PhoneBoy Says

Do you remember your first flight? Where did you go? Why?
Submitted by Laurel.

I actually don't remember my first airplane flight, because I was very young, but it was apparently to go somewhere in Colorado. The first flight I remember was to visit my mother in Hawaii. I had to fly as an Unattended Minor since I was only 9 or 10. I remember getting a deck of cards and a little set of wings from the airline, who I don't think is around anymore. The service was good too. Damn, those were the days.

Don't know that I'd want my kids flying as UMs these days, though. Too many crazies out there. Not to mention the bad service.

I should probably clarify my last post as I think a couple of you might have misunderstood my motivations.

For better or worse, I've made a choice to share at least some of my life with the world. A lot of other people have made that same choice, but I don't expect others to. That being said, I also see no reason to repeat myself. Nor should anyone else.

The nice thing about Vox is that you share as much, or as little, as you want with the outside world.Dad, or anyone else for that matter, doesn't have to make every article they write on Vox public. Furthermore, as people are brought into "friends or family" status, they can be exposed to a new level of information they didn't have before. So as someone close to you joins Vox, you could give them access to your own secret thoughts complete with pictures, words, music, and video with a timeline and some context to hang it all on. It's not just a series of forwarded email, it's a complete stream of consciousness. A snapshot in time, if you will.

I was happy to see dad finally take advantage of that Vox invite I sent him a while ago. The question is: will he continue?

See, the reason I sent this invite to him because, quite honestly, he's a stranger to me now. I want to get to know him--slowly. And sure, I could have done it privately through email and the like. But I want to do this on my own terms. My terms include blogging. I guess that's something my generation expects. Full public disclosure. Well maybe not full disclosure, but certainly more public disclosure than previous generations did.

The past three years or more of my life have been more or less exposed for the world to see online on various iterations of my blog. I've been on the Internet for much longer than that. Heck, I saw my Usenet posts from nearly 15 years ago show up in Google Groups. The truth about me is out there, if you're willing to look.Anyone can find and read this information, including my dad. I feel it's only fair that I get something like that from him in return. Okay, maybe not three years worth, but certainly more than has shown up so far. And it doesn't even have to be public either. Vox makes it very easy to restrict access to particular items so only friends and/or family can read it. And it can be more than just text as well.

Bring on those posts, pictures, or whatever you want to share, dad. I'll be ready to read them. When you're ready to share, of course.

If this isn't a great example of how powerful affirmations can be, I don't know what is.

When I read stuff like this article on how Vitamin C can help prevent heart disease, I have to wonder if the drug companies actually have any interest in, oh, I dunno, making people healthy. It's probably the same reason the mainstream medical establishment takes any natural remedies of any sort seriously.

Probably my biggest eye-opening experience about this was when I went to the allergist a few months ago. They of course pricked the snot out of my arms with lots of different types of allergens. It was discovered that most types of grass did not agree with me, along with a couple of types of trees and cat hair. What was their solution? Drugs. The doctor took me over to his "sample cabinet" and it was like a candy store. Every allergy drug known to man was there. I could pick and choose what I wanted. This doctor was little more than a legalized drug dealer.

I've always been highly skeptical of medical doctors. I've never quite understood why. I thought it might have something to do with the fact my mother was very anti-doctor and my dad, well, I dunno about that. I lived with my mom mostly, so I assume her influence on my opinion would be greater. The reliance on drugs, whether it be because the doctors simply don't know better, or because the drug companies have snowed them into thinking they are the answer, is just far too great for my tastes.

However, not all medical doctors are under the thumbs of the drug companies. I start reading people like Dr. Mark Hyman (particularly his UltraMetabolism Blog) and Dr. Leo Galland (check out the Fat Resistance Diet), and at least some of my faith in the medical profession is restored. The problem is: finding doctors that subscribe to principles such as those espoused by The Institute of Functional Medicine and can effectively apply those or similar principles.

Never seen so many jellyfish outside of an aquarium. This was just off the pier in Silverdale.

I tried, but failed, to get all the pictures on my other blog. Anyway, not sure how these are gonna look given the 2 megapixel camera phone these were taken with. Probably won't do these views justice.

I took advantage of the unbelievable weather today and took the kids--yet again--to the zoo. Some pictures

It's been a long week here in Finland. I got to meet a ton of people. I made some good contacts. Ate some good food. Drank some good beer. Even met an old friend. But it's time to go home. And right now, being just after midnight in Helsinki, it's time to go to bed.

A couple of days ago, I had read a blog post by Dilbert Cartoonist Scott Adams on affirmations. (http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2006/10/affirmations.html)

Understand Scott Adams views the world in a rather peculiar, humourous way. If you read his blog, you'll see he has written about some pretty contraversial topics and espoused some rather unusual views. Even so, as is the truth with most humor, there is a kernel of truth to it.

So I began to think about the presence of affirmations in my own life and what role, good or bad, that they have played. I think I can honestly say that Scotty-boy might be onto something here.

Perhaps one of the most life-shaping affirmations happened very early in my life. When I was about 6, I was particularly unahppy about the state of my parents, i.e. divorced. I hated it, thought it was wrong. I said to myself then that I was not going to put my kids through what I went through. To this day, I still say that to myself (though not daily).

The result? I'm married to a wonderful woman for 7 years and have two kids. We are both committed to staying together to raise our kids. We had a rough patch there a couple years back, and she had reminded me of that committment I had made to her and to myself. That particular affirmation got me through that rough patch and things have gotten substantially better since then.

I've also said over the years that, at least in terms of my career, I am incredibly lucky. I attribute at least some of my success to hard work. It comes down to being at the right place at the right time, and always being open for new opportunities. When I have a bad day at work, I remind myself that I am incredibly lucky to have the job and situation I have.

There are probably other examples of affirmations in my life, but these are the most prominent.

Putting this in the conext of Steven Covey's "7 Habits," this is clearly Habit 2: Begin With The End In Mind. And Covey spends a lot of time giving you the tools to try and make that end achievable. There is a ton of planning and determining "next actions" and what not. Clearly that makes some sense, but let's face it, not all of us work that way. I am not a big planner. I am more about the big picture than I am about the details.

Affirmations are about the big picture. They are simple, succinct statements repeated regularly and often that describe the reality you want. In some respects, they are statements of blind faith because the path you will take to achieve that goal may not be clear. The beauty of this is that it doesn't need to be.

It is difficult to forget something that you regularly say to yourself, write down, or "pray" about if you prefer. The act of a regular affirmations keeps the idea fresh in your mind. Your mind will be able to more readily identify opportunities to attain that reality, or so the theory goes.

Given that the act of an affirmation takes so little and so simple, why not try it? At worst, you will be out maybe a minute or two of time per day. At best, you'll have the results you want.

So what is my affirmation? Here it is: I will weigh 195 pounds.