Yup, they're taking down trees in the endowment lands...and throwing up more parking meters on the westside....DAMN people are stupid!!!

Took a bike ride along Spanish Banks and up into the endowment lands today...what freedom just to ride!!!

I notice more and more construction going on in there, and this grabs my attention, just a feeling, but I trust these more than anything...the endowment lands is the strong left lung of Vancouvers' southwestern side..we really tax the other lung, Stanley park, due to it's really central position as a major North Shore commute through, and the dense downtown population. Though I have to say: I notice a great improvement in the causeway, after the wind storm toppled the weaker old growth, fresh light and air does recharge that tired piece of nature, and allows new growth to thrive.

Would really love to see UBC, a community of 'educated' scholarly types wake up and plan the space with real innovation and vision, perhaps inspiring great urban planning models.

O..gotta go, will revisit this idea later.

DRINKING FROM THE FIRE HOSE!

I can't do it any more!!!...it's been over 6 months, 8 or more courses per term, all new material, the business and clients, my daughters' needs, bills, tax, court (X sent that into my world... his issues over an incredibly teeny-tiny law-imposed child support, which he has rarely paid in 13 years. wow...how many years can he shove that old "bed" back into my world?)!!!

....Note to self: purge, retire, release all the stuff that feels non-supporting, non-nourishing, like dead weight, old paradigm....

This term I'm not stressing over the homework. I'll more than less audit these courses this spring. Business is busy. I need to find a small house and move so I can work from home again. (Just the idea has shaken my normally fragile stability.) We need a small yard again..I want the trampoline handy for those moments when I need a refresh, a shake, a little time out.

Got a NikonD80, and some gear. I've waited a long time for this. Another learn curve, need to play with the flash....am so looking forward to travel with this camera!
Gotta Go.

Last month, Senica and I had the opportunity to see the preview screening of Pan's Labyrinth downtown. It was such a heavy, hard place to go to, and so beautiful, and exhilarating to come through. Everyone in the theatre was blown away. Powerful.
Friday, at school, I discovered the movies web site, and I have been drawn back to it again, and again.
Javier Navarrete's sound track is haunting.
Guillermo Del Toro is sheer, generous, brilliant inspiration at its darkest with this film.
Pan's Labyrinth is a timeless, cross-dimension nightmare,
and the cathartic birth into that depth where nothing but essential beauty can touch you.

Handwritten letter from President Saddam Hussein to the American people. 7 July 2006. Saddam Hussein

CLICK on Saddam Hussein above

First Lt. Ehren Watada...I am sending you my biggest blessings today for your pre-trial hearing, and will throughout the tremendous good works you've taken on. May the force be with you.
Reader, if you don't know Watadas' quest:
Please google; First Lt. Watada.

And additionally..copy and paste this; http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Jan07/Olson04.htm,
to find an entry written by journalist Sarah Olson.
Good luck to you Ms. Olson.

I am not a journalist, and so my opinion can be freely expressed. Without great consequence, thus far.

I feel encouraged by the little I've read about Ms. Olson and 1st Lt.Watadas' stance. My vigilant eye and heart are with them, and those who would stand along side them.

When we have people in positions of power, who have both the fine intelligence to know, and the fortitude to uphold, the highest virtues of liberty and justice, such stances become unnecessary.
Last week, a zealot was hanged by zealots. Some would wonder, even assume, there might be closet semi-demi-wanna be, unknowingly, zealots equally responsible for this cycle of events. Whatever the facts, something is very much amiss in this whole Iraq struggle. One feels certain that a deeper dig will bring to light much that would aide the citizens of America in making other choices.

The Middle East is steeped in deeply rooted paradigms.
All of this current struggle is showing me a need to understand that area better.