endless forms: The Buddhist Cow Says Mu

How can you possibly go wrong with a quiz that contains an awesome question like Do you like waffles? From the Thursday Thunks meme, on Friday morning (of course).

1. Do you like waffles?
I love waffles! There are really great gluten-free waffles on the market, made by Van's(^). Sometimes we make it using GF baking mix. I haven't made them from scratch yet. When I was still eating wheat I have to admit that the best waffles I ever made were made with Jiffy Mix(^) and the worst I ever made were made totally from scratch using the recipe in The Joy Of Cooking. They were way too greasy. Yuck.

The ones from Vans are great because they're, well, great - they taste like waffles, not too sweet or funky due to the lack of flour. And because they are in the grocery store, vs going to the health food store. And because they aren't expensive. A lot of gluten-free food is pretty expensive. There are several factors involved - testing, cleaning equipment, smaller batches, costly ingredients.

It's spiffy to find things that aren't expensive, taste good and are easy to find.

We like Waffles so much that we have a cat named Waffles. Our Waffles was actually named after Fern's cat Waffles, though. Fern doesn't have an accessible blog at the moment, but when he does, I'll link to it. He's one of the most important people in my life; the brother I now have, a best friend, and a confidant. As wonderful as Fern is, and while his cat is no doubt awesome, scientifically speaking, our Waffles has been determined to be the best cat on the planet.

Waffles:

is incredibly empathetic and always comes and lays with us if we're not feeling well or could use some cheering up.
sleeps with us, and is never too warm.
lets the other kitties eat first.
roars when he purrs.
is huge, really long and muscular.
defends other kitties against the scourge that is the dog.
loves his mommy.
has his own following on MySpace.

Waffles on the bed

More Waffles. Doesn't he have the sweetest face?

2. Name 3 things that is within your reach right now, excluding anything to do with your computer/laptop.

A water bottle, a lamp shaped like the Eiffel Tower, and my camera.

3. Do you hang laundry out on a line outside?

Rarely. I often hang it in the laundry room to dry. In Colorado, the air is so dry that even inside, clothes dry in a just few hours.

4. Loss of vision, ability to speak or hearing - which do you choose? (you have to choose one....)

I've already lost some hearing in my right ear due to a childhood injury, and I'd be ok with losing the rest. Well, not ok, but it would bother me less than the other two. I watch closed captioned TV and can read lips, so it wouldn't be much of a shock to lose my hearing, whereas I can't fathom losing my vision or the ability to speak.

5. On a scale from 1 - 10, how are your computer skills?

Well, compared to my husband, pretty poor. His skills go to eleven, as Nigel Tufnel(^) would say. But compared to your average user, probably about an 8 with PCs; a 6 with Macs; and maybe a 4 with Linux.

Tux, the Linux Mascot

This is the place where I tell you I intend to become more adept at Linux, like I always do. The truth is, it isn't Linux's fault - it's mine. Linux is not hard to learn at the user level, I'm just really busy with the SuperCat. I am at a point where I could use Linix 24/7 at the user level, but I would like to know a lot more and not have to rely on Dan for technical support.

On the plus side, I did dump Windows off my desktop machine, and my laptop now dual boots, so I am making measurable progress. Yay, progress.

6. Do you volunteer or donate to anything around the holidays?

I used to volunteer a lot, but haven't for a while, and am ok with that for the time being. My time is best utilized at home and probably will be for the foreseeable future. I will return to volunteering, eventually though, as I do miss it. We do donate to the ARC(^), which does a lot of good work.

7. If a person receives a DUI while in government office, should he lose his/her position?

I don't have enough information to make a decision.
Was the person elected, appointed or hired?
Does their job involve passing legislation involving drunk driving? Are they otherwise in a decision-making position?
Without more information, I can't answer.

Which totally brings us to MU!!!!! My friend Ben shared the concept of Mu a couple of weeks ago, and I was delighted to read about it.

Mu, where have you been all my life?

Mu (in Japan and Korea) or Wu (in Chinese) means "none", "without", and "no meaning". Mu is the answer to give when there is no correct answer possible or when there isn't enough information to give any answer at all. When "yes" and "no" are both wrong, "Mu" may be the answer.

Mu has a place in Buddhist philosophy as a kōan. A kōan is an often paradoxical question, story, riddle or statement that makes you think about things intuitively that may not be thinkable any other way.

These are kōans:

what is the sound of one hand clapping?
when you can do nothing, what can you do?
what is the color of wind?
If you have ice cream, I will give you some.
If you don't have ice cream, I will take it away.
That, of course, is the famous ice cream kōan by Jack Kerouac

Kōans may not have a obvious or single correct answer, which is where Mu comes in.

This is Mu:

marvel at the awesomeness of Mu

8. Do you take vitamins?

I administer vitamins in the form of Flintstones Chewables (now with Betty), and I take one occasionally, but generally no.

9. Do you wear fingernail polish?

My hands are too often in and around craft materials and water to have polished nails. I keep my nails clean but not polished since they'd chips too frequently to look neat for very long. My toenails are polished, though. Bright pink at the moment.

10. If every flower in the world only grew into one color, which color would you want?

The color of blue hydrangeas in the shade on a late summer afternoon. How's that for specific? I love hydrangeas and everything they represent - the bounty and beauty of summer flowers, and the languid warmth of late afternoons as the shadows grow. Hydrangeas made up the bulk of my bridal bouquet and I can't wait to grow them again.