I thought chiggers where something that Texans invented, but apparently, they are real! I know only because I hardly slept last night due to the chigger bites I picked up in Austin! One of my office mates is a Texan, from Austin no less, and informed me that the horribly itchy bites on my feet are probably not from mosquitoes. I did a bit of research on the little buggers (after taking an antihistamine and applying some topical anti itch cream). I hope I can sleep through the night tonight! Stupid bugs.
Anyway, I am back to reality, though I am inspired about the direction of my yoga practice. I have lots of ideas about what I want to practice. Once I can get some proper sleep (bug bite-free) I can get working on that.
Matthias is doing well after some slight unpleasantness involving some salmonella. He sent a photo of the construction site that has opened up across the street from the apartment in Regensburg. They destroyed an old building that sat there, and they are digging a bit hole. We can only assume that some new apartments will go up. I can’t wait until we move to another apartment, which is bigger and hopefully farther from the trains! Once I get back, we’ll have to track down a place.
Christina (my virtual friend from Regensburg) had this interesting post about a little test to define how you think. My results are a bit much, but I like to think I am so fabulous!! If I were just a bit more analytical in my brain I would have figured out how to get the image of the plot in here, but apparently, I can convince Christina to help me figure that out… Results below
Creative Thinker
You love to think, logically and creatively. You are most productive at work when you are solving problems by analyzing specific situations or by creating multiple options. You’re adept at strategic planning at the highest levels.
Sixth-Sense Awareness
You are very aware of what’s happening around you and/or what’s going to happen in the future. It’s almost like you have a sixth sense. You see the forest where most people are looking at trees or clumps of trees. This gives you a vision toward which to direct people’s energies and thought processes. When you do this, people are amazed and excited about following your vision and strategies.
You’re also able to break the vision and strategies into workable components that are easy to understand because they are linear, logical and uncomplicated. You also always ask a very important question when you’re thinking through the solutions: “What is missing or doesn’t fit?” Others on the project are surprised when you question your own assumptions, facts and logic.
Leading Others
You have an unassuming manner in getting people to follow what you want them to do. Some of the reasons you’re so successful at getting people to follow your vision and strategies are as follows:
1. Before you speak and ask others to do something, you have the whole project meticulously laid out so it makes sense and it’s easy to follow;
2. You ask for input and genuinely try to accommodate the plan to what people suggest;
3. When problems arise, you can be very creative in finding, or assisting others in finding, optional ways to handle the situations
4. And, as a whole, your mannerisms and your ways of communicating are clear and personable.
Your Communication Skills
Your communication skills are exceptional. You have a way of making people very relaxed and open during a dialogue with you. You pick up the most salient points and nonverbal gestures during a conversation. Then, you imaginatively redirect them in along your own lines of thought so that people feel they have fully participated in the process.
Respecting OthersÂ’ Needs
The one thing you don’t like to do is to push or cajole others into doing something they are resisting. Yes, the project must be finished, but not at the expense of other people’s individual feelings or integrity. Your respect for the rights of others supersedes the immediate need to accomplish the goal as planned. You’ll find a creative way to meet the challenge while including the personal preference of the individual. That’s why people enjoy being on a team or project with you. It’s also why many people follow you even though you don’t like to think of yourself as a great leader.
There is only one day left of “yoga camp.” I am ready to get back to reality, sort of. It has been great to get sucked into an inner journey for twp whole weeks! I have a couple of crazy yoga photos, but they won’t be going up here. If you’d like to see some artsy yoga poses, send me an email.
In the mean time, here’s an example of a very talented friend from “Yoga camp.”
Here’s one photo from the past week and a half. I haven’t taken any on my camera, but my friend took one of me during yesterday’s practice. I am having such an awesome time here. It was really time to return to this training again!
I am sitting in the airport in Chicago, and toward the end of my 3 hour layover, it was announced that my plane was at least 1.5 hours late. I actually broke down and paid for internet so I could take care of some things at work that I didn’t want to leave hanging. Since I spent $6.95 for the day, I’ll be darned if I stop surfing before my battery dies! I hate paying for internet in the airports that charge, and this is the first time I did it. I just had to share…..
Luckily for me, my friend Allyson emailed me last week to get together. Allyson is like my long lost, crazy twin sister. We share a really silly sense of humor that normal people don’t seem to get. We can fall into a fit of giggles over the stupidest things, like the new trend in transvestite attire - erect nipples in bust enhancing accessories. I note this last example only because, on my way to her place to start an evening celebrating a few birthdays (hers in March and mine tonight), I had to maneuver myself around the gay pride parade in Washington today (I thought it was nice of them to have such a bit parade in my honor). It was a fun scene filled with lots of people, including some transvestites with very erect nipples.
But, I digress. We (Allyson, Bynosh, her man, a friend of Allyson’s and I) had some really nice Indian food followed by some drinks at a few places down town. The music was good and the conversation fun. I haven’t been out in DC in a while, and it was much needed. Next time, we need to dance too! I suspect if Allyson hadn’t emailed me, I probably would have spent my night alone doing laundry and unpacking from Hawaii (and repacking for Austin). I’ll have to squeeze that all into tomorrow morning and afternoon before my big conference with the Germans, which starts tomorrow evening. I can’t wait until the yoga training starts on Monday, and I can start taking long chunks of time to look inward rather than at all of the activity going on around me.
Man, coming back from Hawaii to the east coast is worse than going to Germany as far as jetlag is concerned. I felt terrible most of the day, until now (midnight), of course. Now, I am ready to go!
I uploaded some more Hawaii photos (for anyone who might still care, at this point). Brian gave me his photos today at work, and he took more with me in them than I did, so I thought I would share.
I am heading out again on Monday to take some real time off (rather than squeezing in stuff between meetings). I am going back to the yoga training in Austin. I can’t wait. I feel totally unprepared, but I’m sure I will get a lot out of it anyway. So far, it has been awesome every time, and my practice develops each time.
I almost forgot to mention that my birthday is tomorrow…actually, it has been my birthday for a whole 35 minutes! I am going to get together with a friend for part of the day and do laundry (in preparation for the next trip) the other part of the day. I didn’t have the energy to plan something exciting….Hawaii was like an early birthday present. I got to touch a sea turtle and drive up a huge mountain, and I think those are great gifts!
What is 7 stories tall, weighs 360 tons and sits on top of the tallest mountain in the world? That nice little piece of equipment in this photo with me! It’s the Gemini North Telescope, and I got to see it as part of a tour I went on today. This is one of the really cool parts of my job - it was a private observatory tour as part of the project I am working on.
I learned a lot of little details about Hawaii today as well. When I say the Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain in the world, it doesn’t mean that it has the highest summit. The base of Mauna Kea is on the ocean floor, and only half of it is above sea-level. From it’s base to its summit, it is the tallest. Its neighbor, Mauna Loa is the most massive mountain. It is this HUGE mountain that just dominates the background. It’s strange to look at the horizon from Mauna Kea and notice that it is slanted. The gentle slope of Mauna Loa spreads the mass out so far because of the way it formed -it’s called a shield volcano.
It was an incredibly clear day today. It has been unusually clear since we arrived, and our guide today said he has never seen it so clear on the mountain. They say that your vision is not so great on the mountain (the lack of oxygen affects your eyes), but the view looked great to me. We could see volcanos on Maui and O’ahu.
I put a few more photos on the photo site. The tour was great, and I learned that my body can function at 14,000 feet! I was a bit wobbly up there, but aside from that, there were no other bad effects. I would love to have more time to check out the summit-proper and the lake up there, but we had to get back this afternoon. I was exhausted when we came down (I was warned that I might be).
Earlier in the day, we got to tour a little treasure on the big island, the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center, in Hilo. It is in the middle of an Astronomy center where a bunch of Observatory head quarters are located. It tells the story of the Hawaiian islands from the traditional Hawaiian perspective, and it also tells how astronomy is an extension of the spiritual journey of the people of the islands. I particularly liked the story of Wakea and Papa who eventually became Mauna Kea and the heavens, and the telescopes are a nice extension of this story.
She Lives! My camera seems to have recovered, for the time being. She just started working again after the flight to the big island this morning. Maybe she was just tired of the over developed city of Honolulu. I have more photos to upload once I get them from Brian’s camera. He didn’t bring an uploading device, so I have to wait until I get back.
Here is the view from the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel when we arrived. It is lovely here, and it is the antithesis of Honolulu! It is small, laid back and uncongested. We asked for a suggestion of a place to eat breakfast this morning, the the nice woman at the airport very excitedly told us about the new Ihop! (It is really a small town).
Every time I come to Hawaii, I seem to forget that the myth of eating lots of local fruit as a main part of the diet is just that, a myth. There is lots of greasy, meaty, starch filled dishes served in large portions. Just this morning, I heard a Burger King add on the Radio that said, “Now, Spam for Breakfast!” as if that were a great thing. (spam is quite popular) Luckily, the Japanese influence offers some lighter options.
Brian and I went snorkeling this afternoon on a whim. The lady at the ‘Adventure’ desk in the hotel lobby suggested a a snorkeling trip. It turns out, her brother in law and husband own the boat. Their whole family moved here (18 of them) and they are all over the place. They are really nice people too. They took us and another couple of people (from the same conference we just came from) out to a little bay and let us swim around (photos on Brian’s camera). I finally got to swim with sea turtles! It turns out that they like blonds so I got to see one up close. I wore myself out because I got a weight belt so I could vie down a bit. It was tough to find a balance between floating and touching the very sharp bottom of the sea (lots of pointing things down there).
We are off now to pick up a few odds and ends and find food.
Matthias is doing well after some slight unpleasantness involving some salmonella. He sent a photo of the construction site that has opened up across the street from the apartment in Regensburg. They destroyed an old building that sat there, and they are digging a bit hole. We can only assume that some new apartments will go up. I can’t wait until we move to another apartment, which is bigger and hopefully farther from the trains! Once I get back, we’ll have to track down a place.
If I were just a bit more analytical in my brain I would have figured out how to get the image of the plot in here, but apparently, I can convince Christina to help me figure that out… Results below
