Throb

You hooked me at wine. You had me at lamb.

Feeling Small

I attended a presentation  by Bill Nye (the science guy) last night and it was a lot of fun.  I rank Bill up there with Neil Degrasse Tyson who is my rock star.  Bill covered a lot of topics ranging from funny to serious.  I’ve never seen Bill Nye speak before, but if you ever get a chance, TV or otherwise, do it!

Bill talked about his experience in a semi-debate with a creationist who think’s Bill’s science is all wrong and the earth is only 6000 years old (among other things).  When someone asked Bill what would change his mind, he listed several scientific facts, that if proved wrong, might convince him to change his mind.  The creationist’s answer “nothing would change my mind”.   I’ll go back to my “people are like a large pack of dogs” example.  It reminded me that there are chihuahuas, labradors, and more.... and a chihuahua only knows how to be a chihuahua.  You can’t teach a chihuahua to be a lab, it just wouldn’t work and why would you even try.    We have both on the planet and that’s what makes it interesting.  Chihuahuas are nice dogs for some, just not my cup of tea by the way.

Bill went on to discuss global warming as a connecting topic and as part of that discussion, showed the picture that I’ve posted in the upper right.  (Click on the photo to enlarge).  Its a photo taken from the cassini spacecraft from what we might call the south side of the planet.  There is an arrow below the rings of Saturn that points at a little blue spec.  That’s us, or more accurately, the planet that we live on.  And us? We are the spec on that spec.  The earth is among a number of other specs in the universe as you know.  The number of said specs is in the range of something like 100 times the number of sand grains on earth.... (Mind = BLOWN!)

Think about it.  That tiny spec holds everything that we know.  It holds all of the worries, all of the stress, all of the wine that I’ve consumed, wars that we have, disagreements, soccer games, and all the cups of coffee that we will ever enjoy. We seem hellbent  on destroying our little spec with war, pollution, planet warming and more.  That little spec, as insignificant as it is, is the only thing keeping us alive, all of us chihuahuas and labradors.  Feeling small and insignificant yet?  (It’s even home to Sir. Benjamin, the deaf white boxer also pictured,  and cats riding roombas).

Wouldn’t it be cool if we had a space probe fly through the water geysers on Saturn’s moon (Enceladus) and find life?  If life were discovered there, what would it change?  I’m sure the labrador’s would rejoice, re-examine our place in the Universe (OK, multiverse now), and contemplate the magnifisense of it all.  My guess is that the chihuahua would keep barking that science is a big lie and the test results were just a spoof used to scare the chihuahuas.  

I hope the mission gets off the ground If life were found on Enceladus, how much smaller will we feel?  Smaller than a spec?

- Chris Claborne

That Peaceful Moment Is Always There

When meditating today, I found that very peaceful calm quiet moment when the calm is brought into strong relief against  the sound of birds, my wood floor, and the wind chimes below the window.  Just as I was finding that moment, my timer signaled that it was time to get up and move on to getting ready for work.   

As many people do, I wanted to stay just a bit longer, not wanting to detach.  Then a vibrant thought occurred.  I realized that this moment is always there for me.  It's not a onetime thing, or require that I experience it during my daily meditation.  It's always there, waiting for me to just realize its presence.

-- Chris Claborne

Charting a Course

You can't change the past, but you can change what you are about to do. 

-- Chris Claborne

When you screw up

When you screw up, laugh, call it art, then have a glass of wine. 

Propelled by the vestiges of the Big Bang

Did you ever contemplate where the energy that propels you over the soccer pitch, or allows you to reproduce and live life comes from?  What about the explosive energy used by the jaguar to chase down it prey?

I submit it's the energy of the "big bang".   Like a giant rocket on the fourth of July, sparks flying, smaller explosions, and light streaming from all over. We use some of that energy and exist as the residual energy of the “big bang”.

The "big bang" released massive amounts of energy, which formed into base elements, which formed stars that forged the rest of the elements in our universe.  Those stars photons hit an assembly of elements that kick off photosynthesis and grow stuff that we eat (or in the case of bacon that I eat, pigs eat the stuff that grows).  All of this filters down to the baby to have energy to cry, or the dad to propel himself to the pantry to get milk (and wine).  All of the energy that propels us is the residual of something that happened billions of years ago.  We are the universe that is still bubbling, changing, and cooling.


-- Chris Claborne
March 2014

Meditation

Meditation is the act of listening to the universe.

- Chris Claborne

Captain's BLOG 2013.03.30. RAC Wrap

RAC Summary

Overall the Ride Across California 2013 was a lot of fun.  It was a test for the parents as well as the kids on how to keep their kids hydrated, motivated, and allow them to have fun.  It also was put together in a way that would challenge but not destroy kids and it was an adventure, not a destination objective.  The trip included things that the kids would enjoy doing and wasn’t focused on just getting to the ocean.

Captain's BLOG 2013.03.30. RAC Day 7

Today is the final day of RAC.  I will be making a one more post as a sort of RAC wrapup to bring it all together however.  Go to Day 1 post to see what RAC is.  

Dinner was awesome.  It was pizza and lasagna from a local restaurant.  Later, they had a small fire with marshmallow roasting.  I think Mari Lu fell asleep in about 3 seconds after a day of riding and then playing all afternoon.

The ride today is somewhat like the last day of the Tour de France, a victory lap.  It’s a ride, not a race so the reward will be to put the front tire into the pacific, completing our river-to-riptide ride across California.  We slept well and are ready to ride.

Captain's BLOG 2013.03.29. RAC Day 6

This is the sixth of many daily logs that I'll make via my iPhone for Ride Across California (RAC), so excuse the spelling and formatting. Go to the day one post to find out what RAC is.

My leader, Mari Lu, and I slept like babies last night. In addition, it looks like Mari Lu's health will allow her to ride today, that's the best news. My butt is no longer killing me (it only took 5 days to get to this point) and the trip is nearly over.

I haven't eaten since lunch the day before so I'm hungry. This AM's breakfast was the best. There's a lot of buzz about how nice the ride was going to be and people are really looking forward to it. There's bound to be some downhill given we are at 4100 ft. and we need to get to sea level.

Captain's BLOG 2013.03.28. RAC Day 5

This is the fifth of many daily logs that I'll make via my iPhone for Ride Across California (RAC), so excuse the spelling and formatting. Go to the day one post to find out what RAC is.

Today is the last day of the mountain stages, and it's big. But as always, let's start with the evenings sleeping arrangements. I expected to sleep well tonight, and Mari Lu would also sleep well given the amount of playing and cycling that we had for the day. That turned out to be extremely true, neither one of us budged an inch until I awoke at 0330. My tummy wasn't feeling so well and as I walked over to the bathroom at a fast clip I had a strange feeling that I may not be the only one. As I was exiting the restroom I found that a line had formed outside. This is not good, in fact this is very bad. Mari Lu woke up at four and then again a little bit later to use the restroom.  Epidemic!

Captain's BLOG 2013.03.27. RAC Day 4

This is the fourth of many daily logs that I'll make via my iPhone for Ride Across California (RAC), so excuse the spelling and formatting. Go to the day one post to find out what RAC is.

My cold was in full force when I went to bed. I suffered last night. There was no air flow, it was hot and sticky and if I was going to blow my nose I had to get up and go outside so as to not disturb the others sleeping in the community center. I got to sleep at 0200 and at 0215, I awoke to a five alarm cramp in my hamstring. It was a rough night.

The wind was howling until 0530 this AM. The talk today is still all about yesterday's crucible for the fifth graders. It was really a good experience for them. They really got to find out what they are capable of and what suffering really is.  There is nothing like that as a test for most 5th graders.

Captain's BLOG 2013.03.26. RAC Day 3

This is the third of many daily logs that I'll make via my iPhone for Ride Across California (RAC), so excuse the spelling and formatting. Go to the day one post to find out what RAC is.

I woke at 0430 and couldn't go back to sleep so I got up an decided to shave. Gary Rossi was doing the exact same thing so we decided to make some coffee together and chat while we waited for the sun to come up.

While filling the coffee pot up, Gary ran out of water so I took the pot to the sports coolers to add some. What went into the pot was some gatorade flavored water. So we drank Kona gatorade coffee. Pretty nasty but it just added to his list of stories.

Captain's BLOG 2013.03.25. RAC Day 2

This is the second of many daily logs that I'll make via my iPhone for Ride Across California (RAC), so excuse the spelling and formatting. Go to the day one post to find out what RAC is.

Today was a long ride, 53 miles. It started with a wake up at 0600. I'd been awake for a while listening to a dog bark but I slept well, as did Mari Lu. She woke only once to use the restroom. It took her a bit to figure out where she was though. I think Jeanette slept ok.

Breakfast was eggs, hash browns and mini cakes. Not bad for a catered fare. ML helped me pack up, and I mounted the goal zero solar panel to the bike to charge the cell phones.

Captain's BLOG 2013.03.24. RAC day 1

This is the first of many daily logs that I'll make via my iPhone so excuse the spelling and formatting.

The day started with an earlier than expected wakeup for a Sunday. Spirits are high. Mari Lu can't wait to get going. Juan is leaving earlier than us for a scout outing. He'll be taking a canoe down the Colorado river for five days while Jeanette, ML and I ride across California for six days on our bikes. Ride Across California (known as RAC here forward) is organized by the YMCA and Gary Rossi. RAC was started years ago by a teacher for fifth graders to build confidence as they get ready to start middle school next year. Mari Lu has been training for this for 3 months.