update (2\/8\/09):<\/span> It does in fact have a \u2018typewriter tool\u2019 for writing directly on documents that works like a charm. <\/p>\nIt does a fine job of highlighting though, as well as copying to paste in text-to-speech<\/span> software (essential for lazy people like me who would rather be read to than to actually read themselves).<\/span> Also, in the free version it merely places a header at the top saying \u201cEdited by Foxit<\/span> Reader\u2026 Evaluation only\u201d rather than an ugly dark streak of text across the middle of each page.<\/p>\nThe plan is that with this and the tablet PC I\u2019ll be able to whiz through the hundreds of journal articles currently sitting on my hard drive.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Longer days and Big Blue Skies<\/span>. Winter in Montana can be a dreary time, waking up in the dark, going to work in the dark (not me, but people with real jobs), and coming home in the dark. But just as fast as the light seemed to dissapear in December, it is rushing back now in February. Thus far this month we\u2019ve seen mostly blue skies and warm days (which, on a whole is bad because it means no moisture and early melt-off of snows and a greater likelyhood of an awful fire season, but\u2026.)<\/span>, so thoughts of spring can\u2019t help but leap to mind.\n<\/li>\nTime for Real Learning<\/span>. Utopian author and social critic Lewis Mumford once wrote:
\nOne of the marks of the new school and the new university will be the provision of hours of withdrawal, not spent in classroom study or in sport, in the midst of its regular work day: a period of concentration and reflection, in which the work of active selection and spiritual assimilation can go on.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\nAs usual I find myself yearning a bit for more of this time. One\u2019s Ph<\/span>.D. studies should, ideally, be filled abundantly with spiritual assimilation<\/span>. As I move more and more into my studies, I find such time to be of increasing value. For now, Thursdays will be the days of assimilation and withdrawal<\/span> for me. No work, no socializing, no lectures, just this<\/span> (and leading meditation in the evening).<\/p>\n<\/li>\nBowing to my acquisitiveness<\/span>. I\u2019m not sure if my acquisitiveness belongs in a gratitude journal, but it\u2019s been on my mind of late. In England I bought a new leather breifcase, a courier bag, and more; I have recently ordered a tripod, about five books, a power cord for my stereo (arrived today!), a new Mp3 player, and still want <\/span>a new DSLR camera, a tablet PC, and a Mazda Miata. Anyone having a spare one of any of these is welcome to donate it to me \ud83d\ude42\nSomething Dave W talked about in his talk last fall in MT on Buddhist Ethics was that in Buddhism it isn\u2019t necessarily our wants<\/span> that are a problem, but how we want them<\/span>. There is craving<\/span> (Pali: tanha<\/span>) which is destructive, but there is also will<\/span> or want<\/span> (Pali: Chanda<\/span>). There is almost a \u201ctaxonomy of want<\/span>\u201c; sometimes it\u2019s good, sometimes bad\u2026 There is also apparently a section in Chapter five of A.J. Bahm\u2019s Philosophy of the Buddha <\/span>(see here<\/a>)\u2026 dang, another book I must have\u2026 <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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