1. Has a self-help book ever helped you? If yes, would you share the
title and author?
_The Power of Now_ by Eckhart Tolle. I recognize I have an ego, that
most times when I ask inside to view a situation in a different way
I very often do. I try to live in the present but at the same time I
still have twinges of anxiety about making choices that benefit my
future self. Little 'ahas' when I dip into TPoN. A bigger 'aha'
is that Anthony De Mello, Alan Watts, and Jiddu Krishnamurti's
writings preceded Eckhart Tolle's, and are the same ideas, but I no
longer have space in my bookshelves for their writings. I hold out
hope I see Eckhart Tolle in the wild; after all, I did see William
Gibson a few times on the street.
2. How many times a month do you cook dinner at home? Do you plan most of
your meals, or do you start by looking in the refrigerator to see what
hasn't gone bad?
I cook 27 times a month. It'd be more, but I geocache until late some summer
days, and on other summer days it is too hot to cook. I start by looking in
the refrigerator to see what hasn't gone bad. However I do look for the
discounts in the local supermarkets for animal and fish protein, purchase
what's available, go to the produce market and see what is on special there.
I do graze from the fridge, but I never think to prep something for later
when I am grazing in the present.
3. Where do you get your recipes for #2? If you have multiple cookbooks do
you rotate them?
I have more cookbooks than I need, but I can't bear to part with any of them.
I'm on a Canada cookbook kick right now, and during the summer I lean heavily on the non-grill _Summer_ book by Susan Branch for salads and desserts and steak tacos.
4. If you've gone antiquing or thrift store shopping, what is one of your
great finds?
Italian leather pants that no longer fit me (vanity went away with the pants) and a first edition of _The Parade's Gone By_ by Kevin Brownlow.
5. What would make, or has made, you more patriotic?
A deterioration of a former host nation, threat of annexation, and a sense
of acceptance among civic-minded, level-headed fellow citizens makes me feel
more patriotic. I don't live in the greatest country on earth, nor in the most livable city, but I am grateful everyday I returned to my birth nation.
