What are the odds?
A few weeks ago, I went to the dissolution ceremony for a sand mandala in Pasadena. When I was there, I was approached by a journalist and asked some questions. My interview didn't make it into his video, but at the 2:03 mark of this video https://spectrumnews1.com/ca/la-west/news/2019/02/01/sand-mandala-dissolution#, you can see me between the shoulders of the two people in the foreground (the young guy and the white-haired woman). Don't blink or you'll miss me, but there I am. This is my second time in the background of something on TV, but I don't have proof of the first one with me. Perhaps I'll add it as a P.S. post after I'm back home.
What is a sand mandala? Watching that video is a good introduction. This is a photo of the center of the one I saw:
However, the real thing that brought the "what are the odds?" title to mind is an experience I had a motel recently. The TV was doing this weird thing. Every few minutes it would display a series of silent ads on the left side of the screen as an overlay to the picture of whatever show was on. If the sound was muted, it would unmute the sound and then show the same ads. I checked with the hotel -- they didn't know anything about it. I checked with the cable company -- they didn't know anything about it. I showed the maintenance man the next morning and he'd never seen such a thing. It finally occurred to me to google it, and I found out that LG TVs have a "demo mode" that can be turned off in the settings. It was a challenge to figure out how to do it using the buttons on the side of the TV (because of course I did not have the original LG remote control), but I eventually accomplished it.
A few days later, in another city, in another hotel, on another LG TV, the same ads showed up when I tried to watch. This time I knew exactly what to do. What are the odds?
On another subject, green chilies are a big deal in New Mexico. Pretty much every restaurant, no matter what type, will have a version of one of their dishes that incorporates green chilies. Lasagne, eggs, sandwiches, pizza, and of course Mexican food. Even Pho. I'm thinking there must be people here who eat green chilies with every single meal.
The weather has been gorgeous here the last few days -- the kind of weather that people head to the southwest for at this time of year. That's going to change soon, but it has been really nice to get a few more days like this. It's been cold at night, and one night it even snowed a bit, but the days have been warm and have looked like this:
What is a sand mandala? Watching that video is a good introduction. This is a photo of the center of the one I saw:
However, the real thing that brought the "what are the odds?" title to mind is an experience I had a motel recently. The TV was doing this weird thing. Every few minutes it would display a series of silent ads on the left side of the screen as an overlay to the picture of whatever show was on. If the sound was muted, it would unmute the sound and then show the same ads. I checked with the hotel -- they didn't know anything about it. I checked with the cable company -- they didn't know anything about it. I showed the maintenance man the next morning and he'd never seen such a thing. It finally occurred to me to google it, and I found out that LG TVs have a "demo mode" that can be turned off in the settings. It was a challenge to figure out how to do it using the buttons on the side of the TV (because of course I did not have the original LG remote control), but I eventually accomplished it.
A few days later, in another city, in another hotel, on another LG TV, the same ads showed up when I tried to watch. This time I knew exactly what to do. What are the odds?
On another subject, green chilies are a big deal in New Mexico. Pretty much every restaurant, no matter what type, will have a version of one of their dishes that incorporates green chilies. Lasagne, eggs, sandwiches, pizza, and of course Mexican food. Even Pho. I'm thinking there must be people here who eat green chilies with every single meal.
The weather has been gorgeous here the last few days -- the kind of weather that people head to the southwest for at this time of year. That's going to change soon, but it has been really nice to get a few more days like this. It's been cold at night, and one night it even snowed a bit, but the days have been warm and have looked like this:
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