On the edge...

Breathe in... and Reboot.

Fashion

Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy.
-- Albert Einstein

Warmth

Blue skies...nothing but blue skies...

Don't get me wrong, I love the snow and the cold. I mean, I live like a polar bear in my house. We have had a great winter so far here with a lot of snow and cold temperatures. But now I need warmth. I just need a few days of sun....Thank you Mother Nature for this week. More snow soon. *sigh*

Think

There are many quotes on thinking. Obviously we don't really listen to them. Because if we did, what would the world be like?

Don't allow others to create the thoughts you think. Just look inside and figure out who you are and while you are at it, think. Maybe try sitting on a log like Winnie the Pooh and think. It makes likes life much more fun.

A great many people think they are thinking when they are really rearranging their prejudices.
-- William James

Ack!?!?!?!?!

Ok, where in the world has the time gone...? Tomorrow is my mid-term in Chinese. Am I ready? Heck no! When did I find out? Today! Ok, I should have read my syllabus better.

Only 11 hours to go. Sleep first...study later. Focus...focus...focus.

Truth

Truth is what stands the test of experience.
-- Albert Einstein

Backroads

My friend Stan is in a band called Backroads. I went and listened to them tonight at Charley's. The music is great. It is an eclectic mix of Blues and Rockin' Roll. If you ever get a chance, check them out.

Patience

I think that the best way to describe my patience level with things is that of a Minnesota lake in winter. In some areas I have a lot of patience so the ice is thick. Where the ice is thin, so is my patience level. There are some things that I always have a lot of patience with and with others, it is nearly always thin. So as I go with the flow or at least working on doing so..I just imagine skating.

Sleep

I have a great job. Sometimes it requires me to come in at odd hours. Yes 4:30a.m. is an odd hour. I prefer to be tucked into my nice warm bed asleep. When I know that I have to be up in the middle of the night doing something, I don't get much sleep. I get about 2 solid hours and from there I am awake every 30 minutes because I am afraid that I will sleep through my alarm. Crazy sometimes. So in I wander. It is a great time to come in that early especially after it has snowed during the night. The landscape is beautiful and the rest of the world is tucked into their beds.

Unfortunately for today, I also had a quiz in Chinese class. Try as I might, it was just not happening. As I was studying for the quiz, I would either fall asleep or end up flipping things all over the place and coming up with characters and sentence patterns that I am not sure even exist. If they do, I hope they didn't mean anything insulting. Fortunately for me, my Chinese teacher was very understanding and is allowing me to take the quiz later. I slept all afternoon and I hope the rest of the night. Sleep....what a wonderful thing. Now to catch some zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz's.

At it again.

I think the winter weather is mimicking my life. When things are good, it is nice out and when things are bad, it is snowing. So I wonder...if we get a three foot snow dump, should I throw in the towel with some things in my life that suck right now? Hmmm...interesting scenario. Maybe it would reduce my stress level. Now that is a good thought.

Change

Change your thoughts and you change your world.
-- Norman Vincent Peale (1898 - 1993)

I haven't really written about Change. I have only alluded to it. Change is curious and very difficult. It comes in many forms. For the past two years, I have been in a very large state of change. I look at it like my life is like a laundry basket that has clean things, random items from my pockets as well as a few dirty socks. Mine was dumped out onto the floor and instead of just throwing everything back in, I have been evaluating all of the components. It has been an interesting process and from this, I have learned a few things (these are not in any particular order).

1. If you change externally, nearly everyone will only see you as the person you were and not what you are now or working on becoming.
2. Only change for your self as that is the most important person in your life.
3. People will pick a place in time for you and that is where you are suppose to stay (physically, intellectually and emotionally).
4. Truly life is not fair. So just get over it.

I am still in this process so it is not over as there are still things to ponder and determine. My question to you is, what is your state of change and what are your questions\answers? Be ready.

One of those days

Isn't that nice....

Today I was working on a friend's computer. I got a curious little message from the application I was installing (Windows Live Mail). Don't ask. I am not sure I like Microsoft telling me I can go do something else while I wait.

Coincidence

I saw this quote the other day.

Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous.
-- Albert Einstein

I do not believe in coincidences. Things happen for a reason. Do you believe in coincidences?

A treat

Tonight was Flagstaff Symphony. The program included the "Theme from Superman", "Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 99" (Shostakovich) and "Enigma Variations, Op. 36" (Elgar). I love the Enigma Variations. My treat tonight was hearing and feeling the pipe organ. The Audrey Auditorium on the NAU campus has a wonderful pipe organ. It isn't used that often but when it is, you are sure to find me there. The soloist tonight for the Violin Concerto was Lara St. John. What a performance!

Black Thursday

Of course this date falls on a different day each year. I am known to not been very fond of it. I have my reasons and they are mine. Guess what you want but they're still mine.

Tonight was perfect...a hot bath, good book and a beer.

Well?

I came...I saw...I went...

Enough said.

Vroom.....

I am taking a swim class this semester. Because of the Olympics this year, the pool is setup for that competition distance - 50m. At first it was daunting. I didn't think I would be strong enough to swim that. I have proved my doubting mind wrong. I may not be the fastest swimmer (I am the oldest) but I am working on my health and that's what truly matters. Today we swam 800m. To put this in perspective, 1600m is just about a mile (1.61km = 1 mile). The really fun part today was we got to use fins. You can really move from one end of the pool to the other. Tomorrow my legs may feel it. Vrroom....Vrrooom.....Vroom.

Buttons

People have buttons -- duh. Buttons can be related to politics, religion, holidays, big things and little things. Some of my buttons are related to mostly little things (although there a couple of big things). I think that when the little buttons are pushed, there is a larger reaction. You can not always protect your buttons, you just need to learn to deal with the situation when that occurs. Remember that how one deals with the reactions can make or break the situation. This is part of the ever changing landscape of your life.

Shoveling

Although it has not snowed for a week, there is always work. Today it was shoveling the roof. I have several ice dams on the roof and I didn't want any damage. The snow needed to be removed. Fortunately my friend Patrick was willing to help. It was a huge task and I was really glad he helped. After he got up there, he told me about how deep the snow was (Nearly 2ft!). So up I went. This picture was only half of the roof on the back of my house. Whew! I will be sore tomorrow. Thanks Patrick!

Fear

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do.
-- Eleanor Roosevelt (1884 - 1962)

Fears. We all have them and they are unique to us. Fear can stop us from achieving our goals and dreams. We limit ourselves because of fear. It guides us to push away what we want and to attract what we don't want. Every small step we can take to overcome our fears gets us closer to achieving our goals and dreams. Eleanor Roosevelt got it right.

What are you afraid of?

At last...

...it is Friday. I see a glass of wine and a hot steamy bath in my future tonight.

Life is good.

Happy New Year!

Today is the Chinese New Year. It will be the Year of the Rat. Chinese New Year is also called the Spring Festival. Chinese New Year starts with the New Moon on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon 15 days later. The 15th day of the new year is called the Lantern Festival. The Chinese calendar is based on a combination of lunar and solar movements. The lunar cycle is about 29.5 days. There are a number of traditions surrounding Chinese New Year from types of foods, your home and what you are not to do.

This year, the Chinese classes celebrated the Chinese New Year with the visiting Chinese faculty. It was a blast. There was wonderful food and a good time by all.

Driving in the snow

Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.
-- Unknown

Culture

There is a 15 hour difference in time between Arizona and Beijing which means in China, it is New Year's Eve. In China, the New Year is a time of family reunion. Family members gather at each other's homes for visits and shared meals, most significantly a feast on New Year's Eve.

Tonight I was treated to a New Year's Eve dinner with the visiting Chinese faculty and two others. The food was fantastic and I learned a lot. Just like here where different regions have different customs, the same goes for China. Do you eat the fish or not? I got to try new foods like dried snails and different types of seaweed. What a treat!

Snow Day!

Yes!

There are many people out there who have been driven nuts by all of the analysts saying the Patriots were going to win the Superbowl today. Well those analysts have been proven wrong.

THE GIANTS WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Calm before the storm

Tomorrow it is suppose to start snowing again. They are looking at 12 to 18 inches of snow between Sunday a.m. and Monday a.m. We had flurries tonight early but not for awhile. Many are getting sick of the snow. The fact that it is sitting in parking lots taking up spots and reminding them that they are living in the mountains and not the deserts. They just need to envision raging fires instead of complaining. This way we wll have healthier forests and hopefully less damaging fires in the summer. A real plus is water in our lakes and good fishing.

A great cake.

Hmmm... what have I started????