Poblet iglesia del monasterio,
originally uploaded by yutis2003.

A shot of Gothic architecture. I love the archwork and the vanishing point perspective of this shot.

Basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal (Notre Dame Basilica) - Montreal,
originally uploaded by phillipchitwood.

There’s something about a church or cathedral that puts me at ease. I feel peaceful and at rest whenever I am there. Whether it’s for a mass or a simple stop to take a break and pray… the beauty of the architecture in most churches finds some way to sink in… a connection between architectural aesthetic and the human soul.

Shibuya,
originally uploaded by manganite.

One of my fave places in the world… Shubuya station in Tokyo, Japan. Even at 11 PM at night, the square is filled with wall-to-wall people shuttling on errands, meeting people, shopping, walking and celebrating life.

I Come in Peace,
originally uploaded by *labaronesa*.

The renderings created by artists of what “aliens” from outer space may look like always seem to creep me out. They have big heads, dark eyes and skinny limbs. I like the concept of “first contact” from the Star Trek series of films.

In Star Trek’s storyline, aliens from planets other than Earth purposely avoided earth until its inhabitants accomplished a revolutionary milestone in their evolution and development. Sorta like the “nuclear capability” club celebrated by a select few nations here on earth.

In the interim, the aliens would have to “cloak” themselves or disguise themselves to wander on the planet amongst the humans in an effort to observe them and their progress towards this “evolutionary” goal.

I’d like to think that “PEACE” would be one of those requirements that the extra-terrestrial aliens out there would have in their wish-list for humanity. It is a terribly difficult milestone to reach, but I would think it to be essential before one can even consider interacting with other alien races.

celebrating the last minute of singleness,
originally uploaded by ajpscs.

I’m sure if one translated the title of this picture to Japanese, there would be some sort of one or two character phrase to replace it… elegant and very poetic - just like the visual delight of this photo.

I studied the Japanese language for nearly five years and throughout, I noticed that the DEEP meanings to certan words and vocabulary has its roots in poetry.

The Chinese have a series of 3 character and 5 character phrases that are like idioms to the language - the same as a cliche or pithy saying would be to the English language. Each phrase has a deep and historical meaning tied to the culture’s many myths, legends and storytelling traditions. Anyways, as admirable the languges are, both Japanese and Chinese prove to be very difficult languages for this Westerner to learn…

Spaceport,
originally uploaded by in touch.

If you stare at this one long enough, you’ll recognize it as the atrium to a hotel with a top-down view. Anyways, Iike “spaceport” as a description better than “atrium” any day.

I personally put in a vote for LOGO or Turtle-LOGO. These two programming languages are simple, give visual and immediate results and can be fun. The last thing (I think, IMHO) you want to do is scare or turn-off a budding interest by throwing in something with a very steep learning curve.

My early years programming was through LOGO and later BASIC. My most favorite book of all time: More Basic Games. They were all text-based games, but they kept me entertained for hours - both in typing in the source code and in learning how the program works. These days, I see very few intro to programming books focus on games… which is sad. The most important part about the newbie programming experience is having fun… and the awe of discovery when one figures out how certain aspects of the programming language works. (Eureka factor) Well, that’s my 2 bits.

Well a couple of web solutions are around that could get you in the right direction. There’s Google YouTube for video and two older solutions: Live365 Radio which harbors thousands of radio enthusiasts, music lovers and gabby dj hosts in a single place (for a modest fee) where they can broadcast their audio shows over the Internet.

Alternatively, a free audio host solution can be found in the category of “audio blogging” or “podcasting”. One such free host: GCast is cool because you can also create a podcast remotely, over the phone - no computer required. Links to these podcasts can be imbedded and played through your online blog or website. I’ll post a link to some examples as a comment thread to this post as soon as I am able to successfully create a podcast.

How do I get to the bottom of what’s wrong? Well it’s too cold and wet outside right now to go out for a run. (excuses, excuses) and I refuse to eat a “poorer” diet than I already have. I say poor because it is devoid of any enjoyable indulgences. No fat, no cholesterol, no cheese, no red meat, no this, no that. No to just about everything except the foods that I habitually have disliked in my earlyer years.

Gone are the days with lightning-fast metabolism that could suck away the calories in the blink of an eye. Of course, things were different during college. I ran and worked-out daily, rode my bike between classes on an immensely huge campus and ate less due to lots of general stress.

All that hard work studying landed me a desk job that has virtually turned me into a squishy, pudgy side of veal. I’ve upsized my pants size twice in the last decade and it peeves me to no end.

Who can I blame? First of all, I blame SUGAR. It’s in just about everything and this ugly, empty calorie has no nutrition value save the calories it brings to your body. What’s worse is that food manufacturers have cut corners with a substitute to this already bad ingredient: High Fructose Corn Syrup. While empty calories in the form of sugar is bad, the body still has a fighting chance to burn it up and use it immediately. High fructose corn syrup is a different deal. For some reason it doesen’t get utilized as much and instead finds its way to your (oh horror!) hips, bell, but and thighs…

Lately my kick has been in “kicking” the sweetener habit. I suspect for the next month or so I’ll wean myself off with artificial sweetner; then perhaps upgrade to no sweetener at all (or at least a healthy alternative such as honey). Let’s see where this experience leads me. Any positive weight loss would defnitely be welcome.