Posts in the “personal” category

“It’s going well. It’s a difficult case, though, to give a man back his heart.”

A quote from the movie Michael

For Lent this year I'm giving up.

Here are a couple of good quotes from this article about the Golden State Warriors “truth teller” Ron Adams. First, about treating your work as your craft, and being a craftsman:

“I try to be an artisan,” he adds. “There is a purity to teaching as an assistant — a virtue in being a craftsman and having a craft. It’s the nuts-and-bolts stuff that appeals to me, and the relationships.

Then these quotes about telling the truth:

He learned something else. “On the farm, your rapport with your neighbor is critical,” Adams says. “There is a premium on honesty. You don’t fool people in that world.”

On the farm he learned to speak the truth — and to send the wine back. “My father, I remember him getting bales of hay,” he says, “and if it didn’t meet his standard, the response would be polite but firm: ‘This is good but not what I wanted.’”

I was just reading a Seeking Alpha article about the pending healthcare deal between Berkshire-Hathaway, Amazon, and JPMorgan/Chase, and someone who added a comment referred to this image about the rising costs of healthcare in the United States, and how those costs correlate not to an increase in physicians, but to an increase in administrative overhead. (The image comes from this IBJ.com page.)

If a child lives with criticism,
he learns to condemn.

If a child lives with fear,
he learns to be apprehensive.

If a child lives with ridicule,
he learns to be shy.

If a child lives with shame,
he learns to feel guilty.

If a child lives with encouragement,
he learns to be confident.

If a child lives with praise,
he learns to be appreciative.

If a child lives with acceptance,
he learns to love.

If a child lives with approval,
he learns to like himself.

If a child lives with honesty and fairness,
he learns what truth and justice are.

If a child lives with friendliness,
he learns that the world is a nice place in which to live.

With what is your child living?

~part of a "Children Learn What They Live" poem by Dorothy Law Nolte

Sadly it had to come because of yet another senseless tragedy, but I’m glad to see students and teachers standing up to the NRA and NRA-bought politicians. This image shows a brilliant tweet from a teacher.

“Oh, my goodness. You know sometimes I think that God gave you such a big heart that he just left no room for plain sense.”

~ a favorite quote from a favorite tv show

“Nothing has been done. It doesn't seem to matter to our government that children are being shot to death day after day in schools. It doesn't matter that people are being shot at a concert, at a movie theater. It's not enough, apparently, to move our leadership, our government, the people who are running this country to actually do anything. That's demoralizing.”

“But we can do something about it. We can vote people in who actually have the courage to protect people's lives, not just bow down to the NRA because they've financed their campaign for them. Hopefully we'll find enough people, first of all to vote, get people in, but hopefully we'll find enough people to actually help our citizens remain safe and focus on the real safety issues, not building some stupid wall for millions of dollars that has nothing to do with our safety, but actually protecting us from what truly is dangerous, which is maniacs with semi-automatic weapons just slaughtering our children. It's disgusting.”

~ Steve Kerr

When I meet people who seem stressed out (stress/anxiety/worrying), I try to encourage them to practice mindfulness meditation or yoga. I find both of those practices to be a wonderful way to quiet the thoughts in the mind. It may help to know that the basic practices are 100% non-religious, and both help to teach you how to breathe properly. (I recently learned that people who are anxious typically breathe in their chest, which is the wrong way to breathe. You want to learn to breathe in your lower abdomen.)

Personally, I enjoy living in the present moment, without thoughts about the past or future. I used to be an angry young man, and using these practices to calm my mind has made my life happier and more productive. A couple of times a year I still lose it, but these practices always help to re-quiet my mind.

(I think the image shown was created by Gemma Correll.)

A strange thing about being me is that many people I’ve never met think they know me. It happened with almost everyone at the Buddhist Geeks conferences — “Do I know you?” Last week it happened at Whole Foods, where a cashier talked to me like we were old friends, asking if I ever got to do so and so. I had to tell him that wasn’t me.

Due to my most recent illness I haven’t eaten at a restaurant since before October 10, 2017, but yesterday I went to a burger place to try a small burger and see if I could eat it. Right away the cashier said, “Hi! How have you been? Hey, did you cut your hair?” I guess I just have one of those faces.

“Vigorous writing is concise.” ~ William Strunk

“Succinctness is power.” ~ Paul Graham

Those quotes remind me of writing in general, and writing expressive code in Scala specifically.

In this video from one of the childrens’ phones inside the school in Florida you can hear the rifle being fired, and hear the young children scream. This insanity has to stop, the United States needs gun reform in a major way. It used to be a shock when there was one shooting in America; there have now been 18 shootings in the U.S. in the first 45 days of 2018. At this pace there will be 146 school shootings this year. Dear NRA and Republican-led congress and White House, how many children have to die before you’ll do something?

When real and unreal both
Are absent from before the mind,
Nothing else remains for mind to do
But rest in perfect peace,
From concept free.

~ Shantideva

“There’s a philosopher who says, ‘As you live your life, it appears to be anarchy and chaos, and random events, non-related events, smashing into each other and causing this situation, and then … then this happens, and it’s overwhelming, and it just looks like ... what in the world is going on? And later, when you look back at it, it looks like a finely crafted novel. But at the time, it don’t.’ And a lot of The Eagles story is like that.”

~ Joe Walsh, in the History of The Eagles

“I’m going to be the best Zach LaVine you guys can get,” he said. “That’s who I am. I’m not here to replace anybody. I’m here to become the next young guy coming in for the Chicago Bulls, work my butt off and take this back to where it should be. You can’t replace a guy when you’re not that person. I’m Zach LaVine. I’m going to play like me. I’m going to act like me and that’s just how I carry myself. I’m me.”

~ from this article

In celebration of 2/11 tomorrow: 2 + 11 = 1 + 12 and “two plus eleven” is an anagram of “one plus twelve.”

With two or three weeks left in the regular season, the Broncos were facing possible elimination from the playoffs. (A lot of people were saying it was “probable,” not “possible.”) But they kept working hard — “grinding,” as they like to call it — and won the Super Bowl. Never give up.

This quote/image about our “propensity” for certain behaviors comes from Pema Chodron’s book, Living Beautifully with Uncertainty and Change. Ms. Chodron oftens writes and speaks about “shenpa,” which I’ll describe as some combination of “things that trigger us,” along with how we react to those triggers.

I like this tweet by the Dalai Lama. One of my favorite phrases is facta non verba — deeds, not words.

This series of images that I put together from the movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil reminds me of the haunted hotel in New Mexico.