Philaahzophy » Fatherhood

Is Zen The Path To Truth?

Aahz — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 01:15:22 +0000

I’ve been fascinated by Zen and Koans for years now, but have only recently actually looked into real details. According to Wikipedia:

A koan is a story, dialogue, question, or statement in the history and lore of Zen Buddhism, generally containing aspects that are inaccessible to rational understanding, yet may be accessible to intuition.

Personally, I am “using” koans to find some form of inner peace. So far, I have been rather unsuccessful, but am only recently on this path. I also am “using” koans (along with other inspirational statements) to attempt to “shock” Zaira’s brain into separating from the dogma and brainwashing she ha sreceived in her first 13 years and forming fresh thoughts of her own design.

Always wanting to share wisdom (personally realized or discovered elsewhere) I’ve decided to post occasional koans, quotes, and other thoughts for y’all. So, with all of that explanation (likely unnecessary) here’s your first koan:

Zen has nothing to grab on to. When people who study zen don’t see it, that is because they approach too eagerly.

Post from: Philaahzophy

Is Zen The Path To Truth?

Tags: Buddhism, koan, life, truth, zen
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Why I Love Library Book Sales!

Aahz — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 22:22:09 +0000

Library Book Sales (which I still refer to as book fairs for some reason) are like the floating craps games of the literary world – except everyone’s a winner. Despite my arguments against coercive funding of public libraries in general and my problems with my local President of the Morgan Hill Friends of the Library I’ve been haunting library book sales since I was old enough to leave the house on my own. And I don’t think I’ve ever walked out of a single one without new reading material under my arm.

This afternoon I stopped by the Friends of the Milpitas Library Fall Book Sale and walked out with my wallet $25 lighter, but my bookshelf 13.2 pounds heavier (and those were all paperbacks!) At a price of $1.50/inch I managed to find 25 new books for my personal library. Everything from the 1977 In Search of Myths and Monsters by Alan Landsburg (with a foreward by Leonard Nimoy!), to The Analects of Confucius as translated and annoted by Arthur Waley, and from Look and Learn French by Anna Balakian to help Zaira withe her French lessons which are entirely online) to What’s the Number for 911? America’s Wackiest 911 Calls by Leland H. Gregory III (because Z’s mom used to be a 911 dispatcher). Not to mention more than a dozen “classics” including To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee which is required reading for Z’s English class this year, but we’ve been unable to find in a half dozen rips to vaious used book stores.

Speaking of used bookstores… I still have that fetish as well, and since I’m home schooling Zaira now we’ve been making more trips then ever. But the last time we visited Book Buyers in Mountian View we picked up 10 books for $65. We regularly have the same experience at my favorite local used book store: Recycle Books in downtown San Jose. As much as I love them, they just can’t even come close to the bargains available at library book sales.

I just today discovered a great new resource for book sale lovers such as myself. It’s called, simply enough, Book Sale Finder. They list literally thousands of library and private book sales around the country all organized by location and date. Best of all is their Sale Mail feature which will send you an email whenever a book sale is coming up in your area (defined by the number of miles from your zip code you’re willing to travel). I just discovered the site today so can’t provide any feedback on how well Sale Mail works, but the site’s been around for more than 15 years now and was written up in Woman’s Day magazine a few years back so I’m guessing it works pretty well.

Post from: Philaahzophy

Why I Love Library Book Sales!

Tags: book, book sale, Book Sale Finder, home schooling, library, Milpitas, Morgan Hill, school, Zaira
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Trampoline Dodgeball at Great Jumps Milpitas

Aahz — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:19:44 +0000

The biggest challenges thus far in home schooling Zaira have been P.E. and meeting other CAVA students. In hopes of achieving both in one step we headed up to Milpitas yesterday for a few hours of dodgeball at Great Jump Sports, billed as “the ultimate trampoline party experience”.

Essentially, the entire building is occupied with two very large sections of trampoline (enough trampoline space for more than 100 simultaneous jumpers!) with one dedicated to “general jumping” and the other set aside for dodgeball games. At this CAVA event about 20 kids and adults competed in about a dozen matches over a two hour period.

Zaira (who hates anything resembling physical activity, much less actual exercise) had more fun then she’s had in ages and worked up a huge sweat in the process as well. So it seems we knocked the “physical education” half of our challenge out, but unfortunately, the other half remain s daunting.

There was a 14 year old from Santa Cruz there, but she wasn’t playing dodgeball and was there seeking other high school students. There was also a 13 year old boy and a 12 year old girl, but with the intensely competitive dodgeball games Z didn’t get a chance to grab any numbers or email addresses.

Still, the outing was successful overall and I highly recommend Great Jump to anyone looking for a unique and interesting workout method. Personally, I can’t wait until the promised dodge ball tournaments and/or leagues materialize.

Exercise Trampoline: How Much Fun Can You Have? (fitnesstipsforlife.com)

Post from: Philaahzophy

Trampoline Dodgeball at Great Jumps Milpitas

Tags: dodge ball, dodgeball, Education, exercise, Great Jump Sports, Great Jumps, home schooling, Milpitas, school, sports, trampoline, Z, Zaira
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Mystery Spot Reservations – Who knew?

Aahz — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 02:00:12 +0000

It’s been a few years since Zaira and I explored one of Santa Cruz’ funkiest tourist traps: The Mystery Spot, so we decided to head up there yesterday. We’re trying to save money for my big 40th birthday trip at the end of the month and since the Mystery Spot charges only $5 admission and a $5 parking fee it seemed to be the perfect choice for a lovely August afternoon.

Alas, we arrived only to discover that the Mystery Spot was closed to “walk ins” and reservations were required. Reservations? For a tourist trap?!? I’ve never heard of such a thing! So, we were turned away and exploring The Mystery will have to wait for a future date. We did, however, manage to see the Mystery Spot Car (pictured above) which is entirely covered with the (in)famous Mystery Spot stickers.

While discussing the car (and the amount of stickers it takes to cover such a thing) I realized just how much of a bargain the Mystery Spot truly is. After all, we’ve paid $5 for bumper stickers in the past and they’re included with the $5 tour. So, in a way it’s “Buy a bumper sticker, get a free tour”. A very excellent deal, indeed. Of course, that realization led me to another….

If The Mystery Spot is booked solid by 2pm in the afternoon they clearly aren’t charging enough for a tour. Have these guys never taken a basic economics course? Is the law of supply and demand somehow mutated at this locale as well? In the brief few minutes we were at the foot of the driveway we saw two other cars turned away for want of reservations. It seems reasonable to me to double the price for the tours (at least on historically busy days). After all, if they’re turning people away now, they could dramatically increase revenue while possibly cutting expenses at the same time (two employees were required to “guard” the driveway against “walk ins”). Even if they gave half as many tours due to the increased prices they’d still come out even.

Post from: Philaahzophy

Mystery Spot Reservations – Who knew?

Tags: car, economics, free, mystery, Mystery Spot, roadside attraction, Santa Cruz, tourist trap, Z
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A Child’s Pure Heart

Aahz — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 15:52:47 +0000

If my heart can become pure and simple like that of a child, I think there probably can be no greater happiness than this.

Post from: Philaahzophy

A Child’s Pure Heart

Tags: happiness, inspiration, koan, zen
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Super Dad Creates Disposable Drawing Lunchbots!

Aahz — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:12:24 +0000

Over the holidays Zaira sent me the link to Disposable Drawings, which was a bit of a mixed blessing. What this Dad does is really, really cool, but it also stirs up doubts about what kind of father I’m turning out to be.

Every day this father creates a disposable drawing on his son’s lunch bag. He does the same thing for his wife. He even takes requests and, over the holiday break, began creating disposable drawing lunchbots for firends of his. My guess is that he feels it’s “no big deal”, but I think it’s an amazing way to connect with your kid and a wonderful expression of his love and devotion as well. Which is why I’m exceedingly jealous.

He’s only been doing this for a few months, but is already becoming a celebrity of sorts in the blogosphere with a t-shirt shop and everything. He even just came out with his first music video which features a hilarious song (“Robots” by Flight Of The Conchords) and all of his lunchbots to date-

Swing by and bookmark Disposable Drawings or subscribe to his RSS feed because you’re not going to want to miss any of this cool art. That is, if you can stand the competition….

Post from: Philaahzophy

Super Dad Creates Disposable Drawing Lunchbots!

Tags: art, disposable drawings, Fatherhood, lunch, lunchbots, Super Dad, video
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More Google Wackiness With PageRank Update

Aahz — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 23:21:23 +0000

As usual, I’m a bit slow on the uptake when it comes to Google PageRank updates. Apparently a major toolbar PR update occurred on New Year’s Eve. It’s not too surprising that I’m slow to notice these things as Philaahzophy has been condemned to an eternal PR0 status due to my refusal to bow down to the Google Gods.

The good news is that the only websites I manage that dropped in PR were those dedicated to a now dead collectible miniature game, HorrorClix. Their dropping isn’t surprising as the pages that linked to them have all ceased to exist leaving them the sole sites of their kind on the internet. Of course, that also makes them the definitive sites in their niche, but Google doesn’t really care about relevance, they only care about backlinks and following their arbitrary rules.

The wacky part has to do with Zaira’s sites. Her personal blog, Butterfly Diaries, finally managed to score a PR after being around for two years and more than 100 posts. She’s got a shiny new PR of 1. However, a new site she just started a month ago has a grand total of 6 posts, one backlink (from a PR2 blog carnival), fewer than two dozen unique visitors in its lifetime, and a shiny new PageRank of 3! Say what? The site doesn’t even rank in the top 20 for its primary keywords but Google has decided that it’s more trustworthy than the only site linking to it and equally as trustworthy a site as John Chow’s. Well, at least my little girl has something to brag about

Post from: Philaahzophy

More Google Wackiness With PageRank Update

Tags: Google, Google PageRank, HorrorClix, internet, New Year's Eve, philaahzophy
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Leonardo DaVinci Disappoints At The Tech

Aahz — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 01:20:10 +0000

I got pretty excited back in August when I first heard that the Leonardo DaVinci exhibit Leonardo: 500 Years Into The Future would be making its only U.S. stop at the Tech Museum in downtown San Jose. Yet, for some reason I just kept not making it up there to see it and time was running short (the exhibit has been extended until January 25, 2009). But when Zaira told me that there was a carnival set up right next to the exhibit (in conjunction with Christmas In The Park) I knew the time had come.

Unfortunately, I didn’t exactly wake up on the right side of the bed yesterday morning and it was the last chance I was going to have spare time with Zaira before the end of the year. So off we went. Before we even got to The Tech (while walking along San Carlos St.) we were suddenly accosted by a couple of giant characters from The Nutcracker Suite! Zaira made friends with Mouse King, but was frightened of the Nutcracker’s vicious sword. Not that I blame her, this guy’s definitely an intimidating enforcer of the state’s power.

We made our way across the street, into The Tech, and (with my wallet $40 lighter) into the Leonardo exhibit itself. The gist of the exhibit (as I understood it going in) was that modern craftsmen and artisans had created many of the machines and devices detailed in Leornardo’s notebooks using only methods and materials available in DaVinci’s time. Upon entering the exhibit area we surely did discover a number of highly impressive archaic machines. Unfortunately, documentation was scant and I had difficulty trying to understand (much less explain to Z) what we were seeing or what significance it had. Even the famed flying machine itself (the very cornerstone of the exhibit) had only a few paragraphs discussing what it was.

Should you plan on attending the exhibit I highly recommend going at a time when you can join in on one of the free tours. We didn’t take one, but did manage to catch the tail end and the tour guide seemed both informative and friendly.

Our day was not yet done, however. Heading for the carnival, Zaira was quick to locate one of her personal heroines, Belle from Beauty and the Beast, painted into a window of the Carnival’s fun house. Unlike previous years Butler Amusements brought a full crew to Christmas in the Park this time with roughly a dozen different rides, a handful of carnival games, and even a souvenir photo booth!

We took a quick tour of the carnival (split between Park, Fairmont Plaza, and the Rep’s courtyard), stopped by the ticket booth, and Z headed straight to their Tilt-A-Whirl which was called Hot Wheels (though no miniature cars were in evidence). Our ‘tour’ required us to cut through Christmas In The Park (which Z had visited with her mother and brothers the night before) where we did pause momentarily for me to don some appropriate Christmas attire (pictured left ). We also stopped by one of the game booths and I managed to “Ring A Duck” and win a new Christmas puppy friend for Z. Her name is Joy and she’s now integrated herself into the horde that lives ‘upstairs’ on Zaira’s bed with a couple dozen other critters from various midways we’ve visited. But while we were waiting for our Sleigh Ride Portraits to be finished she did get a little frisky with the photo booth’s reindeer mascot

Although I never really shook my lethargy it was surely a satisfying day with many pleasant discoveries, a few educational lessons, and I even got a couple of those wonderful (and rare) laughs that truly warm a father’s heart.

Post from: Philaahzophy

Leonardo DaVinci Disappoints At The Tech

Tags: carnival, Christmas, Christmas In The Park, Education, games, Leonardo DaVinci, midway, Mouse King, museum, Nutcracker, San Jose, souvenir, The Tech, tilt-a-whirl
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Parenting And Politics Don’t Always Mix

Aahz — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 20:42:06 +0000

As a father with very strong political views (that don’t wander anywhere near ‘mainstream’) I understand how difficult it can be to balance educating my child with the truths our society prefers to ignore and ensuring I’m not making her life any more difficult than it needs to be. Finding that balance is a recurring theme here at Philaahzophy and, in fact, one of the reasons for its existence. But it seems clear, even to me, that naming your son Adolph Hitler and your daughter Aryan Nation is crossing way over that line.

However, Deborah and Heath Campbell obviously don’t think so according to Sunday’s front page story in New Jersey’s Express-Times-

Adolf Hitler Campbell — it’s indeed the name on his birth certificate — turns 3 today, and the Campbell family believes the boy has been mistreated. A local supermarket refused to make a birthday cake with “Adolf Hitler” on it.

The ShopRite in Greenwich Township has also refused to make a cake bearing the name of Campbell’s daughter, JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell, who turns 2 in February.

Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell, a girl named for Schutzstaffel head Heinrich Himmler, turns 1 in April.

[...]

The Campbells said they wanted their children to have unique names and didn’t expect the names to cause problems. Despite the cake refusal, the Campbells said they don’t expect the names to cause problems later, such as when the children start school.

Obviously, I believe parents are free to name their children whatever they desire. I also agree that Rite-Aid is free to reject any business they so desire, based on whatever criteriea they wish to put in place. Unlike the bulk of the blogosphere and commenters on the various articles I also don’t think the Campbell’s did this just to get attention.

According to a Denver Post article-

Karen Meleta, a spokeswoman for ShopRite, said the Campbells had similar requests denied at the same store the last two years and said Heath Campbell previously had asked for a swastika to be included in the decoration.

No, I don’t think they’re looking for attention. I just think they’re looking for some sort of identity and they wandered down a bad road that they’re too stubborn to turn off. Just check out these conflicting statements made by the Campbells-

The Campbells have swastikas in each room of their home, the rented half of a one-story duplex just outside Milford, a borough in Hunterdon County. They say they aren’t racists but believe races shouldn’t mix.¹
—
About 12 people attended the birthday party Sunday, including several children who were of mixed race, according to Heath Campbell.

“If we’re so racist, then why would I have them come into my home?” he asked.²
—
“I just figured that they’re just names,” Deborah Campbell said. “They’re just kids. They’re not going to hurt anybody.”

Heath Campbell said some people like the names but others are shocked to hear them. “They say, ‘He (Hitler) killed all those people.’ I say, ‘You’re living in the wrong decade. That Hitler’s gone,’” he said.

“They’re just names, you know,” he said. “Yeah, they (Nazis) were bad people back then. But my kids are little. They’re not going to grow up like that.”³
—
In the foyer, Heath Campbell, who said he has German ancestry and a relative who fought for the SS, took off boots he said were worn by a Nazi solider named Daniel.

He laid them next to a skull with a swastika on its forehead, the first of dozens of swastikas seen by the Campbells’ rare guests.

There are swastikas on walls, on jackets, on the freezer and on a pillow. The family car had swastikas, Heath Campbell said, until New Jersey’s Department of Children and Families told him they could endanger the children.

The swastikas, Heath Campbell said, are symbols of peace and balance. He considers them art.

“It doesn’t mean hatred to me,” he said. Deborah Campbell said a swastika “doesn’t really have a meaning. It’s just a symbol.”⁴
—
Campbell said he was raised not to avoid people of other races but not to mix with them socially or romantically. But he said he would try to raise his children differently.

“Say he grows up and hangs out with black people. That’s fine, I don’t really care,” he said. “That’s his choice.”⁵

So, yeah, it bothers me that these people were ignorant enough to name their children after some of the most reviled people in recent history. But it bothers me more that they don’t work and live off Social Security (read: money stolen from other people like you and me). And it bothers me even more that they don’t even have the power to stand behind their beliefs. If “they’re just names”, “swastikas are a symbol of peace”, and “people need to get over the past”, then you wouldn’t have chosen them, they wouldn’t be asociated in your home with skulls and knives, and, again, you wouldn’t have chosen them.

The Campbell’s are obviously trying to honor what they see as their heritage. But they immediately backed down when confronted with distaste for it. And that is the most disturbing part of this story.

Post from: Philaahzophy

Parenting And Politics Don’t Always Mix

Tags: birthday, birthday party, family, family values, history, kids, life, name, Nazis, New Jersey, news, parenting, politics, racists, symbol
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Book A Cruise? In This Economy? Hell Yeah!

Philaahzophy — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 06:43:25 +0000

Y’all know I love to wander this big blue marble we call home but hate spending tons of money to do so. As a result, I’ve driven literally millions of miles without ever leaving the shores of North America. But those days are soon coming to an end. Ooh, I’m not giving up road trips (what would Rover do for fun?). No, but I am considering leaving North America’s shores and heading out to sea thanks to Vacations To Go.

That’s because Vacations To Go offers last minute cruise deals for as much as 75% off regular cruise prices! When I was a kid my parents (and their parents) would plan years ahead for a cruise. That’s how long it took to arrange the time away from their jobs, budget enough for the rip, and coordinate schedules. Me? I can get someone to cover my shifts within days, only need to coordinate with Zaira’s school schedule, and can book my cruises through Vacations To Go at a huge discount, making long term budgeting a thing of the past!

I’ve always wanted to cruise up to the glaciers in Alaska and with Zaira being obsessed with the Great White North for the last few years it seems unlikely I’ll have a better opportunity any time soon. So, the next time I disappear for a week or two, don’t be alarmed! I may just be heading North to Alaska aboard a luxury cruise ship

Post from: Philaahzophy

Book A Cruise? In This Economy? Hell Yeah!

Tags: Alaska, budget, cruise, road trip, rover, Travel, vacation, Vacations To Go
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