Soyen Shaku, the first Zen teacher to come to America, said: "My heart burns like fire but my eyes are as cold as dead ashes." He made the following rules which he practiced every day of his life.

In the morning before dressing, light incense and meditate.

Retire at a regular hour. Partake of food at regular intervals. Eat with moderation and never to the point of satisfaction.

Receive a guest with the same attitude you have when alone. When alone, maintain the same attitude you have in receiving guests.

Watch what you say, and whatever you say, practice it.

When an opportunity comes do not let it pass by, yet always think twice before acting.

Do not regret the past. Look to the future.

Have the fearless attitude of a hero and the loving heart of a child.

Upon retiring, sleep as if you had entered your last sleep. Upon awakening, leave your bed behind you instantly as if you had cast away a pair of old shoes.

Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post!

"I go now to visit them and to dissolve their ancient feud and to mend their discord."

The first snow of the year always comes as a surprise to me. Waking up today it sounded like rain, but as the sky started to lighten I could make out a few flakes drifting to the ground.

Its coming down at a good pace now, filling the air with white. Covering the porch and grass in a blanket of white.

Will it stick? Unlikely...
Is it going to make my commute a pain? Certainly...

But right now I'm just enjoying the sight of it drifting down.

Well fellow space fans, the Phoenix lander has officially been declared 'dead'. It's winter on Mars where the lander touched down, and with the long nights it does not receive enough light to remain operational. There is only the slimmest chance that it may return to a working state come the Martian spring (but there is always hope).

A brief moment of silence for our fallen robotic ally.

Still, it's journey was not done in vain. It sent back a huge amount of data, and made some incredible discoveries while it was there.

I hope that everyone has / is exercising their civic duty today... no matter what your political affiliation is.

I was up early to day, in the hope that I'd get to the polls early enough not to miss any work. Well though I did get there early I didn't get ahead of the rush. Counting out I think I was there for nearly 2hrs.

Thankfully the rain stopped before I arrived, and everyone was in a good mood... and the damp cold did little to deter people coming in to vote. The line was just about as long when I left as when I arrived!!!

I'm back from Kyoto, largely intact and undamaged following my mission there... and yes, I now have my Black Belt in Aikido!

The trip was amazing! Our first day there Sensei takes us to Shorenin, a Buddhist temple. We took off our shoes and were given a tour of some of the spectacular artwork and shrines, followed by a walk through the amazing gardens.

The next day we visited Heian-jingu (Heian shrine) where we saw the building that our demonstration was going to take place in. It's an astounding temple, just as you would imagine it with the architecture and the decorations. Before we walked in Sensei led us over to a small fountain where there were several cups on long handles, and instructed us to gently was our hands. After we bowed in through the main gate we went to another fountain and did the same thing again. After which we were shown the building where the demo was to take place. After that we went to the main shrine and gave a prayer for our success.

On the third day we went back to Heian-jingu and helped set up for our demonstration (an interesting experience because we were the only foreigners there for the event). After everything was set up we returned to the main shrine for the general blessing. The priest (i believe that's the term) performed the ritual, ceremonially driving away the evil spirits.

We then went back and watched the demonstrations leading up to ours (and saw some amazing throws!). We then went out there with Sensei and did what we had been training for the last six odd weeks to do (and from what I heard we did very admirably, the demo is just a blur in my mind). Afterward, once we had sat back down, we were complemented by some of those who had seen our demo.

After that we helped clean up the shrine (and put everything back where we found it) with the other people who had come to demonstrate.

Once everything was back in order we left for Osaka, where we cleaned up and had dinner and a good long rest before our flight back (about 12hrs in the air).

After landing in Detroit (where there was about a 1.5hr layover) I dove into some McDonald's (the first time I'd eaten there in years) out of need for a hamburger. That's not to say that the food in Japan was bad, though there were a few things I tried that I would not try again.

Well, tonight is my last night in the good old US of A before my trip to Japan.

I've got to say that I'm fairly nervous. This will be my first time in an Asian nation... my first time in a foreign nation where English is not the primary language.

Four days on the ground, visiting the shrines and training in Aikido.

So, now I've flown an airplane. No big deal... taxied it down to the runway, pulled back the stick and then I was in the air.

I've really tried to act all casual about it when I talk about it... because otherwise I'd just run around yelling and hopping up and down.

How did this come about?

Well I got a gift certificate for my birthday back in July for a 30 minute flight lesson. I was really nervous as I went out there, and that the pilot taking me up asked me twice "Are you afraid of heights". I'm not... at least not more then most people I think.

As we were walking out there he told me "I took the doors off the plane to act as ventilation, but I can put them back on if you want." Well I just shrugged and said something like "what ever you think is best".

Sure enough we got in, turned the plane on... and were off in the air.

It was exhilarating, and more then a little frightening. As we rose over southern Chesapeake the plane shook and jumped from updrafts rising from the farmers fields below, looking out the door was.... well nothing until the trees 200 feet below. To get an idea, sit in the drivers seat of a car and leave the door open... now look to your right... now imagine that that pavement was 200 feet away, and the only thing keeping you from a Newtonian end is a trick of fluid mechanics.

It's strange how things creep up on you sometimes... but for the last month or so I've been feeling the urge to take up the Guitar again (I haven't played since early in HS).

Now all I need to do is find a local place to get a new guitar as I haven't been able to find my old one (it was getting a little small for me if I remember correctly), then some lessons...


Or I could just get "Rock Band"...

So working in my parents yard today I came across a turtle 'racing' across the grass. I brought the turtle a piece of strawberry and watched him/her go to town. A good time for both of us.