Tao of Pooh

if you haven't read this little gem of humor, you should. you can take in its simple bits of wisdom for yourself or use it to teach the principles of taoism to your kids.

shopping for shoes

i decided i'd take a step into getting back into style by buying a new pair of sneakers. after searching online and trying on a few pairs, my feet finally settled into skechers tao 4 striped sneakers. i think they're a comfortable fit for my feet as well as my persona.

here's the amazon.com description of the tao shoe: "Designed for everyday wear, the Tao from Skechers is a modern oxford with a sleek, urban feel. As comfortable as it is stylish, the Tao features a lightweight rubber outsole over the covered EVA midsole, and a padded collar and footbed for all day support. Wear it with jeans or chinos."

a pair of skechers eminence fashion sneakers was a close runner-up. patricia liked this pair better. i guess i might change my mind. anybody have an opinion?

insomnia writings

i've never had insomnia until recently.

just watched the preview for the movie southlandtales (moby did the
soundtrack, so i have to see it). has an interesting apocalyptic feel
to it. another take on what the future holds for us. the end is near,
and all that jazz.

it isn't over until the fat lady sings.

so i'll keep writing. (who reads this crap anyway?)

i haven't written much lately, since i've made yet another switch in
my career, except e-mails. (i love my new job by the way.) but i used
to write or edit dozens of articles. i should write one just to keep
my skills up. i've got to continue writing.

without having any writing deadlines, i actually have time to start
thinking about something else besides work. in fact, since i'm always
answering questions about health, i find myself thinking of my own and
of my family's.

my grandfather, nono, is here in my house with me. he has all kinds of
minor health problems. can't go to the bathroom. goes to much to the
bathroom. he's losing his memory. his stomach hurts if he doesn't eat.
his stomach hurts if he does eat. he thinks he has prostate cancer all
the time.

the old guy's pretty healthy, though. a couple of days ago he walked
20 blocks, just around town. he found some cute old mexican gal to
flirt with too. he still thinks about those things.

drinks mate all the time and, when he can find it, a little red wine.

i picked up this writing style from moby's blog. i can usually pick up
a little of the style of what i happen to be reading and go with that.

a favorite is isabel allende. she's so colorful with her descriptions.
her stuff is so entertaining, even if it is all soap operas.

i think i just heard patricia wake up. she'll come over wondering what
i'm up to at 1 a.m. on the comp. maybe it was just my dog, lucy.

i also think about my head. all the things going on in my head. it's a
long, complex thing to think about. i told joe i had a
deconstructionist's mind.

i deconstruct everything. taking everything apart can be quite
confusing. i don't know if i'm absolutely set on any specific idea. i
don't seem to have any kind of conviction of anything. that's not to
say i don't live by certain guidelines. i do. i just think about what
it is to not have guidelines. my mind doesn't seem to have a set
philosophy.

i do try to stick to the most advantageous action of any situation. i
tend to obey a law of max profit with minimum risk. but, frankly, if
it's too much to think about...

my mind needs to be more disciplined. it needs more practice. it needs
chess. it doesn't need ramblings going on inside of it.

i have been learning lots of things lately. i've been reading,
writing, etc. as always. sometimes i just think a lot. think until i
can't sleep.

when i couldn't sleep tonight, i went to a small mexican fast food
hole where everyone spoke arizonan and there was no way i could relate
to anyone. i couldn't even understand how people could live like they
do. their whole life is limited by an immediate apperception of how to
act and be. and that is to hang out at a hole and talk about how they
wish they'd be asleep or drinking.

where am i? i'm wondering if a better life would be to hang out at a
hole and talk about how i wish i was asleep or drinking.

gosh, i probably should sleep. i slept in today, that's the problem.

my mind's been haunted by a thousand memories and wondering where i've
gone to. i need to start creating more memories, better memories.

i know this blog is all over the place. this is called free-flow writing.

i have fantastic childhood memories. almost all of them are about
traveling and the places i've visited. every time i tried something
new, that sticks out as a memorable moment. i should start getting my
kids away from the tv and trying new things every day. usually we go
to restaurants, the library or bookstore.

it's not enough.

we've planned a trip to sea world next week. i hope it helps the
happiness in my home.

ok, my mind just stopped thinking.

david

Happy Thanksgiving!

The kids were in Utah (we missed you), but Patricia and I had
Thanksgiving at our house with Nono, Marcos and Jimena.

We had:

- Nono's turkey (I didn't eat any)
- Tofurky (for me) with embedded cranberry and stuffing
- Green beans and asparagus with almond cream
- David's homemade cranberry sauce (with orange juice, orange and
lemon zest, and almonds, mmm... try it)
- Candied sweet potato with dried cranberry and pecans
- Apple cranberry pecan almond stuffing
- Cherie's salmon lemon recipe (special thanks to Cherie's recipe book)
- Cherie's Cornbread recipe
- Nona's au gratin Potatoes
- Aunt Jolene's rum cake (with a coconut oil twist to limit our butter intake)
- Patricia's chocolate pie
- Patricia's pecan pie
- Chilean smoked trout (exclusive at Whole Foods)
- Jimena's tomato salad
- Jimena's peach ice cream
- Apple raspberry juice
- Apple mango passion fruit juice

Yum!

Jorn Dyerberg (newest hero)

Jorn Dyerberg is the pioneer who pioneered DHA/EPA omega-3 fatty acid
effects on the body's blood lipids. He spent months in Greenland
living among the indigenous Inuit so he could discover why their
cardiovascular health was better than Danish and U.S. counterparts.
He's also very humble and funny.

David

Paris Las Vegas

As a baptism by fire in my new job, I attended the SupplySide West
show in Las Vegas. Loved it! I got to meet many of our suppliers and
learned a whole lot. I learned about DHA/EPA omega-3s, the detailed
process of shipping herbs to the States, how CoQ10 works in the body,
new FDA regs, etc.

But Patricia had fun too. She took a lot of pictures and roamed about
the Paris hotel where we stayed and Venetian where the show was. We
ate at Mon Ami Gabi at the Paris (our favorite, but no pics), La
Creperie at Paris (wonderful crepes), and Tao at Venetian (classy,
club atmosphere and expensive). We also went to the Mandalay Bay hotel
one night to see if we could get a glimpse of Latin Grammys, but
instead all we saw is a bunch of people trying to get a glimpse too.

David

More Saguaro Lake Pics

Pato and Torie

Saguaro Lake

Here's some pictures of our last trip with the grandparents to Saguaro
Lake. Ryan and Summer, and Marcos
--
David

Patricia's eyes

These are the eyes I fell in love with.

David

Nono Danger Alert!

I believe our slightly deranged little tanguero of a grandfather is
starting to lose his short-term memory. Watch out! He forgets to turn
things off!

Keep this between us, because well, you know how he is.

I mean, we've all heard the story of how he almost burned down his
apartment building, but I imagined it was just a fluke. When just a
few weeks ago he left the stove on again and burned my favorite
thermos, I thought "fluke again".

But we had Nono over last night and today for Thanksgiving and I think
differently now.

1. In the middle of the night, Nono decided to roast a turkey. He put
the turkey in the oven, sat on the couch, and promptly fell asleep.
The oven was on all night. (Don't tell him I told you.)
2. He turned on the sink to wash dishes. Then he walked away and left
it running right into the drain.
3. He turned on the bathroom sink to do that thing you do. He left it
on for hours before Patricia realized.
4. Today the oven was turned on, and so he opened it to put his turkey
in to warm up. He left it open. Awhile later, after I came over to the
kitchen and closed the oven, he remembered why it was open.
5. He leaves the stove on a lot. He uses it to heat his hands up or to
heat up water for maté. I have a gas stove, which is more dangerous.
Thank goodness for the whistle on my kettle.

I feel like I have to follow Nono around my house turning things off.
Soon we're going to need a Nono-sitter. I'm not sure he can be left by
himself.

I'm pretty forgetful too. Am I going to end up like this? I guess I
better start taking my Ginkgo biloba.

David

The illegal immigrant next door

Read this. You owe it to yourself to understand the current politics surrounding immigration. Many of us have friends that are illegal immigrants.

For the last 20 years, the U.S. has had a hypocritical system of denying entry to Mexicans knowing full well they would come in illegally. You don't believe me? For those 20 years, business law stated you had to collect Social Security Numbers to pay taxes, but there was no need to actually check if they were valid.

So in Mexico, this is what people were taught: The U.S. wants you to come work and work illegally; this benefits their economy. It did benefit the economy. Why? Because it created a lower-class people within the U.S. (similar to slaves) who could be worked for little pay and had no rights. The economy grew and grew, with the small setback of illegals using a hospital without insurance everyonce in awhile.

Why do I say the illegals have no rights?

Let's say you're a poor illegal-immigrant woman. You might be married and have children. You have good credit. You have a house. You have a good job. You work hard, but it's worth it to live in the U.S. Then one day, your manager treats you wrongly. In fact, he takes advantage of you. He rapes you. Do you call the police? What if they find out your illegal? You might lose everything!

The easy way out for the U.S. is to not deal with these issues. Get on a high horse and say you came in "illegally" so get out. Let's put up a fence.

I'm all for the fence idea. We need to keep drugs out, terrorists out, etc.

But after the fence, give the people already in the country a chance. Let them stay. Let them come out of the dark. Also, as long as there are jobs available, open up immigration. When there aren't anymore jobs, they'll stop coming and go somewhere else. We all would do the same as them. I know I would.

I'm not an immigration lawyer, but I have illegal immigrant friends, and those are my thoughts.

Torie Baptism

David