spacemonk

hmmm - slight changes of plans and crappy weather along with an unexpectedly early finish to my homework is allowing me to work on some flash development for some lab simulations. to quote debbie harry "flash is bad; flash is cool" although she was speaking of another, at least equally cool and bad flash...

ok - tahini on a bagel was good - kinda tasted like a mutant peanut butter. had it on a 9 grain bagel which was adjacent to one of them "everything on it" bagels ( a concept which shouldn't work, but does (what was that, mmm, a poppy seed, now what garlic, hey, isn't that a sesame seed)) - therefore a bit hard to tell what was what due to cross-bagel contamination (in extreme cases, a careful bagel clerk will bag separately), but on the whole was very delish.

at david's suggestion will try to search around for a tahinin salad dressing recipe - already found one that looks yummy

finished my assignment - relatively painless

got a jar of tahini - what can you do with it other than make hummus? i read it's a bit strong to just put on bread or bagels as a spread, but i'm feeling a bit saucy this AM now that i am done with my homework, so perhaps i'll give it a try. i'll be sure to post the results - but in the meantime any yummy suggestions will be appreciated...

me and my wife were joking about how you can use the receipts of your purchases to kind of tell the story of your life. i was thinking about what we have purchased over the last few days and a careful reading would allow you to piece together a story as accurate as any weblog. example:

thurs: kids cold medicine, six pack of coors
interpretation: kids under the weather, dad done with work week and wants to unwind and watch survivor

fri: cheese pizza delivered
interpretation: mom and dad worked, quick dinner needed

fri: dvd rental iron monkey (awesome flick btw)
interpretation: mom going out bowling, dad has to stay home

kinda spooky, isn't it...

1. Were you raised in a particular religious faith?
yes, roman catholic

2. Do you still practice that faith? Why or why not?
no
in catholicism, there is a set of dogma that cannot be questioned and must be accepted on faith. critical thinking is not encouraged. that mentality is not the basis of anything in my life.

3. What do you think happens after death?
everyone gets together, says nice things about you and has coffee and struedel

4. What is your favorite religious ritual (participating in or just observing)?
take your pick - not sure if any of these count - yoga, meditation, tibetan sand painting

5. Do you believe people are basically good??
yes, despite much evidence to the contrary

decided to go into the office today to work. could have worked at home, but i know i'd procrastinate. at the office i'll be more motivated. ended up working on something i didn't intend to (a downside of going in) and going to lunch (greasy spoon - least vegetarian friendly restaurant on earth - every other dish had veal in it - ended up with a pretty good greek salad ) was very smoky in their - my clothes stink - yuck

anyhow, i still was probably better off coming in - i'm prob more than halfway done for the day...

daily buddhist wisdom (from beliefnet)

The purpose of all the major religious traditions is not to construct big temples on the outside, but to create temples of goodness and compassion inside, in our hearts.

-His Holiness The Dalai Lama, "The Good Heart"

season pass to ice rink - $89(USD)
blades sharpened - $3(USD)
zamboni - $$$$$$$$$$? (USD)

being the only person on the freshly zamboni'd ice with newly sharpened skates - priceless

the only thing that might of made this better was if, say, catriona lemay doan was there to teach me how to do the cross-over turn correctly.

ah, the advanntages of a teaching career - what other job would allow me to ice skate on a thurs afternoon. i must remember this when the stress level gets too high. some of the time i was the only person on ice. parts of the time there was an older, probably retired, guy with his hockey stick and puck and later a younger couple came. it is such a different experience than on a sat or sun when there are hundreds of smart aleck little kids all better skaters than me who love to show off their hockey stops. when i take my daughter, although we get a lot of skating in, part of the time we spend just goofing off, drinking hot chocolate, etc - which is cool - it's how it an afternoon outing with your kid should be- but today with no one else there, i could really focus on my skating with the only distraction being perhaps an unfounded, but nagging anxiety that the older guy with the hockey stick might have a 1956 stanley cup flashback, think i was rocket richard and cross check me into the boards. of course that never happened. so in an 1 hr 30 min or so i got quite a workout - we'll see how the knees feel later. am getting to do a credible backwards-forwards transition - the reverse - forget about it - still haven't mastered stopping (where's the heel brake on these crazy things) but perhaps that will come too. i plan on doing this as often as i can.

# posted by Mike : 4:16 PM

rip jam master jay

well after 2 days of having no clue of what to listen to, and trying various things, including karen's excellent suggestion of trying some funk (which woulda worked if i brought the right cd's). i have settled on something to listen to. i know you are all relieved.

it is my choice for album of the millenium, wayne shorter's footprints live. there are only 998.25 or 997.25 years for someone to top it (depending on when the millenium starts - like who cares)

i will now play it until the tunes are ingrained in my cerebral cortex (or is it medulla oblongota (sp?)) forever...

daily buddhist wisdom (beliefnet)

All tremble when there is a weapon,
Everyone fears death;
Feeling for others as for oneself,
One should neither kill nor cause to kill.

-Dhammapada

i've been having some pain/numbness in my wrist and arm. i don't think it is carpal tunnel, but do think it is a repetitive motion kind of thing - due to mousing, typing, esp. with arm at an awkward angle - i.e. when not on the computer it doesn't bother me. a PT i spoke with said it sounded like tendonitis and suggested a few motions to correct - guess i'll have to try it out

kelly has made a new photolog.

her pictures on her original blog have always been cool, so i am sure the new photolog will be fun. will have to add it to my link section when i get a chance.

nothing is working for me musically today. this AM i stared at my cd closet blankly and nothing caught my fancy. it must be like amelda marcos looking at her closet and not having a pair of shoes that matched her outfit. usually when this happens i go to a few old reliables - but even those didn't seem to be what i felt like listening....god forbid i have silence...

every week i wonder how i am going to get through everything, yet, every week i do. sorta...

if you know something amusing, now would be a good time to say it. if not, i'm going to have to re-read the onion story about the guy going to an reo speedwagon concert (you can find the link yourselves, if interested, you're all smart folks...)

the clerk at the coffee shop, a very nice young lady, gave me a cinnamon bagel instead of my usual wheat bagel.

because she is very sweet and i like her a lot, i'll let it go.

this time.

wow - an 8 post day.
i am certainly verbose today, aren't i?

i was among the first 15 people to add to my site a link to the us olympic team's site during a recent contest, so i won a baseball cap. it arrived today! i'm a happy boy because:

• i love the olympics
• i love baseball hats
• i love free stuff

if i ever write a novel, it will begin as follows:
the smell of burnt popcorn was nauseating.

carlos santana, without a doubt, is one of the greatest guitarists to ever pick up a plectrum. he and his band have made a few great recordings, but his legacy moreso, in my book, are his concert performances. he is one of the most electrifying concert performers i've ever seen. i've seen him 3 or 4 times and each of his performances were unbelievable. once i saw a special tour he did with wayne shorter. sweet!

i have so much respect for him when he did the unthinkable, record with matchbox 20 singer rob thomas, i forgave him for it - even though i was sick of the song the second out of about a million times i heard it. that effort got rewarded with a bunch of grammies in the musical equivalent of a referee's "make up call" i.e. the grammies he got for that were meant to make up for the grammies he shoulda got for his great records.

well old carlos is trying to mine that lode again. just heard his newest single w/michelle branch (?!). pretty forgettable, but not horrible - i am sure i'll be sick of it soon. and i still don't blame him - he's made so much great music he's entitled to cash in - still i kinda think we all might be better served though, if everyone whoever enjoyed a santana concert were to just mail carlos a 10 spot every copule years - save all of us including carlos, the trouble...

i noticed that blogger pro comes with spellcheck. i am not sure that this is necessary or even beneficial for blogs. what's next - requiring entries be interesting or relevant?

geesh - over the last few days i've posted about joint pain, lame songs from the 60's and home improvement cable tv shows.

is this turning into an old guy blog?

someone shoot me if i start droning on about how much more expensive cars are these days, which, now that you mention it, WERE a lot cheaper when i was a kid...

knee was ouchy this weekend and today. i think it was from ice skating all the laps in the same direction - bum knee to the inside taking most the heat. i'm sure the weather doesn't help

while you were out is the new trading spaces

daily buddhist wisdon (from beliefnet)

Leave the mind in its natural, undisturbed state. Don't follow thoughts of "This is a problem, that is a problem!"

Without labeling difficulties as problems, leave your mind in its natural state. In this way, you will stop seeing miserable conditions as problems.

RIP richard harris

a local oldies station played mcarthur's park yesterday. what a lame song. what were folks thinking back then?

From Daily Hindi Wisdom (from beliefnet)

The no-mind state is not the vacancy of idiocy but the most supremely alert intelligence, undistracted by extraneous thought.