Dan Sheetz

Online Poker Websites Down for U.S. Players – News dump

dan — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 18:23:41 +0000

Online poker met it’s maker in the U.S. on Friday, when executives from PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and *gulp* Absolute Poker were charged and arrested by the US Department of Justice.

Here’s my big list of news and info about the matter:

More to come.

Wednesday Dinner #1: Lamb Stew with Root Vegetables

dan — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:22:46 +0000

In the words of Tommy Angelo, this year’s goal is goallessness. That being said, since Mary has photo class on Wednesday nights, my goal will be to make dinner as many Wednesdays as I can. We get most of our food from Fresh Picks, so the veggies that show up in the box will normally drive what I choose to make. They have a good selection of excellent meats from local farms, so I’ll be snapping up plenty of those as well.

I had some lamb stew meat in the freezer from Mint Creek Farm, and lots of root vegetables, so I thought I’d try this recipe for lamb stew with root vegetables from Simply Recipes. I went over to TJs to pick up a couple of supplies, including a bottle of Malbec, hoping it would stand up to the very hearty recipe.

After watching a few short cooking videos on Chow (including this one, that will hopefully help keep my knife sharp) I got to work. The recipe called for lamb shanks, but I had lamb stew meat, which would reduce the cooking time significantly (we prefer to eat just slightly prior to midnight), while also helping me use up stuff I already had.

The stew came out pretty well (and it was quite pretty… oops, forgot to take a photo), but I definitely overcooked the meat a bit. I was sure not to “crowd the meat” while browning it, but I know now that I should have reduced the browning time to accommodate the different cut of meat. Some of the fattier pieces we a bit chewy. Mary was a good sport and assured me it was still good. The roasted root vegetables (turnips, parsnips, carrots, and rutabaga, specifically) were maybe slightly over as well, but they got more tender in the final simmering step, and ended up tasting really good with the sauce, which was amazing with Mary’s homemade chicken stock.

I made up a simple spinach salad (ok, it was literally just spinach) with Alice Waters’ vinaigrette. I prefer it quite vinegary, and the tang of the dressing was a nice counterpoint to the very earthy stew. Dissolving the salt in the vinegar first is the key to this dressing… damn, I love me some Alice Waters. If you don’t have The Art of Simple Food, get it right now.

The Gascon Malbec (2008 vintage, $10.99 at TJs) was tasty while I was preparing dinner, but overall didn’t quite stand up to the stew. Perhaps a good full-bodied Côtes-du-Rhône would have been better. Normally they are quite helpful on wine at Trader Joe’s, but unfortunately the guy I encountered this time around was not. When I asked for help selecting a bottle, he went to the back to retrieve some kind of cheat sheet, then consulted a chart that said I needed “Pinot Noir”…umm, guy, I’m looking for a specific bottle recommendation… you work here, remember? Clearly he didn’t know much about wine. Note to self: ask them to send out the “wine guy” next time.

Overall, it was a delicious, seasonal, first Wednesday meal of the ’10s. Photos next week, I promise.

Day 2: Body Scan Meditation

dan — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:49:51 +0000

Yesterday I did the body scan meditation again. It was quite a different experience this time. First of all, I put a pillow under my head to try and alleviate the distracting lower back pain that I felt the first time. This helped.

Since I had already done this meditation once, I had a good bit of difficulty not anticipating what JKZ was going to say. I tried to just focus in on the current body part in question, but it proved to be very difficult when I knew what would be coming next. Also, I think I might have fallen asleep briefly in the middle of the session, because there is a part that I recall from the first session that I don’t remember hearing yesterday. Rather than being disappointed at this, I will take this as confirmation of the notion that meditation is a great challenge and try to be more present in the next session.

Sprinkled throughout the session, I experienced a very pleasurable physical sensation, characterized by a warm tingling in my scalp and a generalized euphoric numbness, as if something warm and slightly antiseptic was draped over my body. It reminded me of the feeling I have occasionally had after a couple of drinks, where your face feels kind of warm and numb, combined with the warm tingling sensation that travels over the top of your head when you watch someone perform an intricate task slowly and smoothly. I’m not sure if this will make sense to anyone but me, but I’ll be curious to see if this happens again.

I did not experience any of the intense visual effects in my mind’s eye this time around. I did at one point see a silhouette of what looked sort of the like the head of a rocking horse, viewed from an isometric angle, but I remember thinking that maybe I was stretching it, and it was really more of a blob of color that my mind was trying to stitch into something tangible.

Overall, my mind felt my less active than my body in this session. Looking forward to my next chance to experience this practice. My intention will be to try and make it a more balanced experience, with body and mind more unified.

Day 1: Body Scan Meditation

dan — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:07:18 +0000

I just completed the first day of my foray into mindfulness meditation, led by Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Guided Mindfulness Meditation. I did the first meditation which is called Body Scan Meditation.

I cleared out the furniture in my living room, which consists of square coffee table, so that I had enough room to lie down on the rug and spread my arms out unimpeded. I cued up the meditation audio track on my iphone, and put the earbuds into my ears while standing with my feet shoulder width apart. Then I sat down on the floor and tried to find the most comfortable position. I tried sitting indian style, then I tried the yoga Child’s Pose, then settled on lying down on my back with my arms spread out wide, and began the audio track. The first thing JKZ asks you to do is lie down on your back on the floor, so I was in a good position to begin.

The meditation consists of bringing your awareness slowly and fully to each body part, one by one, beginning with the tips of your toes, then moving up, part by part, up to the top of your head. JKZ asks you to direct your breathing at the body part, then let the focus on the body part dissolve away on a final out breath. I found that when I was instructed to let the awareness of a given body part dissolve away, I was able to do this best by focusing my attention on a cluster of colors in the middle my mind’s eye. As I exhaled, the colors would sometimes intensify gradually as the breath left my body, as if I was breathing color into the picture on the backs of my eyelids. At times my mind’s eye generated intense and vivid pictures totally unrelated to the meditation itself. I recall the vivid image of a stone cat statue sliding across the field of my mental vision at one point. When that happened I recall thinking that if these images were to happen consistently, it would be difficult to remain focused on the meditation.

My goal was to keep my body totally still, with the exception of the movement associated with my breathing. As he proceeded through the body scan, I found myself able to resist the urge to move the body part in question, though at times it was difficult. I also experienced periods of somewhat intense discomfort in the parts of the body that were in contact with the rug, especially the lower back and the back of the head. On at least two occasions, I adjusted my legs, bending at the knees or lengthening the legs, when the discomfort became a distraction. I also swallowed several times. At one point I felt a sharp level 5 pain in my right lower back, but it subsided immediately. Several times I found myself wondering how much time remained in the meditation, and even wanting badly for it to be over so that I could move my body to relieve the discomfort. At other times I recall hoping that it would go on for a while longer.

After the meditation was complete, I felt an intense sense of tranquility and presence, like someone had turned down the volume knob of my body and mind. I felt like I wanted to continue moving about at the deliberate, intentional pace of JKZ’s voice on the audio track. I think the entire meditation, including a couple of minutes before and after to prepare the physical space and ease the mental transition, took about one hour. After one session, I can see how this practice is not for the faint of heart. It was very difficult. I feel good about the effort I put forth in this first session, and I’m confident that my effort will bear fruit. I hope to be able to continue this practice tomorrow.

Hello world!

dan — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 07:32:03 +0000

Hi. I’m Dan. This is my blog.

The first project I’ll be working on is a running commentary on my efforts to learn about and begin practicing mindfulness meditation. I’m reading a book called Coming to Our Senses by Jon Kabat-Zinn. I’ve been slowly wading my way into this pool. Let’s see where this all leads…