Last night, after the school, I talked to one of my instructors, Mr. Czuba, for an hour and a half. He is a very nice guy, his interests are mostly automotive electronics, etc. He is more of an engineer than a mechanic, pleasure to talk to. We were talking about my career path and what I should do. It actually helped me a lot since he is the first person that does not see me as, at the most, Jiffy-Lube oil changer like most of other staff does.
Autotronics Blog now open!
To separate dry technical electronic stuff from personal postings I creates a blog exclusively for the electronics.
lucas-autotronix.blogspot.com
lucas-autotronix.blogspot.com
What do you know? Internet works in the most unexpected ways!
My teacher and friend found me in totally unexpected way - thru the Mac Sherlock's program by looking for herself. Since I mentioned her in one of my notes, the program brought her to my web site. Amazing!
My teacher and friend found me in totally unexpected way - thru the Mac Sherlock's program by looking for herself. Since I mentioned her in one of my notes, the program brought her to my web site. Amazing!
I have finished the midterm. I've dropped 16 points of possible 425, that places me as the best student in the class of 27 people. Now, you'd ask, what does it matter, what kind of challenge it is, Mr. Ex Director of Technology?
Well, it pleases me for one. Considering my previous track-record in university this tells me I became a little more studious, more responsive about such things as attendance, homeworks, etc. What's more, if I keep good grades, I promissed myself, after getting the A.A. degree here in LTI, I move on to university to keep on studying. Maybe even one day MIT will accept me.
Well, it pleases me for one. Considering my previous track-record in university this tells me I became a little more studious, more responsive about such things as attendance, homeworks, etc. What's more, if I keep good grades, I promissed myself, after getting the A.A. degree here in LTI, I move on to university to keep on studying. Maybe even one day MIT will accept me.
Christianity and Buddhism
In this short article I will attempt to show that there is a common ground for both of the traditions on their respective highest levels.
To compare Christianity and Buddhism we have to understand clearly the essence and therefore the roots of both.
We will be talking about different religions, it is important to notice a big distinction; Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism are all technically true religions. Buddhism, in its original and true form cannot be classified as religion, but as mere philosophy. It is a philosophy in the very essence of the word; a quest, or pull towards (philo) the knowledge, or understanding (sophy).
Modern day Christianity stems out of much older Judeo-Christian tradition. The Judaic root is based in the teachings of the Old Testament which is heavily influenced by the laws and customs of the Jewish tribes of the era predeceasing the time when the Old Testament was written down from the oral tradition.
With great simplification, Jewish laws, traditions and teachings can be characterized as mostly external in regard to personal self and internal personal insights. The external traditions are simply the laws to be followed. There very little ground of comparison to buddhism here. The internal traditions manifest in Kabbalah teachings of the Judaism, which carried little or no weight into Christianity.
Christianity itself, carrying the external Judaic traditions developed into popular religion which is mostly represented by Protestant faiths (pure belief and laws) and majority of Catholicism (belief, customs and laws).
The tradition based internal insight are represented by a very narrow circle of Catholic and Eastern Orthodox mystics. It is this small group of mystics, and some insignificant fractions of mystic Protestants, that give us the best platform for further comparisons.
Buddhism, on the other hand, stems out of the hinduism, and both of the teachings are based on the internal insight of the individual.
It is therefore not difficult to see that if we want to compare Christianity to Buddhism and to find significant similarities, we will have to understand the internal insight that is the essence of both.
Judeo-Christian mystic experiences as well a Buddhist enlightenment are based on the similar basic principles. A person has to reject the distractions of the every-day world, most often going into seclusion. Person should cleanse the inner body, usually by limiting the intake of drink and food, or fasting. Person has to clean the mind from distractions by meditation, prayer, or contemplation on a single object. Finally, the person has to obtain a state of perfect balance, or union, with the object of the meditation, prayer, or contemplation.
The process of achievement of what eastern tradition call enlightenment (japanese satori), or Judeo-Christian mystic experience (visions and unions with God) are very similar and can be manifested in many ways common across all religions that utilize spiritual insights. Most graphic is in form of mandla that can be found in European church windows sponsored by people after mystic visions, Eastern Orthodox Church paintings, Hindu, east-asian art and Tibetan mandals.
The mandala is such a common reflection of the experience, that based on what was seen, and in what colors, a person can determine the depth of the experience. The subject is too extensive to explain it in-depth in this paper.
There were many great mystics in history of Christianity, Teresa of Avila is one of them, but the most obvious is Jesus himself. Most notably he went through a deep mystic experiences during the time he spent in the desert praying, fasting, being tempted and ultimately uniting with God-father.
Historic Buddha, similarly, fasted extensively in seclusion of the jungle, meditated and achieved enlightenment into his own existence and the ultimate truth about which he spent the rest of his life teaching.
Every religion, and even every individual perceives differently what is the ultimate. There is no point in discussing which one is truth, false, or which is misguided. At certain point of each tradition there is an individual who follows similar steps to achieves higher level of existence. Whether Jesus, believed to be already the son of God, or Buddha, who never claimed divine, and any saint, or Zen master, they all meditated, prayed, or contemplated, fasted and were tempted until the reality as we know it snapped like a broken string and the essence of the ultimate truth filled their lives. Many people compare this phenomena to many paths leading to the same mountain peak.
Finally, one can find similarities between Christianity and Buddhism that are not limited to a narrow circle of mystics. Those similarities are however more superficial and external and therefore secondary from the point of view of a buddhist. Most notably both of the traditions profess non-violence. Christianity has terrible track-record in this regard, but if to adhere to the teaching of Jesus, a person should not kill. Similarly, in Buddhism killing is considered as a source of bad karma, or harmful influence on the world, and therefore should be avoided at any level, including animals, or even inanimate nature, again with mixed results.
To compare Christianity and Buddhism we have to understand clearly the essence and therefore the roots of both.
We will be talking about different religions, it is important to notice a big distinction; Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism are all technically true religions. Buddhism, in its original and true form cannot be classified as religion, but as mere philosophy. It is a philosophy in the very essence of the word; a quest, or pull towards (philo) the knowledge, or understanding (sophy).
Modern day Christianity stems out of much older Judeo-Christian tradition. The Judaic root is based in the teachings of the Old Testament which is heavily influenced by the laws and customs of the Jewish tribes of the era predeceasing the time when the Old Testament was written down from the oral tradition.
With great simplification, Jewish laws, traditions and teachings can be characterized as mostly external in regard to personal self and internal personal insights. The external traditions are simply the laws to be followed. There very little ground of comparison to buddhism here. The internal traditions manifest in Kabbalah teachings of the Judaism, which carried little or no weight into Christianity.
Christianity itself, carrying the external Judaic traditions developed into popular religion which is mostly represented by Protestant faiths (pure belief and laws) and majority of Catholicism (belief, customs and laws).
The tradition based internal insight are represented by a very narrow circle of Catholic and Eastern Orthodox mystics. It is this small group of mystics, and some insignificant fractions of mystic Protestants, that give us the best platform for further comparisons.
Buddhism, on the other hand, stems out of the hinduism, and both of the teachings are based on the internal insight of the individual.
It is therefore not difficult to see that if we want to compare Christianity to Buddhism and to find significant similarities, we will have to understand the internal insight that is the essence of both.
Judeo-Christian mystic experiences as well a Buddhist enlightenment are based on the similar basic principles. A person has to reject the distractions of the every-day world, most often going into seclusion. Person should cleanse the inner body, usually by limiting the intake of drink and food, or fasting. Person has to clean the mind from distractions by meditation, prayer, or contemplation on a single object. Finally, the person has to obtain a state of perfect balance, or union, with the object of the meditation, prayer, or contemplation.
The process of achievement of what eastern tradition call enlightenment (japanese satori), or Judeo-Christian mystic experience (visions and unions with God) are very similar and can be manifested in many ways common across all religions that utilize spiritual insights. Most graphic is in form of mandla that can be found in European church windows sponsored by people after mystic visions, Eastern Orthodox Church paintings, Hindu, east-asian art and Tibetan mandals.
The mandala is such a common reflection of the experience, that based on what was seen, and in what colors, a person can determine the depth of the experience. The subject is too extensive to explain it in-depth in this paper.
There were many great mystics in history of Christianity, Teresa of Avila is one of them, but the most obvious is Jesus himself. Most notably he went through a deep mystic experiences during the time he spent in the desert praying, fasting, being tempted and ultimately uniting with God-father.
Historic Buddha, similarly, fasted extensively in seclusion of the jungle, meditated and achieved enlightenment into his own existence and the ultimate truth about which he spent the rest of his life teaching.
Every religion, and even every individual perceives differently what is the ultimate. There is no point in discussing which one is truth, false, or which is misguided. At certain point of each tradition there is an individual who follows similar steps to achieves higher level of existence. Whether Jesus, believed to be already the son of God, or Buddha, who never claimed divine, and any saint, or Zen master, they all meditated, prayed, or contemplated, fasted and were tempted until the reality as we know it snapped like a broken string and the essence of the ultimate truth filled their lives. Many people compare this phenomena to many paths leading to the same mountain peak.
Finally, one can find similarities between Christianity and Buddhism that are not limited to a narrow circle of mystics. Those similarities are however more superficial and external and therefore secondary from the point of view of a buddhist. Most notably both of the traditions profess non-violence. Christianity has terrible track-record in this regard, but if to adhere to the teaching of Jesus, a person should not kill. Similarly, in Buddhism killing is considered as a source of bad karma, or harmful influence on the world, and therefore should be avoided at any level, including animals, or even inanimate nature, again with mixed results.
Yesterday, I went to my career adviser at LTI, a director of career services. We chatted about job market, an automotive is the second biggest industry after food. Few days back I provided her with my resume. Out of conversation it became clear to me that she cannot help me. I said that in the future I would like to use my computer skills and experience, my management skils and newly aquired automotive technology skills to work for one of the automotive companies in the area. She said she places only entry-level.
Now, my question is: How much job skill does it take to place and school graduate in a Jiffy Lube entry level?
Here goes a chunk on my tuition money ($19K) down the drain.
Now, my question is: How much job skill does it take to place and school graduate in a Jiffy Lube entry level?
Here goes a chunk on my tuition money ($19K) down the drain.
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As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
I ripped my Supra apart. I don't want to sound negative, but it is really dead now. I wander if it will ever run again... it was such an enjoyable ride.
Anyway, in order to fix broken spark-plugs, replace the head gasket and learn a bit, I removed most of the stuff from the engine bay. I call it stuff because at this moment I can name only some of the things I ripped out. I know even less about how they work, even about the things I can name. I am learning.
I run into unexpected problems. I did expect rusted bolts that will be impossible to remove, but I encountered none, instead, the fuel line after opening drained 1/2 gal. and did not want to stop.
Wireing harnes in the second offender. It goes thru the intake manifold which I need to remove and connects to something deep-under that is not reachable.
the fuel fitting
Anyway, in order to fix broken spark-plugs, replace the head gasket and learn a bit, I removed most of the stuff from the engine bay. I call it stuff because at this moment I can name only some of the things I ripped out. I know even less about how they work, even about the things I can name. I am learning.
I run into unexpected problems. I did expect rusted bolts that will be impossible to remove, but I encountered none, instead, the fuel line after opening drained 1/2 gal. and did not want to stop.
Wireing harnes in the second offender. It goes thru the intake manifold which I need to remove and connects to something deep-under that is not reachable.
the fuel fitting
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Decided to take out all spark plugs from my Supra. i knew 3 were frozen.
I took the spark plugs off on cylinders 1, 2, 3, on the fourth the spark plug was cross-threaded. No sweat, heli-coil will fix it. On the cylinder 5 the spark plug snapped. Shut, I thought, I will have to take the head off, what the heck, let's go for number 6. The sixth snapped, too.
To take the head off is a 9 hour job, according to the manual. At $80/hr dealer rate it nears a thousand bucks with parts. That not including machining. Well, the first major fix for me.
The sucky thing is, the car is on the open parking lot in front of my condo. I could try to drive it on the 3 cylinders to school, but with the 152645 firing sequence it would mean I got all cylinders on one side, not good. Maybe I could tow it with the Jeep, we will see in the next couple of days.
I took the spark plugs off on cylinders 1, 2, 3, on the fourth the spark plug was cross-threaded. No sweat, heli-coil will fix it. On the cylinder 5 the spark plug snapped. Shut, I thought, I will have to take the head off, what the heck, let's go for number 6. The sixth snapped, too.
To take the head off is a 9 hour job, according to the manual. At $80/hr dealer rate it nears a thousand bucks with parts. That not including machining. Well, the first major fix for me.
The sucky thing is, the car is on the open parking lot in front of my condo. I could try to drive it on the 3 cylinders to school, but with the 152645 firing sequence it would mean I got all cylinders on one side, not good. Maybe I could tow it with the Jeep, we will see in the next couple of days.
It has been few days since I blogged last, mostly because of the lifestyle. During the day whenever I have energy I try to read about technology, in the evening I am at school for 6 hours, come back it is late and so on.
School, I feel, will teach me what I want, that, of course, with addition to some hands-on extra practice I will have to do on my own. Even if it would come to turning wrenches somewhere for free. I asked Adam, Kinga's mechanic, but I did not get any reply yet.
So what are my outlooks after finishing the school? Well, asistant manager can make up to $45K, Service Manager, foreman, or Service Writer can collect up to $80 large. That would be plenty. I could probably land any one of those jobs, given I study really hard now.
There are ASE certification tests next May being given, I will have to pass 4, the maximum I can take at once. The total of 8 certifications make up for a Master Automotive Technician and a decent pay anywhere I go. And that is really my near-term goal. To be able to go anywhere in the country and find a decent job that would support the family.
School, I feel, will teach me what I want, that, of course, with addition to some hands-on extra practice I will have to do on my own. Even if it would come to turning wrenches somewhere for free. I asked Adam, Kinga's mechanic, but I did not get any reply yet.
So what are my outlooks after finishing the school? Well, asistant manager can make up to $45K, Service Manager, foreman, or Service Writer can collect up to $80 large. That would be plenty. I could probably land any one of those jobs, given I study really hard now.
There are ASE certification tests next May being given, I will have to pass 4, the maximum I can take at once. The total of 8 certifications make up for a Master Automotive Technician and a decent pay anywhere I go. And that is really my near-term goal. To be able to go anywhere in the country and find a decent job that would support the family.
http://www.teammarinesracing.com/
Kansas, KS, NASCAR race track
Wow!
Team Marines car #25, being out of gas (or vapor locks problem) in second position, got hit in the last lap by car in 3rd position. They went into the wall, slammed the rear end to what it looked like total destruction. Not even they survived, they were allowed to finish the race slowly driving smoking from the right and rear end.
Car #21 also slammed the rear end, caught a fire, the new internal extinguisher system took it off almost instantly.
Average speed of the race 113mph, 300 miles race.
Hurray, go Marines!
Kansas, KS, NASCAR race track
Wow!
Team Marines car #25, being out of gas (or vapor locks problem) in second position, got hit in the last lap by car in 3rd position. They went into the wall, slammed the rear end to what it looked like total destruction. Not even they survived, they were allowed to finish the race slowly driving smoking from the right and rear end.
Car #21 also slammed the rear end, caught a fire, the new internal extinguisher system took it off almost instantly.
Average speed of the race 113mph, 300 miles race.
Hurray, go Marines!
First day in Lincoln Tech.
First day of Lincoln Technical Institute school last night. Nothing exciting at all, just a very long 6 hours. I hope to get by those boring intros and actually learn something of any use.
I am reading on my own a lot as well, I hope that will pay off in better results later on.
I am reading on my own a lot as well, I hope that will pay off in better results later on.
Today I replaced the thermostat on my Jeep. The old one was not closing, keeping the water/coolant temperature barely above 100F.
The replacement was not difficult in itself, but the fan shroud, the fan and the belt make the access to the thermostat housing very difficult, especially the bottom bolt.
The replacement was not difficult in itself, but the fan shroud, the fan and the belt make the access to the thermostat housing very difficult, especially the bottom bolt.
I had a nice ride on my bike in the forest nearby my place. There is a continous patch of forest stretching from Touchy to Lake Cook County Line, along the Des Plaines River, many miles. The trail is not paved, ideal for the mountain bike. Occasionally, you have to cross a street and that is the only negative side.
I had a nice ride on my bike in the forest nearby my place. There is a continous patch of forest stretching from Touchy to Lake Cook County Line, along the Des Plaines River, many miles. The bike trail is not paved, ideal for the mountain bike. Occasionally you have to cross a street and that is the only negative side.
I watched the movie "Vertical Limit". Again.
I maybe never will climb K2 - I have neither skills, nor desire, but I miss mountains.
On mountain peaks, after an extreme effort of the climb, you feel truly alive. You find the beauty on the nature, the true scale of the world that surrounds you, and the insignificance of yourself. It is most therapeutic of experiences.
I miss mountains, I hope I will be able to go and climb soon. Maybe I will teach my daughter to appreciate their beauty.
I maybe never will climb K2 - I have neither skills, nor desire, but I miss mountains.
On mountain peaks, after an extreme effort of the climb, you feel truly alive. You find the beauty on the nature, the true scale of the world that surrounds you, and the insignificance of yourself. It is most therapeutic of experiences.
I miss mountains, I hope I will be able to go and climb soon. Maybe I will teach my daughter to appreciate their beauty.
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