Hangzhou Johnny

Hi Friends - Google is a funny thing. I googled my name as a bit of an ego surf and this is the only place I seem to come up. So I hope I can keep this site a while longer, but I've begun blogging at heyjohnnymac.blogspot.com. That's where my most recent stuff is. You can also find me on facebook. I look forward to hearing from you. ... read more

Not much to say, just some pix of a job we did in December. The original surface was shiny marble tile, not good for kids, so we changed it and the kids are out there all the time. Enjoy - John... read more

7, January, 2008 Dear Friends Well, Happy New Year. And I say that with tongue planted firmly in cheek. The rebel in me scoffs at the phrase, yet I still greet people with it this time of year. Really, what could be more hackneyed than wishing you a Happy New Year? Of all holidays, this one seems the most contrived. It doesn’t mark anything other than the calendar itself. I imagine those Gregorians must be smirking still, having sat up there in their dank stone castles plotting to get people all fired up about the passage of one more day. I can see them with their parchment charts and medieval talking points saying smugly “Let’s see if they’ll agree to this!” Of course, the people did. We’ve always been a gullible lot, trusting leaders to do ... read more

Four weeks into it and being a handyman in Sydney is taking me to amazing places. On week one, I was schmoozing with the guns of the Australia Rugby Union. Week two saw me sharing the halls with John Howard who, before a stunning election defeat on Nov. 24th, was Australia’s Prime Minister for the last 11 years. Then in week three I spent time with Juan Mann, better known worldwide as the Free Hug Guy and whose You Tube video has become an internet sensation. Week four was relatively sedate, but still found me enjoying lunch amid the sand and surf of Coogee beach. In short, life is rather spectacular. To be fair though, I didn’t officially meet Mr. Howard. He was in his district office, in a building owned by Gazcorp, and I was ... read more

The United States may be a melting pot, but with this new job of mine, I’ve found out that Sydney is an incredibly multicultural city. And it doesn’t seem to matter where someone is from, respiratory disease is an equal opportunity aggravation. In the last five days, I’ve logged 300 kilometers, visited 60 homes and heard a dozen different languages. Changing air filters isn’t glamorous, but in the ten minutes it takes to do the job, I’ve met interesting people, learned new things and spread a little joy. An Assyrian-speaker named Shaman told me he was a Christian from Iraq and when I apologized for what my country was doing to his, he got off his bed, stuck out his hand and shook mine. “Saddam was my president, but it was not my fault,” he ... read more

Ozillations “Things are just different here,” Amy said. It’s become our refrain, repeated every time we find ourselves in what appears to be a familiar situation that turns out a shade differently than it would in the states. It can be something as simple as mayonnaise. The label might say “Kraft Classic Mayonnaise” but the ingredients belie the truth. It’s made with sugar. And mustard. Yuck. “But if I wanted things to be the same, I wouldn’t have come.” That’s the second half of the refrain. Because it is only through experiencing the differences do we get that valuable perspective that only comes from living abroad. I arrived about two weeks ago and Amy got me from the airport. She’d parked for about an hour. It cost $20. We drove to a nearby beach, 20 minutes ... read more

Friends - As many of you know, I am a yoga nut. And this weekend I am in Tucson, getting a teaching on the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, a 500-year-old yoga text, the basis of what many of us in the West see when we see yoga. Lama Marut is a great teacher and today he shared with us the recipe for practicing yoga all day, every day. I’m passing it to you to share with your pals. Don’t feel like you need to do it all, but you might incorporate one idea, just to see if it works. -J Making Yoga Your Full-time Job: 1. Get a good night’s sleep. That’s the first priority. Seven, eight or even nine hours. Yeah, yeah, I know, you’re busy. I’ll get to that. 2. Wake up and do ... read more

FAIRBANKS - I saw my first friend from the top of the airport escalator. Rick was ostensibly waiting for his son to arrive from Anchorage, but since I got off the plane first, we exchanged a juicy masculine hug. That one simple act brought back a memory of the trip we made Chitina. It was one of those ‘light on fish but otherwise perfect’ trips. Unencumbered by slime, I was instead elbow deep in shared explorations of the spirit. A freezer full of reds is a beauty to behold, but the talks on the rocks provide lasting nourishment. I’ve been coming back and forth to Fairbanks for a few years now and that low approach over the Tanana flats always gets me. To some it may look like break-up, but for me it was homecoming and ... read more

Some of my yoga friends have been hearing about Tibetan Heart Yoga and having experienced a bit of it at Diamond Mountain recently, I decided to come to New York for some teacher training. Besides, with no job, what better way to use my time? Here’s what I’ve learned so far, but please forgive the unrefined and technical nature of this explanation. This yoga style was created by Geshe Michael Roach and Christie McNally, relying on ancient Tibetan Buddhist texts for sequencing suggestions as well as inner work. And it’s this inner work that really sets THY apart from the other yoga practices I’ve experienced. Not that the other forms don’t have it, but Heart Yoga really emphasizes it. And it blends it with Buddhism which shares roots with yoga. Let me explain, with a little ... read more

For five weeks as I studied Buddhist method and wisdom at Diamond Mountain, I’d been wondering about the 16” mirror ball hanging from the temple ceiling. On Sunday night, my questions were answered with party lights, a smoke machine and a DJ. These folks know how to party. Right there under the images of Buddha and other heroes like Je Tsongkapa, nearly a hundred people shook bootie as the chants of more modern heroes like Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson blasted the temple’s adobe walls. Everyone was dancing. Allegra, who must be close to 80, wore a gold lamé gown and matching jewel-encrusted pope-like mitre blended with a half dozen sweaty shirtless guys. Monks in crimson robes spun while Geshele and Christie took turns swinging with nearly everyone else. Celebrants had worked hard this term and ... read more