How Do You Stuff a Radish?

We're approaching the home stretch of getting Chlamydia out and trying to dodge the crack-cocaine known as Oblivion. [Speaking of which, you would think I would get a lot more than a stupid old chest for killing the King of Worms.]

As an apology for the lack of posts, here is a really creepy picture of Alton Brown and his family:

Legos!

These are way cool.

A Post!

A long overdue update presented in the most ineloquent method possible: a list of bullets! Tufte lovers beware!

• Huzzah! Whisking with Chlamydia's triumphant return is upon us. I finished the last chapter and am now writing the appendices and doing copy editing. Goal is to have it out by tax day.
• Been listening to Jenny Lewis's new album Rabbit Fur Coat. Really, really nice country feel a la Patsy Cline. If you liked songs like Absence of God, More Adventurous, and A Man/Me/Jim from More Adventurous then I think you'll like this one. As always, her vocals are haunting through most of the tracks. The Changing Sky and You Are What You Love are new favorites. The title track is a little too heavy handed (as are some of the other tracks) and she doesn't have the insight of say Paul Simon from You're the One but overall a really good listen and most definitely favorable to the other stuff out there.
• Never thought I would enjoy an album put out by an Italian super model but I doubt most of them can sing this well. Quelqu'un m'a Dit by Carla Bruni is a really nice little album. It's gold for me since I'm a sucker for French music (see Les Nubians, Georges Brassens, Vietnamese V-Pop with French vocals). Heard it while I was consulting for someone who had just had twins. Seemed to sooth them. Can't say I blame them. I couldn't stop playing the title track for two weeks.
• Finished reading A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle's follow-up to The Power of Now. In terms of Western writers he points closest to the teachings of my own teacher. Indeed, I was happy to tell my mother that he teaches the exercise of "seeing but not labeling" i.e. "thoughtless consciousness" that is the first exercise that I learned from her. She chuckled and was glad that the idea had finally gone mainstream. Tolle also does a great job of elucidating the insanity of the egoic-self and the pain-body and I think that dealing with these issues through stillness, "no thought", and spaciousness is more effective than methods that use thought like those of Thich Nhat Hanh as the egoic self can quickly "sneak in through the back door." As my teacher says to the method of breathing that emphasizes "letting in good air and taking out bad air": "Air is neither good nor bad. Why are you insulting the air by labeling it good or bad"? Highly recommended for anyone who is frustrated with getting a foothold on Zen teachings but needs something to cling onto before taking the plunge to the other shore, as it were. Obviously, it's just another finger pointing at the moon and there's nothing really new here for those who have read Power of Now. However, for me, it was a really nice shove in the right direction or, as Tolle puts it, a different signpost.