February Kiva Loan

I've decided to loan $25 to the Sueños De Emprendedores Group in Temuco,Chile.
The Sueños De Emprendedores Group are raising money to start a bakery in Nuevo Imperial.

Accountability Sesson #1

Well, let's see, here it is the last day of January. What have I done with these resolutions so far?

1)Haven't added any silver yet. Made some bids on Ebay when it was hovering around $17.50. -

2.I've signed up for a Master's Beekeeping course through the County Extension. +

3.Continuing to talk with Rev.Kwasi about fisheries but need to go visit Growing Power in February.

4.Weight is the same.

5.I've written about 25 haiku this month, and I've been published on Haiku News at http://www.wayfarergallery.net/haikunews/?p=1040

6. I've signed up with Transformative Language and am slowly learning Italian one word a day via a nice e-mail.

7.Haven't bought that Kalimba yet.

8.Have not been to that Matrix training yet. It comes to Chicago later in the Spring.

9.Funny thing, I ran into a retired electrical engineer on Friday who is in to all kinds of alternatice energy schemes. He has agreed to be a mentor on the magnetic generator.

10.Smiling is much easier this year than last.

11. We've been eating the greens when we remember to buy them.

12.I was doing great with this until I got hit with the flu and have been downing ginger ale ever since.

13.No home brews brewing yet.

14. Made a kiva loan in December and in January, so I'm track with this one.

Number Fourteen: Make more Kiva Loans

I've been interested in micro loans for almost thirty years now and have made small loans to about 10 people or cooperatives in Asia, Africa, and South America through Kiva.

I hope to make a small $25 loan each month this year to someone in Ecuador or Bolivia. I worked with Trickle Up in the Philippines when I worked with Habitat and I have to say that I'm more impressed with the level of support that Kiva gives.

Number Thirteen: Home Brew

Yippee!Northern Brewer has opened a store in town! My best friend was a home brewer and specialized in Pale Ales. He was always a trend setter,but when it came to home brewing,I actually started before him.

Back in the early 80's I dabbled in wine,nothing too serious,a couple of kits ordered out of a seed catalog. As I recall,the kits made a nice little wine, the problem was that I couldn't resist drinking it when I would start to rack. Needless to say, I didn't wait for a mature wine.

So, here I am 25 years later, and it's time I started brewing again, if for no other reason than to honor my fallen comrade. My pal onced brewed a fine dry mead, and I think that I'd like to give mead a try.

Yet another link to an earlier resolution, this time linking to my interest in bees.

We'll see.

Number Twelve: Cut out the soft drinks

Funny after a certain point one starts to notice how one resolution might have a positive impact others. I'm cutting out my cokes this year. Gasp! Yeah, I know, I've tried before, but this is the time I'm succeeding.

While I'm not sure my mother put coke in my bottle as an infant, I wouldn't doubt it. I remember going over to a friend's house and being served warm coke from one of those killer 6oz bottles and saltines when I was five. So, I know I've been on the Dope for at least 45 years. For the uninitiated,folks from a certain generation in the south referred to coca cola as "dopes".


So, how will cutting out cokes positively impact other resolutions? By cutting out cokes I will be able to buy one or two silver coins (resolution one) each month on the money saved each month,and I will absolutely lose weight (resolution 4) by not ingesting all the high fructose corn syrup in a coke. Forget the diet sodas, they even more evil.

Evil? Funny how evil turns up when mentions coke to some folk. Is coke as bad as many think? Yeah,probably. But to be fair, a chemist answers whether Coke is really evil.

Knowing my addiction to coke, this will be a huge challenge to keep.

Number Eleven: Eat More Turnip Greens

MMMM, New Year's Day and the smell of turnip greens and black eyed peas is wafting through the house. In the south we always say you have to eat black eyed peas on New Year's day for luck and the greens for money.

My lovely Wisconsin wife has mastered the essentials of southern cuisine. Her corn bread is tastier than my mom's (who doesn't have internet access so I'm safe in saying that), and today we're feasting on a mélange of turnips and collards served with Hopping John. Yum.

I've been thinking that turnips should appear on our weekly menu more often. I bought a bunch yesterday for 49 cents. Adding more greens can make a significant dent in the food budget. They are inexpensive and healthier than just about any thing you eat. Turnips are a veritable vitamin store in green leafy goodness, filled with vitamins K,A,C,Bs,and E to name just a few. Here's more information on turnips than you probably want to know

I used to sell turnip and mustard seed for about 50 cents an ounce. In the south the greens would grow well into the winter. I'll be adding them to our garden in the spring.

Do your body a kindness, eat more turnips.

Number Ten: Smile More

I plan to smile more each day, whether I want to or not. Dr. Andrew Newberg and Mark Waldman, writting in How God Changes Your Brain say that smiling stimulates brain circuits that enhance social interactions,empathy, and mood.Even seeing a smiling face will enhance your mood.

10 things that make me smile:

10.An inter-species conclave of little birds uniting to ward off a hawk
9. A sleeping cat.
8. The Yes Album.
7. Squash blossoms at sun rise.
6. Silence. Deep prayer silence, not the run of the mill silence.
5. A really good turn of phrase in a sermon.
4. Wacky Italian pop videos from the 60's found on Youtube.
3. My daughters when they are sleeping.
2. Listening to my wife sing Victory In Jesus.
1. Sharing a joke with my wife. After 15 years we've become attuned to the same sense of humor.

What makes you smile?

New Year's Eve Haiku

Cold blue moon
eclipsed by a new year,
Sun rises tomorrow.

Number Nine: Build a Magnetic Generator

I've always been a fool for magnets,from the old wooly willy game to confounding my cats by having a magnet under the table as they watched something run around on top. Suffice it to say,I'm easily amused.
Recently, I've been reading the boys in the Flake Storm and it seems that we might be in for a bout of socio-economic nasty weather. The type that could cripple cities and cause the grid to crash, so my gut has been telling me that it might be time to investigate alternative sources of power generators.
There is a small, underweight science geek hiding inside me, and he keeps yelping that I should consider Magnetic Power Generators. I've done some investigations on line and the majority of the links all seem to be cleverly (or not so clerverly) cloaked adds for e-books about Magnetic Generators.
The Magnetic Generator E-book I looked at was Magniworks which seems to have been written by a Russian or a Serb who still lacks the finer points of the English language. I get peeved when I see a e-book author who doesn't respect me enough to edit his book. As for the language, maybe the author thought he was channeling Tesla.
Magnets for Energy seems more solidly put together and you get lots of free goodies. So, stay tuned as I free my inner science geek in 2010 and build a magnetic generator.

Number Eight: Attend a Matrix Energetics Seminar

As noted earlier, I've been fascinated recently with Dr. Richard Bartlett’s Matrix Energetics. The first Matrix book jumped off the bookshelf at me when I was lost in the Library last month. If half of what Bartlett writes is true, then this is the modality to know. In my current vocation, I come into contact with many physically(and spiritually) broken people in need of a miracle. I'm hoping that ME might be an answer, if not miraculous, at least approaching amazing. So, I'm setting my intention to attend one of Dr.Bartlett's seminars this spring.

Number Seven: Learn to Play an Instrument

My daughters and wife put me to shame because they all play the piano. Once, years ago,in the basement of a friend's house on a new year's eve,I must have tapped into the morphic field of Keith Jarrett as I sat and improvised for over an hour. All who were there agreed that it sounded wonderful. It must be noted that prior to tapping into KJ's morphic field, we had all been liberally tapping into the morphic field of John Barleycorn for some hours.
While I'd like to play the piano or clarinet, I'd settle for a Kalimba. Small, portable, and the Zimbaweans use them to summon down the gods. Since our economy is rapidly turning Zimbawesque, why not the Kalimba? Cheap,groovy sound,and if they're good enough for Taj Mahal, they're good enough for me.

Number 6: Learn a new language

George Ure,writing in Urban Survival the other day mentioned that in 2010 he wants to investigate past life regressions so that he might be able to better learn a new language and/or musical instrument.
Not a bad idea, the only problem I fear is that I would find out that I was an Estonian Hurdy Gurdy player and that these were the two skills that transfer to this present life.

I've recently been fascinated by Dr. Richard Bartlett’s Matrix Energetics. Dr. Barlett says we can easily tap into the morphic field of any language or skill that we'd like to learn. So, if you're one of those rare souls who like to speak Estonian and play the Hurdy Gurdy,all you have to do is tap into the right frequencies and you will gain the skills. Matrix Energetics is known as a growing healing modality and more and more anecdotal evidence seemns to support its claims.

Wenger and Poe, writing in The Einstein Factor, tell the tale of Russian experiments in accelerative learning where violin novices easily become virtuosi after using similar whoo hoo exercises.

So, all that wind just to say that I want to add a new language to the smattering of Spanish, Cebuano, and Armenian that already pepper my speech. Nothing too esoteric here, maybe Portuguese or Italian. Portuguese because I love Brasil and Italian because I've been listening to Paolo Conte this past week.

Number Five: Write a Haiku each day

No small feat to write 365 poems. I've always enjoyed the haiku form as it has been adapted to our American ears.Writing,like learning a new language or learning an instrument keeps the mind sharpe as new neural pathways are formed. Everyone should write!

These resolutions,
consumed like cold summer soup,
brighten a new path.

keep up with my halfassed attempts at writing haiku here/

Number Four: Lose some weight

Admittedly,this should be numero uno,but as I mentioned earlier, these are coming to me in no certain order. Ideally I would like to be back in the same shape I was when this photo was taken 20 years ago. Of course, I was on a strict diet of fish and rice three times a day and I walked everywhere. Still, I looked and felt better than at any other time in my life, so 2010 is going to be the year I get back in Dumaguete shape.

If the boys in the Flake Storm are right,I may be about to lose an unprecedented amount of weight (along with 90$ of the world's population) as we careen into a world famine. What? Famine? Google 2010 food crisis and see what you find. Looks as if we are all about to go on a forced diet. So, word to the wise, be sure to add "lose weight" to your own New Year's Resolutions this year, odds are that on this one you won't fail.

Did I mention something about a fish pond?

Number Three: Dig some Fish

3. While still on the subject of stewardship and husbandry, I will see that 2010 is the year that I finally get involved in some type of urban aquaculture whether it be with tilapia or yellow perch. The chief challenge will be to find some suitable land since I don't think my better half is willing to yeild part of our back yard to a tilapia pond. It's taken some time to convince her the bee hives will be a welcome addition to her garden. The beauty of a small scale aquaculture project is that with some thought and effort one can work in hydroponics too. I have friends at a lab who are "tricking" yellow perch into multiple spawning cycles so that there is always a new batch of fry in the offing. As world fisheries are collapsing all around us, and if the boys at Halfpast Human are correct about even worse collapses happening in the future, we all might want to think about investing in a fish pond out back. This could be a profit center as well. I've talked to owners of Asian groceries in the area and all would be happy to buy a fresh fish
The Yellow Perch farm will be a little trickier and more costly, but with lake contaminants on the increase,a farm raised perch is much healthier and since I live in a city that has a friday night fish fry on almost every corner, there will always be a demand for fresh perch.

Number Two: Invest in Bees

2. 2010 is the year that I finally get off my rather large ass and learn the fine art of bee keeping. There is a course that the local county extension offers each spring on apiculture and I was too late enrolling last year. We are all called to be engaged in something useful and productive and stewardship over a few hives of honey bees is both uesful and productive. Getting my grubby hands on a copy of Discover Bee Keeping is a good first step in meeting this goal.

Number One: Build Silver Reserve

1. Build up my silver reserves again while silver is still relatively affordable. As I write this silver is selling at $17.11 an ounce. Check silver and gold prices on the Kitco ticker to the right of this blog.Should the market stay in the current price range I should have my reserves built up again by September. Then again, silver could come unhitched from gold and the sky's the limit.

Preamble and a Caveat

My 2010 Resolutions

Be yourself; no base imitator of another, but your best self. There is something which you can do better than another. Listen to the inward voice and bravely obey that. Do the things at which you are great, not what you were never made for. Emerson.

In 2010 I will do all within my power to live as a free man and strive towards self sufficiency. I will strive to be my best self.

Now that noble preamble is done, these are the things I hope to accomplish in 2010. Here are the things I will accomplish in 2010. In no certain order (i.e. listed as they come to mind).

One caveat; if one starts to dabble in the flake storm that is the non-mainstream media and gives serious consideration to the likes of Cliff High at http://www.halfpasthuman.com/ and George Urh at http://www.urbansurvival.com/ then this is all an exercise in fantasy since the news from the flake storm is that we are poised at the precipice of chaos and destruction and are rapidly reaching the tipping point when one small push will have us all hurtling towards either eternal uncertainty or eternal certitude (depending on your spiritual bent). That said, most new years’ resolutions are exercises in fantasy any way. I guess if I’m going to fall into the jaws of chaos I might as well have fun falling, so on with the show.