Money for King

I didn't feel up to attending the event, but I dropped off my checks for the Primary and the General election.  I gave as much as I could to Congressman King.  I appreciate his strong voice.

He offends people sometimes, but most of those people really NEED to be offended ... I wish they could be offended more.

Back at it

I have been really sick this winter ... not just a little sick -- sick enough to think it was over ... at one point [earlier this month], I needed to use a walker ... REALLY, REALLY, REALLY sick.

But it didn't kill me, so as badly out of shape as I am ... it's time to get back at it.

I ordered 1000 asparagus plants earlier this winter ... when they get here, it'll be time to start digging ... if I can dig five in a day, I'll do that ... if I can do 25, I'll do that ... maybe eventually, I can crawl out of the abyss.

The anniversary

It's one year ago since my father passed away.  I miss Dad, but I realize that it's for the best that he's gone.  He was pretty feeble the last couple years; he would turned 80 a week ago Sunday which is not bad for a guy who was pretty sure that he would not live all that far past 65.

I know that he is PERFECT now, but I still owe him EVERYTHING.  He was/is my best friend and my life is a reflection of his.

Auctioneering scholarships

I decided to provide 4 scholarships for 2012 ( 1 each term ) for worthy auction school candidates to go to World Wide College of Auctioneering ... I don't know if I will do this in the future, but I do know that the world needs more entrepreneurs ... being a capable public speaker or proficient at auctioneering is one great skill to have as an entrepreneur.  It is necessary to be able to stand in front of people and LEAD.

Every day is Veteran's Day

Let's just say that I am concerned about Veterans today ... more so than usual.

Worthless, lying bastards

Has EVERYTHING in the corporate world become completely hopeless ... is lying constantly necessary ... what the hell has happened to my country ... what the hell has happened to my friends?

Keeping the powder dry

I am really trying to understand this loss of confidence that I see in American companies, in America, in starting up new companies ... the birthrate of new employer firms has never been lower ... and it looks like it's going to decrease even further.


I think I need to step back and re-analyze things ... it's not just the budget and credit downgrade thing -- it's also stuff like how Japan reacted to the earthquake, tsunami, nuke disaster with some heroism, but mostly by obfuscating and lying on the part of government officials ... I need to step back and KEEP MY POWDER DRY!

I am just not sure what's going on in the world.  I am really not sure what to make of things.  Not sure at all.

So maybe it's time to take a throwaway job ... just something to keep me busy ... maybe there's somebody who I can help.  

The credit downgrade

I retrieved my tin hat from the closet to think about conspiracy theories ... actually, I don't believe in conspiracies, but I do sort wonder what's going on.

I am starting to believe like there is a bit of collusion by different parties underway to DESTROY America ... or take it down a peg ... was it really necessary for S&P to cut America's credit rating, or was it coaxed, pushed by people who'd benefit from a bit of a collapse [and dead-cat bounce rebound]?

Are OTHER countries really a better risk than America?  Are OTHER countries really going to be standing tall if there's a big enough disaster to take America down?

The budget deficit, Bowles-Simpson and Joe Biden

Biden is an incompetent goof ... only a MORE incompetent goof would put him in charge of budget negotiations.

Breathing exercises to build power, enhance cellular health, regulate the mind, manage the emotional fire

We take things like eating or breathing for granted; even though we may go through different stages in life when we are active, even athletic ... most adults probably use less than 50% of their lung capacity -- as we age ... past 35 or so, probably younger in obese adults ... we slowly start paying the penalty for unregulated breathing and poor cardiovascular health with increased incidence of bone marrow and neurological ailments. If we don't take responsibility for understanding and regulating the body's energy, our bone marrow becomes weak, diseased and subject to cancer. Reduced oxygen in the bloodstream cripples the healthy genetic transfer necessary for limiting DNA damage in cellular replacement of brain cells.  Unless we really want to be victims or helpless blobs controlled by someone else, we simply CANNOT take eating or breathing for granted! If we want to be in control of our lives, we need to be control of what we eat, we need to be in control of how we breathe.

The lungs are very much like your posture or your the stomach ... as someone who has never thought much about this before, I now know how important it is. Good posture is something you should work on everyday -- it will not magically appear. The same is true for the condition of your stomach ... the more you eat, the bigger your stomach gets. The bigger the stomach gets, the more that feel the need to eat. In most cases, this process is rather gradual -- no one begins eating like a pig; it's starts very gradually as something that you'd barely notice. After a decade or two of not really watching what you eat, it's likely that you [like most American adults] will have developed a weight problem. If you want to reduce your weight, there aren't any pills or secrets or special diets. It is very simple you need to get in the habit of eating less ... if you SUDDENLY change your eating habits, you will be miserable AND you will get very sick because your body [especially the intestinal system and the microbes in that system] still needs the diet it is used to. If you want to reduce your weight, you need to eat less ... and [especially if you are older] you need to make the change gradually OR the change will make you ill and almost certainly will not stick.

We might crave the drama of a TV show (e.g. Biggest Loser) or stark contrast of a fat Before and a herculean After picture ... we want to be stars; we want to be the center of a universe of adoring fans. We want big results; heroic efforts. We not only want to do a couple push-ups -- we want to ride in RAGBRAI and then go on to become one of the world's most successful triathletes! We KNOW that we deserve to play Lead role in our own autobiographical movie and we think need to hear the theme from "Rocky" playing in the background ... but if we want the change to be healthy and to stick, we need to sustain the change more gradually, over a longer period of time. The movie of you life takes about 100 years to complete; maybe not quite that long, but it definitely takes at least 50 or 75 years ... if we try to go too fast or don't get started now and work every second, our movie will be worse than an irresponsible 6th grader's project started late at night before the big science fair.

We should start with relatively simple breathing exercises and then steady, continually, gradually escalate to more advance breathing techniques to regulate, relax and calm down, to improve the function of the cells and make the circulation healthier, to build power for our exercises, martial arts and weight training, to lead the qi to "wash" the bone marrow.

Regular deeper breathing ... relax, close your eyes, try to focus all of your mental and physical energy on on deepening your breathing, try to build a consistent, sustainable habit that uses about 70% of your lung capacity... find an enjoyable form of active exercise [that you can sustain] such as gardening, digging, chopping wood, rapid walking, running, bicycling, lifting weights that forces you to breathe more deeply to expand your lung capacity.

Normal abdominal breathing ... place one hand on dan tian area [below stomach], place other hand on chest; the hand on your dan tian should move up and down like it is on top of a wave; the hand on your chest might feel the waves but should not move as if it's resting on the beach.

Reverse abdominal breathing ... except think about movements when you are laughing or crying

Embryonic breathing ... breath like a baby; your body's midsection drives the movement [in an exaggerated form, this includes even your hips]