Getting Loose

27:44

   No, I am not quoting some book of the Bible.  That was my time today for running 3 miles.  That's the best I have done in literally years.  I was running at a 6.5 mph rate.  I did not know if I was going to be able to keep up the pace or not, but I did it.

Japanese Food

Well, let's see.  We've been to Chinese, Korean, and tonight we went to a very fine Japanese restaurant on the corner of Durham and Washington called Soma (I wonder what it means . . . in Greek it means body). 

Our daughter was in town and she loves sushi, and every time she visits, I try to make sure we get to a restaurant that does good sushi.  Soma does.  It was one of the best I've had in sushi (not that I am an expert!).  We started off with a Kobe salad, and then several kinds of sushi, and ended up with a decadent chocolate dessert that we all shared.  The ambiance was arresting.  Believe it or not, it was an old reconverted Eckerd's drug store, but the lighting and texturing was so visually appealing and stunning.

If you are into Franco-Japanese food, and especially sushi, I highly recommend Soma.

Cutting on the Power

We are in the process of moving.  Now it is not going to be a "clean" move in the sense that we have a moving date and are going to leave one location permanently and get to the other location at a specific point of time.  No, it is going to be much messier than that.  We are probably going to do this over a matter of months.  Our goal is to get finally to the new location by November or earlier.

But one of the difficult things is trying to get utilities transferred over to begin at the new location.  I had written the utility company asking for a particular date, and they agreed, but here it is a week later and there still is no juice at the new location. 

It has taken 3 separate phone calls, and hopefully on the last phone call, I got it worked out, but to get to the right person who could make it happen, I had to talk to four different people.  What made it so frustrating was that at one point in one of the earlier phone calls, we got cut off and I had nowhere to go but to start back at ground zero.

We'll see how it goes . . .

Being Homeless

I read a fascinating post the other day in The Wall Street Journal.  Look at these factoids:

He doesn’t own a home

He lost interest in acquiring things so

He sold his condo in New York

He sold his mansion in Florida

He sold his only car

He is leaving his fortune to charity

He is leaving his art collection to a museum in Berlin

He says,

"Possessing things is not that interesting."

"Living in a grand environment to show myself and others that I have wealth has zero appeal."

"Whatever I own is temporary, since we’re only here for a short period of time. I don’t get that much enjoyment out of saying ‘I own it.’"

"It’s what we do and produce, it’s our actions, that will last forever."

He is a billionaire. And maybe it is easier for such a one to say that money and things are not that important. But I do know when I’ve really gotten deeper into spiritual practices, I find a lot of what he says to be true.

Chinese Food

Well, now that I think of it, I have been indulging in some non-Western eating establishments.

My wife and I met up with two other couples at Fung’s Kitchen.  I believe it to be the best Chinese restaurant in Houston.  I have never had a bad meal there. We had a great time.

I had a fried eggplant dish that I thought was supposed to have been stuffed with beans, but I don’t remember tasting or seeing any.  The dish had a little kick to it.

We all tasted each other’s food and all the dishes were great.  I really like hot sake.  The waiter had a great sense of humor.

Most of us were familiar with another little Chinese restaurant out near Pearland, Texas where most of us had lived at one point or another, and I kept saying, "Doesn’t this just beat the pants off of La C____?"

And they all agreed that it did.

I asked, "Aren’t you glad I suggested this place to eat?"

And they said, " Oh, we are so glad you suggested this place."

I asked, "Have you ever had better Chinese food anywhere?"

And they all, almost in unison said, "Oh, no, we have never had better Chinese food anywhere."

I asked, "Wasn’t it worth the drive to fight the traffic to get here at 5 p.m.?"

"Oh, it was so worth motoring into this section of town right by Sharpstown Mall!"

I just couldn’t seem to ask a question but what they all just unanimously agreed with everything I was saying. I call that EIRP—Excellence in Restaurant Picking.

Ethnic Dining

I can’t say as though I could point to a time or place when I have knowingly eaten Korean food. But last week, my wife and I ventured out into the unknown just to see.

We went to "Bon Ga" which is on Long Point Road in Houston not too terribly far from the villages where we live. It was excellent. We had a meal composed of at least five different meats (such as Korean bacon, boneless beef ribs, etc.) The waitress grilled those meets right at our table in front of our eyes. We then used lettuce wraps to fill with meat and several side vegetable dishes brought to us. We really, really liked it very much, and I definitely want to go back and try something else.

Oh, and we also had kimchi—a Korean pancake like frittata—as an appetizer. It also was excellent.

Venture out. Try some Korean food. I think you’ll like it.

Two More Giants

On the trip to Californi-ay I got to see a couple of other icons.: The Crystal Cathedral, and the Saddleback Church.

I did not know what to expect at the Crystal Cathedral. It was a big place, and I know that Robert Schuller’s Hour of Power is preached from there. Nice campus.

Rick Warren’s Saddleback had much more of a campus and acreage than I would have ever guessed. There was a big conference of some high powered preachers there, some of whom I read their blogs. Even got to see Rick Warren sitting down talking candidly to many of the colleagues. They have incredible facilities and are upgrading to even better ones. Quite impressive.