Well, how nice of you to drop by!  Wish I had some green tea to offer you.

Lots of good stuff happening in my world these days and I just wanted to give you an update. In the seven months since the fire, I've done a lot of work on myself.  Much of it has been done in the community of friends I've found in Chapel Hill, NC (and distance--with Colorado friends) and a lot has been done solo. 

My website has experienced a huge surge of growth since I launched it in July.  I'm proud of how much it's grown and how I have managed to clear up my focus a lot over recent months.  I just launched a redesign with Paul's help.  Our design firm continues to grow despite the fact (or perhaps because!) he's in Berlin.

I'm moving back to Boulder the first week of January, 2008.  This thrills me so much.  A lot of opportunities have come out of the woodwork and I'll be doing a lot of entrepreneurial work alongside TechStars.  More news on that soon. 

Zen is Stupid has a growing cadre of haters & lovers.  Really. People either love the show (coming up on its year anniversary already) or they can't stand it.  I dig that about it.  It's fresh, fresh mouthed and definitely not for sticks in mud.  You can subscribe in iTunes and get the updates weekly every Monday.

At Zaadz, the Yoga A-Pod continues to be the largest and fastest growing yoga pod.  If you haven't yet already, please cruise on over and introduce yourself!

2008 promises to be a year of planting new seeds, settling down for a while (although for those that have been following my travels, not to worry, I'll go abroad several times next year!) and launching a new company.  Thank you to everyone that has been so incredibly supportive this year--through the fire and all--I am so thankful.

Blessings for a beautiful holiday and beginning of the year.

I conducted dozens of interviews this year with Buddhist teachers all over the country (from Genpo Roshi to Sharon Salzberg), recorded more than 40 episodes of Zen is Stupid and did all sorts of fun Dharma work.  So when I got a request for an interview from a student named Lucas Sutter I was like, "rock on!"  He asked some tough questions and the interview covers women, Buddhism, sexuality, that sort of thing.  You can find it here.  Thought my friends in the Zaadz community would dig it.  I only posted one half and if you find it intriguing, I'll put the rest up.  If you find it dull, well...しょがない, ne.

It’s like this.  When we were kids playing in a sandbox we’d use sifters to sift through the sand, sometimes revealing treasures like, oh, I don’t know, insects and broken toys, plastic hair clips, that sort of thing.  Some days leave me feeling that way.  Box in hand- sifting through the desire, the tender feelings, the foreignness of the whole thing.

This thing about “I am so complex” is a front.  We’re not, as people, all that complicated.  We are gushy stuff, sacs, valves, holes and all that shit that makes us feel queasy to think of.  And somewhere in all this gushy stuff is a heart and a mind and a capacity to love beyond our imagination.  It’s not a valve, that love.  We can call it prana, life-force.  The thread that connects all of us, that links our stories and selves to everyone/every other living thing in this Universe.

I don’t pay lip service to these concepts.  Because I know them.  Can we open ourselves up to infinite love?  Can we feel the texture and see the colors of it?  Can we let it seep into and out of every single act, thought and dream we have?  Can I do all these things? 

That is the impossible request my life asks of me.  Open and open and open and open to grace.  See the world and universe as places of abundance.  And open when it hurts.  Open when there's joy.  Know that the two are the opposite sides of the same coin.  There is nothing to fear. 

Today is as good a day to die as any.

And today is as good a day to love as any.

to join Twitter.  And support Susan Reynolds on her journey with cancer.  Susan is a well known blogger and is now famous in the Twitterverse. 

From the TechCrunch coverage:

"The benefits of Twitter may still be subject to heated debate amongst TechCrunch commenter’s, but very few would doubt that Twitter has created new relationships and taken social networking to new (and perhaps different) levels.

A cause that’s hot on Twitter today is Frozen Pea Friday, a Breast Cancer Awareness and fundraising day in support of well regarded blogger Susan Reynolds."

Susan was diagnosed this month and goes into surgery today.  My heart goes out to her and her family as they work through this difficult time.