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Weekend in Dublin

We're back home safe and sober after a long weekend in Dublin, Ireland. We landed there early Friday morning, around 5:30am. After a 3 hour nap we headed out to the Guinness Storehouse for the brewery tour. There were no lines to deal with and thanks to the Tasting Room and Perfect Pint training (we are now certified Perfect Pint Pourers - even Larry The Lizard) we had plenty of Guinness in us before we ever had a meal or even water. Feeling very Irish.

The Guinness Brewery is HUGE. It covers 66 acres and with all of its old brick buildings and black gates it looks just like Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. We spent hours there and learned a ton about Guinness, like the Guinness Book of World Records comes from the same family - I never put that together before but it all started to settle barroom arguments. I also learned that I love to eat roasted barley. Who knew?

Then we wandered around the Temple Bar area of Dublin for the first of many times. That is the "cultural" area and full of the most pubs. We caught some Irish music and dancing, even got a free CD for being from Boston because there are more Irish in Boston than in Ireland (it seems anyway).

Over the next few days we drank a lot of Guinness, even had a table with a built-in tap at our hotel, toured the Jameson Distillery, drank whiskey, ate malted barley, saw the Book of Kells, toured Dublin Castle, Christ Church, Kilmainham Gaol (prison), Dublinia, and Trinity College, visited many pubs and met lots of cool people, well except for one drunk douche bag that I had to scare off from bothering a 15 year old girl. And don't get fooled into visiting the Bad Ass Cafe - it should be called the Lame Colon.

Next Stop: Ireland

I really didn't think there would be any international travel for us this year, but a trip to Ireland has fallen into our laps. Sweet! Another country gets scratched off the list, and we fly to Dublin the first week of March. We considered being there for St. Patrick's Day, but everything is twice as expensive that week, so we'll just be there for the build up.
Lori and I have both passed the half-way mark in the PhilosophersNotes 50 Day Challenge and I am blown away by it. I thought it would be cool and interesting but reading the big ideas from some great works every weekday has been phenomenal. I'm getting more out of this than any class I've ever taken. Can't recommend PhilosophersNotes enough. Check it out.
The 40 day Oneness Experiment wrapped up last week and it was quite profound. Each day had a different practice and meditation and I had some very cool moments of synchronicity, awareness and communion, especially during the last two weeks. It going on at the same time as the PhilosophersNotes made both events very special.
For something completely different; check out http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/ for some hilarious/delicious/disgusting food porn.
Still making my way through all the DVD screeners I got thanks to awards season, and we finally saw "Precious" this weekend. Wow! It is not getting the attention and awards it deserves. A very powerful film, though not great for Valentines Day. I'd love to see the day when half of the people who saw "Avatar" (which I liked too) saw "Precious."

Rock of Ages - RULES!

"Rock of Ages", like... totally ROCKS. That didn't come as a surprise, but what did was that it was so much fun. The 80's LA metal scene inspired hit musical is a hilarious, raunchy, sexy, silly, karaoke-fest full of arena rock and strippers. I did not expect the R-rated comedy routine that this play is. It was especially delightful because some foolish parents had their 6 and 4 year-olds sitting in the second row, just inches from many lap dances over the course of the play. Fun stuff.
Constantine Maroulis of American Idol fame is the lead and does a fantastic job - as does every single performer in this metallic tour de force. Just some of the music featured includes Journey, Whitesnake, Poison, Twisted Sister, Bon Jovi, Quiet Riot, Styx, Night Ranger, Pat Benatar plus the original track Beaver Hunt and more.
I knew I was going to eat it up from the moment I was inside the theater and was handed a fake lighter to illuminate for the ballads. The set design that replicated the Sunset Strip was amazing, and the opening taped VO featuring David Coverdale of Whitesnake (shit, I just saw Whitensake this summer!) giving the audience warnings about not being douche bags with their cell phones told me this was home.
I would see this again in a heartbeat and I'm thrilled by the rumors of it being turned into a movie. My favorite quote comes from The New Yorker, "Is there a Tony Award for Bad-assery?"



Woo hoo!! Less than 24 hours to LOST!!!

Rock of Ages

Headed down to New Jersey today to meet up with some friends and go into NYC on Saturday for "Rock of Ages" - a Broadway musical based on 80's hair-band metal - which is pretty much the soundtrack to my personal heaven. It was this very weekend a year ago that we saw Metallica in Newark, so we've got some sort of metal/new jersey vibe going on.
So far 2010 has been phenomenal, today is day 29 in the 40 day Oneness Experiment and it has been very cool to say the least. I signed up on a bit of a lark just to check out something new, but the daily exercises/meditations, especially this last week's on shadow work, have been quite powerful.
Today is also day 15 of the 50 Day Philosophers Notes Challenge. The Philosophers Notes are one of the best things I've ever come across, and are an amazing value. Reading and listening to the notes at the same time as hundreds of others and sharing our comments on them has been astounding. I'm shocked how much wisdom and insight I've been getting from just the notes as opposed to the full books. That doesn't mean I haven't got a long list of books I want to read in their entirety though. It is too late to officially sign up for the challenge, but if you have any interest in philosophy, personal growth, money... it is worth checking them out. (This isn't a paid endorsement - I just think they rule.)

What a Year, What a Decade!

The past year has been an amazing ride and when I look at all that has happened over the decade. Wow! Each year seems to go by faster than the prior one. I can still remember when a summer lasted forever. I always thought it was only old people who said such things but 1999 does not feel like it was ten years ago.

This year alone, I stepped foot in six different countries (yet still haven't posted photos - d'oh!). Even with all the traveling Lori and I have done this decade, I would've been shocked to predict visiting six countries in one year. Since 2000 we've been to 14 countries - not in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that. We are so fortunate to have had so many "trips of a lifetime" I'm actually running out of places I've always wanted to see - but I still have some, don't worry. And what a decade to be a sports fan in New England; 3 Super Bowl Championships for the Patriots (we got to see two of them live), 2 World Series Championships for the Red Sox and a return to the NBA crown for the Celtics. I made a 10 year commitment for my New England Patriots season tickets and I got the best decade in football.

2009 had my spiritual journey continue in unfathomable ways. I don't think "spiritual" was even in my vocabulary in 2000. I'm sure if anyone told me I'd be meditating on a daily basis with Holosync, and loving it, I'd think they were crazy. We discovered the Morelli's with their 40 Days, 40 Nights program last May and continued with the Prosperity Tribe. We had a true roller coaster ride in our experiences with James Ray, the lessons from that continue to unfold. All in all it was a GREAT year, full of unexpected highs and lows. When you come down to it, that is what life is all about. More highs than lows is always nice too.

2010 kicks off with the Oneness Experiment, 40 days of group meditations. Then plans get foggy as we're scheduled for two week long events with James Ray this year, but those seem unlikely to happen to say the least. I do know it is going to be a banner year for Larry The Lizard as well as my memoir and screenplays. I didn't have time to do any acting in '09 but that will change in 2010 as I anticipate a major job change. I look forward to every moment and appreciate every one I've had.

Live life to the fullest and have a fantastic new year!

My Interviews Regarding James Ray

I've been getting enough requests for links for my television appearances this week pertaining to James Ray and the death of Colleen Conaway that I've decided to post them instead of responding to each individual.

Tuesday December 8th, CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 did a segment on James Ray and spoke to Colleen's family and to me. You can watch the piece here:
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/12/09/video-deadly-cover-up/
CNN's Gary Tuchman was such a class act. The interview was December 7th and he called twice before the piece aired on the 8th to run it by me and make sure I was comfortable with what he said. He also called after it aired and again the next day to check a new fact.

ABC's Nightline spoke to me back on November 10, but they didn't air the segment until December 8th as well.
http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=9286875
This article has more details than the video version:
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Nightline/james-ray-employee-paramedics-mistook-sweat-lodge-mass/story?id=9283937&page=3

I was hesitant to do either interview at all, but I'm glad I went through with them. I felt a tremendous release doing it, I didn't even care if it aired. I've spoken with Colleen's sister Lynn a few times and she called me yesterday to thank me for doing the interviews. Doing anything to make her family feel the slightest relief made it all worth doing. Since the airings I've received so much support. It's really taken me by surprise. Even my favorite bloggers who were once accusing me of murder have changed their tune (but I still won't be talking to you).

Nightline did a full show on James and had a surprise - former employee Melinda Martin, whom I remembered from Creating Absolute Wealth in San Diego. Melinda had some new information that hit me hard.

Through both interviews I maintained that James hadn't known that the suicide I witnessed was of a seminar participant. But now I know he did. Now I know he lied right to my face and instructed his staff to lie to anyone who asked about Colleen. Last night the news broke that James' right hand man, Greg Hartle, witnessed Colleen's death too.

Until I saw the Nightline segment I expected to attend future James Ray events, in fact I'm all paid up for three more events. I can't imagine they'll ever happen. If they do, I can't imagine having the trust or respect in James needed to attend them.

But I must say, I did find plenty of value in the work I did do with James. There are many things I've done in the past year that wouldn't have happened without my attending his seminars. I learned a lot from him and continue to do so. My willingness to go on TV was due in a large part to his teaching's about pushing through fear. So I am indeed grateful for attending everything I did.

The growth continues. Especially for him. Hopefully this is the end of the story until Arizona authorities announce what charges they'll be filing.