Finally, A nice day

The planets aligned today and I was finally able to get out and ride after work. The sun was out, the temperature was in the 70's, the wind was rough, but you can't have everything. The wind was 24 gusting to over 30. There were a few sections where I using my lowest gears riding into the wind. My bike has a triple crank set, so the low gears are really low.
Another plus for today was the new riding shorts that I had ordered arrived today. One of the indicators of the quality of riding shorts are the number of panels used in the construction. Shorts with more panels are supposed to be more comfortable. My old shorts have six, the new have 8. To tell the truth, I could not detect any improvement. Maybe my opinion will change when I wear them on a longer ride, but right now I think the quality of the chamois may be more important than the number of panels.  The chamois is the pad in the seat of cycling shorts. Back before synthetic materials were used, the shorts were wool and the chamois was actually made from chamois. Modern materials are now used, but the basic design of cycling clothing has changed very little in decades.

OneThird

1/3. The value of 1/3 is an anachronism. An analog throw back that doesn't fit in this digital age. 1/3 can not be represented as a exactly as a decimal fraction, only as a close, unsatisfying approximation. Now, there are some things that can use 1/3 exactly, a pizza, the hands on a clock dividing and hour. In other words, circles. Measuring circles involves pi, an irrational exercise at best. At least 1/3 doesn't require a massive number of cpu cycles to calculate the value to more and more decimal places in a vain attempt to get closer to the correct answer.

It has been said, "There are 10 types of people, those who understand binary, and those who don't".

Top 10 Subtitled Movies

Bonnie's last couple posts got me thinking about movies, and more specifically, movies with subtitles. I think that subtitles force you to pay closer attention to the movie. Several of these movies have been dubbed into English, but if you have a choice give the subtitled version a try.

1.Cyrano de Bergerac
2. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring
3. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
4. My Neighbor Toto
5. 3-Iron
6. Das Boot
7. Jet Li's Fearless
8. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
9. Time
10. The girl Who Played With Fire

Week Two

Here we are at the start of the second week of the 30 blogs/30 days challenge. I have managed to survive the first week of the challenge, but just barely. I have to admit some days I was having a hard time coming up with a subject and some of my posts were pretty lame. We'll have to see how this week goes. If this post is an example of what to expect, I wouldn't hold my breath.

So, what are my non-blog goals for the week? I have been trying to build up my riding miles with out much success. Only one ride this last week. I have been using the stationary bike on the days I don't ride, but that is just not the same as actually riding. A bicycle is alive, moving underneath you, the subtle sound of the tires changing as the road surface changes, the effort of grinding into a strong headwind knowing that will be a tailwind cruise on the return trip. Compared to really riding, a stationary bike is dead.

The Red Bud is in less than a week away. That is the first big ride of the year in the metro area. It can be challenging for several reasons. Being early in the riding season it is hard to have worked up to doing long rides. The weather can be iffy in early April. The route can be tough. The short route (33 miles) starts off easy, but the return is mostly uphill, and usually into the wind. In spite of that I'm looking forward to participating (if the weather is not too bad).

On month from today I'll be leaving for Toms River, New Jersey to attend a wedding. If I was planning a trip I don't think toms river  would come up in the "where should we go" conversation. That does not make going there a bad thing. Last summer we went to Bellingham Washington for a graduation. Belingham was also a place we would never of thought to go if it wasn't for the graduation.

Bellingham was an amazing place. Sitting on the Pacific coast, closer to Vancouver than Seattle, the weather was a pleasant change from the Oklahoma heat.

Heading south along the coast out of Bellingham is the historic Chuckanut Drive. Completed in 1896, this road allowed the first land access to Belingham Bay.

To the east of Bellingham is the Mount Baker Highway. This drive crosses rolling farmland, national forest, and ends at the Mt. Baker ski area.

I am now looking forward to discovering the surprises that Toms River has to offer.

Workday at Buddha Mind

For several months now I have been spending many Saturdays working on walking paths on the property surrounding Buddha Mind Monastery. Before the start of this project most of the property was so overgrown with thick brush that it was almost impenetrable. Now we have more than a mile of walking paths in various stages of completion. This project has used everything from bulldozers to racks and shovels. Today we had about thirty service learning students from OCU helping out.

Surrealistic Pillow

Small changes over time go unnoticed, like the proverbial frog in water over a low heat slowly coming to a boil. Pillows follow this principal. Gradually deteriorating over a period of time long enough to allow you to get accustomed to their decreasing thickness. It finally gets to the point that even folded in half, the pillow just doesn't make the grade anymore. You break down and buy new pillows. Ahh, that first night with the new pillow. If pillows never when bad, you would never know the simple pleasure of a new pillow. The pleasure comes from the diminished qualities of the old pillow as much as the luxurious fluffiness of the new.

Oklahoma River Trails

The Oklahoma River trail has become one of my favorite places to ride. I started riding the river trails last summer after the Lake Hefner trails got just too crowded. In addition to the crowds, the Hefner trail also has several road crossings. The river trails have none of these problems, there are no road crossings and far fewer people. I normally start from the S.W. 15th and Meridian parking area on the south side of the river. Riding from the parking area to the east end of the trail, then to the west end, then back to the parking area is an even fourteen miles. That is a good distance for an evening workday ride for me. When I want more miles sometimes I will combine both the north and south trails crossing over the river at Portland  and at Robinson. The river is one of the most scenic rides in the metro area. There is a unique combination of rowers on the water, blooming red buds lining the trail and the Oklahoma City skyline in the distance.

Wednesday

Wednesdays are my long days. In this case that is a good thing. As with most mornings, I am up and headed out to work around 5:00 a.m. and start work by 5:30. I don't start so early because of my dedication, but because that allows me to leave work at 2:00. Having this much flexibility in my work schedule is one good benefit of my job. The activity that makes Wednesday my long day is the evening sutra study class at Buddha Mind Monastery. Sutras are Buddhist scripture, so you could call sutra study class the Buddhist version of bible study class. That one comparison may be some what correct, but there is little else that is similar. The first hour of the class is a formal Zen meditation session. The sitting portion of the meditation will last for about forty minutes, which can be tough if you haven't been practicing. It is recommended that students take the beginning and advanced meditation classes before attending the sutra study class. This not only gives you a foundation of basic Buddhist teachings helping you to understand the more advanced concepts, but also gives you a chance to work up to the longer meditation sessions. The second hour is a more traditional (for westerners) combination of lecture and question and answer. This term we are studying the "Sutra of Forty-two Chapters".

The history of this sutra is interesting. In 62 c.e. Emperor Ming of the Later Han Dynasty dreamed that a golden man flew into his palace. The emperor's advisor told him That the golden man was the sage Buddha. In 64 c.e. The emperor sent a delegation to India to seek the Buddhadharma. In 67 c.e. two Buddhist masters arrived in China. The emperor built the first Buddhist monastery in China for them. At the monastery they translated the Sutra of Forty-two Chapters, the first sutra to be translated into Chinese.

Net Book

My net book is my favorite tech toy. I am using my net book to compose this blog post which allows me to work sitting on the couch instead of being tied to my desk ten feet away on the other side of the room. While net books are relatively low powered, I do not find that much of problem in day to day use.  In addition to the routine internet applications, email, facebook, blogger, I have extended the usefulness of my net book with some well known and not so well known applications.

1. Kindle for PCs. This free application from Amazon was one of the factors in my decision to purchase a net book.

2. Adobe Digital Editions. This is a free application that is great for reading and managing pdf collections.

3.  Wootalyzer. This is a utility for monitoring woot-offs.

4. Microsoft Silverlight. This was needed to stream netflix videos.

5. Garmin Mapsource. Mapping software for use in conjunction with a GPS.

6. OBDwiz. This is used with a USB - OBD2 scan tool to turn your computer into an automotive diagnostic device.

In addition to the software the hardware adds to the usefulness. The hard drive is large enough to keep a backup copy of my photos and music. The built in card reader simplifies camera downloads. The small size, light weight, and long battery life make the net book an indispensable traveling accessory.

30 Blogs 30 Days Challenge

Day 1; Now what?

A couple of weeks ago I received an invitation from my daughter Bonnie to join in a 30 blogs, 30 days challenge. That will be more blog posts in one month than my current all time number of posts. In preparation I made a list of possible topics. Unfortunately it is a short list. I do hope that it will give me enough material to prime the pump and complete this challenge. Over the next few weeks, I plan on trying some new things (of course with my limited blogging experience, that is not saying much). Some of the things I want to try include using video, more photos, and mobile blogging with a new android blogger app.

So here goes nothing....

New direction

I have decided to take this blog in a new direction. Buddhism is a major part of my life and will continue an important subject of this blog. My original intent was to use this blog as a tool to help me explore my Buddhist journey. I believe my original focus may have been too narrowly defined. Expanding into other day to day activities will allow this blog to be more of a journal of my life and give me the opportunity to try different styles of blogging.