unimportant daily life kind of stuff

At the bargaining training we did some simulations. One was a game that went like this: two teams of people, each person has to contribute $2. 60% of the teams money is given back to the team, while 40% goes into the "World Bank". Each team gets twenty cards with x's on one side and blank on the other, and start with all twenty cards with x's up.. The two teams are put in separate rooms and cannot see or hear what the other team does. One game has ten rounds. In each round, each team chooses to turn over 0,1, or 2 cards. If the game lasts all ten rounds, at the end the teams get money from the World Bank based on how many of their cards they have facing blank side up. On the other hand, a team could choose to attack the other team at any time up to the 9th round and then collect money directly from that team based on how many more x's they have face up than the team they attack. So, for example, if we attack and the other team has 10 x's still up but we have 15 x's still up, we could get money from their pot based on having five more x's. The object of the game is to get the most money possible for your team. Now, attacking earns more money than sitting the whole ten rounds, but if you destroy trust with the other team they can burn you and both teams lose out, etc. The teams are allowed to send negotiators to meet each other in a separate location, never seeing each other's cards, but just to discuss strategy and either be honest or lie about what they're doing, etc. Anyway, we played that three games and it was really interesting how trust and negotiation comes into play. You try to convince the other team to turn cards to blank so you both can win instead of attacking, in which case they could get more money but no trust is built and then you would try to burn them later, etc.

We also simulated an actual negotation between a district and teacher's union and tried to come to agreement while meeting our constitutents' needs and demands without ending up in a strike. We didn't quite make it, but we learned a lot.

Last night mom and I went with my sister-in-law and her kids to the movies. We wanted to pick a kid's movie so we saw Bad News Bears. Um, bad idea. Definitely not a kids movie - more foul language and adult situations than any movie I've been to in a loooooonnng time. But we didn't know.

Just one more Madrassah class this session. I like the kids a lot. I am not sure yet how things will be different for the fall session. I was waffling again about if I'm going to be able to manage it when school starts - I don't think people grasp how difficult that really is - but then someone gave me an anonymous gift of $50 toward my gas expense, God bless them - encouraging me to stick to it at least for now insha'allah.

Next Saturday afternoon my mom and dad are throwing a little party for my brother and I for getting our Master's Degrees. Those of you who live in this area may be getting an invitation in the mail soon. We are definitely not an entertaining kind of family - meaning we don't do a lot of party-throwing (read - zero), etc., so this is quite the big deal for us. Mom is thinking pop and desserts kind of thing. I've never done anything like this so I'm actually kind of excited but I've no idea what to expect, like I don't know who will come or what will happen, etc.

Man I can't believe school is about to start - kind of a bummer. Trying to get psyched up for it but I'm not succeeding at that just yet.

My parents have DVR - you can record shows that you're not home for or that are on at the same time, etc., or even replay/pause TV etc. They've had it for months and keep singing its praises so I broke down and decided to try it as it isn't too terribly expensive. Cheaper than Netflix anyway, and I was always having those movies sit there and sit there when I did that.

My youngest niece turned 7 today. I got her a Shel Silverstein book and Roald Dahl book - two of the world's greatest children's authors imho - and some bubbles. My mom took her shopping earlier in the week to pick out clothes and a doll. I guess my niece really liked that - I don't think she'd ever been taken shopping by herself before, being the youngest of three - and mom said she talked up a storm. It is interesting how kids are different when they're all together compared to when you are with them just one on one.

I'm home

Just got back from Breckenridge a little bit ago. Glad to be back! Training on bargaining was great. I like bargaining and am better at it than I realized, alhumdooleluh. I had a lot of fun with the "union gang" - they told the waiter it was my birthday so he'd give me free desert and they'd sing happy birthday to me as a joke; when we were in LA the same thing happened accidentally to another guy and they did it to me this time. Lots of good humor. I'm worn out right now and glad I went.

Breckenridge

In a few hours, insha'allah, I'm leaving for Breckenridge, due back home late Thursday/early Friday. Up there I am supposed to be attending collective bargaining training offered by the teacher's union. I have found the teacher's association training always to be good, alhumdooleluh; often applicable in multiple settings, and often with credit available for pay scale advancement.

In my prayer spot I have a big pile of prayer books, at times I think they are my most valuable possessions because of the beauty and opportunity contained in them. Now trying to pack it is hard to decide which to bring with me. It is a bit harder to pray in a shared hotel room with the same joy and concentration and devoted time (or lack thereof, but at least the attempt, insha'allah).

After a long hiatus, I recently started trying to regularly do Imam Sajjad (as)'s duas for each day of the week and also the daily ziyarats as part of a program I'm trying to adopt for myself insha'allah. I think a long time ago I did the daily duas but didn't have the daily ziyarats. I'll say that it is a much more complete and fulfilling experience with the ziyarats included, although the duas are wonderful. The book I'm using also has the daily naqsh. I'd love to learn more about those - they seem so mysterious! Anyone know more about them?

Last night I caught the last half of David Blaine's new magic special on TLC. It was really interesting; he was travelling to remote places to visit cultures that had some sort of association with magic and he was doing magic to entertain them and communicate with them; it came across as a very nice human sort of charity, like an expression of unity. But I don't know what I think about magic, I don't think it is all a good thing for sure, all I can say is he is very good at what he does.

down week

Well I enjoyed a down week this week. I didn't do a whole lot, that feels very good sometimes. I am still liking my new gym, Slim and Tone quite a bit. I am optimistic that this time around I can really get fit again, insha'allah.

Next week during the week I am supposed to be up in Breckenridge for bargaining training (negotiating contracts). Then it is practically time for back to school - basically one more full or mostly full week off then all the teacher stuff starts up again.

I've decided, based upon your advice, to try to continue with the madrassah when it restarts the next session during the school year. But I will be honest that I may have to miss sometimes due to traffic, weather, work, life, and that I am not sure how it will go for the long term. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Seeing as its a down week I just don't have a lot to say I would share here right now. I hope everyone enjoys what is left of summer!

May have seen this before: Triple Filter Test

The Triple Filter Test


People often wonder why some people have such great friends and manage to keep them ... If you manage to apply the following in your life, the same could work for you:

In ancient Greece, Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem.

One day an acquaintance met the great philosopher and said, "Do you know what I just heard about your friend?"

"Hold on a minute," Socrates replied. "Before telling me anything I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test."

"Triple filter?"

"That's right," Socrates continued. "Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you're going to say. That's why I call it the triple filter test. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"

"No," the man said, "actually I just heard about it and..."

"All right," said Socrates. "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?"

"No, on the contrary..."

"So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him, but you're not certain it's true. You may still pass the test though, because there's one filter left: the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?"

"No, not really."

"Well," concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?"

This is why Socrates was a great philosopher & held in such high esteem. If we are able to protect our friends and those we love in this manner, we cannot be influenced by outsiders in having bad notions about them.

What is your opinion?

Should I continue to teach Madrassah on Saturdays when school starts up again?

Pros:

1. I like the students.
2. I get to be around other Shias just a little bit.
3. Maybe it is a good deed.

Cons:
1. Commute is very long - and with COSMIX (interstate expansion project) kicking in it may go from an hour to twenty each way to two hours, and if weather is bad it could also be longer, etc.
2. Cost of gas - my gas expense has doubled since I started doing it and I don't have contingency budget for it so it comes out of other budget things.
3. Time and work load - It would mean a six-day full work week, basically; which may be hard to keep up with.

No Ultramarathon but 12 miles is still a lot

This morning mom and I went for a bike ride. I think the total distance was probably about seven miles. Wow, hills are sooo hard especially when they keep going and going. I don't know how Lance Armstrong does it!

Then my brother's kids wanted to go geocaching. I picked out one near my gym since I wanted to stop by there and order something. It was at Ute Trails Park up by Eagleview Middle School. Beautiful beautiful trail, slightly reminiscent of Palmer Park. But, the suggested parking spot was far from the cache. However, cliffs seem to prevent a significantly closer spot without going onto private property. So, while the cache was about 1.15 mi as the crow flies, our round trip hike ended up being about five miles. At the end we were really hurrying, too, because it looked like we were about to get caught in a major rain storm. Poor little Sammy the youngest was crying because she was just so tired. But she still enjoyed it overall - they like caching. Next, we did the list of the three library caches, this one at Penrose Library downtown. Very fast and easy, especially compared to the trek we'd just had. But, it is a microcache which isn't as much fun for the kids - they really like to trade toys at the caches so traditionals are definitely their favorites.

Mom and I saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It is so hard to compare to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. It is easier to compare to Roald Dahl's book - it is more faithful to the book. There are some songs in this one by the oompa loompas that I thought were terrible compared to the first film. In the previews Depp's Wonka creeped me out a bit but aside from Charlie he was my favorite character, quite funny in an odd way. The other children were okay - the original Veruca Salt I felt was much better in the first film. The new Charlie is better. The two Willy's are incomparable, both were good but completely different. The glass elevator is cool. No Snogwarts and Snively (at least very little) in this one, I kind of liked them in the first film. A few other things are different but I won't give more away. Oompa Loompas are definitely different. Everything is the different and the same - if you see it you'll know what I mean.

--
It is narrated that Imam Zainul Abideen (as) has said:

The richest of people is [one] who is satisfied with
what Allah has
chosen for him.

Tuhaf al-Uqoul
The Masterpieces of the Intellects
Page 327 Hadith Number 5
Compiled by Abu Muhammad al-Hassan bin Ali bin
al-Hussein bin Shuba
al-Harrani
Translated by Badr Shahin

Silverton Ultramarathon

When I was in high school I thought I might want to do something like this one day. Now I have different dreams.

Now, I'd be one of those who doesn't see the point of risking one's life for sport. But there are some appealing aspects to it, too - the accomplishment, the beauty, the spirituality that can be involved in a task like this.

"No one is in greater state of loss, is viler, or is lower than the person who does not believe what his Lord has guaranteed for him and allotted him before He created him. In spite of that, this person relies on his own strength, management, effort and striving and goes beyond the limits of his Lord by seeking ways and means which Allah swt has caused him to have no need of." - Imam Sadiq (as)

I can see that sometimes in sport, in ruthless capitalism, etc. People assume they accomplish things themselves and have power they don't have and they use it wasteful pursuits or in monetary gain at the expense of others, etc.

Jul 14, 12:13 AM EDT
OUT THERE: Mountain-filled ultramarathon pushes the limits of body and mind

By JOHN MARSHALL
AP Sports Writer

SILVERTON, Colo. (AP) -- The legs come in wobbly, weary and occasionally sturdy, many striped with scrapes and scratches, most caked in dirt. The faces are contorted in pain or glowing with joy, most raining sweat, some streaming tears.

The shoulders tell a story, too, drooping from exhaustion or thrust back in pride, each rolling to a different cadence.

But the eyes are where the truth of The Hardrock Hundred lies.

Narrowed in determination, never wavering from the finish line, the eyes of those who finish the Hardrock are like portals into the soul of someone searching for a higher spiritual plane through physical and emotional exhaustion. Getting to that finish line is the only verification they need to know it's worth the anguish.


"I've always sort of thought that at Hardrock you sort of live your entire life in a single day," said Roch Horton, a five-time finisher. "You'll be the happiest you'll ever be in your entire life, whenever that was, here at Hardrock. And the most ragged, lowdown, just desperate, decrepit, degenerate, sore - you're going to feel that, too, in one day, all in one continuous experience.

"I don't know anything quite like this."

Because there isn't.

There are plenty of 100-mile races and many are in the mountains, but few match the Hardrock's brutality.

Steeper, over more rugged terrain and at a higher altitude than any other ultramarathon, the Hardrock is a diabolical combination of physical fitness, mountaineering, wilderness navigation, stamina and willpower.

The race starts here in Silverton at 9,305 feet and climbs from there, covering nearly 66,000 feet of elevation change - 32,992 up and the same distance down. There are 13 passes of at least 12,000 feet - 14,048-foot Handies Peak is the high point - and much of the course is above timberline, on the bare rock (and snow) of the southern Colorado Rockies.

The runners run, walk, crawl and sometimes limp along cliffs, through forests, over avalanche debris and snowfields, across fast-moving creeks and rivers, and up slopes that would give mountain goats fits.

Think of it as a stage in the Tour de France, only there's 13 straight Category 1 passes, all in little over a day, all on foot.

"When you're 56 miles into a race, are you really happy?" asked Karl Meltzer, who won this year's race in 28 hours, 29 minutes. "You kind of are, if you're feeling good. If you aren't, you're feeling miserable."

The race begins at 6 a.m. with a gym full of alpha personalities smiling, joking and taking pictures. After a few hugs and kisses and plenty of pats on the back, the runners take off down the gravel streets of Silverton as dawn glows off the craggy snow-speckled peaks, then breaks over the Animas River Valley.

But serenity has a short shelf life at the Hardrock.

After clearing the outskirts of town and a short jaunt along the river, the race course punches the runners in the gut with a seven-mile, 4,000-foot climb to Dives-Little Giant Pass. The runners descend 2,000 feet from there, go up to Buffalo Boy Ridge at 13,000 feet and do it over and over again until sanity starts to fizzle in the thin air.

"Pretty soon there's these little demons starting to crawl all over you telling you, 'You really don't have to do this, just quit right now,'" Horton said. "Then the sun is coming up and you get a little energy from that, and then the stomach starts to go and you realize you still have a marathon to go. That's when your head really starts playing tricks on you."

How difficult is the Hardrock? The race manual warns runners that the course is "DANGEROUS." Half the field usually "bonks" out before the finish, including 54 of 125 this year - 30 before the halfway point.

Meltzer, a three-time winner and the course record holder, has failed to finish twice. Even race founder Gordon Hardman, who's completed nearly three dozen 100-milers, has quit six of the 13 times he's started, including this year.

"The thing to do is to quit before you die. That's always the smart move," said Hardman, who twice had to be taken to the hospital during the race.

The race has produced its share of broken fingers and arms from falls, plenty of runners have passed out from exhaustion and rapid-fire vomiting is not unusual.

There's also a problem with sleep depravation, particularly for those who need the full two days to complete the course, meaning runners might have to decide if that's really an elk in a cowboy hat or just a hallucination.

But the biggest dangers come from dehydration and elevation sickness.

One of the keys to finishing the Hardrock is making sure to take in enough fluids, which isn't always as easy as it seems. There are 14 checkpoints and runners are loaded down with water bottles and hydration backpacks, but there still have been a few cases of kidney failure.

Then there's the altitude. A combination of hypoxia - lack of oxygen in tissue - and leaking capillaries can cause swelling of hands and feet, and some faces puff up to the point that the runners appear to be having an allergic reaction.

Exertion in extreme altitudes also can cause irritation in the airways and lead to pulmonary edema (fluid in the lungs), a potentially fatal condition that reduces oxygen intake and can lead to respiratory failure. At least two or three runners are treated for pulmonary edema each year and a handful have been airlifted from the course.

No one has died while running the Hardrock - one runner died two days after the 1998 race because of a brain aneurysm - and the biggest danger comes from lightning strikes on the peaks.

"There's a huge physical burden," Horton said. "It's very tough to get around this course regardless how you do it. Whether you're the first place or the last place, everyone's suffering equally."

A link to history makes the pain worth it.

The course loops through the four mining towns of the San Juan Mountains - Silverton, Lake City, Ouray and Telluride - winding past huge piles of unproductive rock, old smelters and mining camps along the same trails miners and burros used to carry loads of gold and silver over the jagged passes.

Though the tipples and chutes are empty now, the runners feel a sort of kinship with the Old West miners, almost as if ghosts are pushing them to finish the Hardrock.

"It blows my mind that the miners at the turn of the century were carrying giant loads over the same passes we're doing for sport," Horton said. "For them, it was a way to keep their family fed and I have a huge respect for this town and all these little trails and roads and all the history that goes with it.

"It's sort of an honor just to be out there to celebrate that heritage."

---

On the Net:

http://www.run100s.com/HR

© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Looky-Loo

There's a TV show that goes around and builds people brand new houses in like 5 days. This week they're near here, in Peyton. Mom and I decided to be silly looky-loos and see the progress. The demolished the old house yesterday, and you look at the pictures to see how far they progressed in one day - the house is essentially framed up already. Lots of people were there to watch - some apparently hanging out for a long time hoping to catch a glimpse of the star Ty Pennington formerly of TLC's Trading Spaces. The security said the public viewing area is open twenty-four hours a day - so anyone with insomnia, here's something free for you to do....

Here are a couple of pictures of the house, less than twenty four hours after demolishing the old one.








Here's a picture of one of the La Brea tar pits in Los Angeles - note the bubble getting ready to pop. Alas, still claiming lives, just off camera view is a dead bird, maybe came down to pick up a bug and got stuck. :( Yes, I did touch the tar in a place where it was just coming up out of the ground in an area not fenced off. And yes, it is just like tar used with asphalt on roads.






And here's a couple of pictures of the Paint Mines out in Calhan from last month.







Here's the news article on the TV show stuff:

Work begins on home makeover

By BILL RADFORD THE GAZETTE


The Barretts learned Sunday that they had been chosen for a makeover of their Peyton home, courtesy of TV’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” Tuesday morning, the Barretts’ farmhouse was demolished. Keller Homes, aided by an army of subcontractors and volunteers, is now racing to build a home before the Barretts and their children return from a week’s vacation in Hawaii.

The first wall to fall, about 10:40 a.m. Tuesday, was the front. It was pulled down with the help of Radar, a mammoth draft horse from Texas recognized as the world’s largest horse.

Not long after, the rest of the house came crashing down. Hundreds of volunteers wearing yellow construction hats and blue “Extreme Makeover” shirts, who had waited hours for their chance to be on camera, then stormed the remains.

They were followed by a line of bulldozers and construction equipment that finished the demolition.

The Barretts’ 101-year-old farmhouse, which was less than 2,000 square feet, will be replaced with a custom, 3,800-square-foot, two-story home, said Dave Keller, president and chief executive officer of Keller Homes.

It will have room, he said, for everyone in the family, which includes two biological daughters and four children adopted out of foster care.

“The house, we want it to fit in, we want it to feel like it belongs in Peyton, Colorado, so it is going to be a ranch-style home, and we’re going to use a lot of natural elements,” said Michael Moloney, one of the designers on the show.

Details of the interior design will be kept hush-hush until the show airs sometime in the fall on ABC. But Moloney dropped a few hints.

“First of all, this is horse country, and they (the Barretts) are all about horses,” he said.

So the children’s rooms will share a horse theme, but at the same time will be tailored to each child, he said.

One of Moloney’s projects will be the kitchen. He was told Anne Barrett is a wonderful cook and wants to give her an equally wonderful kitchen.

The old kitchen was “dinky, tired and a little rough around the edges,” he said. “I’m going to give them a kitchen that’s just going to blow her away.”

The big reveal, in which the family sees the transformed home, is Sunday.

The home is at 11987 Peyton Highway. The public is invited. Tuesday, a crowd had gathered by midmorning to watch the action from across the highway.

For more information or for a map to the area, go to www. kellerhomes.com.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0272 or

comics@gazette.com

FreeCycle

I picked up the second load of traded books today - leftovers that they didn't want. They took most of what I offered. Of course they don't give you full price in trade, much less than that, but I just like to get them off my hands so I have more space in my small house for new books and it is cool to get some decent islam books in the store, too, and as I said last time, to have some access to "free" gifts for people in a crunch.

I also went to the gym again today - I was the only one there when I went today. It is hard the second day in a row! I really am hoping to get in good shape again - I used to be an actual "athlete" in high school. It feels good to work out, especially right when you finish there is kind of this warm relaxed feeling, especially if you stretch well.

Someone sent me an e-mail about a cool thing - freecycle! - it is a bunch of yahoo groups set up for different cities - I think I found them through the mother page Freecycle . The purpose of the groups is to give and get free stuff in your city. So I posted offers for stuff I didn't sell in my garage sell last year. Someone already came and took the waterbed, some CD's, and a Starter-style down jacket. People are scheduled to pick up several boxes of books, a coffee table, and moccasins. I offered out other stuff too and am hoping for bites on those, too. I don't mind giving it away for free; I'm the type that is too lazy to really try to sell stuff. I wouldn't have had that garage sale if Derek hadn't gone in on it with me, most likely. You can also post for stuff you're looking for, too. So check it out, there is probably one in your area!

Strange happening last night: I've lived in this house over four years now and it does not have AC. Last night around midnight, it seemed that the heater came on, I could hear air coming through the vents. So I check the vents, and kinda cool air is coming through them. I check the thermostat and it is set to "cool", but that had never done anything before until that moment in all the years I've lived here. I could not reproduce the effect this morning. So hmmmmmm....... But thank goodness my parents gave me their swamp cooler, otherwise this house gets into the 90's in the summer evenings. I think I should look into getting an attic fan, too, one of these days.

My iceline cracked again today going to the fridge. That happened a few years ago. So at least I knew where the shutoff valve is under the house. But I don't like going down there, especially at night. Oh well, it is better than having water everywhere.

I've been watching the Tour de France on OLN (Outdoor Life Network). It amazes that is the only channel on TV that offers any coverage of it, especially with Lance Armstrong being American and going for a 7th win - incredible! He definitely is an amazing athlete. But anyone who can even complete the Tour has to be an amazing athlete imho, let alone someone who can win it 6-7 times!

Quote of the day:
--
Imam Sadiq (AS) said: Whoever says: Praise is due to the Lord of the worlds (Alhumdooleluhi rabbil Alameen) at dawn four times, has thanked God for that day and whoever repeats the same in the evening, has thanked God for the night.

Reference: Odattul Daee

7/11

Well my mom is taking some time off this week. She gets so much vacation time - 16 hours each month is added on! But she doesn't take that much of course - she is someone that does stuff no one else where she works really knows how to do, so being gone just means big piles when she comes back to work.

My dad seems to be fitting in at his job, alhumdooleluh, and it seems to be going fairly well.

I got mom to go to my gym with me today; she agreed it was a good workout. Slim and Tone is waaaay better than Curves, just farther to go. Then we went to a farmer's market - far cry from the ones in California - slim pickin's by comparison....

Then my brother wanted someone to watch his kids for awhile. So we took them to get a free slurpee! Today was 7/11 and also the fortieth anniversary of the introduction of the slurpee and so 7/11 was giving away free ones today. We also dropped off some of my books at the book store downtown that takes trades. I am bad, instead of going to the library I tend to trade books instead and buy. Libraries rarely have what I really want anyway - it isn't like they carry a supply of books in topics I tend to read. I do like to trade in some Islamic books. Their Islamic book section is always almost empty and I like to make sure it has some actually good books instead of some of the trash that can be out there. Then I use the trade credit usually to let my brother's kids pick out books for themselves now and then or to pick up ones for them for birthdays, etc. So if I'm in a budget crunch as I always seem to be, I can still get them something okay as a birthday present.

Haily, my brother's oldest (going into 4th grade), watched my birds while I was in L.A. In returned, she asked to spend a whole day with me geocaching. I decided to build a new cache. I found some clever camouflaged micros - like film canisters disguised to look like rocks, nests, etc. The plan is to make a multicache that has a bunch of this camouflaged containers, each containing coordinates to the next one, with an ammo can cache at the end. The location I'm thinking of is down near Nixon power plant near the reflections cache - a very cool night cache. When I did that cache, I noticed a trail heading off in a different direction that seemed to go awhile. I am hoping it will be long enough for what we have in mind.

Crocs are very comfortable shoes. If you have $40 burning your pocket someday and want really comfortable shoes, that is what I'd recommend.

I can't believe it, but this weekend at the flea market my brother's family came home with another dog - an Alaskan Malamute pup that is going to be biiig. It is cute, but they really don't need anymore animals - they already have two dogs, a cat, two turtles, a hamster and are baby-sitting two parakeets!

I know a lot of Muslims are uncomfortable around dogs because of the najasat issue and just not being used to them. I grew up with pets including dogs so they don't bother me, but I don't really like to be in much contact with them, either. I just plan to change clothes when I get home after visiting family that has dogs. Dogs can make really good companions in many ways. Personally, I don't ever want one, but I can see how they have helped people; for example, when my dad was laid off for months and home all day with nothing to do and depressed, as well as when he was recovering from the hospital, having the dog around gave him someone to look after and a companion for him while he was home alone.

I have birds and one way they are good for me is the noise they make. Living alone, having that noise in the house is something that helps me, and they are also easy to take care of and since they have each other as companions I let them live mostly wild and it works well with my busy schedule.

My diploma finally came in the mail today! Insha'allah soon I'll have all the paperwork in for a pay increase at work. It will be interesting to see how much it actually ends up being once the monthly school bill is subtracted....

Some sayings of Imam ‘Ali (as):

Hearts of people are like wild beasts – they attach themselves to those who love and train them.

I notice that is true and it just goes to show that you should strive to be in good company - to make as your friends and companions people who are like you want to be - upright people, pious people, knowledgable people. It really does make a difference.

Patience is of two kinds: patience over what pains you, and patience against what you covet.

Wow, that is really true, too. I think lots of people have more trouble with patience against what they covet - so they wrack up big credit card bills, etc., buying on whims when they think they want something. I know I could definitely improve at being consistently content with what I have and not always wanting something. I have my moments when I am very non-materialistic, and then I have my moments when it seems all day long I am thinking, Gee., I'd like to get a new hijab, or shoes, or an exercise video, or BOOKS, etc......, or even when I don't have something in mind that i want but I just want to go to the flea market or something and buy something. Wasteful habits that most Americans seem to have.....

Patience over what pains you - I know that, we all feel that. It just seems a lot of time we have no choice but to patient over what pains us because it is out of our control except in how we respond to it, whereas the patience over what we covet is something that we have more control over....

planting the seed - the legacy of the venetuccis lives on

fyi: the venetucci farm is less than one mile from my house. Everyone here has wonderful childhood memories of the Venetuccis and their generosity - not just this little community here, but everyone who grew up in the whole city.

July 10, 2005



Nick Venetucci

By DAVE PHILIPPS THE GAZETTE

Toward the end, developers would call Nick and Bambi Venetucci regularly, trying to persuade them to sell their 190-acre farm and its water rights.

“Golf courses, strip malls, condos. Those guys wanted to build all kinds of crap here,” said Mac Mackenzie, 80, who worked the farm in Security for decades.

Many people who loved the farm feared the Venetuccis, who had no heirs, would sell. The couple stopped planting pumpkins in 2002. After Nick died in September 2004 at age 93, it seemed like selling was only a matter of time.

But the farm isn’t for sale. The pumpkins are coming back.

To the couple who invited thousands of local children to their farm every fall, the acreage wasn’t mere land to be bought and sold. It was a legacy they hoped could be carried on somehow, by someone.

In 2003, with characteristic humility, the couple that always shied away from public thankyous and awards quietly called the Pikes Peak Community Foundation and arranged for the local philanthropic organization to take control of the farm. Eventually, the land will be placed in a conservation easement, planting the seeds that ensure the farm will be around forever.

This spring, the foundation’s caretaker sowed pumpkins and corn so Nick and Bambi Venetucci’s legacy could sprout again.

“I have total faith and trust in what they’re doing,” said Bambi Venetucci, 76.

The Venetuccis, both lifelong Catholics, also gave 35 acres to the Diocese of Colorado Springs.

Protecting the farm was an unusual move in sprawling Colorado Springs, which often acts as its own Vesuvius, willingly burying the region’s heritage in sudden eruptions of housing and retail space.

But Nick and Bambi Venetucci had sacrificed too much to see their spread wither. Both grew up the children of Italian immigrant coal miners.

Nick’s parents, Nicholas and Marguerita Venetucci, eventually scraped together enough money for a small farm near what is now Fillmore Street and Nevada Avenue. In 1936, they moved to the bigger place in Security.

To help the family, Nick gave up a promising career as a baseball catcher to work on the farm during the Depression. He labored on that earth with his hands for almost 70 years. His father died in the fields in 1961, and Nick carried him on his back to the house.

Not long before his father died, Nick started giving away the pumpkins that would make him a household name in the region. In the 1950s, the way he told the story, he was driving a load of pumpkins down Tejon Street and just started handing them out to every kid he saw.

Later, schoolchildren started coming to his pumpkin patch. He let every child pick out a free pumpkin. He probably gave away more than a million pumpkins.

Bambi Venetucci, who is legally blind, was a teacher at the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind. She married Nick in 1984 after a 27-year courtship. She would direct the lines of school buses bringing kids every October.




Bambi Venetucci - she wrote an autobiography about growing up blind out here in the 1920's and 30's.

The couple stopped planting pumpkins because of drought and Nick Venetucci’s age, but they always wanted their land to remain a working farm.

“Nick would get tears in his eyes when he even mentioned that his farm might not be around after him,” said Michael Hannigan, the foundation’s director. “That’s why he approached us. Now we want to make sure every day, in every decision we make, that we make him proud.”

LEARN FROM THE BEST

The Pikes Peak Community Foundation has never taken on such a project.

Until this winter, when Bambi Venetucci broke her hip and moved off the farm, the 9-year-old foundation had focused mainly on managing endowments and investing money for other nonprofits.

“I don’t know squat about farming,” said Hannigan, “so we had to learn from the best.”

Hannigan knew Bambi Venetucci would be the key to learning all the quirks and traditions of the farm, but first he had to find a new farmer.

He didn’t look far. The foundation’s office manager, Amy Sue Lambert, said she and her husband, Tim, who grew up on a soybean and turkey farm in Minnesota, could move in immediately.

“She didn’t even call me, she just said, ‘We’ll do it!’” Tim said with a chuckle on a recent afternoon while taking a break from planting pumpkins. “This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance we couldn’t pass up.”

The couple moved to the farm with their infant son, Sydney, in early April. Then Tim Lambert visited Bambi Venetucci to ask her advice. At the time, she was recovering from her broken hip in the hospital. She now lives a few miles from the farm.

How long do I irrigate? Lambert asked. What are the tricks to starting the tractors? What about handling all those kids coming for pumpkins in October?

“Don’t try to do too much in one year,” she told him. “You have plenty of time. You’ll be fine. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”



Tim Lambert, working on the first pumpkin patch since Nick's death.

FARM’S FUTURE

The Venetuccis leased the farm to the foundation for 99 years. Bambi Venetucci is setting up a conservation easement for the property that will ensure its agriculture character after the lease is up.

No one can replace Nick Venetucci, Lambert is quick to say, but someone has to disk the weeds and give the seedlings water. And he doesn’t mind the idea of being the new pumpkin man. Just the mention of it spreads a warm, wide grin across his face.

Lambert graduated from Colorado College in 1992 with a degree in economics. In the late 1990s, he helped develop the first vegetable-based motor oil.

Today, his day job still involves veggiebased lubricants, as chief financial officer of Agro Management Group Inc. He works the Venetucci land in his spare time and in return lives in the old stucco farmhouse.

Drivers on U.S. Highway 85/87 can see him most afternoons walking the rows or bumping along on a tractor in a dusty white cowboy hat.

“Things are just so busy now, I’m trying to plan next week and the next 10 years,” he said.

More immediately, he has to keep the fleet of ancient tractors running. The newest one was built in 1951. On a recent visit, none would start.

“I know Nick’s up there now, laughing at me. That guy was a genius. He did so much with what he had,” Lambert said. “It’s a lot of work, I’ve already lost 20 pounds. I call it the Venetucci diet.”

This year, he planted pumpkins, sweet corn and corn for popcorn along the highway, and some clover and alfalfa to keep down the weeds in the bottom lands. Next year, he hopes to get the farm certified as organic and start a children’s garden where classes can plant vegetables and visit through the season. He also plans community gardens where locals can work in return for a share of the crops. To old-timers such as Mackenzie who have been harvesting corn and mending fences at the farm for generations, some of the organic stuff is a little odd. But he said he’s glad to see the farm preserved, and Lambert doesn’t seem like that bad of a guy.

“He’s a young farmer, he’s got a lot to learn,” Mackenzie said, “But he’ll figure it out.”

Eventually, Lambert wants to refill a few drained ponds on the property, stock them with bass and ring them with a nature trail, and possibly raise hogs again just as Nick Venetucci did years ago. The long-term goal is to make the farm self-sufficient by planting niche crops like organic edamame that Nick Venetucci probably never envisioned but bring a good price.

As the director, Hannigan has his own wish list that extends beyond the farm’s fences.

“I want kids to watch their plants grow here and maybe cook them here and learn about healthy eating. I want their kids to have the same experience, and their kids.

“I want people to meet their neighbors here. I want people to come back 100 years from now and say, ‘You know, my grandparents got married here.’

“I want this place to really make this community proud.”

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0223 or dphilipps@gazette.com

GET INVOLVED

The Pikes Peak Community Foundation will hold an open house at the farm 4:30-6 p.m. Tuesday. The foundation is seeking donations of farm equipment and cash as well as volunteers. A line of farm apparel will be for sale, and officials will discuss Farm Project 400, a work weekend at the farm.

For information or to donate: www.ppcf.org or 389-1251.

The Conference, cat, tree, death, taqwa

The trip to Los Angeles

I flew out with a fellow teacher on June 30. Our hotel was called the Westin Century Plaza. One of the nights we were there there was a 1.2 million dollar pseudo-Jewish wedding. I'd never seen so many ultra-expensive cars (Rolls Royce, Astin Martin et al) or expensive dresses in my life. I noticed that all the women in that part of L.A. wear heels - stilletto heels. Even to work, even if that work involves walking and standing all day. Stupid and crazy if you ask me. The shoe stores having nothing in stock for women but heels except maybe a few flip flops - most of those also have heels.

Beautiful flowering trees and bushes and fruit trees everywhere. Wonderful cool breeze because we were close to the ocean. Ridiculous grafitti, trash, pollution and traffic. Couldn't stand living there. Didn't see very many muslims. We were near a Jewish neighborhood that used Arabic script for their signs rather than Hebrew - interesting....

Went to the La Brea Tar Pits (worth going once), the J Paul Geddy Museum (art - if you don't like art, they have a beautiful garden - all for free), and Venice Beach (skip it unless you want to worry about possibly stepping on a drug needle in the sand, etc.). Spent most days two hours in a state Caucus in the morning followed by the rest of the day at the Los Angeles Convention Center in the assembly enjoying the antics of Parliamentary Procedure and voting on business. Got lots of free stuff from vendors to use Geocaching. Did one geocaching with fellow CSEA board member named Mark - walked from the convention center to downtown and found one out of two we looked for. The GPS was useless downtown - the signal bounced off the tall buildings and couldn't get more than about 60 foot accuracy and kept spinning.

The meetings were good over all. Ate at lots of expensive places with the voucher money. My return flight had some problems and got home just before fajr time Friday. Glad to be home! I didn't take many pictures but Irma, our President, did. I asked her to send them to me and if she does maybe at some point in the future I'll upload some here. My flight back was the day of the stupid evil terrorist attacks in London. That stuff really gets my ire because they hurt Muslims and non-Muslims alike - those people attacked, those people facing retaliation and restrictions because of the attacks, etc.,, they hurt innocent people, they hurt people just going about their lives, and they don't accomplish anything productive! My flight did not seem to be much affected. However, I avoided praying in the airport because I saw several signs asking people to look at everyone around them and report any "suspicious behavior" immediately.

While I was away, mom was coming to the house to put down cat food. On Saturday she tried to play with him and got bit. She got bit once before by one of her cats and her hand swelled a bit. Well, this time it got really swollen and painful. So Sunday it was so bad she went to the hospital thinking she'd get a shot but they made her stay in the hospital over night and take antibiotics through an IV. She didn't get to go home until late Monday and missed the annual family Fourth of July picnic. She said the doctor told her that cat bites and scratches are really serious and someone can even lose their hand from a bite if it isn't treated soon enough. I've grown up with all kinds of pets including cats and so has my mom but that was news to both of us. So think carefully about getting pets. Leo adopted me and now depends on me. But otherwise I don't think I'd get a cat now. So I felt badly about that- they didn't tell me about it until after I got home, though. About a month ago I got a good scratch from the cat. It was pretty sore. A few days later I came down with flu-like symptoms that lasted nearly two weeks. It was a long time, long enough that I was starting to think of going to the doctor because it didn't seem to be a normal kind of thing. I didn't put the two together at the time, but now I am suspecting that the scratch and illness were related.

Yesterday I was woken up by a call from my brother so he could come over and work on his master's paper with my computer and he brought his kids. They were here all day. The two youngest kids were outside playing and we went to check and them and lo and behold these two itty bitty kids had climbed my white pine tree so high they were about fifty feet above the ground! Needless to say, my brother told them to get down immediately.

Today I went to teach madrassah. I found out that one of my friend's son was murdered last night - shot near his home in Denver. He was about 20 and had gotten into some gang related problems in the past few years. But it is sad. I feel for his mother and his brothers, etc., left behind. God sometimes takes people like that when they're young before they dig themselves too deep into trouble. He was a Muslim boy of Iranian descent. I hope maybe I can visit her later this week. Lots of people were going today. But, after my dad nearly dying, I know how overwhelming well-intentioned people can be. And then a few days later there is no one. So maybe my company would be more useful a bit later, insha'allah.

I've listened to several people talking lately about struggles with faith and religion. Disillusionment. It is very easy to get disillusioned if our religion is that of the people. That is, if our focus in religion becomes on things depending on people like fatwas, religious rulings, practice at the masjid, terrorism, spousal relations, etc. People get away from what made them "religious" in the first place - a love of God, a love of the holy people who brought us the truth, and relying wholly on God. This comes first before everything. It is the beginning, the middle and the end. There is no deen or religion without God. Without that, all you have is ritual and shell of religion now matter how many times you go to church or pray or go to mosque, etc. The deen is not about the practice - the practice is about the deen. And the deen is all about God-consciousness. Everyone must get back to that, try to find God-consciousness before anything else and the rest will follow. And the rest that doesn't follow won't matter. This is what I am learning in this life.

home

I'm home, got home around 4am this morning.

Maybe later I'll post about the conference, etc.