warmed over."

well, after a delightful critter free dinner of grilled portabellos, corn, bread and salad - i debated how to enjoy my new found freedom (semester nearly over). thought about skating or biking, ended up taking the kids to the park, where they played uproariously and i did nothing but sit on my ass, enjoy the sun and cool breeze, watch the kids play, and, oh yes, occasionally scratch my beard.

i see the light at the end of the tunnel!

happy 50th birthday

"so hip, it hurts" - clare mcdonnell (bbc presenter)

why yoga

i've sometimes thought, if it is true what i've always thought, that the main purpose of yoga is to make you more mindful, more in touch with the present, then why can't one practice those qualities within the context of any activity - skating, bicycling, stamp collecting. well, i think you can and should practice those qualities in all aspects of your life. but i feel yoga is particularly well-suited for cultivating those qualities. why? first of all, it is simple. really all you need is your body and your breathe - sure you can use some simple props as well, but those aren't really required. secondly, it is deceptively complex. a pose like tadasana is not "hard" to learn, but to really accomplish all the subtle actions forces one to focus and become aware of one's body. lastly, the endless variations - poses grow in complexity and force even a greater awareness to accomplish - this cultivates the quality of awareness so it can be brought into all aspects of your life. you will not run out of poses - there is plenty of variety.

yoga is good for other reasons as well - there are physical and mental benefits. it also brings a body awareness that is helpful - both in a physical sense and in a psychological way.

cool site!

two truths and a lie! pick which of the following is not true...
1. I consider Bulgarian kaval player Theodossii Spassov a brilliant musician.
2. I am still annoyed because I lost a spelling bee in grade school because a nun pronounced the word "advertisement" in a non-standard way.
3. I find the smell of meat on a grill nauseating.

make one of your own!

i have added a place for comments about each post! wow, that was easy! anyone interested in adding comments to their site should go to yaccs

if steven tyler's got milk? ad isn't the scariest thing you've seen in your life, i'd like to know what is. (and, shudder, i've seen this photo ON A BILLBOARD!!!) i never drank milk even before i stopped eating meat - this sure as hell won't convince me to start...

hey, aerosmith still kicks ass and all, but please check out this site for an opposing viewpoint on milk. although i still consume dairy products, i am working at reducing them in my own diet.

after a very nice mother's day brunch, the weather finally paused between rain showers to allow me a skate. went a moderate distance - not too fast, not too slow - really focusing on form, treating it like an asana. being more active and outdoors has become so critical to my physical and mental well being, that i start getting antsy when circumstances like the weather keep me from skating.

i realized a while ago that i am a creature of habit - perhaps most people are. for me, i found that pursuing a healthier lifestyle (physically and mentally) was mainly an issue of switching habits - trading less healthful habits for more healthful ones - and seeking balance - reading, listening to music, surfing the internet are not unhealthy per se, but it is healthier to replace some of the time in sedentary pursuits with more active hobbies. i have also found as i get healthier, the healthier i want to become - still again, balance is the key - no harm in vegging out in front of the tv with a bag of chips once in a while. however, it is clear to me, that i definitely get into cycles - either positively or negatively - i.e. the more i am active, the more i want to be active - or the more i lay around, the more i want to lay around...

completely poopy weather in my neck of the woods (unless you're a duck) - and it's harshing my mellow...

here is helpful link if anyone wants to verify my assessment of tristan gale

i practice iyengar yoga. it is a style known for it's intense attention to proper alignment and the therapeutic aspects of yoga. one of bks iyengar's innovations was the usage of props (straps, blocks, blankets, etc) which a practioner can use to do a pose which the practioner could not otherwise do. for example, in a simple forward bend (uttanasana) , if one's hands do not reach the ground, one could use a block and bring one's hands to the block. there are countless ways which the various props can be used and part of a good teacher's role is to show people how poses can be modified using props. when i first started practicing yoga again (fall 1999), being very inflexible, i loved the props and used them frequently. props were my friend. as the flexibility came, i began to, use them less and less - being prideful in thinking - hey, look at me - i don't need them any more. however, as my teacher and other teachers i have worked with have pointed out, the point of yoga - esp. in the iyengar method, is not merely to "do" the pose - but to do it with proper alignment - i.e. in trikonasana, one might be able to get one's hand to the floor, but if that comes at the expense of the integrity of the pose - i.e. if one collapses forward, etc. - then one is better off using the props. so i have started using them a lot more - letting go of my ego (an important lesson yoga can help teach) and really going after perfect (well, as close as i can get) alignment - rather than being goal oriented (i.e. the hand will reach the ground come hell or high water). attention to effort without attachment to results, in other word, as is taught in the bhagavad gita

changed plans a bit, rented OCEAN'S 11, but the tape was damaged. blockbuster had no more copies, so went back to plan A and got O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? - must have been my fate to see that movie today. gets better everytime...

i think the idea of nostalgia is that one realizes that, in the past, one was not truly present - and therefore have missed much of one's life. nostalgia might be an attempt to "get back" some of the life one missed by not being aware. the trap, of course, is that by trying to do this, one is not being present now either - and therefore in the future will be again trying to desperately trying to recreate what one has missed.