I went to Target tonight to pick up a Bluetooth headset and protective case for my new smart phone. They had a limited selection and I could have chosen items from what was in stock, but none of it really did it for me. I then walked through the rest of store (as I generally do), and walked right out without making a single purchase.

Self-discipline. How unexpected.

Labels: Palm Treo 700wx, self-awareness, Target

In case you missed it last night:



This is the guy with the experience and the temperament take it all the way, repair the damage done by the current "administration" and restore America's reputation in the world. Please help spread the word.

Labels: Bill Richardson, Pres-08

My friend Chad has started his own yoga biz and is trying to generate individual clients via word of mouth. He's an Anusara-Inspired Yoga Instructor and had to complete 300 hours of training to earn that title.

Here's his flyer (click to see it full size):



If you're a person of means, please consider contacting him for lessons. I've taken one from him (my first one ever, actually) and he's very skilled and patient.

UPDATE: Chad corrected the typo in the flyer and saved it in a smaller resolution. The corrected, newer version is now the one appearing above.

Labels: Anusara, Chad, yoga

I get a lot of good-natured ribbing from friends and strangers alike for my stalwart refusal to join MySpace and lend credibility (which they earn through sheer volume of subscribers) to a web presence owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, the same parent company that started and owns the Fox "News" Channel.

MySpace is well on its way to becoming just another arm of the vast right-wing noise machine that the right has been building for the past 40 years. To wit: today it was announced that MySpace is launching a "politics channel" ahead of the 2008 Presidential elections.

MySpace claims it will offer profiles of five candidates from each party. I am happy to take bets on those profiles being skewed to a flattering light for the Republicans while making the Democrats each look like the second coming of Stalin.

So if it's just the same to you, I will continue my boycott of this element of Rupert Murdoch's evil empire.

Labels: personal, Pres-08, Rupert Murdoch's evil empire, social networking

"Beautiful."

"Amazing."

"Wow."

These were the remarks of some of my classmates this morning in yoga when I was asked to demonstrate Dhanurasana (boat pose).

If you slogged through my first post last Tuesday, you know that I was complimented for my Dhanurasana by a classmate that night who is also the teacher whose Saturday classes I usually attend.

It was a great feeling to be complimented like that and to being put forward as the example. It's amazing to me how far I've come in this practice in only three months.

There's still so much to learn and so much growth ahead of me, but this path has been one of such transformation and grace.

Labels: opening to grace, personal, transformation, yoga

I made it to the earlier, advanced yoga class tonight, which was great.

After class, one of the classmates who on Tuesday invited me to tonight's class approached me to tell me I have a beautiful singing voice (we chant at the start and end of each class).

I have to say, it's a compliment I've never received before.

Labels: chanting, Debra, music, yoga

I just wrote two loooooooong posts immediately below this one. I can appreciate it if you don't feel like reading all the way through.

So I'll make this one short.

According to the UPS tracking website, my copy of SHORTBUS will arrive tomorrow. Yay!

That is all.

Labels: meta, SHORTBUS

I've been pretty up front about my support of New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson for the Democratic nomination for President. I have concerns, however, that either he doesn't want it enough or that his advisers are totally ineffectual. I counted at least three major missed opportunities in the last 7 days alone.

First, his campaign makes the tone-deaf commitment to participate in the now-canceled Fox "news" Nevada debate, when most of the other campaigns wouldn't commit after the kerfuffle started gaining traction and Edwards said he would forgo it. Richardson did eventually reverse course and join Edwards in saying no to Fox, the only two candidates to do so, but Richardson's announcement only came hours before word of the debate's cancellation became official. Rather than using that coincidence as an opportunity to hail his decision as the final nail in the coffin of Fox's quest for legitimacy, Richardson's campaign remained silent.

Then there are the online possibilities still not capitalized on. His campaign website has a blog that is pretty sterile and not at all interactive. He could have a great opportunity to build up some strong grassroots support and to strengthen his campaign through the feedback of his ardent supporters, but instead he has only a one-way blog on which his staff post glowing (sometimes ridiculously over-the-top) stories about the Governor with no comments section at all. Building community means building grassroots support (and a strong, vibrant donor base!).

I also receive e-mails from the Edwards campaign, and for all my misgivings about a one-term Senator being qualified for the post, I admit I've been impressed with his leadership on a number of issues. Edwards was the first of the 2008 Dem field to call for Alberto Gonzales' resignation, and he sent an e-mail today about how his campaign will be "carbon-neutral" and environmentally friendly. In doing so, he called upon his opponents to do the same. These are both issues that Richardson could have and should have staked out a leadership position on instead of waiting for Edwards to claim the top berth.

Look, I believe Bill Richardson is the most qualified person to be the next President of the United States. Because I can't say it enough (and his campaign shouldn't stop saying it either), the guy is a former Member of the House of Representatives, a former U.N. Ambassador, a former Secretary of Energy (where's his carbon-neutral pledge?), and the current Governor of a Southwestern state, a position to which he was just re-elected in a landslide and a region that is likely to play a pivotal role come November 2008. This is not a time for on-the-job training; just look at the disaster that is the last guy the American people put into that office with precious little prior relevant experience (hint: he's still "serving" - not time, yet, unfortunately).

Yes, I appreciate that John Edwards is on these issues like Ann Coulter on any man who can stand to look at her even sideways, but come on. Of course he's going to get to claim "first!" on a lot of these things; it's not like he has a state to run or a Senate to vote in anymore. The guy's got a lot of free time on his hands to be a professional campaigner. That may be great for the long road to the White House, but I'm not convinced it's such great preparation for what comes once you're there.

That said, I'd be happy with any of the top or second tier candidates on the Democratic side. I'm glad I don't have to worry much about fringe candidates like Biden, Kucinich and Gravel.

So bottom line: Richardson is the right choice at the right time, but I just wish he'd start acting like he knew it. I'm waiting to donate until I see some smarter moves from his campaign.

Labels: Bill Richardson, Pres-08, primaries

Work has been busy lately, and I'm really loving every minute of it. But that usually means staying as late as possible at work before heading off to yoga.

Tonight was no exception, except I had to stop by the real estate listing place to get an updated list since they didn't have anything new last week when I stopped by. One of our interns and I were the last two people in the admin side of the building. I should have received my access code clearance to set and turn off the alarm weeks ago, but something got lost and our HR coordinator had to call the alarm company to have them resend it this week. So the intern and I had to leave before the health care staff closed down the building.

I arrived at the real estate place, got my list, and realized I had left my cell phone back at the office. My yoga class was to start in about 20 minutes. I could go back to my office with the hope that health care staff would still be there and I could get in and out the building to grab my phone. Or I could just go without my cell phone for a night and go to yoga.

You can guess what choice I made.

I felt like I had a mini-breakthrough in Friday's class when the teacher chose me to demonstrate a hip opener. It was the first time I've been asked to demonstrate anything for the class since I started practicing, so it was an honor for me. I had a lackluster practice on Sunday morning because I didn't eat breakfast before class, and I had to skip last night's class because of another commitment, so I was really looking forward to getting back on my mat and giving myself over to the practice.

Some of my co-workers have brought up and asked me about my yoga practice over the past couple of days, which has also made me feel good about it. On Monday, our health care staff had a half day meeting, which I attended as a way to get to know them a little better and learn a bit more about service delivery. About halfway through, my VP counterpart on the health care side pulled me aside and asked if I'd lead some basic yoga exercises during their break before the section of the meeting on self-care. I happily agreed.

I didn't ultimately get to lead the abridged class because they ran out of time, but it did give me a chance to reflect on what I would have said and done. I discovered, as I sat there half-listening to the presentation on Gardasil, that I actually knew pretty much all I'd need to know to lead a short basic class, down to the foundational principles of the style of yoga I practice and the Sanskrit names of the basic asanas I would have worked through with them. Even though we were short on time yesterday, I was asked if I would lead a class or two in the future. I'm no teacher, but I can help lead folks through some of the basics.

Shortly before I left the office today, I got into a conversation with one of my staff members about my yoga practice. Again, I found myself speaking knowledgeably and providing a little education to my co-worker. It was surprising and wonderful.

So with the past two days of yogic revelations as a backdrop, I was pumped for class. I made small talk with my classmates, as I've become friendly with several of the other regulars. The woman who teaches the class I attend on Saturdays was also attending tonight's class and gave me a hug when she saw me. I felt a great sense of belonging, of connection that I had yet to feel since I started practicing about three months ago.

The opening lesson was about finding our edge and maybe pushing past it. Finding our boundaries of comfort, and then taking a step beyond, not just in asana practice, but in every aspect of life. Going all the way, giving yourself fully to whatever your task may be. With that in mind and as the foundation of tonight's class, I went whole hog.

I received multiple compliments from classmates and tonight's teacher alike on my Pincha Mayurasana. I got up effortlessly and was able to balance away from the wall for longer than ever before. After class, the teacher who hugged me before class made it a point to come over to me as I was rolling up my mat to tell me I had a beautiful Dhanurasana. I was deeply flattered. Then a couple of classmates and I got into some small talk as we were leaving and one of them insisted I meet her husband.

So I'm glad I decided to let go and learn to push past my edge. I think I have a solid understanding now of "opening to grace," which is the first of the five Universal Principles of Alignment that is the basis of this style of yoga.

Now I just need to figure out how to wake up in the morning, since I use my cell phone as my alarm clock...

Labels: challenge, change, contentment, endurance, journey, opening to grace, personal, self-awareness, self-care, strength, yoga

So there's this little storm brewing about a former gay porn actor (I use the term "actor" loosely whenever referring to anyone in the industry) who just received an award at the Conservative Political Action Conference last weekend. Not for being a gay porn star, obviously. Those conservatives don't tend to go for that sort of thing. Unless maybe it's one of those old-timey body builder film reels.

The award had something to do with some big mean Columbia U. undergrads saying not nice things to him, a 36 year-old college junior, all because he supports the death march that is the Iraq war.

Anyway, that's the same conference where Ann Coulter called John Edwards a faggot and the Edwards campaign protested perhaps a bit too much in response. Really, it seemed like they more upset at maybe, possibly, being mistaken for gay even a little bit than they were about Coulter using a word with a history of violent crimes attached to it.

But back to the gay porn actor, Matt Sanchez, aka 'Rod Majors' (I kid you not). Blogger Joe. My. God. broke the story and made public the fact that the conservative movement's newest golden boy has a history of giving it to other lads up the bum, both on film and privately for money.

Yeah yeah, I know, he's a hypocrite for standing by Coulter and excusing her crazy desperate grabs for the last shred of an audience because nobody listens to her anymore (you should see Max Blumenthal's video from CPAC when he confronts her about all her broken engagements - I am so smitten with him). Oddly enough, Sanchez has reported that the conservatives are standing by their man. Like a pack of wild dogs, I guess they can sense his impressive endowments and know who's the alpha male.

So I did a little digging (not much, actually), and found this little tidbit from a 1998 interview for one of the porn studios that he worked for that is sure to get Sanchez permanently expelled from the conservative fold:

...
I got last-minute tickets to go see Barbra Streisand here in New York City. I was very excited and the curtain was going up in a couple of minutes so I ran to my seat...

That's right, folks, the man not only went to see a Streisand concert, but he was very excited about it. Streisand, the woman who Sanchez' hero Bernard Goldberg claims is one of "the 100 people ruining America".

That's the real story here, folks. Not that Sanchez claims to have been engaged to two woman and married a third. Not that he's apparently a well-known gay porn actor who (I believe) still serves on active duty in the Marines despite Don't Ask Don't Tell.

Nope, the real bombshell is that we have a self-described conservative Republican admitting to being a fan of the liberal lioness herself, Barbra Streisand.

He's going to have to give back his (Republican) membership card AND (queer) toaster now.

Labels: LGBT, not really newsworthy, nudity, pride, Republicans, truth

Over the past couple of months, I've had a couple of friends come to me for advice and support as they sort out or go through some relationship (or "just friends") turmoil. I'm happy to try and help and be supportive, but I can't help thinking, "am I really the best qualified person for this?"

History would indicate that I'm not.

In fact, up until about six months ago or so, I was pretty hostile to even the concept of romance. At least twice in my adult life, I've been the co-dependent, emotionally needy shlub with unrequited crushes that end up leading me to pretty drastic life-changing experiences. And this is not some far-distant trend; it just happened again about two and a half months ago. I think this time I finally learned from my mistakes, but still. That those experiences have all seemed to have miraculously worked out for the best is still unrelated to the fact that I'm a terrible relationship role model.

On the other hand, maybe this is how I repair my romantic karma. Maybe by supporting those friends who are now being victimized by some of the same emotional blackmail and overwrought nonsense to which I subjected the objects of my unreciprocated affections, I can wash my love-slate clean.

This might also help make up for that one guy I broke up with via e-mail during my senior year in college.

I told you I'm bad at this!

So I'm happy to lend an ear or a shoulder and to offer advice when asked, but please take it with a huge heaping tablespoon of salt!

I mean, honestly, what the hell do I know?

Labels: friendship, letting go, personal, relationships, strength

Labels: Jay Brannan, journey, self-awareness, transformation, truth