I'm just back from a couple of days in Nashville, Tennessee for business. I'd never been before, but I can tell you I will definitely go back.

Usually when I am away for a couple of days and my security blanket of a routine gets disrupted, I come back all jumbled up inside. My heart races like I've had too much caffeine and neither my brain nor my body can sit still long enough to sort it out.

The remedy? Writing it down. So, in no particular order, I'll make room in my brain by taking up space in this blog. Here's the nothing-in-particular:

• I broke down at the airport and bought the splurge I so proudly resisted last week. But I'm glad I did. I am still thinking a lot about this story and I hope that when it comes together for me, I can share with you what it did for me.

• I read the newspaper cover to cover in the lounge of my hotel yesterday morning--and inside of it was an article about this software that Dominoes Pizza has developed for people to track the status of their pizza. Online. Huh? Talk about creating a solution to a problem that doesn't exist! (Which I, by the way, am expert at doing).

• I read the paper in the lounge of the hotel because I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to get anywhere else. The hotel was something like 58 acres with tunnels and overpasses for travel. I tried to find a map of the place for you, but they probably don't make it available until they've already got you inside.
  

• I did manage to find the health club (though it took me about 20 minutes) and bored myself to tears on the treadmill watching the perfectly still pool that was directly down below.

• I disrupted the perfectly still pool and swam about 10 laps (though I think it was eight, how on earth do you keep track of laps? I nearly broke my hand (again) trying to figure it out because apparently I can't think and swim straight at the same time). Swimming is a HARD thing to do.

• Then, I made my way outside in the 30 degree air and soaked myself in the hot tub. It was still dark but that moon sure was bright. It occurred to me that I had NEVER sat in an outdoor hot tub before. There's nothing like realizing you're doing something new and different while you're doing it.
  

• I bought Ava the most adorable pair of cowgirl boots. Earl (I'm not kidding, that was his name) at Boot Country on Broadway sold me a pair that are three sizes too big--but I couldn't resist. So she puts them on and just stands there. It's hysterical.

• I learned something about leadership on the plane ride there:

It was a turbulent ride and they announced that it would be turbulent as soon as we boarded. Well, three minutes after we took off, I had to pee. (By the way, how do you not have to pee and then all of a sudden have to pee with "holding it" absolutely NOT an option?) So, I kept waiting and waiting and waiting for that stupid overhead sign to go off. After 25 minutes and "I can't switch to one more position without completely embarrassing myself and mortifying the guy next to me", I unbuckled my belt and walked to the front of the plane. I told the attendants (still buckled at their "station") that I couldn't wait. They told me to "just be careful."

I decided in the lavatory that I would walk back to my seat with confidence. (As opposed to walking back as someone who had just announced to the entire plane that she had to pee so badly she was willing to risk her life by getting up on a turbulent plane while everyone else waited dutifully for the sign to go off.) No, I wouldn't show the least bit of embarrassment. I would walk tall, look straight ahead, maybe even smiling at people as I passed, like I was the most natural person in the world doing the most natural thing in the world. Like I had just accepted a fashion award or something.

As soon as I made it back to my seat, five people (maybe six) got up from their seats to pee too. I feel like I made a difference for those five (maybe six) people that day. That kind of experience probably won't make it into a Jack Welch book on leadership or the follow up to Jim Collins' "Good to Great"--but I think there was an element of leadership (okay, and desperation) in my decision to break the rules and pee that day.

• I felt light-hearted and light-weighted. I attribute it to NO COMPUTER. Seriously, it felt really good to disappear from cyberspace for a while. You should definitely have a day or two of detoxification...even if it means avoiding "Splashes and Splurges" for a while. Use the time to write a letter to an old friend, read a book, or get out for a walk. Really.

Well, that's enough for now. I need to move on to some other things before Ava wakes from her nap, in this particular order:

1. Clean up lunch dishes
2. Wipe the counters
3. Put clothes away
4. Finish editing a report
5. Send out some work emails
6. Draft an outline of a paper
7. Write two pages in my book
8. Send my journal sketch to Bird Dog Press

Okay, I just read the list. I'm not so straightened out that I can pull all of that off in an hour...wanna take bets on how much I can pull off?

Popcorn Splurge:

Tonight is the season premier of Lost. So, it's TV and this buttery salt and pepper popcorn.

We have now heard aplenty of the New Atheists (Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris, etal) and less so of some of the direct responses (such as by Alistair McGrath and John Haught). This is an excellent article that looks at the shortcomings of both positions and presents it through the perspective of William James' personalized religion (which also has its shortcomings...):

First there was Dawkins’ calling an education in religious faith — even moderate faith — “child abuse.” Sam Harris chided religious moderates for being “in large part, responsible for the religious conflict in our world.” They didn’t simply want an end to fundamentalism or the use of religious doctrine in governmental policy. They treated Christians as if they all believed the Earth was only 6,000 years old, and Muslims as if they were all strapped with explosives. If you pray to Jesus when your world is falling apart, or blame Mercury being in retrograde when your car won’t start, you are part of the problem.

As I read, I kept thinking there was no way all three writers were so naïve as to think faith is the real problem, that there wouldn’t always be people who are in a state of vulnerability and manipulators lying in wait to take advantage of them. They created a chasm between believers and nonbelievers that wasn’t really there, and used the same “with us or against us” language that dragged the country into war. They can fling books at each other for as long as they like, but they’re not going to change any minds. Imagine telling someone at the end of their rope, “Suffering has no eternal purpose, we’re just a chemical accident. All you need is math and the scientific method!” The believer is more likely to jump into the chasm than cross it.

And now on to theologian John Haught's new book:

But in God and the New Atheism: A Critical Response to Dawkins, Harris, and Hitchens theologian John F. Haught reminds us what exactly that means: “In my interpersonal knowledge… the evidence that someone loves me is hard to measure, but it can be very real nonetheless.” I wanted Haught’s entire book to be like this statement: a warm-blooded medium between the atheists’ cold logic and the fundamentalists’ fiery fury.

Instead, we’re back at the chasm. Just as Dawkins et al. refuse to understand that some people have a strong emotional need for faith, Haught cannot understand that for some people the idea of an omnipotent creator would send the logical order of the universe into a cause/effect tailspin. At least he understands that there are problems with how God is used in religion, and how that might send moderates running to the other end of the spectrum. “Sensitive souls in every period of religious history can grow weary of the unsatisfactory ways in which contemporary religions represent their ideal.” He continues, “Reading certain passages in the Bible, including the Christian Scriptures, can be a dangerous and bewildering experience if one has not first gained some sense of the Bible’s overarching themes.”

He is convinced, however, that Christianity is the way. His solution to doubt is “a good college-level course in biblical literature, or being part of a Bible study group informed by up-to-date scholarship.” Haught pities atheists, and it’s quite possible he’s never actually met one. “You would be required to summon up an unprecedented degree of courage if you plan to wipe away the whole horizon of transcendence. Are you willing to risk madness? If not, then you are not really an atheist.” I imagine he thinks all atheists look like Sartre, existing only on cigarettes and depraved sexual acts.

And this is where James comes in:

Both parties point to Darwin as the origin of the schism, and indeed the debate has been raging ever since “Where did we come from?” had an answer other than “God.” Haught chastises the others for not having read William James’s essay “The Will to Believe.” James wrote it in 1896 in response to “that delicious enfant terrible” W. K. Clifford’s assertion that faith was sinful. “It is sinful because it is stolen in defiance of our duty to mankind,” Clifford wrote. “That duty is to guard ourselves from such beliefs as from a pestilence which may shortly master our own body and then spread to the rest of the town… It is wrong always, everywhere, and for everyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.”

Sound familiar? Harris, Hitchens, and Dawkins, all declare God a failed hypothesis because of “insufficient evidence,” and both Dawkins and Harris accuse the moderately faithful of opening the door to extremism. But while Haught responds with a tangent about the Christian God’s demand for blind faith and that “to worship anything finite is idolatrous,” James does not bother with all that because he is not tied to any religious viewpoint. He is an empiricist. It comes down to a choice: Do you wait for God to hold a press conference before you believe in him, or do you allow yourself to trust that there is a dimension to the world we cannot access? Dawkins would call you a fool for choosing the latter, and Haught might saddle you down with dogma and force order onto your belief. But James simply states:

Believe nothing, [Clifford] tells us, keep your mind in suspense forever, rather than by closing it on insufficient evidence incur the awful risk of believing lies… I myself find it impossible to go with Clifford. [H]e who says “Better go without belief forever than believe a lie!” merely shows his own preponderant private horror of becoming a dupe… For my own part, I also have a horror of being a dupe; but I can believe that there are worse things than being duped may happen to a man in this world… In a world where we are certain to incur [errors] in spite of all our caution, a certain lightness of heart seems healthier than this excessive nervousness on their behalf.

It’s a much more useful response because James does not picture the people on either side of the debate as fools or cowards or heathens.

Hmm...Why can't we have a discussion like this? After taking the straw men arguments out, some of the agreements and disagreements are mostly about one's faith and/or view of the world. I don't fully agree with James about taking the plunge, but at least there can be a good discussion about it. Read the full article here. (tip from 3quarksdaily)

Poor education standards at madrassas in Pakistan came into sharp focus after 2001. Usually these religious school teach only rot memorization of the Quran and obedience. Musharraf had pledged to reform the sprawling madrassa system in Pakistan. But now it seems that the program is being discontinued. I guess like his other projects - he is considering it "mission accomplished" (see, Mush and Bush can easily be cross-referenced).

In 2002 the Pakistani government launched a five-year program called the Madrassa Reforms Project, a post-9/11 directive aimed at modernizing religious seminaries by broadening their curricula, establishing educational standards and reining in the militant ones. With suicide attacks on the rise in Pakistan, many fear that more madrassas will become breeding grounds for extremist ideologies.

Yet, five years later, the program has been discontinued.

Officials estimate there are about 13,000 madrassas across the country with fewer than 2 million students enrolled. But many observers say there are likely more than 20,000 madrassas.

"None of these madrassas are registered or will bother to register," said Muhammad Ejaz Ahsan, who heads the Karachi office of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. "They are politically and financially independent and have no desire to be reined in by government authorities."

But the success of madrassas is a direct consequence of the failure of the government providing education and other necessities:

Historically, madrassas were institutions of learning in the Islamic world. Today, a large percentage of the country's madrassas are community responses to sub-par government education.

Why madrassa reform has failed isn't difficult to answer.

Instead of being curtailed, madrassas sprouted up, providing free education, boarding and lodging for poor children, combating poor government schooling, unemployment, inflation and a host of other problems.

And all of this is nicely put into words by a madrassa student (I saw the video of this and it was quite remarkable how he grilled Musharraf on this - though I don't know what happened to the student afterwards):

At an education conference one of Binoria's students, Adnan Kaka Khel, lectured Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf against his madrassa drive.

"Mr. President ... (this) is class games, an unjust system, disrespect of talent ... limitless corruption, and the misuse of power – it is these dangerous trends which have driven the youth in this direction. You need to fix these problems, and then you will see if these youth are terrorists or lovers of peace."

Pakistan's constitution obliges the state to provide free and compulsory secondary education. However, education (and health), key social-sector departments, have consistently been sacrificed in the name of "national interest" issues such as defence expenditure.

Read the full story here.

Something about my recent sneaker experience triggered the recollection of a recent Runner's World article. I combed through my last three issues in search of it...and found it (electronically too).

While I am not convinced that my sneaker syndrome could be remedied by a lacing technique (too short is too short), I do think that this article provides what should be an obvious solution (or at least attempt) for foot discomfort...but if you're like me, it hadn't ever "crossed" your mind!

Today's splurge:

I have really tight muscles, particularly my quadriceps. I've been looking at "The Stick: A Toothbrush for Muscles" for sometime...and bought it today using a $10 gift card I received for joining the new sneaker store. I can't wait to go sit on the couch and use it!

You may have already heard that a few weeks back Pope canceled his speech after protests from faculty and students, accusing the Pope of being anti-science as exemplified by his 1990 speech. Now you can find the full text of Pope's undelivered La Sapienza speech here. The undelivered speech talks about medieval university and sets it up in the context of faith, reason and secularism:

At La Sapienza, Rome's oldest university, however, I have been invited as Bishop of Rome, and so, I must speak as such. Of course, La Sapienza was once the Pope's university, but today it is a secular university with that autonomy which, based on its founding concept, has always been part of the nature of a university, which should be linked exclusively to the authority of truth.

The university finds its particular function in its freedom from political or ecclesiastical authorities, especially in modern society, which needs institutions of this kind. Going back to my question at the start: What can a Pope say and what should he say in meeting with the university of his city?

So lets get straight to the juicy bits. What does he say about science:

In modern times, new dimensions of knowledge have opened up, and in the university, they are appreciated most of all in two spheres: above all, in the natural sciences, which have developed on the basis of the link between experimentation and the presumed rationality of matter; and in the second place, in the historical and humanistic sciences, in whuich man - scrutinizing the mirror of history, and clarifying the dimensions of his nature, seeks to understand himself better. This development has opened to mankind not only an immense meassure of knowledge and power, but it has also developed the knowledge and acknowledgment of human rights and human dignity, for which we can only be grateful. But man's journey can never be said to be complete, and the danger of falling into inhumanity can never be simply abjured - as we see in the panorama of current affaris. The danger for the Western world - to speak of this alone - is that man today, especially considering the greatness of his knowledge and power, surrenders when faced with the question of truth.

This would mean that reason ultimately folds up from the pressure of interests and the attractiveness of utility, being forced to recognize it as the ultimate criterion. Stated from the point of view of the structure of the university, there is a danger that philosophy, no longer feeling capable of its true mission, degenerates into positivism; that theology, with its message addressed to reason, becomes confined to the private sphere of a group or groups. If however, reason, solicitous of its presumed purity, becomes deaf to the great message that comes from the Christian faith and its wisdom, it would wither up like a tree whose roots no longer reach the waters that give it life. It would lose its courage for the truth and will stop being great - it would diminish.

So yes, he feels that if reason/science (he separate them at other places in his talk) is divorced from faith, in particular the Christian faith, it will loose its connection to the truth. The charitable way to look at that is that - well...he is the Pope and he is selling his product. But this is indeed a departure from Pope John Paul, who was more sympathetic to science and often spoke of cooperation between the two rather an absolute dependence.

Now lets get to the conclusion:

Applied to our European culture, this means: if reason wishes to self-construct itself circumscribed by its own argumentation and that which convinces it for the moment, and - preoccupied with its secularity - cuts itself off from the roots through which it lives, then it does not become more reasonable and pure, but will decompose and break up. With this, I return to our starting point.

What does the Pope have to do or say in the university? Certainly, he should not seek to impose the faith in authoritarian fashion, because faith can only be given in freedom. Beyond his ministry as Pastor of the Church and on the basis of the intrinsic nature of this pastoral ministry, it is his task to keep alive the sensitivity for truth; to invite reason ever anew to set itself to a quest for the truth, for goodness, for God; and along this path, call on it to be aware of the useful lights that have emerged throughout the history of the Christian faith, and thereby to perceive Jesus Christ as the Light who illumines history and helps us find the way to the future.

On the one hand, we can again pass it through the Papal filter and say that he is simply selling his product and doing his job. On the other hand, we can also see an aggressive tone against secularism (and reason without faith) and that does not bode well for the future. On the plus side, at least he did not defend Galileo's trial in this speech. Lets be thankful of small things.

I just love this picture and I'm not even sure what to say about it, so I'll just say nothing and let you enjoy it too.

So not a splurge:

I spent an hour (and tortured my husband and daughter by making them spend it too) in a just-opened sneaker store Friday night. In search of the perfect pair of running shoes (because I'm so convinced that they remain elusive despite the never-had-a-problem with these before).

So, I underwent all kinds of assessments (interview, walk analysis, and even a barefoot run on the treadmill) and what they came up with (same brand I used, different style) they didn't have in my size (of course). So they brought out a men's shoe in the equivalent size. Tired and out of time, I took it.

So anxious was I to try out the new perfect pair of shoes, I geared up for a long treadmill run the next morning...only a couple miles in to realize that my perfect pair were so... unperfect. Too short and way too wide, I had a pain in my right foot, calf, knee and hip the whole day long.

Fortunately they have a 60-day perfect fit guarantee, which means I can return them no questions asked. The only question for me is, do I even try a size up--or do I just give it up. And stick with what I know works while the "possibly-perfect pair" continue to elude me.

The editorial of last week's issue (January 18) of Science openly called for increased cooperation with Iran on scientific matters. It also lists some interesting steps that have already been taken regarding this:

During the past 8 years, the U.S. National Academies have sponsored annual U.S.-Iran scientific workshops in both countries in areas such as limnology, water conservation, science and ethics, and distance education. These workshops and related individual exchanges have shown that cooperation on problems of mutual interest is possible even in very harsh political environments. In some ways, this bridge-building is reminiscent of early U.S. exchanges with the former Soviet Union and China. But more needs to be done to help repair the broken dialogue between the scientific and intellectual communities of the two countries.

But it appears that things have picked up in the last few months. It is hard to imagine that these measures are completely detached from the two governments - even so the scientific communities in both countries can thaw some ice:

The past 3 months have seen a remarkable series of science-related events involving Iran. An October visit by a U.S. scientific delegation concluded with a joint decision to increase the frequency of bilateral workshops and the number of exchange visitors. During that visit, Princeton physicist and Nobel laureate Joseph Taylor delivered a lecture at Sharif University in Tehran that was seen in person and via the Internet by thousands of Iranian faculty members and students. In November, the U.S. Department of State along with the Institute of Medicine and Academy for Educational Development organized a 3-week program for specialists in food-borne diseases from five institutions in Iran, including a joint scientific workshop and visits to U.S. institutions from coast to coast. In December, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax, Virginia, began planning audio-video teleconferences with an elite high school in Tehran as a first step toward a long-term relationship. A salient new development was the launch of annual U.S.-Iranian seminars on "Science, a Gateway to Understanding." The first was held in Tehran in November and involved scientists, political leaders, philosophers, and theologians to discuss scientific, political, economic, and social topics that affect understanding among nations.

And here is an interesting (but very positive) way to end the editorial:

Many political leaders in Iran associate themselves with science, and many technically trained Americans are active within the foreign policy community. Together, they are an influential group that recognizes that science is based on evidence and not on ideology. They are the ones who must become advocates of cooperative programs. Particularly now, at this time of great tension in the U.S.-Iran relationship, creative initiatives from the scientific communities of both countries deserve the broadest possible encouragement and support.

This is a step in the right direction and its great that AAAS is taking this initiative. I hope other scientific societies will join in too (especially the American Chemical Society after their last boneheaded action against their Iranian members).

A warm welcome to all our new subscribers! Nice to have you with us for these online beekeeping lessons. When I first started keeping bees in 1994, I called a large company that sold beekeeping equipment. I was intimidated by the way they assumed I knew everything there was about keeping bees. They rattled off sizes and names of different boxes and frames and foundation that made me think I neglected to press 1 for English.
We don't mind when you call us and say, "what are those thingies that hang inside a bee box" because we know that you mean frames. We don't make you feel stupid if you pronounce a honey super like supper. We expect new beekeeper to be on a big learning curve. Hey! We're still learning ourselves. So do not be intimidated by getting your feet wet in beekeeping. Keep learning.
Ready, set, go, spring is around the corner! I'm anxiously awaiting the first warm spell that comes along because I'm going to place pollen patties in my hives. It looks like Sunday afternoon may be the best day. This will help the queen begin laying some early brood. It can be a little risky this early, because colonies could wind up with more brood than they can keep warm, but it's a risk I'm willing to take for early spring build up of my hives.
Which brings me to today's lesson about spring preparation and management. First, there are two groups of beekeepers headed into spring. Those who do not have bees but will be getting packages or nucs this year, and then there are those who have wintered bees and are looking forward to seeing how well these over-wintered colonies survived the winter.
A first year hive is just what it sounds lie. It is the installation of a package of bees or a nuc. A second year hive means the colony has overwintered one winter and is now in its second year. After that, we just refer to hives as established hives.
Let's talk about the first year hive first. Even though in the north we'll still have one more month of off and on brutally cold, snowy weather, spring is coming, and it is coming faster than most beekeepers can expect and prepare adequately. You cannot wait until winter is over and warm weather is finally here to begin beekeeping preparations. By then you'll always be trying to play catch-up.
In my early years of beekeeping I was shocked when I called in April to order bees only to be told that they sold out in January. It depressed me to think I would have to wait another year. So, get into the mind set that you must prepare now!
1) All equipment must be in your possession soon, so that you can become familiar with it and paint it if you need to.
Unless you live in the deep south, you need these hive components:

a. Screen bottom board
b. 2 Deep brood hive bodies with frames/foundation
c. 2-3 Medium supers with frames/foundation
d. An inner cover
e. An outer cover
f. An entrance reducer cleat
g. Either a top feeder or an entrance feeder
h. A hive tool
i. Protective clothing
j. A smoker

That's your equipment checklist. Do not improvise. Keep bees the right way with the right tools. Do not use a screw driver instead of a hive tool, or a trash bag instead of a hat and veil. Do it right if you are going to keep bees! We have several online options if you still need to order your hive, bees or equipment: honeybeesonline.com

If you are rusty or unfamiliar with hive components, please review Lesson One (and following) which explains the various components which make up the beehive.
2) Prepare you mission of installing your bees by reviewing Lesson Seven which explains in detail with pictures on how to install your bees. Go over and over this lesson until you can do it in your sleep.
3) Build up your confidence. Installing packaged bees is very simple and enjoyable. So do not give in to your fears or reservations.
4) On a descent day, before your bees arrive, place your hive in the spot of your choice. Block the entrance with your entrance cleat to prevent mice from making a home prior to your bees arriving.
Once your preparations are made, now you're ready for your bees to arrive in the spring. Once we inform you of an approximate date your bees will arrive, call your post office and let them know too. Tell them the approximate date and give them your home phone number and cell phone number if you have one. Ask them to call you immediately when your bees arrive. Mix 1:1 sugar water in a clean spray bottle and have it ready to take to the post office. Once you receive a call from the post office, grab your spray bottle and head out. Spray the outside screen of your package of bees at the post office. They need that sugar water spray! You cannot over spray them. The spray will go through the screen and provide nourishment for them.
You will notice lots of dead bees on the inside bottom of your package of bees. This is normal. The packages are packed with this in mind, allowing for those that die. However, if you have more than 1" of dead bees, call us as this might mean the bees were over-stressed in shipping.


When you transport your bees, keep them covered up, but allow air for them to breath. Keep them out of direct sunlight as this will excite them. Your package will be dripping with sugar water, so don't ruin your car's upholstery. Take a plastic tub with you so that you can carry the package in your car. If you put packages in the bed of a truck, keep them from being wind burned if you are driving at interstate speeds.
There are usually bees on the outside of your package. This does not necessarily mean the box is leaking bees. It just means some didn't make it inside, but they are hanging on for dear life to stay with their sisters, clinging to the gage.
Since package bees have no queen (she is in a separate cage), no brood and no honey, their morale is low. They are not aggressive. They are a bit confused and so you will become more confident once you see how calm they are.

What if the weather is cloudy and rainy on the day you pick up your bees? No big deal. DO NOT INSTALL THEM IN BAD WEATHER! Spray them completely with sugar water every four hours in the daytime, and before you go to bed and when you wake up. Keep them in a dark cool place above 55 degrees. You can keep them alive this way for another couple of days or longer until the weather breaks.
Next, follow my lessons on installing a package of bees. AND, get this! YOU MUST PLACE ALL 10 FRAMES IN THE HIVE AFTER INSTALLING YOUR PACKAGE. If you fail to do this, the bees will attach comb in the blank space up to the inner cover or top cover and you will not be able to open your hive without destroying the nest. ALL TEN FRAMES MUST GO BACK IN THE HIVE AFTER INSTALLING YOUR PACKAGE!
You must install your bees, as I have pointed out in Lesson Seven, in only one deep brood box. Do not put your second brood box on yet, nor your honey super. You will not need to add these until later. The general rule is to wait until about 7 frames are drawn out in your first box, then add the second. When seven frames in the second box is drawn out, add your honey super. Always use your inner cover over your last box, even at first when you only have one deep brood box. And your top cover goes on last. Weigh down your top cover with a heavy rock incase you have a nasty spring thunderstorm with high winds. I've lost hives due to severe thunderstorm winds. This new hive is very light in weight. Once it matures, it will way over 100 pounds. But for now, keep it weighed down.
Once installed, stay out of the hive for 1 week, at least 5 days. No peaking! On day 5, 6 or 7, gently smoke the opening of your hive, wait a minute, open the lid and inspect the queen cage. Pull it out, as she should not be in her cage. Usually there is a small amount of comb on the bottom of her cage. Be sure she is not on that comb. If she is, gently shake her onto a frame. Save the cage as a souvenir that YOU DID IT!
Continue to feed your bees either with a top feeder or an entrance feeder. But, remove the entrance cleat at this time to allow the bees full access in and out. Save that cleat for fall though! Don't lose it.
Close up the hive and wait another week. Around day 14 from your original installation date, smoke the entrance and inspect the hive. Pull out a few frames and see if you can see tiny eggs in the bottom of the cells where the comb has been drawn out. You might see if you can find your queen. If you spot your queen, good for you! Now, be careful. If she is on the frame you are inspecting, hold that frame over the hive incase she falls off, she will fall safely back in her hive. If you hold your frame over the grass and she falls off, it is unlikely that she will find her way back in. Maybe, but let's not see how good she is with directions.
Careful with that queen. When you place the frame back into the hive, in the same orientation before you took it out, make sure that you do not smash the queen. Watch her as you lower the frame down into the hive to ensure she is not wedged between combs or the wooden ware.
Now that it's been two weeks, and the queen is laying good, you can rest comfortably knowing that all is well. Continue feeding your bees, at least 2 weeks after installation and longer if they seem to be consuming a lot! Once real nectar can be found in your area, your girls should forage for nectar rather than drink from your feeders.
Now, you will need to simply enjoy beekeeping. Inspect your hive briefly every two weeks to make sure you see the queen or that you see freshly laid eggs. Then you know all is well.
Take a moment now that you've experienced bee and decide if you want more hives. Believe it or not, it is not too late. Say it's May 15, and you installed your package and have shown off to all your friends and relatives how you can open a hive and live. Maybe you find that you thoroughly love keeping bees! Your girls (the bees) have really brought you a lot of enjoyment and peace. Well, go ahead and order another hive or two. All through the month of May you can continue to install packages. Call us to see if we can provide you with packaged bees. Last year we shipped out way into July!
Keep our number handy: 217-427-2678.
Last year, we had many customers purchase hives from us, and then asked us to install their bees for them. Once installed they came in a week or two to carry home their hive with the bees installed. We seal it off with screen wire and staple the hive together temporarily for travel. Perhaps you will want us to do the same for you. Just remember, when purchasing a hive in their own box, you must make sure you have proper permission to transport the hive across county and state lines. This does not apply for packaged bees, only an established hive.

If you are thinking about starting with one hive, please review my lesson on why you should start with two hives. It is Lesson 18.
In our next lesson, I'll look at how to manage a second year hive, meaning a hive that made it through their first winter!

We appreciate those of you who spread the word about this beekeeping online resource! You'll notice information at the bottom of these postings where you can send this to a friend. Help us spread the word!
Until next time, remember to Bee-Have yourself!
David & Sheri Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
217-427-2678

There are all sorts of ways to measure progress. In fact, figuring out the best way is one of the basic ways I help people, organizations, and businesses in my professional life.

But in my personal life, this is how we're measuring progress these days:

1. How much further we have to grow before we can reach the counter top

2. How big our wrist has grown today compared to yesterday

3. The height of a cabinet...

and lastly, some flexibility progress for you:

Today at the gym, before my yoga class I had to use the restroom. One of the first things I do upon entering the restroom is to check the toilet paper situation:

a. to make sure there is some

b. to make sure that it isn't a new roll (because there are few things more frustrating--and inconvenient-- than trying to find the start of the first square of cheap toilet paper)

Before I started taking yoga, I had to bend my knees to look up into the holder. BUT TODAY I could actually bend from my hips (without bending my knees) to look up into the holder!

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I came across this little strategy if you're interested in some "progress psychology"

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Thursday's Splurge-day:

A piece of lemon pound cake that wasn't nearly as good as good friend Melissa's, but it was good.

This is the proper way to deal with creationists (hat-tip to richarddawkins.net):

This past weekend I attended the second Science Blogging Conference in North Carolina. I wasn't sure what to expect and I didn't really know anybody personally who was attending the conference. The conference had no registration fee, and that tipped my decision towards attending the conference (though it also increased my apprehension...hmm...free conference: How bad is it going to be or what are they trying to sell me by not asking for money??).

It turns out the conference was really fantastic and I had a phenomenal time there. It was very well organized, all of the sessions were interesting, and the organizers took care of the participants by providing them with good food and coffee (yes - no coffee shortage!). Plus it had an interesting mix of people - scientists, teachers, educators, journalists - that really enriched the experience. On top of it, we each got a bag full of goodies that included a t-shirt, two books (they were already on my Amazon wishlist), a coffee mug, about 15 magazines (Nature, Seed, Scientific American, American Scientist, Discover, National Geographic, etc) and other small things. It was not a conference, it was a heist!

Here is the full program of the conference and even if you were not there, you can join online discussion and also see videos of some sessions here. I really liked he unconference format of the first three sessions and it generated good interaction between the attendees. The unconferenced sessions I attended included a discussion over science blogging ethics led by Janet Stemwedel (some fascinating issues were raised, and one way or the other we will have to find some solutions to them soon), teaching science using electronic tools led by David Warlick, and how to build interactivity in a blog led by Dave Munger (you can also download his very useful presentation and other links here). By the way, Dave would look at this paragraph and say: too many links - it looks terrible. Sorry, Dave - won't do it again.

The last two sessions were in un-unconference format and the traditional approach perhaps sapped some of the energy. The Framing panel was directed more towards Sciencedebate 2008, but somehow both the talks and the Q&A lacked some oomph! However, Jennifer Oulette of Cocktail Party Physics revitalized the evening by talking about the outlook of science blogging - which looks terrific!

Thanks to Bora and Anton (and other organizers) for a fantastic conference.

The plight of the organizer: Bora - before the conference (left) and after seeing everything is going fine (right) [with Jennifer Oulette]

(Reading the title, can you tell what I've been playing a lot of lately?)

I'm going to indulge in things food tonight.

First, an article in my recent Runner's World magazine gives some short and "sweet" tips for eating good-for-you dark chocolate.

Second, I've been making all kinds of things with wonder food quinoa (pronounced keen-wah). I especially like this recipe--but adding a little more gruyere cheese than is specified AND making sure you don't overcook the rice on the stovetop (err on the side of watery than done) are two well-worth-it lessons learned. Oh, and be sure to salt and pepper to taste.

Want more? Read on.

Finally, I had a trivia inquiry from a reader recently, wondering if anyone had any idea on what the shell of a cashew looked like... made me think that I'd never seen one. So, if you have any ideas, please send along!

Splurge-mint:

I bought a package of Peppermint Patties and put them in the freezer. Once I finish up here, I'm going to have a cup of tea with a side of pattie....

The good news is that both Muslim and Western countries actually agree on something. The bad news is that they both agree that divisions between them are worsening:

Respondents were asked how they thought relations were now and how they thought they would develop. Describing the position now, majorities on both sides said they did not believe the two sides were getting along.

This belief was strongest in the US, Israel, Denmark - where the publication of cartoons about the Muslim Prophet Muhammad caused worldwide controversy - and among Palestinians. WEF experts examining the poll data put this down to the effect of the Iraq war and the Middle East conflict.

By contrast, there was a less gloomy response in Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Now this last bit of information is interesting. Either there is lopsided optimism here or may be people in these three countries believe that the relations have already hit rock bottom, and there is simply no room to make things worse.

As for the differences, Europeans come out the worse (or best - depending on one's inclination):

Europeans apparently feared more interaction with Islam - according to the report, they saw it as a threat to their cultural identity. But people in the US, Canada, Israel and the Muslim world said more contact would be a good thing.

But there are some slight positive signs also (in fact they are so rare that BBC decided to present them in a bullet format):

But there are some rays of hope among the gloom:

• Most respondents said they did not believe violent conflict was inevitable
• Most respondents said the quality of the relationship between the West and the Muslim world was important to them personally

Read the full story here (you can also get the full pdf report here):

Ava likes to imitate faces and she calls this one her "Cesar face" (as in Cesar Millan, the dog whisperer)

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And we took this picture all bundled up on Sunday morning.




Splurge-resist:

I spent a lot of time at the bookstore this weekend getting some work done. I was surrounded by books glossy and matte, bound and spiraled. I picked them up and put them done, some three times or more.

But I walked out of that bookstore empty-handed.

I resisted the urge to splurge.

Yes, even one word can make quite an impact. In fact, in terms of effectiveness, this may have one of the highest ratios of impact/letters and presents an interesting example of science and religion interaction:

All this over five letters. But those letters, the word "among," could signal a bigger change than it seems.

The change is in the second paragraph of the introduction to the 2006 Book of Mormon, the most recent printing of the book published by Doubleday. The last sentence of that paragraph, which discusses the fate of ancient civilizations, stated in previous editions that the Lamanites, a nation of people that originated in Jerusalem, "are the principal ancestors of the American Indians."

The newest edition states the Lamanites are "are among the ancestors of the American Indians."

The change may be motivated by increasing accuracy of ancestry testings and the tracing of immigration routes. Here is how this impacts the religious narrative:

The Book of Mormon is the reference book for the church, like the Bible. Mormons believe the founder of the church, Joseph Smith, translated the book from a set of engraved golden plates buried on Cumorah Hill in Manchester, N.Y.

The book teaches, in part, that Native Americans were descendents of the Lamanites, who migrated to America from Israel.

And there is no scientific evidence supporting this story. Indeed, Native American origin research is pointing elsewhere (here is a National Geographic story about the first Americans). The controversy over the Kennewick Man also centers around the same issue and pits scientific data against sacred oral traditions.

I think this may be a smart move on the part of the Mormon Church. The challenge to their version of history is only going to grow stronger with time. By keeping it vague ("among" can easily fit to any percentage greater than 0 and less than 100), they can perhaps avert a direct clash with science.

Read the full story here.

I can check off January's "do something new and different twice a month", thanks to my “new and different” this morning...

When I was a kid, the women’s health club (which was really just a fancy locker room with a tanning bed, a sauna, a telephone and a tv, private showers, and bathroom doors that actually locked) at the YMCA was a great big mystery—from how to get there to what was in there.

The back stairwells, seemingly secret-passage racketball courts, and hidden-in-the-wall weight rooms that surrounded and protected this secret locker room made it all the more, well, secret.

If you read Harry Potter, this locker room was like Platform 9 ¾ on the Hogwarts Express: with a little luck and a lot of magic, it would appear out of nowhere to a fortunate few.

On Sunday afternoons, a little girl could legally get into the locker room provided these two requirements were met:

1. Her mom paid the extra dues to be a member of the women’s health club; and
2. Her mom felt she behaved well enough during the week to warrant a family-day swim followed by a sauna and a shower in the WOMEN’S HEALTH CLUB….

My mom met requirement number one; I tried hard to meet requirement number two because WHAT A TREAT IT WAS.

And this morning, probably 15, maybe even 20 (yikes!) years since my last sauna sit, I did it again.

Oh my gosh. Go find yourself one. NOW.

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Ava directed me, under no uncertain terms, of the following, “Mommy, big girl diapers, get ‘em, wear ‘em”

Now that I’m writing it, I think she meant her. I hope she meant her.

Weekend SPLURGE:

TWO glasses of wine and duck fat frites (translation: fries fried in duck fat) on a DATE with Pete!

Things are really busy ALREADY here at Long Lane Honey Bee Farms! I feel like the butcher that backed up into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work. Wow! The beekeeping season takes off each year around this time, and accelerates rapidly all the way through November. But this year, there was never a let up. We're glad for that.

Sign up for one of our beginning beekeeping courses. It's a one day course at our honey bee farm. Click here for more information.


I know it's cold outside in most of the US, but take a look at this video below and enjoy what summer looks like. I took this of some of my hives during a strong nectar flow. Look at the girls coming and going! You might have to push play twice for it to run.

Good for you for being interested in beekeeping! I want to encourage all of our first time beekeepers to enjoy this first year. You'll make mistakes like we all do. You'll have great success and probably some failures in beekeeping. But keep your chin up and enjoy keeping bees.

I assume there are lots of folks who are sitting on the fence, wishing they were beekeepers, but making every excuse under the sun why they can't do it. Come on! Get off the fence and put some adventure in your life. Jump into beekeeping. Convince a buddy or girlfriend to start too! It's double the fun if you can keep bees with a friend. Better yet, why not involve the whole family. As you can see, you have a wealth of information here at your disposal. And you can always call us for advice and opinions. And we sell anything you might need to keep bees--EVEN THE BEES & Queens. Let's go!

Here at Long Lane Honey Bee Farms we are committed to help you succeed at keeping bees.

We've helped all kinds of people get started in beekeeping from young people, to retired people, farmers, professors and even a plastic surgeon. Back in the day, it was difficult to learn beekeeping, especially if you did not have a mentor. Without the Internet and the tremendous research we now have, beekeeping was hit and miss back in the day.

Some of our new customers kept bees 30-40 years ago but gave it up back then and now want to get started again, but are threatened by how much beekeeping has changed. They fear they are too far removed from what's going on now. But, basic beekeeping really hasn't changed all that much. Sure, there are new pests, but we have found new ways to combat these pests.

Beekeepers are a resilient bunch, bouncing back and moving forward. And, I'm trusting our wonderful honey bee is even more resilient, and will thrive long into our future especially as more people like you begin to give them a safe and healthy place to prosper and grow. You can even treat them so good that you can water them like I do. In the video below, watch me pour water into the bird bath that they love so much. I was right in the middle of their heavy flight path, getting bump into, but they didn't sting me, just accidentally bumping into me trying to get a drink on a hot day. If you have your speakers on, it sounds like at the end, I say "ouch", but I actually said, "Wow!" because there were so many bees in the air and I didn't have a hat or veil. This was in the middle of about 20+ large hives.

If you are worried that you don't know how to install your bees when they arrive, then review my online lesson specifically written on Installing A Package Of Bees complete with pictures!

If you are concerned about bee sting reactions, review my lesson on bee stings.

You might be wondering if people will think you have lost your mind. But actually it is the opposite. When people discover you are a beekeeper, they will live out this hobby vicariously through you. They will respect your work and ask you to speak at schools, and special interest groups.

Hey, some people sit around and do cross word puzzles to keep their mind active. Why not study about beekeeping. The newspaper will probably want to do a story on you. Pollinators will be contacting you to see if they can rent some of your hives to pollinate their crops that are suffering without honey bees.

You'll find yourself intrigued and energized by keeping bees. Believe it or not, you'll want to read everything you can on keeping bees. And if you really get hooked, bees will be on your mind all the time.

Now is the right time for you to make the plunge and get going! Don't let others talk you out of it. You've always wanted to, now do it. Maybe your children are bored and wasting time on less productive things. Perhaps they might benefit from becoming beekeepers at a young age.

Let me summarize: We'll help you obtain all your equipment and supplies. We'll continue to educate you on how to keep bees through these lessons. We provide you with resources such as books or DVDs. We'll provide you with the bees and a queen sent right to your house. We'll take your calls or e-mails and answer your questions as best as we can to help mentor you along the way. My! What's keeping you from jumping in?

Those of you who have called in, know that we take time out of our busy day to spend as much time as we can answering your questions on the phone or through Email. And we know what we are talking about---atleast that's my opinion. I don't know if credentials are important to you and if they are, I'm a graduate of the Indiana Beekeeping School, a member of the Illiana Beekeeping Association, the Central Eastern Illinois Beekeeping Association, a member of the Indiana State Beekeepers Association and the Illinois State Beekeepers Association. We also regularly attend special workshops and conferences on beekeeping.

So believe me when I tell you that now is a great time to jump in to this whole beekeeping thing. Honey sales are strong, and honey is becoming more and more recognized for his remarkable health benefits. Our honey is always in big demand.

Now I know that you deal with some stress from time to time in your life. Some of you probably have been told that you need to de-stress your life. Let me tell you that beekeeping has been so relaxing for me. Wow! It is so therapeutic for me to just pull up a stump or a lawn chair and watch the girls fly in and out, busy working to bring me lots of honey. Seriously, it is a blast to sit out doors, listen to the birds and just enjoy watching the bees do their thing.

You're not alone. It's also fun to join your local beekeeping club and share thoughts and ideas. There are more beekeepers than you probably think. In my home state of Illinois, there are 18,821 beehives across Illinois! These 18,821 hives are kept by 1, 329 beekeepers. But here's why you need to keep bees, because in 1988, there were 37,025 hives in Illinois kept by 2,966 beekeepers. Read those statistics and I think you'll see what we are encouraging others to become beekeepers. We need honey bees kept by responsible beekeepers if we are to continue to enjoy fruits, vegetables and crops that are dear to our food supply.

There you go, so why not jump in today! Give us a call during our business hours between 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Central Time Monday - Friday. 217-427-2678. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

It's been nice being with you today.

In my next lesson, I'll be going over Spring Management Techniques for both newly installed packages and overwintered hives. These tips will help you have a great year! See you then...

And remember.... Bee-Have Yourself!

David & Sheri Burns

This is an issue that is phenomenally important, but not much information is available. Pakistan's nuclear program has always been shrouded in secrecy, so it is hard to verify any reports. Here is Pervez Hoodbhoy's take on this: A State of Denial. I have known him for years and I always take his views seriously. So here is a somber analysis:

A cacophony of protests in Pakistan greeted a recent statement by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohammad ElBaradei. "I fear that chaos, or an extremist regime, could take root in that country, which has 30 to 40 warheads," he said. He also expressed fear that "nuclear weapons could fall into the hands of extremist groups in Pakistan or Afghanistan."

But in Pakistan, few worry. The Strategic Plans Division, which is the Pakistani agency responsible for handling nuclear weapons, exudes confidence that it can safely protect the country's "crown jewels." The SPD is a key beneficiary of the recently disclosed secret $100 million grant by the Bush administration, the purpose of which is to make Pakistan's nuclear weapons safer.

This money has been put to use. Indeed, ever since Sept. 11, 2001, there has been a regular traffic of Pakistani military officers to and from the United States for coaching in nuclear safety techniques. While multiple layers of secrecy make it hard to judge success, the improvement in the SPD's public relations is palpable. PowerPoint presentations, guided tours of military headquarters and calculated expressions of openness have impressed foreign visitors.

And of course, every military happening in Pakistan needs an American approval (yes, even if its by Joe Lieberman):

Senator Joseph Lieberman, chairman of a Homeland Security and governmental affairs committee, left reassured. After a briefing by the SPD's chief, Lieutenant General Khalid Kidwai, Lieberman declared in a press conference, "Yes, he did allay my fears," and promised to carry that message back to Congress.

But Pervez (Hoodbhoy, not Musharraf) thinks that El Baradei and Lieberman are looking at two different issues:

The two men are looking at different things. Lieberman was impressed by how well Pakistani nuclear handlers have been tutored in the United States. ElBaradei, on the other hand, expressed a broader concern. He presumably reasoned that safety procedures and their associated technologies are only as safe as the men who use them.

This is the crux of the problem. Pakistan has become steadily more radicalized as the influence of Islamists increases in its culture and society. The deliberate nurturing of jihadism by the state has, over 30 years, produced extremism inside parts of the military and intelligence. Today, some parts are at war with other parts.

And the suicide bombings, which were unheard of in Pakistan couple of years back, are now increasingly targeting intelligence agencies and elite military units:

A score of suicide attacks in the last few weeks, some bearing a clear insider signature, have rocked an increasingly demoralized military and intelligence establishment. For example, an unmarked bus of the Inter Services Intelligence agency was collecting employees for work early in the morning in Rawalpindi when it was boarded by a suicide bomber who killed 25 when he blew himself up. The ISI had not recovered from this shock when, just weeks later, another bus was blown up as it entered the service's closely guarded secret headquarters.

Elite commandos of the Special Services Group have fared no better. Here, the suicide bomber was an army man. Still more recently, a group of six Pakistani militants, reportedly brainwashed by clerics linked to Al Qaeda, was arrested in December for plotting suicide attacks against military targets. Their leader was revealed to be a former army major, Ahsan-ul-Haq, who had masterminded the Nov. 1 suicide attack on a Pakistan Air Force bus that killed 9 people and wounded 40 others in the city of Sargodha, where nuclear weapons are said to be stored.

This also underscores the general stability of Pakistan. If these bombers can hit some of the highest security targets, what hope do cities have from preventing such attacks. In fact, it almost seems that the organizations behind these attacks are, at present, simply showing-off their strength. They certainly seem capable of creating mass chaos in Iraq-style bombing campaign in cities, where the population is far greater than in Iraqi cities (by way of comparison, Iraq's population is ~25 millions, and Pakistan's is 165 million). But back to the nuclear issue:

As the rift within widens, many questions pose themselves. Can collusion between different field-level nuclear commanders - each responsible for different parts of the weapon - result in the hijacking of one complete weapon? Could jihadist outsiders develop links with sympathetic custodial insiders?

Many vexing questions concern the weapons laboratories and production units. Given the sloppy work culture, it is hard to imagine that accurate records have been maintained over a quarter century of fissile-material production. So, can one be certain that small, but significant, quantities of highly enriched uranium have not made their way out? More ominously, religious fervor in these places has grown enormously over the last 30 years.

I'm not yet convinced about the dangers of the collusion theory (of course things may change). However, it is far more plausible that enriched uranium can get smuggled out. But again, we don't have much information about Pakistan's nuclear program and its safeguards, so I cannot say when should we really start loosing sleep over it. However, early last year, Pakistan's nuclear authority did release an ad in Urdu seeking information about any lost or stolen radioactive material. Now that can never be good. So if you have seen any suspiciously glowing objects, please call the number in the ad to the right. Wait a minute...whats in those glow sticks??

Read the full Hoodbhoy article here.

Pope is in trouble again for quoting somebody else (previously, he got into trouble for quoting anti-Islam sentiments of a 14th century Byzantine emperor, Paleologus) . This time he has been forced to cancel his speech at Sapienza University after students and faculty staged protests against his anti-science stance (also reported at Faithworld):

The pope’s speech at the university, which was founded by Pope Boniface VIII in 1303 and is now public, was to mark the start of the academic year. But professors and students objected, citing specifically a speech that Benedict gave in 1990, when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, on Galileo, condemned by the Inquisition in the early 1600s for arguing that the Earth revolved around the Sun.

In that speech, Cardinal Ratzinger, who would become pope in 2005, quoted the Austrian philosopher Paul Feyerabend as saying: “The church at the time was much more faithful to reason than Galileo himself, and also took into consideration the ethical and social consequences of Galileo’s doctrine. Its verdict against Galileo was rational and just.”

Oh...but he wasn't infallible then!
Yes, the Galileo Affair was more complicated than it is often portrayed (as a straight forward science vs religion battle) and involved political and cultural reasons as well, but to say that "the Church at the time was much more faithful to reason than Galileo" is more than just a stretch. [For more details on the Galileo Affair, check out these two articles: Science, Religion, and the Galileo Affair and Truth is science: Proof, persuasion and the Galileo Affair (pdf file)].

In the speech, Cardinal Ratzinger did not argue against the validity of science generally or take the church’s position from Galileo’s time that heliocentrism was heretical. But he asserted, as he has often since elected pope, that science should not close off religion and that science has been used in destructive ways.

Ok..so he is anti-science. But would it have been better to actually let him speak and then criticize him on its current content rather than on the basis of a quote made 18 years ago? This is a tricky issue, but I would rather have disagreed with him than to not let him speak. But I don't know more details about the situation at Sapienza University. Any thoughts?

Sometimes procrastination isn't really procrastination at all.

Sometimes it's just giving other possibilities a chance to rise to the surface and others (not meant to be) the time to fall away...because sometimes, procrastination is mistaken for resilience or intuitive resistance: resisting instant gratification in anticipation of the longer-lasting, maybe even ever-lasting, kind.

But sometimes, procrastination is just procrastination. And while this article won't do much to help you discern the difference between procrastination and intuition, it will give a few good tips for addressing the former.

So make up your mind to make it okay. Then just start somewhere.

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Speaking of starting somewhere, one of my favorite Ava stories of late:

When she starts counting--whether stairs, or toes, or till she can "come find me", she always starts with four. "Four, five, six," she says. And when you ask her what the title of her book, "One, Two, Three" is called, she'll tell you, "Four, Five, Six."

I haven't corrected her and don't know that I will...because it's an every hour reminder to me to just start somewhere.

Mid-week Splurge:

Homemade cinnamon bread from my mom-in-law. Yum.

I was inspired to sign up for the yoga seminar during one of my "10-minutes of quiet" mornings. I had been going back and forth about whether or not to attend and the direction I got was, "Attend!"

So I was really looking forward to it despite the fact that it would interrupt my Saturday morning coffee shop routine with Pete and Ava. But the point was "new and different" so I just made up my mind to make it okay.

I drove up slowly to the place and kept on driving slowly past it. Like three times. I was intimidated by all the "yogis" passing by with their pretty mats and swirly paraphernalia and here I was with a borrowed mat, running pants, and a couple of diapers I'd forgotten to remove from my gym bag.

The GPS that we got for Christmas kept saying, "arriving at Maureen's seminar" and when I kept driving by it would say, "recalculating...turn right to arrive at Maureen's seminar"...and so it went for three more rounds.

Third time (it's a charm, right?) I parked the car and went in. Most everyone was so normal- nice. There were about 30 woman, ranging in age from early 20's to mid- to late-50's.

I didn't have any expectations. All I knew was this: I liked my comfort zone, I was good at strength poses, not good at flexibility ones, and I was looking forward to the goal setting activities we'd get into.

I sat next to a girl (I guess I should say woman but I don't feel old enough for that yet) who had the kindest smile ever. She was long an pretty, like a harp. We hit it off well.

After a little bit of introduction and some drama-sharing (not on my part because I really have none) we started our yoga. Breathing was the focus (inhale exhale in case some of you forgot how, I know I do most of the time).

After an hour of breathing and twisting and humility (on my part) we sat down to write in our journals. These are the prompts I want to share with you. Think about them, write about them, even if you only have two minutes. You'll be amazed how far you can get:

1. Where am I struggling?
2. What am I most proud of?
3. What is my biggest dream?
4. What is holding me back?
5. What would I do if I knew I couldn't fail?

I wish we had spent more time on those prompts--but other activities took their place. Ones that were good, but like I said, would've rathered the time to plunge a bit more into those questions. I was surprised at where some of my answers took me.

So bottom line: just make up your mind to make it okay and try something completely new and different. If nothing else, you might make a new friend (or two).

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Splurge Tuesday:

I've really been great about not spending money lately, so I'm a little lean on the monetary splurge side of things...but today I am taking Ava to another program at the library. Rock n' Roll Toddlers. Did I mention that she can sing the first verse of the Beatles' Strawberry Fields?