Robert Thurman interview

At long last, here is the interview with Robert Thurman... this is the one that was at the Boulder Theater event I was involved in. Enjoy!





elevision - Robert Thurman: Why the Dalai Lama Matters from elevision on Vimeo.

Rested, relaxed... and even more reasons to eat local and organic

It's finally over. The Elevision: Free Tibet ended up being a lot of fun, and I think pretty successful as well. We had something like 400-500 people there, and the event seemed to flow pretty smoothly. I've previously mentioned how great Robert Thurman was; add both Robert Schmidt and James Gimian to the Great People To Meet and Know list. I didn't get a chance to have Bob Schmidt sign anything, but I definitely got James Gimian to sign my copy of The Rules of Victory.

I took yesterday to do nothing. Kyle went to a friend's house, so I had the place to myself. I did yoga, some meditation, read a few chapters of The Unfolding Now by A. H. Almaas, and watched The Simpsons (of course!). I considered either leftovers or going out for dinner, then decided to stay at home and make myself a nice meal, so I grilled a steak,and some onions (sweetened with sucanat, a more natural form of brown sugar), and also grilled some potatoes coated with olive oil and parmesan cheese, then washed it down with some raw milk. VERY tasty!

(The above pic is of Robert Schmidt and me at the Boulder Theater; the one below is of James Gimian and me outside the theater.)

After that, I watched King Corn. If you haven't seen this movie, it's basically about two men who decide to grow an acre of corn and follow it after discovering that they (and subsequently most of us) are primarily made of corn (since "we are what we eat" is quite literally true). I was shocked by several things, and am even more glad that I eat local and organic food, including the meat that I buy and feed my family.

I was quite surprised to find out that most of Europe does not import chicken from the United States since it is rinsed in chlorine in an effort to kill pathogens due to the way we raise and process our chicken.

Considering how often we've had food recalls over the past two years (tomatoes, beef, spinach, etc., etc.), I am more and more grateful to the farmers at the Boulder Farmers Market for what they do... every time there is a recall, I know I can continue eating, secure in knowing that my food is safe. The more I know, the more convinced I am that local and organic is the way to go when choosing food for my family and for me.

An amazing 24 hours and the countdown has begun!

I think I mentioned that I was going to be attending a teaching and talk by Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. It was last night; I went and it was outstanding. I really enjoyed the talk, even though I did get incredibly nervous when actually talking with him afterwards.

Tonight I had a chance to meet and chat with Prof. Thurman at the Tattered Cover bookstore. He's amazing. VERY laid back and warm, and his talk was very entertaining: funny as well as full of great information. He talked about quite a few things, but focused on Tibet and his book, of course. I had him sign my copy after the talk, since I figured I'll be so busy tomorrow that I'll forget. (The goal will then be remembering to have James Gimian sign my copy of his book.) Fortunately, I was no where near as nervous meeting him, which was great. I am really glad that I committed to helping out with this event. It's been a HUGE amount of work, but after listening and talking with him tonight, it's been totally worth it. If you are at all on the fence about attending, then get the ticket- it'll be totally worth it.

It's hard to believe that come Thursday morning it will be over. It's going to be a little strange not having to wake up and head off to Boulder; to not have to check my Elephant Journal emails every five minutes... it's going to be odd to be able to kick back and BREATHE!!

The deep breath before the storm

Some time ago, I mentioned that my raw milk delivery had started. One of the niftiest bonuses of that is access to raw cream. I got my first order of raw cream this past weekend, and got inspired to make some creme brulee. I don't know why I don't make it more often... it's ridiculously easy to make, and hey, I get to play with a blow torch! At any rate, I made it, and it came out the most AMAZING sunlight golden color I've ever seen from a creme brulee. It was beautiful to look at, and the flavor was both delicate and rich at the same time... the perfect match of decadence. Next time, I'm making a double batch. :-)

Tonight is a night of (relative) quiet for me. Tomorrow I have to be sure to post my review of Why the Dalai Lama Matters by Robert Thurman, then I head to the Elephant office to get some work done for Wednesday's event. Waylon (publisher of Elephant) is taking me to sushi for dinner (ROCK!!!) since I'm going to stay for the Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche's teaching later that night. Tuesday, I'm off to the Tattered Cover to touch base with Prof. Thurman, who will be there doing a talk and book signing in Denver, then Wednesday is the Elevision event.

Read an article recently discussing how yoga, meditation, and the like affect a person on the genetic level, which is just really amazing and cool. It couples nicely with another article I read not too long ago discussing a study that was done indicating that a healthy diet and exercise also affects an individual on the genetic level. I KNEW this stuff was good for me... now I find out that it's good for me all the way down to my genes, too. Nifty. All the more reason for me to remain committed to my lifestyle, and to be sure to reinforce it with the kids on the climbing team.

July 20 already. I go back to work in less than a month. Ack!! Where has the time gone?! I still haven't finalized my thoughts on the book club, there's my Smart Board to play with yet, and I have only gone climbing ONCE this whole summer!!

Nifty video and book review link

Just finished reading The Rules of Victory: How to Transform Chaos and Conflict: Strategies from the Art of War by James Gimian and Barry Boyce. GREAT book. I posted a review of it here. The really cool thing is that James Gimian is one of the featured guests at the Elevision event I've been blathering on about for the past few weeks. I'm definitely going to get him to sign it. Today I started reading Light Comes Through by Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche (and I'm also reading Why the Dalai Lama Matters by Prof. Robert Thurman). I'll have reviews of both of those up soon. On Monday, I'll be attending a book talk and signing with Rinpoche, and I'm looking forward to that a great deal. Then of course, there is Amazing Wednesday....

For those of you that have been wondering just what I mean by Elevision, check out this nifty video. Only a few days to go! Wow... has it been almost a month?

Elevision update!

The Elevision: Free Tibet event just keeps getting better and better. Not only is Robert Thurman the guest of honor, but now James Gimian, publisher of Shambhala Sun and Buddhadharma magazines and co-author of The Rules of Victory is also going to be there; and if that wasn't enough, Robert Schmidt from the band, Flogging Molly is going to be there too! In addition to the interview, Schmidt is going to treat us to some music as well, which is super cool. I really can't wait!

I've also decided to step it up on the eco front. I've taken to carrying a travel mug with me so I no longer have to use to-go mugs for my coffee, tea, etc. That's my new rule: no to-go mugs. I either use my travel mug, have it there, or don't have it at all. I already carry a water bottle with me everywhere, so this isn't that much of a step. I bought some To-Go Ware a while back, now I have to find it (so much of my life is still in boxes). Once I do, the rule expands to no using plastic forks, etc and when/if I get any food "to go" it has to go in the To-Go Ware containers. Like I've said before, living mindfully isn't convenient sometimes, but it is worth the effort every single time.

Busy, busy day

Wow... what a day. Up at 6:20 and off to the Farmers' Market to pick up the things I needed for the week. We got there early enough that I was able to relax with a cup of coffee and a muffin before hitting the farm stands. Then it was back home to get Kyle and Blake off to work; I then went and got the Elevision: Free Tibet flyers printed and cut so I could pass them out at the World Tibet Day celebration in Boulder. After that, it was back home for a quick shower (riding a bike in 95+ degree heat has a way of making one sweaty and smelly), and bring Kyle his lunch. Blake only had to work part of the day, so I picked him up and took him with me off to Boulder. The World Tibet Day event was great. I got the chance to meet the President of the Tibetan Association of Colorado, Tenzin Dhongyal, who graciously took time to chat about the Elevision event even though he was incredibly busy at the time.











We missed the Tibetan Folk Dancers, which was too bad, but we did get to see Boulder Taiko HIBIKI perform. I LOVE Taiko performances, and theirs was great.















Blake even got the chance to try his hand at Taiko drumming. Since he's a drummer, he said it was pretty easy for him.













Meanwhile, Kyle was busy at work, baking in the hot sun... poor guy.


Check it out!! After a few burps and false starts, my raw milk delivery started today... this is me with my first two half gallons... woohoo!
















And all of this before 4:00... like I said... busy, busy day! :)

Working at the office

Spent the day at the Elephant office trying to get my email configured correctly (still hasn't happened... grrr....) and in general working on things for the Elevision event with Robert Thurman later next month. It was a decently productive day, but would have been much more so had I gotten that goofy email working.

One thing has become definite fact. The best way to get around Boulder is NOT by car. I've made the decision that whenever I go to Boulder, that I'm just going to park the car in one spot and spend the rest of the day on my bike. Blake and I were able to get around Boulder faster by bicycle, and we were having a LOT more fun doing it.

I even got a spiffy new shirt today (the one I'm wearing in the picture), a new yoga video to review and some NEW BOOKS to review as well! New books!!! WOOHOO!!!

Yeah... umm... so my summer reading list has broken the 100 book count, I think. And no... that's NOT a bad thing at all! Of course, the only real down side is that I might not get a whole lot of time to do a lot of reading until after the Elevision event, but then again, I always seem to find time to read, no matter what else is going on! ;-)

The other cool event of the day is that Blake got invited to blog for Elephant. He's super stoked, and I'm pretty proud of him as well. I missed hanging out with Kyle today since he stayed home and kicked back for the day, but tomorrow is Farmers' Market day, so we'll get to spend some time together then. (Yay!)

Elevision with Robert Thurman

Yesterday I found out that Robert Thurman is going to be in Boulder on July 23rd for a book signing and interview on Elevision, a talk show done by Elephant Journal, at the Boulder Theater. I've been familiar with who he is (aside from being Uma Thurman's dad) for about two years now, and while I often thought about how great it would be to meet and talk with him, I never really considered it in the realm of possibility... until today. As soon as I found out about the event, I emailed Waylon Lewis, the publisher of Elephant Journal, and volunteered my help with the event. Today, Waylon called me and asked me how soon I could make it to Boulder so he could sit down with me and talk about the event and how I could help. I had to help out a neighbor with getting a washer, dryer, and dining room table into her house, but once I did that, it was off to Boulder. Waylon, Blake, and I sat down, and by the end of the meeting, I was pretty much in charge of the event! I even get free yoga with Richard Freeman at the Yoga Workshop out of it, so that's SUPER cool. If you are interested in the event, by the way, here's the link to it.

Needless to say, I'm really excited about this opportunity. I've done promotions and marketing work when I lived back East, so I have a good bit of experience doing this type of thing, but this one is different. I'm really excited about the possibility of meeting and talking with Prof. Thurman; I really never thought it would happen, and I'm really glad it is. I'm definitely going to get a copy of his new book and ask him to sign it and see if he would also be willing to sign the copy of another book of his that I have. (Yeah, I know... totally geeky and fanboy, but hey, I'm pretty geeky and even I have my fanboy moments.)

While I was in Boulder, Blake and I stopped by Tee and Cakes, based on a blog entry Waylon posted on the Elephant Journal site. They have some MIGHTY tasty cupcakes, let me tell you!!! Not too sweet, and the frosting was nice and light... YUMMY!

This has been a pretty crazy summer... I'm still hoping to get out climbing SOON. Waylon has never been climbing outdoors, and he really wants to go, so I have one more reason to get my butt out there. At least my bike is getting put to good use!!