I was born in 1967.  Television was always a part of my life, along with cars and many other modern conveniences.

I have often wondered though, if human life was obliterated today and started over from scratch, what would it be like? How would the new world look? (We are removing religion from this conversation, this is all theoretical and for conversational purposes only.  Also, as part of the obliteration, all material things that are in the world now disappeared.)

1. Would automobiles be invented one day?  Or, would some other form of transportation have been invented that was even more efficient than cars?
2. Would electronic communications exist as they do today?  Cable TV?
3. Would sugar and processed foods dominate diets yet again?
4. Would gold still be the ‘standard’, or would some other commodity be of higher value?
5. Would body piercings and tattoos be popular?
6. Would clothes evolve again from conservative to more ‘revealing’?  Or, would modesty be tossed out the window and clothes wouldn’t even be necessary?  (Except in colder climates, of course.)
7. Would people get married?  What would the family unit look like?
8. What sports would be played, if any?  Or, would nobody even care about competition?
9. Would prejudice exist, or would everyone be treated equally from the very beginning?
10. Would there be more or less crime than there is today?

Do you think that even better things would exist if our thinking wasn’t somewhat confined by the way our world operates today?  Have you often wondered what human kind would look like if we started all over again?  Or, do I just have too much time on my hands?

Recently, I was at CVS picking up some ibuprofen when I saw two kids who appeared to be about eight running around.

While I was standing in line, one of the boys pulled out his iPhone and started playing a game.  I looked at what he was buying and his little basket contained a can of Monster energy drink, a big bag of Swedish Fish, and a Hershey bar.

I was wondering what this child’s behavior would be like after he ingested all the items he bought.  Images of Beavis (from Beavis and Butthead) popped into my head when I pictured the scene.  My next thought was, “how would the parents react?   Would they scream at him”?

This little observation made me think about life in general.  How often do people blame others for their circumstances when they themselves are at least partially to blame?   If this little kid came home, slammed his Monster energy drink and had some Swedish Fish as a chaser, do you think the parents screamed at the kid when he was bouncing off the walls? Or, do you think they were patient and said “well, we did give him free reign to go to the store and buy whatever he wanted while we sat and watched college football all afternoon.  Let’s give him a break and have a talk with him when he settles down”?  I am guessing the former is the more likely scenario.

Maybe You Will Think Of the Little Kid Drinking Monster Next Time You Are In A Bad Situation

So, next time you find yourself in less-than-ideal circumstances, even if it is as simple as dealing with a poorly behaved child, pause and think honestly about how you got to that point.  Obviously, some situations are just plain bad luck.  However, often times, both good and bad circumstances are caused by a long history of certain actions.  If you spoiled your child for years, don’t expect them to suddenly accept hearing the word ‘no’ with grace, even if you are out in public.   If you find that other people are always getting promoted when you feel you ‘deserve it more’, then step back and think about why you aren’t getting promoted instead of just saying your boss hates you.   If you are someone that rarely helps someone out, don’t be surprised when people suddenly aren’t available to help you one day.  Life is full of connections.  Call it karma, call it social responsibility, call it whatever you want.  Most of our actions are all tied together, and quite often, events are not just random.

The fact that my kids all have messy rooms though is the exception to the cause-and-effect rule.  Must be a genetic flaw or something, because I keep the house spotless…

Do you ever watch a commercial and wonder “oh my gosh, how can a company get away with marketing a product like that”?  Well, I certainly have, and I have also come across other things that people do that make me wonder how they sleep at night.  Here are two examples of ‘products’ that I think are marketed in a way that makes me want to scream:

Christian Dating Service (I don’t want to name the particular company)

I have no problem with a service that wants to intoduce Christian people to each other in hopes they will find a “soul mate”.  What I do have a problem with is a commercial where the narrator quotes God.  (From the commerical:  “Sometimes we wait for God to make the next move,  when God is saying “it is your time to act, the next move is yours”.)   I had no idea that this Christian dating service knew what God wants us all to do!  Not only that, but the narrator tells us that if we go to their website, we will find God’s match for us!   I tell you what, if I had the inside line to what God wanted, then I would be doing other things with that knowledge than trying to get people to pay me money to arrange a date for them. Not only that, but God is pretty darn powerful.  If God wanted me to meet a certain someone, wouldn’t he just make it happen instead of hoping I will sign up with a Christian dating service?   I just really hope that there aren’t many desperate people out there that are signing up immediately with the website because they want to do God’s will.

Health eBooks

I think eBooks definitely have their place in the market.  However, I do not like when I am looking for information on a particular illness, and it turns out I can only have that info I want if I buy a particular eBook.  I think websites that bait people with some health information, but in the end of the article state “if you want to learn how to cure *insert here*, then buy this eBook” should think twice about how they are offering their product.  I just could not imagine profiting off of someone else’s illness.  For instance, I wrote a post about Clostridium Difficile (cdiff) that I could probably restructure and turn into an eBook.  I could never imagine doing that though.  I want as many people to read that post as possible in hopes it helps them or their loved one.  If someone spent a lot of time compiling information and such, then they could always put a ‘donate’ button up on their website and readers could make a donation if they felt inspired.  I know the authors of these eBooks are not doing anything illegal.  However, I personally could not trade money for information when it comes to health-related topics.

I could go on and on discussing all the people out there that try to scam the elderly and profit from those less fortunate, but I don’t have specific examples.   However, the two items mentioned above have really been getting on my nerves, and I have been wondering if these people even think twice about how they promote their products.  In the case of the Christian dating service, they just blatantly imply that they know what God wants, and their website will let you know what that is.  It is just cruel because there are a lot of lonely people out there that really do have a lot of faith.  I am sure there are many people that signed up with the hope and belief that God was doing the matchmaking for them and they would be all set once they signed up.

Regarding the eBooks, I just feel bad for anyone that is afflicted with a difficult illness and are just trying to get some information.  It is bad enough when people are sick, but then when they are led down a road that sounds hopeful and then are suddenly told ‘give us some money and we will tell you more’, it just seems unethical to me.

Do you wonder how some people sleep at night?

Wednesday was a historic day for me. For the first time EVER, I went out of town…alone.

Well, let me clarify. I did go out of town for work twice during my career, but I always traveled with others. This time, I spent the night in a hotel room alone, and did not have to meet up with a soul.

Of course, this trip was for a purpose. My daughter was at a basketball camp four hours from home, and I didn’t want to get up and drive at 6:00 am. So, my solution was to book a room and spend the night.

It actually was hard for me to leave the house, but just because I am pathetic. However, I got over it once I turned up the radio and started thinking about how I could eat dinner wherever I wanted!

I love driving, and the four hours were incredibly pleasant. Listening to any song I liked, or listening to nothing at all, was great. Driving alone gave me a chance to really look at the scenery and just enjoy different things that I may not have noticed otherwise. One day I think I would love to just hop in the car and drive, without any destination in mind.

Once I checked into the hotel (which was free because of points earned from previous stays), I got changed and decided to go walk through the huge cemetery across the street. Yes, that may seem strange, but I think it is genetic. My parents visited a lot of cemeteries, and I have always found them fascinating. (My favorite cemetery is in the middle of Boston.)

Anyway, as I walked around, people whipped past me on their bikes. I thought it was very strange that people were biking in a cemetery, and possibly even disrespectful. I followed where they were going and found that at the back of the cemetery, there was a path that connected to a beautiful nature trail next to a river. I walked/ran a couple miles and was so happy that I stumbled across something so pleasant and unexpected.

The rest of the evening very relaxing for me, at least until the baby in the next room started screaming. I realized then that there were probably many people that were forced to turn up their television sets when they were stuck in a room next to us when our kids were babies…

Overall I must say I learned a lot during this little adventure, such as:

*It is good to get out once in awhile on your own terms. I felt so totally relaxed just being away without an agenda or anything to worry about.

*You never know what a locale has to offer. I had no idea there was even a river near where I was staying, let alone an entire nature trail.

*Always pack food when traveling, even when it is just for yourself. When the family travels, I always make sure a cooler is packed. For myself, I waited until the very last minute to leave and left somewhat unprepared. My evening snack ended up being Yoo Hoo and peanuts.

*I don’t like Yoo Hoo.

I really enjoyed my night of relaxation, and I loved the free hot breakfast. I think I could even handle a break like this for several days. However, after long I think I would get pretty lonely.

Have you done much leisure travel alone? (Work does not count.) What did you think? Do you prefer traveling alone or with someone?

As a natural chatterbox, I have talked to many people over the years.  In these conversations I have noticed that some people have a lot of  bad days.  Perhaps they don’t like their job, their marriage, where they live, etc.   Then there are those that I have talked to that have a lot of good days.  Nothing seems to get these happy people down for long.  Maybe they have a fantastic family life, great job, financial security, or were just  blessed with a sunny disposition, who knows?  One thing that people on both ends of the spectrum have in common though is they both (usually) have dreams.  Whether people are happy or bitter, they still usually have a goal for the future they would like to attain.  Maybe the angry person envisions themselves just walking away from everything and moving to South America.  Maybe the happy person wants to spend 6 months a year traveling the world.

Why do some people realize their dreams and others do not?

Through my writing, I have met a lot of people.  One person that I have talked to a lot and has become a great friend is Crystal at Budgeting in the Fun Stuff.  We both started blogging at about the same time, so we experienced similar frustrations and also small victories together.  However, as time went on, Crystal found she REALLY loved everything about blogging.  She realized pretty early on that she wanted to quit her 9-5 office job, and make blogging her career.

I then sat back and watched Crystal’s plan unfold.  She started with just one website, and now has four (I think).  Crystal found ways to make money in blogging that never even crossed my mind.  She created a Blog Carnival and sold it for a nice profit, manages advertising for other blogs, is a staff writer for other websites- her empire just keeps growing and growing.

Even though Crystal found success early on, she was smart.  She and her husband laid out a plan of what financial goals needed to be reached before she would quit.  It couldn’t  just be “make some money for a month or two, count on making at least that amount forever, and then march in your boss’s office with a smile on your face and quit”.    Instead, they wanted to accumulate a certain amount of money as a safety net, and also make sure the empire could generate at least a specific income for a certain period of time..

Hard Work Pays Off!

On Wednesday, Crystal did walk into her boss’s office and gave her 2 week notice.  How absolutely liberating that must have felt.  I will not go into to detail about what financial goals were met, as you can read it at Budgeting in the Fun Stuff.  However, I have to say I am incredibly happy for her.

What has been so fascinating to me is watching someone take a small idea, formulate a plan, and make a dream come true.  How often do you get to see that happen?  So often, people are unhappy with their lives, but are afraid to make a change.  Not Crystal.  She started a hobby, got hooked, and created a whole new career for herself, all within 18 months!  It wasn’t easy either.  She worked tirelessly over that period of time, I am not sure she ever slept.

You Can Do It Too

I am not saying that everyone can go quit their job and make a new career for themselves online.  What I am saying is that you can make a change for the better.  If you really do hate your job, sit down and think about what you need to do.  Do you need to update your resume or just change your perspective on your current job?   No matter what your dreams are, don’t just let them be dreams. Start making them be a reality.  Don’t think you can’t focus on a goal just because it can’t happen tomorrow.  Sit down, talk with your significant other, and make some plans.  Each small step you accomplish toward that goal brings you that much closer to your ultimate dream.  You never know what you may learn along the way.  Maybe your dream will change and evolve, who knows?

In the end, your future belongs to you.  You can decide to keep plugging along each day, just getting by.  Or, you can create your own destiny.  Picture yourself ten years from now, do you want to see yourself exactly as you are today with maybe some more gray hair? Or, would you like to see a happier or maybe more fulfilled version of yourself?

Finally, I just want to congratulate Crystal, who has accomplished a lot in such a short period of time.  She has been an inspiration to many and has shown that just about anything is possible!

I was at Jet’s Pizza, picking up dinner, when I sat on an uncomfortable bench with a little boy and his mom.  The child was four years old, and I am guessing his mom was around 22.  This little guy was just sitting on this bench looking out the window, while his mom was in her own little world, writing in a notebook.  The mom’s purse was wide open on the bench next to the boy and he did what most kids would have done, he reached into the purse to grab something.  (I was tempted to dig around in the purse myself I was so bored.) The mom then got furious and was yelling at him about how he doesn’t respect her purse, and she started slapping at his little wrist repeatedly.  It totally broke my heart.

Had you seen this, what would you have done?

My Response To An Uncomfortable Situation

Thoughts were racing through my head.  I wanted to just yell at her about how she shouldn’t expect a four year old to be able to sit perfectly still for 15 minutes with absolutely nothing to do.  I also wanted to suggest that maybe she should be interacting with her son a little bit instead of slapping him and expecting him to be amused by just staring at a parking lot. But, then I worried that if I yelled at her, she might take it out on her son when she got home, and that is the last thing I would have wanted.

I sat there just stewing  and trying to figure out what I should say.  Suddenly, the mom’s notebook fell to the floor. Without being asked, this little boy climbed down off the bench, picked up the notebook, and handed it to his mom.  It was then that I saw my opportunity.  I told him what a nice little boy he is to help his mom without her even asking for help,  and I told him that he seemed really smart.  The mom then said to me “If you like him so much, you can have him”.  I wanted to cry, I felt so bad for this child.  I then told the mom that I would love to have such a nice little boy and would consider myself very lucky.  She told me that he isn’t always so nice and I said “what child is perfect all the time?”.

The three of us started chatting  more and I noticed a button that was pinned to the little boy’s shirt.  It said something like “I Am Smart”, “I Am Important”…  I told the boy that the button seemed to describe him perfectly.  Then the mom started telling me about how they had just been at special program where an entertainer who specializes in building self-esteem in children performed.  She seemed to love this event, and showed me the leaflet in case I was interested in attending myself.

I found this mom to be quite interesting.  One minute she was attending a self-esteem program that she felt would be beneficial to her child and to herself.  The next minute, she was slapping that same little boy for behaving like any typical 4 year old would.  Maybe this mom is a work in progress and realizes she needs help.  Or, maybe she just went to this event because a friend talked her in to it and she really didn’t buy in to any of the self-esteem stuff.  I chose to believe the former, although I guess I will never know the answer.

When my pizza was ready, I told the mom that she really had a wonderful little boy and to have a nice evening.  Thinking about it on the way home, I was really glad I did not yell at this mom.  Had I said what was really on my mind, she might have missed what I was really trying to say out of defensiveness and anger.  Hopefully, she will look at our interaction as a positive experience and maybe she will appreciate her child a little more.  Or, maybe not.  The whole event reinforced my belief that people are more likely to respond to positive reinforcement than to negative, and I am hoping she actually heard my message. However, I don’t think she would have ‘heard’ a thing I was saying if I had been critical of her parenting skills.

Have you ever witnessed a similar situation?  If so, what did you do?

Last night, I was at my youngest son’s choir performance at school when I suddenly had a memory flash from my grade school days. I decided at that moment I had to write a post about those memories.  Maybe writing these recollections down will purge them from my brain, but I doubt it…

So here are 10 bad memories from my grade school years:

1. Falling down the fire escape: I think I was 10 years old, and the fire alarm went off.  Our classroom had a fire escape just outside one of the doors, so we got to use the cool fire escape for drills.  Well, I was trotting down the stairs and slipped.  Next thing I know, I am bouncing down the fire escape stairs.  It was quite embarrassing, but also pretty darn painful.
2. The Felt Board: My friend and I were working on fractions in third grade using a felt board where we could attach different felt shapes and numbers to.  I don’t know what we did wrong, but the teacher ran over to us and said “It will be a cold day in hell before you two can use the felt board again”.    I still love that quote.  Plus, she was right- I still haven’t used a felt board, and it has been 35 years since the incident.  I wonder, if hell does suddenly become chilly, will a felt board suddenly show up with geometric shapes for me to apply?
3. The Bathroom: I was in kindergarten, and there was a fire drill.  (Our school obviously loved fire drills.)  There was a little bathroom inside the classroom, and I was in it when the alarm went off.  I panicked and couldn’t open the big door to get out of the bathroom.  I finally did get out, but the class was already gone and I had to catch up to all the kids.  I was so scared.
4. The Suspension: I was in 6th grade, and the lunch lady monitoring our class barely spoke English.  I was sitting at my desk taking apart my new mechanical pencil, and ended up with lead all my fingers.  I asked if I could run to the bathroom to wash my hands, and I thought she said yes.  I went to the girl’s bathroom, and a friend of mine and two boys also showed up in the bathroom.  I was honestly just washing my hands, but that same lunch lady came in and found the four of us in the bathroom.  We all got sent to the principal’s office and got suspended.  The lunch lady said she never gave me permission to leave the classroom.  If that were the case, why did she let me leave?  She saw me go and didn’t say a word.  I still think she is a liar.  At least the principal let me finish my pudding before sending me home.
5. Head Down, Face Covered: The common punishment for bad behavior was to make the students put their heads on their desk/table, face down.  I used to hate that punishment because quite often, one of the teachers would patrol around the classroom to make sure you hadn’t positioned yourself so that your face was down, but with just your forehead on the desk.  (Made breathing much easier when your face wasn’t flush against the desk.)  If this teacher saw you just had your forehead on the desk, he would kick your chair in, which would result in smashing your nose against the table, and it would scare you half to death.  One day we had this punishment repeatedly.  I peeked my head up and saw the teacher just sitting there reading “The Thorn Birds”.  I really think she issued this punishment just so she could read.
6. Choir: I hated choir.  I have never been a good singer, and I wasn’t a fan of changing pitch.  As stupid as this sounds, I thought taking a high or low note meant you were being fake, like you weren’t using your own voice.  So, I just sang flatly with my normal voice.  One day, I was riding in the car with some friends, and everyone was singing, including me.  The mom driving the car turned around and said to me “you really have a terrible voice”.  That was the last time I ever sang in public again.  Well, I have sung in front of my kids, but not much since they have gotten older.
7. Milk With Paper Straws: In kindergarten, we got a snack break every day.  Part of that snack was we would each get a little carton of milk.  This milk was always slightly warm, and you had to drink it with this little paper straw that got all soggy instantly.  I can still almost taste that milk in my mind, and the thought makes my stomach churn.
8. Glasses: I ended up getting eyeglasses right before picture day in kindergarten.  I was the only kid with glasses, and glasses were not cool at all back in 1972.  What was awful besides the constant teasing is that I broke my glasses quite frequently.  (They were even chopped up by a lawn mower once.)  Since there was no such thing as ‘one hour glasses’, you had to wait at least a week for new glasses to be made  at whatever magical place manufactured them.  During those weeks that I didn’t have good eyesight, I would have to sit at a desk right next to the board.  I much preferred sitting in the back of the class, where I could get away with talking a little bit easier.
9. Tornado Drills: I loved tornado watches as  a kid.  Whenever there was a tornado watch, the kids would all get sent home, which is kind of insane now that I think about it.   The weather would be so nice and warm, I have great memories of walking home feeling so free during tornado watches.  Tornado Warnings were a bummer though, as were tornado drills.  Our school was a giant old brick building.  When there was a tornado warning, you would get sent down to the basement, sit on the floor, and contort yourself into a position that would protect your head.  It was so dirty in that basement, plus the boiler was right there.  I never felt safe near that boiler, and I always hoped a tornado wouldn’t come through and make that boiler explode.
10. Anything To Do With Chalkboards: I hate chalk, and I hate chalkboards.  Obviously, everyone hates the nails on the chalkboard thing.  However, I don’t like the smell of chalk at all.  Smacking those erasers to get the chalk out was an awful task.  Life got much better when the school bought a little machine you could put the eraser on and it would suck the chalk out of it.  What I disliked even more was washing the chalkboard with a bucket of water and a sponge.  I was always too short to reach the top, and I despised the smell of water and chalk together.  I still get chills thinking about that.

I could go on and on about elementary school memories.  In a later post, I will share my good memories of elementary school. (Unless you tell me in the comments that you don’t care and you don’t want to hear about my memories anymore.)

What about you, do you have any interesting memories from grade school?

Here are a few topics I have been thinking about lately, none of which could fill an entire post individually: 

Has Anyone Seen My Coupons??

This past Saturday, I went grocery shopping with both my list and my little coupon organizer.  I bought a ton of groceries, loaded up the car, and headed home.  Just after I left the parking lot, I realized I didn’t have my coupons with me.  I then remembered I had left them in the front basket of the grocery cart.  I turned around and drove back into the parking lot, hoping my coupons were waiting for me in the cart corral.  Unfortunately, my coupons were gone by the time I returned.  I was so bummed because I had just organized a bunch of coupons too.  Keep in mind, this was a smaller, purse-sized coupon-keeper, not a big 3 ring binder or anything like that.  But still, I miss my coupons!  On the plus size, I can now justify spending money on a new organizer since my old one was getting kind of ratty.  So, if you have my coupons and organizer, please just return the coupons!  (I promise I won’t call the police… )

Rain, Rain, Go Away…

Normally I love rain.  However, April has been incredibly rainy up here in Michigan, and my son’s  baseball games keep getting canceled.   I would really like to watch them both play, so I really hope that May just brings flowers and a slight amount of rain.

Lawns Seemed To Have Taken A Beating This Winter

This week we had a warm day, and the family was able to go out for a walk.  We walked all over our neighborhood, and I was shocked at how bad many of the lawns look.  I am not even referring to all the crabgrass (then I would be talking about my own lawn), but huge brown patches are all over the place.  Many of these lawns look like maybe they had been cut too short in the fall, I don’t know.  Anyway, I will not be alone when trying to make lawn reparations this year.

My Irrational Hatred of the Forsythia Bush

The Forsythia- isn't it gorgeous?

During the spring, I see tons of bright yellow Forsythia bushes all over the place.  About 90 percent of the time, these bushes look like they have never been trimmed and they just run wild.  Untamed Forsythia bushes just look scraggly to me, and usually the bottom half is all brown and dead looking.  I do not understand why they are so popular.  I also don’t understand why I notice every single Forsythia that has been planted in my area.  I then have to tell whoever I am with how much I hate them.  I will say that the 10 percent of these bushes that are nicely kept are quite pretty.

(I apologize in advance to anyone I may have offended that has adorned their yard with numerous Forsythia Bushes.  My dislike for them goes back to childhood, and the origins are unknown.)

After reading through the thoughts I have captured, it appears that I have Spring on my mind.  I am just so excited for the ground to warm up so I can get my vegetable garden in order.  On an exciting note, my raspberry bushes are getting leaves,  and the strawberry plants are growing.  Tomatoes, cucumbers and more are just around the corner!

How is your lawn holding up this spring? 

Any thoughts you would like to share?

As I write, I quite often have the TV on in the background.  Sometimes I pay attention, sometimes I don’t.  However, there are a couple commercials that almost always catch my eye.  I am going to share a few examples:

1. Lifetime’s new show “Coming Home”. I believe the show recently premiered, although I have not watched it yet.  The  show features homecomings of different service men as they reunite with their families after deployment.  The commercial I have seen frequently shows snippets of different reunions, one appears to be of a man graduating college and his dad shows up at the last second in his uniform, and they both end up crying.  Then I end up crying.  This commercial tears me up every single time I see it.  Dads and daughters are featured, husbands and wives.  I think I would end up being a mess after watching an entire episode if I can’t even handle the commercial.
2. Tide Commercial #1. This commercial elicits a totally different response than the “Coming Home” commercial.  In this ad, mom is going out to the bar, wearing her daughter’s ugly green shirt (that people love for some reason).  Of course, something spills on the shirt, but oh well.  One morning, the daughter is looking for her favorite shirt, and mom lies saying ‘Oh I haven’t seen it’.  Daughter leaves for school, and mom runs to the dirty clothes and pulls out the stained, even uglier green shirt.  Lying mom treats ugly shirt with Tide and it comes out looking perfect, albeit ugly.  Daughter is shown wearing the shirt later, chipper as a lark, and mom lies about where she found it.  It is a beautiful tale of a bar hopping mom that lies to her daughter, and is smug about it.
3. Tide Commercial #2. Dad is outside doing yard work, and he is all dirty.  Dad comes across a teeny tiny white skirt (can’t remember if it is in the laundry room, or hanging outside to dry) and wipes his very dirty hands all over the little white skirt.  (He obviously has contempt for this skirt, and with good reason.)   Next scene, teen daughter sees her skirt is all dirty and is she is mad.  Mom is equally disappointed, but then treats tiny skirt with Tide, and it comes out looking clean as the day it came out of the factory.  Daughter puts on skirt, mom is thrilled that her daughter is leaving the house in her little mini-skirt, and dad is exasperated.  The moral of this story:   Moms don’t care what their daughters wear, as long as their daughter is happy.  Also, dad’s opinion doesn’t matter and mom should undermine him if she feels like it.

Do you have any commercials that impact you a certain way?

This is a guest post from the author of one of my favorite blogs, 101 Centavos.  101 Centavos is a blog about gardening, investing, business and career, yard sales, and (mostly Italian) cooking, all in very unequal portions.  Enjoy!

I have all these little ideas for tips and topics jotted down, mostly in a blogging notebook, but also on assorted scraps of paper here and there.  Not enough to do an entire post, but worthwhile to include in their own roundup, as it were.

Blogger’s Block

The great science fiction writer Isaac Asimov is well known mostly for his science fiction, notably for his I, Robot and Foundation trilogies.  What most people don’t know is that he is author or co-author of other such diverse titles like Asimov’s Guide to Shakespeare, Understanding Physics, Limericks: Too Gross, and Asimov’s Chronology of the World: The History of the World From the Big Bang to Modern Times.  Altogether, more than a hundred published books to his credit.  Clearly, this guy could write.

One of his observations on writing that he said that has stuck with me is this: whenever he got stuck on any one topic, he would simply take out the sheet of paper from the typewriter (younger readers right now are saying, what is this strange word, typewriter?), place it in its paper tray appropriately labeled by subject (for example, science fiction), pull out a half-finished sheet from another subject tray (mathematics), and happily keep on writing.

I’ve read on several blogs that are authorities on blogging that the subject matter of a focused blog shouldn’t stray too far from its subject matter.  Stick to one thing, or you’ll lose your audience.  Maybe.  But it sure helps to have several topics of interest to write on.   (From Kris:  My blog completely breaks this rule!!)

In the Garden

Ever forget to turn the water hose off in the flower beds, to end up with your own backyard wetland habitat and a ginourmous water bill?  Try tying a rubber band around your wrist.   To make double sure you’ll remember, give it a couple extra turns around your wrist. When your hand turns blue from lack of circulation, it’s time to turn the water off.

Forget about straw bale houses. If you’re cursed with poor quality rocky or sandy soil, and can’t be bothered with building a raised bed, try your hand at straw bale garden beds.  First, see if you can score some free square bales, or buy some if you must, they should be about 7 to 10 bucks a bale.  Take a serrated knife and cut out a couple of pot-shaped holes.  Fill them with a mix of compost and soil.  Water the bales for a couple of weeks before planting to encourage in-situ composting of the straw. Then, plant some vining spreading vegetable plant like cucumber, melon or indeterminate tomatoes. The straw will hold moisture, and lessen the need for watering.

In the Kitchen

If you don’t know how to properly chop, slice and dice, it’s almost worth taking a cooking class at the local community college to learn about good knives and knife skills.  Your newly found Benihana blade-wielding skills will impress dates and spouses, and also make your experience in the kitchen more enjoyable.  Learning about proper knife handling techniques may also save on doctor bills.

There’s a show on Home and Garden TV called House Hunters.  At the end of the show, where the show visits the new homeowners two or three months after move-in, they are invariably in the kitchen chopping vegetables.  And doing it wrong.   (From Kris:  I have noticed this too!  Not so much about improper technique, but that people are always chopping vegetables once they are settled in their house.)

In the Office

Always bring a notepad to a meeting or interview.  Always.  And do take some notes. It shows respect to the person who called the meeting that you care about what the subject matter is, even if it’s the 2 p.m. afternoon doldrums and you’d rather be taking a nap behind closed doors.

Shoplifting and Dividend Investing

I’ve recently read a couple of general interest articles about shoplifting at grocery store being on the rise during hard economic times. Seems that both employees and customers are more prone to taking five-finger discounts when the food budget gets tight.   The costs of this “inventory shrinkage”, as it’s euphemistically referred to in the industry, reportedly run in the billions. Grocery store chains, being on razor thin margins as they are, quietly try to raise prices to make up for the loss.

That’s the bad news.  The good news, at least for me, is that business for Golden Enterprises, my one food-industry dividend-paying stock and makers of the deliciously fattening Golden Flake snack foods, should improve as their products fly off the shelves or disappear down shoplifters’ pants.

OK, I think I’m done for now.

From Kris:  Do you have any random thoughts to share?  If you haven’t checked out 101 Centavos already, I hope you go visit the site today!