Back in Auckland

After another four hours of glorious bus-riding, we're back in Auckland and preparing for our flight out to Australia tomorrow. It's hard to believe that we're already 5 weeks into our trip. It's been terrific so far. Shandelle has written a nice summary of our trip through the Bay of Islands so I won't duplicate that. Highlights of the photos we took can be seen here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Michael_Shandelle_Pacific_Trip_2.

I have found my way back to the Internet cafe to play Battlefield 1942. I think I'm starting to develop a problem, though I can feel myself getting past the "crack-addiction" that comes with first playing a new, great game. As I get back to work, I'm sure the gaming thing will disappear much as it did when I was working at BEA. Of course, I'm on vacation now, so gaming is just fine as a temporary addiction.

Two great books have come across my path recently: The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama and some American Psychiatrist and Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky by Noam Chomsky and a couple of editors. If these books seem at opposite ends of the reading spectrum, that's because they are. What has struck me about both is how plain-spoken the men both are, yet speak very powerfully. Chomsky regularly throws the word "bullshit" into his talks (the book is a summary of his Q&A sessions about American media, foreign policy, etc). The Dalai Lama book is focused on really defining the notion of "happiness" and the mental practice surrounding attaining it.

I won't repeat the details of either book here, but what has struck me is the simplicity of the processes both men utilize and describe. I also had much the same realization after reading a few other books on this trip and sailing: that the smartest people have a way of creating simple ways of looking at situations to make things easy. How does sailing tie in? Well, the most interesting thing that our sailing teacher taught us is that "if it's hard to do in sailing, you're doing it wrong." Meaning, if you find that it requires incredible strength to pull in a sail, or turn the boat, or whatever -- you're doing it wrong. The lesson is that there's always a simpler way and don't give up if something seems very hard. Life is a lot like that I think.