Keep on Going

I have been trying to figure out if blogging is even relevant with the explosion of Facebook, Twitter, and other things like it. Which by the way though we may use them we really need to question the motives of the people who run them but thats another story.

I do have something on my mind and it is privacy. I am visiting Oregon this weekend and I was at Target in beautiful Albany. The guy in front ot me was buying some nicotine gum and they carded him (despite the fact he looked at least 35). Now that in and of itself is just policy overshadowing common sense. But when they got his ID the proceeded to try and SCAN it. Now these stupid barcodes on drivers licenses were supposed to be for Law Enforcement or DMV to read. Who knows what data is stored there. Target scanning it is a violation of privacy. What is to stop them from acquiring data (perhaps more than is listed on the front of the license) and using it for targeted marketing?


I am all bent out of shape about this because it is another step toward the "Your Papers Please" orwellian society that is coming about in the name of "security"

I dont like showing my ID to clerks when I use a credit card. I dont want to share my information with a coporation just because I buy something there. They are selling me the item for MONEY not in exchange for my personal ID. When IDs have RFID chips in the (WA has an ENHANCED license that does) people can get info without us knowing. Anybody remember Minority Report? Want to have to have an eyeball transplant to hide from the system?

When anyone asks me for ID for a debit or credit card. I show it then I go online and report them to MasterCard. It is AGAINST their terms of service with the merchant to require anyone to show ID. They can lose their ability to take credit cards. Its not that I am for fraud, I am just against the loss of privacy.


I suggest everyone think twice before

Ageeing to get any ID that requires ANY biometric data (face rec, fingerprints, etc)
Getting ANYTHING with an RFID chip in. (get a foil wallet if you do)

Accepting the "your papers please" metality and forking over ID to anyone who asks.

Allowing anyone to scan your ID (unless they are a cop or at DMV)

Signing up for "club cards" There are some who share them to avoid the info and still get the benefits

We need to wake up to this or we will have all of our movements tracked not by the government but by large FOR PROFIT CORPORATIONS. In this society Hitler wouldnt be a politician. He would be the CEO of an Oil Company.

Anyway, I am done venting.

I dont think blogging is dead. Just not a fad anymore. It must remain. Just try to regurgitate this much in a tweet.

Mt Rainier

Where we went today

Today on the Coast

Returning to the Coast after two and a half years of not living there was amazing. Being removed from it all the stressors I had when I lived there are distant and gone.

My wife and I planted ourselves on a beach just outside of Seal Rock. We let the dogs (moms dog and our dog) run around. I sat down in the sand and took it all in. I did some breath meditation and then moved on to meditating on the sound of the ocean waves. I also took in the clean air and the feeling of the sand and the beauty of the place. I drifted out into a meditative state and felt very close to God and at total peace. Stayed there about 1/2 hour. My wife talked to me and the dogs became restless but it didnt kill the experience. I just became mindful of them as part of the experience and took it in. In that moment, I was not consumed by either future worries or past regrets. That present moment was just great in itself.

Now I am back in Albany but I think this experience may have changed my life. I feel very close to God right now and know he will take care of us. I also have peace for now.

Visiting Oregon and other stuff

This weekend my wife and I are in Oregon for the weekend. It is nice yet a bit strange to be in what was my home state (or at least where I lived) as a visitor rather than a resident. Removed from the narrow view I had while going through life. The perspective has made me realize that life was good here. Though it may be better in Washington in ways, I am blessed and was blessed to live in Oregon for 5 years. The time has come to stop whining and stop complaining about loss. Both the job in Oregon and the life I had here. Or the supposed spiritual stability that I had in Minnesota. I need to let go and stop clinging to the past. My study of Vipassana and even Buddhism has helped me to stop clinging. We can only control our reaction to the present moment. We can use today to make a better tomorrow but grieving the loss of the past robs us of the present and the future which is really nothing but the present of tomorrow.

Now for those who know my Christian identity dont flip out and think I have gone Buddhist. I am still a Christian (though the meaning of that is different to me than it is to many). I do admire many Buddhist ideas and believe the Buddha was a good, wise, and spiritual man. He never claimed to be God and I dont claim he was or is. Buddhism is more of a philosophy than a religion and what I am learning of it is making me a better Christian and a better person. I find Meditation to be an amazing form of worship of my higher power who I know as Jesus Christ. I dont want to go all dogmatic and doctrinal. Though Churchianity would call this heresy, I believe the Buddha and Jesus may well have followed the same God during their time on earth. HERESY ALERT. WATCH FOR STONES!!!

With that said, I am finding peace and balance. Life in Washington is a new adventure that can be whatever I make it. Life in Oregon was good. I met people who had a profound affect on my life and I like to think I may have been a blessing to some here. Moving to Washington was not the end but the beginning or more accurately a step on the path. As Tim said at open forum today "It isnt over until you are 6 feet under". (maybe not a perfect quote but that stuck with me).,

Sure the world isnt perfect. Things are messed up, Obama is not the savior many thought he would be. But i think I have found peace in the storm, With this peace, it is now possible to affect positive change in the environment instead of getting beat down by the negative.

I really would like to thank all those who have been a help along the way in this journey. I am looking forward to what lies around the corner and past the next tree.

Life is good. Though it has hardships. Suffering is a constant. We cant ever make it go away. We can however choose what we allow it to make us do.

Tomorrow I am going to the Coast. I plan to plop myself down on a beach somewhere and do some serious meditation. Not necessarily of any tradition or discipline but just be mindful of the glorious wonders of creation and the peace of God that dwells within. I plan to seek direction for my life in this practice. Whatever you call it. I am consumed with an idea of finding a way to help people along in their journey. Not to convert anyone. Just to be a blessing.

Peace and love to all

Meditation and Worship

Today I was at Church. Not a bad Church. Just a Church. Similar to many others. What was different was my approach to it.

Some may know I have been practicing Meditation (breath meditations, a little Vipassana as well). I thought today instead of letting the Church atmosphere dictate how I should feel and act, I would meditate during the worship. I did some breath meditations and zoned into a meditative state (not real deep but really there). I then put my focus on God as I see him. I definitely felt something and got more out of this experience than I ever did by singing songs, staring at walls and trying to feel something. Meditative worship is something I did long ago when I was more spiritual. I used to do it in the woods and on mountain tops. I didnt call it that then but it is what it was. I called it getting into the presence of God in solitude.

Perhaps that is what Jesus did when he went to solitary place to pray.

I think this is my way of worshipping now. Though Church is far from the only place to do this

Whatever happend to blogging

I keep reading that blogging is dead. Sure there is Twitter which I am on. Some of Twitter seems cool. A lot of it seems petty and insignificant. It does help stay in touch with friends but its no blog.

Blogging is dying because it became trendy and trends fade away. The unwashed masses (or sheeple) follow the coolest thing and lack real depth. Now that I twitter more than I blog, I could be calling myself a sheeple. That isnt what I mean. Many of us are too busy to blog anymore but still would if it mattered anymore.

I did not start blogging because it was trendy. I did it because I wanted to share my thoughts and journey through life and spirituality. Also to hook up with like minded people (both have happened and this is priceless)

Busyness wouldnt kill blogging on its own.What will kill it is that its not "trendy" anymore. The same way the web killed Gopher.

The other thing is the swill called marketing. This crap has overrun the blogosphere.

At one time, the blogosphere was dominated by real people not corporations. Now like the news media and the web (notice I did not say the Internet) blogging has been hijacked by the ruling class (to use a marxist term). Now those with money get the hits.

For something to remain cool, it must either never become trendy or it must remain in existance long after the capitalists and the teenages have moved on.

LONG LIVE GOPHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LONG LIVE BLOGGING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LONG LIVE MULTILINE BBS'S !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LONG LIVE THE BETAMAX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Newer and trendier doesnt mean better.