April 26, 2005 at 1:20 pm · Filed under Points In Time
Tagged with:
creatingpassionateusers,
markcunningham,
synchronisity,
thinking,
thoughts I love it when you feel you are on the cusp of good ideas and many people you run into are resonating. I’m reading a latest thread on Creating Passionate Users, “Creating an Intention Calendar”, and of course it resonates. Beth ran along the same lines of Mark Cunningham (and others) in “We are what we think”. How every time we talk ourselves in to our out of or around a situation we are setting precedence for future thought.
The quickest way to fail is to imagine failure.
I’ve changed a lot over the years. Robin and I were talking about how every picture of me from the last 5 years has been different. I’ve been fat, I’ve been skinny, I’ve been bulked, I’ve been normal, but I’m always changing. My best friend Jeff has watched me for countless years and knows more of my internal behavior than most. He’s witnessed, hell he’s spawned, countless changes that have altered my personality. He chose to question parts of me that were malaligned, and I chose to listen (given time 
). Now my wife and him do it, aren’t they great? hehehhe
I’ve rewired the way I process over and over. Iterating upon the idea that I have changed and will continue to change until I cease. If you follow mind-memes you’ll find a constant. Intent. It’s all about intent. Really. After years of my mental-maps being hammered on by Jeff, I learned to work on myself. The basic function is what I’ve always called bullshit. When I considered myself obese, every night going to sleep I envisioned what I wanted to be. Every morning I wanted it, saw it, and took myself there. Through my shyness of dating I learned to see myself differently, to own my self and love myself, and that gives you power. This positive feedback loop enriches itself with each iteration. I know I can do anything I set my focus on, and I know I can convey that passion. I bullshit to myself that I was all of the things I wanted to be and I strove for those objectives turning what was bullshit into reality. It takes willpower to move the feet and focus to see the vision, and both of those things can be developed.
With the power of intent crossed with how we map the world (see also: Thinking About Thinking). You can begin to go back and question, uproot, and repopulate old maps that are outdated/modded and update them. This is when serious change can happen. Taking an old sore affair and making it clean in the past can alter who you are by freeing resources that were being taken up by thoughts anchor’d to that memory. Mark hit on this one in his material as well.
We have at our disposal one hell of a quantum thermodynamic machine that people fail to fully (if at all) realize. I’m just glad to live in a time that this is on the table. I am elated to know that we are what we think, because I think that’s good, and you should too. Use the power of choice that you have and know that you can lead yourself to betterment.
-a
April 26, 2005 at 10:49 am · Filed under On the Radar
Tagged with:
accountability,
bush,
government
“A year ago this week, the release of shocking photographs of naked and hooded Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison alerted the world to serious human rights abuses by U.S. forces. Those images, it turned out, were the tip of an iceberg: Subsequent investigations by the media, human rights groups and the military itself revealed hundreds of cases of torture and abuse of detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Guantanamo Bay prison, including scores of suspicious deaths. A trail of documents showed that abusive interrogation techniques, such as the use of dogs and painful shackling, had been approved by senior military commanders and the secretary of defense. Even more extreme practices, such as simulated drowning and the withholding of pain medication, were authorized for the CIA at White House meetings presided over by President Bush’s counsel. (Washington Post)
It seems like with this presidancy time and time again water rolls off the ducks back. All we have to show for how we investigated Abu Ghraib is a handful of lessor soldiers who have obviously taken the wrap for an affair that required orchestration and clearance. Yet a year after it began we have no brass that took heat. How can we teach responsability, accountability for ones actions, when time and time again we see it escaped, eluded, finger pointed, childish—infantile behavior?
I expect more from myself, and my peers.
-a
April 25, 2005 at 7:37 am · Filed under Quotations
The essence of knowledge is, having it, to apply it; not having it, to confess your ignorance.
— Confucius
April 24, 2005 at 4:41 pm · Filed under On the Radar
Tagged with:
43t,
planning,
travel
Little by little it’s all coming together. We’ve confirmed reservations in Milan at Hotel Baviera Mokinba for our entry and departure hotel. Very reasonable and right next to the train terminal. We’re still playing around with where to stay after Milan. We basically have two nights before we have to be in Florence. We looked at staying in Portofino but it’s a bit too stiff. However, right outside at Santa Margherita, is right on the money. From there we’ve found generic-ish flats in Vernazza, but we may stay farther south towards Riomaggiore. If anyone has a suggestion, we’re open to it for that day/night. We just want to walk a bit of Cinque Terre. Train it to Florence where I am waiting to hear back from Hotel Aprile, a very nice looking establishment. Then in Venice a few days later we’ll be at Pensione La Calcina which also looks great.
I’ll break all this out with links when it’s all said and done.
-a
April 24, 2005 at 2:48 pm · Filed under In my Kitchen
Tagged with:
cheese,
cooking,
foodie,
goat,
risotto,
tilapia 
Anyone who knows us knows we like food. It’s not really just us these days though. Jeff is a foodie, my step-father Ray is a foodie, my pops Rick I think to some degree has always had it in him. Good food is just.. good! Yesterday Robin and I made a great dinner. There was a little foul in the kitchen in the final moments but I still got one plate to present right.
- Chives & blossoms,
- Blackened Tilapia,
- Risotto, w/Shallot, Oyster Mushrooms, Goat Cheese and Lemon
That is good eats my friends.
-a
