The Advanced Yoga Posse and I were out on the deck this past Thursday. The temperature was perfect, the sun was bright, and it was wonderful to be outside again. Thanks to Bev for suggesting, urging, and convincing me to get the broom out, sweep the deck, and get us all out there.
Archive for April, 2008
Breathe Outside!
Monday, April 21st, 2008Dalai Lama
Thursday, April 17th, 2008The Dalai Lama is coming to Ann Arbor this weekend. There’s been a buzz all week long: articles in the paper, people trying to get tickets, and other events scheduled around the Dalai Lama’s scheduled talks. The scheduled talks actually come in a couple of segments. The paid event is six hours, broken up in two hour chunks Saturday and Sunday. The Sunday afternoon lecture is on sustainability and will be webcast as well as aired on community access in Ann Arbor.
You can watch his holiness on the live streaming video. The lecture will be available at 2:00 PM on Sunday at:
http://umtv-live.rs.itd.umich.edu/pres/dalailama.asx. And Comcast cable television will air the lecture live on Michigan Channel 22 in the greater Ann Arbor area.
Free Rice
Thursday, April 17th, 2008About three people recommended www.freerice.com to me before I went there to see what all the fuss is about this site. Free Rice is a website where, you, the user, can test/improve your vocabulary at the same time provide rice to hungry people … all for free.
From the site’s “about” page they state it quite simply (see below). What they don’t tell you is how fun (and addictive) it is. Give it a try!
“FreeRice has two goals:
1. Provide English vocabulary to everyone for free.
2. Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.
This is made possible by the sponsors who advertise on this site.
Whether you are CEO of a large corporation or a street child in a poor country, improving your vocabulary can improve your life. It is a great investment in yourself.
Perhaps even greater is the investment your donated rice makes in hungry human beings, enabling them to function and be productive. Somewhere in the world, a person is eating rice that you helped provide. Thank you.”
Measuring Progress – Recovery
Wednesday, April 16th, 2008At the end of February and the first couple of weeks in March I was really sick. It knocked me out in a way I can’t ever remember as an adult. I’ve been back to work at Malloy and back teaching yoga for just over a month. The ‘after taste’ of my illness has been a lack of enthusiasm (for just about everything), lack of appetite, a few physical bug-a-boos, and fatigue on occasion. This week while teaching yoga at the YMCA, the joy in leading a group in the asanas started to come back. I felt just a smidgen of fun. Nice to see a little light at the end of the tunnel of recovery.
Measuring Progress – Advanced Yoga Posse
Wednesday, April 16th, 2008Last week in yoga posse I noticed another milestone. The group is living up to its name (advanced ). When I said, “Shoulderstand” they all got their blankets set up and, without a demonstration from me, did shoulderstand. We also did headstand, if just for a moment, without any crashing down.
The weather is turning warmer … or at least sunnier … and before you know it we’ll be having posse out of the deck again. Another measure of progress in itself.
Finches
Tuesday, April 15th, 2008A couple of weeks ago I filled both my bird feeders; one with a mixed seed and the other with thistle. I have a fondness for the finches, who like the thistle. I love their small size and their bright yellow color. Both feeders seemed to go unnoticed for a few days. Unless you count the squirrels. They are just mad about getting into the bird feeders. I’m not sure who is more mad, though – the squirrels or me (pounding on the window trying to scare them away). Soon, the mixed seed feeder was empty and the feeder with the thistle remained full. Until today. The finches have come back to Ann Arbor and they have found my feeder. They aren’t their vibrant yellow, yet, but they will get their color back as the spring and summer sun gets more vibrant.
100,000 miles
Sunday, April 6th, 2008Friday I watched the odometer on my 1999 Honda Accord click over to 100,000 miles. I was on Jackson Road in Ann Arbor, between Meijer and Arbor Farms, on my way to buy a loaf of Zingerman’s Jewish Rye. Seems like most of those miles were trips like that. I tried to remember some of those miles – at least the long trips when I put a lot of miles on – and I couldn’t come up with many. Here’s a quick list (in no particular order):
Ann Arbor to Boston: 1,500 miles round trip
Ann Arbor to Philly: 1,200 miles round trip
Ann Arbor to St. Louis: 1,000 miles round trip
Ann Arbor to Hershey, PA: 1,000 miles round trip
Ann Arbor to Paradise (it’s not): 700 miles round trip
Ann Arbor to Petoskey (twice): 500 miles round trip
Ann Arbor to Hocking Hills State Park in Ohio: 500 miles round trip
Ann Arbor to Leo, IN: 300 miles round trip
And then there’s all those 300 mile round trips to Daniel’s. Approximately twice a month for the last three and a half years. That adds up to over 25,000 miles (I got the calculator out for that one).
That leaves approximately 67,000 miles done in 10 mile round trip increments to work, the grocery store, yoga, disc golf, and, to Zingerman’s for a loaf of Detroit Street (my favorite) or Jewish Rye (Daniel’s favorite).
Peter Turnley (again)
Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008Turns out Peter Turnley is an artist in residence at the U of M Residential College during the winter semester. So, that’s why he’s in town. He is speaking again next week on Tuesday, April 8.
His talk this time is in connection with the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq. His public lecture is entitled “Iraq Uncensored: Images from US-led wars in 1991 and 2003”. After his lecture, there will be a discussion about the war led by Charles Bright, a professor of history.
If you’re interested in attending, the lecture is free and open to the public. It starts at 7:00 PM and is at the East Quadrangle Residential Building in room 126. That’s at 701 E. University Ave in Ann Arbor.