“One of the most freeing insights of meditation practice is realizing that the only power thoughts have is the power that we give them.” Joseph Goldstein

“Every time we become aware of a thought, as opposed to being lost in a thought, we experience that opening of the mind.” Joseph Goldstein

“Thoughts should not be treated as obstacles or hindrances. They are just another object of mindfulness, another object of meditation. Don’t let the mind become lazy and drift along. Make the effort for a great deal of clarity with respect to what’s happening in this moment.” Joseph Goldstein

“The light of a single candle can dispel the darkness of a thousand years.” Joseph Goldstein

“If we can’t think for ourselves, if we’re unwilling to question authority, then we’re just putty in the hands of those in power. But if the citizens are educated and form their own opinions, then those in power work for us. In every country, we should be teaching our children the scientific method and the reasons for a Bill of Rights. With it comes a certain decency, humility and community spirit. In the demon-haunted world that we inhabit by virtue of being human, this may be all that stands between us and the enveloping darkness.” Carl Sagan

HEY!! I AM LOOKING AT YOU!! THAT’S WHO!! LOLOLOLOLOL

If your reading this then you have continued to survive Covid – 19. And so have I!! Damn, that is a very, very good thing for both of us!! Therefore life continues to be good and I cannot complain too much at the moment. Looking at the numbers during the first week of September, the good old USA had decreased in the number of positive cases added each day. Back during the first week of August we were adding 40 to 50 thousand new patients each day and now we are down to about 30 thousand new cases per day. That is an improvement. Florida, California and Texas were leading the way again with said new case totals. The total death count at the first of September for all of the USA was 188,000. By the time this was published the count was at 207,000. Hard to believe that the first known death was at the first of February this year and at the end of September we are at 207,000 fatalities! Just unreal when you think about it. In just 8 months. Wow in a bad way. I am wonder where we will be in a years’ time?? If you want to see the numbers for yourself check out this link: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

Well I hate to say that I told you so but, I told you so. Or at least that is what I told some supporters of the ODT. Back about 7 months ago I told several friends, that myself and several others in the medical community were very concerned about the response and down playing of Covid from the ODT and his administration. And low and behold, not only did the ODT confirm that he knew all about the seriousness of it, that he actually down played it to the American People. Lied to people. And people have died. The crazy part of all of this is the ODT actually told on tape, to Bob Woodward, how dangerous, airborne, highly contagious and more deadly than even your strenuous flus, in his own words!? This was on February 7th. Which probably means the ODT knew about it weeks before back in January. I bring this up because most of the stuff between the Reps and Dems is just politics. Both wanting to fix a problem, but going about it in different ways. And that is “just politics” and human nature. BUT this, this is something on the scale of mass murder. It is not even involuntary manslaughter because he knew. It is not about politics. The ODT knew how deadly the virus was and he let people die. I have to ask myself if I was running for president would I even want the job after the “mess” it has become? No matter who gets elected, the house is going to come crashing down sooner or later without a lot of repair. Oh well, enough said for now.

Well due to the continued lack of rain, the Cameron Peak fire has continued to burn in my area of Colorado. We did get a little relief the first week of September with Snow in the high country and on the front range. By the time of publishing the fire was at 105,000 acres. On the last blog post (August 28th) the fire was at 23,000 acres so you can do the math yourself and see how large it has grown. I believe that the only part of the landscape left that I photographed over the preceding weeks and months is the very highest peaks and passes. Not much tree cover there and what did burn should come back quickly as opposed to the lush meadows, pine and spruce forest. It will be interesting to see what is left next summer. Hopefully there will be some terrain that has not burned and can be skied later this winter. That is assuming the fire goes out and highway 14 opens back up. If you want to learn more about the fire visit: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/6964/

While the fire was burning with the heat and lack of rain in August, I did find another fairly close place to do a little trail running. This is an often over looked area by Colorado residents and it is located in Wyoming. Specifically I did a little exploration in the Snowy Range area West of Laramie in the Medicine Bow National Forest. Marvin and I were able to get in a few runs in this area. Unfortunately by September the smoke in the Northern half of Colorado and Southern Wyoming had gotten bad enough that it was not worth the risk. And this brings up another topic, “Air Quality.”

I did see a lot of friends on Strava that were exercising in really low quality air. This is something that I am not willing to do and I have to wonder what this will mean for them further down the road? PM 2.5 or particulate matter 2.5 microns or smaller can really play havoc on all the bodies systems over time. It is a misconception that it just stays in the lungs. Recent research in the last few years has shown that it can cause or make worse, lung cancer, heart attacks, asthma attacks, and other cardiovascular / respiratory diseases. One study showed that it can affect pregnant mothers and the unborn.

There is a great web site that can help you decided if you need to mask up (think N95) for air quality or just stay in doors and use the treadmill or exercise bike. It is called “Purple Air.” They do “real time” monitoring of air quality by selling monitors to the general public and linking them all over the world. This is a fantastic idea because you are no longer dependent on the federal or state government to tell you when the quality of the air is bad. And it helps to bring attention to an often over looked aspect of our environment that affects us all. AND that knowledge is powerful. Check out their map at this link: https://www.purpleair.com/map?opt=1/mAQI/a10/cC0#11/40.5506/-105.0492

My personnel opinion is that if you don’t have an N95 mask or are unwilling to mask up on the bad air quality days then say inside. What is the point of staying healthy with exercise, diet, sleep, etc… if you are going to wreck your body by running /biking in poor quality air? Here is a short article about this topic from Trail Runner Mag: https://trailrunnermag.com/training/should-you-run-in-smoky-air-probably-not.html

Due to the smoke issues and fires, my trail days were very limited in September. I have gotten in the habit of looking at the air quality and deciding how much running and/or lower intensity walking I do. Somedays it is just better to use the trainer in doors. Also I take into account the dog. Unfortunately it is very difficult to make a N95 mask for a dog that works with running, even walking. Oh well this is just a blip in the general order of things? Or that is what I hope! Lol.

A couple of book reviews before wrapping up. There are several that I have finished in the last month or two and I would like to give recommendations on them.

The first book I would like to take about is called “Driving While Black” by Gretchen Sorin. This is an informative and interesting read if you want to learn about how the automobile changed African American reality. And in a good way. The author weaves together the history of how transportation and the Jim Crow laws interacted with each other. Remember that the Jim Crow Laws were a way to enforce racial segregation in the United States, mainly in the Southern States. I had to look it up again to refamiliarize myself with what they were and I did not realized that they were enforced officially until 1965. I am guessing that unofficially these practices went on for much, much longer. As a white person there are so many freedoms that I take for granted and Gretchen opened my eyes to this. Especially with travel in the good old USA. In the book, she gives an easy to follow narrative of why cars came to hold an importance for black families that white people would not even think twice about due to fact that their white. For African Americans, the automobile opened up a whole new way of circumventing the entrenched racial hatred in society. The book reminded me of a scene from the movie “Forest Gump” in which he is in Washington and meets up with his Jenny and her boyfriend in a building with a couple of very loud and very angry Black Panther members. And I always thought “why are these guys being portrayed as so angry.” Gretchen’s book has helped me to see why. And if the roles were reversed I would be very angry too. I listened to this book as an audio book but it would work in any format.

The next book I would like to talk about is called “Scale” and is written by Geoffrey West. It is defiantly one for the math and science nerds out there. You know who you are. The book was written a few years ago but the laws of physics have not changed in that time. Lol. All kidding aside. This is an great book in which Geoffrey, a theoretical physicist, shows how scale plays a role in all of nature. Some of it is very intuitive but a lot of it is not. And that is where it becomes interesting. It does make you stop and think. I listened to this book as an audio book but I am thinking it might have been better to read it in traditional format so that you can easily come back to sections and reread again. This is not an easy book to get through. It is one to take your time with and it might mean that you have to go back and look up some topics before moving forward. The book covers a very large section of topics and how scale and complexity play a role in it all.

The last book I would like to talk about is what I call a “Brain Bubble Gum” book. One to just enjoy for the story it tells and maybe ponder the “What if’s” that are always present in science. Of course it is a Science Fiction Book and goes by the title called “We Are Legion (We Are Bob).” Written by Dennis E. Taylor. It is the first part of a series of books. The book is about 4 or 5 years old but tells a good story. I got this book as an audio book and I have not been disappointed. The amazon description does a good job of introducing the story: “Bob Johansson has just sold his software company for a small fortune and is looking forward to a life of leisure. The first item on his to-do list: spending his newfound windfall. On an urge to splurge, he signs up to have his head cryogenically preserved in case of death. Then he gets himself killed crossing the street. Waking up 117 years later, Bob discovers his mind has been uploaded into a sentient space probe with the ability to replicate itself. Bob and his clones are on a mission to find new homes for humanity and boldly go where no Bob has gone before.”

Think “Futurama” with this book, except Bob wakes up in which religion has not died out, but has proliferated across the globe. Even though it is what I call “Brain Bubble Gum” I had to ask myself is this what is in store for humanity? Interesting to say the least! I believe the book would work great in any format.

Well that is going to be about it for me on this Blog post. Even though I have said this before, I am going to say it again, I hope you have given more thought to minimalism and how it could make a positive change in your life and in the world. If you want to be part of that change, to make the world a much better place – I firmly believe that minimalism is one path to that ultimate goal. If you want to learn more please visit the web site: https://www.theminimalists.com/minimalism/

So take care my friends and remember to wash your hands, wear your mask when in crowds or indoors and practice physical distancing. Adios!!

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous.., leading to the most amazing views.” Edward Abbey