Tenchno Buddha!

This past weekend I attended the Techno Buddha Conference at the new IBS building right behind my Church in Berkeley. It's the second annual conference and I went last year and thought that this is a good way to reconnect w/ my religion. It was weird, I had a good time last year and wasn't really looking forward to the event until I got there. Once I got there I was really excited for the day's activities. Registration was $30.00 and this included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Breakfast, and all the workshops.

The morning started off w/ Breakfast in the kitchen then we went upstairs to the Hondo for Opening Service. Our Dharma Talk was lead by Rev. Harry Bridge. He spoke about Buddhism and the relationship it has to technology, specifically the Internet. Are the tools good or bad and how we can relay the message to our generation of Internet, email, texting savvy people. He even had emailed his talk to himself and referenced his iphone whenever he needed. In Buddhism there are a lot of old school people that will probably never adopt to technology, which is why it's been so hard to share our message to a bigger population. After the Dharma talk we broke out into different discussion groups.

Each discussion group consisted of about 15 people. I was the dinosaur group and stayed in the hondo w/ Rev. Bridge facilitating. I was very lucky/unlucky to have one very passionate/intense member in our group that started the conversation off. You could tell that Buddhism meant a lot to him and he expressed how intense the teaching meant. To him it shouldn't matter how the message is displayed. All that matters is what we teach. I agree that we should be teaching good things, but I also think that they way we teach them is equally important. That since times are changing we should adopt to those changes. If our age group finds most of their interests on the Internet, then we should be on the Internet. The Buddhist community that I grew up with is shrinking. So, what can we do to help it grow? If you think about any type of learning, the way the message is conveyed is equally important. When I went to college I generally learned better in smaller classrooms w/ intimate teachers. I think I almost failed two of the classes I took that we in big lecture hall w/ teachers that are really smart but have a hard time explaining their message in a way most people can understand. This is the same way I feel about Buddhism and it's teaching. At first you need to find what people are interested in, then explain your message so that its easy to understand, if they're interested then they'll keep coming back for more.

After our discussions we broke for lunch. Shoyu Weenies and Fried Rice!! One of the main goals of the conference was that it was interactive and that we learned and did everything. All of us were split into groups and we had to make our own fried rice. There were 5 people in my group, three from Central California. Lunch was really nice. I gave me a chance to get to know some of the other members a lot better and sit w/ people I normally wouldn't sit with. Once lunch was cleaned up we all broke up into our perspective workshops.

The first workshop that I attended was Interpersonal Communication with Cindy Rivera. Cindy is a therapist that work mainly on relationships. This workshop was really good in making you realize what is the best way to approach someone. What type of things you really need to do. I've been to a couple of communication classes and the one thing that she stressed a lot was listen. Something I am not good at. I always have something to say and usually want to interrupt someone while they're talking. It's definitely something I realize and need to work on, but it's hard! Even when she was talking I wanted to keep asking her questions before she was done.

The next one I went to was a self defense class. It was nice to be able to get up and stretch and get some movement in my day. I've been trying to work out consistently and with the conference it made it a little hard, so self defense was a nice change from sitting. We learned how to kick, flick, and run away. All I can say is don't ever attack me. I know where the pressure points are and you will be badly injured if you try. To make sure we wouldn't harm anyone, he made us take an oath saying we wouldn't use anything we learned for evil.

The final workshop that I attended was w/ my Uncle Artie and it was on How to Explain Buddhism to your friends. It was a really good workshop that made you think how we all have similarities and differences. We never really answered the question of How to explain Buddhism to your friends. But we did do an exercise that really got us thinking. We had to stand up and say one thing you think only you have done and then another thing that you think everyone has done. Some were really deep and some were not (like mine). I said I think nobody has gone to a Greek wedding and has done that Greek dance.(yeah and nobody in the room had done that) For what I thought everyone has done I said, Worked at a Bazaar. When you are at a Buddhist conference sometimes the crowd is easy.. haha.

After the workshops we all went to Thalassa's down the street for Happy Hour and then headed back to IBS for Dinner. SHABU SHABU.. or Chicken Misutake. SOO DELICOUS.. and it was a really good interactive dinner. The groups were small (4 people) and we all really got to know each other. Overall it was a really good time. I hope we can continue to grow the conference and grow the group.

On my Mind...

This week has been so strange. Monday our Company did what they called limited restructuring. It was pretty much a layoff. I was very lucky to not be affected by it. However, it still felt so weird. I felt so bad for all of the people that no longer have their job. The economy is really taking effect right now and I'm really starting to feel the pain and grief that everyone is going through. Everyone that was affected will still work for Cisco for 2 months. However, their job now is to look for a job. If they can't find one in the 2 months then they will get a 4 month package. My company is great b/c everyone gets that same 4 month package no matter how long they worked here. It's so awkward and sad at work right now.

One thing I've been doing lately is working out.. I know shocker huh. Darren and I have been having this weight loss competition and I think I've bottomed out. It's annoying b/c I've actually been gaining weight. So as soon as that happened I decided that I should probably work out a little more. I've been walking to work everyday! It takes me 20 min each way. Just walking started to become too easy so I've added 3lb dumb bells in each hand to my daily stroll. Now, that's starting to get easy so I'm thinking about raising it to 5lbs.. but I don't know yet. Along w/ my daily walks I try to get in some type of cardio work out. Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday of this week I ran on the treadmill. I also try to do some kind of strength exercises like squats, crunches, etc. I'm feeling good hopefully I see results soon.

The last thing on my mind is: The Warriors suck! The overtime game wasn't even worth staying for.. It makes me sad! :*(

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Happy 25th Birthday Dan!

As it has been anticipated Brunch is Back. Saturday was Dan's Birthday and I always wanted to bring back brunch so it seemed like a perfect opportunity. I wanted to have something that was decently easy and also something that everyone would enjoy. We ended up w/ having loco moco's. Here was our menu:

• Hamburger Patties (Darren made the meat and it was DELICIOUS!)
• Gravy (Made from Trader Joe's beef concentrate)
• Fried eggs
• Rice
• Stuffed bell peppers wrapped in bacon
• Cream cheese stuffed bell peppers wrapped in bacon
• Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts
  
• Bacon wrapped bread
• Zucchini bread (that mark made)
• Doughnuts (From Byran Harada)
• Girl Scout Cookies (Jun and Michelle)
• Lots of Mimosas
  

It was a lot of fun and I was so happy to see everyone. I think everyone enjoyed themselves. I forgot to take pictures of the food but let me tell you, it was ALL GONE. I was surprised b/c we got like a big thing of meat from Costco and made two pots of rice!

After Brunch and drinking all day we made our way to 4th street bowl. I already took a 2 hour nap by the time we left and was actually still in a daze when we got there. But it was a lot of fun. Check out some of the videos we took while there!

Us Dancing!


I need your love!


And the final performance: I'm Down on Bended Knee!



It was a really fun night and I'm sure we'll be back for more 4th street fun!

Russian River Weekend- Final Day

It has already been a very long weekend and Sunday was no disappointment. Some of us, myself included did not feel up to par on this final day so drinking really was not on my agenda. We all woke up early to clean the house and were able to leave by 11:00am. We then headed to Healdsburg for breakfast. Most of us had a craving for soup, I personally had a craving for french toast. We ended up going to a nice little bakery called Costeaux French Bakery & Cafe. Once done filling our tummies we headed to stonestreet the winery where Kaj worked. It was really cool b/c we got the behind the scene's tour.

This is a picture of the pourer telling us about the area

From Russian River Wine Road

This is a big barrel. I forgot what it was called but it was huge!

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Shaun made his own wine that we were allowed to try. Michelle named it Shaun's juices.. haha

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The boy's in the lab

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The girls in front of that big barrel

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This is how we felt by the end of a vary LONG weekend.. It was a lot of fun!

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Russian River Weekend Day 3

The weekend has already started off with a lot of fun and its amazing that it could get even better. Saturday was our main day for wine tasting. We started our tour at De Loach. I knew that Sunce was a must go and since De Loach was right next door we thought it would be a good idea to start our tour off there. Our tour ended up looking like this: De Loach, Sunce, Le Crema, Martin Ray, Iron Horse and finally Korbel... 6 wineries, not bad.

The Girls at Sunce

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The Hawaiian Boys

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Michelle and Win.. They had Yummie Cheesy bread at Sunce

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Group Pic inside Sunce

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Yumm.. We took a Sandwich break a La Crema

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Check out that Beautiful View at Iron Horse

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Overall it was a good trip. There was a little blip at the end. We went to Korbel and they stopped serving us b/c we were Asian. Yes, we tested this theory w/ Mark who they continuously served till the end. If anyone decides to go there, make sure you don't go up to Gordon. He was Racist!

Russian River Weekend Day 2

Once the boys and Michelle got back from golf they were exhausted. Michelle said she felt bad for being so tired b/c she didn't even have to hold her own bag. She pretty much came home, took a shower and then passed out for a good hour. The other golfers lasted a little longer and hopped into the hot tub.

From Russian River Wine Road

After we rested a bit we decided to go out to Healdsburg for dinner. We went out to eat a a restaurant called Ravenous. It was a cute little house with probably about a dozen tables and a bar inside. Luckily Shaun (Ray's Friend) made reservations and our table was waiting for our arrival. The food was very good. We got crab cakes for an appetizer and I got the braised short ribs. My dish was out of this world amazing. The meat melted in your mouth. If you go again and this is on the menu, order it! Here are some pictures of us waiting for our food.

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After Dinner we headed off to a bar.. one of two bars in downtown Healdsburg. There we got a couple of drinks, played some shuffle board and pool. The first time we played darren and doug beat us 2 out of 3 games. The first game we killed, the next game they killed and the last game was down to the wire... DANG.. After that Michelle and I played Doug and Bo.. We killed them... One game the score was 17 to 4, enuf said.. Here are some pictures of that night! haha

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By the end of the night some of us got hungry again...

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Group picture of all of us!

From Russian River Wine Road