So just got back from the doc who wanted to go over my blood work from a couple weeks back.

She says my triglycerides are higher than she wants to see - I need to cut back on carbs (eep! No mo pasta?? Whaddaya mean one serving is only one cup?? That's not a serving that's a mouthful!!) so that means more veggies and salads for me.

My Vitamin D is low so she'd like me to take supplements.

I then got a question about buying pills from her but I declined. I think I'd like to learn a bit more about these two before I jump in.

BP was a bit high but they assumed I had just run from the bus so was ok. (I think the panting kinda gave it away. ;) ) But everything else was good - cholesterol was fine (altho I prolly should've asked for the number so I could wear it as a badge of honor or something.)

Oh, and lose like 25 pounds or so. Gleep - not sure >>where<< that'd come from!

Current Mood: curious

visiting my Dad in Ohio. He's doing well in his new place and seems to have taken to it. We took a quick side trip on our way out to Pitt to see Diana - some time is better than no time!

So having forgotten to offer to Odin at our Samhain, I need to followup with an offering.

We were at a local get together of Chicagoland Pagan/Esoteric leaders and we happen to be near a liquor store so we went on in and looked for some booze.

J found some Lemonchello (sp?) and I nabbed some Glunz Rouge & Blanc (which I haven't had for many years and thought it might no longer be available but what ho! Good sign!)

Not entirely sure what Odin would want (mead? none to be found) I came across some Bell's Winter White Ale. My eye was piqued (white - beard?) and I bought a six-er. (Bells is a micro brew in Kazoo which has somehow wormed its way to Chicagoland - we are the better for it!)

Just offered up a bottle and pulled a rune (I s'pose I should be working with runes more, eh?) Isaz. Going off to find out what it means.

Current Mood: contemplative

We must scrupulously guard the civil rights and civil liberties of all our citizens, whatever their background. We must remember that any oppression, any injustice, any hatred, is a wedge designed to attack our civilization.

Greeting to the American Committee for the Protection of the Foreign Born, Washington, D.C. (9 January 1940)

Hat tip to Chad White for the pointer from the FDR memorial in DC: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/photo.php?pid=30713107&id=1405930135

Well, duty calls and all that. I'm sad but I think Da Jacksta is sadder.

B suggested we go to Midnight Flame but between few enough people we know going and it being mostly Norse (which makes me wonder why B would be interested in going as she has suggested on any number of occasions that Norse folk shouldn't be in ADF at all. Sigh. I just point her to "In Search of the Indo-Europeans" and hope for the best.) there's little reason to trek up to the north country for a weekend fest. Woods? Sure. Hassle? Mostly.

Which means we are done for travelling until Xmas with the in-laws, which is always fun. I really need to work in a trip to Ohio to see my Dad however... hmmm... maybe T'giving?

Current Mood: blah

Visit A Place By The Fire ADF

So back from Wellspring where even the ride home gave us a chance
to watch the amazing sky/lightshow on the drive back Tuesday night.
Very exciting! (Unpacking a van in the rain is >>not<< exciting
however.)

The fest was a lot of fun and a lot of energy flowing around. We (once
again) got to see a lot of old friends and got to meet some new ones.
The Sassies are all doing well and still have some nicer tents - dang
them! Jamie from Silver Falls PG was there with some of his PG-mates
and there was a small contingent from Canada. And that was just in our
immediate area! A great time was had by all!

We missed the opening ritual (actually, we drove thru it when we
arrived) and I didn't attend the American Memorial ritual (but
Caroline might be able to relate her experiences with that.) There was
a healing rite which I also didn't attend (I was doing a lot of
shopping with Diana from Sasafrass - boy can those druids drink!!) but
I heard was very successful. The Big rite was a combo Unity Ritual and
Initiate Program Kickoff/Bootstrap. The ritual consisted of investing
the 4 ArchDruids as Initiates and empowering them to further initiate
as people complete the requirements. (My understanding is there are 2
candidates already.)

The Wellspring Bardic Chair was won by Sasafrass's very own Emerald
with a wonderful story of Circe and a song she wrote. It's a new
Cosmos/Portal song she posted to Liturgists in January. I sadly (or
humorously) misheard the line "and keep Chaos away..." as "and keep
the Klingons away..." We all got a great laugh out of it ("Hey Emerald
- you haven't even finished singing and we're already filking it!")

After everyone left, only a handful of us remained on Monday to roam
around Brushwood which was very interesting and beautiful. Jeremy
noted there was a Labyrinth which we found and walked, and Caroline
lead us deep into the Fairy Wood for another adventure. (We're still
diagnosing the bumps on Jack's arm! No pain/itch, but they seem to be
receding.)

On Tuesday, after packing up, we headed off to the Nemeton and
Runestead to offer up all the excess alcohol. (Remember those beer
runs? The Gods were going to be happy!) What started out as only an
offering rite turned into a full blown ritual. I made special
offerings to the Earth Mother, Who was very conspicuous all weekend
(She was one of three offered to in the Main Ritual and Isaac was
chatting Her up at Chenille and other places) along with Liber, Roman
God of Wine. I also offered from all of our Grove not present but who
are always on our minds. (My memory fades here but hopefully the
others can chip in if I get things muddled.) Jeremy offered to
Dionysus (before my Liber offering) and Ray offered the sake (!) to
the Kami (sp? Japanese spirits of place?) Caroline offered to the
spirits of the land who were here before we arrived to thank them for
sharing the spot with us.

Then, I think Jack offered up to Athena for wisdom. What was odd/
amazing about this, was right after the offering, Caroline found a
small owl statuette on the ground (we were standing near the Nature
Spirits post/altar in the Nemeton) and we all decided it was >>not<< a
pizza. I could have sworn I had looked at the very spot and hadn't
seen it. Looks like we have another Deity (and culture!) to focus some
attention on!

I totally have spaced on the omen, but Ray declared the sacrifice(s)
to be accepted. We had run out of things to share for the Return Flow,
so I tried an energy working/receiving which seemed to work ok. (Right
guys? Be gentle!) We of course asked for blessings on all our Tribe,
Family and Friends.

I asked for another omen for all this Earth Mother poking, and Ray Saw
that this was not an internal/external thing (the basis of my
question) but rather something that touched on both. Tyr's rune was
one of the 3 (Sunrise and ... were the others) so I clearly have some
thinking to do on that one. I was thinking of doing something like an
Order dedicated to the Earth Mother ("Companions of the Earth Mother")
but again, more thinking needed.

After closing down the rite, we moved to the Runestead for further
offerings to Odin and others. Caroline had started studying the runes,
so she made some offerings and did her first reading. It was pretty
auspicious (IMO) but I'll let her relate what she wants of it. She
also got a Gift. ;) Jack offered up a prayer to Heimdal and we were
all getting that tired but satisfied feel and knew it was time to
shake a leg. (The rain started up after we were done...)

We then packed up for home for an amazing drive back to Chicago. We
were filled with ideas (as we often are after Wellspring) and look
forward to an exciting talk with everyone about our experiences.

So how was your weekend? :)

Current Mood: chipper

Obama: Snowy Washington Needs 'Chicago Toughness' - washingtonpost.com

Introducing Edupunk ~ Stephen's Web ~ by Stephen Downes

Oh my - have I got a tiger by the tale? Moodle http://moodle.org/ is up next...

In my continuing search for something to help breathe life into the ADF Scholar's Guild (and hopefully even ADF generally) I've come across a number of "Social Networking" or "Online Collaboration" sites.

Just came across Sakai and am going to take a look at it. Might just fill the bill:


Sakai Project : Home : Home

p.s. using LJ's new link bookmarklet. Keeno!

http://linuxlock.blogspot.com/2008/12/linux-stop-holding-our-kids-back.html

Email (and response) from a teacher who is worried about the "evils" of Linux corrupting our children.

So sad to see such misinformation - and you just know she's likely trying her best. The nerdrage will be ginormous.

you can spend a very long time reading things like this: http://www.virtue.to/fabric/08_Knit.html and you're not even >>into<< garb.

(And yes, I know I haven't been in the SCA very long at all, but it's the principle of the thing doncha know.)

After a discussion with da Jacksta this morning about Xmas gifts, I reaquainted myself with the Society (aka SCA aka the Society for Creative Anachronism http://sca.org .) Reupped although technically it's a new membership as they apparently "lost" my 1996 membership. Hahaha.

We have some of the prezzies figured out, but more will be needed. (thinking cap on)

http://www.aclu.org/lgbt/relationships/37701prs20081105.html

Looks like those persnickity 18,000 married couples in CA aren't going to get a free divorce because of the "passage" of Prop 8.

I wonder how many Mormons are going to take them to court?

As Andrew Sullivan points out ( http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/11/those-married-i.html - where I'm getting a lot of this - he's been an unflinching supporter of Gay marriage long before it was popular - and a woofie too!!) this is exactly how the miscegenation laws were struck down.

If you didn't know, it used to be illegal for blacks and whites to marry... had those stayed on the books we wouldn't be living in a historic moment right now with our new President-elect. I'd really love it if he pointed out the obvious - to me at least - fact about this country's earlier bout with "we'll tell you who you can marry" and how that turned out.

For that matter, one has to wonder if the reason the Mormons are so torqued about this whole thing is that >>their<< attempt at extending the bounds of what constitutes "marriage" in this country got them drummed out of state after state and they had to settle with Utah. Sore losers, eh?

http://www.aclu.org/lgbt/relationships/37706prs20081105.html

Apparently the CA initiative process only allows small changes to the CA Constitution, not rights removals, without legislative review. Prop 8 didn't have that and now that it's passed, ACLU et al are asking for it to be invalidated because the Prop did not receive that review.

Now granted, it's still important to remember that 52% of CA voters voted against our desire to have a marriage, but taking away rights previously granted is a very different thing in this country. Even conservatives get their panties in a twist over a "taking."

Even if this forces a repeal of Prop 8 (even given that the absentee ballots apparently aren't yet counted) they'll be back. (In the words of the Guvinator...)

Zach had a sobering post ( http://zacwolfdotcom.livejournal.com/76844.html ) that I responded to.

Exciting to be in America, but we still have work to do. Prop 8 (the gay marriage rights takeaway) passed by a larger percentage than Obama won. So it's not unreasonable to assume a large swath of Obama supporters voted against us.

Sobering, but there is some hope buried in the exit polls.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/11/the-view-fro-44.html#more

Voted at the crack of dawn (well, ok, it was like 6:30 when we got there) and we ended up waiting about 1/2 hour. No biggie and faster when the officials pointed out that of the two precincts there ours had no line so go on in. Weee!

Check out the Beeb's coverage:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/us_elections_2008/7708587.stm - Chicago in her glory

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/us_elections_2008/7705795.stm - what they do with graphics is just short of amazing

And even though my mother was a statistician, this is too much even for me - http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/ (although one of the guys is kinda woofy with his goatee and all.)

Happy Burfday to me!

Mah hunneybear bought me an iPod nano - now we have to get the linux server up as that's where a lot of our music is. It's fun to be able to carry around listening stuff, but we'll have to see how that goes.

One of our grovemates has a cat with a fatal condition, and she's not taking it very well. The grove has pretty much all posted to our list love and support, so hopefully it'll be less traumatic for her. Looks like we'll be holding a ritual to help her thru that sometime next week.

Just getting home from Another Summerland. J & R were nice enough to help unpack the van and follow us to ORD to drop off the car.

I'm so lucky to be in a Kick *ss grove!

p.s. S*land was fabu and we spent way too much time running our own fest. (We didn't move much from our Cabin.) Karen gave us the Evil Eye every now and again for not joining the main crowd outside the dining hall, but we were having way too much fun chit chatting at our place (and teasing CM everytime she walked by.) Next year we'll put up a sign: "Coffee and Regret."

p.p.s. C & RM got all consecrated and we're all happy for um. Gratz!

to get ready for a 6:30am pickup to go with a friend for his colonoscopy at 8:30am. Geesh, the things I do.

OTOH, it's something I need to get scheduled for meself as it's one of the "now you're 50 and you have a whole >>new<< set of health issues to be concerned about" things. Bother. Guess I will need to find a doctor. And that means having My Bump taken care of as well which should make both my father and mother-in-law happy.

OTOOH, looks like tomorrow morning may be when we leave for Summerland as R. may be able to get all his experiments in and we can be off. Not that I wasn't looking forward to a day at the Hyde Park Coop Bookstore, but we has our priorities.

We do?

p.s. J.'s in town and calling relentlessly. I was hoping to fit in a lunch with her, but it was a zoo at work and I was welded to my keyboard. Not to mention prep for a meeting with the CIO at 3pm.