Tony's Sharebook 

At the age of 32, a friend suggested, “sit in the nude & stare into a mirror.” So, I did. And after staring (for 10 minutes) at my face, arms, stomach, eyes, feet and legs, I realized the mirror reflection did not match up with the words pouring out of my mouth. And therefore, I altered my lifestyle to create an individual I would enjoy seeing each morning.

Presently 18 years later, on occasion, I stare into the mirror. And instead of viewing selfishness, vanity, illusions, cocaine, lies, and “Jack,” I see a yoga student of 17 years. I see an Iyengar Yoga Teacher. I see a San Francisco Marathon (Newbie) Runner. I see a road cycling AIDS Activist. I see a 50 yr. old man with a vision & purpose. I see a philanthropist. I see a positive addition to humanity.

Katharine Hepburn once said, “We are taught you must blame your father, your sisters, your brothers, the school, the teachers - but never blame yourself. It's never your fault. But it's always your fault, because if you wanted to change you're the one who has got to change.”

Well, I’ve changed. And thanks to my mirror, I continue to improve myself & my mirrored reflection.

Therefore, in June 2012, for my 15th Year, I will participate in an event to benefit the S.F. AIDS Foundation called AIDSLifeCycle. Each year, I raise my $3,000.00 minimum to participate & bike 575 miles (from San Francisco to Los Angeles).   And, I complete the ride knowing I did the right thing.

AIDSLifeCycle is a fully supported, 7-day bike event from San Francisco to Los Angeles, June 3 - 9, 2012. It’s a life-changing ride—not a race—through some of California’s most beautiful countryside.

AIDSLifeCycle is co-produced by the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center & the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and is designed to advance their shared interest to end the AIDS pandemic.

So remember, it does not matter:
• Where you came from ...
• What obstacles are in your way ....
• What others may think of you ...
• Why you think it would never work ......
• Or why you want to start tomorrow .......

It only matters what “you do.” – So do what you can do …….
Love to you, tony eason

“Every time you state what you want or believe, you’re the first to hear it. It’s a message to both you and others about what you think is possible. Don’t put a ceiling on yourself.” - Oprah Winfrey

P.S.

All the Fat Tire Beer you can drink & a food Buffet.
$15.00 per person minimum suggested donation (no one refused due to lack of funds).
Wanna join the party?
Hook up with me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or Google Plus.
Enjoy the journey!
No one is to drive /or/ bike home under the influence of alcohol. [Anyone can spend the night - just bring a sleeping bag].
Can't make it to the party? Sponsor Online at: http://www.tofighthiv.org/goto/ynottony

• Download AIDS Ride 2012 Sponsorship Form:
• AIDSLifecycle 2012 - Sponsor Online:
• Oprah Winfrey Network - OWN Invitation:
• Oprah Winfrey Fan Photos:
• How to throw an AIDS Ride Fund Raising Party:

On Saturday morning, with 30 minutes to spare, I rose from my bed with the intentions of riding my bike to my 10:30am yoga class at James Howell Studio. Yet, as I mounted my Soulcraft, I was presented with a flat rear tire. With no time to change the flat, I hand pumped the inner tube & prayed that the inner tube would hold air for my 15 minute sprint to the yoga studio.



After my morning yoga class, I sat at the Church Street Cafe and began to repair the flat. Yet after dismantling the wheel, I realized that I failed to bring my spare inner tube. Therefore, I contemplated the location of the nearest bike shop.



Refried Cycles3804 17th Street
San Francisco, CA. 94117
415.621.2911

Refried Cycles /or/ "bicicletas refritas" - was founded by:

A 6 year Quake Courier messenger.
A man who desired to be his own boss
A man who loves bikes (and actually rides a bike)
A local San Franciscan.

Refried Cycles owner, Benji offers high quality service; rock-bottom rates; a speedy turnaround time ( so you won't be out of the saddle long); and he promises to keep you informed throughout the entire bike repair process. And more importantly (in the present economic times), his prices beat those of almost every other Bay Area Bike shop (so you'll never be surprised by the bill).




And if you're looking for a road, touring, mountain or track bike and/or just a bike frame, my GOD! Refried Cycles is a purveyor of fine vintage bikes. Depending on the daily inventory, you can find La Rosa, Jack Taylor, Raleigh, Derby England, Motobecane, and Masi (to name a few).

So keep the money within our community by "SUPPORTING & BUYING LOCALLY!"

• Related Links:
  
  • Refried Cycles - Bike Shop
    
  • Push Bike - Bike Shop
    
  • Mission Bicycle - Bike Shop
    
  • Box Dog Bikes - Bike Shop
    
  • American Cyclery - Bike Shop
    
  • Mission Skateboards
  • Team Murder

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Years ago, as I was retiring to my bed for a good night sleep, I received a phone call from a fellow event planner. In the phone conversation, she informed me of her upcoming event, the San Francisco's Saint Patrick's Day Parade. And asked me, do you know someone who would be interested in clucking down Market Street in a chicken outfit as the Ragu Chicken?

Well after concluding that $250.00 for "8 blocks of clucking" wasn't a bad gig. I agreed to be the Ragu Chicken in San Francisco's St. Patrick's Day Parade.

And as I paraded down Market Street, I invisioned the woodpeckers in the movie"Stir Crazy." And being that no one could identify me, I felt removed from the social restrictions placed upon adults. I began to feel, walk, cluck, and act as I presumed a chicken would ..... I became reaquainted with the stress free life of a child.

Stress. We all deal with it. Whether it be our careers (or lack of careers), family drama , finances, or relationship problem, stress is there.

Stress is an emotional and physical response to pressures from the outside world. Today, stress seems more pervasive and persistent. Numerous studies show between 75 - 95% of all visits to primary care physicians are due to stress related issues. Most of us are coping with a great deal of stress and need to create ways to relieve stress.

Last week, while sitting at San Francisco's Church Street Cafe, I witnessed a man riding an ostrich. And as the ostrich ran down the street. I pondered over the question: Is that man insane? And then, I remember the joy I experienced as the Ragu Chicken. And concluded, "perhaps, he is just relieving his stress."

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1. Put no means of transport before thy bike: Come by bike because not only are bikes fun, but they help stave off some of our most wicked ills: Traffic, laziness, and pollution. Tour de Fat has a solution: ride this day, every day, and definitely when Tour de Fat heads your way.

2. Honor all other bikes: All bikes are good bikes, and all those who ride them are good people. This is the one Bike Festival that cherishes bicycle diversity on our Cruise-ade through town.

3. May every generation come forth: This is a family friendly event. Costumes, bikes and a parade? We were thinking like kids when we created Tour de Fat.

4. Thou shall come as a participant not a spectator: It's a costumed celebration of human-powered transportation. Muscles not motors, coasters, v-brakes and rotors. Come in your favorite alter ego, because when everybody's weird, no one is.

5. Thou shalt not bring booze; But enjoy the supplied malted adult refreshments responsibly: Please do not bring any outside alcohol on the ride or into the park. It could result in getting the event shut down...don't be that guy. And when you imbibe in our tasty brews, remember this is a Bicycle Festival with beer, not the other way around.

6. New Belgium shalt not profit: Our goal is to raise money for bicycle and environmental charities. New Belgium Brewing Company does NOT retain any of the events' proceeds. Please think of your $5 beer tokens as donations to a worthy cause. All sales are final; beer tokens do not expire and will be accepted next year (does not include TEXA.

7. Remember the purpose, and bring not your pooches: No canine friends allowed this year. We're a dog-loving Brewery, but sadly not all municipalities and parks are. Please leave your best friends at home for their safety and the safety of others.

8. Keep the day true with thy good juju: The ride is free, but we suggest a $5 donation to the good bike advocates who are putting it on for you (does not include TEXA. If you give more, you will not incur flats, mechanical troubles, or dry skin for a while…maybe. This is a celebration of the bike, not an anti-car rally. All tools have their place.

9. Thou shall rise early: Since Tour de Fat is a free show, we sometimes get more folks than we can accommodate. Once we're full, we will handle overflow like a restaurant or bar: one in, one out. We reserve the right to determine the appropriate crowd size in the name of safety and enjoyment for those inside.

10. Thou shalt not steal thy neighbors' bike: Don't even think of leaving with a bike that doesn't belong to you. Modern-day horse thieves will be dealt with by angry mob, pitchforks, and torches.

• Fat Tire Beer Bust Fundraising Party - 2005
• Fat Tire Beer Bust Charity Fundraising Party - 2006
• Fat Tire Beer Bust Charity Fundraising Party - 2007
• Fat Tire Beer Bust Charity Fundraising Party - 2008
• Fat Tire Beer Bust - 2009
• Tour De Fat - San Francisco - 2007
• Tour De Fat - 2008
• Tour De Fat - San Francisco - 2009
  

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• Richie Lillard:
• http://www.facebook.com/RichieLillard
• The Dark Room Theater:
• http://www.darkroomsf.com/
• Writing Man Productions:
• http://www.writingmanproductions.com/

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Show your support by:

1 Printing the invitation to the Oprah Winfrey Network & mailing the invitation to Harpo Studios.

2. Taking a picture of yourself & the letter to Oprah Winfrey /or /yourself & the "O Magazine.".

3. Post your pic on my Facebook Wall

4. I'll post your support on my Oprah Winfrey Flickr Photo Page.

Thanks for your support!

• The Letter to Oprah Winfrey
• Tony's Oprah Winfrey Story
  
• The Video to the Oprah Winfrey Network
• San Francisco Speaks to Oprah Winfrey
• The Oprah Winfrey Fan Photos - Flickr.
  
• A Thank You to Oprah Winfrey
• Oprah Winfrey Network
  

Imported from external blog

• Yama is social behavior, how you treat others. These are moral principles. Sometimes they are refered to as the "thou shalt nots."
  
• Niyama is inner discipline & responsibility, how we treat ourselves. These are sometimes refered to as the "do's, or the thou shalts."
  
• Asana prepares the body for meditation.
  
• Pranayama purifies and removes distractions from the mind making it easier to concentrate and meditate.
• Pratyahara is removal of the senses. Concentration, in the yoga studio or the streets, is a battle with distracting senses. When you master pratyahara, you are able to focus because you no longer feel the itch on the tip of your nose or hear the bee buzzing by your ear or smell the coffee brewing in the kitchen.
• Dharana
• Dharana involves teaching the mind to focus on one point or image (such as a candle flame, dripping water, or a mantra.
  
• Dhyana is uninterrupted meditation without an object. The calm achieved in meditation spills over into all aspects of your life — during a hectic day at the office, shopping for a party, coordinating your vacation in Madrid, Spain.
  
• Samadhi is the ultimate goal of Pantajali's Eightfold Path is samadhi (absolute bliss, utopia , nirvana, heaven, etc.). Those who have achieved samadhi are enlightened.

• Free Yoga - Sports Basement
• Free Yoga - Pier 39
• Free Yoga - City Hall
• Donation Yoga Classes
• Yoga Classes with Tony Eason

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A Public Service Announcement -



"9,000 members of Unite Here Local 2 have been working without a contract since August 2009. We are the room cleaners, cooks, dishwashers, bussers, bell persons, servers, bartenders, and other hotel workers, who have always been happy to serve you during your stays in San Francisco.

We have called for an ongoing customer boycott of the W Hotel. The Starwood Corporation, the company that manages this hotel, made $188 million last year (from continuing operations). By the end of 2009, Starwood opened 60 new hotels and renovated nearly half of their U.S. portfolio. The CEO of Starwood bragged (in an email to works in February) of 'significantly improved top line results.' Hospitality industry experts (PKF Consulting) predict revenues will be up an average of 4% for the remainder of 2010. They predict hotel revenues to go up 12% in 2011 and 14% in 2012.

And yet, Starwood is trying to use the economy as an excuse to force us to accept serious concessions in our next contract. Starwood has made proposals that would force workers to increase their monthly contributions to health care costs by hundreds of dollars a month, over the term of the contract. We simply cannot afford that. If Starwood can position itself to benefit from the economic future, so can the 140 workers at the W Hotel."

For more information, please visit: http://www.unitehere2.org/

• Convention bureau expels union.
  SF Business Times (6/16/10)
• National actions against billionaire Pritzkers.
  Beyond Chron (6/10/10)
• Hyatt Regency San Francisco on strike.
• Media shut out of Hyatt Hotel's annual meeting.
  Chicago Tribune (6/7/10)
• Chicago Hyatt workers stage impromptu strike.
  Chicago Sun-Times (5/27/10)
• Don't Get Caught in a Bad Hotel! Queer community stages actions at boycotted hotels.
  YouTube (5/11/10)
• SF Hotel workers try new tactics and noisy protests.
  KTVU (5/11/10)
• 850 SF Hilton workers walk off the job.
  KTVU (4/7/10)
• Angry workers picket Westin St. Francis
  KTVU (3/31/10)
• San Francisco hotels, union workers at odds.
  SF Chronicle (3/31/10)
• Hotel dispute unlikely to be resolved soon.
  SF Examiner (3/19/10)
• Boycott W Hotel.
  
  

Imported from external blog

• Create 10qts of "Fresh Organic Almond Milk."
• Strip & massage 30 heads of kale (to be placed in the dehydrator for the making of "Kale Chips")
• Make 40 smoothies -"Liquid Sunshine," "Cinn-O-Baby," & our latest "A Day at the Beach" (young coconut, pineapple & mint...no mylk or nuts in this one, just pure coconut).
• Wrap 70 "Salad in a Blanket" (collard wraps with 11 veggies inside-so FRESH)
• Dehydrate several "Peppered Walnut Hemp Zucchini Krackers."
• Whip up some "Mac Cashew Cheez."
• Soak 15lbs of assorted organic nuts.

Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired?

Are you fed up trying all the latest fad diets?

Does your outside you reflect the inside you?

Do you wish you had more energy?

Would you like to sleep better?

Are your moods scattered?

Do you feel like there just should be more to life?

Does your life lack vitality, passion and/or purpose?

"If you answered yes to one or more of the above I can relate to what you are feeling. I have been there too."

"You see I felt ALL of these things and more. Ten years ago I was practicing corporate law, earning 6 figures. I was, in the eyes of society, “successful”. Yet, in my personal life I was a disaster. Looking at myself in the mirror I constantly marveled that the outside did not match the inside.

I was 200lbs (at 5’4”, often sick and hospitalized 2-3 times a year. I never felt well just "not as sick as usual". This became my norm. I turned to alcohol and recreational drugs to numb the sensation of emptiness that I felt on such a deep level yet had no name for.

And then a sequence of events happened and I found myself on the other side of law (no, not in jail but no longer a practicing lawyer).

After nearly dying in a house fire two days before September 11, I decided to leave the practice of law to pursue a life with more meaning. I did not know what that life looked like at the time but I did know that it did not look like the one I was living. And then I had the faith that anything had to be better than that and took the leap.

I went from six figures one year to $19,000 the next. Lawyer to nanny. From inside an office to outside in the park. From sick and tired to inspired and vibrant. From financially rich to financially challenged. From sad to gloriously happy. AND I LOST OVER 60LBS and 60” on my body!

I finally had time to breathe. I was inspired by the beauty with which I was surrounded. I stopped trying to work from the outside in and decided to try something new (that stuff was NOT working for me!). I trained to be a Kundalini yoga teacher, the following year I did my massage certification. I spent time reading and talking with friends. I gave up the tv and took up life.

A friend inspired me to start cooking differently. Growing up in England I was a meat kinda girl (I did not care for the vegetables at all other than potatoes and mushrooms). I did not know how to cook vegan even though I no longer wanted to eat meat. I now want to be that spark for others.

Armed with a couple of recipes I soon developed my own and started devouring cookbooks. I lost weight, my mind cleared, my skin was more radiant, my energy increased, I no longer went to the doctor, I felt competent in my life choices…over time when looked in the mirror the outside started to look like the inside.

And now 9 years later I am writing this to you on the eve of the launch of our dream: to bring healthy, delicious, vibrant food to people. We are proud to soon be serving at the Haight Farmers Market Livermore Farmers Markets.

Please call by and see our tasty healthy vegan offerings, including Sumptious Smoothies, Inspired Wraps and Rolls, Decadent Deserts and Pantry Favorites. We would love to see you.

Make it a RAWsome day" - Shivie Cook and Cemaaj Butler (The Cook & The Butler!)

• Castro Farmers' Market
• Divisadero Farmers' Market
• Fillmore Farmers' Market
• Inner Sunset Farmers' Market
• Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Farmers' Market
• UCSF Mission Bay Farmers' Market
• UCSF Parnassus Farmers' Market
• USF Farmers' Market
• Pacific Coast Farmers' Market Association
• Castro's Farmer's Market - "the Examiner"
  

Imported from external blog

• Iyengar yoga Teacher cycles 575 miles - AIDSLifecycle 2010
• Iyengar yoga Teacher cycles 575 miles - AIDSLifecycle 2009
• Ivengar Yoga Teacher cycles 575 miles - AIDSLifecycle 2008
• Ivengar Yoga Teacher cycles 575 miles - AIDSLifecycle 2007
• Ivengar Yoga Teacher cycles 575 miles - AIDSLifecycle 2006
• Ivengar Yoga Teacher cycles 575 miles - AIDSLifecycle 2005

Imported from external blog