anamnesis

Have you ever noticed that our brain comes up with "answers" for whatever we put to it? It's curious that many otherwise intelligent and creative people abuse this natural tendency of their minds to hobble themselves. If we ask ourselves why we are so screwed up, our brains will shift into gear coming up with all sorts of reasons that it thinks we are asking for. If we ask, instead, how best to deal with situation "x", or how easily we can resolve "y", it will go to work on that thread instead. To be careful what we ask for, may strike a chord much closer to home than we typically realize. And there seems to be an art to asking questions skillfully, to both ourselves and others, in a way that brings out resources and capabilities rather than judgments and indictments; the way we frame our questions in life seems fundamentally linked to the type of answers we are receiving; and yet, how quickly the question fades from our awareness, leaving us only wit...

So I was sipping some wine and playing on the computer, outside people were talking, it was about 12:30am and I figured some kids were rendezvousing between parties. Glanced out and saw a group of teens and a couple of cars. 45 minutes later they were still at it; looking more closely this time, it seemed a bunch of them were sitting on the back of one car while the driver was spinning in the ice. Noobs. So, I grabbed my jacket and put on some shoes. "You guys stuck?" "Yeah. This is not working. We started back there an hour ago!" pointing about 15' back to the intersection. They all tried pushing again from the front while the tires spun. "OK, let's rock it." I showed them how to push then let it rock back then push again. The car backed out several feet now. "Alright, what gear you have it in, first?" "Yeah" "K, put it in second. Now lets rock from the back" Car fish-tailed, almost side-swiping a neighbor's car, ...

Even though we were socked in this year, and missed our annual escapade to Marbella's for Christmas; I just wanted to express our appreciation and admiration for the continuing efforts that little red hen has put into making this season special for our families. Every year, rain, ice-storms, snow or shine; whether she is sick, tired or chipper, there is always a porch light on for distant travelers and a big hug waiting at whatever wee hour they happen to stumble in. I've always been amazed at the depths of her determination and passion to pull this rag-tag group together and make everyone feel that whatever the circumstance they were family and that meant they were loved. I don't care who gets the awards for the biggest light-shows in the city, her and Gem always are the brightest star on the horizon this time of year. Our deepest love and thanks!

A military statesman once said, big lies are more believable than small ones (Hitler.) Which got me thinking about a certain claim by a certain cell-phone company that they have "the fewest dropped calls of any carrier." Now Ger-beans is probably not a good test case, or maybe he is, but just about every conversation with him and said carrier involves a dropped call at least once during the conversation. So I got curious about how one substantiates the "fewest dropped calls claim." Especially since cell phone outage statistics are private. Can't have them terrorists knowing which carrier they should use, after all. On their site, the only reference the carrier makes to the research is "based on nationwide experience among national wireless carriers." Nothing about how many in the sample, how the research was conducted or by whom. Other carriers tout that they, in fact, are the "most reliable" or the "highest ranking in customer satisfac...

My back is SORE. Shoveled 50 yards of 2-3' snow. Discovered this lady frozen on the path, so brought her back home and propped her next to the fireplace. Our "Holiday Blizzard" crawled its way over to Kansas, but seems motorists are still stuck in eastern Colorado. I suspect between the accumulated snow, rain and subzero temps that the plains across I-70 are going to hellish to travel for several more days, even if they do open it tomorrow. We'll be think'in of all you revelers in the South, have some eggnog for us! Marbella, let yer family pamper ya a bit and get well soon! And Ger-beans, best of luck man, Via Con Dios!!

Last night I was out for my semi-regular walk. It was around midnight, and the cold was condensing the way it does before a big snow. The chill in the thick air gave it a little bite, but I was cozy enough with my trusty jacket and Slovenian hat. Sometimes I get lost in just the rhythm of my footsteps or the stars or the wind on bare branches; sometimes I meet critters: deer, coyotes, muskrats, a beaver once (earlier in the day.) This night I rounded a corner on the trail, lost in thought, and came to an abrupt stop in front of a large red fox. He was about 5' in front of me and we both kind of looked up from our walks and thoughts and checked each other out for what seemed like 30 seconds or so. Then he tilted his head back down to level and walked past me, just like someone else out for a walk at night might do, not swerving, but continuing along his course, passing about 2' to my right side, lost in his thoughts again as I continued on my way too, wishing him a silent good...