Today I slept in until 8:30am. It felt great! Someone even commented to me later in the day in a small yoga session that my eyes weren't red, my face didn't look tired and overall I looked well rested. As Doctor Bronner say's, "the only two cosmetics you need are; enough rest and Dr. Bronners Magical soap!"

Then I listened to a lecture of Maharaja and he chastised me. I tried to justify it by something he had told me some time ago, "if you ever have to drive somewhere more than an hour you need to sleep at least seven hours." My realization is that it is true good rest allows you to drive safely. But, even then you still get tired if you are not a Starbucks customer.

In that lecture Maharaja was asked about over endeavoring. He said over endeavoring is when you take on so much service that you can not perform the basic instructions of chanting 16 rounds, sleeping well, attending Mangala Arati and hearing Srimad Bhagavatam. Ouch he got me. I am over endeavoring.

I did a bit of yoga, packed my bags, sought blessings of the Vaishnavas, Srila Prabhupada and Sri Sri Radha Vrindaban Chandra then hit the road. I stopped to fill the ole 152,000 mile Honda Civic up with fuel and proceeded to drive the next 120 mile to Athens Ohio. I remember the good ole days when it used to cost 12 dollars to fill her up, now its $38.

Somehow I made it to Athens. Two things assist me in driving long distances and not falling asleep.

1. Frito Lay Brand Sunflower seeds.
Ever since I was a little boy I have been addicted to them. If any of you ever played little league baseball you may have the same taste. I am sorry for those who have never been introduced to the pleasure of eating salted sunflower seeds and having to crack them open, eat the seed and spit out the shell. Often some declare my stupidity for not simply buying preshelled sunflower seeds. You lose all the fun when you do that! Plus there is no activity to keep you awake.

2. Cell Phone with a headset. Whenever I get tired i just start calling everyone I need to. If It is late at night, I just call devotees on the west coast because of the three hours time difference. They can talk on and on with no disturbance if they are not at work. Today I spoke with a psychotherapist for an hour. They are great at listening so I could just talk and talk and talk!

When I arrived to Athens I immediately drove to a meeting at the United Campus Ministry center. There we discussed our Vegan Cooking Workshop using the space for the rest of the year. They were very supportive. I signed an agreement that we would pay $100 a month for access to the kitchen and dinning hall each Tuesday. I was given a key and left very happy. Having a steady and supportive place for one's outreach activities is a true blessing. I knew it would turn out positive because I found a parking meter with 2 hours of free parking when I arrived.

I went home to the Conscious Ohio Center to meet the great shock of the house being an amazing mess and my poor children were almost dead or dead(our house plants). Oh lord please bless them with eternal life.

Soon the other house mates arrived one by one and we finished up our cleaning. In the evening due to the most amazing weather I went for a prayer walk around campus. A prayer walk is a very powerful activity. I was introduced to it via my Christian backround. Its concept is you go to those places which you are to perform or act or serve etc and pray intensely. You pray to the Lord for whatever you may need. For those of us who do outreach. There is only one prayer, "Please Lord make me a servant of your peace."

Please do not underestimate the power of true prayer. If I appreciate one thing most about my parents and family is they taught me to humbly pray to the Lord. Thank you mom! the second thing is Bob Marley.

This quarter I'll try to blog about our outreach activities so you all will know whats up and you can se that we are not totally in as they say "maya".