Week 3, Day 7

For the body:
Today was an official day of rest from my formal exercise program. However, I think I burned calories by vacuuming the house and dusting, doing dishes and 4 loads of wash. I also took our basset, Zeke, out for a walk to smell the wildlife.

For the mind:
I got bogged down in some nearly incomprehensivle chapters in Beyond AI involving evidence grids, bayesian networks and seguing into designing for a brain. I forged my way through and found myself in somewhat more understandable territory describing the different stages of AI: hypohuman, diahuman, parahuman, allohuman, epihuman and hyperhuman. Several more chapters to go.

On the lighter side, I listened to another Escape Pod podcast, entitled "Conversations with and about my Electric Toothbrush" by Derek Zumsteg. Zany, spectulative science fiction at its best, deliniating the plight of a poor electric toothbrush with higher aspirations for itself and its human owner. The iTunes store emailed me about another new podcast, the Classic Tales Podcast. I grabbed all 8 episodes and listened to "The cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allen Poe. We had a very old bound set of Poe when I was growing up and I have hazy memories of the tale. The narrator, B.J. Harrison, does a fantastic job of bringing it to life.

For the spirit:
I've been listening to various dharma talks from The InterDependence Project and sat for 20 minutes of breath meditation. I also reminded my husband to move the old television off my meditation cushion and put it anyplace else.

Week 3, Day 5

For the mind:
I indulged myself by listening to two short science fiction stories at Escape Pod. One was a five minute flash story entitled, "The God of the Goblins" by Eric Marin. The other was a 20 minute story called "Implications" by James C. Bassett. I find that I still love being read to, as my parents used to do many years ago.

For the body:
I walked about 30 minutes today, going from the jail to Wayne Behavioral Health Network and back to pick up my paycheck, etc. Because it had been raining and the skies looked like they might let loose another downpour at any time, my co-worker, Diane, drove at the rate of 2 mph by my side in case I suddenly needed a rescue from the rain. What are true friends for, anyway?

For the sprit:
I found another website on mindfulness meditation, The Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA. There I found a 12 minute guided meditation on the breath, body and sound awareness.