Hair

I was doing an eMail exchange with my friend Susan about hair this morning. I said "i'm thinkin a man oughtta take his age and wear it long and bushy". We were talking about hair. I was born to a Baptist Preacher, and was too young to do the 60s. I'm stuck! Here's some shots I have of my bushy from over the years.

Replay - A Book Review

I heard a review of this book on NPR a few weeks ago. I must say it was a page-turner for your bobJuan. The book had me in a New York minute. Ken Grimwood tells a great tale greatly. Normally I'm trying to read my way into happiness or nirvana, or health. I had to put aside those life-long endeavors while I was in the grips of Replay. I managed to stay relatively happy and healthy during this time.

The story is about Jeff Winston (not Phil Connors), who is living a routine, boring life, struggling with marriage and job, all that life-stuff. He dies at 43 of a heart attack. Immediately comes back to life in College at the age of 18, in his dorm room. It takes him a while to figure out what's happening, but he's alive again and starting over at 18, his first replay. Once he gets dialed in, he immediately makes a couple of moves to get some money together, bets on some horse races, other sporting events that he knows the outcome of, and proceeds to live a different life, a way different life.

I think Jeff goes through about 5 or 6 of these replays. Each one gets a little shorter, as he comes back later each time. There is some great love(s) in his life(s). I mean, the guy has had probably close to a hundred years of living through this same part of his life. Oops, I'm almost thinking it's real again.

The story reminds me of how important this time around is for me. There are always, always, every day kinds of always opportunities to live my life mo' fuller, more enjoyed, relaxed. Sharpening those chicken-shit recognizing skills. And the love of this life and this wife, you know what I mean. And to go for it! Quit sitting around waiting for the good stuff, make it happen!

I wouldn't do near as good as Jeff on the replay. Mainly because I have CRS and don't pay attention to what's going on around me. I couldn't come back 5 months ago and remember what the hell just happened! It's the main reason why I have to write book reviews as soon as I read the last page!

Highly recommended book. One of the nice things with fiction is there can be sex in it! I really would like to give you some more of the stories, but I just can't bring myself to ruin it for you. The ending is as fantastic as the beginning. (you clicked the sex link didn't you?)

SarahC_1225

I'm betting that she is not an actual member of singlesnet.com. I wonder if she's even a teacher.

Here's another. These show up on the CNN website on occasion. Nice. Found a 3rd!

Boston Globe - The Big Picture

Found this link at one of my other favorite blogs:

The Big Picture. Wonderful photography of current events.

This Year I Will (Book Review)

Just finished reading this book by M.J. Ryan. Someone needs to help me stop reading books like this. Pretty soon, I'll get it. I think I got a quote from my boy Eli in an eMail this past year from the book, and like always, I checked it out, bought it. I don't mean checked it out, as in the pinetop-lakeside library, that ain't the way I roll.

I can't quickly find out what the M.J. stands for, so, we'll keep calling her that. I'll do MJ. Never mind, I just did, it's Mary Jane! I love that name. OK, onto the book review.

I enjoyed the book. Lots of short chapters, lots of research and quoting of happiness experts. Wouldn't it be cool if someday someone is writing a book like this and they're quoting me? Get real. How about, "Do nothing and achieve all things.". Ooops, that's kevJuan. Really, onto the review.

I recommend the book, primarily because it's easy to read, and full of positive ideas about getting control of yourself. There's lots of suggestions for getting focused and working on your goal(s). I'll read it again. Here are some of my favorite quotes (you knew this was coming). Every single link, to every single picture/page here is made up, I have no idea if it's who these folks are or not, well a couple of um I know ARE NOT!

• Nothing can be changed until it is faced. James Baldwin
• Every successful person I have heard of has done the best he could with the conditions as he found them, and not waited until next year to be better. E. W. Howe
• People get so in the habit of worry that if you save them from drowning and put them on a bank to dry in the sun with hot chocolate and muffins they wonder whether they are catching cold. John Jay Chapman
• When all is said and done, a lot more is said than done. Lou Holtz
• A goal without an action plan is a daydream. Nathaniel Branden
• Be like a postage stamp - stick to one thing till you get there. Josh Billings
• The ark was built by amateurs and the Titanic by experts. Don't wait for experts. Murray Cohen
• Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution. William A. Foster
• Time is a created thing. To say "I don't have time" is to say, "I don't want to." Lao Tzu
• Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses. George Washington Carver
• Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. Will Rogers
• We do this one day at a time in a row. Craig (posted on a recovery website)
• There are two voices in your head - one is always wrong. Karen Casey
• Humor is by far the most significant activity of the human brain. Edward De Bono
• We are the choices we make. Meryl Streep

Grain Damage (A Book Review)

This short (52 page) book was an interesting read. The author, Douglas Graham is the Raw Food guru I'm reading in preparation for a month-long all raw-food-arama! [Click on Pic for link to Amazon]. Amazon tricked me into buying it during the (wait, you can...) checkout process, happens all the time.

I can't help but read these kinds of books, I have a food problem I guess. Here, Graham really goes against the grain. He modifies the old saying "never talk about politics or religion" as "never talk about politics, religion or food", since people seem to have equally strong feelings and convictions about diet too. I've certainly ran into that whenever the discussion about being a vegetarian comes up! And you are already getting worked up inside when you imagine that someone is about to tell you that whole-grain-bread is not good, not healthy, not an excellent source of fiber, and in fact is poison. It's heresy. This guy is suggesting that we live like monkeys, plain and simple.

I often think about how long we've been eating what we've been eating. Has it always been this way? It's on the aisle at Safeway, isn't that good enough? And, Mom told us what was good, and it was good what Mom told us. And what is the consequence of these choices, these packages I put in the cart? Like meat for example, how long ago did it actually become something that everyone ate, all the time? The same goes for grains. It looks to me like we've been eating grains a lot longer than we have been meat. I bet the low-carb folks have no problem with what Graham is saying about grains.

Here's some quotes from the book:

• The illogic of low-carb diets: You can eat all the butter and mayo you want, but you have nothing to put them on.
• For more than 99% of the time that man has walked the Earth, he has done so without consuming grains.
• Bread simply does not exist in nature.
• Before we began farming grains, the human population doubled approximately every twenty thousand years. Today, our population is doubling out of control: once every twenty years.
• In terms of yield in pounds per acre, grains are the least productive of all plant foods.
• Plant a tree, and it will yield for generations. Plant grains, and you are lucky if you get a crop.
• Before the introduction of grains, a squirrel could go from Maine to Texas without ever leaving the treetops.
• Farmers know that we can feed forty people fruit from the same acreage necessary to feed one person beef.
• Grains claim to fame is its storability, a feature that nullifies your chances of ever buying it fresh.

To wrap this up. I don't recommend this book unless you are serious about moving away from grains, and want some motivation. You can borrow my copy before I donate it to the Goodwill soon. I've always liked the idea of eating closer to the earth (not proximity-wise), less packaging, processing, organic, you know. As it turns out, grains cannot be eaten straight from the field, but require a whole lot of processing, water, energy, and come with a relatively puny amount of nutrition apparently. I am not giving up pizza, bread or grains, or anything that makes ME feel good! I'm not going to complain too much about population explosion either, else I may not have made it to the show myself! But, as always, I like to chip away at these kinds of things, awake.

Between 1 & 5?

Why don't they go ahead and say it: the repair man, the tree man, the A/C man, the carpet cleaners, the handy man. They're not gonna be here between 1 and 5! They're gonna be here after 5, and not only that, they're not gonna call before they come! I can handle the truth!