Secrets in the Legion Of Honor Today is the end of my two weeks of house sitting for my sister in San Francisco. I am not used to living in a place with stairs. It finally occurred to me this week that I should carry everything around in a backpack this week to save some steps.
My chance to be Mr. Mom in the city by the bay. Dogs are harder than children. This week I am at my sister's house in the Haight Ashbury District in San Francisco. Not quite a vacation but an activity I can reasonably handle with naps. I am house sitting and getting her kids to their various activities. As I
Passions that hide in plain sight making art in Vermilion Sands I have a powerful drive to do right by others and slack off on doing right by myself. It's described as an obliger type by Gretchen Rubin. According to Gretchen, there are four general personality types. In her books and podcast, she offers tactics to make your strengths
To the Beaches! It's going to be hot in town this weekend, and we have already decided to head to the beach on Sunday. The beach has been such a lovely escape during the covid. When we could not go to the movies or have dinner with friends, we started jumping
If I only had a second brain There is a productivity trend to build on the Getting Things Done framework using software that combines capturing ideas on the fly and sorting them into notes that can be acted on coherently. I have become engrossed in developing my own app. It could be the most useful computer tech
Go have an adventure Summer is upon us. Living in Los Angels summer is mostly a year-long event. I am thinking of summer as a frame of mind. Last week I was listening to Gretchen Rubin's podcast [https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&
Deadlines and Screwdrivers - The Dudes Abide I love my life when everything works out as planned. For the rest of the time, I have deadlines. I have a weekly publishing deadline set for Thursdays, so if I have not written over the previous week, I make myself sit down in the morning and gather my thoughts.
What was that? Time moves like the ocean currents. You can't see them move, but you feel the effects as you drift along. Anchors I like to say something happened ten years ago when it was 40 years ago in reality. Of course, ten years is a long time, but it&
It's a Trap! I used a Star Wars reference for May the 4th and May the 5th. This week's topic is from a book I just finished with a mission to save us from ourselves. Keeping on top of run-away smartphone usage is a losing battle without a clear idea about
The Cracker Jack Prize When the task is about getting a prize at the bottom of the box, I become distracted by the search and forget to enjoy the caramel corn along the way. As a child, I was obsessed with cracker jacks. Our uncle would come to visit and bring a multi-pack of
Now Look! Time for Timer. What, you dropped the ball? When your little voice head has to scream at you, pay attention to what to do instead. I have a childhood voice stuck in my head from an after-school cartoon character called Timer. He had a long run of episodes with rhyming
I am finding brilliance in the smallest available package. I was walking the dog and noticed an unkept strip of ground, primarily weeds, but there was the tiniest flower popping out against the background of dirt and mundane weeds. It made me consider that it does not take a significant output to create a stunning impression. The tiniest thing
Using a Top Five Lists, This Far No Further In the Hobbit - LOTR movies, the wizard puts his foot down and tells a demon that he, "shall not pass" and "this far and no further". I would like to report that the treatments I have been taking for my autoimmune disease have put their
Today Is Brought To You By The Color Purple. > "Point to the stars, don't concentrate on the finger, or you will miss all the heavenly glory." ( an unknown sourced song source, but it was a song lyric.) Over the last six months, a big part of my treatment has been mental work. When you
Voting for who you want to become. I am a fan of James Clear. He wrote a book about habits, Atomic Habits. I have read it probably three times since the covid lockdowns started two years ago. Being trapped at home, I wanted to develop the habits of highly effective people for myself. My motivation has been
AI Controllers & Nitrogen Cooled Magnets Small Scale Fusion Power Plants from the Private Sector Coming to a Power Grid Near You The value of accidents, The necessity of small bites, & What I am reading Physics is something I can nerd out to, so I want to share my current mouth breather crush this week. Small scale fusion power plants. A power that is less dangerous than atomic energy as we
The Ernie and Burt of My Relationship It is Valentines' holiday time I had a thought about my relationship. A Ying Yang insight simplifies all our relationship interactions into two supporting types: Ernies and Burts. I can imagine having an Ernie Puppet on the one hand and a Burt on the other hand. Depending on the
Putting The Breaks On My Mind In the movie Ants [https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjvz9mFv9_1AhUMI0QIHZPWA1MQtwJ6BAgEEAI&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DOT9Kh3RPw98&usg=AOvVaw30fy_KkE4P_ZkpU90GQ5-L]
KT's Choice I don't make resolutions anymore. Instead, I choose new systems and habits to tweak or add at the start of the year. Working with my husband, I have started taking on more responsibility for "what we are doing." For example, I have to plan what we
The Value of Checking Your Work Twice and Washing Away Obstacles. Dean Kamen is my go-to hero in making the most of my weaknesses. You may not be a big enough nerd/geek to know who he is but let me introduce him later. I gained insight from one of my newsletters about presenting our written work in public. Ashton Kleon
Something has to Give What will I give to do my best work and make my deadline? I missed a couple of deadlines for posting my weekly blog. When I did post a blog on Focus, it was not done. I waffled on whether it was better to do my best work or get
The Password is I took on a project to update all my passwords. It started with an alert from my google account the provided me with a list of all my known compromised passwords. That means that Google has identified the site they open as having had a data breach, or the password
Book Suggestion| The Ecstacy of Influence by Jonathan Lethem I don't feel like I have the depth of knowledge to call this blog post a book review. So here is my suggestion for an excellent guide to filling out your reading list. I am sure I picked out at least five books from his suggestions. I want
Rocket to Orbit inches at a Time. This is the Way Two weeks ago I was worried that I was not sticking my nose to the grindstone. And then on Friday of last week I had the best insight watching a recent video of the nerd equivalent of paint drying. The stacking of a SpaceX rocket to its booster. I had
Nose to the Grindstone This last week I looked up from my habit tracking and self-improvement systems and instantly lost my way. It was not a good feeling. But, with the help of the people around me, I have regained my composure. Today was a good day. Tomorrow looks good from here. I can&
