Personal

I’m currently subscribed to 13 (coincidence) podcasts, three via NPR and a few other NPR-style programs like KCRW’s Left, Right and Center. Of them, my favorite is NPR’s Most Emailed Stories, a daily assortment of “the best of Morning Edition, All Things Considered and other award-winning NPR programs,” based on reader recommendations.

Their “This I Believe” series of essays is often a good read/listen, and yesterday’s episode featured Randy Komisar, the author of The Monk and the Riddle, and a self-described former “typical Type-A: an ambitious Harvard lawyer on the rise who [moved] to Silicon Valley during the go-go years to help start and run a succession of companies.”

I reinvented my work around creativity. I love entrepreneurs and innovation, and I decided to piece together a new role working with entrepreneurs to help them create the future.

This of course was a challenge. I was used to the story being about me, but now it was about them. I was most successful when I faded into the woodwork and my protégés took the limelight.

This seemingly small nuance turned out to be the door that let in the whole world. It was not just making room for the people I worked with, it was making room for everything — my family and friends, a dog’s bark, a warm breeze, the crackle of lightning.

Certain Eastern philosophies interpret the world as a blend of Form and Emptiness. Form is the world we know through our five senses — the world of struggle and suffering. But Emptiness is not what it seems. To the senses it is a void, but when the senses retreat in confusion, Emptiness illuminates with compassion and insight.

In truth we live in both worlds and I believe that it is the ability, the willingness to bridge these worlds until they are one — to engage both mind and heart — that makes this life so precious.

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I’m an information junkie and the Internutz is a magical web of information, useful and otherwise, that I can lose myself in for hours at a time. Wikipedia, of course, is an information junkie’s cyber-crackhouse, with useful entries on almost anything you can think of — except, oddly, “Guy LeCharles Gonzalez” (someone needs to fix that!) — and a friend of mine discovered my latest favorite, “Black and Tan“, which includes an impressive list of variations on the theme, including:

Black & Black : A blend of Guinness Extra Stout and Guinness Draught
Black & Orange: Stout and pumpkin ale
Black Magic: Half Guinness and Half Magic Hat #9

Generally speaking, a Black & Tan should only be made with Guinness Stout, but Cape Ann Brewing Company‘s Fisherman’s Pumpkin Stout is a good substitute for Black & Orange.

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121 On the eve of my 39th birthday (aka 13 x 3!), it's probably a good idea to take a step back from the craziness of the past few months, inhale deeply, focus on the many good things, and then exhale deeply....Ah!We're off to a mini-getaway this weekend that includes the Renaissance Faire, my first time. We watched A Knight's Tale with the kids a couple of weekends ago and they were fascinated by the whole thing -- India cheering on Sir Ulrich von Lichtenstein of Gelderland's battles was hilarious! -- so it should be lots of fun. Salomé has…