Monday, November 16, 2009
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
The Serpent Speaks
I've shared this before, but it is so magical, I have to share it again:
The Serpent Speaks
by Robert Siegel
Soul: Look on that fire, salvation walks within.
Heart: What theme had Homer but original sin?
—William Butler Yeats
And three begot the ten thousand things.
—Lao Tzu
I am another vine
in the great democracy of vines
part of the complexity that defies explanation
part of the tree you put your back to
alert, but never suspecting.
I am the cold coil around the warm trunk,
I expand
as your lungs, poor rabbits, twitch and swell.
I am a long story with lovely yellows
and dapples and shades
a beginning, middle, and end that you can get lost in
a sunny patch followed by a shadow
a green dapple and twist, the turn, the unexpected
reversal.
When you come to the denouement; and the tail narrows to
nothing
you wish to go back to the beginning and start over
where the red lie flickers in the leaves
beneath eyes like mica moons.
It is the old story, the beginning of everything
but really a long divigation and excursus
in which the woman naked and trembling
complains to the man, weeping over and over,
and his voice rises in sharp jabs
while all their unborn children listen.
It is something that interrupts the afternoon, the first day
and history begins and wanders off for millennia,
missing the whole point.
It is these subtle shades on my scales
this maze of intricate lines
that lead back upon themselves in endless recursions
that fascinate you, that lead you endlessly
from my tail into my mouth.
In the moving light of the jungle I am a simple
body-stocking of shadows and weave
under a fritillary of bird cries to a sensuous music
a harmony to all your doings
promising you the ultimate knowledge in my belly
down the dark tube of years:
Light and shadow, light and shadow, the days and nights pass
with increasing speed like stations and their intervals
and you sway holding the strap
the car-lights flickering
wondering whatever was your original destination.
When fiction held out its red lie among the roses
you followed it down my dark throat.
It seemed utterly reasonable. Then you were Methuselah
carrying each of his 900 years like a brick on his back
Abraham's wild surmise with knife
Joseph starving in a hole
and Moses singeing his feet in the wilderness.
Next they hung you from two sticks and slowly
everything grew more dramatic:
Augustine heard the children in the garden
Aquinas fled from the naked peasant
and Columbus woke in a sweat, the voices still singing
of a lost world
of amber waves and alabaster
until Lord Amherst gave his blankets to the Indians
Franklin saw the flashing key
and Washington sold his horse for pasturage
until the utterly reasonable Robespierre offered up his head
Lenin popped from a boxcar
and Einstein gave you a terrible secret
which I had promised,
a man of violins and God.
Now the story has gotten out of hand
as you swarm upon yourselves like maggots
on a diminishing dung-pile
and frenzied, move toward the catastrophe
history a string of boxcars
each a century stuffed to overflowing
until the last leaps the track.
Meanwhile I who am the truth move
scintillatingly, with grace in my own shadow
telling the story: There was a man, and a woman …
and the sun rose
and they went on a long journey
and night fell and they did not know where they were.
Such is knowledge, such is the fruit I offered
without the encumbrances of love, without listening
without the tree of fire that burns
below all movement, all shining, the tree below the bones
whose flames reach through the skeleton and hover
just over the fingers
and burn away the forest where the ego
goes crying, alone—one eye balancing the other
bilaterally symmetrical—
of what it has and what it hasn't
until all shapes are shining and
fear falls way shriveling like a black net
and the wisdom of God dances freely before you
and the glowing fruit blushes for the mouth.
I see all clear and can tell you
the end of things, knowing you will not listen,
for my knowledge is cold here in the forest
and you will follow the shifting arabesque
of moonlight on my mica-glint, my scales
moving like the sequins of days, events,
the rise of stocks and the next presidential election
and the price of wheat futures in a drought.
So I go on, flowing into my own shape
into the darkness I have made, subservient
(and this is the bitterness beyond all blankness)
at the last to another purpose
which you cannot guess, which rings in these leaves
like the harps and fiddles of insects too high
for your range of hearing—a music which drives me
into the narrowing circle I have made
tail in mouth, swallowing until
I vanish
and everything in this circle vanishes with me.
- Robert Siegel
Friday, October 23, 2009
Religion Keeps on Trucking (Without the Institutions)
(RNS) Religious institutions may be waning in the U.S, but private religious practices like prayer are actually on the rise, a new University of Chicago report reveals. While weekly attendees of religious services dropped from 32 to 26 percent of the population between 1983 and 2006, people praying daily rose...
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Quote & Thoughts
Thanks to Greg for sharing this David Bazan song lyric:
I've often wondered and thought the same thing...
"When Job asked you the question,
You responded, "Who are you
To challenge your Creator?"
Well if that one part is true,
It makes you sound defensive
Like you had not thought it through
enough to have an answer
or you might have bit off more than you could chew"
I've often wondered and thought the same thing...
Saturday, October 03, 2009
Friday, October 02, 2009
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
I love to run. It's an activity that I basically abandoned after my early childhood and didn't pick up again until my mid-30s. I have been fortunate in that I have never struggled with my weight or with health in general - so I picked it up again more out of a general desire and awareness that I needed to be more healthful in my lifestyle. Once I began, however, it quickly became a source of stress-relief, relaxation, personal growth & challenge and even community-building.
I have never been athletic and am not so now. I don't expect to set any records in my running. But, as folks who know me will attest, I can become a bit obsessive about the things I get involved in - and I tend to read and research and think a lot about the things that interest me. This is certainly true with running. So while my genes may limit my ultimate potential, this doesn't, at least to me, detract from the seriousness I apply to my running.
I say all that to say that I do think a lot about why I run, how I run, when I run, etc. So, if for no other reason than to find a place to record these thoughts of mine for my own future reflection, here are the ideas and mantras I chant to myself as I head out on my runs that I have either learned from others, confirmed for myself or am in the process of proving/disproving. I hope they are helpful to others as they are to me.
Running with Good Posture
I do not by habit have great posture. No less so when running. Yet I know from my own experience that if my posture fails, I will be more inclined to have less energy on my run, more likely to experience soreness in my recovery, and in all likelihood have a slower pace. I ruminate and recite the following four ideas during my runs to ensure I'm keeping good posture. (The first two heuristics here are from my wife's Pilates training, but the ideas I use pre-date the terms I've applied here.)
(1) Back cleavage One of the key things I try to do in running is keep my shoulders down and back. This creates what I call "back cleavage". Running this way straightens the spine, helps keep the shoulders squarely over the hips, lifts the rib cage to ensure better breathing. I find running this way increases my energy and pace as well as avoiding back, shoulder and neck soreness after runs.
(2) Naval-to-spine. I've been asked how I hold my abdominals during a run. And watching the finish line of most marathons will inevitibly bring images of beaten-down-looking runners with rounded shoulders and clenched abs. Alternately, I focus on two ideas: pulling my naval in and arching my back - pulling my naval toward my spine. This posture compliments the shoulder posture mentioned above to lift the rib cage improving breathing. It also relieves stress on the lower back and, again, keeps shoulders-over-hips.
(3) Balloon from the chest. I picked up this tip from Runners' World. Simply imagine a helium balloon attached to the middle of your sternum. Envision how this balloon would pull at your chest as it lifts upward. Run with this posture. This accomplishes two things in concert with the tips above. First, it contributes to the shoulders-over-spine idea mentioned above. Second, it helps me with a specific posture problem I have of holding my head too far forward. I like to think I "lean into" life. But what I really do is extend my head & neck too far forward. Not only does this not open the airway for better breathing, but it can also contribute to additional strain in my neck and shoulder muscles. Holding my chin in is an important posture focus and the balloon idea helps to visualize how to do it.
(4) Grab the ground. I'm still working on this concept. As folks who know me know, I have struggled all of last year with plantar fasciitis and thankfully, seem to be past it now. However, I still feel that dreaded twinge from time-to-time and am determined to avoid it if I can. I'm currently reading "Born To Run" - which I highly recommend. In it, the author takes a lot of shots at highly-cushioned modern running shoes claiming Bill Bowerman essentially changed modern human running by the creation of such shoes needlessly (or, at least, in pursuit of a very particular running technique Bowerman believed in at the time, but later, according to the author, abandoned or partially recanted). The idea is that humans have evolved to run with a forefoot or mid-foot strike - not a heel-strike. The latter being possible only because of modern running shoes cushioning such landings. Further, that modern arch supports actually weaken a runner's foot (referencing the idea of the traditional stone-mason's arch - which grows stronger with downward pressure, but weaker with upward force) thereby creating injury potential. The author cites statistics and studies claiming to show that the per capita rate of running injuries has increased significantly since the invention and evolution of running shoes. The upshot of these ideas are not radically new as far as I can tell. Basically, the idea is to try to move your legs and feet as if you were running barefoot.
This posture has the following components:
(A) A short stride - if you can't land on your heel (which you won't if you're running barefoot for any appreciable distance on a hard surace), your foot will have to land very close to directly beneath your center of gravity - not in front of it. This means you will have to have a short stride. It was stride-lengthening Bowerman had in mind when he began creating heavily padded shoes allowing heel-strike landings.
(B) A high leg-turnover - to keep your normal pace with a shorter stride will require you take more steps to cover the same distance - an increase in leg-turnover. For distance runners, LTO has been a long-standing metric of performance.
Many amatuer runners - whose only experience may have been with running short distances or sprinting - mimic the longer, knee-lifting strides used for these burst-runs - not realizing their overall pace for any lengthy run will suffer. To visualize how to run this way, I think of my steps as trying to "grab the ground" with my toes - reaching out with the outside of my foot, pronating to the balls of my feet, then pressing down with the arch and heel at the landing and push-off. This is not a solid fore-foot strike, but somewhere between this and a heel-strike. The POSE method seems to be something of an extreme version, but it seems to fall short of taking advantage of the remarkable structural design of the foot arch.
Anyway, when I'm focusing on posture, these are the things I think about.
Motivation & Music
Time management, commitment, motivating thoughts, and visualization are all tools and techniques I use to ensure I keep running.
As much as I love to run, I freely admit that I not infrequently struggle to get motivated to get out the door. For my a part of this is the time of day. My peak energy level is between about 9am and 2pm. On almost any day, barring the stresses and obligations of life, I could charge out the door between these hours with little notice or preparation. Earlier than this or later than this require some self-motivation. So the first step in my motivation is to try to make time to run when I know it will be most appealing and easiest for me.
I like to run by myself. As you'll see later in this post, I most frequently run by myself and listen to audiobooks or music. But I also train with other people frequently. One of the greatest motivators in getting "out the door" is an obligation to meet a friend and fellow runner. Find a partner, join a local running club, etc. It's hard to beat the effectiveness of this motivator.
Obviously, a lot of the time, I don't get to control my schedule, so I end up having to try to run when I'm feeling tired or sleepy. This is sometimes tough. So I try to force myself to get out the door. If I can just get into my running clothes and get to the doorknob, I'm usually OK. I keep telling myself the run will feel good once I'm out there. I also keep telling myself that the worst run is the run you don't start. Just a little pep-talk to get me "over the hump" and out the door. After that (and, usually the first three-quarters of a mile), I'm doing great!
In addition to these tips, keeping a running magazine nearby, reading inspirational stories of folks who've pushed beyond their comfort zones to accomplish things, seeing yourself as a runner - are all powerful ways I've found to keep me motivated and excited about my runs.
Once I'm out the door and on the road though, I still need some motivation to go the distance. I love to run with music and I've found that the choice in music can make a big difference in my running. I can speed up my pace, add to my distance, improve my posture - in some part based on what I choose to listen to while I'm running.
If I'm doing a distance run, I prefer to listen to an audiobook. Getting caught up in the plot and rhythm of the story allows the future work of additional miles to drift from my mind and I'm only feeling the moment as the story carries me along. Podcasts, audiobooks or other narrative programs are very effective in helping me enjoy long runs.
For shorter runs (anything less than 6-8 miles) - or for tempo portions of longer workouts - nothing beats music to help me pick up the pace and get moving. I've written previously about how to select music based on your desired pace and the beats-per-minute of particular songs.
What follows below is a bit more subjective review of some of my recent favorites and how they get me moving. Note that my "casual" running pace is between 9:00-9:15, a tempo run is between 8:00-8:45 and a hard run for me is faster than 7:45.
A few of my current "top motivator" songs include:
Use Somebody by The Kings of Leon -This is a 8:15-8:45 pace song. The beat and energy are contagious.
Gives You Hell by the All-American Rejects - 7:45-8:15 pace. This song is just fantastic for a run. I cannot help but increase my pace when this song starts - and then it builds as the song progresses.
Sometime Around Midnight by Airborne Toxic Event - 8:00-8:30. Great piece of music here that grabs you gently but ramps up as it builds to a high energy jolt by the end.
Other great motivating songs include O.A.R.'s Shattered, Daughtry's Feels Like Tonight, Baba O'Riley by the Who, She's a Beauty by The Tubes, She's My Ride Home by Blue October, Lenny Kravitz' American Woman, and so on. These are all personal choices - as long as the BPM and energy level work for you, go with what moves you.
I work these songs into my playlists on shorter runs so I start off with one of them to get me going (but don't go out too fast) and one or more to bring me back in while keeping the pace up and my posture correct. I'd suggest you find the "driving" songs that appeal to you and use them to keep you moving at the right times in your runs.
Get out and enjoy your run!
I have never been athletic and am not so now. I don't expect to set any records in my running. But, as folks who know me will attest, I can become a bit obsessive about the things I get involved in - and I tend to read and research and think a lot about the things that interest me. This is certainly true with running. So while my genes may limit my ultimate potential, this doesn't, at least to me, detract from the seriousness I apply to my running.
I say all that to say that I do think a lot about why I run, how I run, when I run, etc. So, if for no other reason than to find a place to record these thoughts of mine for my own future reflection, here are the ideas and mantras I chant to myself as I head out on my runs that I have either learned from others, confirmed for myself or am in the process of proving/disproving. I hope they are helpful to others as they are to me.
Running with Good Posture
I do not by habit have great posture. No less so when running. Yet I know from my own experience that if my posture fails, I will be more inclined to have less energy on my run, more likely to experience soreness in my recovery, and in all likelihood have a slower pace. I ruminate and recite the following four ideas during my runs to ensure I'm keeping good posture. (The first two heuristics here are from my wife's Pilates training, but the ideas I use pre-date the terms I've applied here.)
(1) Back cleavage One of the key things I try to do in running is keep my shoulders down and back. This creates what I call "back cleavage". Running this way straightens the spine, helps keep the shoulders squarely over the hips, lifts the rib cage to ensure better breathing. I find running this way increases my energy and pace as well as avoiding back, shoulder and neck soreness after runs.
(2) Naval-to-spine. I've been asked how I hold my abdominals during a run. And watching the finish line of most marathons will inevitibly bring images of beaten-down-looking runners with rounded shoulders and clenched abs. Alternately, I focus on two ideas: pulling my naval in and arching my back - pulling my naval toward my spine. This posture compliments the shoulder posture mentioned above to lift the rib cage improving breathing. It also relieves stress on the lower back and, again, keeps shoulders-over-hips.
(3) Balloon from the chest. I picked up this tip from Runners' World. Simply imagine a helium balloon attached to the middle of your sternum. Envision how this balloon would pull at your chest as it lifts upward. Run with this posture. This accomplishes two things in concert with the tips above. First, it contributes to the shoulders-over-spine idea mentioned above. Second, it helps me with a specific posture problem I have of holding my head too far forward. I like to think I "lean into" life. But what I really do is extend my head & neck too far forward. Not only does this not open the airway for better breathing, but it can also contribute to additional strain in my neck and shoulder muscles. Holding my chin in is an important posture focus and the balloon idea helps to visualize how to do it.
This posture has the following components:
(A) A short stride - if you can't land on your heel (which you won't if you're running barefoot for any appreciable distance on a hard surace), your foot will have to land very close to directly beneath your center of gravity - not in front of it. This means you will have to have a short stride. It was stride-lengthening Bowerman had in mind when he began creating heavily padded shoes allowing heel-strike landings.
(B) A high leg-turnover - to keep your normal pace with a shorter stride will require you take more steps to cover the same distance - an increase in leg-turnover. For distance runners, LTO has been a long-standing metric of performance.
Many amatuer runners - whose only experience may have been with running short distances or sprinting - mimic the longer, knee-lifting strides used for these burst-runs - not realizing their overall pace for any lengthy run will suffer. To visualize how to run this way, I think of my steps as trying to "grab the ground" with my toes - reaching out with the outside of my foot, pronating to the balls of my feet, then pressing down with the arch and heel at the landing and push-off. This is not a solid fore-foot strike, but somewhere between this and a heel-strike. The POSE method seems to be something of an extreme version, but it seems to fall short of taking advantage of the remarkable structural design of the foot arch.
Anyway, when I'm focusing on posture, these are the things I think about.
Motivation & Music
Time management, commitment, motivating thoughts, and visualization are all tools and techniques I use to ensure I keep running.
As much as I love to run, I freely admit that I not infrequently struggle to get motivated to get out the door. For my a part of this is the time of day. My peak energy level is between about 9am and 2pm. On almost any day, barring the stresses and obligations of life, I could charge out the door between these hours with little notice or preparation. Earlier than this or later than this require some self-motivation. So the first step in my motivation is to try to make time to run when I know it will be most appealing and easiest for me.
I like to run by myself. As you'll see later in this post, I most frequently run by myself and listen to audiobooks or music. But I also train with other people frequently. One of the greatest motivators in getting "out the door" is an obligation to meet a friend and fellow runner. Find a partner, join a local running club, etc. It's hard to beat the effectiveness of this motivator.
Obviously, a lot of the time, I don't get to control my schedule, so I end up having to try to run when I'm feeling tired or sleepy. This is sometimes tough. So I try to force myself to get out the door. If I can just get into my running clothes and get to the doorknob, I'm usually OK. I keep telling myself the run will feel good once I'm out there. I also keep telling myself that the worst run is the run you don't start. Just a little pep-talk to get me "over the hump" and out the door. After that (and, usually the first three-quarters of a mile), I'm doing great!
In addition to these tips, keeping a running magazine nearby, reading inspirational stories of folks who've pushed beyond their comfort zones to accomplish things, seeing yourself as a runner - are all powerful ways I've found to keep me motivated and excited about my runs.
Once I'm out the door and on the road though, I still need some motivation to go the distance. I love to run with music and I've found that the choice in music can make a big difference in my running. I can speed up my pace, add to my distance, improve my posture - in some part based on what I choose to listen to while I'm running.
If I'm doing a distance run, I prefer to listen to an audiobook. Getting caught up in the plot and rhythm of the story allows the future work of additional miles to drift from my mind and I'm only feeling the moment as the story carries me along. Podcasts, audiobooks or other narrative programs are very effective in helping me enjoy long runs.
For shorter runs (anything less than 6-8 miles) - or for tempo portions of longer workouts - nothing beats music to help me pick up the pace and get moving. I've written previously about how to select music based on your desired pace and the beats-per-minute of particular songs.
What follows below is a bit more subjective review of some of my recent favorites and how they get me moving. Note that my "casual" running pace is between 9:00-9:15, a tempo run is between 8:00-8:45 and a hard run for me is faster than 7:45.
A few of my current "top motivator" songs include:
Use Somebody by The Kings of Leon -This is a 8:15-8:45 pace song. The beat and energy are contagious.
Gives You Hell by the All-American Rejects - 7:45-8:15 pace. This song is just fantastic for a run. I cannot help but increase my pace when this song starts - and then it builds as the song progresses.
Sometime Around Midnight by Airborne Toxic Event - 8:00-8:30. Great piece of music here that grabs you gently but ramps up as it builds to a high energy jolt by the end.
Other great motivating songs include O.A.R.'s Shattered, Daughtry's Feels Like Tonight, Baba O'Riley by the Who, She's a Beauty by The Tubes, She's My Ride Home by Blue October, Lenny Kravitz' American Woman, and so on. These are all personal choices - as long as the BPM and energy level work for you, go with what moves you.
I work these songs into my playlists on shorter runs so I start off with one of them to get me going (but don't go out too fast) and one or more to bring me back in while keeping the pace up and my posture correct. I'd suggest you find the "driving" songs that appeal to you and use them to keep you moving at the right times in your runs.
Get out and enjoy your run!
Friday, July 10, 2009
Death With Dignity and Reverence
It seems like i learn more and more everyday about how our Catholic friends are right about things:
MONTHS TO LIVE: Sisters Face Death With Dignity and Reverence
By JANE GROSS
For end-of-life care, a group of convent sisters rely on social networks rather than aggressive medical care....
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/09/health/09sisters.html
Saturday, June 06, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
Are we in control of our own decisions?
Richard Beck over at experimentaltheology first solidified the idea of
weak volitionalism in my mind at least with regard to morality and
theology.
weak volitionalism in my mind at least with regard to morality and
theology.
Here, Dan Ariely extends the idea of limited free will - http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TEDTalks_video/~3/SWJMM661kCE/548
.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Angels & Demons
I saw Angels & Demons over the weekend and actually found myself giggling a couple of times at the tin-ear dialogue (George Lucas, anyone?) and the ridiculous plot line and shoe-horned moralizing (common threads in the Dan Brown canon). I am not surprised when films like The Fast and the Furious gross tens of millions of dollars - they fill a prevalent adolescent gap in entertainment. But this kind of lazy-minded, id-oriented entertainment is usually promulgated as such and by "B-movie" producers/actors. With Ron Howard and Tom Hanks (who've enjoyed a fair share of near-B-movie quality products, by the way) producing this kind of mindless tripe, however, there is the temptation for readers and viewers of such to walk away with the temptation to feel they are now better informed or somehow have an "inside story" on the subject matter of the films. This would be like a teenager believing he or she has a better understanding of sexuality and relationships after viewing Porky's. This Ross Douthat article, along these lines, is on point.
See this excerpt:
See this excerpt:
These are Dan Brown's kind of readers. Piggybacking on the fascination with lost gospels and alternative Christianities, he serves up a Jesus who's a thoroughly modern sort of messiah — sexy, worldly, and Goddess-worshiping, with a wife and kids, a house in the Galilean suburbs, and no delusions about his own divinity.
But the success of this message — which also shows up in the work of Brown's many thriller-writing imitators — can't be separated from its dishonesty. The "secret" history of Christendom that unspools in "The Da Vinci Code" is false from start to finish. The lost gospels are real enough, but they neither confirm the portrait of Christ that Brown is peddling — they're far, far weirder than that — nor provide a persuasive alternative to the New Testament account. The Jesus of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John — jealous, demanding, apocalyptic — may not be congenial to contemporary sensibilities, but he's the only historically-plausible Jesus there is.
There's a Message in What We Buy, but Nobody’s Listening
I love this stuff! I'm sure there's a road map between the pathway hinted at by Dr. Miller between the practicality of our shared evolutionary history and our moral aspirations that is filled by faith and biblical theology - since morality, beauty, truth, purpose, meaning and love have no purchase or traction in a naturalistic landscape. (And, yes, of course I'm familiar with evolutionary psychology memes on the naturalistic purposes of religion and love, but these theories, understood, only make my point).
An excerpt:
In other words, evolution has real value up and until the point of sentient thought. After that, not so much. Could be an interesting study for believers...
An excerpt:
To get over your consuming obsessions, Dr. Miller suggests exercises like comparing the relative costs and pleasures of the stuff you've bought. (You can try the exercise at nytimes.com/tierneylab.) It may seem odd that we need these exercises — why would natural selection leave us with such unproductive fetishes? — but Dr. Miller says it's not surprising.
"Evolution is good at getting us to avoid death, desperation and celibacy, but it's not that good at getting us to feel happy," he says, calling our desire to impress strangers a quirky evolutionary byproduct of a smaller social world.
In other words, evolution has real value up and until the point of sentient thought. After that, not so much. Could be an interesting study for believers...
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
Monday, May 04, 2009
Re: What's In Your (Gadget) Bag?
Updated, "What's in my bag?"
- Dell Latitude E6400 notebook - This new notebook PC - with a 5 hour battery life, like it's predecessor, still remains the least-used component in the bag; I often leave it at the office; with the iPhone and Acer Aspire One netbook and Kindle2, there's not a lot I can't do without the laptop
- Acer Aspire One netbook - This has become my "go everywhere" computer and is really my central hub for my data
- Apple iPhone - with 16GB of storage, loaded up with hours of music; 6 full-length audio books (at the moment, ; 3 hours of podcasts)
- Amazon Kindle2 - Awesome!
- Canon SD630 ELPH digital camera
- Jabra Jawbone Bluetooth headset
- AC and car adapters for iPhone/Kindle2 USB cable/power
- A couple of Pilot G2 gel pens and a spiral notebook (I have a couple of Moleskines, but as a left-hander, have never enjoyed hard-bound writing pads/journals)
On Wed, Nov 29, 2006 at 9:48 AM, Jeff Richardson <cjr1967@gmail.com> wrote:
I travel several times a month and find myself working from odd locations even when in my home town - at basketball practice, the parking lot of Wal-Mart, etc. So here's what's in my bag:
- Dell Latitude D650 notebook - interestingly, this is probably the least-used component in the bag; I often leave it at the office; with the 8125 and accessories, there's not a lot I can't do without the laptop
- Cingular 8125 PDA Phone - loaded up with a 2GB card filled with 4 hours of music; 4 full-length audio books (at the moment, John Grisham's The Innocent Man, Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things, Idlewild by Nick Sagan, and Life of Pi by Yann Martel; 3 hours of podcasts; and the first 4 episodes of Sports Night
- Canon SD630 ELPH digital camera
- Motorola HT820 Bluetooth stereo headphones
- ThinkOutside Bluetooth wireless keyboard
- USB cable
- AC and car adapters for USB cable/power
- Copy of Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston - which is my book club topic this quarter
- My trusty copy of Magnificat for the current month
- Seagate 40GB USB-powered external, portable hard drive - with all my home PC files backed up and available
- USB miniSD card reader w/1GB miniSD card - for use as a flash drive (and for transfer with the 8125)
- A couple of Pilot G2 gel pens and a spiral notebook (I have a couple of Moleskines, but as a left-hander, have never enjoyed hard-bound writing pads/journals)
What's in your bag?
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