Cicadas & Rascals & Steve Jobs

The cicadas are singing loudly in the trees, the grass is green, and the weather is lovely. Mary and Jonathan are off to Nashville visiting the sights and going to a Rascal Flats concert.

I'm a little more than half way through the Steve Jobs bio. I disliked dear Steve heartily for the first third of the book. I am able to appreciate his genius a little more now in the middle part. He is still an arrogant, emotional, unappreciative sob, but he has some good moments. And anyway, I guess he had a narcissistic personality disorder, and who knows what else. His passion for excellence and purity is attractive. An interesting tale and very well-written. The author of the bio certainly does not pull any punches. And people were not shy about telling how Jobs abused them, took credit for their ideas,  made mistakes, etc. etc.  Making mistakes. That's an interesting part of the story. Jobs made so many, but his passion compelled him forward and apparently his personality was not ruffled by them--no doubt he employed his reality distortion field. I think when we more mediocre folk make mistakes we become paralyzed or embarrassed about them instead of focused and energized from the lesson.

Here are a few quotes:

Steve was famous for his "reality distortion field"--he seemed to believe that the force of his personality and vision could change reality, but it did not always work: "The reality distortion field can serve as a spur, but then reality itself hits."

"He was so weirdly charismatic that you almost had to get deprogrammed after you talked to him."

"He lies not because it's in his interest, he lies because it's in his nature."

And when Jobs was headed back to Apple after being ousted years earlier, he wasn't taking a salary or any stock; he was just passionate about the industry and wanted to have a chance to move it forward. But his friend Larry Ellison, who was going back with him, worried about not making any money. So Steve says to him, "Larry, this is why it's really important that I'm your friend. You don't need any more money." Lines like that cover a multitude of sins.

Jonathan Arrives

Well after weeks and months of preparation, Jonathan arrived Saturday evening. Apparently all our efforts were worthwhile because there has been no sign of his allergies to cats. And dear Soccer the cat is relegated to the back hallway, the garage, and outside--much to his dismay. We had a cookout party with some of Mary's adults friends--teacher & Bluesman, Sharon and Doug, William and daughter Ruth, Stephen and Joyanna, Eliz & Aaron. Everything was lovely and the patio looked mucho great. The most amazing thing, perhaps, has been the weather. Instead of the dreaded dog days of Knoxville we have had low 80's and low humidity and plenty rain to keep things green. We have never had an August like this!

Jonathan and Mary went to the Sunsphere today, and tonight they are having the sibling get together. :) We have been having a wonderful time--Jonathan is the perfect mix of friendliness and fun--knows how to express appreciation and basically is a very great guy. He loves "his" room that we redid for him. :)

It's a relief not to be cleaning! My hands look rather bedraggled. Will post some pics here later.
I have been such a delinquent blogger.

Dam Race 2012 prep 1

The date for the 2012 Dam Race is July 21. Let’s be ready, team Mantua!

  “ Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. ”
    ― Thomas A. Edison

DDR (Dear Dam Racers),

I have let you all languish in repose long enough! It is time to begin your Dam Race preparations.

Perhaps some few of you have kept up your training, and you are to be commended. However, even you noble ones need some instruction to be fully prepared for the intense competition that will soon be at your doorstep.

Chi: life energy, life force, or energy flow

We begin with the first of the four Chi-skills written about by my good (unilateral) friend Danny Dreyer who wrote Chi Running. And that skill is:

Focusing Your Mind

Your mind instructs your muscles to start working or relaxing. Your mind orchestrates the perfect run, the perfect form, starting out slowly, finding the perfect tempo, and taking in the beauty and chi of your surroundings so that you finish relaxed, empowered, and full of energy for the day ahead.

When your mind is focused and your body is responsive, you have y’chi (ee-chee), a full mind/body focus. It’s the unbreakable focus of a cat when it stalks a bird, or a tennis player awaiting a serve.

Like a meditation practice, the training of the mind and body in ChiRunning is more relaxing than letting the mind wander. Studies have shown that watching TV is not as relaxing as sitting quietly. A focused mind is more relaxed than a mind that wanders aimlessly through the details and minutiae of the day. When you are focused on teaching yourself something new, the benefits to your body and mind will far outweigh the effort it takes to focus. Eventually as the ChiRunning form becomes second nature, your mind and body become as one.

PRACTICE EXERCISE: Focus on your posture, whether sitting, walking, or running. When in a standing position, pay attention to your upper body alignment, your lower body alignment, and pelvic tilt. Imagine a line running downward through the middle of your head, right down through the middle of your ankles to the floor. Keep head and chin straight. Now focus on your feet. Your feet should be parallel and hip width apart. Make sure the feet are parallel and not turned out. Imagine a yard stick lying flat and straight out in front of you on the ground (or put one there), then align the inside of one foot along the straight edge. Do not let the ball of the foot rotate outward. FOCUS!

When you begin your daily run, keep your mind gently focused on your posture.

Coming soon, the next Chi skill: Body Sensing.


Off and running,


Coach Rebrah

Florida Track Meet & Hunger Games

SO, we drove nine hours to Jacksonville, Florida to see Mary in the UNF invitational track meet. She did not jump her best, but did pretty good, and we had a wonderful time visiting, despite the rain and rain delays. We stayed in the same hotel as the track team. (The serving woman in the breakfast room of the hotel said that the Harvard team was very nice and very polite, unlike other teams that were very rude and very not nice!) I read the entire second book of The Hunger Games to Russel as he drove; certainly made the time go fast and kept us awake. (We did not stay in the Seahorse hotel, but it reminded Russel of California hotels, so we took a pic!) And that is Mary with her coach, Coach Tolbert.

Pinks!

Pinks are so beautiful! And so pink! And the really cool thing is, they smell like cloves, and I love cloves! We have had a beautiful spring. Right now, in addition to the Pinks (dianthus) my white azaleas are blooming. Sun and rain sun and rain; it's a good combination.

Forgiveness

I was thinking about forgiveness the other day, I guess because I was privy to a particular incident, and several others I have known about over the years. This kind of information is not often known, because people don't usually talk about it. I came to the conclusion that people don't forgive, they get even. Perhaps not in the Hatfield and McCoy way, but even nonetheless. Except for kids; people do forgive their kids. Maybe that's why God can forgive us, we are children. If we were on par with Him, maybe he wouldn't be so forgiving! ;) No doubt that is why that multiple gods thing didn't work out so well.

Spiritual Matters 19C

Last weekend we went to Asheville for the Spiritual Matters/Matters of Spirit, NCSA (Nineteenth Century Studies Association) conference. Russel was presenting a paper entitled "Spiritualism on Trial: The Arguments of Austin Phelps." Quite an interesting paper, maybe I'll post a link to it later. The conference isn't always on spiritualism, of course. Turns out there were a lot of crazy things going on in the nineteenth century. My favorite session was "The Religion of William James in Mind and Body. There were four papers in that session, and even though they were way over my head, I was thinking I would take up reading James in my spare time. Along with all my other books. Apparently William James, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Jonathan Edwards all knew and conversed. Though I better check those dates--that may have been a different session. There is a current book called Varieties of Religion Today: William James revisited, by Taylor that sounded quite interesting. Anyway, all in all it was one of those experiences where you realize there is so much to know, and that you don't know much. :)

The drive to Asheville was spectacular. The freeway banks were strewn with red bud trees--which should be called lavender trees--in full bloom, mixed with some white dogwoods, and new, spring green trees, and dark cedar--well maybe it was cedar.

Tomorrow we're off to Jacksonville, Florida, to see Mary in a track meet. My azaleas and dogwoods are blooming.