Judy says I should post something new here. Hi Judy. I mostly go to my Facebook page to see what everyone else is up to. This site needs a lot up updating. The template is old and so are the links.

I have been out of school for about two weeks and we go back in two weeks. I made it through last quarter after a big scare concerning the clinical portion of the program. It is two quarters down now and a year and a half to go. My loans have been approved for the balance of school, a very welcome and necessary step. I was able to get very good grades, despite what I felt was having the rug pulled out from beneath me for a time.

I've moved to a little outside downtown Kirkland. I live in two basement rooms of a friend of a friend - for cheaps. It is what I really needed because my debt was going to kill me. I have that in a long term plan also. All this planning...what has happened to me?

Not much fishing lately or at least during school. I was going to go out this morning but the river is blown out for a good bit of time. It is raining/snowing like crazy in the mountains. There isn't much time for the river during school, nor for running. That last part isn't necessarily so. I think I use school as an excuse not to run. Joan sent me some money for new shoes. I'll take care of that soon.

So that is where I am pretty much right now. School will start in two weeks and I should be running again soon. I like to think that I've avoided some injuries by stopping when I did. Last year before the Seattle Marathon I was running around Lake Sammamish every Sunday for three consecutive weeks. That is about 22 miles around the lake. It will be nice to get back into that again.

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays all!

I don't know if anyone reads this anymore. I sure don't post much here. The comments no longer work.

I was accepted into the Radiologic Technology Program at Bellevue College.

A very welcome turn of events. Work has been crap and running has been sporadic. Cheers.

I just started Eckhart Tolle's book, The Power of Now. Here is an excerpt which I found clear, concise and also exceedingly useful:

"Sustained conscious attention severs the link between the pain-body and your thought processes and brings about the process of transmutation. It is as if the pain becomes fuel for the flame of your consciousness, which then burns more brightly as a result. This is the esoteric meaning of the ancient art of alchemy: the transmutation of base metal into gold, of suffering into consciousness. The split within is healed, and you become whole again. Your responsibility then is not to create further pain.

Let me summarize the process. Focus attention on the feeling inside you. Know that it is the pain-body. Accept that it is there. Don't think about it-don't let the feeling turn into thinking. Don't judge or analyze. Don't make an identity for yourself out of it. Stay present, and continue to be the observer of what is happening inside you. Become aware not only of the emotional pain but also of the 'the one who observes,'the silent watcher. This is the power of the Now, the power of your own conscious presence. Then see what happens."

-Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now, 1999, pp.40-41