Finished Just In Time For Classes Today

I set myself up a nice little project late last week through the weekend, though I just finished up this morning. I decided to repartition my hard drives, reorganize my Users and Program Files and do a Windows reinstall. I can’t figure out for the life of me why Microsoft makes it so damn difficult to move the User directories, Program Files, and ProgramData to different partitions/hard drives.

Anyways, pretty much most of Thursday was spent planning and partitioning my drive. I actually used Ubuntu flavored Linux and Gparted for the partitioning. While it may be a bit on the slow side, it does an excellent job for partitioning and resizing.

Friday was a day for the Windows 7 reinstall, getting all of the updates, and trying to get everything moved to their new home. To get everything moved, I used the command line robocopy to get a copy of everything in its new home. Actually, the first time I tried to copy the User directory I had forgotten to use the /R: and the /W: to limit the number of Retries and to reset the Wait time between retries for files that were in-use at the time. I set the number of retries to five and reduced the wait to 10 seconds. Those setting worked out pretty well.

After that it was into the registry to change the “Default” locations. I put default in quotes because any program that gets installed, or keeps files/data in either the ProgramData or User folders should look to the registry for the default locations. Sadly, most of them are hard coded to go to C:\Folder. What this means is that if you install a program and you have moved your Program Files to D:\, about half of your programs (if you are lucky) will install to D:\Program Files automatically, the rest will try to install to C:\Program Files and you will have to make the change manually.

I know from previous experience what this results in. Months later you go to install a new program, it defaults to C:\Folder, you forget to make the change, and now you have Program Files, ProgramData, and possibly even new User folders on your C:\ drive. Now try getting that mess together the next time you want to reinstall or Windows 8 comes out.

Enter symbolic links to save the day. Using the command line to set up a junction to the directory, you can fool programs into using the proper folders. The command looks like this:

mklink /J “C:\Folder” “D:\Folder”

What this does is put what is essentially a shortcut on C:\ to your D:\Folder. So on your C:\ drive you have C:\Folder which is nothing more than a shortcut to D:\Folder. This makes life much easier as now everything can look to the C:\ drive (if it wishes) and will be redirected automatically to the correct location.

Of course, if it were only actually that easy, right? In order to set up the symbolic links, the folders can only exist in one place. So after you copy your User, Program Files, and ProgramData directories to their new home, you have to delete the original folders before the links can be made. Let me tell you that ProgramData folder was a pain. There were two offending programs that did not look to the registry, but went automatically to C:\ProgramData. Those two programs were my VLC player and Microsoft Security Essentials. I would call MSE the worst offender, as it was not obvious what the offending program actually was (it took me awhile to track down that it was actually MSE that was writing to these folders).

However, once I tracked down which programs were causing my headaches, all I had to do was uninstall them, delete the C:\ProgramData folder, create the symbolic links, then reinstall the programs. All in all, it was not that bad a way to spend the weekend.

So Very Sad

Well it seems that today Elizabeth Sladen passed away. She played the role of Sarah Jane Smith on Doctor Who in the mid 1970’s , made a reprise of the role in (I think) 2006 in the new Doctor Who along side David Tennant. Not long after that, CBBC started a new series called the Sarah Jane Adventures, and if I understand everything correctly, the most current season is airing now.

I can remember when I was a kid sneaking up late at night (past 11pm) to watch Star Trek, and the occasional Doctor Who (by the time it came on I was pretty much ready to sleep). Where we were living at the time, let’s just say Sci-Fi was not something you would ever see during the regular hours. So all I got to see where the Doctor Whos that were in syndication, and broadcast late at night.

At the time, the episodes were shown in a fairly randomized way. As such I saw many Doctors, but without the background, made it hard to follow. But I did see Sarah James with at least two of them, so she grounded my Doctor Who experience. So while most people remember their first Doctor (mine was either Tertwee or Baker, not sure) I do remember my first companion, Elizabeth Sladen, Sarah Jane.

Better than expected

Things went much better than I ever expected at the anti-bullying session I taught this morning at the Stephen Bull Fine Arts Elementary School today. A huge thank you to Ms. Orlando who both invited me there for their program, and for also keeping a pulse on the group and raising her hand to ask pointed questions to help keep me on track with the time. She really helped me to change the aspects of my talk regularly as I was addressing the questions of the students.

As I may have mentioned previously, the little ones cause me terror. Ask me not why, they just do. During the first session with the K-2nd graders, I was sweating bullets. I got the talk going, engaged them, and there were so many hands going up asking questions or telling what bullying is and even offering suggestions what someone could do if someone was being bullied. I was amazed by how attentive they were and by how much they wanted to contribute to the session.

During the ten minutes or so between sessions, Ms. Orlando gave me a couple of suggestions for the older group, and changed her prompts accordingly, an off we went. With this group, I wish I had an hour longer. When I was their age is really when I got picked on (3-5) and it only got worse from there. It was in this group that I got a most unexpected surprise.

After I gave my talk on how to ‘diffuse’ a bullying situation one girl raised her hand and said, “ When someone is being picked on I can say ‘That’s not funny’, grab their arm and walk away.” I can tell you I almost shed a tear at that moment, because a young girl in the fourth or fifth grade taught me a most profound lesson. I had never even considered that simple yet profound act.

To have been schooled by such a young one teaches that our adult minds can get lost in the complexity of a simple situation. At times it takes a young, somewhat uncluttered mind, to remind the adults to see through all the b.s. and get to what is important, just help someone in need. Thank you young lady in the ‘Hello Kitty’ tee.

To all of the teachers out there, all I can say is wow, I don’t know how you do it every day. This was my first time with the young ones, but wow, that was a lot of energy to even attempt to keep on any type of focus. To all teachers out there, I bow to you, your task is both a difficult and under appreciated one.

What a day!!

At the start of my day, I fear I did not have my eye on the clock. I was supposed to meet Lynn to fill out some paperwork before I headed on up to school to get my books. Oh yeah, I am back in school for the first time in twenty something years. So I rescheduled that until I got back from school.

While at school, I got a phone call. For an interview. With an actual person. From a phone interview I had done. Four months ago. In four hours. When I am at school 30 minutes from home. And need to drop off paperwork that still need to be picked up and returned the same day. And remember what the job actually is. And print up copies of the resume.

If I do not get this job, I really do not know what I will do. Well, that is not true. I could shoot a pen of insulin and pass unaware, or I could grab my gun and do it quick (if messy). Sadly, such things are not my way. I can only fantasize about them

With luck, when classes start on Monday, I will be focused enough that the job will drift to the back of the mind. Who knows, if I keep telling myself that I may well work for an hour or two!

Oh the Terror

It is really starting to sink in. Awhile ago I agreed to teach a couple of seminars on Bullying at one of our local schools. I am finding myself getting more nervous and apprehensive as the date slowly approaches.

Now I have done my share of teaching in the past. I’ve taught martial arts to people from sixteen to sixty. I went cross country in 1999 for software replacement and was one of the instructors for all of the sales reps with the new software. So while I may get a bit nervous just before, once I get going I am just fine.

But this one is different. This time it is a Bullying seminar, for children. Grades K-5. Since I am not a kid person, it is starting to sink in. It’s been a long time since I have had stage-fright, so this will be interesting.

I’ve already gone over my presentation with one of the teachers from the school, and as far as she is concerned, it is splendid. She gave me a few notes and some suggestions of things I can throw in at the end, personal recollections from when I was bullied when I was their age, how years later, in-part due to the bullying, how I got into martial arts, and that I have never hit a person (well never hit someone outside of the dojo, lol) despite all of my training.

So while this event has me as nervous as the first time I was four on one in the dojo, I am looking forward to it as well so I can get past this fear in my head. It’s kind of funny that it’s a bunch of knee high kids that is one of my greatest fears.

So as of now, there is only one thing that can make me feel better…Soft Kitty.

Nothing like…

The smell of the house after you roast some coffee. For those of you who do not roast your own coffee, it is an interesting process. Coffee starts out as green beans, kind of a dark olive green. During the early part of the roasting cycle, the scent is similar to fresh cut grass. As the roasting continues, the beans turn yellowish, not bright, but pale and muted, with not much of a change in scent. As it continues, the beans begin to brown, at which point the beans develop a chocolaty and nutty scent. As they continue to roast and become more/darker brown, they take on the scent of brownies cooking in the oven. Then, as they hit the coffee stage as we know it, you get an actual coffee scent.

The aroma is wonderful, the mix of nutty/chocolaty/coffee goodness that lasts for days. And fortunately for me, I do very small batches so every three days or I get to roast more. I feel sorry for the rest of you!

My current batch is some Costa Rican San Marcos that I have from Burman Coffee Traders, where I get all of my coffee. If you roast your own you should check them out. They give a review for their coffees, they have excellent prices, and if you live somewhat close by the shipping can’t be beat!

Getting back to, well, everything…

I have been a bit down as of late, as well may be obvious from my lack of posts over the past year or so. I have also noticed a pattern to my behavior that has been repeating once again. As I get down, I tend to withdraw and stop doing things I enjoy. Such things, of course, only feed the cycle.

So as of now, I am trying to break that cycle. I have gone so far as to pin my blog writer to my Start Menu, so at least it has presence, and with luck, I will begin to hit it more often.

There are many things that I have enjoyed that I have let slip. Heck, just about everything. My Aikido is almost nonexistent at this time. My Zen time is once a week and that is not even on a cushion. My poker has been far reduced, much too reduced for a game I enjoy so much. Lastly, I was one of the top 10 posters to the How To Geek forums once upon a time.

I recently started to play more of the Poker Stars 50/50 games. They are nice Sit-an-Go’s if you do not want to spend too much time (or have other things to do but still want to play) on a game. I like them better than the Double or Nothing games (that are now being eliminated), because it adds a bit of depth to the game. Now players are not just trying to make it to the top 50%, they also want to have the highest chip percentage to increase their win amount. It does change the play dynamics of the game (relative to the Double or Nothing format).

I have also begun to post to the forums again at How to Geek. I must admit that I have not been keeping myself as up-to-date on current technology as I used to, but damn, it feels good to be helping people in the forums again, so there is some incentive to start keeping up on technology again.

The ‘difficult’ ones are getting back into both Aikido and Zen. In Aikido, all I need to do is get suited up and be prepared to have my ass slammed six inches into the mat. It’s easy. In Zen, all I need to do is get suited up and sit on a cushion until it sinks six inches into it. It’s easy. But as ‘they’ say, Mind Makes; and mine just will not shut up long enough for me to do the simple things, such as to step on the mat or enter the dharma room. So sad for something so simple.

But now some of ‘they’ have seen it, so now I have to act…To be continued….

On PokerStars 50/50 Low-Limit Perspective…

It seems that it’s been 18 years or so since I have posted here. If anyone still reads this, particularly poker people, here is a low-limit perspective of PokerStars 50/50 games.

Most of the poker players I have played with are well above what I can do. My very first game was a WWdN game that was a charity event, but led to the WWdN series on Stars.

Eventually that game died off and The Mookie evolved on FullTilt. It is now The Mookie/Dank, and will eventually become The Dank. Many thanks to BuddyDank, Joannda, and everyone else who has put forth their effort to keep this game going.

Anyhow, where was I, oh yes, low limit Stars 50/50 games. I doubt I spend more than 10 hours a month playing poker. I am a recreational player, but not one who does not study or pay attention.

Rather recently, I started playing some of the PokerStars 50/50 games, and all I can say, is that if you have a bit of knowledge of position, cards relative to position, and a fair conception of the math, you can do well.

More often than not, I am in the top two of these games. If you have a decent understanding of the game, do not want to spend hours and hours (hopefully) in a tourney or ring game, but want some experience, this may be a decent place to start.

I think I like this format better than the previous Double or Nothing. In the old format, as soon as 1/2 were gone you doubled up. Now, once 1/2 are gone, you recover your buy-in, and the rest is based on your stack. For me, that has always worked out to my benefit.

Who knows, maybe one day I may actually be a name of note at the Mookie/Dank!!

Miss you Noriko

At about 8:50 this morning, Nori passed away due to congenital heart failure. She started showing symptoms late Wednesday evening (heavy/difficulty breathing), so when she was still showing signs Thursday morning, I made an appointment at the vet for Friday morning at 9:30 am to see what we could do for her. Well she got worse Thursday night, so Elaine and I slept on the floor by her while she slept under the tree, which we kept lit for her.

She woke us up this morning around 6:00 am crying a cry I hadn’t heard from her before, so it was obvious things were not good. I left her with Elaine while I went to go put gas in the car, and to get the car at least a bit warm so it wouldn’t take too long later on. It was quite something. Yesterday I was thinking the vet trip would be to see if we could give here something to keep her comfortable and doing ok. By late last night, I was figuring I would have to be bringing her in to have her put to sleep. Early this morning, I found myself facing the fact that I would be having to say goodbye.

At around 8:45 I went out to start the car and get it warmed up. A bit earlier, I had set up the carrier, just the bottom half with a blanket in it so it would be easier to move her. At around 8:50 I picked her up and moved her to the carrier. When I picked her up she started crying again. I put her in the carrier and tucked her in. She stretched out and her breathing became quite shallow. I knew what was happening and I stroked her head as she passed.

Since she had to go, I’m glad that she passed at home. It did happen very quick, as of Tuesday she was ripping around the house and having a good old time on the TurboScratcher. In the early spring after the ground thaws her ashes will join Hashiimoto’s in the garden at the Zen Center. One of these days, I’ll be with them there too…

Return of the Hakama

Well, as of yesterday, I finally put on a hakama and wore my rank for the first time since my return to Aikido. After being away from the mat for years, I figured it would be best for me to return as a white belt until I felt comfortable with my technique, still some rust there, but I felt good enough to put the rank back on. Everyone at the Kenosha Aikikai has been awesome and patient with me getting back into the swing of things. With several of the upper ranks making hints that it would be fine by them to put the rank back on, I placed the order for the new hakama and belt and then got down to business.

One thing that I did just so I could have some fun was that I did not tell Elaine that I had gotten my hakama and belt. If fact, she did not notice it until Miller Sensei mentioned the fact that there was a ‘new’ black belt on the mat. It should help with some confusion on the mat, some of the actual white belts did not know that I was a black belt, so they did not understand why I was doing things so well while they were having so much trouble. Now of course, it will be reversed to “Isn’t this guy a black belt? Why is he having so much trouble with this technique!!”

To be honest, it felt good, really good, to be wearing that stuff again. This was also the first time I really took more time with the beginners I was working with to help them with their technique. That’s not to say that I was not helping before, but since I was not wearing my rank, I only really helped with the gross errors and would call over Sensei to help with the finer points. Kind of funny how things get ingrained, tie a different colored piece of cloth around your waist and change how you interact with others around you.  At least the Zen training helped to keep Ego at bay and allowed me to focus on helping, but it was still there and will be for awhile—more training is necessary.

One Last Reminder…

This Saturday (tomorrow actually) October 24th is the all day class at the Original Root Zen Center up in Racine. The class is being taught by our Master Teachers Tony & Linda Somlai and will run from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm. This is actually a somewhat uncommon approach to how classes are done up in the Zen Center, typically, a class like this would be a total of four two-hour classes done one per week for four weeks. I kind of like this format because my mother has wanted to check out some of this Zen stuff, and having to come up from Grayslake, a day trip works much better for her.

Now, of course, the real issue for Saturdays class is brewing. Which coffee to roast and bring to class? So far the Guatemalan has a slight edge over the Indonesian, with the stuff from Panama still sitting on the shelf. Sadly, I can’t wait too much longer for results, as I need to getting it roasting within the hour to give it a minimum set-up time. At least most of the votes thus far are for my favorite coffee of the mix, though one of the Indonesians is very nice and gave me a bit of a surprise.

Image property of Linda Somlai, used and modified with her permission.

Finding Peace in a Time of Chaos and Uncertainty: Intensive Peace Workshop

Coming soon (Saturday, October 24th) to a Zen Center near you (Original Root Zen Center) Master Teachers Tony and Linda Somlai will be holding a class based on Tony’s book, Peace Vigil: Living Without Hesitation. This will be a one day class that will help us realize things that we can all do in our day-to-day lives to bring peace to people, places, and situations around us through our actions.

Master Teachers Linda and Tony Somlai will lead a one-day workshop, "Finding Peace in a Time of Chaos and Uncertainty: Intensive Peace Workshop Retreat" on Oct. 24 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Original Root Zen Center in Racine, Wisconsin. The workshop will cost $75 and includes lunch, break treats, a copy of Tony Somlai’s book, Peace Vigil and learning materials.
The Master Teachers, who have each taught contemplative peace practices for more than 30 years, start with this simple teaching: Peace is not a big idea. Peace is like a small pebble dropped into a suffering pond; the waves will touch all beings. The Peace Retreat Workshop is intended to provide participants with concrete skills they can use in their everyday lives to help themselves and others. The key elements of the retreat are broadly based on basic Buddhist principals of non-violence, peaceful coexistence, and loving-kindness. What makes the workshop unique is that the theory and skills are based on action and active ways of responding to the problems we are facing today.
ORZC is located on the historic DeKoven Center campus on Lake Michigan in Racine. Overnight accomodations are available. Single rooms are $55 per night; double rooms are $60.
If you are interested in class, please contact Dustin Block at: dustin.block@gmail.com or (262) 488-3419.

So stop on by if you can, it will be an excellent class, and I can vouch for the coffee that will be served!!

And a Fun Time…

Well I can say that Elaine and I had a great time at Aikido on Saturday and Tuesday. Saturday was a bit on the slow side for me, as we were in class two of a beginners class, and most of the more advance people were helping the two (I think it’s just two) who have a test coming up at the end of the month. So I pretty much just played with all the new people for the class. That was probably a good thing as it let me (make that forced me) to pay attention to some of the subtle differences that exist between our schools. I get the feeling that is going to be the most difficult aspect for me, blending the two styles together so I can still feel comfortable doing the techniques while not messing up my partner by doing things a bit different.

Tuesday night was much more fun for me. I had plenty of time with the upper ranks, so it gave me a chance to work on my technique, and realize I still need to get my ukemi back up to par. I have to admit, it makes me anxious to put back on my rank and hakama, but I told my self that I would not until I was taking break falls from shihonage and kotegaeshi. Well, that and I need to order replacements. All those years in storage did not serve them well.

I did remember one very important fact, at least important to me. I managed to remember how easy it is that my poor little toe breaks. That’s right, two classes into my triumphant return to Aikido, and I have already broken a toe. Ah, well, note to self, Carlos has pointy hips so use caution when kicking him. With some luck, it will not be too bad on Saturday, and with it being a weapons day, hopefully no need for suwariwaza.

As for tonight, we have some chanting and some sitting. The walking meditation should be fun! In fact, the sitting may be fun too, I’ll know by the end of chanting if I will be needing a chair for tonight's session. Excited for Elaine this coming Monday as she will be giving her first Dharma talk. I already have the basic subject of mine the following week floating around in my head. Odds are something new will replace it by the time we get there, but still it’s nice to have a subject so early. I usually feel I have it good if I have the subject two hours before I’m to give the talk, so this is something new for me!!

The Return to Aikido

Well, after seven long years, I’m finally making my return to the mat. I wish I could have gone last night, but alas, I had a meeting to run, not that it was a bad thing, it was a pretty good meeting last night. But back to the subject at hand. As of Saturday, I will be joining up with the Kenosha Aikikai and be practicing Aikido for the first time in waaaay to long. Not only that, but my sweetie Elaine will be joining me as she starts Aikido for the first time. Poor thing, since she has been with me I have managed to get her into Aikido, Zen Buddhism, and cats. Which reminds me, I have much fur to vacuum up off of the floor…

Elaine is quite excited to taking Aikido with me. I am excited to be getting back into it and having a girlfriend actually joining me in it. That means no nagging about me being off training several times a week. My main concern (other than endurance) is my ukemi skills. The actual techniques I have been practicing in my head all these years, so I think the body will remember the motions pretty quickly. The basic ukemi; forward, back, break-falls, I am not worried about, it’s more the advanced falls from kotegaeshi and shihonage that will take some time to get back. We will find out for sure on Saturday, expect an update sometime after class ;-)

I’ve also managed to get Elaine to sign-up to give her first Dharma Talk at Zen in about a week and a half. That’s right, on Monday, October 19th 2009 at 7:00 PM your are invited to hear her give her first talk at the Original Root Zen Center. I am excited for her, it will be a good learning experience for her. Of course, she insisted that I give one on the following Monday, so I obliged and took the spot. You can also catch me there on Wednesday nights, typically on the bell at 6:30 PM with the Evening Bell Chant to begin the evenings chanting session before meditation at 7:00 PM.

Well, that’s it for now. I’ll be sure to put something up about Aikido this weekend, Monday at the latest (depending upon how busy this weekend turns out to be). As for now, I’m gonna roast some coffee. I think a nice Full City roast on some Guatemalan Antigua Los Volcanes. Guatemalan Antigua coffees are still my favorite, try some today!!

Opening the Earths Eye Retreat

Got back yesterday from the Zen Retreat up in Sand Bay, WI. Let me just say, this has got to be one of the most difficult retreats anywhere. I mean, look where they had us staying! I mean really, how can anyone expect to relax and get into the retreat mood in a place like this?

But seriously, it was a truly wonderful time. The weather was perfect, low 70’s during the day, mid 50’s for the early morning and evenings. The sunrise over the bay was incredible, probably a good thing that morning bows were kept until after full sunrise to keep us all from staring at the sunrise rather then brining our attention to our bows, chanting, and meditation in the morning.

Saturday afternoon we had a coffee tasting of the four coffees I am preparing for sale at Compassion Fest on Sunday, October 4th. You will want to be there for everything that will be going on, plus you will want to buy a bag of coffee or two. Two regular coffees and two decafs, so there is something for everyone. Just for fun, I will have the ‘Professional’ reviews of the coffees, as well as the ‘Man on the Street’ reviews of them.

It really was a wonderful trip, and the first time for me to attend this retreat. As a result of hearing so many wonderful things about it, I was quite looking forward to go. As a bonus, it also served as my and Elaine’s first vacation together. I for one, can’t think of a better group to share the experience with.

Now back to roasting coffee for next weekend!!

Memories….

“Space……The Final Frontier, these are the voyages of the starship Enterprise, it’s continuing mission, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before…” start Star Trek: The Next Generation theme music.

For those of you who have been fans of the Star Trek franchise, and in particular to those of you who loved ST:TNG, Wil Wheaton, the infamous Wesley Crusher, has been putting together a Star Trek book called Memories of the Future. For those of you who are not aware, Wil has done a good deal of voice acting on various animate shows, and most recently has had characters in the shows Criminal Minds “Paradise” and Leverage “The Two Live Crew Job” (not to mention a NUMB3RS episode a few years ago). Other than that, he is prolific blogger and writer. Well, a prolific blogger and becoming prolific on the writing front.

To that end, it seems Wil has picked up on a project he started years ago for the TV Squad blog and didn’t get a chance to finish due to their budget getting cut. Very soon now you will be able to pick up a copy of his first Star Trek book titled Memories of the Future: Volume One. Volumes one and two will cover the first season of the show (presumably, that is as far as he wrote/started his notes) with future volumes to follow the same general structure.

I read the reviews he did way back when, and let me tell you, they are hilarious. Here was Wil’s Christmas present to us in 2006, his review of ST:TNG’s “Justice.” This review had me cracking up for days. Here is a quick little snippet from the review.

After beaming down to the planet, the away team quickly learn three important facts:

1. The planet's inhabitants, called the Edo, like to jog everywhere.
2. They are all beautiful blond models, possibly descended from some sort of Maxim/FHM breeding program in the late 22nd century.
3. The entire planet is clothed in about 6 yards of fabric.

The Edo's leaders jog up and meet the away team, greeting them in the traditional Edo manner: lingering glances and inappropriately long hugs. Troi says, "I'm sensing a lot of boners, Commander."

The general format for the reviews is:

Synopsis: A very snarky take on the episode, with many points that may not have been obvious, along with personal comments and observations.

Quotable Dialogue: Pretty obvious.

Obligatory Technobabble: Also obvious.

Behind the Scenes Memory: Here you can learn how it was for him on the sets. Interesting bits on things were shot, how things came together, etc. Also many a great comment on working with the other actors on the show and guests for the episodes. This is the serious and sincere section.

The Bottom Line: Here we find out where the parts that worked were discovered and carried on, and the many, many things that did not work and would (eventually) be left in the bin.

It is important to keep in mind just how silly much of the first two or three seasons were. Personally, when I go back and watch the old ones, I am amazed that the show managed to stay on-air past the first two seasons. I’m sure we are all glad that it did, as it finally began to find its footing in season three and became the Star Trek that we all know and love.

So if you are a ST:TNG fan, read that entire review for Justice to get a taste of what will be coming in the books.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!!!!

This Sunday, Master Teacher Anton (Tony) Somlai will be holding a book signing at Sheepish in Racine. Both he and his wife, Master Teacher Linda Somlai will be doing readings from his book, Peace Vigil: Living Without Hesitation, and following it up with taking questions. This book takes the unique approach of helping us look at our own daily lives and apply it teachings to bring peace into your life and with whom you interact. The goal of the book is not ‘world peace’ per se, but rather peace with your family, your friends, your neighbors, your coworkers, your colleagues. After all, how can we hope to bring peace to the world if we can’t even bring it to our homes, our jobs, or our neighborhoods?

Map to Sheepish

Think I’m Gonna Be a Little Sick

I learned recently that Elaine has not read either The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings. For me, this is a cardinal sin that must be corrected (I love The Silmarillion as well, but it tends to be a tough first read). One day I will take her up to Marquette to view the original Tolkien manuscripts in all their glory.

So as I am getting my books together, I look at my Millennium Edition of The Lord of the Rings, published as seven books. If you are unaware, The Lord of the Rings is Six books plus an index, traditionally published as three volumes (The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King). Well, as it turns out I was doing my traditional annual autumn/winter reading of the books (been a tradition of mine since I was 13) when I helped rescue a lost puppy. During that time, she got a hold of book two and used it as a chew toy. The corners are all mangled and four pages midway through had about a quarter of their pages torn out. Well, since I want my girlfriend to read a good copy without any words missing I looked up the replacement on the set.

As it turns out, this particular edition (which cost me $50 at the time) is currently going for anywhere between $150 and $600. I nearly puked when I saw that. At least now we know that she is the $600 dollar stray. Would I do it again had I known the outcome, well, yes, in a heartbeat. She is a great dog (now lol). I can get a replacement seven book set, soft cover from the UK for about US$60-ish with shipping, so not too bad after all. Takes me back to the grad-school days when one of the roomies dogs though my brand new Molecular Evolution textbook was a chew toy, two days before classes started.

Keep your eyes peeled here folks. It seems that dogs only eat my books if their current or future value is at least US$100. The next time a book is used as a chew toy, the book, edition, publisher, and other pertinent information will be published here first. You can then check your inventory and see if you want to seal it up an maximize its condition to maximize its resale value!

Saturday Morning, With Special Teaching by Henry

Janine and Scot frequently bring Henry, their son, with them to Zen. Henry is about 18 months old now, so he loves to run around, pick stuff up, and make lots of sounds including his limited vocabulary. During the past few weeks, he has shown that he is pretty good with a moktak, and keeps the beat pretty good with the chanting, odds are he will be the first three year old moktak master at ORZC.

At the end of chanting and meditation on Saturdays, there is a reading from one of several books. On this particular Saturday, the reading was taken from Master Teacher Tony Somlai’s  book PEACE Vigil: Living Without Hesitation from Dragon Mountain Press.

 

Peace

Teaching peace to our children

and each other

is the purest form of love.

There are many ways to bring peace to the community – pick one.

Teaching peace has an infinite number of conduits. It can be in a classroom setting or at a picnic. It can appear in a scholarly journal or at a slam poetry contest. You can teach peace while cooking or cleaning the house. If your life is peace, every moment is an opportunity to teach peace. The generosity of teaching peace helps build a cultural norm that “peace” is not a naive or antisocial activity. If peace is to be sustainable and of service to the next generation, we need effective and gentle methods to educate each other.

Childlike: My goodness, we have become crusty and cynical as adults. We have been fighting wars for so long that we have forgotten what it is like to be a child. We have repressed the purity of that early love in our consciousness. Watch children over the next few days and see what they teach about peace. Also look closely at what adults are teaching them about peace.

 

As soon as Janine had finished the reading, Henry chimed in by saying “Peace…..Peace.” As far as any of us know, that is the first time that Henry has ever uttered those words. After he had said that, everyone in the Dharma room just busted up laughing. Henry’s timing was impeccable, and the joy he brought to the community is without value. An 18 month old child taught the community a thing or two about peace, joy, and love by just being a child, and connecting to the child in all of us.

In that one moment, Henry reminded all of us that teachings come in all shapes and sizes, and frequently unexpected. If you are not paying attention to the moment, the teaching is lost. I know that I have missed many an opportunity to learn in my lifetime. But never before has that realization been so clear, nor a teaching so powerful, as that of a child, just learning to walk and to speak, that teachings are all around us if we just pay attention.

Another Wonderful Garden Retreat

On Sunday another Garden Retreat at the Original Root Zen Center came to a close. It started out with a brief Dharma talk on Friday night with the Guiding Teacher giving us the rules for this years Garden Retreat, basically, be present, help each other, get out of the ‘me, my, mine’ mind, and bring joy to all that you do. The Abbot followed up with basically, ‘Don’t be a dick, focus on the task at hand and help each other, it’s not about you.’

Saturday started at 7 am with bows, chanting, and some sitting, followed up by breakfast. For this retreat, I had my first pass as Assistant Kitchen Master, so I did get to learn a thing or two about cooking for a large group keeping special dietary requirements in mind. One of my highlights was getting to prepare Master Teacher Linda’s Olive Oil for her pasta. While the menu called for Pasta with Olive Oil, I just could not do that while the rest of us were eating a BBQ-chili pasta. So after breakfast, I got to go out to the herb garden and picked some herbs. They soaked in the oil until dinner time, so about six or seven hours in total. They imparted a wonderful, subtle flavor to the oil which the Master Teacher was quite pleased with.

So for Saturday and Sunday, many a weed was pulled, many a tree was trimmed, and many a new feature was added to the garden.

 

 

 

A new stupa was put in place.

 

 

 

 

A new rock garden was put in place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stones were put in the ground front and center.

 

 

 

 

 

Some paths were cleared and weeded.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And pretty much everything is in bloom.

 

 

Other additions include a new sitting area, a spiral cut topiary, and some additions to the trellis. A great deal of work was done in a fairly short amount of time.

In all, everyone enjoyed themselves. We got a lot done, without too many things left on the continuing projects list. Pretty soon we’ll get that table done for our elevated herb garden, and things will be looking really good there!