What's different

I'm constantly asked the question "Which place do you like better [the middle east or USA]?" Similarly, I know that what's here seems foreign to friends there, and vice versa. Unfortunately I don't have a preference [I love both] and I can't un-foreign-ize each place. Hah.

But I wrote recently about the south for those who don't know it. And here are some details about the Middle East maybe you don't know about:

1. when you are outside the Tel Aviv airport's main terminal, you could honestly confuse it for LAX that's how similar the construction style is
2. the toilets here generally have two flush options, and I guarantee not a single time I intended more or less water did I deliver that into the bowl. I'm always guessing wrong, in other words
3. right turns on red are not allowed in Israel, not because of which side of the road people drive on - they drive on the right - but that's simply the law
4. right turns on red ARE allowed in the West Bank, and yet there is likely to be a lot of honking regardless of what the driver chooses to do with that opportunity
5. radio stations are in Hebrew, Russian, English, and Arabic - one in particular is called "Sowt Israel" and broadcast entirely in Arabic -- yet the name means "Voice of Israel." I can't figure out why this is so
6. the super bowl is tonight - here is my post on it from last year - and it starts at about 1:30am tomorrow. ugh, if only i weren't interested in the whole charade. 

I drove around the Sea of Galilee the other day/night and grabbed this picture

Middle East as a preferred term

Dear My People, thanks for bearing with me as I said goodbye to the region I called home for the last six months, and hello to the place I called home for the thirty years before that. When we talk about what I've been up to, and where Ultimate Peace happens, below is an explanation of why I say "the Middle East."

Silver Knights at the end of Camp Ultimate Peace 2014

1. A few years ago, David Barkan led off the orientation to Ultimate Peace Camp. And during that training period, one of the things that stuck with me is referring to our location as "the Middle East." He justified it by indicating that its a more inclusive term for all the people that would be attending - local and international coaches, campers from all walks of life, etc. This is the most important reason - a culture of inclusiveness and "one family."

2. Even when a war is not raging there, the area is in conflict - in other words, its contested. The history books are being edited every day to account for changes in local, regional, and international events. The war going on, for example, will change how Israel and leadership in the Gaza Strip relate to each other. Occupation - what's happening across the West Bank - manipulates how a place can define itself.

3. The international community disagrees on how to refer to the places and peoples.

4. Did you know that people in the region originate from lots of different tribes and national backgrounds (ie. the Jewish diaspora), speak lots of different languages and dialects (like how northern Bedouin and rural Arabic differ from that spoken in Ramallah), and/or have a discussion raging about how to refer to themselves (for example: Arabs or Palestinians)?

5. Its quicker to say "the Middle East" than "Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories," or "Israel and Palestine" (and follow up with "well, not its not exactly a full member of the United Nations, but...")

6. I'm interested in hearing what you think. How do you think your way of describing Ultimate Peace, or your visits there, or even your friends' visits there matter to you and your people?

To Know

A couple of years ago, I said  to a co-worker: "You know the difference between being a student and a professional. Students are looking to know more while professionals are looking to show off what they know." Ironically, now that I'm back in school, my biggest frustration is knowing.

What's up with the desire to know?

Nahko Bear (famous for his music group Medicine for the People) sings this beautiful song, Black as the Night:

I am no master, I know nothin’
I am no master, I know nothin’
I am no master, I know nothin’
but I am a servant and I know somethin’

Lots at work here, including Nahko Bear's practice of "servant leadership" and a rejection of top-down sources of knowledge. Seeing ourselves as unable to own knowledge turns this "looking to show off what we know" thing on its head. In pursuit of this learner-mentality, I came to the Middle East in January under the job title of "student."

But I'm struggling still with not knowing Arabic. I wish there were a finish line for proficiency that I could see off in the distance and work towards it. Instead I feel like I can't chart what little progress I am making.

Rough schedule

Here's a rough schedule for my weeks, including the anchors and the possibilities. My main concern lately has been balancing UP with stuff like school work and personal time (for getting out and for relaxation).

Wednesday and Saturday afternoon practices in the West Bank are the focal points of my weekly calendar. For these two practices, I generally schedule beforehand half an hour of planning time, half an hour to pick up anyone (players, coaches, visitors), and half an hour for driving or anything else. I plan for about half an hour afterwards of travel/drop-off-whatever, and try to get time with coaches - either for food or a drink, or something more like a night of talking, going dancing, and general visiting. I haven't been able to host very much yet, so inviting people over is my favorite thing.

The rest of the week looks like this:

• Monday - possible travel on my own, possible meetings, skype calls
• Tuesday - possible practices up north (two of them between noon and six pm), reading and other school work
• Thursday - possible tours, possible meetings (last week I had a beer with someone from TCC as a kind of networking)
• Friday - practices up north, maybe a group shabbat dinner party
• Sunday - possible practices, important rest time if not attending practice, school work and other reading

Here's a video from last Friday afternoon after four hours of practice and lots of falafel/shawerma :-)

Robert Greenleaf - some leadership stuff

“Awareness is not a giver of solace—it is just the opposite. It is a disturber and an awakener. Able leaders are usually sharply awake and reasonably disturbed. They are not seekers after solace." 

I'm reading an article for class about servant-leadership, the little-known phrase for a much-practiced leadership approach. Larry Spears is the author of The Understanding and Practice of Servant-Leadership and quotes above Robert Greenleaf. Spears (no relation) was at the time of this writing the executive director of the Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, where I'm doing a fellowship.

My fellowship focuses on improving the Greenleaf Center's membership program -- offering benefits to members, finding new members, and engaging current members more heavily in the leadership conversation and journey. I've sent out a couple of surveys, researched some other groups, tried to understand the field and the organization. And I've got to produce some findings soon.

In the mean time, the quote above reminds me of my time at the Open Door Community on Ponce de Leon Ave here in Atlanta. One of the leaders there insists that too many people are well-adjusted to the wrongs of the world (like homelessness, poverty, and racism). And that our task in life is not to acclimate and accept them but to reject and act to change them. This can take a fierce amount of awareness and radical defiance of cultural norms.

Thoughts welcome.

Ultimate Peace 13 - Getting Into Some Afterthoughts

Now that I have returned from Ultimate Peace Camp and jumping all over the Middle East, I get to jump all over the place in terms of reliving and blogging the experience. First off, some of the multicultural moments from camp. Great memories, as anticipated, came from the dance floor.

Evening activities committee (group of a few coaches) had the whole week planned out pretty well, from ice-breakers to a talent show, galaxy quest to camp slide shows. But for the second or third evening of camp, we had only a few details lined up in pulling together Cultural Night.

We chose to highlight Arab, Israeli, and American cultures in several different ways. Started by planning three dances - one from each culture:

• the Israeli hora
• the Arab dabka
• the American cupid shuffle

Also had desserts...baklava was involved. And every player and coach was responsible for learning to write their name in three different languages (English, Arabic, and Hebrew).

Here are two pictures of the cupid shuffle. You can tlel the crowd went from learning to enjoying pretty quickly.

Also, here is a video of dancing under a full moon the last night of camp:

Euro 5 - La Spezia and Cinque Terre

To follow up on my last post, in particular the part about regretting not having ridden a scooter in three days of Rome sightseeing... here's me rocking the scooter between our hotel and the main plaza of La Spezia:

If you've been to Cinque Terre before, you know that there are three ways of getting between the five villages. Boating: expensive and not really that interesting. Walking: which was impossible other than between villages 1 and 2 because of landslides on paths to all the other villages. Train: quick and pretty inexpensive. But it can make you a slave to the train schedule, particularly when you only have one day in town.

Fortunately, all of Cinque Terre is beautiful. Becca and I started our day there scrambling to the train station to drop off our bags. This is a funny story, cause it reveals something about the Italian people.

Becca and I had read that the baggage drop place doesn't open until 8:00. Wanting to get started before would mean we would have to leave our bags elsewhere - like at one of the stations between the five villages. But we started our day at La Spezia anyway (and were going to end it); so this station's baggage drop would be perfect.

We show up at the baggage drop at 7:40 or so. The door to the room is magically open, but sort of blocked by a rolling trash can. We walk past the trash and into the room to see two employees chatting at the back of the office behind a gate. Its obvious the office is closed but the employees don't seem rude; they simply say "We open at 8:00." Becca makes a move to turn around and regroup, re-think our strategy. I stay put, like a statue. Not upset or angry, just adamant.

Probably by a stopwatch, we stood there in the entrance for about 60 seconds saying nothing. And at the end of the minute, one of the employees said "how many bags?" Or something equally as acquiescent. And we're in! Five minutes later, we are baggage-free and boarding a train to start our tour of the towns. Hooray for the Italian culture and a little stubbornness in me and Becca!

Despite the trails being closed, Becca and I enjoy some shopping, walking, eating, and wine-drinking. Here are a couple of the awesome views we captured before ending our time in Cinque Terra/La Spezia and splitting up for the beginning of the tournament weekend:

Sugar intake

Several years ago, I sat at my desk in South L.A. and pondered my dietary problems. Here's an update with some disappointing developments and new opportunities. My main three worries are: sugar, weight, and physical fitness.

Background

Growing up, I was a sweet-a-holic. I had gone from my youth (and soccer) to college (and ultimate) then atlanta (and ultimate) and finally L.A. (and for a period of time, no ultimate or other consistent sport) within a year. My activity level suffered, my ability to prepare high-quality meals dropped, and my sweet tooth persisted. I felt less healthy. But I still craved candy and dessert.

Now

I'm in pretty good shape physically. I participate in several workouts a week - sometimes for 3 or more hours at a time. My weight and waistline have dropped over the last year. But I still feel sluggish at times - often the day(s) after I have large or very sweet desserts.

Cravings

Brownies, cake, chocolate (milk and dark), cookies, custard, eclaires, ice cream, M&Ms -- and I could go on. Ice cream constitutes probably the worst of these because of the portion sizes I take and its hefty donation of sugar AND fat to my blood stream.

Missing

I've grown apart from my old routine of brushing my teeth when I had a sugar craving. Instead, I have a bite to eat, chalking up the snack or meal to the importance of eating often. And while more frequent meals do help me keep my sugar levels constant (thereby avoiding the sugar crashes and cravings I get in those crashes), my calorie count is also something to watch when I eat 4 or 5 separate times a day.

Plus Side

Last time I checked, my weight was stable at more than 5 pounds less than it was a year and a half ago. My eating habits since moving earlier this summer have improved - I am cooking one to three meals a week, often allowing for healthy leftovers, too. I like my activity level and think there's still room to grow.

Morale of the Story

Eat fewer desserts by brushing teeth, having fresh fruit after meals, and hydrating (with water not beer). Comments are welcome.

Deconstruction

I'm getting ready to move back into the bedroom of my teenage years. To make the room friendlier for my new furniture and more age appropriate, I had to take down the bunk bed that had been there since before our 1991 move-in.

Here's a picture of the room with the bunk bed.

This was a Saturday morning project on my own. After buying spackle for the holes I knew would be in the wall, I settled into a loud radio station and got to work. Step 1, clear furniture and boxes from the bunk/loft area. Step 2, open the windows and turn on the floor fan for some ventilation. Here are the first couple screws coming loose, constituting step 3.

Step 4, start tearing shit down. The loft piece was pretty stubborn. Though I had taken out all the screws through the boards and into the wall, the loft piece stuck to the back wall with a few unremovable nails. Check that out.

Finally, I can move onto step 5 and aim for the ladder/center post.

Though I reattached it later on to safely take down the actual bed area, this was a crucial point in the day - when I really could see the whole structure coming down.

Like the loft part of the structure, the bed platform proved difficult to destroy. Here's a picture with me holding both the crowbar and the platform while i try to separate the rafters and the whole thing from the wall.

Around the time I was finishing the demolishing, I captured the screws and bolts that for so long held up the loft and a bed...

Spackle before:

Spackle after:

Room after. End of post. At this point, you can either congratulate me for making a wise decision to take down the bunk bed or criticize the moving in with the 'rents for an indeterminate amount of time:

Comments Awards

Here are some of my favorite comments from readers of this blog... all written this year. I don't provide much context, intentionally:

I think I'm figuring out who Anonymous is, but please keep posting:

Ben...dear...don't do anything that exhausts you. Forego any process and go for what flows without effort at all. This is the heart of all "mojo". Do what works, when it works and keep doing it. Rude people suck. Rude is a big deal in my book as it is contrary to kindness, and we all know what happens when there isn't enough kindness in the world. So if you think it's cute to be "the bitch" at the club...it just isn't, no matter how hot you are.

Faust, I owe you for much more than encouraging me to write, but this blog-frenzy a couple years ago started with you:

I had to turn off the song before I started crying again and I don't even like U2.

Just like there is nothing like college there is nothing like college ultimate. I remember in the years that followed wanting to be able to go back and do this that and the other thing different. It took a long time to be all right with going 0-6 on Friday of nationals, but I barely think of that now, just the good times with all my brothers.

I didnt know I cried at the needle, I certainly did on that stupid monorail ride.

All of this over a frisbee.

Thanks for the post Ben.

Snausages, my man:

Lift heavy things with good form.

Run fast. Then rest, and run fast again.

Eat real food. If you are eating cake or drinking beer, it should be good cake and good beer (and you SHOULD eat cake and drink beer -- cake and beer are awesome).

Rest your body. Keep looking good.

Kpeasey, this sums it up:

love ya.

JuliaB, keep doin what you doin. I like your blog, too:

Some classics include Goodnight Moon, Where the Wild Things Are, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I also loved, loooved Mother Goose nursery tales.

My advice

1. To young actresses and performers: press Stop on any recording device someone points towards you during a nude encounter. Gossip Girls woman adds her name to the list of girls caught
2. To young summer league ultimate players: remember to bring - then wear - your cleats. If your league doesn't allow cleats: remember to bring - then wear - your turfs. That should put an end to all your problems.
3. MARTA riders, and citizens concerned with anything else in your community: find a couple other people concerned about the same thing and willing to devote a couple hours to it. Then call your representatives to complain - especially the ones that don't agree with you - request an appointment with their office, and blog about it.
4. Job-seekers: promote yourself clearly and eloquently

That's all I got right now.

Planning pictures and budgets

Above is a picture of the budget I set out for myself every month. The basis is that I write down what I spent money on by keeping receipts and dropping them off on this table. The actual budget is written on construction paper and the rows represent: budget amount, spent amount, over- or under-spent, and special notes. Once I enter the amount into the appropriate column, based on categories, I can throw the receipt away. At the end of the month, I tally all the expenses, see where I went over and under...

My favorite categories are "gifts/charity" and "incidentals" because I feel free to spend on those as opposed to feeling constrained in other areas... Example being that my least favorite categories are "eat out/entertainment" and "travel" because I always fill those up.

Still, by keeping the categories separate and tracking everything I spend, I can tell when I go overboard, in what area and by how much. I sometimes look a couple months ahead of time and say, "I'll budget less this month to have more that month." That's especially important for travel, an area where you can easily spend a few hundred bucks on a single plane ticket and exceed one month's budgeted amount. 

I remember posting about the cons of living in LA, namely that I couldn't afford to. And I wondered how I could go on a budget date and other things... well those tough economic days are still here in a sense. The only differences for me personally are: a) i actually keep track, thanks to this construction paper budget, and b) that I can afford to have a column in my budget for savings. Ed kindly responded here about the whole ballin on a budget broke issue.

I know talking about specifics in personal budgets (income, debt, etc) is taboo, but I'd be interested in getting a rough idea of how my friends manage money. [Sarcasm:] I know the above budget is the most high-tech thing you have ever seen, so feel free to praise the novel system I've come up with... No really, do you have any best practices to suggest?

Training

I'm getting in better shape before the ultimate season. My goal of late has been to up my workout frequency to twice a week. For some that wouldn't be a huge accomplishment (I can think of one and two examples). But its a realistic goal for what I need to move in the right direction.

Been doing one day of lifting and one day of jumping each week; or one day of lifting and one of running; throw in a long bike ride or two and its a complete week. But to really improve explosiveness, endurance, and throws - especially deep throws - I need to excel at these areas: 

• eating right
• lifting right
• running both long and short distances
• throwing right, and throwing alot

 The huge slice of cake I had after lunch today might not fit in this diet :( and new regimen. Any suggestions on how to optimize my training this Spring? Or share how you're optimizing your training time... (pic borrowed from Scott's website: scaughtyphotography.smugmug.com

lessons post-college

One thing I heard often in college was "just show up and you'll do fine." Teachers preached that presence was 90% of success. If you know me well you've heard me talk about falling asleep in every chair, row, whatever in most of my classes. Still - and I bought into it - with my intelligence, I thought making it to class was all I had to do and the rest would work itself out.

Well now, in the work world, I realize its not so easy. And more importantly, in the world in general, just showing up doesn't yield a high quality of life. Life takes hard work and struggle; to get things done and influence people takes a real presence of mind, not just body. So I'm upset at the college mantra of "you'll do fine - just bring yo ass to class."

Food Tracking

For about a week earlier this month, I tried to record everything I ate. My main dietary goal was to maximize my protein and decrease my processed carbs. Plus I thought recording it (through the memo app on my phone) would help me track it all.

I want to get it off my phone but couldn't think of anywhere else to post it. So, here it is; maybe I learned (or will learn) something from it: 

Feb 3: Breakfast: 2 1/2 bowls Frosted Flakes with 1 pct milk
Lunch: 1 leg fried chicken, 1 svg pasta with eggplant and sauce, 2 apples, 2 slices cake
Dinner: 1 svg lowfat cottage cheese, salad no dressing, half a cantalope, half bar organic dark chocolate, 1/2 cup mixed frozen fruit

Feb 4: Bfast: half croissant, 1 svg egg/bacon/ssge
Lch: 1 svg cttge chs, small salad, three slices wheat brd, 5 slcs ham, 1 slc salami - 1/2 tsp yllw mustard, 1 small bag peanuts
Din: 1 svg cttg cheese, 1 cup melon, 1 onion in soup w/ chicken broth, 6 svgs tofu, 4 mushrooms, 1 beer, 1 cup mixed frzn fruit, 1 apple

Feb 5: Bfast: 3 eggs scrambled
Lunch: 1 svg brocoli, 1 svg carrots - both boiled, 1 chicken breast baked; cornbread
Din: didn't record anything

Feb 6: 3 eggs, 2 svgs melon, pasta w/ eggplant, svg cott ches, 1 orange, 2 slices whole wheat brd, 4 slices turkey, 1 turkey and cheese large sub, 1.5 rolls veggie sushi, 3 handfuls walnuts, svg watermelon, large hot chocolate

Weekend: didn't record anything

Feb 9: 4 eggs scrambled 402 calories 20 grams protein, 2 bananas 210 calories 3 grams protein, 3 slices white turkey 90 calories 15 grams protein, 3 slices wheat bread 210 calories 10.5 grams protein, cttg cheese 81 calories 14 grams protein, carrots 50 calories
Total so far (1:30 pm): 1050 calories and 62 grams protein :)

Dinner: didn't record anything

Feb 10: 2 svgs frstd flks, 2 svgs milk, 2 svgs vietnamese salad, 2 grlld chs (muenster), svg yogurt, svg frzn fruit

Feb 11: 3 eggs, 3 svgs cttg chs, slice wheat brd, 1/2 svg italian drssg, slice apple pie with scoop cream, roll, svg cole slaw, svg pork, svg baked beans

Nothin

Its rare that I ever start a post having nothin to say. The entire Inauguration/President 2008 series was thought out. My What Really Grinds My Gears post was, I'll admit, written quickly. But I put some thought into it; and the subject had quite a long personal narrative as a back story. 

And even though most of my writing may sound like its a train of thought, poorly or hastily structured... I actually do think about things before I write them.

But this post started with nothin, more nothin than any previous post on this whole blog. I didn't start with pictures, like Mak, or an issue to rage about, like House. Literally, the first thing I thought when I clicked on New Post was nothin. And the first thing I wrote, in the title, was nothin.

This blog has always been about me sharing thoughts and experiences. So this isn't me saying that nothin has happened since I last posted. But I also know that I can get some good practice by writing regularly as well. Right now, I'm practicing extemporaneous writing; sharing my thoughts on the fly without trying to reach into the last few hours of my life for a spark. And so far the lack of a spark coming to mind has allowed me to continue the nothin'ness of the post/moment.

related thought: did you ever have that English or Creative Writing teacher tell you that when you felt writer's block just to start with something? Even if that something was "I have nothin to write about and I'm experiencing anger at my teacher for making me write." This is that moment for me, getting through a little block and nothin'ness. 

Bus-Wait Formula

This morning, I headed out the door late. About 20 minutes late. I normally would catch a 7:58 bus at the end of my block. But I was so late today that thought I might be able to catch the 8:18 bus. 

After getting to the stop at 8:15 and waiting for two minutes, I decided to walk the route and maybe beat the bus there. Its a mile to the station, mainly uphill. And I thought back to this NY Times article about the walk/wait dilemma.

Here are my assumptions: 

• walking straight from my place to the station takes 15 minutes, no bus involved 
• riding the bus from my stop to the station takes five minutes

Based on that: 

• I save ten minutes if I don't have to wait for the bus at all
• I save five minutes if the bus picks me up after I wait only five minutes at my stop
• I save no time if I wait ten minutes - I arrive at the same time I would have if I had walked
• I lose time by waiting more than ten minutes
  

Above is the bus line map. 

This morning, after waiting for two minutes and walking for 15 minutes, not a single bus caught up to or passed me. I can only guess how late I would have been by waiting at my stop.

I obviously don't agree with the belief that this problem is "is in essence trivial" like this wikipedia page does.  

If you don't wash your hands, this alarm will go off...

The alarm is meant to humiliate the gross people at restaurants and bars who don't wash their hands (click on the image to expand it)...

This 'didn't wash hands' alarm is the next great invention. Plenty of people have thought of it but I just drew it up, so the patent shall belong to me. 

Printing Less

If you've read this more than a few times, or have known me for more than a few minutes, you'll probably know that I try to be environmentally concsious. I pick up after group lunches, separating trash from recycling if possible. I'll re-use plastic cups and try re-washing plastic utensils at work; and so on and so forth.

But one of the things I've been resistant to is reading all news and things on the computer screen. I would say I get the majority of my news and periodicals online. But for many of those, I opt to print them and read the hard copies instead of enjoy on the computer screen. 

Several years ago, Julia told me that her office was going paperless. Here are my main skepticisms of an effort like that, which is tied to my tendency to print instead of read online: 

1. how do you keep files with you when you want or all the time? 
2. how do you take notes?
3. how do you refer quickly to things like directories, which are constantly available, say on a bulletin board next to the computer?
4. how do you connect with people off-line (not just people who are currently logged off, but people who don't have access to computers or the internet at all)?
5. how do you keep from damaging your eyes with constant reading from the computer screen?

I intend to interview Julia about where her office is right now in their paperless effort (please comment about it). But short of that interview, I'll answer those few questions as a new advocate of paperless as best I can.

1. Keep files with you all the time with: laptop/notebook computers, personal digital assistants (see stolen image above), high-tech meeting spaces, etc
   
2. Take notes: Low-tech ways like cut-paste word processing and mixing up fonts within the same document, higher tech ways like Track Changes within documents, short-hand word processing, and more
3. Refer quickly to directories/bulletin board stuff: wisely sort files and folders
4. Connect with people off-line: don't know
5. Avoid damaging eyes: get a glare decreaser

Just a couple hours ago, I printed what I hope is my last article from online to off-line; the article is about dead-lifting. From now on, I will work on going paperless for news and more. Or at least I'll try reading my news on the computer screen, if not totally paperless.

Note: I do not have a pda and am not endorsing them. The picture is included to give an idea or how to go paperless.

Laziness is Just a Symptom

At staff night last night, I was talking with my friend Hector. He talked about how laziness isn't so much a state of being or an eternal trait as it is a symptom of some larger issue.

From a supervisorial perspective, people who are (or act) lazy are pretty much the worst. Even if they have the smarts or experience, their poor work ethic brings down everything from staff relations, quality of work, and organizational image.

But laziness itself isn't generally the problem. As described by Hector, laziness is a symptom of something bigger, more complex.

Take the example of playing games at work. Laziness is the symptom of what is likely to be at least one of these larger issues:

1. Not enough work or assignments that do not challenge
   
2. Apathy about current responsibilities
3. Fear of over-working (being seen as a goody too shoes)
4. Fear of failure during effort
   

Wikipedia has a little section on intellectual laziness here, the tendency to not push the mind into new territory - out of line with the prevailing wisdom or shallow routine.

Again, I'm reproducing this image without a license.