Tall Decaf Soy Moksha

Easy Whole Wheat Crackers

Tue, 01 May 2012 09:47:00 -0700

I’ve tried to make crackers many times and I’ve always been disappointed with flavor, texture or how hard they can be to get off a pan. I discovered this recipe last week and have made it twice now. The first was my test run where I followed the original recipe. The second time, I modified it and came out with nearly perfect crackers. What’s great about this recipe is that it can be a spur of the moment thing; you can make crackers in 20 minutes!

I added a list of extras I tried in my recipes. If you try others please let me know how they turn out!

Ingredients

1 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup warm water + 1-2 tablespoons

Extras:

Cheesy Crackers
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese + extra for sprinkling on top

Savory Crackers
Dash of celery salt
Pinch of onion powder
Pinch of thyme

Cracked Pepper Crackers
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Mix dry ingredients together and mix any extras in now if desired.

3. Mix in oil and 1/2 cup warm water. Mix until a dough forms. Add additional water if needed (the dough should feel pretty dry but still form into a smooth ball).

4. Lightly oil two baking sheets and lightly flour them both. Split dough in half and cover one half in the bowl while you roll the other out very thin on a sheet. Do your best to keep the edges from getting paper thin. Ideally, it should be 1/16 inch thick or slightly thicker.

5. Sprinkle salt (or cheese or other toppings) on top and press it into the surface lightly with the rolling pin. Cut a grid into the rolled out dough with a pizza cutter. The crackers will begin to separate. Bake for 9 minutes, or until golden brown and crispy.

Notes

1. The original recipe didn’t have baking powder and used 1/2 tsp of soda. If you like soda crackers you may want to leave out the powder and just use soda instead.

2. I found it easier to get the dough thinner if I split it in half and made two sets of crackers. This allowed me to get more consistency in thickness and more crackers from each batch. If you roll all the dough out on one sheet you get thicker crackers that aren’t as crunchy and need to be baked a minute or two longer.

3. The savory crackers reminded me of biscuits and gravy. I was half tempted to add dried mushrooms lol. That one would probably be great with just 1/2 tsp baking soda and no baking powder to add to the biscuit effect.

Easy Whole Wheat Crackers

Tue, 01 May 2012 09:43:17 -0700

I added a list of extras I tried in my recipes. If you try others please let me know how they turn out!

Ingredients

1 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup warm water + 1-2 tablespoons

Extras:

Cheesy Crackers
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese + extra for sprinkling on top

Savory Crackers
Dash of celery salt
Pinch of onion powder
Pinch of thyme

Cracked Pepper Crackers
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Mix dry ingredients together and mix any extras in now if desired.

3. Mix in oil and 1/2 cup warm water. Mix until a dough forms. Add additional water if needed (the dough should feel pretty dry but still form into a smooth ball).

Notes

1. The original recipe didn’t have baking powder and used 1/2 tsp of soda. If you like soda crackers you may want to leave out the powder and just use soda instead.

Fresh Corn Pancakes

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:35:00 -0700

I haven’t posted in quite a while, but to bridge the silence I thought I’d share a recipe for corn pancakes that I really enjoyed. Here is the original recipe.

As per my usual, I modified the recipe. I prefer my corn pancakes with less flour and more corn meal. I also prefer King Aurthur’s White Whole Wheat flour which is a wonderful substitute when you want the nutrition of whole wheat, but don’t want the weight or heavy flavor of regular whole wheat flour.

Ingredients

1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
3/4 cup cornmeal
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup +1Tbsp milk or milk substitute
2 eggs
2 Tbsp melted butter (unsalted)
3/4 cup corn fresh (or frozen) corn

Directions

1. In a large bowl mix all the dry ingredients: flour, cornmeal, baking powder, sugar and salt.
2. In another bowl mix wet ingredients: milk, melted butter, eggs.
3. Mix the wet into the dry but don’t over mix.
4. Mix in the corn.
5. Heat a pan with medium heat and add your choice of cooking oil.
6. Scoop 1/4 cup of the batter into the pan.
7. Flip when the bubbles on the surface hold their shape and the bottom is golden brown.
8. Cook the other side until golden brown.

Image credited to http://www.closetcooking.com

healthy-is-sexy: Green Smoothie - 1 cup baby spinach, 1 cup...

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:37:12 -0800

healthy-is-sexy:

Green Smoothie - 1 cup baby spinach, 1 cup kale, 1 pear, 1 ½ cup of orange juice, and 1 frozen banana.

Chocolate Peanut Butter – 2 TBL unsweetened cocoa powder, 2 TBL peanut butter, ½ banana, 1 cup almond milk, ice. 320 calories total.

Mango Ginger — 2 cups frozen Mango, 1 cup frozen raspberries, 1 banana, ¼ cup chopped ginger, squeeze of lime, yogurt.

Strawberry Date — 1 date, 1 ½ cup frozen strawberries, 1 cup almond milk. Optional: 1 scoop protein powder or 1 TBL of flaxseed oil.

Great Start for 2012!

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 12:36:00 -0800

Oddly enough, I’ve started the new year with an ending. It turns out that the company I was working for was awful. It’s too bad, since I was so excited to apply for the position. Unfortunately, they were inconsistent with compensation and had one of the worst management teams I’ve ever seen. I’m very thankful to be able to leave and find a door to something I actually like! With every ending there is a beginning, so I’ve really started the new year with infinite possibilities ;)

I had an opportunity to join my family in Seattle for Xmas. It was quite a wonderful trip and I loved seeing everyone! Skylar is doing really well and is getting even stronger which is great to see! Amidst playing games, going to the zoo and eating great homemade meals and candy there was plenty to do. Mom also bought me a day pass at the pro club which provided me time for yoga, hot tubing, meditation and plenty of relaxation! All in all a great trip =) I’ve posted the pictures to flickr which can be found here:

Best of Xmas 2011

I’m quite happy to be back in California though. Here in the south bay, almost everyday is sunny and I’ve earned enough money to allow me to explore other income paths. So, what’s next? Well, I have a lot on my list of things to do and try. My plan is to figure a way to earn income while traveling. I’ve found it difficult to find remote design work, but I’ll continue to look for that. I’m also considering becoming a campsite host for a season or earning money through crafts. I’ll just have to see what works. If anyone has ideas, I’m open to hearing them! I’ve finally enabled comments so feel free to leave a comment!

EDIT: For some reason the comments are working on only half the posts… so I’ve got some troubleshooting to do… =P

Switch That Solar On and Stop Shocking People!

Sun, 04 Dec 2011 15:40:05 -0800

After working so hard over the week (I put in about 38 hours in 3 days), I felt very compelled to get a lot done over the weekend. I just won’t have time during the week to take care of much over the week.

I mentioned in my last post that I got my whole solar system set up last week. I noticed immediately that it wasn’t working! Of course, I had just started my job and had no time to investigate during day hours - you know, the hours when a solar system works :P. I thought I was going to have to un-mount the panel from the roof and was not looking forward to that, but it turns out I didn’t need to. I purchased wires with j-plugs (yah j-plugs, which are so new they practically don’t exist), so you just plug all the wires together and there’s no need for wire strippers, or connectors etc. Unfortunately, they switched the positive and negative colors on the piece that connects to the battery (what were they thinking?), so I basically connected the neg to the pos and vice versa. That was an easy fix and it works! I get ~19 volts and ~4.5 amps which is spot on for an 80 watt panel (this means the panel is in good shape; I wasn’t sure when I bought it). All together I spent about $300 on this solar system, which can power my computer for at least 8 hours straight every day and charge all my electronics without limit. Of course, it’s best for me to spend time in places with sunshine, but that’s true regardless of having a solar system.

I’ll be going to Rachel’s graduation this afternoon (Congrats Rachel)! She’s done with classes but not practicum yet, so she’ll be out of school in spring 2012.

Other than that, I’ve been cleaning, doing ‘house’ chores and reading a lot about astrology this weekend. The astrology I’ve read focuses especially on the year to come and also my natal (birth) chart. What have I learned? Here’s what it says as part of one of my aspects: “You seem to have a need to shock people, which should be stopped.” Haha… what? I need to stop shocking people? But it’s fun and part of my nature. Besides the people that are shocked by what I do and say are the ones that are most confined by their beliefs - maybe they need to be shocked! The aspect that brings this out in me is Mars conjunct Uranus. Mars is all about aggressive action and Uranus is all about non-conformity and being unexpected and sudden. Conjunct means that these two energies blend together and are brought out in me. Both Mars and Uranus are found in fire signs in my chart which makes my actions in this realm even more volatile. My chart is probably right though, it’s not usually great to shock people; I’ll have to work on that. :P

On the plus side, the aspect that causes me to want to shock people is the same aspect that, “bestows great vitality, honesty, intuition and courage.” This is also very true for me and I live and act through all four of those traits.

Thanks for reading!

Pets, Interviews and Giving Thanks

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 12:00:41 -0800

It’s been a little while since I posted an update. I’ve got quite a bit to cover, so here it goes! I’ve been spending a lot of time in Berkeley and San Jose looking for work. I’ve had one major interview and I have a second one in a couple hours. I’m writing this partially to relieve some of the nervousness I have for the interview lol! I’ve been trying to find design work, but since I rarely get responses other than to say, “there’s too many applicants,” I’ve been branching out a bit. I’ve started a house and pet sitter business for the holidays which has already had many requests.This morning I also received a freelance designer request on my website. I feel things are changing positively for me and I’m very thankful for that!

I spent Thanksgiving with Rachel and her family, which was quite fun! This TG was very different from the type that I’m used to. We went to a modern steak house in San Jose, which didn’t have a lot of options for a vegetarian, but what they did have was very delicious. I had a beet salad, truffle mac and cheese and sauteed wild mushrooms. We topped off our evening with good conversation and watching Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship.

I ordered my solar charge controller and wiring on amazon which arrived at Rachel’s yesterday. I spent time over the weekend at Home Depot and made plans for mounting my panel to my van. It’s an 80 watt panel that will be hooked up to a 100 amp hour battery. I considered many routes for mounting including drilling into the van roof or strong adhesion, but because the roof is curved at the back I decided to hook it straight to the roof rack. This will make it easier to keep the panel if I decide to upgrade to a newer van later on. It took me about an hour to get all the pieces together and attach the panel to the roof. I rented a drill and drilled wholes into the solar panel frame. Rachel helped me get it on the roof and held the panel during drilling, but the project would have been entirely do-able be 1 person which is great! Everything is setup and now all I need to do is make sure everything is working properly.

Wish me luck in my interview! Hope you are all doing well and had a good holiday =)

Last week, I made it down to San Jose to visit my close friend ...

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 23:53:00 -0800

Last week, I made it down to San Jose to visit my close friend Rachel. I’ve really enjoyed being here and seeing her again, since it’s been awhile and she’s like a sister to me. There’s something about being with her that makes me feel more centered… perhaps it’s just that her chosen profession is therapy, but whatever it is I feel more like myself now that I’m here.

Rachel is doing very well considering how much she has going on. She’s about to finish classes in December and she’ll be graduating mid-year 2012, once she gets all the practicum hours she needs. I arrived with perfect timing to support Rachel while she ended a relationship. I gave her tips from my experience about how to break-up, which is never an easy process. Although, I haven’t done it many times, I feel like my break-up process is pretty darn good and leaves both people in a decent situation. I’ll definitely be writing a post about this topic soon.

While I’ve been here, I made the unfortunate mistake of leaving the interior lights on in my van for several days. Oops! I had AAA come out to jump the battery, only to discover that the battery had a dead cell and wasn’t the correct size for a vehicle like mine. (In retrospect, the battery did look pretty small… I wonder why I missed that?) I purchased a new battery from AAA for $130 with free installation. I’m glad I found out about my battery while I was at a friends house.

With my finances dwindling, I’ve decided to start looking for work in the bay area again. I’ve started this process by updating my resume and my online portfolio, which was actually a lot of fun! I’ve changed it quite a bit and added more content to it.

The SF Bay Area is a great place to find design work especially in the South Bay. Now that I’m in San Jose, that area is much more accessible to me than it was when I lived in the East Bay last year. Hope I find something good!

I discovered upon returning that two of my previous coworkers...

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 14:37:00 -0700

I discovered upon returning that two of my previous coworkers from Leadqual are moving back home to Connecticut and I was invited to a going-away party for them at Hana Japan, a Hibachi style Japanese restaurant. This party sort of became a welcome-back party for me which was wonderful as well. Erin and Rob are the couple headed back home and it was great to see them again. Erin is pregnant and expecting in April next year. It was also delightful to see other friends that I haven’t seen in for a while!

Hana Japan was quite a new experience for me as I’ve never been to a Hibachi style restaurant before. Between lighting the grill on fire and flipping and spinning utensils it was a great show! Our cook had a spectacular personality and a great sense of humor. Everything was cooked right in front of us to perfection and the vegetarian dish was just amazing! It was a great social evening and I even tested out plum wine for the first time. It was hard to get a decent picture in the dim light, but I did my best =P

What an amazing way to re-enter Berkeley! I’ll be joining my former co-workers this afternoon to see how the office has changed and see some more old friends. I’m quite excited really!

Van Dwelling Basics: Eating

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 10:00:06 -0700

There are many issues to think about when planning your eating lifestyle. As with living in a home, you have to determine how much you want to eat-out or eat-in. Eating out can be very expensive over time, so I usually eat-in. I’ve setup two van kitchens now and I have to say that starting with the essentials is very important. It’s frustrating to buy a can and discover you don’t have a can opener! (I’ve done this twice now!) Living in a house or apartment, you rarely have to think about what’s there, because it’s always there. Every time I’ve moved into a van, it’s basically from scratch, so it’s really important to have the basics:

Can Opener!
Cutting Board and Knife
Utensils (or at least a spoon)
Stove (camp or propane)
Lighter or Matches
Pot (with lid)
Oil and Salt/Spices
Food and Food Storage
Water and Water Container

Of course, it’s nice to have a bit more (plate, bowl, tupperware, mug, travel mug, etc) but you really don’t need more than what’s in the list to get started. The stove is the most expensive thing on that list unless you decide to get a tiny 12v fridge! Luckily, I’m borrowing my mom’s old camp stove. I get a lot of my things second hand; it’s perfectly good and much cheaper, not to mention recycling is more sustainable! I added a wooden trunk ($25 Good Will) to my van to organize my kitchen. (In Hawaii, I used a plastic bin.) I stuck a cardboard box inside to act as a divider. In the box, I keep all my dishes, pots and pan, which only takes up about a quarter of the trunk. On one side of the box (the small side) I keep my teas, spices and extra fuel canisters. On the other side of the box, I keep my dry food, cutting board, stove, tupperware, can opener(!) travel mug, oils, balsamic, soy sauce (liquid aminos) and a few non-kitchen related items that I use often.

Keeping fresh food can be a bit tricky depending on the location. Some people opt for the 12v fridge if they can afford it, but that takes planning a power system too. I prefer a cooler. I bought a Coleman Extreme 5-day cooler ($50 REI) for a few reasons: It’s the smallest, high rated cooler you can get and it has a spout at the bottom for draining. It also doesn’t have wheels taking up precious space. When I was in Seattle, keeping food cool wasn’t a challenge. In Hawaii and other warmer places, keeping a cooler is a daily chore. I have to drain the cooler once a day and replace the ice every 3-5 days. I try to buy small amounts of fresh food because I don’t want it to go bad before I can eat it. The ice floods the bottom of the cooler quite often, so I’m considering getting a small rack to keep my vegetables out of the water. I tend not to buy dairy or drinks that need to be kept cool, since I don’t eat those things fast enough. For someone who eats lots of cheese or eggs or milk, it would make a lot more sense. It’s hard to keep things like mustard too. If I go into a place that has free packets of condiments (delis, grocery stores or certain restaurants) I’ll usually pick up some packs and save them for later.

When it’s time to eat, I park my van in a flat location. I’ve never had a problem picking a spot to eat because I know I won’t be there long enough for anyone to care. If I’m in a town I might pick the back of a large parking lot and out of town I might pick a park or rest area. I’ve done plenty of cooking on residential streets too. I chop and cook on the trunk or, if I think I’ll be getting in and out of the trunk often, I’ll cook on the floor.

Water is obviously very important for cooking and just plain living. I bought a 2 gallon BPA-free container ($15 PCC) and I usually fill it for less than a dollar at places that sell reverse-osmosis water. I keep a second plastic 1 gallon jug of plain tap water to do dishes with or as emergency water. When I’m done eating, I do my dishes right out the side door. Soap (Dr. Bronner’s) is used only as needed, just like for camping. I keep my paper towels and clean dish rags next to the door too.

This system is working really well for me! If I were to upgrade anything in the future, I’d probably switch to a 2 burner, propane camp stove. Also, once I have my solar power going, I’ll be able to use my juicer ($30 thrift store)!

Life in Davis

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 11:45:40 -0700

I’ve been in Davis, CA since Saturday and I’m really enjoying myself. I met up with my friend, Josh, and have been hanging out with him on and off since I arrived. He’s a very busy guy! His school schedule keeps him active for 10+ hours a day during the week. He’s letting me use his house as a home base while I’m here, which is great!

Since I arrived, I realized that I’m pretty darn strapped for cash after repairing my van. I’ve spent a good portion of the last couple days figuring out how I want to deal with that. Honestly, it’s not an easy question for me to answer, there’s too many options and many that I’m resistant to. I’ll do what I have to though.

I’ve visited Davis on several occasions, to visit Josh and my other friend Hari who is in Singapore currently. It’s not the same without Hari! While I’m here, I’ll be cafe hopping to get work done. Davis is a great college town, but it feels like a college town. I have to admit, that gets old after awhile. So I’ll be moving on to Berkeley to visit friends before I head to San Jose.

Van Dwelling Basics: Sleeping

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 10:00:06 -0700

Living in a van has some serious pros and cons for taking care of basic needs. Finding a place to sleep is usually one of the easier needs to fullfil. I wasn’t comfortable with this when I first started. I would roam around until I found the PERFECT spot, but I’d waste a lot of gas doing this. After spending some time with my friend Zach, I’ve got a much better method for picking my place to settle down for the night.

Obviously, car camping is a no brainer! Just choose the site. I don’t do that very often, so my process refers to finding a spot in a town or city. I look for a series of things depending on how big the town is. In a medium to large town/city my process looks like this:

Look for a nice-ish looking neighborhood with cars parked on the street.
Look for street lights.
Look for a flat spot near a hedge or fence.

I prefer to park right under street lights. It deters car thieves, lets light into my van and masks light coming out of my van. A smaller town is a bit harder because people don’t usually park on the street. Some times you just have to make the best of the situation. If I’m really having trouble, I might look for a well-lit industrial/business area not on a main road or the parking lot of a 24-hour store. Many Walmarts allow people to stay over night too, but I’ve only tried this in Hawaii… they aren’t those kinds of Walmarts!

The other night I stopped in a small town. They had paved all their business and industrial areas so the shoulder was the size of a bike lane. No dice. I ended up on a very slanted street with no street light nearby. I was next to a large hedge though. I picked a street where there were a few rv’s parked, because I figure the people that own them might understand van dwelling… maybe lol. Anyways, I never park in the same area twice in a row unless I’m in a big city or college town. If I’m staying in a city for several days or weeks, I usually rotate through different areas and hope to find places that don’t have time restrictions on parking.

Now that I’ve got the hang of it, I can usually find a spot in 1 - 10 minutes. That’s how I roll =)

Repairs - That's Much Better!

Sat, 15 Oct 2011 10:00:05 -0700

That’s right. I needed repairs done from the get-go; that’s just how it goes when you buy old vehicles. I probably shouldn’t have waited as long as I did to take my van in, but honestly, I’m glad I waited for Oregon’s no sales tax lol! I took Anahata in on Tuesday and the mechanic (a real honest fellow) told me that my tie rods were in such terrible condition that I shouldn’t be driving the van at all. $500 to replace all 6 tie rods in the front of the vehicle. While he was replacing them he said the upper right ball joint was awful too. He seemed really sorry to tell me that, so I had him replace that as well. My engine had been stuttering too, so I had him take a look. It’s $70 just for him to get into the engine! He found a clogged spark plug and replaced it. $715 total with an oil change! It was worth it though because my van is getting much better gas milage and isn’t so wanky to drive. The van was pulling to the right pretty badly before.

He told me that I should get it aligned VERY soon so I called up the local Les Schwab to see if they had time and I brought it to them an hour before they closed. The mechanic here took a look and then told me that the lower right ball joint would have to be replaced for him to align properly, which would cost an extra $100 on top on the $50 alignment. He said I could bring it back the next day to get all the work done. I didn’t really like his attitude about the whole thing, so I told him that I;m travelling south and won’t be around. The van was aligned poorly before the tie rods were replaced, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt too much to go a bit further. I schedule an appointment at a Les Schwab in Roseburg for Thursday morning. (Les Schwab had the lowest price for alignments and are consistently right off the highway.) The mechanic in Roseburg was MUCH nicer. He didn’t say anything about the ball joint needing replacement. He even test drove it after he aligned it and when it was still pulling to the right, he swapped the front tires!

Yup! Anahata is driving much smoother now! I’m still a bit nervous to take her on some of the more mountainous highways though. I’ll wait and see what happens as I continue down to LA to determine how much I should rely.

My van before I moved in. I added a new rug and a trunk for...

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 14:31:05 -0700

My van before I moved in. I added a new rug and a trunk for storage. You can see the bed folded down.

Travel Begins with Family First

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 14:58:05 -0700

I left Seattle on Saturday and started heading toward California. The plan is to visit friends and family along the way to LA while I work on my computer and on myself. My trip started almost immediately by me shorting out my electrical system in my car. I had no radio and no way to charge my phone which was close to dead. I decided not to worry about it too much and stopped at a rest area at some point to locate the fuse box and see if I could figure out which one blew. No luck, so I continued on.

My first stop was at my aunt Linda and uncle Patrick’s house where I met up with them and enjoyed a great Indian lunch and a trip to a farmer’s market in Vancouver, WA. It was great to catch up with them and Linda told me about her Thriller Zombie Dance class that she’s teaching! I took off after lunch to make it down to my brother’s house for dinner in Coravllis, OR.

Nate, Thonda and Skylar are doing great overall. Well, as great as they can with lack of sleep (Skylar excluded of course). Nate is still a fantastic cook and I had outstanding meals while I was there. Thonda made pumpkin cookes, which were also very delicioso. We talked, took turns holding Skylar and just hung out at home on Sunday. I was planning to take off Monday morning, but I decided to stay one more day so that I could get my van inspected on Tuesday.

Monday was chore day. I had pulled my winter clothes and a few other things out of storage and my car was a mess! I organized it and got it ready for sleeping in once I leave N&T’s. I knew I had to get my electrical system up and running again. There’s over 20 fuses under the drivers console and they’re at an awkward angle; I wasn’t looking forward to taking each one out until I found the bad fuse. That’s when I noticed a key hole on the center console that I hadn’t noticed before. I took my door key, stuck it in and the darn thing just popped open! and guess what!? The manual was right there! Problem solved. I found the correct fuse in no time. The fuse that blew was the wrong amperage, but I replaced it with the correct one and bought a set of mixed fuses for backup.

I knew I was in the market for a deep cycle battery and solar panel, so I checked craigslist. There was nothing good for solar panels, but I lucked out on finding an almost new 100Ah 12v Deep Cycle Battery for $70. Great deal! Now I just need a way to charge it =P I bought an inverter in the mean time. Once I get the solar panel, I might be able to figure out how to hook the conversion wiring to the battery and run the 12v outlets that are installed on the wall of the van… we shall see.

Story time with Nate, Thonda and Skylar. =)

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:10:05 -0700

Story time with Nate, Thonda and Skylar. =)

Meet Anahata. Called Ana for short, she is a 1995 Chevy G20 Van...

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 15:15:06 -0700

Meet Anahata. Called Ana for short, she is a 1995 Chevy G20 Van with the Gladiator conversion by Glaval. Anahata is the name for the fourth primary chakra, the heart chakra. The interior of the van is mostly a green color which is the color associated with the 4th chakra. Working with and opening my heart to the world is part of the next phase of my life and the reason why I picked the name Anahata.

This is the third vehicle I’ve lived in. Anhata was once outfitted with a dvd system, 2 12v outlets, blackout curtains and a series of internal light fixtures and speakers. Somewhere along the 16 years of her life someone cut all the conversion wiring and removed the tv and dvd player. The curtains are now tattered and don’t all match and many of the speakers and lights have been ripped out. The seat that folds down into a bed still works fine, but the cushions could use some work.

Luckily, there’s hope! The van smelled of smoke when I bought it. It’s taken about a month for it to dissipate, but it turns out that using a sage smudge is a great way to fight smoke with smoke. I’ve covered the windows with cloth as temporary curtains until I figure out something better. I’ll be trying to repair the conversion wiring next, but this requires some self education. To be continued…

Name that Moksha

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 11:45:06 -0700

Alice: I want to call my blog Moksha Life, but nobody knows what Moksha means...
Nate: *shrug* yah, what is it?
Alice: *explains Moksha to Nate* What about Moksha Heart... or... Moksha Verve?
Nate: I don't know, maybe
Alice: Oh! Moksha Drive is a fun name! It's got the dual meaning of ambition and driving.
Nate: That's pretty good.
Alice: *chuckling* Moksha Juice...
Nate: haha, Grande Moksha!
Alice: Decaf Soy Moksha!
Nate: You've gotta have the size in there!
Alice: Grande is too big for me...
Nate: How about Tall Decaf Soy Moksha - No Whip?
Alice: Haha that's great! Done.

Tall Decaf Soy What?

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 21:20:00 -0700

Moksha!

Moksha (mokṣa or mukti) is a Sanskrit term that means freedom. It literally means “release” or “to let go.” To be in a state of moksha, as I understand it, is to be self-liberated from avidya - that which causes false perceptions. The idea is to unite with the supreme consciousness and liberate yourself from suffering.

Moksha is attained through self-realization. The second branch of yoga, niyama, deals with how you relate to yourself. By following the path of niyama you gain insight into your ego (asmita), desires (raga), rejections (dvesa) and fears (abhinivesa). These are the branches of avidya. As you continually work through the layers behind each of the 4 branches of avidya you achieve more and more clarity about your true self until you are able to let it all go and attain moksha.

Yes, well this all sounds very philosophical doesn’t it? Sure yoga is my thing and all, but the deep philosophical stuff is for my other blog, True | Shift. The exploration of freedom is my theme right now and I’m interested in it physically, mentally and spiritually. My current lifestyle (van-dwelling) is part of that exploration.

Tall Decaf Soy Moksha is my freedom blog.