In my opinion, health of the mind is just as important as health of the body — and in my case, probably more important. I’ve always had a hard time focusing on my objectives, and meditation seems to help me with this. It calms me and seems to help put everything into focus.

That’s my number one reason for practicing meditation, but I’m finding from my limited experiences that it’s not the only thing that I enjoy. For me, meditation opens up a whole new reality. It let’s me see things not only more clearly, but from different perspectives. This leads to things like increased creativity and critical thinking. I don’t even have to mention the spiritual benefits that one can attain through meditation.

I used the term “Zen Meditation” to describe my discipline of choice, but that’s not actually the case. I referenced this particular style of meditation because it’s probably the most well known to Westerners. The truth is, I would like to experiment with all kinds of different meditation styles, i.e., Zen, transcendental, Vipassana, Taoist, mindfulness, and Buddhist. I’m sure there are a lot of styles and techniques I have not yet heard of too. It will be fun to discover these new approaches to meditation and I look forward to experiencing each one of them.

I don’t think I need to explain why it’s important to be healthy, so instead, I’ll tell you why I’m not. Most of my life I’ve remained sedentary and unfortunately, my physical health has suffered as a result. I wouldn’t go as far as saying I was ever obese, but overweight for sure. My eating habits were absolutely awful. My daily pattern went something like this: Eat nothing for breakfast, eat out for lunch (subs, pizza, Chinese, etc…), and then eat an unhealthy dinner, (hotdogs, cheeseburgers, scrambled eggs loaded with cheese, etc…) No fruits, no veggies, only fatty, processed foods. The only thing that saved me from being truly obese was the fact that I didn’t drink soda and I didn’t have a major sweet tooth.

Not only did I lead a sedentary life, and not only did I have the worst diet known to man, but my sleep habits were atrocious too. I would stay up all night, just to wake up only minutes before I had to go to work. I essentially rolled out of bed, took a shower, and went to work. I would repeat this everyday. When I got home from work, I was too tired to do anything. So I’d make a quickest easiest dinner I could make (see above) and plop down in front of the T.V. or my computer. See how vicious this cycle can be?

My goal is to break this cycle. I will eat better and become more health conscience. I will exercise and become more active. My plan is to start the process slowly and add new mini goals as I progress. I know it won’t be easy, but I feel it’s time for a change.

Photography has been something I’ve enjoyed for a while. Like music, this artistic ability doesn’t come so naturally to me. I have my share of decent pictures, but not near as many as I’d like.

Professional photographers have taught me a few things.

1.) Equipment doesn’t matter. When I first started to shoot, I went out and spent a small fortune on camera’s and equipment. I got discouraged when I saw beautiful pictures from people using technologically inferior equipment. Their photos put mine to shame and I didn’t know how this was possible. I had the better camera, the better lenses, and yet all my pictures were simply mediocre at best. Then I realized why…

2.) The only way to become a good photographer is to take pictures. Well duh, that’s obvious, right? What they mean this is, take a lot of pictures, and I mean a lot. That really is the only way to learn. Take thousands of pictures a week; take pictures of everyone and everything; take pictures using different methods and techniques. Just take pictures.

And this is what I’m going to do. I’m going to carry my camera everywhere I go and take pictures of everything I see.

Some people are just born with musical talent — and then there are people like me. I don’t have a musical bone in my body. That’s a shame too, since I love music. So here are my options: succumb to my musical deficiencies and give up on the idea of ever playing an instrument, or dust off my old Yamaha keyboard and jump into the musical fray head first and see what happens. The latter sounds far more glamorous, and I’ve tried the “giving up” routine too many times in my life. It really doesn’t get you anywhere.

I chose the piano as my melodious weapon of choice for a few reasons. The first is because I like the piano. I think that’s important. The second is because it’s practical, mainly because I already own a keyboard, but also because they seem to be easily accessible. And lastly, because it’s such versatile instrument. I like all kinds of music, from rock to blues to jazz to, well, almost anything. The one thing almost all musical genres have in common is the piano. It can be found in just about all musical styles and flavors in some fashion or another.

Don’t get me wrong, I have no aspirations of becoming the next great concert pianist. I just want to be able to play music. It’s that simple; and I think this will be a good place to start.

Writing, to me, could be the ultimate form of expression. Whether it be achieved through poetry, fiction, journalism, essay writing, or even blogging, one can express almost any idea, or stimulate any emotion with the right combination words. The key to success is the ability to master these words. Anyone can pick up a paint brush and slap around some paint, but a true artist will capture the imaginations of others. The same goes for writing. Here I sit, blasting away on my keyboard, attempting to convey to you my thoughts on why I want to become a better writer. My writing, however, lacks polish; it lacks finesse. It’s very rough in my opinion, and the words flow out of me like muddy water through a spicket. My hope is to change this.

I would love to be able to write a thought provoking essay like Paul Graham, or tell the story of a character, so compelling, that when you reach the final pages of the story, you can’t help but feel saddened. As if you were saying goodbye to a good friend. Now that’s talent. That’s how I want to write.

I’ve always been intrigued by Russia’s vast history and diverse culture. Out of all the countries in the world, I couldn’t tell you why it’s Russia that I’ve always felt so drawn to. Perhaps it’s the Russian people. They’ve always struck me as a strong and proud people who have stood resilient in the face of adversity, century after century. Perhaps it’s their culture and rich heritage that I connect with so easily. What ever the reason may be, Russia has been a topic of interest for me for years now. The same goes for the Russian language. Like its people, the language resonates strength and pride, yet at the same time is altogether beautiful. Even Russia’s Cyrillic alphabet evokes a sense of lore and charisma.

Couple this with the fact that I’ve always wanted to learn a second language and it’s like a match made in heaven.

До свидания

I’ve always been interested in computer programming, scripting, and coding in general. Over the years, I’ve dabbled in C, C++, Basic, and Visual Basic, but none of these really ever captured my attention, and I never really got past the basics of each language. On the Internet side of things, I’m fairly proficient in html/xhtml and CSS, and have a healthy smattering of PHP and JavaScript. I think I have a decent foundation to take the plunge into a full-fledged programming language.

So why did I choose Python? It was an easy decision. Here are some of the factors that helped me make my final choice.

• Great community
• Mature language
• Great syntax
• Huge library / lots of modules
• Extremely portable
• Open Source
• Support, support, support
• Google uses it (nice reference)
• Great for WebDev (which is primarily what I’m going for)

Some of the runner’s up were Ruby, PHP, Java, C++, and Lisp. One of the most important lessons that I took away from my research was this: a programming language is just another tool in your toolbox. The best programmers have a vast array of tools in their toolbox. With that said, there may be a time when I go back and study those other languages. Until then…


print "Hello Python"
Hello Python