Friday
May282004
Friday, May 28, 2004 at 7:34AM Latest Find
If you are looking for some great "how to's" with respect to HTML and CSS in a blog context, then check out Mandarin Design.
Friday
May282004
Friday, May 28, 2004 at 12:01AM The Devil You Say?
When I was a seminary student 22 years ago, I wrote this paragraph:
Familiar Eyes
I saw the Devil today, he was looking back at me with familiar eyes. I found his features pleasant. He seemed a likable fellow. He assured me that he wanted the same things I wanted. We seemed to agree about everything. I had always thought of him as a monster and someone who wanted to destroy me. But that is not true. He really is not that bad. I should know, because today I saw him - gazing at me from my mirror. February 18, 1982
The subject of the devil, demons, and evil is always a hot topic in religious circles. Most of us have spent time thinking about what we believe along those lines. No one really has "the answer." We simply settle on some views. Theologians offer theories about evil from the traditional "devil" to evil not existing at all. So whatever you believe right now, there are scholars who will back you on your points.
I am not one to expend a lot of calories arguing over points no one can prove one way or the other. In cases like this, I focus on the practical - how does it affect me and what does it mean I should do? In matters of religion, I strive for a system of thought as free of contradictions as possible.
My brief writing from 1982 gives you some insight about how I view the concept of the devil as he affects individuals. To my knowledge, I have never seen the devil or talked with him. I have not had the opportunity to sell my soul for a career as a blues singer or a baseball player. This does not prove Satan does or does not exist. It only points out that, if the devil is running around influencing people, I have not been aware of it.
If Flip Wilson's Geraldine accurately depicts the devil, then we can be manipulated by him. I, however, feel that I can make my own choices. In other words, when I screw up, it is me screwing up and not me being influenced by the devil. Oh, but temptation is out there and we must choose wisely.
Personal responsibility has slipped from importance in recent years. The drunk who runs into another car killing an entire family is not held as responsible as the bar keep who sold him the liquor. The teacher is blamed for little Johnny earning an F in English.
If I act like the devil, it is because of my own choices. A line from the Lord's Prayer goes, "and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." Avoiding temptation is the key. If you expose yourself to temptation, you will eventually cave in.
Evil: M. Scott Peck wrote, People of the Lie. He does a pretty good job describing evil in our world. The thing is, evil is often disguised as good. Parents may look appropriate on the outside, but be destructive and evil in the way they interact with their children. A good example of this was illustrated in "The Dead Poet's Society." Do you remember the boy who killed himself because of his father's overbearing and control? This was pretty close to the evil I am trying to describe. The father was remorseful, so he may have been misguided. Evil has no regard for others.
President Bush speaks of the evil doers. He takes heat for these words, but what words better describe someone who would turn a plane into a missile to kill innocent humans?
In my mind, evil is not so much up for debate. George Bush is not evil. Bill Clinton is not evil. Adolph Hitler was evil. Saddam Hussein is evil. I see a lot of people in my work. Every now and then, I come across someone who is just evil. Most people recognize it. Just like you know when you are in love, but at a loss to describe the feelings, you will sense evil when it is present even if your words fail to describe your feelings. Policemen know this as well. They will tell you, there is breaking the law and there is evil.
Well, what the devil do you think?
Until the next time
John Strain
Thursday
May272004
Thursday, May 27, 2004 at 12:01PM Just For The Health Of It
I am about to do something out of character for me. I am going on a cottage cheese and canned peaches diet. You read that right, cottage cheese and canned peaches. The reason this is out of character for me is I always preach against diets, and strange diets draw even more fire and brimstone from my personal health point of view.
Here is the diet. For one week I eat only cottage cheese and canned peaches. I can eat all I want, but nothing else. I can drink any non caloric beverage including Diet Coke. I also take a multivitamin. At the end of the first week, I enter phase two. During this phase, I eat the basic food pyramid plan while not gorging. Phase two only lasts one day, then it is back to phase one, provided I choose to do it for another week.
I wonder if this diet is responsible for cottage cheese thighs?
This diet was suggested by my coach to lose some weight quickly. It is only for rapid weight reduction and once I am off of this diet, I will eat sensibly to maintain the weight. Now that I am in training, I need to drop some pounds. I intend to train much more intensely than I did for the Napa Valley Marathon I ran in March. I know how much easier it is to run if I can shed an extra 10 lbs.
It sounds funny and my coworkers have already started calling me "peaches." Strangely enough, several of them perked up as I told them the details of the diet and some want to do it with me. People are more apt to do something if it sounds crazy than if it sounds legit.
For example, a woman once purchased breast enlargement cream because she was unsatisfied with the size of her
How much do we really know about health anyway? Last weekend we were in New Orleans and visited a Whole Food Store. I think it is a chain, but anyway, imagine a large health food grocery store / GNC on steroids. The store had all kinds of vegetables, fruits, and nuts I had never before seen. They had aisle after aisle of special health products. The colors, the smells, the packaging, were all strange to me. I did not know what most of it was. People were buying it left and right though. Personally, I think it is a bunch of hooey. People are gullible and will fork over cold hard cash for what they are told is the fountain of youth or the latest elixir to grow hair or some pill promising to help men pop a chubby.
We are brainwashed to believe certain things are good for you and other things are bad for you. There is good cholesterol and bad cholesterol. Do you know the difference? How does bad cholesterol behave? Why is good cholesterol good?
How about antioxidants. I don't even know what an oxidant is, but antioxidants are supposed to be good. Maybe we are prejudging oxidants. I mean, are they all bad or did a few bad mannered oxidants ruin it for the good ones?
Why does the healthy way have to be less desirable. Most would rather sit than run. Eat than not. If it feels good, then it probably isn't good for you.
Sometimes the doctor wants me to have a lipid profile. How do they get the little lipids to stand sideways anyway?
I am getting tired of my doctor. Ever since I turned 40, he has started doing weird things to me. I won't go into it because I don't want to reopen old psychological wounds, but I wind up leaning on my elbows with my pants around my ankles. Afterwards I always feel so cheap. I also feel his hand in my nether regions for about two days following the assault. He tells me he is only violating me in the name of health.
So all in the name of health we eat weird and eat weird things. We rub things on our body and put things in our body. We allow strangers to put parts of themselves in our body. We spend money, do without, study, sacrifice, and humiliate ourselves. What do we get? Usually the shaft. (I just can't get that doctor out of my head).
Our preoccupation with health is a sign of how fortunate we are. We are rich enough to destroy ourselves through indulgence. It takes discipline to resist what tastes good, what is easy, and what feels good.
In case you are interested in the diet, here is the email I received from my coach containing the details:
Dear John: If you want to lose substantial weight in a short period of time, here is the diet that will do it:
Losing Weight Fast Ó2004 Michael Schreiber
The best approach to weight loss and weight control is the long term one. That is, you increase your exercise or training load and modify your diet. Gradually you lose sloppy fat, and gain firm muscle.
Your body’s appearance actually improves faster than the scale indicates, because firm tissue (muscle), though lesser in volume, weighs more than fat.
While I am primarily a believer in the long-term approach, for psychological reasons it is sometime a good idea to begin by losing a bit of weight in a hurry, and then move to a more gradual plan.
The most effective, non-drug quick loss plan ever developed, bar none, is the peaches and cottage cheese diet.
It works so well because it combines both the physiological with the psychological; you don’t count calories; you don’t keep complicated records; you don’t plan meals; you don’t restrict the amount you are allowed to eat. In other words, you aren’t forced to dwell on the subject of food and you don’t go hungry.
Before you begin this diet, or any new diet or exercise plan, consult your doctor.
This diet has you eat canned peaches, cottage cheese, a vitamin/mineral supplement, and the non-caloric beverages of choice. This would include: tap water, bottled water, mineral water, coffee, tea, herb tea, and diet soda.
You may eat as much peaches and cottage cheese as you wish, as often as you wish during the day and evening. However, it is better if you don’t stuff yourself, but rather take very small portions, and eat more often. A meal portion might consist of two heaping tablespoons of cottage cheese and half a peach, repeated throughout the morning, day and evening.
It is essential that you eat only the cottage cheese and peaches, the vitamin and non-caloric liquid, *absolutely nothing else!* No changes at all! The slightest change in the diet will prevent it from working to full effect.
You may stay on this program, with doctor’s approval, for one week. At the end of one week switch to "phase two," a diet that consists of fruit, vegetables (cooked and raw), beans (red, black or pinto), unflavored yogurt and fresh cheese, and the meat fish and poultry you most enjoy. Plus the non-caloric drinks mentioned before. This is the near ideal diet for an endurance athlete (and anyone else, for that matter).
After *one day* on "phase two," switch back to the cottage cheese and peaches diet for an additional one week. Continue cycling through the program, several times, until you reach your ideal weight. Good luck, and hang in there. Mike training2run@yahoo.com
As you pursue your health goals, I wish you luck.
Health Tip: Giving blood can reduce your risk of heart attack.
Until the next time
Peaches
Wednesday
May262004
Wednesday, May 26, 2004 at 12:01AM Go Somewhere Else
Go somewhere else is both title to this post and some good advice. I am not trying to run readers away from my site, but to offer a tidbit of information which has the power to free you and make it possible for you to finally live your life as you would choose.
Let me begin with a parable of sorts:
Spot was a happy dog. Each night he walked to the back door of a local restaurant where he was given food scraps and bones. All Spot had to do was bark a few times and one of the kitchen hands would emerge with a platter full of dog delicacies. Spot was fat and happy, but his luck was about to change.
The restaurant Spot loved so much had to close its doors one day. Not able to read, Spot did not see the announcement in the paper. Instead, he went to the same back door he had been going to for food, but there were no lights on and no usual activity in the alley. Nevertheless, Spot barked his usual way, but the door never opened. The kitchen help did not emerge with his nightly treat. Spot barked some more, but nothing happened. He eventually walked back home. He did everything right, but it did not work tonight.
The next night, a similar scenario unfolded. Spot showed up at the right place and the right time, but no food. The same thing happened the next night. Spot could not figure it out. It was not his fault. He was doing the right thing, but not getting fed.
The next night, Spot went to a different door. Spot was a smart puppy. He realized that if he kept doing the same thing, he would keep getting the same thing - so he took a risk and did something different - and it paid off.
Many people go to their parents for affection, approval, and encouragement. Instead they receive rejection, ridicule, and disapproval. It hurts. They crawl off and lick their wounds, heal, pick themselves back up. After a while, they return to the source hoping for different results, but end up rejected again. Go somewhere else.
Some folks have a crush and love someone, but the love is not returned. They reach out time after time and all they receive is rejection. Go somewhere else.
You may want your family to love you and be happy for you, but when you are around them, they douse your dreams with cold water. Why act surprised if it happens again and again. Go somewhere else.
It is not about you being good enough to earn their praise. It is about them. Something is wrong with how they think and act. Are you a parent? If so, ask yourself, what does your child have to do to make you love them? The answer is - nothing. The child only needs to exist. The child does not have to do anything to earn your love. What could your child do to make you stop loving him? Again, the answer is nothing. You may be disappointed in your child, but my guess is you will always love him/her.
If you can predict what will happen and it is bad, avoid the humiliation. Go somewhere else. Seek nurture and approval from someone who will freely give it.
An Autobiography in Five Chapters
Chapter I
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost...I am helpless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.
Chapter II
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don't see it.
I fall in - again.
I can't believe I am in this same place.
But it isn't my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.
Chapter III
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I fall in...it's a habit...but, my eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.
Chapter IV
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.
Chapter V
I walk down a different street.
- Anonymous
If you go somewhere and you are not getting what you need, go somewhere else.
Until the next time
John Strain
