I wrote this morning's blog entry when I wasn't in the mood to write a blog entry. That was a mistake. I started writing descriptions of what a Handstand and Half-Handstand are, then decided that it was taking too long, and deleted that part. I also skipped what I wanted to write about Harry Potter and The Order Of The Phoenix.

This evening, Pet sent me an email, asking me about that Handstand and Half-Handstand. Here's how I described them to her:

"You push your mat against a wall - with the end touching the edge of the wall - for both poses.

In a Handstand, you start with a Downward-Facing Dog, with your head toward the wall. Then you throw your legs up, one leg at a time, until both legs are extended straight up into the air, and then continue falling backwards slightly until your heels are resting against the wall. You're supported by your straightened arms.

In a Half-Handstand, you start with a Downward-Facing Dog, with your head away from the wall, and the heels of your feet touching the wall. Then you walk your feet up the wall until your legs are horizontal, your torso and head are vertical, and your whole body looks like an upside-down L."

(A Handstand is known as Adho Mukha Vrksasana, and looks like this. I haven't found a picture of a Half-Handstand, yet.)

I finished re-reading Harry Potter and The Order Of The Phoenix this morning. There was a lot of that book that I had forgotten, but which came back to me as I read. There were details of the last three chapters, however, which were like whole new discoveries to me (the link between Neville and Harry, for instance). My guess is that the first time I read this book, I was in such a hurry to find out how it ended that I skimmed those last chapters much too quickly. This time, I took plenty of time.

Yoga class was smaller than normal, again. We continue to push ourselves and our limits. I hope those two sentences aren't related. Jason was back yesterday - he'd gone to the Saturday morning class two weeks ago, like I'd guessed, and he missed last week altogether.

Lisa did an interesting thing last evening. During Sun Salutations, as she usually does, she encouraged us to go at our own pace - to hold each pose for as long as it feels right to hold it. Then, later in the class, she had us do timed poses - for instance, to hold either a handstand or half-handstand for a full minute. I did the half-handstand with little difficulty, but could hold it for only about 30 seconds.

After the timed handstand, Lisa brought out the chair for those of us who wished to use it. If we could use that for a timed handstand, I could easily achieve a minute. I love that chair.

Today is our seventh anniversary.

Our sixth anniversary kind of got lost in all that unpleasantness of last year.

Another important date passed quietly by this week. It passed so quietly that I forgot about it.

Exactly one calendar year from today, it will be our eighth anniversary, plus a very happy, important date.

After our recent experiences with virus scan programs, I'm beginning to understand why so many computers out there are running unprotected. These things are a pain, they're often frustrating, and they're confusing.

Last year, on our old computer, our McAfee program suddenly stopped working - with no warning or explanation. We replaced it with Norton (because the store was out of McAfee) - and it took forever for me to figure out how to get it to run properly. (It turned out to be a flaw in the installation program.)

Our new computer came with McAfee virus scan and firewall. The problem is that it's constantly updating. No - actually, that's a good thing. The problem is that our computer doesn't tell us what's being updated - I guess it's the virus scan, but it could be any program on this computer. About nine times out of ten, we boot up the computer and are prompted with our dial-up connection. Whatever's being updated won't tell us when it's done being downloaded, either.

Phillip came home today, booted up the computer, and discovered that both the virus scan and the firewall had been disabled because we needed to "verify" them. (There was no explanation of what that meant.) A click on the "verify" button opened our Opera browser, but since McAfee doesn't work with Opera (they're going to get a letter about that) I had to open Internet Explorer - which we'd hoped to never use. Once I signed in, instead of anything resembling verification, there were some download buttons. I downloaded something for the virus scan, then I had to reboot, and repeat the process to download something for the firewall.

Both the virus scan and the firewall are working again, but I don't know what I did, exactly. I don't know what people who are less computer savvy than I do.

Two things have been guiding my internet searches more than anything else today.

The first is Jules et Jim. It was spoken highly of in a cinematography documentary I happened upon on Seattle Central Community College's television station last night. I knew of this François Truffaut film - for one thing, it was referenced in the movie Vanilla Sky - but, somehow, I didn't know anything about it. I didn't know what a masterpiece, landmark film it is considered. Nor did I know what an influence it's had on so many other films and movies.

The other is New York City's Flatiron Building. I read about it on Curbed. I knew about this building, one of New York's first steel-framed skyscrapers (if not the first), ever since architecture classes in college. It's a beautiful building. I learned today that it's credited with creating the expression "23 Skidoo."

...or maybe my boss took it a little too well. This morning, she alerted me to other job openings she thought I'd be interested in. I'm choosing to look on that positively - like maybe she doesn't want an unhappy employee to feel like he's trapped in his job.

So, how do you tell your boss that that phone call at the very end of the day was from the manager of another clinic who may be calling back later to invite you over for a job interview?

You take a breath, realize that your boss probably overhead most of the call, and just tell her. Then you buy yourself a beer on the way home.

I think my boss took the news well.

It occurred to me late yesterday that today was the last Monday of the month. That meant that this evening was the monthly Welcome & Nurture committee meeting. I saw three committee members yesterday, including the committee chair, and no one mentioned the meeting to me. (I would have mentioned it, if I had remembered it.) I checked the calendar in the church newsletter, and the meeting was there. But this evening, I drove to church, and waited until five minutes past the meeting time. No one else had shown up, and there was no movement inside the Parish House. So I went home. Maybe the meeting was canceled and no one remembered to call me. Somehow, I'm not all that disappointed.

Our Prius is over two years old, and I am still discovering new and intriguing electronic features built into the car. (Sitting in a church parking lot waiting for a meeting that never starts is a good time to discover such things.) I'm not talking about the obvious electronics, like the computer that somehow keeps the engine and motor working together. It's the little touches that interest me. (Maybe a lot of new cars have these - I don't know.) I mean things like the driving lights that go on only after the ignition key is turned and the transmission is in "gear" and the parking brake is released. Or by turning the key to the right in the driver's door's outside lock, you unlock the driver's door - turn the key to the right a second time and the other three doors unlock - turn the key to left and the driver's window rolls down. Or the remote unlock on the keychain that doesn't work if the key is in the ignition. Or the driver's side window that rolls down even if the car is off - but only the driver's window.

¡Feliz Pascua!
Todos necesitan simpatía.

Last night, I read at the Easter Vigil. I read the story of Johah, which turned out to be a fun story to read - sort of a short sea adventure. I also read one line of a group reading of the story of the three men thrown into a furnace. I was the voice of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego - all in one line.

I enjoy the Easter Vigil a lot, possibly more than the Easter service itself. Although we had nearly twice as many participants as last year, it has a wonderfully intimate sense of community.

I came home from the Eater Vigil last night with an upset stomach. I went to bed at 11:30. At 3:00 this morning, Phillip and I started a crockpot full of potatoes for the Easter potluck breakfast. I got up again at 7:00 - I had volunteered to help set up for the potluck breakfast - and my stomach was still upset. Phillip was already up, complaining of an upset stomach. (We can't figure out what we've eaten together recently.) Phillip decided to stay home and skip both the potluck and the service.

We had planned to get together with Lynn today, but we both backed out, because of our stomachs, and stayed home.

I finally got around to filling out my income tax yesterday.