Inquire Within

Conservative Christian Group Takes Aim at Mindfulness Programs in Public Schools - Speaking from the perspective of someone who grew up in the Southern Baptist Church this isn't surprising. I also understand that it won't help to point out that mindfulness meditation is basically the same across faiths and disciplines, and that Christian meditation shares a lot of the same techniques. But OTOH, when I read this the first time I honestly wondered if I was reading something from The Onion. The quotes are mind-boggling. I'm confused and saddened. Maybe I need to go meditate. :/

It's finally stopped raining here - We've gotten well over two inches of rain in the last day, but I won't know the final total until eight, when I read my rain gauge. We had some power fluctuations last night after ten or eleven, I'm not sure exactly, I just remember hearing the Google Home in my room make its "booting up" tone and the battery backups all chirping at once. We haven't had any major flooding here, but I haven't been up the road yet to check things out. Neighbor's stupid fucking dog knocked over the trash can, so now I get to pick up soggy scattered garbage. I really need to get that shed built.

On today's agenda - 13 mile run plus easy yoga session this afternoon. Since the holiday is fast approaching I need to schedule out my errands more carefully, because there will be a couple of days when I can't just run out and get something, and several more where I won't want to because of the crowds. I need to find out if I should take anything to Fox's parents' when we go visit because I have a recipe for chai-flavored sweet potato scones and just need the flimsiest of excuses to make it.

And in the Department of Minor Annoyances, the lighting effects on my keyboard stopped working after a WinBlows update so I'll be troubleshooting that. I know, "My keyboard won't light up when I type" is the very definition of a first-world problem, but I like it when it makes the little pulsing light effect.

(no subject)

EDIT: About the trash cans, I mean build a BEAR shed, because there is no way a dog did that to my trash cans. Dang, son ...

Neighbor dog is still "stupid fucking dog," though.

Decoding the Bagel

I need a cooking icon. Hmm.

Last week I took a stab at baking my own bagels. They were okay, but they could have been better. The texture was off. Today I tried again with a slightly different recipe and the texture is still off, plus the dough was incredibly sticky. I'm going to try again later this week because I sort of suspect what the issue is but I need to keep trying. This is basically how I learned to make great pizza dough - try, learn, try again.

I think today's just too humid and I didn't add enough flour. Now, I used bread flour, so maybe I also need to rethink that, but I was tired after my run and got sick of babysitting the dough so there was likely not enough flour. I also probably need more salt in proportion to the amount of extra flour added.


My bagels were not quite this happy, but they were better than the first batch. (Not my bagel) 

I managed to finish my thirteen mile run, though I really wanted to quit at one point. Tomorrow's run is twelve miles, then next week I do a quasi-Dopey before I start tapering. So, it's time to eat all the carbs! Lucky for me there's a fresh pan of gingersnap granola. Oh wait, that's not luck, I made that. Silly me.