At Green Hill Park a mile or so from my house, where the hills are more white than green.

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There’s a song that I listen to by Daniel Johnston called Don’t let the sun go down on your grievances

Whenever I listen to it, I am reminded of my grandfather, Jesus Gonzales, born 1908. It paraphrases something that he knew, something deep. It was to clear your mind of any toils or stress from the day that just passed you by. Jesus, or Apa, was married to Margarita Gonzales for many, many years, and he rubbed off on more people than I’ll ever know. He was one of the happiest men that I knew, in one of the happiest marriages I will ever know, ever.

He was a simple man who simply loved life. That feeling and mission I can certainly share with him. He told me to never go to bed angry, at anything. This is before computers, before we began to live in a life surrounded by computers and overwhelming days. He was never too busy for anybody, including you and me.

So I paraphrase him, as Apa wouldn’t mind, and say not to let the sun go down on your grievances. Sleep well, tell the one you love that you love them, and breathe in all the we have. Thanks Apa. I miss the days where I would go “fishing” and hunt for the raisins in my Quaker Oats oatmeal.

You knew exactly how to live life, and we all learned from you to pass it on and on.

Don’t let the sun go down own your grievances:

Don’t let the sun go down on your grievances
Respect love of the heart over lust of the flesh
Do yourself a favor: become your own savior
And don’t let the sun go down on your grievances
And when you wake up in the morning
You’ll have a brand new feeling
And you’ll find yourself healing
So don’t let the sun go down on your grievances

Katie found this for me. Learn yourself some Overholt history and more about Abraham Lincoln’s favorite drink and Abraham Overholt’s favorite drink to make. This explains a lot. Fantastic.

Here comes this weather that is very foreign to me!

A good day was had talking with the president of a big conglomerate corporation and tons of cheese. Tim Ferriss totally has it down with talking to big CEOs, they are like the hot chicks of the business and job world – i.e. everyone is afraid to talk to them straight and never does, therefore they love to have some informal talk with you and wil remember you always. Also, free beer on campus is cool (hooray private schools without state school regulations)!

Which reminds me, I used to have this statement written in a marker right above my bed when I would wake up in the morning: “Your intention creates your reality.” And I have it on my fridge now. Same idea. It’s true, eh.

Two years ago I quit my job to follow my dream, and each day it gets better and better. It’s amazing what the human mind can do with the help of God. This is exactly what I wanted and there is so much more good to come.

An excellent time was had here as well with my mom visiting Worcester for a week:

And Katie came to visit for a different week as well. We all had a blast here with deliciously cheap happy-hour seafood, bone-chilling temperatures, bland Dominican food in Massachusetts, nuns racing through the park, endless drives along the cliffy coast, and just plain being together. It had been a few months since I saw Katie, and it made it that much better. Many good times were had and many more million to come.

15 days ’til I return to the big Texas. I really miss the people, but not so much the place.

I guess Texas is the home of my heart and Massachusetts is the home of my brain. The two can coexist in harmony you know:

“… and television on all over the place is leading to a steady dumbing
down of the American public and a corrosion of basic critical thinking in the population.”

- Jamie Raskin, American University law professor, November 2004 on the Democracy Now! radio program

Flickr user sandymichelle

Just this past Sunday I had to kill my television – in the best sense of the word. You know: denounce, unrecognize, and the such. It was really stealing away any free (and productive) time that I had. I mean, the idle brain cells spin out of control and zoning out in front of TV after a long day of work leads to: not caring about what you eat, not thinking critically about other great things in the world, not spending ol’ fashioned time with your family or friends. (Lots of great, original articles about Killing Your TV)

I remember about 4 years ago when I came across a similar “Turn Off Your TV” site online in the form of a podcast. And the 2 people were talking on and on about trans fatty acids. I was so compelled as to what they were saying I remember typing as fast as I could to take notes and replaying parts and looking up health terms and the such. Learning. Critical thinking. Sharing. I went on to write an article in the paper at my school and was excitedly telling everyone about my findings. I continued to look up more and more information – I was addicted to knowledge. Just a few minutes ago, I just finished my meal of baked chicken, couscous, and black bean soup with tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, and garlic. And I know that most of that motivation to eat healthy as I do today came from that little audio finding 4 years back. Now it allows me, 4 years later, a chance for me to just sit and enjoy a meal – in peace and quiet – and experience the flavors of life one by one. Hmm, there was life before TV.

I kept running past the idea that parents talk to their kids about 28 minutes a day while the average adult watches 2.5 hours of television per day. Hmm. What are we doing to ourselves? Now, I’m not being anti-fun here, entertainment is great, and I make it through most of my day with a humorous outlook on life. But I see people ignoring food as they eat, sitting silently among family or friends, just gazing. Paying lots of money – to be advertised to constantly and have this machine suck away brain cells.

Flickr user janz87

I also came across someone who said – if aliens came to visit us and checked out the layout of our homes, they would think the television is some sort of god of ours, as our entire houses are arranged around the careful placement of the television set. And then comes the arguments about using a DVR to save time. Of course, it is better than just mindlessly watching channels and surfing without barriers, but there are other ways to go about getting your fix without paying a crapload (ahem). But I can think of many better things to do anyway! I don’t think you’ll lose sleep at night or have regrets on your deathbed – just wondering and wishing that you you had watched more TV.

Flickr user chrisdonia

On another note, it is awesome to see change and progress going on all around the world, from the recent election all the way down to the small world of fire protection engineering. Every time I watch one of the videos about technology and change in this era – I get all giddy and warm on the inside. It’s true.

There’s a giant conversation going on. And it doesn’t depend on power or money or anything. Just a passion – a want. I think of how one person that I know revamped and forever changed the world of fire modeling by utilizing a couple of free tools to bring together thousands of users who were all previously working in dark corners. I think of how a few scratches I made on a notebook one night turned into a tool that hundreds of fire model users use every week – and I think of the next step, and the next, constantly progressing. I think of those that are “too busy” to participate in this movement and think this is only for nerds and computer people – and how bad I want them to participate.

I came to the conclusion that the two ideas I speak about here are interrelated. Apathy and social sloth. Here’s what I think: no one is any more busy than anyone else. Some of us just want something more strongly than others. And that used to be okay, praised even – when the dark corners were predominant. But now, everything is public – the world pushes upon itself.

Don’t be “too busy” watching TV or sitting out on this big movement – wherever you are or whoever you are. This is big. Join in anytime.

This summer, I have been working in the sticky Houston heat as a fire alarm and security technician once again, because, well, it pays quite a bit more bucks than UHD did for being a lab assistant. And, thanks to my low income over the years of chasing my passions, I need as much cash as I can get ahold of before the big move in three weeks.

The cool part is that I used to work for the same company for 6 years, so jumping right back into the groove after being away for 22 months took all of half a a day to happen. Most of the customers that I were meeting up by commuting all over the city to I had actually visited years before. And even more odd to me, somehow all of the old knowledge was still stuck in my brain, waiting to be used. I’m talking about weird, minute stuff like remembering city code and station IDs (06 3D) or IP addresses (192.168.1.254) of customers that I hadn’t physically been to in over three years. Oddly intriguing how our brains are wired, isn’t it?.

Well, the focus of this post is to present a glimpse of the diverse set of people, minds, and environments that I run across during the regular work week (and you know how much I like diversity of mental inputs and daily stimulation of the senses).

These particular photos are from an adult care home in southwest Houston, in which this tenant was not present at the time, and I can only imagine what is running through her thoughts these days. The organization of the photos and thoughts seem to reflect raw categorization patterns of the mind. And the daily routine list with 14 steps to follow each and every day make me wonder how Josi is doing with her version of time management and self progression in her own version of the world.

It really serves to remind me that relativism is one of the most important concpets for us to wrap our heads around in the world. Relativism as a basis of thought and experiences makes way for a much better, hands-on understanding of forgiveness, happiness, and it also raises our awareness of expectations in the modern connected world.

Well, enjoy the pictures (link to full album) and take a moment to think of what it would be like to live in this room for years and years to come, with your only possessions being these posters and a toy tool bench set placed in the corner of the otherwise bland, white room.

Your sanity would be optional.

Link to full photo album

[Used from KPRC video click2houston.com]

Fire. It’s what I do. And I happen to subscribe to Google News alerts that have “Houston Fire” in the title. Helps me keep in touch with the fire. It also helpingly disturbs me as to what actually goes on outside of the classroom. Really, it’s quite a good way to keep yourself thinking and valuable if you are stuck with that stagnant smell of your job or classes.

Lots of fires happen everyday. Apartment fires always happen. A lot. Three apartment complexes burned to the ground within 48 hours over the past weekend. And then some. This is what I see:

Residents Say They Heard Gunshots Before 3-Alarm Fire

Blaze damages second apartment complex in 24 hours

Fire erupts at SW Houston apartments

Apartment Blaze Damages At Least 16 Units

Apartment fire sends 5 to Hospital

Yes, those are the most recent stories in my warm and cozy feed reader.

When is legislation going to get off of its ass and move at the pace that the rest of us do? When is enforcement going to follow? Sure, I guess we all are biased to the field that we are in and think that it is the most important thing in the world. But seriously, people are dying and losing their homes in the midst of an ocean of politics and code books wasting valuable daylight.

[Picture used from myFoxHouston.com]

A lot of the time, I am an optimist. I see what change has followed the positive move of a community-based and collaborative internet (see video in previous post) in other industries. And then I imagine progress and change happening in our daily lives. I dream of governmental processes being way more open and community-driven than we are used to. I can watch it in real-time, play-by-play happening with larger corporations – as they break down due to the epidemic spread of knowledge and awareness. And I imagine a world where fire sprinklers (technology that has been around for 130 years) and other fire safety systems make fire protection engineers obsolete before my industry has even had a chance to get popular and prestigious.

I suppose what I am saying is that I toil my soul, expand my brain, and work every breathing moment that I can, day-by-day on prediction of fire, contribution to the robust knowledge that we have on fire/combustion, and working using my technical skills. All of this to allow fire documentation, analytical and numerical tools, and scientific information to be available to all people around the world: engineers, scientists, students, and so on. Why? I’d say, in this century and society, I do it to contribute. And I think if just a few other key people did the same, our fire, death, and loss of home problems would vanish at amazing and mind-blowing speeds.

P.S. This thought process isn’t just limited to my field of fire science, but I write about it because it is what I do. Think about your field for a second. Finance, safety, technology, whatever it is. Mentally apply success to the field by working on and tweaking the top 3% of the people, systems, or methods that are in use now. Realize that these top 3% are there due mainly to tradition, and did not get there due to community-driven work.

Keep working at it. Align your work with your values. The change will happen. I’ll be waiting.

Been thinking a lot lately. Exerting myself mentally. Not so much physically. But exercising my mind daily is what I love. If it was this “easy” to exercise physically, well, I would be in well shape. But something drives me to work on projects. Some meaningful, some just practicing and moving my brain cells along the line.

So, this is nothing other than an updating type of post, a snapshot of where my neurons are firing.

1) Been actually practicing typing and using Python everyday. Did you know that the language Python was named after Monty Python’s Flying Circus? Neither did I until finally doing the official tutorial. Why am I practicing typing? I have been using computers since I was about 5, and still I cannot proper type. Sort of embarrassing. Not that though. I just want to type about thinking about typing. This post was written without proper typing. I have finally completed the typing tutor deal on my laptop. And now just need the practice part. I can type at 90+ WPM with this improper style, but the memory obstacle is still there.

That moves me on to Python. Why am I learning yet another language? Well, let me clarify. I am not the master of any one language. Python just seems so sensible to me. Good language to finally master. It comes on every Mac and Linux install. It can do all of my automation tasks that I dearly not need waste time on. Filling out FDS files based on numbers in a CSV file. Searching through PDF files for a server. Or making a post-processor for FDS output files. I love the direct-ness of the language. To print something is “print ‘hello world”. And that’s it. No braces, no output specifiers, no weird containing characters, no declarations, and so on.

2) Finished the Four-Hour Work Week. Amazing book. It is the first book that I am going to buy ever since giving away a huge percentage of my books about six months ago. I am now tasked with actually making something tangible that the rest of the world can use (and will pay for). The book is not just a business book, but a book about lifestyle, travel, and the philosophy of modern culture.

I now have to think about what I can provide to benefit masses of people. Perhaps the biggest thinking outside experiment that I have ever done. This can be difficult for my idealistic mind, but is totally possible. Since I retired in the month of August in 2006, this is certainly a key element in keeping myself financially supported – but avoiding the traps of an 80-hour per week self business. I do hope to develop my website with more FDS videos and info. This website or another, I am not sure. Hobby or “business”, I am not yet sure. Time and experiences will tell.

3) Travel. Need more travel and exploring. The above points will actually help with this in my abstract mind.

4) Graduate school politics. My fire science hero has a terrible relationship with my future grad. school advisor, department, and school. Yay. All I want is meaningful work, and I hope that they all understand that. To think that my next two years of work might be thrown away is 1000x times worse than saying I would never be paid for the work. I will do my best, as always. My future advisor posed the question of why should an entity contribute to an open-source worldwide project who did not fund them directly. Why should he post the “results” for free. This violated one of my primary values in life. I immediately thought of Linux, KDE, Google, and tons of other open source projects that were not directly funded by those agencies themselves but have benefited the lives of millions based on contributed work.

Hell, I have been contributing to the FDS project for “free” for the past three years in whatever way that I can, every single day. I would do it for free – because it is one project of many in the world that is meaningful and benefits the world. It even has the bonus of saving lives through better fire protection design. So, I took that comment with a hard heart and looked back on the past 2 years as I have been earning a McDonald’s salary to teach, research, and contribute to a meaningful project. Priorities.

To leave on a good note, as I should, I have emailed several contacts around the US and the world about future travel and research opportunities. We will see what happens! Have a fantastic week.

My next book and subject to attack: The Four-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss. Why did I get this book? I read his blog which has very original ideas related to successfully taking in massive amounts of information or otherwise controlling the flow of it in order to actually achieve what we all give up ourselves into technology for: a simple and enjoyable life.

Essentially, from what I know about the book and its philosophy is that it will offer ways for you to distance yourself from trading time for money by working on systems for your business instead of doing work directly. He also lays out ways to only check your email a couple of times a day (or in a more recent post, never check your email by teaching other people to think like you and respond for you). There is a theme in his message about outsourcing tedious and time-consuming tasks.

What do I expect out of this book? Well, while it seems a big more geared towards CEOs or entrepreneurs on their way to businessdom, I still know that I can soak in and apply some of his ideas to other random areas of my life. I fear the idea of a businessman hippie although I do enjoy checking and responding to emails throughout my working and playing day; it is seemingly a part of my reputation as a worker/nerd/geek. I also respect professors and professional contacts who will respond to my emails within a few hours, or at least the same day. Any other professional contacts who take longer than a day or two to respond, I can’t really take them seriously in life or in mind – just an effect of growing up in these modern days I suppose.

My thoughts on this topic can be summed up by: laid back and meditative, but idly spinning ideas and communicating to others. Of course, we will see what I actually get out of the book.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the 8-day motorcycle trip through Texas and Mexico:

The trip started with a cloudy but warm day and one of the coolest parts of Sunday’s ride was the stop on Hamilton Pool road over a piece of the Pedernales River. The air was crispy and cool as our three bikes took a rest near the water crossing. The water was a stiff 80 degrees despite the cool air being pushed in by the front. I couldn’t help but wander around the area and ogle at the palette of my favorite natural shades of green to light brown that filled my vision.

After finally getting my heart rate down from the exciting ride and plentiful colors, I couldn’t help but be drawn to a small pile of rocks on a larger stumpy boulder. I invited my father and college mate to join me in interacting with this collaborative work of nature and enjoy the simplicity of a balanced stack of stones.

Before we took off from this wonderful mini-oasis, I couldn’t help but snap a quick picture from the distance. My dad never was one to just give in and go with the human-imposed flow of things:

I jump a day ahead to my next favorite picture: a group of guys just hanging around as we were, looking for different feelings along the trip, facing in different directions, but united by the common blood of exploration and wandering. This is after we had arrived in Ciudad Acuna, just across the border from Del Rio, and tucked away in a restaurant with only one other family partaking in a late dinner in this still but warming town.

Waking up after a comfortable night of rest, I was alarmed by a sound that I need not hear; a sound that would hamper my trip with its natural fury: the sound of rain pouring down outside. I snap up onto the concrete floor, orient myself upwards, and head towards the window, still attempting to establish my balance. As I pull back the heavy curtain/blanket, I realize that the sound is coming from the restroom: the shower. I exhale a breath of refreshment.

I turn on the television and tune into a staticy weather channel as they dictate the wind speeds and air temperatures in slightly familiar packages of Spanish vocabulary. I see ice heading where we should be heading and lists of negative degrees Celsius. After a long walk but a quick breakfast, we head back to the hotel with a looming wonder of where to head next. And before I can even shake the overhanging feeling, we ask the hotel overseer if he can find out when the next bus to Monterrey leaves.

He comes back in about 85 seconds with a small piece of paper that says “Coahuilenses: 10:15 am” and it also has a bus number on it. I look at the clock on the stand right as he calmly tells us, “Esta dejando en cinco minutos. La estacion es una cuadra de esa y tres cuadras de esa.” I look at my friend for a nod of approval, but instead am returned with a look of indecision. The bus is leaving in five minutes and it is seventy-seven dollars for the round trip. My dad gives his regards and gets back on his way to Houston. I excitedly turn back to my friend and ask, “Are you ready to go?” And, well, I’ll let the next picture of the bus bathroom facilities speak for our decision to go or not:

After hitting my head on the bathroom ceiling a few times as I relieve myself, I shuffle back through the tight center aisle on the bus and plop down back in my comfy seat. Three more hours to go. I tire from watching the Spanish dubbed movie at the front of the bus and pry back the heavy curtain separating me from the view outside. Ahh, almost there.

With lots of blanks to be filled in later, after all this is only a best of my favorites picture tour of the trip, I continue on to the next day. After a few good meals and a plethora of broken word exchanges with the locals of Monterrey, me and my friend walk for miles and miles down to check out the mountainside and be immersed in the culture of Mexico. We head off towards the local Santuario de Guadalupe church with no other routes or distractions in mind. Just walking and looking, always having a third eye out for a good picture opportunity.

We notice droves of businesses, banks, and restaurants that are closed on the southerly walk. On a Wednesday? Add this as another odd thought that infiltrates my mind and has to find out the solution by some line of practical reasoning. I keep walking, and thinking. We get closer to the church and just like we crossed into the cold front and had it smack us in the face and torso, we cross into an area with thousands of people lining the streets. Aha, my brain is placing the elementary ideas together in a deductive and airy style: this must be some sort of holiday or festival. We round the corner of the church:

After a fantastic day of pictures, life, travel, experience, culture, food, people… we finally settle down for the night and as I glance in my wallet for our remaining stock of pesos. I pull out six coins and head to the local 7-11 for a round of the night’s entertainment. Paying for a pack of beverages with change has never been so fun, or real, as I realize that we are running down to our last 200 pesos for the trip. Nonetheless, we have a great end to a fantastic day.

The last day leads us between two major roadways in an empty river bed. We walked about 15 miles this day as our brains walked about 1,500 miles as we took in the sights and sounds of this mountainous cityscape.

Soon enough, nightfall comes on our walk back north, and I stop on a bridge to play with the long-shutter speeds on my camera. The massive amounts of vehicle traffic going by make me wonder how people think of these Mexican cities back in the U.S. Sitting atop this pedestrian bridge, I breathe in a cool breath and feel more of my ideas of the world flourishing. I look at the back of the digital camera screen and see how much bright light the aperture has taken in only six seconds, and I wonder how much light and culture the aperture of my eyeball has taken in on that 15 mile walk of the day. My brain and thoughts reassure my heart of the amount as I continue the walk back to the hotel.

Coming back towards the Macroplaza area, I run into a tree lit by Christmas lights and try to capture its fluid glory with the camera as best as I can. The way the lights flow over in a haphazardly fashion is quickly overcome by the soft pulsing and flowing of the blinking pattern. “Why didn’t they wrap the other trees?”, I wonder out loud. But it really serves me well that the one tree there is appearing like it does so peacefully, despite it being surrounded by an inflow and outflow of what looks like 900 cars per minute.

Fast-forward over a six hour bus ride back to Acuna and a long walk back inside the U.S., and I meet a friend while I have my hotel door open to take in the breezy, chilly December air:

On the way back to Houston, we decide to stop by San Antonio for Saturday night and visit with my family. And then, on the way to San Antonio I quickly pull over right before arriving in a small town called Sabinal and their appropriately named river, the Sabinal River. The colors again comfort and appease me. They also remind me whose trip this really was, it was a trip of nature with me just following along as an observer.

Night falls and a cold and clear night sky lights up the great ceiling. I fall asleep in San Antonio on my cousin’s couch from exhaustion and pure vitalization.

The final day comes and I still haven’t had a chance to ground my thoughts. Don’t get me wrong, I can express my thoughts, but my head is in the clouds after so many sources of inspiration on the trip: human and non-human; cultural and intangible. In fact, as I write this on the Tuesday after getting back, I still haven’t really returned to earth. And I love it. Thanks for the trip, Mother Nature and people of the world.

————–

I’ll be posting more mini-stories and topics of the trip in the coming weeks. And I have lots more pictures to share with you. However, if you just can’t wait and wish to cheat, you can view the full album at my Google Picasa Web Album.

Thanks for reading.