A few weeks back, I was contacted by Hillary, a lovely Anusara yoga teacher from sunny Southern California, who wondered if I'd do an interview with her for her yoga podcast. Of course I agreed, and we met up one rainy day in Vancouver for a chat. 

The interview is up and live now. Check it out if you're interested! You might want to subscribe to Hillary's podcast while you're at it – she offers free guided yoga classes that you can then do in your own time, in your own home.

Thanks Hillary! 

Almost two years to the day after leaving this place, I find myself back at Mount Madonna for two weeks and two days. I lived here for 4 months in 2005, doing the Yoga, Service and Community Program. It was a great experience at the time, and I'm really happy to be back here. It's part of my transition to Toronto life and it feels perfect.

It's a fascinating place, a year-round community of about 80 full time residents, some of whom pass through for a short while, some of whom have lived here as long as I've been alive. It's 300+ acres of redwood forest, looking out over Monterey Bay. It's really beautiful, and an interesting combination of retreat and bustle.

This time around, I've got wifi access. mwah ha ha! Only I am trying to keep the computer use to a minimum...

I recently found a self-help book for sufferers of RSI and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Written by a Hellerworker, it's well worth picking up. Simple exercises to stretch out and lengthen fascia (connective tissue) that really work.

I am lucky enough not to suffer from (much) wrist pain, but I will be getting this book both for my own prevention and for advising students. If you're currently dealing with work-related repetitive stress problems – not just in your wrists – then you might want to check it out.

And, of course, find yourself a good yoga class. It'll help you overall by strengthening and lengthening your muscles, as well as helping you develop better body awareness. Among all kinds of other benefits. :)

I'm a bit late in posting this, but better late than never! 

A couple weeks ago I was invited to participate on the Typical Mac User podcast. Elsie, of Elsie's Yoga Kula, had found my site a while back and wondered if I'd like to join her on this special episode. Sadly, I was unavailable, but nonetheless, you might want to give the show a listen. 

Sounds like I'm not the only one who sees how valuable yoga can be for everyone... geeks included. :)

As for me... I've been neglecting this site. But more coming soon...

As an update to my recent post, I wanted to report that I did go out and get an external keyboard and a mouse to add to my working set-up. (It was hard deciding which to go with – way too many choices in this world.)

Now I know that some people think I'm ridiculous to worry about radiation from my laptop CPU, but all I know is what I feel, and I can assure you that the physical experience of working for hours on an external keyboard is *very* different from the experience of working directly on my laptop. My laptop gets pretty warm after a couple of hours of use, but with the keyboard it's all cool all the time. No more hot buzzy feeling either – which is a relief, because the buzzy feeling was starting to make my wrists ache.

As for the purchases I made...
I'm happy with the keyboard, though for my purposes I'd much prefer that they scrapped the whole number pad at the right hand side. I'll never use it, and shaving off that extra 10cm would make the whole thing much more portable.

I don't love the mouse I got - a Macally iLaser. It performed terribly yesterday at Workspace on the unfinished wood table surface. It also doesn't have the ability to scroll side to side, which I value. I think I'm going to take it back and get something different... probably a Logitech with a Tiltwheel in it.

Therein ends today's discussion of workplace health and geekery. ;)