Category Archives: Book Review

Book Review, Colorado, Exercise, Politics, Skiing

MUSINGS FOR WEDNESDAY 14TH, NOVEMBER 2018

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“You can choose courage or you can choose comfort, but you cannot have both.” – Brene Brown
“Don’t try to win over the haters.  You’re not a jackass whisper.”          – Brene Brown

 

Life is good and I cannot complain too much.  Wow what a start to ski season!! Some of the best early snow conditions for the Central and Northern Mountains of Colorado. I have already been up 5 times this year.  A few times to Loveland and a few times to A-basin.  Very nice indeed.  Now, only if the conditions can continue.  That is a big if and it remains to be seen how much moisture will fall in the next 60 days or so.  But for now, I am going to enjoy what is there and not worry too much about the future.

LOVELAND SKI AREA LOOKING WEST ON WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON NOVEMBER 7TH, 2018

FROM THE LAKE DILLON BIKE TRAIL LOOKING WEST ON WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON NOVEMBER 7TH, 2018

A-BASIN SKI AREA THURSDAY 8TH, NOVEMBER 2018

I spend a lot of my ski time in Summit County.  This is a great place in Colorado.  I like to think of it as an outdoor mecca but with all the conveniences of a modern city.  The major towns which are all somewhat close together are Dillon, Silverthorne, Frisco and Breckenridge.  The county is home to 4 major downhill ski resorts, Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, Keystone and A-Basin, not to mention a few cross-country areas.  Add in a little backcountry access and you truly have an outdoor playground.  If you like the outdoors it is a fun place to be anytime of the year.

Finished up another book this past week called “Democracy in Chains:  The deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America” by Nancy MacLean.  I found it an interesting book.  The book is about James McGill Buchanan, Charles Koch and the Libertarian Right.  Buchanan was a Nobel Prize Winner in economics.   He won the prize for what is known today as “Public Choice Theory” – the ideas on how people make or don’t make decisions in the political realm.  MacLean’s book does not really go into this too much.  She was more concerned with the idea that Buchanan saw a conflict between economic freedom and political liberty.  She paints a picture of Buchanan being secretly racist and wanting to suppressing economic freedoms and democracy for the poor to benefit the rich.  Charles Koch, a billionaire – 8th richest person in the world as of June 2018, comes into the picture when he discovers Buchanan’s work.  Koch is painted in the book as what I would call an advocate of the “Super Libertarian Right.”  The old story that less government, less corporate welfare, less government spending on social programs, health care, etc.… is the best way to improve things (but mainly for the rich).  MacLean feels that Koch saw his ideas overlapping with Buchanan’s work quite a bit and because of that, Koch and the “Libertarian Right” have been able to push their ideas forward in government based on that work.  As an example, she points out:  recently passed laws designed to cause problems with unions, the increase in privatization of schools (school vouchers), the defunding of universal health care, and threatening social security to just name a few.

The part of the book for me that I found most worrisome and disturbing is that the wealthy “Libertarian Right” does not seem to care who gets hurt in the process.  Can’t get health care for your Cancer, well too bad, better luck in the next life, need an education, well if you can’t pay for it then you don’t get it (even at the grade school level).   All this does not benefit the majority of people in the country.  Just the wealthy.  I have a few friends that persistently believe in the erroneous “Deep State” conspiracy theory ideas.  What they really need to do is read this book by MacLean.  Here is a true conspiracy that will only benefit the rich and not the majority of people in the country.  You can find the book on Amazon at:https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Chains-History-Radical-Stealth/dp/B072J2MTWT/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542005455&sr=8-1&keywords=democracy+in+chains . I got the book as an Audio Book but I think it might have been better to do the kindle edition or paperback so that you can go back and easily reread sections.

Did my first Rando race of the season yesterday (Tuesday), at A-basin.  It is part of a five-part series called Rise and Shine.  It is an uphill challenge.  Yes, you ski uphill with skins and take them off at the top and race down.  Then repeat.  This race was timed for an hour to see how many runs you could get in.  I improved some and was able to get in 3.  Last year I was only able to do about 2 in that first hour.  A chilly start for this race – the temperature in the parking lot when I arrived was 4 degrees F.  But lucky in that there was no wind.

WARM UP BEFORE THE RACE.

A CHILLY START THIS AM – 4 DEGREES F IN THE PARKING LOT!! 

At the basin it is a very low key event and really you are mainly racing against yourself.  Especially at my age.   I think that it went pretty well.  I am happy that I am just able to do it at my young age of 56.

Well I am thinking that is probably about all for me this week.  I hope every one has a great rest of the week and weekend.  Take care and hope to see you out on the trails or the ski slope!!

 

Book Review, Exercise, Life and Meaning, Skiing, Space, Truth and Perception

MUSINGS FOR MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5TH, 2018

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“Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.

Our posturing’s, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.”  – Carl Sagan

 

Damn what can I say…  It has been a really good week!!  Ski season has started and life is good!!  Got a chance to go up to Loveland Ski area on Thursday, November 1st and the snow was great.  I am hoping this winter will deliver a ton of snow.  The last couple of years have been on the wimpier side or I have just gotten used to a more abundant snowfall when my kids were little.  Not really sure.  I have not had a chance to really look at the records myself, but I do know that the “water guys” that keep track of this said that the last couple of years were not good for moisture in the mountains.  So maybe we are due?  That would be fantastic.  I used to get upset if we did not get our usual 50 inches of snow here in Fort Collins, but after living here for 30 plus years I am OK with it not snowing!  I guess I have gotten old!?  What is that about?  Where does the time go?  Lol.  Anyways – all kidding aside, if it would just dump in the mountains so to speak, then most of the state’s water woes would take care of themselves.

I have been watching a course called “The Search for Exoplanets: What Astronomers Know” and I have to say it is pretty amazing.  I did not know that the first serious science proposals of what might be out there in the rest of the Universe started in the 1940s.  I was thinking that it was much more recent.  But it truly started in the 1940s – at that time the technology of astrometry became good enough to detect planets.  Astrometry is the measurement of the position of a star on the sky, and if the star has planets, its position will wobble back and forth.  Because the technology was crude in today terms, there was conflicting evidence reported back then, so it did not get a lot of attention.  Fast forward to the late 1980s and early nineties, add in a few more techniques for detection and things start to get really serious.  In 1995 and on, the discover of exoplanets began to grow exponentially, and scientist from around the world were able to corroborate each other’s results.  This made a huge difference with the acceptance and birth of “Exoplanetary Science.”  What was once Science Fiction has now become accepted scientific fact.  It is well worth the money for the course.  It is about 12 hours of lecture divided up into 24 mini-lectures.  You can find it at the Great Courses:  https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/the-search-for-exoplanets-what-astronomers-know.html and you can find used editions on Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Search-Exoplanets-What-Astronomers-Know/dp/1629972037/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1541360656&sr=8-4&keywords=the+search+for+exoplanets+what+astronomers+know, you can do this course as a audio book or as DVD or Online streaming.

I wanted to post the above quote by Carl Sagan.  I think it really hit home with me after finishing the course.  We truly are just a speck of dust in a sunbeam.  And my guess, is that as we look for more exoplanets, we will find that we are not that special or unique.  Very, very sobering indeed.

An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet that orbits a star other than the Sun. Over 2000 exoplanets have been discovered since 1988. Specifically, 2098 planets in 1342 planetary systems including 509 multiple planetary systems as of 24 March 2016.

Well that is about it for me on this post.  I think that the Ultra season for me this year has come to an end.  Even though I did not successfully finish the Run Rabbit Run 100.  I still feel pretty good, after all it was 50 miles when I timed out and as someone much wiser than I am at times said, 50 miles is still 50 miles.  So, time to get ski season on and enjoy the snow while it is there.  I do plan on racing some shorter runs for the remainder of the year and the start of next year, mainly to work on speed.  I will let you know how it goes!

A late evening Fall afternoon in Fort Collins.

Take care my friends and maybe I will see you out there on the trails or at the ski slope!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book Review, Colorado, Psychology, Religion, Sociology

MUSINGS FOR MONDAY 29TH, OCTOBER 2018

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“You must do the things you think you cannot do.”                        Eleanor Roosevelt

“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 lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that come along.””  Eleanor Roosevelt

“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”    Eleanor Roosevelt

 

Fort Collins Sunsets – great afternoon and evening running this week!!

Well it is the end of and the beginning of another week.  This blog post was a little late in getting out due to working at the day job over the weekend AND studying for a class required by said day job.  I pull 12 hour shifts and it does not leave much time to do anything else.  Especially if you want to ensure you get an adequate amount of sleep.  It just amazes me how often I would short myself on sleep and then wonder why I got sick.  And why I thought this was a normal occurrence?!  I have become one of those anal people that track everything, including sleep.  Seven to eight hours is now the norm.  And guess what?  I do not get sick as often as I have in the past.  A definite decrease in the number of colds and viral illnesses, etc.…  I also attribute this to eating a much healthier diet than I did in the past too.  But that is a topic for another Blog post.

A great book out there on this subject.  And one, I would say needs to be put in that “read a second time category” is called “Why We Sleep” by Matthew Walker, PhD.

You can find this book at Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Sleep-Unlocking-Dreams/dp/1501144324/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1539802696&sr=8-3&keywords=why+we+sleep&dpID=51dUdCh2ZdL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch

One of the things the author goes over is sleep and how it is affected by alcohol.  It really changed my perspective on having a drink, be it beer or wine, with dinner.  I have stopped doing this except for every once in a great, great while. (like once per month) Also, he talks about how our memory is affected by the lack of REM sleep due to alcohol intake.  I call this a “hard truth” because if you are like me you grew up with alcohol being a part of family traditions so to speak and it is hard to get away from.  After reading the book, I think of all the nights of burning the candle at both ends, drinking, staying up late, etc.… and how in reality this was a total waste of time.  I truly believe that it prematurely aged me physically.  Unfortunately, there is nothing I can do about changing the past but to go forward with better lifestyle habits.

And for shift workers that do night shifts.  In my opinion they do not get paid enough.  Truly, for all the individuals that work nights, I would go as far as to say you need to get paid time and half.  Great book.  Well worth the read or two.

 

Another book that I think is a good read is called the “The Book of Joy” by Douglas Carlton Abrams, the Dalai Lama, and Desmond Tutu.  It is basically an interview and discourse between two “Spiritual masters” that have very different back grounds but do share the one common element of having faced and survived significant adversity in their lives.  The Dalai Lama’s persecution by the Chinese and Desmond Tutu’s struggle with the South African Government and Apartheid.

 

One of the reasons I believe the book is interesting is that they both come from two different religious backgrounds.  One is Buddhist and one is Christian.  When asked questions, their answers are not that far apart from each other.  Obliviously there are some major “religious dogma” differences but philosophically they are very close in the advice they give.  The other part of this book that I found inspiring was how they came to grips with the adversity and still found joy and what appears to be lasting happiness.  I listened to the book as an audio book while running but it might be better to purchase it as regular print so that you can go back and reread a section or two.

You can find the book at Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Book-Joy-Lasting-Happiness-Changing/dp/0399185046/ref=sr_1_1/135-8262170-6644902?ie=UTF8&qid=1540750504&sr=8-1&keywords=dalai+lama+joy+book

 

Almost done with the current drawing.  Getting closer…  Lol.

Winter is coming and the squirrels are scarfing food where ever they can find it.  Lol

Well that is about it for me.  Hope you get a change to read the above two books.  They are defiantly worth the effort.  Have a great week and may life be good for you.   See you out there on the trails!!

Art, Book Review, Meditations, Psychology

MUSINGS FOR MONDAY 15TH, OCTOBER 2018

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“My goal is to be better than I was yesterday.  To improve myself.  To enrich my life.  I am running my own race.  I compete with no one but myself.  This is my journey.”  – Unknown?

First snow for winter 2018 – about 8 inches at our location.

Well it has been another good week.  Winter has made an appearance in Colorado.  With the cold came the added bonus of moisture and that is something we needed on the Front Range.  Fort Collins is considered High Plains Desert and we were about 5 inches behind in total moisture content.  So, any that fell this past week was a really good thing.  When you only get about 14 inches total per year, five inches is a lot to be missing.  The only down side for me was not being able to work on outdoor projects around the house but this turned out to be nothing too serious.  I will take the snow and rain that fell last week and this weekend.

I was reading a book from the author Seth Godin.  I had not heard of him and found a quote by him just by accident.

“Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don’t need to escape from.”

I thought this was kind of interesting.  If you are like me you are always looking for the next vacation.  Where to go and what to do.  So, this quote got me to thinking.  We are always trying to do something different.  Never being truly where we are at the moment.  Thinking ahead to what is next and around the corner.  Now this can be a good thing but doing it all the time is not the road I believe that leads to happiness.  Maybe we have it all wrong.  This quote got me to reevaluate my life to see what I needed to keep and what I needed to cut.  You might find it surprising that something on the surface you will think that you need to cut but it may not be that way down deep.  It might be the best thing to keep.

You can find the book at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Icarus-Deception-How-High-Will/dp/1591846072/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539652230&sr=8-1&keywords=icarus+deception

The book is good enough to be placed in the “It warrants a second read category”.  A part of the book that really resonated with me was Seth talking about “Being your own boss.”  Whether you are self-employed or not.  I think that we see this quote a lot.  And only think of it in terms of having our own business.  But do we really know what it means to be our own boss?  That was the question I found most intriguing.  I will say it a second time, “Do we really know what it means to be our own boss?” What I found was that my understanding of the phrase was very limited.

What a difference a day makes!!  View from the Powerline Trail in Fort Collins.

Now I am in the fifth decade of my life and I can look back at all the bosses I have had – some good, some that were excellent and some that…, well they were not that great.  Think about that for a moment.  If you are like me you have had a multitude of bosses.  What were they really like?  How did you perform with each boss?  Did you enjoy going to work?  Did the type of boss influence how you felt about work?  Did it affect your job performance?  NOW see yourself as “your own boss.”  And ask yourself “What Kind of Boss Do You Want to Be?”  You don’t have to be self-employed to ask this question.  That idea of asking the question even if you are not self-employed changed the perspective dramatically for me.

One of the Prospect Ponds.

Think about this, if you were given the responsibility of managing one employee.  To control everything in their life.  And your sole job was to make the business and that one employee as successful as possible.  What would you do?  How would you act towards that one employee?  Would you be the best boss that you could be?  Or would you be the boss that everyone wants to get away from? No one wants to work for?  Good questions and worth pondering.

Poudre River Trail.

NOW see yourself as that one employee.  That’s right, you are the employee and you are your own boss.  They are one and the same.  If you are like me, this changes the whole perspective.  I want to be the best possible boss that I can be.  And in turn I want to be the model employee, the best employee, for that boss!  If you can put yourself in the duel role of boss and employee, at the same time, it will change how you see and perceive your life.  What a daunting and awesome responsibility.  How would it change your behavior toward yourself and others?  It is one of those things that I wish I could have understood much sooner in life.  As the old saying goes “We are our own worst enemies.”  All of us.  Understanding of “You are your own boss” is one way to get past this worst enemy conundrum.  I believe that this is a step in the right direction on the path to happiness.

September 20th

October 5th

October 15th, 2018

Well that is about it for me.  The latest heart picture is getting closer to completion.  Hope everyone had a great weekend.  Maybe I will see you out there on the trails!!  Adios amigos!!

Art, Book Review, Colorado, Meditations, Psychology, Truth and Perception

MUSINGS FOR MONDAY 8TH, OCTOBER 2018

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“Buddhism does not advocate faith in the sense of believing something because it is written in a book, attributed to a prophet, or taught to you by some authority figure.  The meaning of faith here is closer to confidence.  It is knowing that something is true because you have seen it work, because you have observed that very thing within yourself.  In the same way, morality is not a ritualistic obedience to a code of behavior imposed by an external authority.  It is rather a healthy habit pattern that you have consciously and voluntarily chosen to impose upon yourself because you recognize its superiority to your present behavior.” 

– Mindfulness in Plain English, by Bhante Gunaratana

FALL 2018 – LEAVES ARE CHANGING IN FORT COLLINS!!

Well it has been a good week.  Again, I really cannot complain.  Life is good.  It is not perfect, but what is?  Everything is changing and nothing is static for long.  Change is the only constant.

LAST CORD OF A 4 CORD TOTAL!!

I have continued this week to put up firewood for the winter.  Four cords total.  Good to get it done early and to be ready when the snow and cold temperatures come.

JULY 26TH

AUGUST 13TH

SEPTEMBER 3RD

OCTOBER 5TH

Finished the deck above the garage, but still working on the structure above the garage deck.  This has taken me some time.  As you can see by the dates and the above photos.  But when it is done I think it will be worth the effort.  I will show some photos when it is finally finished.  Trying to get it done before Thanksgiving. Lol.

I have started to reread a book this year called:  MINDFULNESS in PLAIN ENGLISH, by Bhante Gunaratana.  This will be the fourth time I have read it.  It is an excellent book on Meditation and Mindfulness.  This is one of those books that rereading it at least once a year is something you want to make a habit of.  It is that good.  Truly if you want to be able to enjoy life more, no matter what your circumstances are or what is going on in the world, this could be the single most important book you could read this year.  The book is a very readable down to earth look at what meditation is and is not.  A nuts and bolts book that “Westerners” can understand.

The book itself is about 196 pages not counting the Index.  Every time I have read this book I come across something new or more likely, “understand” better what the author is talking about.  I am not a religious or spiritual person.  In fact, I am an Atheist.  And that is what drew me to Buddhism.  I know that might sound funny to some but I see Buddhism as a form of philosophy that has been tried and tested over millennia with no “Divine Authority Needed.”  The purpose of meditation is personal transformation.  The person that goes into “meditation” so to speak is not the same person that comes out.  You can use these same techniques in meditation no matter what religion you are.  Or you don’t even have to have a religion like me.  It will work for anyone if they give it thoughtful consideration.  Just to be clear I am talking about vipassana meditation.

From the book: “In vipassana meditation we cultivate this special way of seeing life.  We train ourselves to see reality exactly as it is, and we call this special mode of perception mindfulness.  This process of mindfulness is really quite different from what we usually do.  We usually do not look into what is actually there in front of us.  We see life through a screen of thoughts and concepts, and we mistake those mental objects for reality.  We get so caught up in this endless thought-stream that reality flows by unnoticed.  We spend our time engrossed in activity, caught up in eternal pursuit of pleasure and gratification and eternal flight from pain and unpleasantness.  We spend all of our energies trying to make ourselves feel better, trying to bury our fears, endlessly seeking security.  Meanwhile, the world of real experience flows by untouched and untasted.  In vipassana meditation we train ourselves to ignore the constant impulses to be more comfortable, and we dive into reality instead.  The irony of it is that real peace comes only when you stop chasing it.”

I think of the above as “turning in” to what is happening around you.  Not to try and run from unpleasant situations or thoughts but turning in towards them.  This is not a doctrine you need to drill into yourself, but an observable reality that with practice you can see for yourself.  The idea is to make the “mindfulness” so common place that you do it without really thinking about it, no matter the situation.  This part of mindfulness that has taken me a long time to master and I am still working on it.  The idea of: “Don’t confuse Training Conditions with Real World Situations/Actions.”  When the proverbial “Shit hits the fan” conditions occur in my life – I still fall back into old habit patterns and forget all about mindfulness practice.

From the Book: “One of the most difficult things to learn is that mindfulness is not dependent on any emotional or mental state.  We have certain images of meditation.  Meditation is something done in quiet caves by tranquil people who move slowly.  Those are training conditions.  They are set up to foster concentration and to learn the skill of mindfulness.  Once you have learned that skill, however, you can dispense with the training restrictions, and you should.  You don’t need to move at a snail’s pace to be mindful.  You don’t even need to be calm.  You can be mindful while solving problems in intensive calculus.  You can be mindful in the middle of a football scrimmage.  You can even be mindful in the midst of a raging fury.  Mental and physical activities are no bar to mindfulness.  If you find your mind extremely active, then simply observe the nature and degree of that activity.  It is just a part of the passing show within.” 

You can download the book as PDF off the web.  Yes, it is free. (my first time to read it) I found that it was so good, I went ahead and bought a copy from Amazon.  https://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-Plain-English-Revised-Expanded/dp/0861713214/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0/145-7252461-2444901?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=68396RBSG0293KGXVV6C

Well that is about it for me this week.  But one last thing.  The most recent heart picture is coming along.  Slowly but surely.

SEPTEMBER 20TH

OCTOBER 5TH

Take care my friends and I hope see you out there on the trails!!

 

Book Review, Life and Meaning, Psychology, Religion

MUSINGS FOR MONDAY, AUGUST 6TH, 2018

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“Practice at any stage is just being who we are at that moment.  It’s not a question of being good or bad, or better or worse.” – From the book of Everyday Zen by Charlotte Joko Beck

Wow!!  This is my 14th post this year and that is saying a lot for me.  I hope that I am getting better at this and not boring you dear reader too much.  I like writing a blog and I am trying to make it a habit.  Funny how “BAD” habits come much more easily than the ones  you want to incorporate as good habits….  Well…. They seem to come a lot harder!! What is that about??  LOL- I did find  a book this summer that helps with this.  A book by the author Stephen Guise.

Stephen gives us a strategy to help develop habits that we want for lasting change.  I think that we do some of these behaviors already but because we don’t have a systematic way of doing them we don’t get lasting or consistent results.  In writing the book Stephen tells his own story of how he came to this realization and helps you to see how it can work for you.  From the book:  “A mini habit is a very small positive behavior that you force yourself to do every day; a mini habit’s “too small to fail” nature makes it weightless, deceptively powerful, and a superior habit building strategy.”  He goes on to explain that the problem is not with you.  It is your strategy.  And this is where the trouble begins in trying to achieve a goal.  I first listened to this book as an audio book and was so impressed with its simplicity and message that I bought the paper back version so that I could read it again and to have for easy reference.  This is a down side of audio books – no easy reference.  You can find the book at Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Mini-Habits-Smaller-Bigger-Results-ebook/dp/B00HGKNBDK/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1533228099&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=mini+habits&psc=1

On a different note.  I did see in the news that the Attorney General of the United States – Jeff Scession created what he calls a “Religious Liberty Task Force.” The idea I guess is to protect religious freedoms.  But I am wondering whose religious freedoms and if your flavor of religious mythology does not go with my flavor of religious mythology does that give you the right to discriminate against me?  I believe that the quote from Rachana Desai Martin hits it on the head.  And this will be “Interesting” to see how this plays out in the future.

“This is just another in a long line of thinly veiled attempts by this administration to sanction discrimination in health care, often to the detriment to the health and rights of women, the LGBTQ community and other communities,” said Rachana Desai Martin, a federal policy advisor for the Center for Reproductive Rights.

I have come to believe that all religion is mythology.  People try to say that there is a difference but I think Joseph Campbell was right – “They are one and the same.”

 

I remember watching a lecture by him and he was talking about the “biggest religion on earth” and that got my attention because it was not what you thought it was going to be.  He stated, if I remember right, by saying that all religion is mythology.  And the “one mythology” that all cultures on earth believe in, all cultures accept, and the only one that has ever come true??  Then he pauses and keeps you in suspense for a moment…  He finally states:  “It is Science Fiction.”  And I am thinking What??  He then goes on to explain how SF is all mythology – it is all made up in the minds of men and women, just like religion.  The only difference is that all cultures at some point have practiced it, still believe in it and most of all, it occasionally comes true.  Every thing that we take for granted in the world today, from the technological to the social,  was once just a thought in someone’s mind.  Again you might be thinking What??  It does take a little time to get your head around it.  The first thing is to come to the realization that SF covers everything in life.  From the Scientific to the Social, not just Robots and Spaceships, but all of the human condition.  SF is the world’s largest and greatest unrecognized religion.  Oh well, interesting idea when you start to think about it.

You can find lots and lots of books on Amazon that touch on this thought.

Well I think that this is going to be it for me.  It has been a good week running but still a lot of smoke in the area from California wildfires.  I guess it could always be worse. So, until next time.  Adios Amigos!!  And I hope to see you out there!!

Book Review

MUSINGS FOR WEDNESDAY 11TH, JULY 2018

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It has been a good start for the month of July.  I hope that everyone had a great 4th!!  May the rains come to Colorado and the West to help with this year’s fire season.  It has already started out with a bang.  Hopefully the monsoonal moisture will kick in and put the fires out before they do too much damage.  It is interesting to note that fires have always been a part of the forest landscape.  It is only when people have moved into these areas that were once uninhabited or at best temporarily inhabited that it has become more of an issue.  It has been estimated that there are about 100,000 wildfires or forest fires each year.  This includes areas that you might not consider “Forested” but more like grass lands with low bushes and tall grasses.  Think West Texas and Western Oklahoma.  These fires clear anywhere from 4 to 5 million acres of land in the U.S. every year.  (This information is from NGS).  What this tells me is that if you live in a forest or a wildland area, it is not a matter if a forest fire will happen, but when.

Well on a different note.  I finished up a couple of books in the last few weeks and I think they are worth mentioning.  The first one is called “The Stranger in the Woods” – The extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit.  By Michael Finkel.  This one was published in 2017.  It is the story of Christopher Knight, who lived as a hermit in the Maine woods for 27 years.  In this time frame he did not have a conversation with another person.  Finkel tells the story of this unique individual and in the process explores the possible reasons and history of people that became “Hermits.”  This is an easy read and well worth a look for a quick summer book while on vacation.  Humans are very social animals, so I find it fascinating when one of the tribe wants to go off the reservation and disappear.  You can find it at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Stranger-Woods-Extraordinary-Story-Hermit/dp/1101911530/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1530810054&sr=8-1&keywords=the+stranger+in+the+woods

The next book is called “The Hidden Life of TREES” – What They Feel, How They Communicate.  By Peter Wohlleben.  I have a minor in Botany but have not really kept up with any new research in the plant world other than bits and pieces here and there.  So, I was curious about this book when it came out in 2016.  I have to say that after reading it “AMAZING.”  I don’t think that I will ever walk through the forest the same way again.  It is almost like something out of the movie “Avatar” by James Cameron.  Wohlleben talks about the forest as a true social network.  That trees talk with each other, share nutrients with those that are struggling and warn each other of impending dangers.  He goes on to make the point that their behavior can be likened to human families.  And on an environmental note, he talks about the best practices in harvesting trees and how our current system could be made much better and more humane for the trees.  This was a real eye opener for me.  Just the fact that the trees could be considered more than just a thing?!  An actual living, breathing, thinking entity.  Think of “Treebeard” in Lord of the Rings!  Just crazy, it puts the forest in a whole different “light.”  You can find the book at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Life-Trees-Communicate_Discoveries-Secret/dp/1771642483/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1531110619&sr=8-1&keywords=the+hidden+life+of+trees+by+peter+wohlleben

The last book is called “Reality is Not What It Seems” – The Journey to Quantum Gravity.  By Carlo Rovelli and Simon Carnell.  I am always on the lookout for books that help to make sense of the quantum world.  I had not read this author before but his name popped up in Amazon’s recommended books.  And I am glad that I took a chance on this one.  This book came out in 2017.  Rovelli is an Italian Theoretical Physicist and seems to have a way with words when it comes to helping the curious layperson with complex subjects.  Rovelli gives a brief history of the two Modern Physics redoubts, The Theory of General Relativity and Quantum Theory.  Both can be very hard to understand for the layperson.  The rest of the book is about Quantum Gravity and Information Theory.  I have read other books and watched videos on these subjects and still not quite understood what I have read or watched.  I did not feel this way with Rovelli.  And this is where the beauty of the book comes into play.  I highly recommend this book if you want to “START” to know more about these subjects.  They are very complex and can be confusing.  Even Einstein had trouble accepting some of these ideas.  You can find the book at Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Reality-Not-What-Seems-Journey/dp/0735213933/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1531115291&sr=8-1&keywords=reality+is+not+what+it+seems+carlo+rovelli&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&dpID=51T0lHa9wkL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch

Well that is about it for me this week.  Had a great trail run up to Blue Lake yesterday.  Lots of water crossings, which I take as a good sign that not all of the forest in Colorado are in drought conditions.  Take care, have fun out there and see ya next week!!

 

Book Review, Exercise, Meditations

MUSINGS FOR SATURDAY 9TH, JUNE 2018

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Plunge Your Whole Life into What You Are Doing

“Just as when you sit in meditation you just sit, when you sleep, be aware of the totality of your whole being going to sleep.  When walking, you just walk.  When you eat, you are right there just eating.  Plunge your whole life into what you are doing at that very moment and live that way.  So, we train ourselves to engage our whole being in what we are doing.  Whether sitting or eating, you are not engaged in discursive, wandering, or deluded thoughts.  All of you—environment, body, and mind—is right there.  Whatever you do, whatever the task at hand, your whole life is there at that moment.

Some people may interpret plunging your whole being into the practice or into the task at hand as a very tense approach.  This is incorrect.  By putting your whole being into whatever you are doing, you are also being relieved from doing anything else at that moment.  Therefore, when you are doing that one thing, that is all you have to care about, and you can do it in a very relaxed manner and attitude.  In this light, you will better understand the meaning of engaging your whole being in the present task.  This is the relaxed and reposed attitude to practice.”

Excerpted from:  The Method of No-Method:  The Chan Practice of Silent Illumination by Chan Master Sheng Yen

 

Life has been good this week and I cannot complain too much…  Worked Monday and Tuesday at the day job (night shift) and now I am off for a little bit and that is a good thing.  Taking a little vacation with Janet.  We both decided to do a road trip and use the new car.  Should be fun.  I will post pictures in the next Blog post to let you know how it is going or not…  LOL

Well…. started to do a little bit of walking and running this past week.  And it felt great to get out.  I was happy that the injured hip did not seem to give me too much pain and I will continue to build back up slowly over the next couple of weeks.  Thinking about this, I am wondering if I just pushed it too much with the Yoga while doing hip openers?  I think that might be the original cause.  Get a small muscle tear or micro tear that you really don’t feel much but then put some running on it… and voila’ you have a full tear?  Funny it all comes down to moderation.  Too much of this or that and not enough of something else and damn?!  Your injured!

Soooooo, going forward I plan on this, one or two days, of a 9-day training cycle, do some Mountain Biking.  Yoga only on 2 days during the training cycle and not every other day (like I was doing).  And to gently ease back into harder running on trails.  Sounds simple….  Right?  Right?  Ah… the best laid plans of mice and men!!  LOL

Still bummed about missing the Dirty Thirty Ultra.  But better early in the season than late.  I really want to see if I can accomplish two distances this summer, first one is the 100k (July – Never Summer 100k) and the second is the 100 miler (September – Run Rabbit Run 100).

Love the quote that started today’s blog.  It struck a cord with me these past few weeks.  So hard to keep the mind focused.  We have many, many distractions in this day and age.  Especially living in a first world country.  To be so fortunate, it presents incredible opportunities and if not managed correctly it can be a curse.  One way to help with this is the practice of Mindfulness and Meditation.  For about 5 years now I have been practicing both.  And that is what it is – a practice.  There is no endpoint.  You don’t have to be Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Atheist, etc.….  To practice.   Mindfulness meditation works with all religions and it works with no religion.  It will over time improve the quality of your life.  It has mine.  So, I would feel remiss if I did not share this with you.  If you are a little bit interested or even just a little curious one of the best books out there to get started is called “Mindfulness in Plain English” by Bhante Gunaratana.  I have read it a couple of times now and that is saying a lot from me.   Funny, here is a tradition that goes back 1000s of years and it is more relevant today than ever before.  The link to Amazon is https://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-English-Bhante-Henepola-Gunaratana/dp/0861719069/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1528561458&sr=8-1&keywords=mindfulness+in+plain+english&dpID=516m8PpEPYL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch

This book can help start you on a path that will or could, if you let it, change your life.  No matter what walk of life you are from.  No matter what your background might be.  It only requires a small amount of time each day and a willingness to be patient.  It is not a get-rich-quick scheme for life.  But a slow, steady progression that with time is immensely rewarding.  Have you ever wondered why there is a waiting list to get into a Buddhist Monastery or Nunnery? They give up all worldly possessions.  They have nothing.  Even your next meal is not guaranteed.  And yet, there is a waiting list to get in!  Now contrast that with a prison, three meals per day, TV, Radio, Reading material, Education, Health Care, Conjugal visits in some cases, etc.…. but no waiting list to get in?? LOL

From the book: “Meditation is called the Great Teacher.  It is the cleansing crucible fire that works slowly but surely, through understanding.  The greater your understanding, the more flexible and tolerant, the more compassionate you can be.  You become like a perfect parent or an ideal teacher.  You are ready to forgive and forget.  You feel love toward others because you understand them, and you understand others because you have understood yourself.  You have looked deeply inside and seen self-illusion and your own human failings, seen your own humanity and learned to forgive and to love.  When you have learned compassion for yourself, compassion for others is automatic.  An accomplished meditator has achieved a profound understanding of life, and he or she inevitably relates to the world with a deep and uncritical love.”

Well, with that thought, I think that is it for me this week.  Hope everyone has a great weekend. Adios amigos!!

 

 

 

 

 

Book Review, Exercise, Psychology, Quad Rock 50, Trail Running

Musing for Friday 11th, May 2018

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Well it’s has been a good week. Lots of resting and waiting and wondering what ifs!!?? The Quad Rock 50 is on Saturday. Did I do enough training, did I do enough specific training… hill work, long steady distance, Aerobic Threshold, Lactate Threshold, and Aerobic Capacity, etc.…. Did I do enough so that I can finish?? Again, I think back to the Ajahn Brahm quote:

“Doing a task is usually easy. Thinking about a task makes it hard.”

So true and add to this the weather change that could be an issue on Saturday AM. Colder and wet? 10 days ago, the forecast was going to be 75 degrees and dry, but now as the time approaches it looks like the best models show a low in the 40s with a high in the 50s and rain? Oh well at least it will be cool but I would prefer not to run in the rain. The muddy trails add some issues but I think this is something to get use to. The unpredictable nature of Ultra Running in the mountains. I do know that once I am doing it……then all this thinking, thinking, thinking and more thinking becomes academic… I am out there doing it.

One of the books that I have read this year is by Matt Fitzgerald called RUN – The Mind-Body Method of RUNNING BY FEEL. I liked the book a lot. For me there were some very useful sections. Chapter 10 was one those. It is titled Anger, Fear, and Speed. Specifically, it was the section that talked about the “Fear of Failure” and the anxiety that it induces. I used to think that the anxiety I experienced days before an event was a bad thing. I would spend countless hours in the days leading up to an event trying to find ways of lessening the anxiety. Not really facing it. And the anxiety would get worse, to the point that I would talk myself out of running. Even after spending countless hours training and planning.

Matt helped me to see the anxiety from an Existentialist view. It is just a symptom or sign that you are challenging yourself. The anxiety is about you pushing yourself into this situation. It is a call to work through the anxiety, fully embracing it, instead of taking the easy way out and just trying to make it go away. By facing the anxiety, the challenge of the race, the pain, you strengthen the core of who you are. It is a chance to step up to what sounds impossible, run 50 miles in my case, and make it possible. The opportunity to move beyond where you are now and become who you see yourself as being. To become more authentic so to speak. And you do this by facing the anxiety, struggling with the anxiety, wrestling with it, and in the end make your decision to race. Success or failure, win or lose, does not really matter, it is that you went to the “abyss” and returned a different person.

You can find the book at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/RUN-Mind-Body-Method-Running-Feel/dp/1934030570

On another note I have been working on getting the garden planted. Always a little iffy at this time of year. Colorado weather this time of year can be a little schizophrenic. Warm and dry one day and cold and snow the next. Last year we had a late spring snow. That caused me to have to replant a lot of things. Usually if the forecast is good through Mother’s Day then you are good to go. Last year I believe it was after Mother’s Day that it snowed. I am risking it again this year but except for the rain and cold on Saturday it seems that the temps will stay above freezing.

Tomatoes and peppers

 

Strawberries

Blueberries

Raspberries

Blackberries – hard to see them with all the other vegetation.

I moved all of the garden plants to the front yard this year. Not enough sun in the backyard when the Ash tree is all leafed out. So hopefully we will get a good crop of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and strawberries. I also planted several raspberry bushes and black berry bushes. So, it will be interesting to see how it all grows this year.

More peppers with cucumbers and lavender and you can just barely see catnip.

I did plant more lavender this year to attract more bees and winged insects. The catnip plant is coming back with force again this year. I had to prune it back multi times last summer.

The Yarrow and Russian Sage is starting out nicely too.

Well that is the start of the garden this year. As things progress or not I will post more photos. I am hoping that I can coax it along and get a pretty good crop. Now I know it is a lot easier to just go to “Whole Paycheck” or one of the Farmer Markets in Fort Collins to get vegetables. But there is something satisfifying about growing your own food. My parents for several years had a garden and I remember picking peas and green beans as a kid. Maybe that is part of the draw? I am not sure. Or maybe it is just my way of being different… putting it in the front yard for all to see?? Never liked mowing grass and if I could I would cover the entire yard with raised garden beds. I am sure that the homeowners association would love that… Oh well I think that is it for me this time. See ya next Friday.

One last picture….How I feel about running right now!!

 

 

 

Book Review

HILLBILLY ELEGY – A memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, by J.D. Vance

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December 10th, Saturday 2016

“If you believe that hard work pays off, then you work hard; if you think it’s hard to get ahead even when you try, then why try at all? Similarly, when people do fail, this mind-set allows them to look outward. I once ran into an old acquaintance at a Middletown bar who told me that he had recently quit his job because he was sick of waking up early. I later saw him complaining on Facebook about the “Obama economy” and how it had affected his life. I don’t doubt that the Obama economy has affected many, but this man is assuredly not among them. His status in life is directly attributable to the choices he’s made, and his life will improve only through better decisions. But for him to make better choices, he needs to live in an environment that forces him to ask tough questions about himself. There is a cultural movement in the white working class to blame problems on society or the government, and that movement gains adherents by the day.”
― J.D. Vance, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis

“What separates the successful from the unsuccessful are the expectations that they had for their own lives. Yet the message of the right is increasingly: It’s not your fault that you’re a loser; it’s the government’s fault.”

― J.D. Vance, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis

“There is no group of Americans more pessimistic than working-class whites. Well over half of blacks, Latinos, and college-educated whites expect that their children will fare better economically than they have. Among working-class whites, only 44 percent share that expectation.”
― J.D. Vance, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis

“Barack Obama strikes at the heart of our deepest insecurities. He is a good father while many of us aren’t. He wears suits to his job while we wear overalls, if we’re lucky enough to have a job at all. His wife tells us that we shouldn’t be feeding our children certain foods, and we hate her for it—not because we think she’s wrong but because we know she’s right.”

― J.D. Vance, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis


Excellent book – Vance writes about the problems of the white lower economic class of America. He comes off very direct and honest in telling his tale of growing up in Kentucky and Ohio. I think it is one thing to research an area or class in the United States but quite another to actually have lived it as a kid. The book helped me to get a better understanding of the problems facing lower social economic status whites. Joblessness, divorce, substance abuse, poverty, etc.… these issues are a fact of everyday life for the characters in the book. Working where I do I have some understanding of these issues but at the same time I did not appreciate some of the finer details. And how these issues change people’s beliefs and attitudes. This book is a must read for those who want to better understand the issues that surround this group in America. It is available at Amazon for about 12.25 in paperback.

https://www.amazon.com/Hillbilly-Elegy-Memoir-Family-Culture/dp/0062300547/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481359111&sr=8-1&keywords=hillbilly+elegy

The picture below is from skiing at A-Basin last Monday 12/5 – the snow is finally starting to fall!!