Posted inBooks Philosophy

Still trying to set my hair on fire

I was sitting outside on our deck this afternoon, working hard at avoiding doing anything productive, when that damned voice in my head spoke words that I’ve been hearing way too frequently lately: “This moment will never come again.” The message was so clear it almost made me go back to my computer and get back to compiling the footnotes for the rewrite of my first book. Almost. Because, with a little more pondering of the Unfathomable Mystery that is our cosmos, I was able to tell myself: “So what matters is the moment, not what transpires in it.” Hence,…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Live dangerously: Imagine Bush’s head on a stick

Things have been sort of boring recently around the Hines household, and we haven’t gotten any visits from the Secret Service for, gosh, ages. So I’m going to live dangerously and not only imagine George Bush’s head on a stick, but also write about it in my weblog. Which I just did. I’ve just committed in narrative form the same sort of horrendous offense against the president that brought a 15 year old high school student to the attention of both the local police and the Secret Service. Except this boy reflected his imaginings in artwork, and I’ve described mine…
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Posted inNeighborhood

Halfway to a hydrologist limerick

“Thinking of hiring a hydrologist named Nick? You might consider if there is a better pick.” And that’s as far as we’ve gotten with our rather lame hydrologist limerick. But that’s OK—the Oregon State Board of Geologist Examiners hasn’t finished dealing with Laurel’s complaint against Nick Coffey, registered geologist (for now, at least). We were pleased, though, to check out the March 11 minutes of a board meeting and find in Item VII that a notice of intent to discipline Coffey has been approved. Those who have followed the saga of our land use appeal against the Nielsen lot partitioning…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Insight into Bush’s evangelical mind

Having recently pondered the mystery of how our president can consider that he is doing God’s will by going to war with Iraq, I was pleased to get some insights into Bush’s evangelical mind by reading four mini-essays on Bill Long’s website. Bill is an adjunct professor of law at Willamette University and a friend who participates in a monthly “Salon” discussion group here in Salem that Laurel organized many moons ago. On his home page Bill, well, bills himself as an author, attorney, historian, and biblical scholar in addition to his current professorial persona. In his current events section…
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Posted inHome life

How to get in tune with the cosmos for $59

Meditation? Tai chi? Prayer? Bible study? Nature walks? Yoga? Nyahhhh…too much trouble, too time-consuming, too unreliable. For my money ($59 at Costco, to be exact) the best way to get in tune with the cosmos is Casio’s Tough Solar G-Shock Atomic watch. I picked one up at the Costco store in Bend last Sunday and ever since have been feeling much more grounded to the rhythm of those amazing cesium atoms in Boulder, Colorado. This is my second atomic watch. Since Casio makes such reliable watches, and watch batteries seem to last for years and years now, I suspect that…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Philosophy

Is George Bush really doing God’s will?

Watching the interview with Bob Woodward on last Sunday’s “60 Minutes,” we were horrified to see a clip of Bush implying that going to war with Iraq was God’s will, and he was praying for continued divine guidance. There are so many theological and philosophical problems with this perspective it’s hard to know where to start picking it apart. So I guess I’ll begin, as humbly as possible, criticizing my own Godly misconceptions and then move on to how Bush has it wrong as well. In yesterday’s posting, “I’ve become the person I warned myself about,” I wrote about my…
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Posted inBooks Home life Philosophy

I’ve become the person I warned myself about

Partway through my martial arts class last night the head instructor, Master Allen, showed us some alternative moves in a kata that we had been practicing—it’s called Kanku Dai in Japanese, Kong San Goon in Korean. He said, “There is no one Way. There always is more than one Way. Anyone who believes there is one Way is limiting himself.” Music to my ears, now. But it would have been heresy to my ears, then, during the nine years I was studying traditional Shotokan karate. In Shotokan karate there is one way to perform a kata: the sensei’s way, the…
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Posted inPhilosophy

Could everything really be all right?

Once in a while an intuitive news flash speaks itself in my mind: “Everything is all right. Repeat, everything. There’s no need to stay tuned for further developments. This is the way it always has been, and this is the way it always will be. Now. Then. Here. Everywhere.” One of those moments happened today when Laurel, Serena, and I sat down on the banks of the Metolius, as close to the head of the spring-fed river as it is possible to walk on the side of the river we were on. I leaned back against the bark of a…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Air America audible in central Oregon (barely)

We were pleased to be able to listen, more or less, to Air America on KPOJ (620 AM) while driving from Camp Sherman to Bend today. Central and Eastern Oregon aren’t exactly Air America county, so it was a nice surprise to find that the Portland signal is able to bring some enlightened perspectives to Republican Country. If anyone, liberal or conservative alike, hasn’t given Air America a try, do it now. Especially you conservatives. I’ve put in many grit-my-teeth radio hours listening to talk-show hosts (Lars Larson, ugh, Michael Savage, double or triple ugh) who I disagree with, so…
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Posted inRecreation

From Maui to the Metolius (and photos to prove it)

Albeit with a five-day delay, for Laurel and me our migration from Maui to the Metolius river in central Oregon has been like leaping from the sultriness of a Swedish sauna into a bracing pool of cold water. Invigorating, for sure. When we woke up Monday morning it was 75 degrees outside; this morning it was 35. Driving over the Santiam pass yesterday there was quite a bit of snow on the ground, as there is on the upper reaches of Black Butte near us in Camp Sherman—quite a change from the sands of Napili Bay beach. But the cabin…
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Posted inHome life

Shocked!—I discover my wife’s late-night Internet lusting

As soon as I walked softly over to Laurel’s desk and peered over her shoulder at the computer screen I knew that my life had changed irrevocably. Understand, this shocking revelation wasn’t a complete surprise. Looking back, I clearly should have seen it coming. But every husband thinks that somehow it won’t happen to him, that his wife will be able to resist the temptations that so many other women succumb to, now that the Internet makes it possible to establish connections in cyberspace that previously you’d have to engage in face-to-face. Look, I’m no Internet virgin myself. So I…
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Posted inBooks Sustainability

“You say you want a revolution…”

I’ve always loved these Lennon/McCartney lyrics: “You say you want a revolution…You say you got a real solution…Well you know you better free your mind instead.” It’s deep, man. And wonderfully applicable to so much in everyday life. Which in my life includes where the 275 acre Sustainable Fairview development is heading, and where I myself am heading. Under the “Sustainability” category to the left I periodically rant and rave about the opportunities that so far have been missed to make Sustainable Fairview a truly world-class model of sustainability. Laurel and I are investors in Sustainable Fairview Associates, the limited…
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Posted inHome life Philosophy

Kona coffee and the meaning of life

Does Kona coffee hold the key to the meaning of life? I certainly hope so. For the past few days, starting on Maui and continuing here at home in Oregon, I’ve been working my way through an eight ounce bag of 100% Kona coffee, which Mark Twain praised as “having a richer flavor than any other.” I wholeheartedly agree. This is the best coffee I’ve ever had, the only downside to Kona coffee being it’s $20 + price per pound. But, you get what you pay for. And part of what I’m paying for here is an aid to finding…
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Posted inRecreation

Six Maui photos and a few words

click photos to enlarge How we spent much of our time in Lahaina A professional shopper knows how to perfectly match T-shirt and cap Beautiful Maui maiden under the Lahaina banyan tree Brian waiting for waves (today, the wait never ended) Laurel and some close friends Maui sunset, our last day here (boo-hoo! but our dog soon will be freed from the kennel, hooray!)
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Posted inBooks Philosophy

“He is risen!” No, almost certainly not

Once again I brought too many books to Maui. Back in Oregon I forgot how enjoyable simply sitting on the beach is. I picture myself reading much more than I end up wanting to do. However, I’ve slowly been making my way through a wonderful book, “Think,” that I started reading several years ago, re-discovered on a shelf, and decided to throw into my suitcase. With Easter tomorrow, I figured it would be appropriate to share some thoughts from the chapter on “God.” Simon Blackburn, the author of "Think" is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina.…
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Posted inRecreation

Bad news, good news on Maui

Here’s the bad news: rain, and lots of it. click to enlarge Naturally we’re familiar with Oregon rain. Tropical rain is different. It comes in waves, like the ocean. You think the rain is over, then, swoosh, it’s back, raining harder than you thought rain could rain. Here’s the good news (for Laurel, at least): rain, and lots of it. We already were planning to go to Kihei and Wailea to shop today. The weather here in Napili caused us to leave earlier than we otherwise would have, which added an hour or two to Laurel’s shopping time. I say…
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Posted inRecreation Sustainability

Out waited by a sea turtle

I was alerted by the cry, “There’s a sea turtle!” Not from Laurel, of course, because she is super-sensitive about environmental correctness, which in the case of sea turtles means leaving them alone when they surface for air—and also leaving them alone when they dive for food, or, I have to believe, privacy. This morning we walked to a neighboring cove where the snorkeling is good and the sea turtles plentiful. The only downside is having to get in the water off of some slippery and sometimes sharp rocks, but when the waves are gentle, as they were today, it…
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Posted inRecreation

Paradise isn’t 100% paradisiacal

Not infrequently before we left home, when we mentioned to someone that we were about to go to Maui, they would reply in a mildly sarcastic tone of voice, “Gee, that’s too bad; what a rough life.” Well, it is. Sort of. Maybe not exactly rough, but certainly not surfboard smooth either. Consider some of what we have to put up with here on Maui: (1) At some point every day, usually while we’re lying on the beach in the afternoon, we have to decide where to go out to dinner that evening. This takes a lot of thought since…
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Posted inRecreation

Washing machine fantasy fulfilled

Actually, I didn’t even know that I had a washing machine fantasy in me. But if there is any truth to the adage, “we create our own reality,” on some karmic level I must have wanted to experience life on the inside of a washing machine. I’m too large to fit into a real washing machine, so the Cosmic Wish Fulfiller substituted what I learned today is called a “barrel” wave. (I learned this by overhearing some local kids out boarding next to me say, “Man, I’ve never been thrashed in such a big barrel before.”) Most people have heard…
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Posted inRecreation

Hunting and gathering on Maui

Today Laurel and I played out our prehistorically-determined sex roles, not in the bedroom, but in the shops of Lahaina and the waters of Napili Bay. Evolutionary psychology tells us that deeply engrained in the female and male psyche are traits accumulated over hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of years of genetic experience in Homo sapiens and prior species forms. Laurel is the quintessential gatherer, finely attuned to the shapes, colors, and textures of what is hanging in the (many, many) stores we entered this evening. I tag along a humble three steps behind, well aware that I am…
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