mstar1

....By a new group that I had never heard of before, this time with an eastern flavor. Evolutionary Enlightenment whose world headquarters, previously unknown to me, is about 10 miles from my house. The woman who witnessed to me was cute and very nice, (just like last time 28 years ago!) --this time I dont think I'll sign the 'green card' though. Interesting thing was although the spiel was entirely different all the earmarks were exactly the same. They're having a "public ex" which they call "Voices From The Edge" in a few weeks if you are feeling compelled to 'reach your full potential' (live the more abundant life) and 'change the world for the better' (word over the world). Any seekers want to do it all all over again? I think I'll pass

Wow this is all great----Ive been down Turnagain Arm as i lived in Homer in 74-which was an exquisite drive, and just last week drove through Asheville which there is nothing like at all...Im taking these all down This from ex70's Im going to have to drive this someday just on general principal-how can you spend your life and not drive to Utopia at least once?

Well the question made no sense to me. No offshoot is "flourishng" in my neck of the woods . None--.--or anywhere else as far as I can tell. So the question was ambiguous. I have never heard of any offshoot that is flourishing, let alone many -so I have no idea what you are asking The two groups in my region have about 15 people apiece if that, the same people who have been going forever. One guy makes his living off of selling tapes and books to other small groups and the other guy has a fulltime job and sends money to the Geerites and the Lynnites and the Sidesites and just about everyone else with the pretense of a ministry who doesnt care to work a real job and has aprinter or a tape duplicater So I know a total of about 30 who each 'belong' to most all of those groups named on the first page but about 2/3rds of them also go to a church. So how do you count them then 10 total? Of those 10 they are each probably counted as 'members' in more than one os those 'flourishing' groups, but if they actually do more than sit home and listen to an occasional tape from them I'd be surprised

Flourishing? I know that there may be quite a few splinter groups but Ive never heard of any that are 'flourishing', The ones that I know of, and the ones I have seen are generally havens for anywhere from a handful to a few hundred or so ex wayfers who are actually regularly involved ( if that) in the bigger ones, with a lot of crossover on the mailing lists, tape subscriptions, books and seminars.

LOL---ah yes bringing back memories of the Hot Springs --its been over 30 years but I remember getting warmed to the bone -the very bone---and being relaxed as I have ever been in that springs----and being able to control the temperature by moving further one way up or down the springs--that was on my return trip and after about 2200 miles of bumpy gravel it was the absolute perfect spot for extreme relaxation... I had taken apart and rebuilt my 225slant six (my more industrious and youthful days) took it on a two block 'test drive' , pronounced it OK, then packed and went for a five month drive to the farthest places I could see on the map with about 2 or 3 hundred in my pocket.... I liked being 18!---That was one incredible trip-1973 was really good to me

God I love the Alcan-i drove it when i was 18 in a 66 Plymouth Valiant and the road was all dirt and gravel. 5600 miles one way from my home near Boston. I had 17 cracks in the windshield and went through 4 headlights when I was done , but it was worth every mile. It was the first time this suburban boy had seen a lot of those wild critters or amazing views, vistas, and passes through British Columbia, and the Yukon up to Alaska. After the long journey through the wilds of Canada I was 'welcomed' to Alaska by a series of about 15 rainbows and views that seemed as long as eternity. It made a huge impression on my young mind. Its been a long time goal to go back and do that again. Is it paved now? In those days it was common for sections of the road to wash out and for you to get stuck for a few days at a time while the road was being repaired, which was fine, it just was the way it was...... what a place

This is getting good, I feel a vacation coming on! maybe I should expand this to cover B&B's and towns not to miss...... I couldnt agree more..... Foliage season is coming on, which I live in the heart of, Route 7 north from Connecticut along the Housatonic River runs through western New England, through all the very quaint New England Towns. I will probably take route 100 up through Vermont which winds through the Green Mountains, past all those covered bridge type Vermont scenes this fall, and cut over to the White Mountains in New Hampshire to the Kangamagus that Evan mentioned...there is nothing on earth quite like New England during foliage time....and I am pretty sure this will be an incredible year for it because of the very heavy spring rains.... HERE is a flash presentation of projected peak dates for Vermont.(plan now for October kids!) Also--if for some reason you ever have to head west out of Boston -The Mohawk Trail (route 2 -out of Concord) is lightyears above I-90 (The Mass Pike) and one of my favorite local drives.. Keep em coming--- Im making note of all these

Thats all I ever really cared about, So there were no Joni Mitchells, or James Taylors,and it wasnt 'great' there is a certain appeal to me of music that is genuine and honest and not packaged and refined as a 'product'. I'd much rather see someone strumming a banjo on a back porch who genuinely loves it and feels it than a technically better musician who has a canned and phony 'performance' anyway- Somewhere along the line ( it goes to the way theology) anything that was genuine and worthwhile got pushed out and killed , the shell that was left pretty much was empty

Wow good -this thread is starting to go somewhere, i didnt know if it would take hold or not.....Thanks everyone...I know that feeling of wanting to retire somplace you just got to,,heck this trip I wanted to move now to a bunch of places in the old south that were gems I scheduled the trip loosely so that I wasnt in a huge rush, then all the work went better than anticipated so that saved me time. The driving time probably took a little bit extra but was well worth it. I used to find the quickest way from point A to point B, drive like a maniac and eat the crappy highway food along the way which always took me a few days to recover from, Im learning that taking my time through good roads, getting out and walking every once in awhile in a good place, and eating in the better local restaurants although it takes longer actually saves me time because i feel great at the end and dont need any recovery time. I'd like to find ways into Atlanta or Washington that would work, those people that drive the main roads there are out of their minds! (as are a lot of bigger city places)

...It does make all the difference..... I'll make the time.... You would love the Blue Ridge, its all fiddlin and folk art through the original lands of mountain music....a great ride if youre ever over this way... whats out your way?....

Having just completed a 3950 mile drive to do some work and also unwind and clear my head, I am once again astounded at the amazing beauty of this country that you will never get to see if you decide to fly. Dont get me wrong I like to fly and do but the amount of equipment for my work requires me to drive and not only that I love driving--, you see and expereince sooo much more than you every would otherwise and get to savour the feel and flavor of each place you are. I'm learning after a handful of trips like this over the last few years (mostly from my home in New England into the South) that its not just the destination that is important but even more so the journey itself and have started to find alternate more interesting routes to interstates or at least the more scenic interstates to places that I must go. Most places have routes that the locals know, but arent really well known or easy to find for someone who may be ' just passing through'.---thats sort of what Im looking for in this thread....where you can find the real local color and natural beauty of a place that you cant see when you whiz by on an interstate... Im hoping that this thread, if it takes off, can serve as some type of map for those of us who have to drive or want to drive or just like to drive every once in awhile and that eventually we may fill out alot of areas and drives that shouldnt be missed , for those of us where driving is less a point to point time strategy but more so a way to experience the best of an area and enjoy it as you go through F'rinstance when I go North to South on the east coast, for years I went I-95 out of habit, which is a miserable road if there every was one, locking you up in the traffic of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington and Richmond (not my idea of a good ride) before sending you into a very ordinary and cheesy billboard laden ride into the south toward Florida. Last year for the first time I optioned to take I-81 which instead travels through the Pennsylvania dutch country, and then down along the mountains of western Virginia, and then forks into many equally nice roads of which you can pick and choose ( I26 south through the magnificent Asheville NC area, I-77 through Charlotte etc.) toward your destination. This trip I even altered off of I81 to the Blue Ridge Parkway in sections of Virginia, and also took the Taconic Parkway through sections of upstate New York and the Natchez Trace through most of Mississippi (what northerner woulda thunk Mississippi was so beautiful?), Eventually I hope to be able to do all the great secondary roads (not the cheesy ones though-no strip mall, billboard towns please -you can keep those... )wherever I have to go around the country. So what say you? Where are your favorite roads to drive and why .....I love taking long drives--if you fill them in -I'll hope someday to be able to drive them all.

from the road--somewhere in Mississippi-- I hear vague rumblings about Ortiz ( being away from most media-for a week),I too hope he is OK. By a very strange quirk of fate I was in Columbus, Georgia yesterday while their team won the LL World Series in Williamsport against Japan. I honestly thought that it was the best game I had seen all year on any level, There is something about the purity of baseball at that level that always seems to restore the simple pleasures of the game to me.--It was agreat game that Georgia won 2-1 if you missed it catch y'all in a week or so

just an aside here, that I missed the first time through- y'know CW, IMO (which you certainly can throw out if you want to) this may or may not be true. The fairly wide and popular view among medical professionals is that mental illness is for life , and they usually tell that to patients but it is not the only view. When I was briefly hospitalized after a series of traumatizing and disrupting events in the early 90's. I was diagnosed with a disorder and told that it was also 'for life', for several years I carried that around--even when I felt well. IMO that is also part of the stigma that is attached to disorders, mostly unknowingly by the medical community itself The National Empowerment Center is a well respected research group of doctors, pharmacologists, psychiatrists and researchers who have published many findings on full recovery from all sorts of supposed 'lifelong' diseases and disorders, and have developed treatment and recovery options outside the dominant view that have worked for many people to become completely recovered. Whatever type of treatment and plan you decide upon and however you decide to proceed-best of luck

Well gentlemen (and any lady lurkers) Mstar's Semi Sometimes Almost Amazing Stained Glass Circus of Dreams (and sometimes nightmares) is goin on the road to the far south, way down there for two or three weeks (just in time for hurricane season!). If I have the opportunity I may check in. Until then Happy Trails and Good relief pitchin to you

About the same as if you weren't- It makes no never minds to me. Its just part of who anybody is. I dont look down on people that have any type of disease or disorder. Why would I, no one is perfect, and no one gets through this life unscathed. People who are open about their situations at least deserved to be honored for their openness and the struggles they must face. The ones that scare me honestly are the ones who make the claim to be mentally well all the time, and pretend, just a little too pretentiously, to have it all together and dont let you in past the miniscule image that they want to project to you. IMO those are the ones that possibly more ill than they are willing to admit (even to themselves) and potentially a little more dangerous. Just my opinion. You're fine-being who you are-(no matter who you are) is much more acceptable to me than hiding behind some mask

Ahhhh jes like me ---Rise and shine bright and early each day at noon Your right on the money with that, one reason the 04 Sox did what they did is because they protected their pitchers well. None of the 5 starters missed a single start that year (pretty amazing accomplishment). When they all started going 7 with regularity was when the team gelled (or is that jelled?) and became a force They also have great scouting, with a book and videos on every hitter in the league that Varitek especially knows inside and out, from what i hear they have a pretty thorough game plan everyday of the entire approach...which seems to work better that just wingin it....

LOL Garth- Im in agreement with Linda -which is also why i dont post on the birthday threads----If I miss one well--y'know- so belated or early happy birthday to everyone while i am at it, or just plain happy Birthday if its your day today

I dont rally know anything about the hotbed of players coming from Choon Chung , But this guy intrigues me. I have seen some highlights, he throws a 'gyroball' which looks like a splitter on steroids and looks like he has amazing stuff, I'd love to see the Sox target him in the offseason

It must be tough to be a pitching coach these days. How do you go over scouting reports or say fastball low and away in Korean? japanese?, Spanish? My coach was barely understandable in English

Oops-I saw Grady pulling a Grady yesterday-it brought back a lot of memories...

How are you doin Jonny? About 8 or 9 years ago i was hiking someplace that I had never been and found a body--It was also an old man, an alzheimers patient who had wandered off and couldnt be found. It was sad and weird, and shook me as well for a little bit of time. His children, who happened to be born again Christians, told me that "that they were praying that the Lord would send someone to find him". I dont know about that, but I was glad he was found for his and the families sake. It took awhile for me to readjust back to normal life after that experience-It was a bit of a shock. Take care of yourself, something like that isnt an everyday occurence.

LOL--I suppose they'll keep him around and still try to finagle a wild card spot.... I know anything can happen if (BIG IF) they make it in but honestly looking at them they re really not built to go deep in the playoffs. Seems a shame to waste these big years by Manny, Papi and Schilling who have each carried the team at various points through the year and not put the rest of the pieces in place. What're you goin t'do? Sure---- I'll put in a good word with Theo for you

Should we send flowers? Gees I tried it again, and I lost 20 years in the last 2 hours Was it something in my dinner salad?

Yea well -after 40 years of being a Red Sox fan Ive learned when and how to keep my heart somewhat protected ---Iive seen it too many times and know when to slowly back away and act disinterested -and not have my innards strewn about and filleted anymore. Done it too many times. Great writing Simon, ---I wonder how much of these type things formulate who we are when we are young --Its still there for you, the way the 67 Sox captured me and made an "Impossible Dream"-I remember the 69 Cubs-Fergie Jenkins, Kenny Holtzman, The Infield of Santo, Kessinger, Beckett and Banks and Billy Williams in the OF-i was pulling for them, in the days before ESPN, from a distance----and well---- I wont go into black cats and other things--i was merely disappointed -because I liked them--- but they werent my team....I could live with it, I lost 5 bucks on that World Series which was steep for my 14 YO paperboy wallet

I have over a billion My date is: Friday, April 16, 2049 Which is just shy of my 96th birthday ---damn and I was looking forward to #96--- I guess that trip to climb Kilimanjaro is off