My Hot Tub

Six years ago, we bought a hot tub. We noticed the vendor in a corner of the Sport, Boat, and Travel Show one weekend and stopped by to check out his product. What was interesting about this hot tub (a SoftTub), was that, unlike conventional hot tubs with powerful heating elements and the need for 220 wiring, the SoftTub brand plugs right into a normal outlet and uses an electric motor to heat the water. It's the inefficiency of the motor heating up during use as it pumps water through the tubes that creates the desired temperature.

After some consideration, a bit of haggling, and some creative cash movement, we purchased the tub. It fit perfectly inside of the "pool room" (once home to a Valley brand, bar-weary, coin-operated pool table) and we enjoyed it year-round every year.

At Christmas, the circuit board (mainly the thermostat part) faulted, and the tub would only heat to 90 degrees before shutting off. We located a dealer-authorized repair specialist in Tulsa, Oklahoma who agreed to not only repair the electronics (his best guess was the too-often power outages from Kansas' many storms might have weakened the GFI and delicate circuitry of the tub), but to order and install a brand new liner as well. The liner was not torn or discolored in any way but it did have a ring of harder, puffier material that had, over time, been chemically damaged right at or near the water line.

We got up very early one Sunday, loaded the tub in the Toyota and headed to Tulsa. Another great feature of the SoftTub is it's portablity. Once empty, the motor detached, the tub rolls like a big hula hoop. It doesn't weigh much at all.

So off we go. We leave our tub with Calvin, and head to the casino for some gambling. We returned about 4 hours later to pick up the tub, pay Calvin and head home.

All is well and we are happy tubbing - a welcome respite from the cold Kansas winter we are having this year.

The story of a virus attack.....

At home, on the Saturday morning before Christmas, I logged on to MySpace. My nephew had tried to add me as a friend the night before. Nothing new there so I logged off. I checked e-mail at work and just as I was replying to a budgeting question, all hell broke loose on the home computer. We were attacked by a virus so malicious that it:

1. Disabled the 'current' virus protection (PC-cillin14) and deleted the built-in recovery points (a tool which is there in case you want to go back to 'before" an incident).
2. Accessed, downloaded, opened and/or stored a Trojan download virus that kept going out to the Internet to download more viruses- you should have seen the boxes that were popping up on the screen over and over and over again......
3. Locked up the computer.

Within the next 24 hours, as the attempt to fight back continued, this attack completely shut us down - the operating system shut down to prevent damage, and the computer wouldn't even boot in Safe Mode. This was brutal.

After a complete re-formatting of the computer hard drive(s), the operating system was re-installed and the home computer is back up and operational. Luckily, we had a zip drive and had important data backed up.....so other than the time to re-install various software and drivers.....the important stuff was safe. New Year's Eve was spent re-installing drivers and virus protection, recovering data from the zip drive and installing the connection to e-mail from the service provider.

Since we have a robust firewall at our office, and MySpace was the only site I was at on Saturday morning, and we have had viruses from MySpace at least once before that were discovered and quarantined by our software...... but took significant time and effort to identify, clean up, and quarantine, I am assuming that this attack came from MySpace.

In conclusion: I wish the people well who create and use these damaging viruses and hope that they can find an outlet for their talents that would benefit society and not harm others in the future.

Reminder: Please back up your data: music, e-mail, pictures, and other important files into a safe place (maybe an external drive would be worth the money).....even to CD's if they are precious to you.

Business in Arkansas

We toured a "chip mill" in Conway, Arkansas yesterday. We flew on our corporate jet - I sat in the co-pilot's seat.

When we arrived, I was given a hardhat and earplugs and we climbed this crane and stood behind the operator as he unloaded a log truck in just two bites. He then continued to feed the logs into a drum system with a chipper and --finally ---shooting out the other end of the process are huge streams of tiny chips like you would find in a bag near a BBQ grill. The pile in the first picture is as tall as a two-story building. This plant is not for sale but equipment similar to it is.

.... Hardwoods such as oak, sweet gum, and hickory are chipped to become raw material for copy paper, paper cups, diapers, etc. Pine becomes cardboard and post board.

Our company, Nulyne, is in the pallet business ---but to obtain a steady source of raw material (cut trees brought in by independent loggers on semi-trucks), they are proposing that we enter the chip and sawmill business. The loggers will sell to the company that pays the highest price. Even if we paid the highest price, we would still have parts of that load that we could not use (currently). So....our company is asking for an investment of over a million dollars to vertically integrate and develop the ability to use all parts of the load purchased from the loggers. The various names of logs that might be mixed in a single load are pulpwood, saw logs, mini-wood, post logs etc. and describe the type and/or size of the log. We use mostly mini-wood.

It's been a tough business for the last four years.

Reports by the forestry service and independent surveys are in agreement - there is no lack of hardwood in the Ozark and Ouachita forests as well as the private land in central, southwest, and northwest Arkansas. The national forests must be managed, and that often includes logging operations, (controlled burns are another method).

I love hardwood trees alive, but as long as I know that the forest is sustainable and that there are organizations and processes in place to protect and manage them, I don't mind being in the lumber business.

Kathy and Mo

Everything in life can be explained with quotes from the Kathy and Mo show Parallel Lives(Kathy Najimy and Mo Gaffney). The show was first broadcast on HBO in 1991.

Circumstances arise every moment where the comedy in a situation is mirrored by the comedy in the show. My VHS tape of the program was so worn that it simply would not play anymore. Luckily, the show was finally released on DVD. The Kathy and Mo show was the very first thing I ever recorded on my new TiVo.

On picking the color of human skin: "Tans, and reds, and don't you love that olive?" then: "White?....isn't that a little bland? We'll have to keep an eye on them."

"Choices, Choices, Choices"

"Messy's good!"

"Am I you, are you me? Are we we?"

"Don't worry about us, we fit in anywhere!"

"I'd like a white-wine spritzer please!"

"Spinning, Spinning, Spinning, Spinning."

To compliment someone: "you look verryy verry pretty tonight!"

When travelling, start singing: "On the road again......, I just can't wait to get on the road again."

If you are bombarded by product ads: "I don't want to smell fresh as a daisy!"

Upon recalling your misguided youth: "I lied....I lied a lot."

If you are talking to your best girlfriends: "Sistah-Woman-Sistah."

"I had a three-way....................................I think."

Life's not so bad.............except for those IceCapades."

move from your intelligence, not from your will.....

Today, my teacher told us to move from our intelligence and not from our will. I'm sure her teacher shared this wisdom and she chose to pass it on.....as I am passing it on here.

It sums up my practice in one sentence.

How often do we move from our will? All day, every day?

Well, let's see - the alarm clock goes off at 6 something (while it is still dark), and I will myself to roll over and hit the snooze button. Let me tell you that my body is not ready to crawl out of a warm bed on a cold morning.....I will it to.

I will myself some mornings to be patient and compassionate with other drivers on my way to work.....wishing them well, and breathing.

I will myself to stop and sit up tall and take a deep breath several times as I sit at my computer screen . Over and over and over again.

I will myself to breathe through painful back spasms.....which are occurring at least once per day now and sometimes twice (sigh), usually between my arrival at work and the lunch hour.

I willfully sit in my chair all day, drive all day, ride in a plane all day, go to meetings all day, on many days....

When do I get a chance to move from my intelligence (or if it makes more sense, from my breath and not my body)?

In yoga of course. Breathing into a pose, not forcing myself into it. Listening inward, not willing some action to occur, but letting it just happen.

In yoga I can do this.

Estes Park Colorado

I took my spirit to the rocks

And laid it by the stream

I asked my question,

Then I slept.

And this is what I dreamed:

A full moon rising over pines

That lit the shore like day

A lover's voice

A raging fire

My question swept away.

Spontaneous Yoga

Something spontaneous happened in our Yoga II class last night. The center is located at 9th and Edgemoor, surrounded by grass and trees, walking paths, tennis courts, a pool and a playground. The yoga room is at the end of a hallway next to the playground, and has floor-to-ceiling windows on two full sides. The blinds are partially lowered, but the glass goes all the way to the floor and we usually leave it open. Small children will sometimes peek in from outside, as the view into the room is about eye-level for them. They are not self-conscious about cupping their hands around their eyes, looking in, and watching our movements. I face the students and the windows; and will often wave at these youngsters (most wave back, a bit shyly....but they wave :).

Last night, a group of six or seven kids, around ages 4 -11 not only looked in.....they began to mimic our movements......so I went with it. I had all five students plus myself turn around, line up our mats, and face the windows.........and we had a yoga class for the kids. They stayed with us for 30 minutes! They did everything we did: knees to chest, cat/cow, spinal balance, mountain pose, tree, forward bends, on and on.....

It was so much fun.......and

what a lesson......

They smiled and they laughed, and they took turns acting silly. I could tell that they were exploring the postures, and they paid attention. It was freedom of movement - organic - unforced - a little rough, sure...but the joyous spirit was there....

We eventually lost their attention and they drifted off.....but they left this memory behind. The wonder and curiosity that children have is such a great reminder for us all.

Namaste,

Cindy