Summer Sojourn

Our bags are packed and waiting by the foot of the stairs. All our tickets and booking information are in place. I'm loading about eight gig of songs on our player. All the stress from the past week seemed to melt away [we just launched two websites in three days--it's no fun, but everything came together and I went for a massage the following day for really tight neck and shoulders] as we wait with anticipation for our summer adventure to begin.

I've never been to HongKong, and I get reports from people who went there that it's very similar to Vancouver [Hong-Couver, as some people I know would sarcastically comment, but we shall not go there], but less cold and with more Chinese. Can't make judgments until we arrive there, but I'm definitely looking forward to more dimsum [yum!].

Tomorrow will be my first time to fly back to Asia after a year and a half of living and adjusting to Vancouver. My heart tells me that Vancouver is already my home, and Manila will now be a place I can look back to. But Manila! How is everyone in Manila? It's going to be a strange feeling for me to revisit old haunts and talk to old friends. That's what you get for having a brain in transition between two different cultures.

So with this last blog entry written in the dead of a summer's night in Vancouver [just a couple of days before the summer solstice], I hope to chronicle the sights, sounds, tastes and feelings in this Asian summer sojourn.

Paalam!


Travelling down this road
Watching the signs as I go
I think I'll follow my heart
It's a very good place to start

[Sky Fits Heaven / Madonna]

Shambala Meditation

For those of you interested in trying out the Shambala Meditation, looks like I will be attending next week's Wednesday session. I'm a bit overwhelmed with things this week still. Let me know if you want to join!

Monday - Buddhist Open House 7pm - 9:30. Sitting meditation, meditation instruction, tea and cookies and a discussion. All are welcome, no charge. Talks draw upon an extensive body of Buddhist teachings.
Shambhala Buddhism is a lineage embracing the Tibetan Kagyü and Nyingma lineages of Tibetan Buddhism as brought to the West by Chögyam Trungpa, Rinpoche. The current lineage holder of Shambhala Buddhism is the Sakyong, Mipham Rinpoche

Wednesday- Shambhala Training Open House 7pm - 9:30. Sitting meditation, meditation instruction, tea and cookies and a discussion. All are welcome; no charge.
Shambhala Training is a secular practice established in the West by Tibetan meditation master Chögyam Trungpa, Rinpoche. and currently by Mipham Rinpoche

http://www.shambhala.org/centers/vancouver/

Open Source Software or Freewares

A few free things that can help your computer office software set up for free!! Both Jason and I are using the following, we give them the thumbs up.

OpenOffice.Org - free word and spreadsheet programs that are cross platform and operating system compatible.
For those of you who don't have MS Office, this is a great alternative, as you can save the files as .doc and .xls formats for MS Office users.

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Google Mail - alternative to Hotmail, yahoo, etc...
(available only by invite from existing member, so let me know if you would like to be a member of Gmail. Blogger is part of Google.)

Gmail is an experiment in a new kind of webmail, built on the idea that you should never have to delete mail and you should always be able to find the message you want.

• Search, don't sort. Use Google search to find the exact message you want, no matter when it was sent or received.
• Don't throw anything away. Over 2734.450282 megabytes (and counting) of free storage so you'll never need to delete another message.
• Keep it all in context.Each message is grouped with all its replies and displayed as a conversation.

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Google Calendar
(just need to register for a Google account, but does not give you google mail account.)

Wouldn't it be great to be able to keep track of all the events in your life, coordinate schedules with friends and family, and find new things to do -- all with one online calendar? We thought so, too. Learn More

• Seeing the big picture. With Google Calendar, you can see your friends' and family's schedules right next to your own; quickly add events mentioned in Gmail conversations or saved in other calendar applications; and add other interesting events that you find online.
• Sharing events and calendars. You decide who can see your calendar and which details they can view. Planning an event? You can create invitations, send reminders and keep track of RSVPs right inside Google Calendar. Organizations can promote events, too.
• Staying on scheduleYou can set up automatic event reminders, including SMS notifications, and instantly bring up anything on your calendar with the built-in search tool.

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Mozilla.org

Firefox - The award-winning Web browser just got better. It’s free, and easy to use. Join the millions of people worldwide enjoying a better Web experience.


Thunderbird - free mail application, better than outlook and mac Mail.
"Thunderbird delivers. Enjoy safe, fast, and easy email, with intelligent spam filters, quick message search, and customizable views. Brought to you by Mozilla, Thunderbird makes email better."


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Sketchup - by Google
we have yet to try this out, haven't had time, but it looks cool.

SketchUp is a simple but powerful tool for quickly and easily creating, viewing and modifying your 3D ideas.

• Click on a shape and push or pull it to create your desired 3D geometry.
• Experiment with color and texture directly on your model.
• Real-time shadow casting lets you see exactly where the sun falls as you model.
• Select from thousands of pre-drawn components to save time drawing.

A Return to Love

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so
that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other
people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others."

From "A Return to Love
Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles"
by Marianne Williamson

This quote has been incorrectly attributed to Nelson Mandela in his inaugural speech of 1994.

Rockin' Johnny

This could be a cover of the Rolling Stones for Jumpin' Johnny. ;-)

Photos from Compass

Check out photos from our final two days at Compass :-)
Flickr: Photos from *kaishin*

WELCOME BABY GIRAFFES!!

Hi Everyone,

I decided to start up a blog for us all. This is where each of us can post up announcements, keep in touch, share stories, get and give support.

Hope it will be useful to all.

cheers,
Kai