Selling Club Mystic

Today many Mystic Lake employees had to go to work early to attend was stated as a class. The title was "Selling Club Mystic" but instead they had some consultant from Las Vegas speak about guest service and marketing. How marketing entailed all aspects of a business and that was our true mission.

Anyways, it won't truly change the Mystic Lake culture overnight, but it could improve the atmosphere to a more guest-centric environment.

Running of the Santas

The Mid-Minnesota Legal Assistance created the annual "Running of the Santas" in Minneapolis this year as a fundraiser. I took Josiah, and he thought it was very fun! We watched hundreds of men and women, young and old, fast and not so fast, dressed as Santa run down Nicollet Mall today. It was quite an opening event for the Holiday Season in our fine city.

There are some who think that Santa should have no place in the Holiday season. Churches are asking followers of Christianity to wear buttons. Description of this grassroot movement as follows:

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Celebrate Christmas Button

I celebrate Christmas is a campaign designed to encourage Christians nationwide and around the world to proudly proclaim the Christ Child as the center of the Christmas Season once again.
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I saw someone wearing one of these buttons and asked her about it. She gave me a button if I promised to wear it. I will find a way to wear it - perhaps on Christmas? But the roots of Christmas are still the pagan Solstice celebration.

Either way I am not that concerned over holiday cultural wars. Instead am thankful for each day and will try to be mindful in all that I do.

Mindful Parenting

The Clouds in Water Zen Center has started a Mindful Parenting group. With many types of advice out there for parents, it is great there is some effort locally at the Zen center.

There are a few books out that help parents who are adherents of the Buddhist path.

Buddhism for Mothers, Everyday blessings, and Mindful Parenting. By far the first two are more popular. Jon and Myla Kabat-Zinn wrote Everday Blessings. Jon is well known for his books on mindfulness. In fact I read his "Wherever you go, there you are" prior to choosing the Buddhist path. A co-worker , Nate (my mentor when hired), told me the book changed his life.

While not writing a full-length review, I highly recommend parents read these books. I also invite all parents of any faith to join our mindful parenting group.

Incident with a few neighbors

I had an incident with some people at a town-home behind my residence. I do not know the details of how the town-home association resolves this situation, but I was assured that it would be resolved. But I am aware that they had some people living there that should not have been, and hope that the more responsible elements of the family were not punished for trying to help relatives out.

I am thankful that I do not have to leave my home in fear of some sort of physical attack. I have never felt that until this incident during my entire residency in Minneapolis. There are times when I may see an individual that I am wary of ( especially when I lived in Stevens Square ) but this rarely happens.

I think the best way to learn about an area that you live, especially one with a negative stigma like Phillips, you have to actually be engaged in it. You spend time outside at the park just sitting or reading a book. You go to neighborhood events, and you walk to the corner stores. You start to get a sense of "normal" in where you live and notice when something seems out of the ordinary.

I would like to thank the town-home association and the City of Lakes Community Land Trust for their work on this.

Joined Phillips Community Energy Cooperative

I recently decided to join the Phillips Community Energy Cooperative. This is because I keep getting mail for Tara Grieco, who used to live where I do, from them. I read that new members get a free tote bag - I was sold already. In addition one gets some complact flourescent light-bulbs and 5 plastic window covers. The kicker is membership costs $1. But one must live in the Phillips neighborhood of Minneapolis, which is about 10,000 people ( our 25,000 squirrels are currently excluded) .

I talked to the program coordinator Jeff Cook-Coyle about how they get their funding. Basically Xcel donates money to the project. The coop also offers refrigerators and air conditioners at half of cost to members.

I asked whether there were any plans to get solar water heaters into the neighborhood, and Jeff seemed almost lit up about the subject. It is still in the planning stages, but very much a possibility in the next few years.

The coop is very new, starting in 2003. I wish it success and hope that it can reduce fossil fuel dependency locally. Through conservation and renewable initiatives, is is very possible.

Go-To Card

Today I got my Go-to card. I am quite happy to get one finally, they are quite convenient. I don't have to dig in my wallet, just know where my plastic sleeve is. I wish one could add money to the card online.

One feature I wished the card had was the ability to switch into a monthly pass or not. Once you go over the dollar threshold for a $1.50 monthly pass ( $50) - you automatically get it. Then if you surpass the $2 point ($76), you save a little more. It would be smart, and make transit riders happy to know these cards can save them money too.

It is rather interesting that Barbara Lickness was the 10 millionth rider on the Hiawatha Line in 2005. Barbara is an ardent DFLer, believing that one party rule over Minneapolis isn't bad for its citizens. She also volunteers with the Whittier Alliance, and am glad she is active in the community. (It is rather annoying that she always ends e-mails with the overplayed Margaret Mead quote - quite inspiring the first 87 times.)

More Minneapolitans should support light-rail and other transit. We do not need cars as much in our city. And when we do need cars - we can always car-share instead of own. Transit is seeing an uptick in ridership, and that trend should persisit as oil moves in the same direction.

Why support transit? It prevents Global Warming, while preserving non-renewable resources, and supporting a local economy. Transit will be a great economic and social ally for Minnesotans in the 21st century.

Josiah's lizard?

This morning Josiah woke up and immediately ran outside. I have no clue why, I got dressed and went downstairs. He came back inside bawling - his lizard had run away and buried himself in the mud. I think Josiah has an overactive imagination because we have no lizard.

He said he caught a lizard and that it then ran away later on. He was very upset that it had left him.

He also said that he found mice in our house, which there are, and that he was able to pet them. He said they were not wild mice but nice mice. Then he started searching for the mice, and found a hole underneath or sink. Behind our sink on the living room side is our bookshelf. The bottom of the bookshelf is our reference books, including yellow pages. Josiah though he would find the mice by moving these books out of the way. No such luck, but he was very sure he would find them back there.

Either way, Josiah has become more intelligent about many things, and has an imagination that is very humorous. Just have to teach him a few things, or perhaps just read him more stories and see what happens?

A good day overall. A bit chilly, but it could be worse.

Cloud in Water Zen

Josiah and I have been going to the Clouds in Water Zen Center in Saint Paul since mid October. We go every other weekend, as those are the days that the Children's Practice is.

Josiah is a very active boy, and I am always concerned about his behavior. The previous weekend I was asked what to do about him, as he was good until the last 15 minutes or so. He got rather rough with other kids, wanting to wrestle. ( he is very physically motivated, and I think should be in gymnastics and karate ) I gave the volunteers permission to put him in time-out if necessary.

But this weekend, I was stopped by 4 people telling me how wonderful Josiah was in class. They all love him, as he motivated other children and ensured they did things correct.

I stayed afterward for a discussion with other parents. We decided it would be good to meet once a month and discuss parenting skills and Buddhism. It was mentioned we could use a book about mindful parenting to assist in our talks. I hope much comes out of this idea.

Josiah was difficult to leave the center. He hid under tables and wouldn't listen to me or get dressed. I had to drag him out without his coat or shoes on - eventually outside where it was chilly. I gave him many chances and once outside he took less than 3 minutes to change his tune. He wanted to get dressed.

I wouldn't leave until we talked, and he said he didn't want to leave because the center had food and he was hungry. I had 2 bananas, and told him he would be able to eat them at the bus stop, which he did. I also said that when we go to his Sunday School at the Zen Center, I would pack more snacks for him to eat. He was satisfied with this solution, and I hope we can resolve his bad hehavior through this as well.

The rest of the day Josiah acted okay, but he was in time-out more than he usually is - three times! But the next few days he would act better.
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Shellay called today. She still hasn't had her baby yet, and is a few days late now. But all of her children have been so far, so she isn't that worried. She will let everyone know when. We also had a fun chat. :)

Are there more who care?

I was able to talk to Phanice early this morning. She is doing well in Nairobi, and is glad that myself and her sister Ruth can visit her soon. Our chat didn't go as smoothly as it has in the past, and I wasn't sure why. But after we talked, a huge storm hit and Phanny wasn't able to take a bus to the downtown cybercafe to e-mail me.

I got a letter from CARE stating that the Horn of Africa had just gone through months of drought and was now being hit by seasonal storms. The storms are very excessive causing massive floods. Phanice told me about this in her letter:
...was to write you a mail yesterday but i got messed by the rains,they are too much here,all the plans i had aborted,its that bad.At the coast its flooded n a number of people havelost there lives.All we can do is just to pray and hope that it ends soon coz if it goes on like this,several people are going to get messed.

While many I know are cynical about donating money, I am not. I gave money to Sarvodaya when the tsunami hit Sri Lanka. That was while I was in Kuwait leaving soon for Iraq. I always wish I could help more, but know that my current economic constraints will not always be so. I also pray that more people would care.

For all the giant big screen plasma tvs, Playstations, and SUVs people buy - I wish more could live ligher and donate more to effective causes. I pray that more become conscious of the suffering in our world and compassionately work to improve our world.

Crazy day

Fridays are always a bit crazy, as work is busier. I barely made it to the bus today, running to catch it. Brandy got home later than usual, and I was late getting ready while preparing lunch. It was SO busy at work that my co-workers weren't prepared for me to replace them when I got there - too busy! Then, when I left to go home, the office was backed up as well. I would be late for my bus home.

Dan knew this, and offered a ride. He gave me a ride along with another coworker Dian to Bloomington. I was dropped off at the Mall of America, and took the light rail home.

On the train, I sat next to two young ( 18 and 19) . They were followed by a drunken guy who claimed he was 27. He was trying to make it to some club downtown, yet wasn't wearing a jacket on a rather chilly night. He had no money for the train either(!), asking the girls for $1.50, which they never gave him.We told him about how transit cops would catch him if he didn't pay, but he didn't seem bothered.

The girls pretty much giggled and laughed at how insane this drunk guy was. He attempted flirting, but it was so pointless. " You girls are so beautiful. How about you go out with me tonight to the club." Also asking them out for dinner, which I then asked how he would pay without any money. Of course he considered me an obstructionist towards his goal, but didn't consider me a threat. Except at one point he did think that I was talking about his mom, even though I said the word mall.

The girls and I departed the train at the Franklin Avenue Station, and said goodnight, after the hilarious discussion with a drunk heading to downtown. I got home 30 minutes later than usual, but was thankful to be home rather than stranded at work. I cannot wait until light-rail is built to Eden Prairie. That will greatly improve my mobility to Scott County. I do plan on enrolling in HourCar soon, but that doesn't help when my employers live so far out.

Brandy's Birthday

Today was Brandy's birthday, but I did not take it off from work. She and I hadn't discussed it and she was adamant that I take Halloween off. I had to call in on Halloween because there were too many who got put in before my schedule changed.

I got her two books: John by Cynthia Lennon and It's my Pleasure by Maria and Maya Rodale.. She is already enjoying them! :)

I came home that night only to find Josiah and her gone. Siah at his Uncle's and Brandy out with friends. Shouldn't be surprised, because Brandy had wanted to go out and celebrate.

Personally, I do not like the parties she goes to: I drink little if any, and do no other drugs nor smoke. She called me "boring" and much worse on my birthday for such a consistent stance.

Anywho, I have been getting more upset with things at home lately. Perhaps I shouldn't because Brandy is so busy with schoolwork. But I get home and there is a can in the kitchen half the time that appears to have been used for smoking or something - with pieces of burnt substances on top. I always tell her my disapproval of smoking indoors, but she doesn't seem to care.

The porch is another issue. She leaves it a mess with papers, candy wrappers, and cigerette ashstrays overflowing. I have to clean it up, because our landlady Lynne wants it upkept nice. I don't disagree with her, but don't get as much help from Brandy as I hope for. So I must clean this each day, in addition to other household chores.

My main chore appears to be dishes. I can't complain about doing household chores - we all have to do them. But why do I have to do both laundry, dishes, and keeping all rooms/porch cleaned? Somehow I feel shorted, but perhaps Brandy does because she must watch Josiah and still get her college work done.

It's definetely not easy for her, and also why I feel I can't really complain. Once she is done, she will be working also. By then Josiah will also be in school, and we will also find childcare more affordable with two incomes.