taken from the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, 2005

Today was  a typical good summer morning at our house. We slept in late (even the little kids), woke up, had some coffee, and threw a good old fashioned cleaning party.

The cleaning party is designed in such a way as to promote good cheer, while doing something that might not normally be considered so cheery. It works. The KIDS work. And thanks to the iPad, we were able to bump Power 106 from Los Angeles – a virtual commercial-free Pop radio station.

And now, I have a cleaner house, and it definitely sets the tone for the remainder of the weekend that’s coming up.

During the cleaning party, there was some discussion about conducting a “no electronics” day today, to see if the younger set could handle it. Operating phrase here is “some discussion.” Nice idea, but no. Another day, perhaps. We’re currently installing a supposedly faster Internet system, thanks to the Comcast guy we met at Best Buy the other day. Apparently they have an offer of $20 a month for six months, with speeds “of up to” 15 Mbps. Not too shabby!

Now that we have this killer Internet speed, we’re also getting into playon.tv. It’s a new way to do TV, people. For 40 bucks a year, from a network PC with Playon installed, you send the TV signal wirelessly to your Wii, Xbox 360, or PS3, and get all the TV that your heart will allow.  You can access things like CBS, Hulu, MTV, CNN, PBS, ESPN, and Comedy Central. It’s so cheap! You can even install pluggins for Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Classic Cartoons. We’re now seriously thinking about canceling our satellite service, in exchange for playon.

In other news, I got a really big kick outta seeing this video from YouTube today, shot by a guy from Mariposa of all places. It’s a tape of a double rainbow in the mountains. It’s gone viral, having received well over 2 million hits.

Have you seen it yet??? Your thoughts???

The actual footage itself is not really the story. What IS the story, is the guy’s reaction to the rainbow. People have been saying that he must have been on something to have had such a strong emotional reaction like he did, but I’d like to think maybe there’s something more.

It looks like he’s posted other video, too, that has to do with similar subjects. Here, he’s ooing and ahhhing about wild turkeys and the moon. You know, it’s kind of like when you have little kids, and you take them to the zoo, and you point out the zebra, and they get all excited. It could be just like that.

So, yeah, say what you want about this guy, but I’d like to think there’s something more. He COULD just be a naturalist. He gets the fact that there’s intricate beauty to behold in nature. He gets the fact that nature is FILLED with awesome and amazing opportunity…to witness sights not normally seen from a fast-paced lifestyle perspective.

Maybe he’s a guy whose sole adventure in life is to seek out and find the ultimate view. He probably waited his whole life to see such a thing, and now that he has, he’s just awe struck. It’s probably like his version of Mecca. I think that’s what’s really going on here. Metaphysical greats like Thoreau, Whitman, Emerson, and Donne would be pleased.

People had the same reaction to The Beatles after all. And they were just musicians. Rainbows aren’t so common. They’re not man-made. They are definitely magical.

I totally dig his vibe, and commend him for posting such a personal reaction. May we all get a little crazy for nature once in a while, and find ourselves refreshed and renewed.

Enjoy!