Paradise City
At the risk of sounding entirely morbid and bleak, which seems unavoidable considering I'm bringing up that frightening and much tabooed subject: death.
I'm not some Goth-rocker outsider, framed in sorrow and confusion. I'm your average guy, your regular Joe, just thinking about everyday existentialism.
Religiously, I am not tied to a God; I am not especially spiritual, or if I am I haven't been enlightened to it yet. So, for me, this is it. I can only think of the next step in a hopeful way, that there might be some kind of paradise waiting at the end of it all. Where I get to watch all my favorite films back-to-back and listen to my top ten albums and eat some darn fine cuisine. Or maybe I don't wish for anything like that at all. Maybe I wish for absolute peace and quiet.
You know, honestly, the only thing that saddens me about dying is leaving people behind and worrying about them. Okay, I have no children, but one day I hope to and I hope to have a house and a car and a life that can wrap them up. This sounds stupid for a guy doesn't it. Alright, I'll go back to talking about what I think heaven might be like. Once I've invested in life insurance for me and my family. No, but seriously, a man wonders...
What do I have in my worldly possessions I need to protect for others? Cos that's what it is right - a gift. I worry, I do. Today, this week and this month, my worries have been on this: what do I leave behind.
I looked at what kind of policies I could take out. I went online and browsed this Asda Finance website ( there are a few, but this was helpfully clear) and collected all this information. I haven't parted with my money yet, I just wanted to shop around and saw what kind of life insurance a guy like me could get. It was Asda Finance and checked the American Income Life website to grasp where my income and fortune's going to go (when I make it of course).
This blog has got be the most dramatic one yet. I just wanted to know, when life takes you away, what can you leave as a gift, which is a lot less morbid than you might think, if you think about it, like I do.
Posted by Jim on Monday, May 12, 2008 @ 11:44 AM
Post Office Epiphany #2
I had another post office epiphany this week. I had to mail my sister’s birthday present and went to the post office knowing full well that it was a Saturday and there would be a line. After lasts weeks revelation I wasn’t going to dread the experience, I was going to take it all in and enjoy my time in line watching and observing those in line as well as those working there. I got there earlier this week and to my surprise there was no line. I breezed right through and was out within minutes. Funny how that works, once you stop fighting and give in to something it no longer manifests itself.
I had another Jack Handy deep thought after leaving the post office; the line is a metaphor for life. We all have to stand in line; some try and cheat to get ahead, others give up and leave the line, some complain the entire time, while others try to make the best of it, some stand in quiet solitude while others befriend those around them.
I was walking down the street as I finished my deep thought looked up to see a Buddhist monk that lives in the neighborhood. There is a house in my area where a group of Buddhist monks live. Prayer flags line the porch and I often see them tending to the garden and always give them a smile and say hello as I pass. I generally get a smile and a bow in return, but have never had a conversation. Today as I looked up the monk said to me that I had a special energy that was pure and positive, he told me to make good use of it. I looked around, was I being punked? Where was Ashton Kutcher?
The week before I had visited a store that is owned by a Vietnamese gentleman. I stop by his store a few times a month and have always had polite conversation, nothing more. When I stopped by last week a woman was arguing with him over the cost of something. He walked away from her mid-argument and came over to me and said I had a very special energy and wanted me to help him. He worked with people who have heart problems in Vietnam and began to show me photos of people he had helped. He said I could help as well. He gave me the web address of a Franciscan monk in Vietnam and told me to contact him.
What was happening? Why had two Asian men talked to me about my energy within the last two weeks? Why was I being put in contact with monks? I am not special; just ask my friends and family, I’m just a regular guy. The only thing I could think of that was different was that I had started running and went to see a chiropractor. Had the re-alignment and increased exercise changed my outward energy?
I didn’t contact the monk directly, but checked out his website and sent him a donation.
Maybe I am supposed to help him get his message out through my blog. Please visit his website and donate if you are so inclined. He is a Franciscan monk who is helping the poor and needy of Vietnam and Cambodia by providing food, blankets, mosquito netting, wells, eye and heart surgeries to those in need regardless of political or religious affiliation.
http://hoibacaiphanxico.org/EN/Default.aspx
Posted by Jim on Sunday, May 11, 2008 @ 8:14 PM
Fancy Pants
I’m sure the tap water in my house
is perfectly safe to drink. The city has a whole department dedicated
to making sure that the city water is clean and safe enough for human
consumption, it just doesn’t taste very good. My grandparents
would be mortified to know that I purchase water; they still think paper
towels are an extravagance. Why buy paper towels when you can
re-use a rag? My grandparents have a name for people who buy such
extravagances such as water and paper towels, they call them fancy pants.
So there I was the fancy pants grandson in the grocery store buying
water and I was astounded by the selection. When did water start
taking up an entire grocery aisle?
I remember as a kid the water section
was dwarfed by the soda aisle. There were a few gallons of water
and bottles of Perrier for the fancy pants of that era. Now there
is a whole section dedicated to water. Spring, purified, sparkling,
artesian, mineral, fruit flavored, vitamin infused, caffeinated and
even smart. Is that the problem, have I been drinking dumb water
all these years?
I felt very dumb. What did all
of these categories mean? Here is my research:
Spring Water: is defined as
bottled water derived from an underground formation from which water
flows naturally to the surface of the earth. To qualify as spring
water, it must be collected only at the spring or through a borehole
tapping the underground formation feeding the spring. If the collection
process uses some type of an external force, the water must be from
the same stratum as the spring and must retain the quality and all of
the same physical properties of water that flows naturally from a spring
to the surface.
Purified Water: This is a type of drinking water that has been treated with processes such as distillation, deionization or reverse osmosis. Basically, this just means that the bacteria and dissolved solids have been removed from the water by some process, making it "purified." Many bottled water brands are actually purified drinking water.
Mineral Water: Mineral water contains not less than 250 parts per million total dissolved solids and is defined by its constant level and relative proportions of mineral and trace elements at the point of emergence from the source. No minerals can be added to the water.
Sparkling Bottled Water: They
call this fizzy water in the UK. This type of water contains the same
amount of carbon dioxide that it had when it emerged from its source.
Artesian Water/Artesian Well Water:
Artesian water comes from a well that taps a confined aquifer-a
water-bearing underground layer of rock or sand-in which the water level
is above the top of the aquifer.
Vitamin Water: They might as well call it sugar water. Here is the label from a popular brand. Mind you they say there are 2.5 servings in each bottle, so that works out to 32.5 grams of sugar per bottle.
Nutrition Facts:
- Calories: 50
- Total fat: 0g
- Sodium: 0mg
- Potassium: 60mg
- Total carbohydrates: 13g
- Sugar: 13g
- Protein: 0g
- Vitamin C: 40%, Vitamin B3: 20%, Vitamin B6: 20%, Vitamin B12: 20%, Vitamin B5: 20%
- Potassium: 150mg per bottle
Ingredients: vapor distilled/deionized water, crystalline fructose, citric acid, vegetable juice (color), natural flavor, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), vitamin E acetate, magnesium lactate (elecrolyte), calcium lactate (electrolyte), zinc picolinate, monopotassium phosphate (electrolyte), niacin (B3), pantothenic acid (B5), pyridoxine hydrochloride (B6), cyanocobalamine (B12)
Caffeinated Water: Why not just have a cup of coffee?
Fruit Flavored Water: Aside from "natural flavor," most brands didn’t contain any actual fruit juice.
SmartWater: Is vapor distilled municipal water and an unspecified amount of the electrolytes calcium, magnesium, and potassium. Hello! This is tap water with some electrolytes and minerals thrown in.
All of these plastic water bottles made
me think about my carbon footprint in purchasing water, which lead me
to even further research. 1.5 million barrels of oil in the US
alone are used to make water bottles of which 86% are landfilled or
incinerated. The water also has to be shipped, which uses more fuel.
Maybe smartwater wasn’t so smart after all. Maybe my un-fancy
pants grandparents were right in drinking tap water and re-using rags.
Posted by Jim on Saturday, May 10, 2008 @ 9:47 AM
The Flaming Lips
I saw an advertisement for the SoCo Music
Experience today and it made me think back to one of the better shows
I’ve seen in the last few years. Southern Comfort sponsors free concerts
around the country and every year they sponsor a concert in Centennial
Park in downtown Atlanta. Two years ago The Flaming Lips and Big Star
were the headliners of the SoCo Music Experience when they played in
Atlanta.
I found out about the free concert just
hours before it started and rounded up a few friends to join me. We had
good parking karma and found a space blocks from the park. We headed
down to the event and claimed a spot center stage and about 50 feet back
from the stage. The weather was perfect and the crowd was in a good mood.
First up was Big Star which is fronted by
Alex Chilton who previously sang with The Box Tops. Remember the song
The Letter? I was glad to see that he was still performing relevant
material even though I couldn’t help think that he looked exactly like
Jeff Probst of Survivor. I kept waiting for him to say the tribe has
spoken.
The sun was setting and all of the sudden the crowd parted and Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips entered dressed in a suit and walking inside a 7 foot beach ball. The crowd moved him around through the audience and finally pushed him up to the stage.
The rest of the evening they sang their hits Do
You Realize??", "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1", "The
Yeah Yeah Yeah Song" while showering the audience with beach balls
and confetti. They gave their fans what most bands had forgotten…they
let the fans have fun. They technically are not the best band, Wayne’s
vocals are a little shaky at times and notes may be missed, but what
they lack in expertise they make up for in pure enjoyment. Hand puppets
acted out lyrics, an array of characters in furry suits pranced around
the stage, at one point there were about 20 Santa Clauses on the stage.
The crowd was having the time of their life,
laughing, singing along and hitting about 100 beach balls up in the air.
It was as if they had spayed the whole crowd with laughing gas. The
evening ended with the crowd singing along to Bohemian Rhapsody at the
top of their lungs. The video behind the stage displayed the words and
we followed the bouncing ball as confetti shot at us from all
directions.
They had made us part of the show and brought fun and playfulness back to concert going. I hope other bands take notice of what they are doing and stop the seriousness and bring entertainment and showmanship back to the live concert.
Posted by Jim on Monday, May 05, 2008 @ 9:44 AM
Farmer Red
I love my neighborhood. I live two miles from downtown Atlanta in a 1920’s bungalow in a section of town called Ormewood Park. Huge trees dwarf the bungalows and Victorian homes, children play out in the street and almost every house has a front porch with a swing. You can have your morning coffee and read a newspaper on the front swing while listening to the birds and watching your neighbors stroll by. You would never know you were so close to downtown until you crested one of the hilly streets and caught a glimpse of the glass and steel buildings that make up the downtown landscape.
Almost everyone has a garden and for those without the time, space or a green thumb there is a local farmers market. All the produce is locally and organically grown and there are fresh breads and artisan cheeses sold there as well. One of the farmers who sells his vegetables at the market is my neighbor Red. He cut off his signature red braids a few years ago, but I can still notice him from 100 yards away by his overalls and big smile. Red is one of the kindest souls you will ever meet, I’ve never heard him say an unkind word about anyone and he is always there to help a friend in need.
When the word got out that Red needed help to fund his communal garden his friends decided to throw a benefit for UFO or Urban Farm Ormewood. The benefit was held yesterday at Red’s farm which is eight acres of rolling farmland edged by a stream right in the heart of Ormewood Park.
The land has had many incarnations. It was a camp for the Yankee soldiers during the Civil War; it was the site of a turn of the century amusement park and a baptismal site for the Methodist church. Red has managed to keep the space intact as new homes are added to the border every year. The land seems grateful and spits out gifts of old toys, soda bottles and Civil War belt buckles.
The farm is in back of Red’s house and a path was cut though the tall grass and lined with torches leading the way to the garden. The neighbors brought food, beer and wine and Red cooked pots full of greens and the cheese maker grilled homemade Italian sausages. Several bands played as neighbors ate and caught up with each other. Artwork, jewelry and tequila shots were auctioned off and everyone added to the donation jar.
The night was a success and hopefully it will allow Red to stave off the developers for another year and keep the largest private farm/green space in Ormewood Park.
Posted by Jim on Sunday, May 04, 2008 @ 9:31 PM
The Genographic Project
Mother's Day is around the corner and if your mother is anything like mine, she already has everything she wants and always says "you don't need to get me anything". Trust me, don't ever take her up on that, she is lying. I've found the perfect gift for the woman who has everything. It's from the National Geographic Society and it's called The Genographic Project.
The Genographic Project tracks the migratory paths of humans using DNA from the participants. They sent you a kit and you swab the inside of your mouth and send the sample back and it is analyzed and the results are sent back in a few weeks. It's not a genealogy study and it doesn't give you genetic background by ethnicity, race, or geographic origin. In a female the mitochondrial DNA is tested to identify the ancestral migratory origins of your direct maternal line. Mutations in the DNA sequence occur and they are used as genetic markers by geneticists to trace our evolutionary timeline.
My mom is of Scandinavian descent and her results came back identifying her as haplogroup U5a1a. Below is an excerpt from her results.
U5a1a
The mitochondrial super-haplogroup U encompasses haplogroups U1-U7 and haplogroup K. Haplogroup U5, with its own multiple lineages nested within, is the oldest European-specific haplogroup, and its origin dates to approximately 50,000 years ago. Most likely arising in the Near East, and spreading into Europe in a very early expansion, the presence of haplogroup U5 in Europe pre-dates the expansion of agriculture in Europe. Haplogroup U5a1a-a lineage within haplogroup U5-arose in Europe less than 20,000 years ago, and is mainly found in northwest and north-central Europe. The modern distribution of haplogroup U5a1a suggests that individuals bearing this haplogroup were part of the populations that had tracked the retreat of ice sheets from Europe.
So my mom found out that her ancestors were the first to populate Europe. Shouldn't they get squatters rights and I should inherit a nice chunk of northern Europe, right? She did get a nice map of her family's migratory path out of Africa as well as the migratory paths for the entire project. She also received a DVD and a booklet explaining the project and the results. She is also on a mailing list that sends her the name and email address of people who signed a release and are a mitochondrial DNA match. So far she has 374 low resolution (HVR1) matches and no high resolution (HRV1 + HRV2) matches.
The kit only cost $100 and the proceeds are used to fund the project in less affluent areas of the world. You can also get a kit for your father since Father's Day is only a month away.
Posted by Jim on Thursday, May 01, 2008 @ 9:57 PM