CURRENT MISSION

to be friendly and keep things simple and light

ABOUT ME

Born and raised on a small farm in Northern California. My mother had just arrived from Japan and raised me the old way - hard work, integrity, thrift, family, church, and school. Since the farm, I've been to different parts of the world when I served in the Air Force ... and still seeing new places.
My tennis pro, Bobby Hrdina helped me learn some zen concepts - not to strain myself with extraordinary effort but to relax and release naturally - whether hitting a tennis ball or meeting new people. Along the same lines, the excercise guide says "Activate your core"

PHILOSOPHY

A man visting Poland met with a famous Rabbi. Seeing that the Rabbi lived in a simple room consisting of a single table, bench, and piles of books, he asked, "Rabbi, where is your furniture?". "Where is yours?" replied the Rabbi. "Mine, but you see, I'm only passing through." "So am I", said the Rabbi. "So am I".
- Living on Purpose, Dan Millman

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I've met such great CS folks and couldn't refuse when invited to participate.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Marcin stayed with us in San Diego and that was just a very pleasant experience.

Interests

tennis, traveling, reading, movies, computing, spending time with family, friends, and coworkers

• books
• shopping
• thrifting
• flowers
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• tennis
• tourism

Music, Movies, and Books

The TV Series: 'Paper Chase', law students with a very admirable mentor in Prof Kingsfield. Kingsfield motivates students by creating a very challenging environment, having high expectations, and withholding praise. About the highest praise he will give is, "it's adequate".
Movie: 'Hoosiers' with Gene Hackman as a great coach.
Movie: 'The Paper' Micheal Keaton has a very exciting job
Book: The historical fiction, 'Musashi' by Eiji Yoshikawa, about a real but larger than life samurai who doggedly purued the way of the sword
Book: Any book by Jeff Shaara

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Dec 29, 2008. Hakamaeri (visiting the cemetary) in Wakayama, Japan. First we needed flowers. With my cousin, Keiko and my aunt, we went to the market to get flowers. My aunt sorted out the best budding flowers. $20 for about 10 flowers. But this flower shop didn't have the baby's breath or whatever those green plants are called. I thought this is a lot of trouble for flowers for a gravesite. We got the green plants and then Keiko said she forgot the special green plants she bought in Koyasan, (a world heritage monestary two hours away by train), so we went home to get those 'special' plants. It was already an hour since we had first left and I thought this was going to be ten minute trip. 'Hakamairi wa taihen' I said to Keiko ('visiting the grave is exhausting' or something like that). We finally got to the cemetary and Keiko's mother started scrubbing her husband's tombstone, which was about four foot tall marble block, shiny, and sitting on top of a larger marble base, so it is shaped like a sky scrapper (I thought the marble was already clean even before they started scrubbing). She raked the grounds around the tombstone. She is 79 years old, hunch-backed so doing anything is hard for her. She set up the flower arrangement display. It took about 20 minutes to do all this.
Keiko's mother showed me a stand for cigarettes on the tombstone. She said Machan (her son) lights a cigarette for his father whenever he comes here, because his father liked to smoke.
I feel a lump in my throat because suddenly this isn't like visiting a grave in the US. How he must miss his father. How it seems to them that their father's spirit is right here. Their dead father is remembered so strongly, so reverently and respectfully, I began to understand why we spent so much time and effort getting the flowers this morning.
It's a very bright sunny December day at the cemetary. There are a lot of trees and a temple. It's very serene and maybe one of the best locations in the city - another measure of how their dead are revered.
Keiko and her mother tell me that Bachan (my grandmother) would appreciate my visiting her grave, since it's been about ten years since I last visited her.
After I help clean my grandmother's tombstone, I light three incense sticks. I remember Bachan's laughing face, wrinkled and her eyes so merry. I liked her and they say she liked me.
I put my hands together to pray. I say, 'hi, Bachan'.
I can feel her presence. My eyes get watery.
It's a morning well spent during my one week stay in Japan. Visiting the cemetary, I got a better understanding of what's important in Japan.

Teach, Learn, Share

Adam Smith in the Wealth of Nations said that wealth is based on three things, freedom, competition and justice. He also said self-interest will cause the larger population to benefit also. A farmer maximizing his production and profit benefits his country by increasing its gross national product. Smith's premise is that wealth is not a zero sum game like eating a pie, where in order for you to have an extra piece someone has one fewer piece. As the farmer spends his wealth, he makes others wealthier as well.

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