Posts in the “personal” category

Here’s another photo of the Moon rising over the Atlantic Ocean, Virginia Beach, Virginia.

“Karma means action and action motivated by compassion is good. To complain that what happens to you is just the result of your karma is lazy. Instead, confidently recalling the advice that, ‘You are your own master,’ you can change what happens by taking action.”

~ the Dalai Lama, on this Facebook page

If the Houston Astros want to do the right thing, they should just tell opposing batters what pitch is coming. For every at-bat during the season. If they can win the World Series that way, more power to them.

“You are destined to be together forever.”

~ from the movie, Odd Thomas

This is a view of the sunrise in the side view mirror from October, 2018, when I was somewhere in Missouri, driving back to Colorado. On the morning of this trip I really got into listening to Pink Floyd’s The Wall, and was so intent on it that I nearly ran out of gas.

Denver’s Nikola Jokic scored a rare 30/20/10 performance in last night’s win, where they only had seven players on the team. (Image from this Twitter page.)

Way back in 2009 I went on a yoga retreat in Sayulita, Mexico with about twelve other people. One night after dinner I met this black dog as we were walking around the town plaza area. Prior to this meeting, I spent every evening in the town plaza, where I had watched this dog constantly be attacked by other dogs, so when she came up to me on this evening I petted her and then gave her my leftovers.

Yoga teacher Judi Rice — who organized the trip — was influential in my life, is standing behind my left shoulder, next to the woman in the dark pink shirt. Judi passed away in December, 2014.

I have no name, I have no life, I breathe no vital air.
No elements have molded me, no bodily sheath is my lair.
I have no speech, no hands and feet, nor means of evolution.
Consciousness and joy am I, and bliss in dissolution.

~ from the book, Light on Yoga

Here are two good quotes from this interview with Novak Djokovic (and a surprise appearance from Andre Agassi):

“I think the No. 1 requirement is constant desire and open-mindedness to master and improve and evolve yourself in every aspect. I know Roger has been talking about it, and it’s something I feel most top athletes of all sports agree on. Stagnation is regression.”

Djokovic says it helps to have a clear purpose, even if it is a different purpose. “I had to find my reason,” Agassi says. “It’s so important to have that reason.”

Years ago, a friend on posted this on Google+. Is it true? That I don’t know. I'm not a doctor, I’m an aerospace engineer and computer scientist. ;)

One thing I can tell you is that when my thyroid was failing with Hashimoto’s, I did some crazy things, even ending up in Haines, Alaska on a whim. And I can also tell you that taking L-tyrosine really helped later during the thyroid failure process.

“To be perfectly honest with you, I really feel that I have average physical ability, but when I get my psych and my self-hypnosis going, I can compete with anybody in anything.”

~ Al Hrabosky

Back in the day it was fun to watch “Mad” Al Hrabosky pitch for the St. Louis Cardinals. He would psyche himself up behind the mound and appear to get very angry, and indeed, he ended up in at least one brawl. Here’s a TWIB Note video of him pitching and talking, and here’s him talking years later about what he was doing behind the mound.

I don’t remember the original source of this image, but I like it: “I need to find more people who will sit and talk about the universe and souls and consciousness with me for hours.”

When I saw this again today I was reminded of the time I ended up in Vail, Colorado, talking to a younger version of myself.

“The greatest source of happiness is the ability to be grateful at all times.”

~ Zig Ziglar (and many others)

While many people will remember January 26, 2020, as the day Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter accident, I’ll also remember it as the first day I was able to sit down in five weeks following the Angiogram procedure. I still couldn’t sit long, maybe ninety minutes total before the pain kicked in, but that alone was nice.

Thanks to the angiogram, I haven’t been able to sit down for over a month. These days when I work, I either (a) read things while laying flat on my back in bed, or write while I’m standing up at this makeshift workspace in my apartment.

The top five regrets of the dying:

1) I wish I hadn’t worked so hard
2) I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends
3) I wish I had let myself be happier
4) I wish I had the courage to express my true self
5) I wish I’d lived a life true to my dreams instead of what others expected of me

(Info comes from theguardian.com)

Here’s a photo from Virginia Beach at sunrise in late May, 2019. I used a dark black and white filter when taking the photo, but everything else is natural.

In case you were worried about Luke falling in The Empire Strikes Back. (From this collection of 66 behind the scenes photos.)

January 22, 2020: Good news, today is the first day I have been able to sit down without pain since December 23 of last year. For whatever reason it has taken the Angio-Seal in my leg this long to heal. But yesterday and today were the first days I have been almost 100% pain-free while standing, and so far I’ve been able to sit down for a little while, which is a very nice feeling. :)

“Do not fall in love with people like me. I will take you to museums, and parks, and monuments, and kiss you in every beautiful place, so that you can never go back to them without tasting me like blood in your mouth. I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible. And when I leave you will finally understand, why storms are named after people.”

~ Caitlyn Siehl