5 things that made me happy:
* Watched a great concert with Brian and Dalt.
* Swimming on Sunday.
* Found a bunch of books that I think I’ll enjoy.
* Slept better last night than I have in years.
* Relatively clean bill-of-health after check-up at the NP’s office on Friday.

5 things I’m going to try to do this week:
* Recover from Sunday’s food-fest.
* Make contact with study group.
* Say less, listen more.
* Get a routine for sitting.
* Really study each week’s path item.

This week: Speech
“Right speech is the first principle of ethical conduct in the eightfold path. Ethical conduct is viewed as a guideline to moral discipline, which supports the other principles of the path. This aspect is not self-sufficient, however, essential, because mental purification can only be achieved through the cultivation of ethical conduct. The importance of speech in the context of Buddhist ethics is obvious: words can break or save lives, make enemies or friends, start war or create peace. Buddha explained right speech as follows: 1. to abstain from false speech, especially not to tell deliberate lies and not to speak deceitfully, 2. to abstain from slanderous speech and not to use words maliciously against others, 3. to abstain from harsh words that offend or hurt others, and 4. to abstain from idle chatter that lacks purpose or depth. Positively phrased, this means to tell the truth, to speak friendly, warm, and gently and to talk only when necessary.” - From The Big View

Posted on Jul 12.10 to Life | No Comments »  

Today I played The Big House which is a free, online Myst-type game. It was fun. This is the end screen, which I thought was funny.

Posted on Jul 09.10 to Technology | No Comments »  

My 4th

Posted on Jul 06.10 to Life | No Comments »  

I found the following short story on-line. Regardless of your own personal philosophy, it’s thought provoking. I believe the author is Jack Sharp. Check out The Egg.

Posted on Jul 05.10 to Life | No Comments »  

5 things that made me happy:
* Successfully completed another year at the Snack Shack.
* My new tattoos are healing nicely.
* Got CrunchBang running to my liking.
* Easily in the single-digit 200s.
* Got a decent shot at the 12seconds.tv / Chegg campaign contest.
BONUS: Made contact with Brad Warner; looking for a speaking engagement nearby.

5 things I’m going to try to do this week:
* Listen to all of the words my kids have to say.
* Get a rough playlist ready for the girls birthday.
* Figure out how to keep the washer from making a racket.
* Slow down.
* Really study each week’s path item.

This week: Intention
“While right view refers to the cognitive aspect of wisdom, right intention refers to the volitional aspect, i.e. the kind of mental energy that controls our actions. Right intention can be described best as commitment to ethical and mental self-improvement. Buddha distinguishes three types of right intentions: 1. the intention of renunciation, which means resistance to the pull of desire, 2. the intention of good will, meaning resistance to feelings of anger and aversion, and 3. the intention of harmlessness, meaning not to think or act cruelly, violently, or aggressively, and to develop compassion.” - From The Big View

Posted on Jul 05.10 to Life | No Comments »  

5 things that made me happy:
* 6 pages done on my fantastically terrible screenplay
* A great time watching Toy Story 3 with my 3 favorite girls
* 4/5ths of a pound from being in the single digit 200’s
* My tattoo nearly healed enough to touch up
* Discovered a new subreddit that I really enjoy

5 things I’m going to try to do this week:
* take the time to actually UNSUBSCRIBE from the spam emails that I delete every day
* zazen practice
* create something every day
* mala sutra daily
* really study each week’s path item

Somewhere around August 3rd of 2009, I began a very Ben Franklin-esque virtue chart of my own, particularly concentrating on one path item every week while still attempting to be true to all of them. I have a very meticulous method of tracking my day at work, using 1 page of a composition notebook per day for tasks and miscellaneous scribblings. At the top if this page, I write the item (as well as a little symbol that represents the 3 jewels, 4 noble truths, 5 precepts, and 8 steps of the path, just for the sake of completion). That way it’s always in my face.

This week: View
“Right view is the beginning and the end of the path, it simply means to see and to understand things as they really are and to realise the Four Noble Truth. As such, right view is the cognitive aspect of wisdom. It means to see things through, to grasp the impermanent and imperfect nature of worldly objects and ideas, and to understand the law of karma and karmic conditioning. Right view is not necessarily an intellectual capacity, just as wisdom is not just a matter of intelligence. Instead, right view is attained, sustained, and enhanced through all capacities of mind. It begins with the intuitive insight that all beings are subject to suffering and it ends with complete understanding of the true nature of all things. Since our view of the world forms our thoughts and our actions, right view yields right thoughts and right actions.” - from The Big View

Posted on Jun 28.10 to Life | No Comments »  

Woot!
Play it here.

Posted on Jun 24.10 to Technology | No Comments »  

5 things that made me happy:
* USA can still advance with a win
* Celebrating father’s day with my family
* Dog N Suds has added orange creme soda to their menu
* I found a new jogging route that I really enjoy
* Starting the week at the weight I had targeted for 18 days from now

5 things I’m going to try to do this week:
* Fix the webserver issues at work
* zazen practice
* Say less, think more
* Not-so-random acts of kindness
* Lose 5
* Bonus: Take the time to actually UNSUBSCRIBE from the emails that I delete every day.

Posted on Jun 21.10 to Life | No Comments »  

5 things that made me happy:
* My tattoo artist was cool about offering a touch-up once it heals
* Celebrating a good friend’s birthday
* My wife loved her flowers so much she made a special effort to get them home when she forgot them at work
* A fantastic (3 hour!) family nap
* Watching the True Blood season premier with old friends, and new ones, too

5 things I’m going to try to do this week:
* Keep my inbox closer to zero
* Re-dedicate myself to zazen practice
* Say less, think more
* Not-so-random acts of kindness
* Order Boom Boom Cards

Posted on Jun 14.10 to Life | No Comments »  

My 3rd

Before:

After:

Posted on Jun 01.10 to Life | No Comments »