Last night I went to a talk by Kilung Jigme Rinpoche on Meditation in the Tibetan Tradition. Kilung Jigme Rinpoche is essentually an abbot of a monestary that is being rebuilt after the Chinese destroyed it during their invasion. At 14,000 feet, there is now a monistary and a school. The talk was general (general techniques) and he described some of the main features of the Tibetan Buddist mediation method. About 30 people attended.

I went to Silver Falls State Park this weekend. The falls were tremendous but I misjudged the weather. I thought a forecast of “showers” meant the rain would eventually stop. But no. It kept pouring and pouring and pouring. I got soaked. I also only made it to the first two falls. They were tremendously full because of all the rain. There were even some other crazy Oregonians enjoying the rain with me. Pictures were taken.

Today I went to the mall to meet my brothers. The plan was to take a picture of us three for mom – I mean, what do you get an 80+ year old woman? The main problem was finding a Christmas tree. You’d think the mall would be covered with trees, but noooooo. The only tree we found was the one with Santa. Luckily we were there before Santa arrived, so pictures were taken and mom will be pleasently surprised. Then we all made a break because the place was filling up. It’s crazy the day before Christmas Eve day.

I’m experimenting with a new gallery system. The old collection of pictures was PHP code I wrote, but with all the worries about security and all the features that are typical today, I decided to try out a system that allows comments and rating and albums and other neat things. There are now random pictures in the sidebar and, over time, I will load all my pictures.

:MBPIC:20061200-Misc:IMG_2396.jpg:picLeft: :MBPIC:20061200-Misc:IMG_2402.jpg:picLeft: :MBPIC:20061200-Misc:IMG_2408.jpg:picRight: :MBPIC:20061200-Misc:IMG_2409.jpg:picRight:It’s been cold for the Willamette Valley. This morning it was in the upper 20s with freezing fog. But the ice can be pretty. But, burrrrrrr.