Three things that came together recently: 1- The Kid had a sleepover the other night. Big fun! They played with LEGO, jumped on the trampoline, drank hot chocolate, read about sharks, played in the yard, and might have even slept in there somewhere. At breakfast, I was making pancakes, and they had made up and … Read more
Variables confound. As a kid, I was interested in a lot of things. In the six years of junior high and high school, I did band, orchestra, jazz band, marching band, flute choir, show choir, flute lessons, art lessons, basketball, softball, school plays, school musicals, German club, student council, creative writing. Not all of them … Read more
From my Facebook archives. I wrote a bunch to go with it, then decided it speaks for itself. Some students from my school were crossing a 6-lane street. They were half way across, and traffic stopped in order for them to complete their crossing. There were cars in only two of the three lanes. Someone … Read more
I recently discovered a new podcast: The Happiness Lab. It’s fairly new—there are only eight episodes so far—and I learned about it through a plug on Revisionist History. This coincided perfectly with a personal goal of adjusting my mindset in certain areas so I can be happier. Episode 3: A Silver Lining. They talked about … Read more
There is no shortage of parenting advice out there. Its quality varies, and its application varies. I’ve also figured out that many of the pieces that are excellent are applicable to all humans, not just little ones. Avoid saying “be careful.” Why? It’s useless. Give specifics. What do you actually want them to watch out … Read more
This popped up recently in my Facebook memories. I was going to rewrite it, but it’s succinct and to the point as-is. (The year this was written, Halloween was on the upcoming Friday.) It’s red ribbon week (AIDS? heart disease? hemophilia? no—substance abuse!). As part of celebrating (?) at school, some information is included in … Read more
So many people discrediting each other based on their age. “You are [young/old] so you don’t know anything” attitude. Take age out of it. Is the person informed? Experienced in this? Depending on who/what the conversation is about, are they articulate? Do they look at things from multiple vantage points? People at any age can … Read more
When a sentence has two parts—the first part positive and the second part negative—the conjunction makes a big difference in how the complete sentence is received. “You played that song really well, but this note should be two beats.” “You played that song really well, and this note should be two beats.” “You played that … Read more
The photo was taken in Tempe, Arizona. The building on the left is an old flour mill, built in 1918 and used until 1998. The building on the right is a glass office building. I don’t know when it was built (how do you find that information?), but it’s obviously much newer than 1918. The … Read more
A while back, I was listening to Akimbo by Seth Godin and something really stuck with me. He’s said this in previous podcasts, but, like most things, it took repetition before it hit. It’s about sunk costs—things that you’ve invested time and money into, but that the time and money shouldn’t be part of a … Read more