chuck kottke

When I first saw this thread, I immediately thought, "hm, Guy is dating Lindsey Buckingham?" OOPS! :laugh3: What a long strange trips it's been! ^^ About Lindsay, you say she will date anyone who gives her the most "press"? :P I suppose Guy knows how to work the kinks out of her then, eh?;) Anyhow, it's none of my beans what or if they are involved with each-other.

Every journey begins with a first step Wherever we go, there we are

Greetings Wesley Muller! Glad you could join our merry site here!! :jester:

Gweetings! :) A superduperspectacular show!!! :clap: Great Job Chris the piano virtuoso, Jonny guitar superman, Guy bass beyond belief, and Will Champion, drummer of champions!! & The Farmbell returned to Chicago! :-D:cool4: round the planet it goes, forged from the remnants of an exploded star by cosmic forces, condensed on planet earth, shaped by bell smiths, rung for liberty and the pursuit of happiness expertly by Will.

Hey Nick, you'll be alright - we all have moments like what you're going through. I wound up with stomach flu this past winter, took what seemed like ages to get over. Rest, fluids, relax - you're worth it. You've got to rest and recharge those batteries, you'll be ready to take on the world after you recover; give yourself some TLC. I just recouped after having strained back muscles and back spasms for four days - I know how useless one can feel, it is damn frustrating at times! But give yourself the time to recover, you'll be back in the saddle after you get your strength back.

~~~~~~~Happy Birthday Pete !~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ :sunny::sunny::sunny::sunny::sunny: Planet spins so fast, hope it was a good one!!;)

:laugh3: But you had fun!!! ;):)

All I can think of is WOW. Awesome!:flutterby::awesome: I've seen pictures of that forest, trees covered with monarchs, on TV, but being there must have been like heaven! Here, just the fledgling monarchs, sipping nectar & heading down on their long journey. I did get to see a pair mating the other day, what a funny thing to watch. One monarch hangs with wings folded beneath the other, and the top one has to fly around in a pattern, carrying the weight of two - I'm amazed at how strong they are! Oh yes, I have seen a lot of documentaries on the problem, so it is unfortunate the way things are. With poverty & corruption, there has to be a better way - the trees might grow back, the butterflies don't have the flexibility of being started again from seeds. I understand rural poverty and what happens in desperate places; wish I had the magic solution! Here, it was the cutting of the last southern old-growth forests and that ended the ivory billed woodpeckers forever. We learned but in many cases too late. But maybe there is hope - to become conscious of our relationship with nature, I have to hope for as well. It is a lot more than just the needs, it's some of the values we place on things, the status symbolism in human cultures. And the disconnect from nature, coming from status symbol land here, ain't that the truth! So the Michoacan people are protesting the logging, meaning the native tribe there? Hope they succeed, but I understand the general forces they are up against. Seems like it's near impossible to save anything unless we first address the social problems, the poverty and dilemmas of modernity, as well as a better values system. I get into trouble here when I talk about things like that - saying we need to keep roads winding, slow people down so they appreciate more where they are, keep things human, pay a living wage - I think that is the problem, our egos and competitiveness and insulation from nature dims our appreciation of the natural beauty all around us. But maybe with all the reform movements, there will be a change in how things are done. It sounds like there is a strong effort to reform the government in Mexico, and I do hope that succeeds, and here too - though we're facing a lot of battles ahead!

Oh man, that must have been magical! I would be in seventh heaven seeing it too - you're so lucky Ricardo to have had the opportunity!! It just seems like if there were ever a natural treasure to save, this is an incredible one - I did see some of the problems discussed about the forest and the logging going on, wish there were some way to take the pressure off the need to log to make a living there.. Your country is getting it's house in order from what I hear - any chance the Mexican government, with input from the local people, scientists, and all citizens of Mexico, will do something to save the forests there, and find other ways to offset the needs of the people living in the surrounding area? What does the government in the state of Michoacan think about preserving the forests for the monarchs?

:flutterby:: Just found something on Monarch Butterfly gardens, and if anyone is interested in participating in one, helping to keep the monarch population healthy, there are some neat gardens in D.C. & Maryland where you can volunteer: Defenders WVC Monarch Locations - Google Maps Or, learn from their example, and grow your own!:) :flutterby:

Just that I need to fix my phone here - it's weird, it rings, but I can't connect to the party calling - happened after the storm, haven't gotten around to it, I'll bet it's phone company equipment again.. They seem to be neglecting the local exchange and maximizing profits, cutting out upgrades to the old stuff we rely on to get connected.. Anyhow, if anyone tries calling, I'll be outside testing and then probably having the phone line serviced! ;)

Germany leads in making solar progress, quite an amazing transition, something the US & Canada could learn valuable lessons from, even for the less sunny regions of the globe: Solar power in Germany - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The best form of nuclear energy is the sun - safely 93 million miles / 150 million kilometers away, with plenty of planetary magnetic and atmospheric shielding - stable, guaranteed for millions of years to be there, and the power available dwarfs our current global energy needs. :sunny:

Only if you're a member of the Stones!:P ^^But is that really in the agreement? :stunned: I know when reading credit card agreements, there's all sorts of interesting stuff starting around 1/2 way through, and I'm sure that's how they've gotten some people to cough up extra dough - giving just a casual glance to the terms can getcha in a jam sometimes! No doubt about it, if it's important enough, read it very very carefully and then decide. ;)

I'm happy to hear you had so much fun!! :nice::hug: Plenty to listen to while waiting - they'll even have Coldplay elevator music while you wait soon!:laugh3: Muzak, suitable for your easy listening pleasure.. Floor 6, bing, Floor 7, bing, Floor 42, bing!... Nah, just kidding, but it's a funny idea though!:P

Politik with a "k" because it has special properties that way, super K force properties! :laugh3:

>Thanks Nick, sage lessons learned the hard way, that's for sure! :laugh3: My lessons were learned in similar fashion - overloaded during semesters 1 & 2 when I began at the Uni, trying too hard to be a perfectionist and going way beyond what was desired for each assignment, I had horrible grades initially - some failing, some mediocre. As they say about Delta House, "Double super-secret academic probation.";):laugh3: Not enough sleep if any, stressing way, way, way too much. Then, I decided to just focus on the basics, not take too many sped-up classes and build a good foundation at school, and managed an A average thereafter in the sciences & electives. I know you can do it Nick, half of what's probably driving you nuts is that you have the ability but things aren't going well at the moment. So my advice is to just pare things down to the essentials, focus on what's manageable until you get comfortable again and can charge ahead with full confidence. I found it better if I just tried to learn and better my own results, forgetting about the others in the classes in terms of competing for grades, but working well with others on assignments and in labs. Then, preparedness and confidence without worry can allow one to excel to one's own level, to learn and grow without the "fear factor" looming overhead. Or maybe just focus on work first, and take a course or two to rebuild confidence, then add more as you get into the groove. You'll do fine, give yourself a break.

@ sooblue - Welcome! Glad you had a fantastic time last night - Coldplay were spot on, really a super performance with most excellent effects, even from 2000 miles away, watching the Jimmy Kimmel show. ... & Imelda, you deserve the award for "persistence pays off" :). Good job!

Take some time to figure it out, prioritize things, believe that you can Nick, as I see you already have with the business problems, matters of mismanagement that were piled on you. But do take the time to make sense of things, time for rest as well - it's always helped me deal with the stresses in life. Somehow you'll have to set aside all the things overloading you for an all essential good night's sleep! First comes your health, essential for getting all the other things to go better. Just do your best, learn, seek improvement, straiten out the business matters so that doesn't drive you nuts as well, and don't worry about what anyone else thinks - you'll bounce back in time, believe in yourself Nick. ;) Listen to some relaxing music before you sleep, meditate, put yourself in another state of mind, then you'll be ready for sleep. :sleeping:

Power from the Spanish Sun!!:sunny: Solar Power in Spain - Climate Lab Leaps and bounds ahead of the rest of us!! Quoting the site for the #1 reason why Spain is so far ahead, here is the answer: "But the most important factor is a strong, almost aggressive, public policy of incentives in renewable energies and especially in photovoltaic and thermal solar energy." Government does have a constructive role to play in fostering successful solar initiatives, markets only behave well when all external factors are included in the market system, and that meets great resistance here. Getting a government that actually does what is best for its nation, we here in the US need to learn from the Spanish experience. Then, the electric car can run more off the sun! :cool: (Molten salts are used to store the heat energy over several hours, making for available energy on-demand up to 7 hours from the sun's setting. This will no doubt be improved upon - a matter of 24 to 48 hours storage would be much more helpful in places with intermittent sunny days..)

A few times, only when I was very young. Have you ever seen the rain, coming down on a sunny day?:)

Happy BirthDay Chloe! Happy Birthday Chloe !! :daisy::sunny: Keep rocking free & Cool with Coldplay in Koala Land! :cool::cool::cool::sunny:

About 30C, clear blue skies with a cloud here and there, cicadas buzzing incessantly outside, really wild! :sunny:

Whatever I was thinking, it's all gone now!:laugh3:

~*bump*~ it's for a great cause, cause' we like Debs!:)

>That's a good idea - a quid pro quo! :laugh3: