Friday, June 19, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
Not EVERYONE Is In Menopause...
<----OLD enough to be her GRANDMA...I've been whining a lot lately about failed memory, emotional upheavals, gray hair, and another birthday gone by. After all I was in my 30s when I started this site with you all. I'm 47 now.
How does that happen?
Just because I'm peri-menopausal and occasionally (or frequently, depending) mean, doesn't mean that everyone is. For those Blog Sisters who might be pregnant or newly delivered, or who have daughters who are pregnant or newly delivered, check out my friends at bTrendie. You can use the invitation code BLOG SISTERS to get in to this invite only shopping community.
We're testing out some graphic blog badges, which is why you see that new badge in the sidebar to the right. Does she scream "pregnant and shopping" or what? Other things she might be saying:
Ouch my aching back.
Ouch my aching feet.
Where's the nanny?
There's a Birthday-in-a-Box Giveaway going on at bTrendie right now, so if you have a (grand)child with a birthday coming up, take a shot at winning.
Meanwhile, Jenna is starting middle school in August, and yet still sometimes rolls out of her bed at night. She's swimming up a storm this summer, which is very helpful for her scoliosis. Water appears to be the best therapy we've found so far to help her posture and pain issues related to the scoliosis. We welcome other ideas and tips from those who've been there.
And finally, you may notice that I've changed the template (again). If anyone wants to take a shot at improving it, let me know and I'll add you as admin.
That's my mid-June update -- as you were!
---
Friday, June 12, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Monday, June 08, 2009
Sunday, June 07, 2009
2 out of 3 bankruptcies are from medical bills.
no one wants to talk about it. our bankrupt government bankrupting us with insane healthcare costs that have drained the finances of ANYONE who has been self-employed or under-insured this past decade, when companies transitioned from giving lavish benefits to giving truckloads of pink slips.
U.S. News and World Report notes that 75 percent of bankruptcies in America today are the result of healthcare expenses gone awry.
So while GM bails out and the financial services industry bails out, American families unable to afford $10,000 per year in deductibles and another $10,000 per year in premiums along with a couple grand a year in doctor's visits and RX's not covered under their plans get to inherit the lasting effects of going bankrupt.
According to the report:
The report also provides some tips for saving $ on healthcare, though I've tried most of these, and they require a LOT of time for very puny results if you ask me.
It appears President Obama is turning his attention to the healthcare mess, and not a moment too soon.
U.S. News and World Report notes that 75 percent of bankruptcies in America today are the result of healthcare expenses gone awry.
So while GM bails out and the financial services industry bails out, American families unable to afford $10,000 per year in deductibles and another $10,000 per year in premiums along with a couple grand a year in doctor's visits and RX's not covered under their plans get to inherit the lasting effects of going bankrupt.
According to the report:
The costliest medical conditions are neurological problems, which cost patients $34,167 in average out-of-pocket healthcare expenses, according to a study in Thursday's online edition of the American Journal of Medicine. The study found that from 2001 to 2007, the number of bankruptcies caused by medical bills rose by about 50 percent. Insured Americans bankrupted by health problems had an average $17,749 in medical bills; those without insurance had bills amounting to $26,971, on average.
The report also provides some tips for saving $ on healthcare, though I've tried most of these, and they require a LOT of time for very puny results if you ask me.
It appears President Obama is turning his attention to the healthcare mess, and not a moment too soon.
Friday, June 05, 2009
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Is Osama Bin Laden Alive or Dead?
A friend referred me to this link at Fox News of the 2001 report of Bin Laden's death. In addition, the late Benazir Bhutto said in an interview that Bin Laden was killed. Did she mean to say someone else? Arab TV has said that Cheney had ordered Bhutto killed. What?
Seems very odd, if you believe he's dead, that we're still getting reports of Bin Laden's "threats." Either the US gov and media are incompetent, some political insiders are secret friends of his, and/or he is being used as an imaginary "boogeyman."
A trip to Wikipedia has more about his reported death.
On the other hand, we couldn't find Eric Robert Rudolph in the mountains. This article on Bin Laden's #2 illustrates how good he could be at hiding.
Things that make you go Hmmm...
Seems very odd, if you believe he's dead, that we're still getting reports of Bin Laden's "threats." Either the US gov and media are incompetent, some political insiders are secret friends of his, and/or he is being used as an imaginary "boogeyman."
A trip to Wikipedia has more about his reported death.
On the other hand, we couldn't find Eric Robert Rudolph in the mountains. This article on Bin Laden's #2 illustrates how good he could be at hiding.
Things that make you go Hmmm...
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Monday, June 01, 2009
Followship Diversity?
New Harvard Research suggests a Man of Twitter (MOT) is almost twice as likely to follow another MOT than a Woman of Twitter (WOT).
And in other news, Hell is still HOT.
The NEWS to me is that Harvard finds this trend stunning:
Huh? Remember the pre-historic era of blogrolls? Remember the echo chamber? Remember Aggregators and top feeds? Remember Techmeme? Twitter is not a new Internet, it's just a new node with the same tendencies and hierarchies (and patriarchies) replicated in 140 characters. I really don't GET the assumption that men usually follow/read/link-to women, and that women do the same. It's just not true. Not online, not offline, not never.
An interesting fact to me is the sheer velocity of popularity on twitter, and how ACTIVITY (not content) may be what drives follows:
That may mean that tweeting OBNOXIOUSLY OFTEN gets you somewhere on Twitter. But then, I think we already knew that.
And in other news, Hell is still HOT.
The NEWS to me is that Harvard finds this trend stunning:
These results are stunning given what previous research has found in the context of online social networks i. On a typical online social network, most of the activity is focused around women - men follow content produced by women they do and do not know, and women follow content produced by women they know. Generally, men receive comparatively little attention from other men or from women. We wonder to what extent this pattern of results arises because men and women find the content produced by other men on Twitter more compelling than on a typical social network, and men find the content produced by women less compelling (because of a lack of photo sharing, detailed biographies, etc.).
Huh? Remember the pre-historic era of blogrolls? Remember the echo chamber? Remember Aggregators and top feeds? Remember Techmeme? Twitter is not a new Internet, it's just a new node with the same tendencies and hierarchies (and patriarchies) replicated in 140 characters. I really don't GET the assumption that men usually follow/read/link-to women, and that women do the same. It's just not true. Not online, not offline, not never.
An interesting fact to me is the sheer velocity of popularity on twitter, and how ACTIVITY (not content) may be what drives follows:
Specifically, the top 10% of prolific Twitter users accounted for over 90% of tweets.
That may mean that tweeting OBNOXIOUSLY OFTEN gets you somewhere on Twitter. But then, I think we already knew that.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Alas, suddenly self-employed, yet surprisingly ...
What an incredible day this has been. First I finally completed the design and development of the website for my new business technology venture (AspiraTech) just in time to rush over to the temple to meet with my Lama for a lunch he cooked for me and another student. He made Tibetan momos for us, plus soup, and it was delicious! Plus hanging out with him for a few hours was pretty sweet in general, meal or no meal.
After all the tumult of the last couple months (with the company I used to do contract business technology consulting for deciding to eliminate its Western region offices after the local director quit, propelling me out on my own unexpectedly) it feels good to have a solid public presentation of my work, which a website represents. I was fortunate enough to have my previous clients recognize the value of what I was doing for them so much that they decided to stay with me after the transition, so I'm not starting completely from scratch. However I still need to attract new clients too, and that's where the website comes in. One simply isn't fully established as a business so long as they don't have an online presence.
If you hear of anyone who needs the types of services I provide, it would be so greatly appreciated. The work I do teaching meditation to incarcerated teens is only possible so long as I don't have to go into a 9-5 in-office position to support myself, and the technical consulting work I do is also incredibly valuable to businesses that need help in and of itself. So you'd be doing both them and me a favor, as well as helping to make it possible for me to keep doing the afternoon service work.
I specialize in SalesForce.com CRM Implementation work, CRM Management for businesses that already have SalesForce set up but need help running it or optimizing it, as well as web development (particularly search engine optimized sites), software training, saas database design, and pretty much anything related to online business technology.
I know this is a very business-y, techie post while I am a blogger who is primarily spiritual inspiration oriented (check out my Indigo Ocean blog for my many articles on enlightened vision), but this is what is up for me right now. Living here in samsara, all parts of life have got to be incorporated into the realization of nirvana within what is. Dealing practically with survival needs is an intrinsic part of the path of realization, and every step of progress in that regard can be part of progress on all fronts. It's all about one's perspective, not about the thing itself.
Whenever I work with a business, I literally pray for them. In every interaction I go in with the intention of blessing them in some way, and at some level they seem to pick up on this. The relationship I develop with them goes beyond the business objective we are working on together, as we become humans in right relationship, healing our hearts and our lives together, while also getting work done.
I see it as holy work, bringing the light of spirituality into the lives of people who may have no idea it has anything to offer them. They feel the influence and that is all they know. That was my same motivation when I wrote my book. I know a lot of advanced theories and I thought of targeting the book to an advanced audience, but decided against it because I really wanted to reach those people who had yet to embark upon the spiritual path formally, and whet their appetite for spiritually opening. In the same way, I love going into the places where spirituality usually is thought to have no home, whether the prison or the boardroom, and lighting a spark of self-remembrance. You wanted an e-commerce website? Sure, and how about a shakti shot to go with it? Love it.
What would our world be like if even half the people who are deeply devoted to spiritual awakening decided to bring the work into the world of commerce? Would that not change business as usual? Is it needed there any less than in the prisons the less financially fortunate find themselves in? There are many types of prisons, some less comfortable than others, but all equally soul stifling.
After all the tumult of the last couple months (with the company I used to do contract business technology consulting for deciding to eliminate its Western region offices after the local director quit, propelling me out on my own unexpectedly) it feels good to have a solid public presentation of my work, which a website represents. I was fortunate enough to have my previous clients recognize the value of what I was doing for them so much that they decided to stay with me after the transition, so I'm not starting completely from scratch. However I still need to attract new clients too, and that's where the website comes in. One simply isn't fully established as a business so long as they don't have an online presence.
If you hear of anyone who needs the types of services I provide, it would be so greatly appreciated. The work I do teaching meditation to incarcerated teens is only possible so long as I don't have to go into a 9-5 in-office position to support myself, and the technical consulting work I do is also incredibly valuable to businesses that need help in and of itself. So you'd be doing both them and me a favor, as well as helping to make it possible for me to keep doing the afternoon service work.
I specialize in SalesForce.com CRM Implementation work, CRM Management for businesses that already have SalesForce set up but need help running it or optimizing it, as well as web development (particularly search engine optimized sites), software training, saas database design, and pretty much anything related to online business technology.
I know this is a very business-y, techie post while I am a blogger who is primarily spiritual inspiration oriented (check out my Indigo Ocean blog for my many articles on enlightened vision), but this is what is up for me right now. Living here in samsara, all parts of life have got to be incorporated into the realization of nirvana within what is. Dealing practically with survival needs is an intrinsic part of the path of realization, and every step of progress in that regard can be part of progress on all fronts. It's all about one's perspective, not about the thing itself.
Whenever I work with a business, I literally pray for them. In every interaction I go in with the intention of blessing them in some way, and at some level they seem to pick up on this. The relationship I develop with them goes beyond the business objective we are working on together, as we become humans in right relationship, healing our hearts and our lives together, while also getting work done.
I see it as holy work, bringing the light of spirituality into the lives of people who may have no idea it has anything to offer them. They feel the influence and that is all they know. That was my same motivation when I wrote my book. I know a lot of advanced theories and I thought of targeting the book to an advanced audience, but decided against it because I really wanted to reach those people who had yet to embark upon the spiritual path formally, and whet their appetite for spiritually opening. In the same way, I love going into the places where spirituality usually is thought to have no home, whether the prison or the boardroom, and lighting a spark of self-remembrance. You wanted an e-commerce website? Sure, and how about a shakti shot to go with it? Love it.
What would our world be like if even half the people who are deeply devoted to spiritual awakening decided to bring the work into the world of commerce? Would that not change business as usual? Is it needed there any less than in the prisons the less financially fortunate find themselves in? There are many types of prisons, some less comfortable than others, but all equally soul stifling.
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