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Book Review: A Champion's Mind: Lessons from a Life in Tennis, by Pete Sampras

First let me tell you, I don't really play tennis.  I've tried a couple of times and had a lot of fun, but I don't really know what I am doing.  Still, I really like watching tennis.  I'd probably say it is my favorite game to watch.  I picked up this book after Wimbleton because I was caught up in all of the hype. 

Sampras explains why he succeeded in tennis.  He certainly had the tennis gift, he was disciplined, and he worked hard.  It was fun to read about what motivated him and how he perceived what was happening to him as a tennis player.  For example, during his first grand slam win he was kind of like, "What? I actually am here and I am winning this?"

It is always interesting to see what makes a successful person tick.  And that's why I enjoy reading biographies.  This one was good.

Book Review: Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife, by Eben Alexander M.D.

This was a fascinating non-fiction book.  I had heard about it several times and I understand why.  The premise is this: neurologist is well educated and thinks of the world in scientific terms, he gets very sick and goes into a coma, during the coma he has a near death experience and is engulfed in a spiritual reality, he miraculously recovers and now has an understanding that there is more to life than what he originally thought.  This book is the result of his efforts to explain what happened and what he gained from the experience.  

Some of my favorite passages include an explanation of the higher worlds as he describes it, “The very fabric of the alternate dimension is love and acceptance, and anything that does not have these qualities appears immediately and obviously out of place there.”

And another, “Free will is of central importance for our function in the earthly realm: a function that, we will all one day discover, serves the much higher role of allowing our ascendance in the timeless alternate dimension.  Our life down here may seem insignificant, for it is a minute in relation to the other lives and other worlds that also crowd the invisible and visible universes.  But it is also hugely important, for our role here is to grow toward the Divine, and that growth is closely watched by the beings in the worlds above.”

And one more, “For all of the successes of the Western civilization, the world has paid a dear price in terms of the most crucial component of existence – our human spirit. . . our focus on exponential progress in science and technology has left many of us relatively bereft in the realm of meaning and joy, and of knowing how our lives fit into the grand scheme of existence for all eternity.”

The author describes that some may have difficulty believing his story, but he insists that science and belief in the eternal can co-exist.  His insights are, like I said before, fascinating, especially for an individual who only went to church every now and again and didn’t really have any basis for belief.

Um, mom...

He's growing up so fast he's got a mustache!

Oliver has started getting up from bed, right after we put him to sleep.  He gets up and insists he has to tell us something.  The night before last he wanted to tell me that, well, that - he had to think for a while - and then it came to him.  He wanted to give me a squeeze, i.e. a hug.  It was pretty darn clever/cute.  Then last night he came down and mentioned that he had had one nightmare, which was actually pretty amazing seeing as he was in his bed for only 2 minutes.  He followed up by requesting to watch some television.  The answer was a kind no, and back up to bed he went.

I remember doing the exact same thing as a child.  Getting up, telling mom I needed something when all I really was doing was staying up just a few more minutes.  I even remember hiding behind the couch and watching tv a good while before getting caught or going back to bed for fear of getting caught.

It is neat to watch kids develop and grow. It is funny how no one teaches a child to get out of bed with a faux excuse but each one comes up with it on his own and every kid does it.

A rare moment

Tired kidlets both asleep on a June afternoon. 3:31pm.

The flower garden that keeps on giving

As the summer season continues, we keep discovering new blooms.  I need to get a flower encyclopedia out to learn about everything we've got here.

Birthday fun with gazpacho

We recently celebrated Jess's birthday by visiting a good restaurant downtown.  Grandpa & Grandma watched the kidlets so we could go on our own, just the two of us (thanks!).  My favorite thing we tried was the deliciously fresh watermelon gazpacho with avocado.  I'd like to try to duplicate it in my own kitchen.  After dinner we went home and shared cake with family.  Turns out being 31 is a lot of fun (wahoo! for cheesy but very true poetry).

p.s. you will notice all kinds of paper, letters, and other such scrapes around the house in this photo.  This is our house on a regular basis, as Oliver is in the stage of creating numerous pieces each day, everyday.  I gather it up each evening and place the stuff that hasn't made it to the walls, in a pile on the counter.  I am at the point where I'll have to use the doctor's record policy, that is, only throw things out that have been around for seven years, when it comes to saving stuff.  He'll remember something that he's created two weeks after doing so, and can be bummed to discover I've thrown it out.

Hey there

Ansel is growing and growing.  This cute, smiley guy is 5 months old today.  Hooray!

Farwell Google Reader, hello new RSS reader

Today Google retires its Google Reader service.  And since pretty much all I do on the internet is pay bills, check email, and read blogs, I was sad to hear it.  True, one can still read blogs by typing in the address or using the links (if you've created them in your own blog), but I prefer an RSS feed and so I was on the lookout for one.

My sister is trying Bloglovin'.  And I am going to try Feedly.  It's an experiment of sorts, to see which works best.  Long live blogs!

A month of posts

Final day...who is sick of this?

It was a fun experiment and I hope to post more often. But with google reader going away, will/do people really read blogs anymore?

I will keep at it because I enjoy it.

Without reader, what do people use? I would like to hear.