Mental Doodles

yes it is 2 in the morning and yes i cannot sleep. im being completley serious when i say that i didnt know migraines could last 2 days. I started throwing  up last night as well, which i HATE. simple question..which otc pills works the best for migraines if you don't have a perscription..answers appreciated..thank you..

I caught this family of bald eagles on the beach in front of my house the other day. Just remember, these are the noble symbols of the United States of America in about five years.

( Bad hair day )

Disciplining a child when other adults are watching is harder than when the child and I are alone. With other adults around, part of my brain is worried what they think of my disciplinary tactics. This can be particularly true when the other adult is Howard. I worry what he thinks about my management of the little person who is also his child. Howard and I do a pretty good job of agreeing on acceptable disciplinary tactics, but those tactics have to shift and change at a moment's notice in response to what the child does. We can not possibly discuss in advance all the possible disciplinary contingencies. Inevitably one of us uses a tactic that makes the other uncomfortable. One thing we have learned, is that interfering with the other parent mid-discipline makes a big mess. We only do that if we feel that the other is way out of line, and if at all possible we pull the other away from the kids to do so.

Yesterday Howard had to discipline Gleek. Part of that discipline was sending me away from the situation because I seem to serve as an emotional control security object for Gleek. She has been on the wild side this summer and we're trying to help her learn how to bring herself back under control. When I'm near, she lets me do all the work of bringing her under control rather than doing it herself. Walking away was hard for me. I went outside so I couldn't hear. It was hard for Howard to have to stay there with Gleek and require her to calm herself before I could come back. While I was outside I thought about the situation and realized how far Howard and I have come as parents. I trust Howard enough to walk away and let him deal with a screaming kicking girl. I trusted him to keep his cool. I trusted him to be as kind as he could be while still requiring better behavior. I did not always have such trust in Howard's parenting skills. When Kiki was small, I hovered. This was unfortunate. It robbed both Howard and Kiki of the chance to do all the learning, and loving, and hurting, and forgiving that make relationships strong.

Howard and I are still learning how to be parents. Every time we think we've got it figured out, the kids change and we have to learn something new. We have many more conferences ahead that start with "was how I handled that okay with you?" I'm very glad we've come to a point where we trust each other enough to step back.

I think I'm going to switch OS X GTD apps soon, as well as revising my GTD process based on what has and hasn't been working for me. I've been using iGTD, and it's just too cluttered and powerful for me. I want less features and more ease of use. There are some great things about it - it's free, and the developer is very productive, so it has advanced rapidly. But it doesn't give me a "Mind Like Water"

I first checked to see if LifeBalance, my old favorite, had gotten a facelift or an iPhone version. I used it for years, and what I love about LB is that it actually prioritizes for you. Basically, at every level of the project hierarchy (from goals down to projects) you can set importance, and then LB sorts tasks based on those, and on what you've done lately, in order to try to keep your total accomplishments balanced by area. I love having it tell me what to do, and being able to yank up & down priorities on projects based on changing importance. I've never found this in another task manager, yet it's really simple & intuitive.

Anyway, LB improves very slowly, and still doesn't have an iphone version, so forget it.

The two apps that sounded really good from reviews are Things and OmniFocus. Both have available, robust iPhone versions. Any comments from those who have tried them?

Going to see Dark Knight today and then going to sorscha and

Just found out my moms cousin passed away sometime this morning. She'd been in the hospital for over 5 months but had been doing better, enough so that they were supposed to be sending her to a higher functioning/less care facility today.

I don't know all of the details as my mom was only emailed about it. (Nice huh?) The other cousin didn't really say what happened nor gave any details about what Jeannie's wishes are. I called her earlier but haven't heard back yet. Looks like we may be going out to Oregon soon.

So, I'm housesitting/dogsitting for my Aunt and Uncle for about a week. I always enjoy perusing the free On-Demand movies. One of the ones currently available is "They Live". Man it's been a long, long time since I've seen this heap of awfulness. There really aren't enough movies these days starring Roddy Piper.

http://blogs.lubbockonline.com/geek/2008/07/18/four-minutes-that-will-make-you-love-billy-joel/

http://blogs.lubbockonline.com/geek/?p=172

“The Springsteen model, only tweaked, turned up, and transformed into a fairy tale of post-apocalyptic New York.”

From this awesome article by Maura Johnston

Yesterday I posted about a blog spam I got to advertise programs on the Discovery Channel. I was fairly miffed, and I've heard from a few others who got similar posts in thier blogs and LJs as well.

Today I got an email from the VP of the company who was hired for all this by Discovery Channel. He profusely apologized for offending me, and assured me that Discovery Channel does indeed care about the ethics that get held up in these online spaces. He assured me that there was no intention to be "spammy" and that they would be looking to refining how they go forward in this type of approach. I wish them luck; as I said in my response, bloggers (again, oh how I am terribly unfond of that term but here it is...) are a pretty loud bunch, not afraid to speak their mind, and I have a feeling there will be more bumps in the road going forward.

But then again, that's why it's my thesis topic :) Just another piece of evidence to toss in my hat to show why my work is important. The more evidence, the better!

I did accept his apology, as I do know that Web 2.0 is still a new space for everyone; the companies providing the space, the users providing the content, and the companies on the outside trying to see if they can leverage this type of forum for their purposes. Whille there's no way to make everyone happy, if effort is made on all sides, progress can be made. Everyone is going to have to give a little... we'll see how successful we all are.

(hopefully not too much... at least until I have a job in it ;))

Seriously - I'm awful! Way worse than usual! Part of it is that the all-night feedings were just wearing me out (seriously!), and part of it is that life got ... interesting ... for a while (David moved back in.) And in the middle of it all, I had to put my oldest kitty, Baby-baby to sleep. Still though - KITTENS!!!

So remember these guys? Kiwi, Koala, and Bliss

( it's baaaaaaaby kitties )

So really folks - if you, or someone you know wants to give any of these guys a good home, do let me know! I live in the SF East Bay, and can work things out if transportation is an issue. The bigs are all getting fixed on Monday, and have had their first shots and been tested clean. Depending on when you want them, I can have the littles fixed as well - but not til they're bigger. That reduces the adoption cost some. My requirements are that they are fixed, and that they are never declawed. I have a strong preference to indoor only, but am open to discussion about that. The declawing and fixing are non-negotiable. You won't find a sweeter kitten than any of these - as sweet, sure, but not sweeter!

This morning I turned our front room into a staging area. This is done by clearing out all the clutter and then filling all the newly created empty space with piles of stuff that needs to go with Howard to Comic Con. Around 2 pm Howard and I looked at the pile that had begun to accumulate. We were both mentally calculating how it was all going to fit into his Volkswagen Beetle. I turned to Howard and said "Why don't you take the van?" Taking the van gives Howard plenty of cargo space. It lets us pack things for ease of transportation at the other end rather than compressed for size. It might even let him pack along a full sized dolly to help him wheel boxes of merchandise around. We hadn't considered it before because I'd been planning to pack the kids and travel while he was away. I'm no longer planning to do that because my kids will be spending time with their cousins the first week of August. So now Howard is taking the van and I'll be left with the Beetle. This means I can't go places with all of the kids at the same time. They don't all fit in the Beetle, but in an average week I don't do that anyway. If we need a family outing, we'll walk to a park.

In order to get the van ready for the trip, I took it to Jiffy Lube. It was a very long wait, which is to be expected at 4 pm on a Friday afternoon. I can tell I haven't been out of the house or away from the kids enough lately because sitting in the Jiffy Lube waiting room for two hours was soothing. Now I just need to kick myself into gear and get the rest of the packing done.

I am fascinated by how productive I have been in my last days at Google. I get my stuff done quickly enough that much of the time, I'm waiting for other people. Yet I'm also spending way more time reading and sitting in the sun then usual. I take more frequent breaks, and have been spending less time in the office.

The key to the apparent paradox, as far as I can tell, is that I'm much more focused and wasting a lot less time. I have no need to appear or feel productive, so when I notice that I'm reading pointless work email, or news about Google, or any of the other things I do to look & feel like I'm doing Important Company Work...I stop. I either do actual work, or I go take a break (more often the latter). As a result, I have more energy, so when I am working, I can more easily force myself to work on what needs to be done, rather than what will be easy.

An interesting lesson. Reminds me of the Results-Only Work Environment, and Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time, and the 80-20 rule.

Remember my hunt for the GF tortillas at Basha's and AJ's the other day... I emailed them all frustrated and asked if I could send them back the gift certs would they ship me some tortillas direct.

Hello Wendy

We are very sorry for the inconvenience you experienced. Our website store locator is updated automatically every two weeks, we are not sure why Basha’s comes up as recently selling our gluten free wraps but we are looking into it.

As for the gift certificates they are yours to keep, we are also sending you out samples of our Ivory and Dark Teff wraps, one of each, for you to try; they will be shipped out FedEx Ground today. We hope you enjoy the samples and if you are unable to find a store that is willing to get them in for you they are available for direct purchase through our web site and also through glutenfree.com.

Again we are very sorry for the inconvenience, please let us know if you have any other questions or comments.

Thank you

Have a good weekend

I responded with "I think I love you."

Or "How to live a remarkable life in a conventional world".

I just read this great PDF (google it, I'm posting on my phone). It really isn't about controlling the world, but about being a purpose-driven, unconventional, successful person. I liked it a lot. There's something really fun about reading stuff like this as I prepare to quit my job to do crazy things. Maybe it's a case of finding a source that will tell me what I want to hear, but there's a lot of "yay, I'm doing the right thing!"

Ok, listen people. I enjoy a good joke as much as the next person. I do. And in point of fact, I get  giddy when I rickroll someone. I love that joke! It's harmless fun! It's not lik Goatse, which left you just plain burnt out very soon. No, there's nothing soul-scarring about Rick Astley (well, unless you hated the 80's, but then you're a child molester, so fuck you), and the absolute most dickish I've seen of it was a browser hi-jack that makes you click "OK" for every line of the song. Annoying, but not horridly annoying as far as internet dickholery goes. So, as you may guess, I not only don't *mind* Rickrolling, I actually *like* Rickrolling.

So what do I have to say about Rickrolling? This: It's not fucking rickrolling just because someone plays the damn song. Seriously. Anonymous is not "Rickrolling" the church of scientology. The Target is not rickrolling you if they play the damn song over the speaker. And you are not rickrolling anyone if you go "I'm gonna play Never Gonna Give you Up" on your radio show and then proceed to do just that. Rickrolling is a very specific situation. It's when you make someone think you are going to be showing them one thing, but instead of that thing...BOOM! RICK ASTLEY! *That* is a Rickroll.

Let's show some examples, shall we?

You: Hey, buddy! Check out this link to a goat's anus!
Friend: COOL! I like goat's anuses! *click...BOOM! RICK ASTLEY!*

Congradulations, you have rickrolled!

You: Hey, listeners, we've got a random selection of songs coming up, from the eighties!
Listener: Hmm. Random songs? Ok, so they could be anything from the eighties. *BOOM! RICK ASTLEY!*

NOT A RICKROLL! Why? Because they were expecting random 80-'s songs, and by playing that song, you have given them just that.

There. I hope this lesson has been educational.

My opinion: Meh.

It was overhyped. I mean it was well done, it was just very predictable and I couldn't get into it. Really the only character I found myself empathizing with was the Joker. Heath Ledger did a great job on that role. He was orders of magnitude better than Jack Nicholson.

It's disappointing because Batman Begins was phenomenal. This was largely due to a lot of the believability of the fighting. This one was a lot of swooping and grandstanding and what-not. Good, but not great.

I'll probably see it again as I might have been tired from teaching class.

I got home and my free samples had arrived via FedEx. OMG these are so good!! I had pizza on my mind as I was driving home from work and was planning on using corn tortillas...then when I got home these had arrived and so I used them instead and they crisped up so nice. I just used my pancake griddle and sprayed it with cooking spray, laid down one of their Ivory Teff Wraps and put on my sauce, cheese and toppings. I actually wandered away for a bit and forgot about it...but since these are far denser than a flour tortilla it was ok...in fact it had crisped up PERFECTLY. I could actually pick up the whole thing and eat it...it held the weight. I probably should have cut it in pieces as the wraps are probably about 10" across. But I was so hungry and it smelled so good. It tasted JUST like thin crust pizza. I also broke off a piece of the plain wrap from the edge PRIOR to heating/toasting it on the griddle at all - just to taste it and see what it tasted like plain. It was good...denser and chewier than a flour tortilla (which in my opinion is so a plus!) but not grainy and too dry like so many gluten free baked goods tend to be. I have samples of the Dark Teff wraps too but haven't tried them yet.

The downside is that I know there isn't a store in my area that carries them...because otherwise they would have sent me coupons instead of the product directly. I can only hope someone nearby will start carrying them soon...but if not I'll order these online and pay shipping if I have to...they're that good!

Go to www.google.com , type "find Chuck Norris" in the search field and click "I'm feeling lucky."

Do it.

Do it now.

One is thanks to zudini. Cool. Here's the product page. I had a sort of similar setup at home: a recumbent exercise bike w/ a special laptop stand, but didn't end up using it much. The stand wasn't great, and biking is somewhat distracting.

Somehow, while I am not a fan of long, repetitive cardio (like jogging), I am a fan of long, repetitive cardio (like walking while working, AKA "Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis"). Maybe there's some cognitive dissonance, or maybe they are really different. I don't feel like thinking about it :).