Hold on to your keyboards, this isn't a Vegas post! (only 4 days, 22 hours to go).
It seems that trade between China and Japan is ever growing and now China has surpassed the U.S. as Japan's top trading partner. Read more here.
The times they are a changing. I find it very interesting that with all of the political issues between the two countries that their trade has grown so much over the last few years. I wonder what this says about our Empire. From the growth of the E.U., China and India it would seem the days of our heavy handed influence over the world are numbered. I hope that as other countries rise in the ranks of the rich that they step up to the plate and fund the U.N. (not that we do the best job) and increase their aid to developing nations. Oh the power struggles that are coming, for consumers, oil, water and other raw materials we have to share.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Monday, April 23, 2007
So what does Vegas have to do with Beltain?
Beltain is one of the 8 major Holidays. A basic primer to the Celtic Holiday calendar can be found here.
Beltain for me has a number of important aspects.
1) The beginning of warmer weather. While we just celebrated Spring Equinox a short while ago the weather here in the Pacific Northwest hasn't really changed until early May. That change is here by Beltain, there shouldn't be anymore frost, days finally above 50, the gaining strength of the sun and goodbye to the gloomy weather day after day. We also get to look forward to even longer days of sunshine and continued lengthening of the light.
2) Fertility and transformation, or the mystery that is the spark of life, a moment of change from something static to something animated, the transformation from a seed to a sprout, the magic that happens when an egg is fertilized.
3) Like all of the Holidays it is a time of celebration, marking my place on the wheel of the year. Time to count my blessings and celebrate with friends.
Vegas, or more accurately my impressions and experiences of Vegas, embrace these things and provides a venue for intense celebration. Let there be no doubt that the sun of the Nevada desert is warmer then anything that makes it's way through the cloud cover of Western Washington. When I travel there in Spring it reminds me of the summer that is on it's way. There is a transformative energy about Vegas, partly rooted in the fact that the city shouldn't even be there. Without the transformation provided by the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead the area is desolate to say the least. The feeling of that transformation is in the air everywhere you go, at least on The Strip. With giant lakes and fountains, trees and flowers and grass it's amazing the amount of life that surrounds one, not to mention the thousands and thousands of tourists too. As those that have traveled with me there can attest I am transformed upon arrival. My normally high energy level rises to all new heights and pulling all night visits to blackjack tables and video poker machines becomes easy even at my age. There is an intense energy about the city, it's always in the middle of a transformation. Old casinos get torn down and new, larger, glitzier places pop up. This creates a feeling of youth and constant change. Gambling provides it's own power of transformation, poor one minute and flying high with wads of cash in my pocket the next with my mood following the rise and fall of my fortunes.
Beltain for me has a number of important aspects.
1) The beginning of warmer weather. While we just celebrated Spring Equinox a short while ago the weather here in the Pacific Northwest hasn't really changed until early May. That change is here by Beltain, there shouldn't be anymore frost, days finally above 50, the gaining strength of the sun and goodbye to the gloomy weather day after day. We also get to look forward to even longer days of sunshine and continued lengthening of the light.
2) Fertility and transformation, or the mystery that is the spark of life, a moment of change from something static to something animated, the transformation from a seed to a sprout, the magic that happens when an egg is fertilized.
3) Like all of the Holidays it is a time of celebration, marking my place on the wheel of the year. Time to count my blessings and celebrate with friends.
Vegas, or more accurately my impressions and experiences of Vegas, embrace these things and provides a venue for intense celebration. Let there be no doubt that the sun of the Nevada desert is warmer then anything that makes it's way through the cloud cover of Western Washington. When I travel there in Spring it reminds me of the summer that is on it's way. There is a transformative energy about Vegas, partly rooted in the fact that the city shouldn't even be there. Without the transformation provided by the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead the area is desolate to say the least. The feeling of that transformation is in the air everywhere you go, at least on The Strip. With giant lakes and fountains, trees and flowers and grass it's amazing the amount of life that surrounds one, not to mention the thousands and thousands of tourists too. As those that have traveled with me there can attest I am transformed upon arrival. My normally high energy level rises to all new heights and pulling all night visits to blackjack tables and video poker machines becomes easy even at my age. There is an intense energy about the city, it's always in the middle of a transformation. Old casinos get torn down and new, larger, glitzier places pop up. This creates a feeling of youth and constant change. Gambling provides it's own power of transformation, poor one minute and flying high with wads of cash in my pocket the next with my mood following the rise and fall of my fortunes.
A spiritual side to Vegas?
Yes there can be a spiritual side to Vegas, at least for me once a year. I generally take two trips to Vegas each year. There is a family multi-birthday celebration trip in October. It's incredibly special to me because my birthday is one of the ones celebrated but more importantly it's simply incredible to go to Vegas with family and have everyone super enjoy the experience. There is never pressure to do things you don't want, we all seem to enjoy doing similar stuff but can also go off on our own for a little while without people's feelings getting hurt. Although there isn't really a spiritual aspect to the trip, the closeness and mutual enjoyment of the trip makes it very special. The other annual trip is the coven's Beltain observance.
Our coven has, over the years, developed a number of traditions and ritual elements. Many of these are worked into our Vegas trip to build an experience that resembles our more traditional Holiday observances.
We start all rituals off with creating sacred space or Casting the Circle. Normally it's a procession around a room or the entire house carrying symbols of the elements, stating why we have gathered and separating ourselves from the mundane world. This doesn't work quite the same way on a Vegas trip. Not only can we not get a pilot to circle Vegas but burning incense, tossing salt and splashing fellow plane passengers with water would probably get us kicked off the plane. So instead we will cast a circle represented by the three of us. We'll be in sacred space more mentally then a delineation of the physical space. We will also most likely make remarks throughout the trip about it being Beltain, what it means to us, how the current activity is a celebration of the time of year.
One of my favorite things about our rituals is invoking the God and Goddess. We have developed a wonderful ritual around this were we recognize Divinity in each of us. This consists of stating to one of the participants "You are the [God or Goddess] because...." and ending with a personal trait that reminds us of the divine in the person. We will all take turns until each person has been recognized as both the God and Goddess. Much like the Casting the Circle in Vegas, we will most likely make these remarks throughout the entire trip.
Upon arriving at the hotel a horizontal surface will be transformed into an altar. We'll each bring candles, photos, figurines and other various sacred objects which will go into building the altar. We've always wondered what housekeeping must think but we've never lost anything and it just adds creating a special place.
It would not be inaccurate to categorize our group as a party coven. Each Holiday we certainly celebrate and Vegas is one of our biggest. We will worship the Sun God, pretty easy in the desert. Lady Luck will certainly get a few words of praise tossed her way too. Everyone in the coven has gone through some life changing events in the last few months and a part of our focus will certainly be marking these changes and looking forward to new lives and embracing the nature of change.
The day of checkout from the hotel we will take down the altar and close the circle and return our focus to the mundane. This won't be too hard after days of intense partying, drinking, gambling and sun bathing not to mention the mundane nature of returning to the airport for the flight home to reality.
Now you too have the magic formula for a Spiritual Vegas Trip! Feel free to make changes that incorporate your own believes and remember that all acts of love and pleasure are Her rituals.
Our coven has, over the years, developed a number of traditions and ritual elements. Many of these are worked into our Vegas trip to build an experience that resembles our more traditional Holiday observances.
We start all rituals off with creating sacred space or Casting the Circle. Normally it's a procession around a room or the entire house carrying symbols of the elements, stating why we have gathered and separating ourselves from the mundane world. This doesn't work quite the same way on a Vegas trip. Not only can we not get a pilot to circle Vegas but burning incense, tossing salt and splashing fellow plane passengers with water would probably get us kicked off the plane. So instead we will cast a circle represented by the three of us. We'll be in sacred space more mentally then a delineation of the physical space. We will also most likely make remarks throughout the trip about it being Beltain, what it means to us, how the current activity is a celebration of the time of year.
One of my favorite things about our rituals is invoking the God and Goddess. We have developed a wonderful ritual around this were we recognize Divinity in each of us. This consists of stating to one of the participants "You are the [God or Goddess] because...." and ending with a personal trait that reminds us of the divine in the person. We will all take turns until each person has been recognized as both the God and Goddess. Much like the Casting the Circle in Vegas, we will most likely make these remarks throughout the entire trip.
Upon arriving at the hotel a horizontal surface will be transformed into an altar. We'll each bring candles, photos, figurines and other various sacred objects which will go into building the altar. We've always wondered what housekeeping must think but we've never lost anything and it just adds creating a special place.
It would not be inaccurate to categorize our group as a party coven. Each Holiday we certainly celebrate and Vegas is one of our biggest. We will worship the Sun God, pretty easy in the desert. Lady Luck will certainly get a few words of praise tossed her way too. Everyone in the coven has gone through some life changing events in the last few months and a part of our focus will certainly be marking these changes and looking forward to new lives and embracing the nature of change.
The day of checkout from the hotel we will take down the altar and close the circle and return our focus to the mundane. This won't be too hard after days of intense partying, drinking, gambling and sun bathing not to mention the mundane nature of returning to the airport for the flight home to reality.
Now you too have the magic formula for a Spiritual Vegas Trip! Feel free to make changes that incorporate your own believes and remember that all acts of love and pleasure are Her rituals.
Friday, April 20, 2007
It's 1am and all is well
Sometimes High Tech employment isn't all glamor. It's sometimes about missing one's desperately needed beauty sleep. Yes, it's 1:00am and I am at the office. There was a presentation today that was video taped and the video files need to be posted to the web server for somebody to review first thing in the morning, the only problem being that the person that needs to review them is on the East Coast. It's much easier for me to stay up until 3:00am then get up at 5:00 so I am at the office patiently awaiting the video editor to bring me a disk with the video files.
If I were more awake I would probably have something really witty to say but alas I don't. I guess this is going to be one of those self indulgent entries that is all about me. This is an entry that real journalists rant about when people talk about blogs. There really isn't much to this post other then I'm thinking about all of my readers (at least the 3 or 4 I'm aware of). I'm hoping you are all having wonderful dreams, dreams of me winning BIG in Vegas, which is just 10 days 9 hours away!!!!
--Update--
Well it's now past 3:00! I am thinking this is good practice for.... you guessed it... VEGAS!
And the overtime will provide an extra bet or two.
I love my life.
If I were more awake I would probably have something really witty to say but alas I don't. I guess this is going to be one of those self indulgent entries that is all about me. This is an entry that real journalists rant about when people talk about blogs. There really isn't much to this post other then I'm thinking about all of my readers (at least the 3 or 4 I'm aware of). I'm hoping you are all having wonderful dreams, dreams of me winning BIG in Vegas, which is just 10 days 9 hours away!!!!
--Update--
Well it's now past 3:00! I am thinking this is good practice for.... you guessed it... VEGAS!
And the overtime will provide an extra bet or two.
I love my life.
Friday, April 13, 2007
Of Breeders and Gay Bars
A friend and I went out a couple of nights ago and decided to visit Sonya's, a downtown Seattle Gay bar. Sonya's use to be located near the Convention Center but when the Center expended it's facilities a few years ago Sonya's had to move and found space on First Ave near the Pike Place Market. It's previous location was a very small nondescript building. I suspect only the gays really knew what it was. There was a small diner type restaurant in one half of the building while the other half was the bar. It was a pretty unique place for Seattle. It had no windows and was always very dimly lit. They made the stiffest drinks. I loved the place. It's new location necessitated a few changes.
The new location was much larger and being on First Ave near a major tourist attraction the front part of the joint is a bit more upscale. I was concerned that a gay bar wasn't going to do well in it's new locale. I can't imagine what their neighbor's thought. Thankfully it's been a few years and Sonya's seems to be doing fine, or is it?
My friend and I decided to sit in the front part of the place, the back room doesn't have the most comfortable seating and we were planning on getting some food. On all previous visits I had always made my way to the back room, it's more bar like and there are views of Elliot Bay. I had noticed, on these previous visits, that the patrons in the front part seemed a less stereotypically gay but didn't really think anything of it, Sonya's had always been a gay bar and there was little doubt that the people in the back section were as gay as myself but as this most recent visit progressed I began to realize that something was amiss! The people sitting around me and my friend were displaying very heterosexual behavior, one of them even had a skateboard! Sonya's was a gay bar that had a breeder clientele. At least they seemed to confine themselves to the front section.
To be truthful this is not really a serious issue for me. In fact I would say it may even be a sign that things are continuing to change for the better. What a wonderful world we will have when gender preference is a non-issue and we can all intermix and mingle without fear. The only problem is that we are not there yet. Short of the internet, gay bars are one of the few places we can go to meet somebody and be pretty sure that any advances made toward somebody will not start some nasty altercation. I feel somewhat comfortable approaching a man in a gay bar and starting a conversation without the fear of a reaction somewhere between "I'm not gay" to "Die faggot" and a punch being launched at my face.
So while I am happy to see us all getting along and bars like Sonya's acting as a bridge between cultures I expect all you cute straight men visiting our bars to be flattered when hit on and not hit back.
The new location was much larger and being on First Ave near a major tourist attraction the front part of the joint is a bit more upscale. I was concerned that a gay bar wasn't going to do well in it's new locale. I can't imagine what their neighbor's thought. Thankfully it's been a few years and Sonya's seems to be doing fine, or is it?
My friend and I decided to sit in the front part of the place, the back room doesn't have the most comfortable seating and we were planning on getting some food. On all previous visits I had always made my way to the back room, it's more bar like and there are views of Elliot Bay. I had noticed, on these previous visits, that the patrons in the front part seemed a less stereotypically gay but didn't really think anything of it, Sonya's had always been a gay bar and there was little doubt that the people in the back section were as gay as myself but as this most recent visit progressed I began to realize that something was amiss! The people sitting around me and my friend were displaying very heterosexual behavior, one of them even had a skateboard! Sonya's was a gay bar that had a breeder clientele. At least they seemed to confine themselves to the front section.
To be truthful this is not really a serious issue for me. In fact I would say it may even be a sign that things are continuing to change for the better. What a wonderful world we will have when gender preference is a non-issue and we can all intermix and mingle without fear. The only problem is that we are not there yet. Short of the internet, gay bars are one of the few places we can go to meet somebody and be pretty sure that any advances made toward somebody will not start some nasty altercation. I feel somewhat comfortable approaching a man in a gay bar and starting a conversation without the fear of a reaction somewhere between "I'm not gay" to "Die faggot" and a punch being launched at my face.
So while I am happy to see us all getting along and bars like Sonya's acting as a bridge between cultures I expect all you cute straight men visiting our bars to be flattered when hit on and not hit back.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
The VWP is at 19 days
Yes it that time again. Another Vegas Waiting Period and it's at 19 days!
The coven is headed to Vegas again to celebrate Beltain. Everybody needs a little hedonism for the Holiday and what better place then Vegas.
We leave on Monday April 30 and will be staying at Harrah's and we return May 3.
A few things on the to do list:
The Klondike (my favorite dive casino)
The Venetian
Mandalay Bay
The Stratosphere
Fremont (we were there last year but want to spend a bit more time there this trip)
Weather permitting a bit of time by the pool.
I haven't spent much time around a pool in Vegas, it seems a bit strange to bake in the desert sun instead of gambling but it is a group trip and the eye candy can be worth the risk of skin cancer. : )
There will be much sitting a bars playing video poker, drinking, at least 1 trip to a buffet, a couple of 2am steak breakfasts. I thought these had pretty much vanished but I just found that link and it seems if you know where to go a few deals are still to be had. I'm sure there will be some trinket shopping, more then a few cigarettes to be smoked and many hours not spent sleeping.
Oh I'm so excited!
The coven is headed to Vegas again to celebrate Beltain. Everybody needs a little hedonism for the Holiday and what better place then Vegas.
We leave on Monday April 30 and will be staying at Harrah's and we return May 3.
A few things on the to do list:
The Klondike (my favorite dive casino)
The Venetian
Mandalay Bay
The Stratosphere
Fremont (we were there last year but want to spend a bit more time there this trip)
Weather permitting a bit of time by the pool.
I haven't spent much time around a pool in Vegas, it seems a bit strange to bake in the desert sun instead of gambling but it is a group trip and the eye candy can be worth the risk of skin cancer. : )
There will be much sitting a bars playing video poker, drinking, at least 1 trip to a buffet, a couple of 2am steak breakfasts. I thought these had pretty much vanished but I just found that link and it seems if you know where to go a few deals are still to be had. I'm sure there will be some trinket shopping, more then a few cigarettes to be smoked and many hours not spent sleeping.
Oh I'm so excited!
Monday, April 09, 2007
It's about the BIO
NEC has announce a bio based plastic and we've all heard about the growing desire to use corn for fuel. Clearly we are moving in a direction where fossil fuels will be less important which has many great things going for it. Do not for one moment think that these bio alternatives will come without issues. As climate change becomes more prevalent and affects our nation's ability to grow stuff how will we justify going hungry because all our food went to fuel and plastic cases for our latest iPods and computers? Not to mention how moral is it of us to be fueling up an SUV with food based fuel while others starve? Contrary to contemporary though it is not some deity given right for citizens in this country to maintain our lifestyle at the expense of the rest of the planet no matter how many troops we may have in foreign lands.
I must be male PMSing today.
I must be male PMSing today.
Friday, April 06, 2007
Cheney and the facts
It is beyond amazing how some of our leaders will say anything to justify their actions. Cheney was speaking with Rush Limbaugh and still insists that a pre Iraq war connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda existed. This on the say day the full report from the Pentagon is released that states there was no connection.
I don't understand how King George W Bush and his cronies can consistently lie and think the public will believe them. The only thing more difficult to understand is how their followers do believe them.
What maddens me is that I feel powerless to do anything about this. I SO FREAKIN HATE OUR PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT. I don't feel good about this hatred. I was always taught to show respect for the President but King George has not done anything to earn respect in fact he has done the exact opposite! He is an embarrassment to our nation and we will pay the price for his actions for many many years.
I can only hope that those that voted for him are happy and proud of their president.
I don't understand how King George W Bush and his cronies can consistently lie and think the public will believe them. The only thing more difficult to understand is how their followers do believe them.
What maddens me is that I feel powerless to do anything about this. I SO FREAKIN HATE OUR PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT. I don't feel good about this hatred. I was always taught to show respect for the President but King George has not done anything to earn respect in fact he has done the exact opposite! He is an embarrassment to our nation and we will pay the price for his actions for many many years.
I can only hope that those that voted for him are happy and proud of their president.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
It seems so much easier
For some reason, as yet to be determined by me, it seems much easier to comment on other peoples' blogs that post on my own. So in an effort to broaden my readerships internet experience (I think I have readers) and to plug the blogs of friends I would recommend taking a moment to surf on over to:
Rodin's Muse
Pop Culture Institute
Na Smuaintean
I hope you enjoy what you find there as much as I and feel free to send me addresses to the blogs you find most interesting.
Rodin's Muse
Pop Culture Institute
Na Smuaintean
I hope you enjoy what you find there as much as I and feel free to send me addresses to the blogs you find most interesting.
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Let's hear it for French innovation
The French TGV (high speed train) has broken it's own record. I love train travel but living in this country I don't really get the chance to do it. Just add that to one of the many reasons to move away.
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