Cycling, Music, and a great weekend

This weekend was a blast for Karina, Sophie, and I. We went to dinner at Pops in Simpsonville, and loved the food (as always). Saturday we picked up a piano for Karina (a freebie from a friend). We are thrilled about that. We picked up birthday presents for Sophie and a Jogging Stroller. We also joined the Golden Strip YMCA this weekend, and signed up for swimming classes. We rode the Swamp Rabbit trail through Cleveland Park and Reedy River Falls Park on Saturday. That was a blast!!! Karina couldn't believe she was riding in traffic (after we left the trail) on Main St. in downtown with people and cars everywhere. We stumbled upon Go Tri Sports during our ride. The guys there are great.

I found a cool route from Greenville to Clemson I hope to check out soon. Here is the map from
MapMyRide.com:

Ebb of Flow

Earlier today a friend and I talked about the ebb and flow of spiritual energy. I noted that sometimes I feel so awake or aware, and other times, I seem to only accept the concepts intellectually. Today has thus far been a day of lowered spiritual energy, less focus, and less awareness. Thankfully, moment by moment, I can choose to surrender my will to the Higher Source, concentrate on gratitude, and open up. It surprises me each time. On days like today, the feeling of gratitude is the spark that ignites the Holy Fire within, if even for a moment.

So as my friend said, every one must embrace their own humanness and know that the energy flows are not always constant, the student is not always aware or awake, and that is OK. The peace is always there, but sometimes we simply do not see it; sometimes we choose to not be aware of it. Once we surrender again, and open our hearts to the pure eternal love of the universe, then again we find the peace wraps around us, and we remember that it never left us.

Emissary Wheel

  I started reading James Twymans book The Art of Spiritual Peacemaking and started to learn about the wondrous world of sacred geometry. The book is powerful, and already I can see it changing me. I started the famous A Course in Miracle and this book really is an easier to understand version of that classic text.

gOS and other random stuff

It has been quite a while since I posted. Many things have been going on. My latest project is testing out gOS. I just downloaded it and dropped the Live/Install CD in my Dell Latitude D810 Laptop. Booted up, put in my wireless WEP Key (I know WEP is weak, but it works for me), and now I am sitting comfortably in my bed blogging about gOS! Pretty sweet. It is Ubuntu based (which is Debian based) so I was partial to trying it out. gOS originally caught my attention because it runs Enlightenment E17 release, and it is perfect for bringing older hardware back to life. This has renewed my interest in building one of my old PCs as a Linux based media center and hooking it to my HDTV and Sony Surround system. Unfortunately the spare PC I have at home will not fix the task due to hardware limitations ( I would have to find another AGP video card because the one I have is PCI, and the onboard video doesn't have any way to connect to my TV). Alas, my better spare system is in use as a router at work (way overkill for what it is being used for) so I shall swap the two systems and use the one from work for the Linux based Media Center Project.

I know this post isn't really about finding stillness, but in the stillness we get reacquainted with things we love. I purchase some cheap sculpting clay two weeks ago, and tried my hand at that as well. The last few weeks have been exciting as I keep finding interesting projects to play with, but my time is pretty limited now, so I do not get as much time to spend on my pet projects as I would like.

That is all for today. Have a great weekend.

Blogging from the kitchen on a rainy Sunday

Well, this weekend in Greenville, SC has not been a good for being outside due to the wind and the rain. So, I decided to make some cookies instead! Not one to often follow directions, I had to modify a recipe I found online. I am calling it Tony's Quasi-Healthy Chocolate Delight Chocolate Chip Cookies. The butter used was Smart Choice 50/50 butter, I used half the sugar (white and brown) and unsweetened chocolate squares to complement the semi-sweetened chocolate chips. The first batch was standard chocolate chip cookies, and the remaining batches are the Chocolate Delight cookies. So far my wife likes the first batch, but is in love the Chocolate Delight cookies.

The oven timer just went off, so I need to check on the next batch. Photos to come...

Weekend review

I always enjoy the weekend, the extra time with the family, sleeping in, doing little things around the house, forgetting about work for a while. This weekend was no different, breakfast with the family, cleaning out the attic, watching movies on Sunday afternoon; it was a great and relaxing weekend.

From 7 months

Sometimes I think that my life hasn't measured up to what I believe it could have been by now; that I have somehow done less than what was possible, achieved less than I could have. It is the weekends spent hanging out with those I love the most, doing nothing extraordinary, that give me a glimpse of just how much I have, how much I am blessed, that maybe the metrics by which I measure my 'success' sometimes, are not the correct metrics. I am subtly reminded that it is that which resides within us, that which can not be measured, that is the real source of 'success' and that the rest of it is really an illusion.

Perfect Imperfection

Some days we are reminded of the imperfection of ourselves. There is perfection in our imperfection; that the combination of all of our imperfections creates perfect moments over and over again for us to discover who we really are. The existence of our imperfection leads us back to the center of humility, from only where we can see the truth. The duality of ourselves reflects that of the universe around us, as we are made in It's image. We are at once beautiful and repulsive, the Good Wolf and the Bad Wolf. Without darkness there would be no such thing as light, without pain there would be no such thing as joy.