Glen Sharp's Blogger Life

This Blog has moved

2010-03-01T09:33:00.001-05:00

This blog has been moved to Glen Sharp's New Blogger Life on my own domain using Wordpress.

The Fun Theory

2009-10-20T23:49:00.001-04:00

Volkswagon has come up with an innovative way of encouraging desirable behavior by applying the theory that people will be willing to do all sorts of things they wouldn't otherwise if you make it fun. Sounds like a fun experimental project to me.

Work the System

2009-10-17T09:41:00.001-04:00

Sam Carpenter has written a wonderful book about how viewing the world from a system perspective can be a mindset change with far reaching impacts.

Simply thinking about the myriad systems in everyday life tends to create a focus on cause and effect that can be very constructive. Recognizing that many different systems are at work that most of the time work flawlessly despite their complexity encourages optimism. When glitches do happen it is important to understand that most of the system is probably still working correctly and what is needed is to determine how the subsystem that has failed can be fixed. I like to think of this as the engineer's mindset, which is very beneficial to problem solving.

Sam has very generously made his book available for free as either an ebook or audio podcast on his web site.

Finding Motivation

2009-09-22T19:14:00.001-04:00

Leo Babauta writes extensively on simplifying to be more productive. A major emphasis is that motivation is a key driver to not only getting things done but more importantly doing the right things that you are truly passionate about. Doing less but doing what really matters.

He also has something to say about finding motivation in his Essential Motivation Handbook ebook.

Click here to view more details about buying the ebook

Here’s the Table of Contents:

1. How To Motivate Yourself

2. The Only Two Secrets to Motivating Yourself You’ll Ever Need

3. A Guide to Beating the Fears That Are Holding You Back

4. Task Ninja: Form the Action Habit

5. Top 20 Motivation Hacks

6. The Ultimate Guide to Motivation – How to Achieve Any Goal

7. Progress, Progress, Progress! 5 Tips To Keep You Moving Forward

8. 7 Steps to Turn Your Self-Improvement Desires Into Reality

9. 25 Killer Actions to Boost Your Self-Conﬁdence

10. 6 Small Things You Can Do When You Lack Discipline

11. 16 Ways to Motivate Yourself When You’re in a Slump

12. 5 Tips For Motivational Recovery

13. The Magical Power of Focus

14. 10 Ways to Beat the “Can’t Get No Satisfaction” Syndrome

15. 30 Incredible Places to Turn When You Need Inspiration

16. How To Deal With Negative Feedback

17. How to Doggedly Pursue Your Dreams in the Face of Naysayers

18. Achieve Your Dreams Despite Pressures of Work and Family

19. Why You Should Celebrate Your Mistakes

20. How to Actually Execute Your To-do List

21. The Yin And Yang Of Persistence

22. Enduring the Valley to Get to Success

23. How To Relax And Why It’s So Important

24. The Simple Guide To Single-Tasking Success

25. Stop Reading About It and Do It

Canucks have a way with words

2009-09-20T12:20:00.001-04:00

Canadian Sayings Books: "So dumb he thinks Medicine Hat is a cure for head lice"

(Via Canadian Sayings Sample Pages.)

Fine Tune Your Brain

2009-09-19T19:08:00.001-04:00

I am not a big fan of self deprecating book or blog titles but "Dumb Little Man" has some excellent content. From a personal system perspective a number of tips on things to do and helpful attitudes are offered to fine tune your brain.

Simplifying Life with Zen Habits

2009-09-18T15:32:00.001-04:00

Leo Babauta writes a blog called Zen Habits where he espouses how life can be made more productive and with less stress by simplifying and eliminating the inessential. This is a powerful message in our times of information overload and people being overwhelmed by their complicated lives. Some might see parts of this message as being obvious or common sense but common sense isn't as common as it should be. My perspective is that the basics sometimes need to be reinforced so you move from knowing to doing. The keys to success aren't necessarily complicated. You just need to be clear on your priorities and have the discipline to focus your attention on what is important to you.

First you can start at no cost by reading his Zen Habits blog, The Power of Less web site, Write to Done web site, Minimalist blog, and checking out his free ebook, Thriving on Less. Of course if all these sources are too much, just pick one, such as the Beginners Guide to Zen Habits from the Zen Habits blog which has the most information to pick from or the Power of Less web site, which has a good summary of the latest and greatest resources.

If all this free stuff appeals to you Leo has also written several books/ebooks that provide the "Do-How" of simplifying and focussing on what is most important to you.

The Power of Less hard cover book is something you can settle down and read away from the computer.

The following ebooks are less expensive and can be downloaded right away:

The Simple Guide to a Minimalist Life

Zen Habits Handbook for Life or if you want to buy right away

Zen To Done or if you want to buy right away

The problem with positive thinking

2009-09-04T13:53:00.001-04:00

Seth Godin has an explanation why negative thinking is so popular when there is so much evidence that positive thinking is more beneficial.

Seth's Blog: The problem with positive thinking: "All the evidence I've seen shows that positive thinking and confidence improves performance. In anything." But ...

(Via Seth Godin's blog.)

Michael J. Fox, a Canadian born in Edmonton, also did a book and documentary investigating optimism and made the observation that much more study has been done on depression than on people being optimistic.

On this positive thinking theme, Rajesh Setty, has also written a book (Upbeat) on the right attitude to have to thrive in tough times.

Be Inventive Like Ben Franklin

2009-08-03T00:32:00.001-04:00

Maira Kalman has written a wonderful blog post on the inventiveness of Benjamin Franklin.
I really like the excerpt from Ben Franklin's journal. In addition to being early to rise - it is all about blocking out work and reflecting on objectives as a habit.

Here's to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness!

Presidential Nerd Credentials

2009-06-21T08:19:00.001-04:00

John Hodgman on the new president's nerd credentials.

Farm Fresh to you and keep it that way

2009-05-17T19:37:00.001-04:00

Some useful tips on how to store fruits and vegetables so they keep fresh and appetizing and also some ideas on how to prepare them are provided at the link below.

Fruit and Vegetable storage and preparation tips

Keep your fridge at just above freezing (1-2 °C ; 32-36 °F) and use perforated or sealed plastic bags as directed. Note that some items do better in a cool dark place like a cold room (7-10 °C;40-50 °F) and others at low room temperature (12-18 °C; 55-65 °F). Keep the onions separate from the potatoes and the fruits separate from the vegetables. Tomatoes are kept at room temperature.

How many different types of fruits and vegetables have you tried?

Plan and Work

2009-04-06T11:55:00.000-04:00

Peale, Norman Vincent quote - Plan your work for today and every day, then work your plan.... via kwout

People Who Need People

2009-03-24T11:48:00.001-04:00

Seems like a chain is starting here.

People who need people

Can anyone guess who is in the next video?

Hello Dolly

2009-03-24T11:44:00.001-04:00

Louis Armstrong has friends. Also check out the song he did with Johnny Cash.

Hello Dolly

What a Wonderful World

2009-03-24T11:33:00.001-04:00

Louis Armstrong has a different voice and the expressions on his face aren't exactly beautiful but maybe that is part of what makes him so special.

What a wonderful world

Signs of the Times

2009-03-20T11:37:00.001-04:00

There is a lot of doom and gloom in the media these days with a lot of references to the great depression even though articles that try to be factual about actual economic measurements show that the statements that they are similar are not valid.

The following signs that are getting some attention at least are trying to be constructive about the situation while being realistic.

This picture is from a Guardian article about how this poster was resurrected from a set which were designed to deal with possible bad news from the second world war. It is very popular especially in Britain right now.

As a reaction to the "Keep Calm" poster, Matt Jones came up with a t-shirt.

The engineer in me likes the second message more. Including the wrenches in the crown.

Technology's amazing, nobody's happy

2009-03-04T08:01:00.001-05:00

Good to be reminded (or informed if you haven't been through it) from time to time how far things have progressed. High expectations have been created by the near magical capabilities that we are becoming used to.

YouTube - Everything's amazing, nobody's happy: ""

(Via Conan O'Brien Show.)

Here is another humorous technology example using the iPod of how you can't please everyone.

The latest iPhone software release (start at the bottom and scroll up) promises a lot more innovation in peripherals and applications although maybe not as much as the pomegranate phone.

World's Greatest Business Mind

2009-02-10T07:29:00.001-05:00

In case you missed the recent announcement.
world's greatest business mind

Nothing clears the air like mother in laws tongue and money plant

2009-02-09T15:48:00.001-05:00

three-plants-that-give-you-better-indoor-air

Seems these are the best bets for indoor air quality during the stuffy winter weather so we should get some.

Birth Order Affects Personality?

2009-01-28T10:45:00.001-05:00

Some time ago I saw a documentary on the effects of birth order on personality and I always wanted to get the associated book since I found it interesting how so many of the traits mentioned seemed to be prevalent. Well I did a search today and this is a popular subject of many books.

Why first borns rule the world and last borns want to change it

Birth Order Book, The: Why You Are the Way You Are

A dissenting opinion which includes a link to a personality study you can participate in.

The obligatory wikipedia article.

Are the family clichés true? - Science, News - The Independent

Does your birth order affect your personality? | Answerbag.com

Birth Order

Birth Order - Understand How it

Birth order: overview, research, literature

The Birth Order book of love

The birth order effect

The Power of Positive Thinking

2008-12-16T10:00:00.001-05:00

There is a power in positive thinking and even if you are a skeptic it is a bit like the the quote about life.

"Life is great when you consider the alternatives."

While positive thinking isn't sufficient by itself it is a good start and when done right it is a lot better than the alternatives.

Try the Positivity Challenge.

Positive thinking is an element of Stephen Covey's first habit of self mastery, "Be Proactive". A positive attitude allows you to be prepared in the gap between stimulus and response to make a choice that will have a greater probability of a positive outcome. A fundamental starting point is that decisions you make matter. This is not to say that you can control the world but that what you think and do does make a difference especially for you personally. This is not merely wishful thinking. To have a successful action plan it needs to start with thoughts of possible positive outcomes.

In the debate about fate vs. free will it seems to me to be a better bet to act as if free will exists. If everything is determined by fate you are no worse off if you act on a belief in free will. On the other hand if it really does matter that you exercise free will to influence outcomes even a little bit it could be disastrous to be unmotivated and leave it all to fate. Just because you are only one of many factors influencing future outcomes that is no reason to drift. Just try and with the feedback try again. We all can make a difference.

Live in a world of possibility

2008-12-12T12:00:00.001-05:00

In these times where so many people are thinking pessimistically to create the downward spiral of a financial recession we should be thankful for people like Benjamin Zander spreading the inspirational message of dedicating yourself to the world of possibility.

The Girl Effect

2008-12-12T11:09:00.001-05:00

Check out The Girl Effect. It has a powerful message and it is very well presented. The web site makes it easy to spread the message.

http://www.girleffect.org

Mindful Intentional Living

2008-09-21T08:35:00.000-04:00

Patti Digh has written a book, Life Is a Verb: 37 Days to Wake Up, Be Mindful, and Live Intentionally which is based on living life to the fullest by considering what your priorities would be if you only have a limited time to live which of course applies to all of us. The reference to 37 days comes from her own experience of her stepfather who suddenly learned that he only had a short time to live which turned out to be 37 days. The book includes art work from the readers of her blog. An example of 37 days artwork is this fresh start talisman done by Donna Miller.

Patti identifies 6 practices for intentional living:

1. Say Yes. Do this in the Improv sense of "Yes and" not "Yes but".

(I would suggest that this could be expressed as do what you decide to do with full commitment. Not agree to everything).

2. Be generous

3. Speak up but don't be attached to being right.

4. Love yourself and others more

5. Trust yourself

6. Slow down to live mindfully and creatively with what really matters amidst the day to day activities of life.

Here is an interview of Patti Digh by one of her longtime friends Jeff De-Cagna.

If this topic interests you also check out the post about Randy Pausch and time management.

Technorati Tags: Art, attitude

Monitor Your Own Health

2008-09-18T21:48:00.001-04:00

Some tips from Readers Digest on some simple things that can be done regularly to monitor your own health.
Reader's Digest Canada - Health : Monitor Your Own Health:

Technorati Tags: Health

Secrets to Success: 8 words 3minutes

2008-09-10T09:28:00.000-04:00

I have always believed that the the keys to success are easy to understand. It is more about establishing the mindset and habits to consistently apply them.
The start however is being clear on the keys to success:

Technorati Tags: attitude, success

metacool: From Obama to Pink to Oprah

2008-09-02T08:48:00.001-04:00

metacool: From Obama to Pink to Oprah:
In life, pick where you want to go as much as you can, work like hell to get there, and be persistent. Learn all the time. Do good. Engage everyone around you by pursuing your passions. Help others. Do good work. Bring cool stuff to life. Above all, start.

Technorati Tags: Quote

10 Practical Uses For Psychological Research in Everyday Life

2008-08-30T17:35:00.001-04:00

A wealth of Psychology related insight is available on the Psychology blog.
PsyBlog: 10 Practical Uses For Psychological Research in Everyday Life:
10 Practical Uses For Psychological Research in Everyday Life

Technorati Tags: Education

Goals: Musician Ryan Adams' Success Secret

2008-08-22T22:36:00.000-04:00

This isn't Bryan Adams the Canadian rocker but Ryan Adams another singer/songwriter who has good points on keeping it simple.

Goals: Musician Ryan Adams' Success Secret:
What I do and what all musicians do is easy. All we have to do is sit down for a couple hours a week and write a song or two. That simple task is all the world asks of me, so I do it. The other musicians who don't are just lazy, because again, we aren't being asked to tar rooftops or clean out dumpsters. We just have to write a couple songs!

Think about your #1 goal for a minute. What action does that goal ask of you? Is it asking you to scrape sludge out of cesspools? I would hope not. Instead, you picked something you want for yourself. As such, the goal asks you to take a consistent but easy action.

* A goal to write a book only asks for a page or two a day. It doesn't demand you get a job making the pulp that produces paper
* A goal to lose weight only asks hour in the gym and light meals. You aren't asked to dig the iron and melt the alloying elements to make the steel for the gym equipment.
* A goal for getting straight A's in your classes only asks you to study for 2-3 hours a day. You aren't asked to lay the bricks that make up the University classrooms.

If you look a little deeper into what Adams said, it makes a strong implication for those who don't take action. Yes, he calls them lazy. But there's a deeper meaning. It implies that if you don't take the simple action, then you cease to be. A song writer who doesn't write songs ceases to be a song writer. An author who doesn't write ceases to be an author.

Technorati Tags: attitude, Music, puppy

Tech tools for a more fit lifestyle

2008-07-23T07:44:00.002-04:00

Couple of articles that are good references regarding tech support for fitness routines.

Tech tools and fitness plans in lifehacker

Google Maps for walking

Technorati Tags: Health

A Guide to Happiness

2008-07-17T21:55:00.001-04:00

The Zen Habits blog has lots of practical advice for simplifying life, getting things done, and guiding toward activities to make you happy.
There is also a reference to the Happiness Project blog.
An interesting read on happiness is Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert.
He busts some common myths about what people think they know about happiness by analyzing research on how the mind really works and doesn't work.
He explains in the book why people have difficulty imagining and predicting happiness and a better way is to rely on the experience of other people.

Technorati Tags: attitude, Habits

Dancing around the world

2008-07-12T23:05:00.001-04:00

Why don't we all just dance together?

Technorati Tags: attitude, Video

Working through the disappointment of self expectations

2008-07-12T12:29:00.001-04:00

Ira Glass provides some really useful advice about letting yourself be a beginner and not giving up if it is something that you really want to be good at.
You don't become an expert overnight for most of the things that really matter and are true achievements.
http://www.43folders.com/2008/07/07/ira-glass-working-through-suck

Technorati Tags: attitude, Education

Doug and Lisa's Visit

2008-07-11T22:58:00.001-04:00

Had a lot of fun last weekend when Doug and Lisa came for a visit.

Technorati Tags: Video

Cold drink when you haven't planned and are impatient

2008-07-02T21:48:00.001-04:00

What is the fastest way to get a cold drink?
Adam Savage from Mythbusters has the answer.

That would be about 20-25 minutes in a freezer. If you put it in a bucket of ice, that would halve that time. If you put water in that ice, it'd be cold (+- 5c) enough to drink in about 4-6 minutes, if you put salt in that water, you'd reduce the chill time to just over 2 minutes. Agitating the can in the water, rolling it around, reduces the chill time even more.

The fastest possible way is to grab a CO2 fire extinguisher and unload that sucker on the can.

Whatever you do, do NOT bury the can in sand, pour gasoline on the sand and set the sand on fire. That won't do anything.

This is all empirically gained evidence, not third party.
posted by asavage at 11:07 AM on November 30, 2006 [137 favorites]

For the smart-ass who is asking "why not just pour the drink on the ice in a glass?". The scenario is that it is a carbonated beverage that will lose its carbonation if opened warm.

To the question about why are you drinking a carbonated beverage - I have been told there is no right answer.

Technorati Tags: Food

Hyper-realistic Art

2008-06-29T23:20:00.001-04:00

No question on the realism of this art.

Artmolds has some examples like Big Baby, Ghost, Mother and Baby, and Dead Dad.

Some other examples of Ron Mueck's lifelike sculptors like Untitled (Big Man), Boy, and Pregnant Woman are shown here.

The Ron Mueck wikipedia article has some background on the artist and a picture of a (baby) Girl.

I think Big Man and Girl were displayed in the Ottawa art gallery recently.

Technorati Tags: Art

Office Organization

2008-06-29T22:24:00.001-04:00

Another example of an office makeover.

Also refer back to the Lifehacker workspace show and tell Flickr group.

Technorati Tags: Environment, Organizing

Oprah Winfrey Career Advice at Stanford Commencement

2008-06-22T13:20:00.001-04:00

Oprah has three lessons.

Technorati Tags: Education, Goals, Video

Simple Home Meals

2008-06-21T23:10:00.001-04:00

The Simple Dollar blog has some tips on preparing nutritious home meals cheaply and quickly.

Technorati Tags: Economics, Food, Health

The Big Picture

2008-06-21T08:22:00.001-04:00

A new blog that has received some acclaim provides news through some beautiful photos.
http://boston.com/bigpicture/

Technorati Tags: Photos

Trading Places with Indian Outsourcers

2008-06-10T18:49:00.001-04:00

Check out these videos about a 30 day experience seeing how Indian outsourcers live.

Technorati Tags: attitude, Economics

A Picture/Video Message!

2008-06-08T23:19:00.001-04:00

You have received a message from 6132950199

View Message

Send and Receive Pictures and Video through Bell Mobility.
For more information go to www.bell.ca/mypictures.

A Picture/Video Message!

2008-06-08T23:18:00.001-04:00

A Picture/Video Message!, originally uploaded by Glen Sharp.

You have received a New Message. http://mypictures.bell.ca/share.do?invite=6Eor4IJb5hUsJzM8kLc0

Career Ideas from Tim Ferriss and Marci Alboher

2008-06-08T08:33:00.000-04:00

Google hosts some interesting talks at their campus and they share them online.
Watch this video with Tim and Marci promoting their books:
One Person/Multiple Careers: A New Model for Work/Life Success and
The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich

There are some thought provoking ideas about how to get more out of your career/life and not defer life aspirations until retirement.

Tim also recommends another book:
Stumbling on Happiness

Technorati Tags: attitude, Books, Goals

16 Rules for Success

2008-06-07T19:36:00.001-04:00

You may or may not be a fan of Bob Parsons who runs the GoDaddy.com domain and web hosting service but what do you think about his 16 rules for success?

Technorati Tags: attitude, Goals, GTD

Goals and Motivation

2008-06-07T19:32:00.001-04:00

Important topics and Leo Babauta at the Zen Habits blog has a bunch of ideas about Goals and Motivation.
Worth reading to see if they make sense to you and more importantly can you make use of them.
Two things that have worked for me are:
1. to visualize the goal being achieved and define what that success would be.
2. just try despite all the naysayers and see what results you get by taking it one step at a time.

Technorati Tags: attitude, Goals, GTD

For the sake of GPS Art

2008-05-27T22:12:00.001-04:00

Swedish artist Erik Nordenankar for his final project at Beckman's College of Design in Stockholm wanted to do a really big picture.
So he tracked a GPS in a briefcase sent around the world to draw his picture.
I bet the delivery people got pretty confused at some points if they didn't understand the bigger picture.

Technorati Tags: Goals, Photos

Like to go for a walk?

2008-05-17T12:20:00.001-04:00

Take a stroll on el camino del ray.

Alex Bike Trip Launch

2008-05-12T22:04:00.000-04:00

The gang wishing Alex well as he launches his cross Canada bike trip.

Checking out just how heavy the bike really is.

Starting the trip and going right through the first stop sign

Technorati Tags: Goals, Photos

Business Manga Career Advice

2008-05-01T08:34:00.001-04:00

Garr Reynolds has an excellent blog post on Daniel Pink's new book The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need that has career advice in Manga (comic) format.

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

Check out the promotional video and slideshare presentation on Garr's PresentationZen blog link above to find out what it is all about.

Also good career advice is to work on your communication skills like making presentations so check out Garr's book PresentationZen too.

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

Technorati Tags: Books, Education, Goals

Improving Workspaces

2008-04-21T14:40:00.000-04:00

Here is an example of a potential before and after picture that could be inspiring.

Before more or less.

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

After more and more desirable.

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

If you look closely you'll see the monitor images have been arranged so you see what you would see if you could look through them. Cool.

Technorati Tags: Environment, Organizing

Workspace Views

2008-04-19T16:02:00.001-04:00

On Flickr there is an Unclutter collection of workspace views:
http://flickr.com/groups/unclutterer/pool/

Also there is a photo group for Macintosh displays:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/macsondisplay/pool/

Leo Babauta has written an article for the Unclutterer blog on creating a minimalistic workspace:
http://unclutterer.com/2008/03/12/creating-a-minimalist-workspace/

Technorati Tags: Environment, Organizing

Wisdom is never too early (or late) to apply

2008-04-16T15:49:00.001-04:00

Some things that we wish we were taught or learned. Read the comments as well as there are some good points there too.
http://www.positivityblog.com/index.php/2008/04/02/16-things-i-wish-they-had-taught-me-in-school/

Question: Is it wisdom if you understand it but don't apply it?
Maybe all the difference is knowing these types of items on a level where you know and believe in them enough to apply them in day to day living.
It doesn't take a genius but it does take a a committed and persistent person.

Technorati Tags: attitude, Education

Striving for a better workspace

2008-04-14T23:02:00.001-04:00

Some ideas on what to strive for in a workspace.
http://lifedev.net/2008/04/15-features-of-the-perfect-work-space/

Randy Pausch office is simple with inexpensive iKea-like furniture but very functional for doing computer and desk work with a view.
http://img.skitch.com/20080415-rg2w2jjwtnmcgduf79x98wiq8i.jpg

Also check out Randy's web site randypausch.com and his presentation on time management.

I am thinking of collecting other views of computer workspaces that people have since it interesting to me the environments people create to be productive and relaxed.

Al Gores desk is another workspace that is interesting from both the multi-monitor and paperwork perspective.

The costs of working in a digital world.

Technorati Tags: Goals, Organizing

Mac Yoga

2008-04-13T22:05:00.000-04:00

The Apple Mac-PC ads are entertaining and have inspired some funny imitations.

There is even some real desktop yoga
http://www.mydailyyoga.com/yogaindex.html

Technorati Tags: Entertainment, Health, Video

On this date in history people were listening to ...

2008-04-11T15:10:00.001-04:00

Interesting site on what was the Billboard hit on a particular date:
http://www.joshhosler.biz/NumberOneInHistory/SelectMonth.htm

On my birthday it was "Come Softly to me" by the Fleetwoods.

Technorati Tags: Entertainment, Music

Lost and Found

2008-04-06T09:44:00.001-04:00

Professor Solomon has some guidelines on how to find lost items. Now you can apply the 12 principles or even download the whole book.
Best to use a systematic approach rather than panicing and rummaging randomly through the house.

Technorati Tags: attitude, Organizing

Stroke Experience

2008-03-18T09:55:00.001-04:00

At the TED talks this year Jill Taylor a Harvard neuroanatomist talked about her stroke experience and what she learned from it.

Technorati Tags: Health

Sharp house in the snow

2008-03-09T15:45:00.001-04:00

Sharp house in the snow, originally uploaded by Glen Sharp.

After digging out from the latest record snow fall in March 2008.

Winter Wonderland

2008-03-09T11:56:00.001-04:00

DSCN1172.JPG, originally uploaded by Glen Sharp.

50 cm more snow or there abouts so we are approaching the all time record.

Nearing Record Snow fall in Ottawa

2008-03-09T11:49:00.001-04:00

Ottawa nears all-time snowfall record
City's snow-clearing costs double normal amount at $18.5M
Last Updated: Thursday, March 6, 2008 | 10:28 AM ET
CBC News

With 357 centimetres of snow already this winter and more to come on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Ottawa seems on track to top the record 444.1 centimetres that fell in the winter of 1970-71.

The city has already recorded its second-largest snowfall ever.

For people who still think in the imperial system, that's almost 12 feet of snow.

"This winter, we've had a lot of these events. They seem to be tracking up from the south," said John Manconi, who is in charge of snow clearing for the city.

"We're also monitoring what's coming this weekend. That's in our sights. So we're certainly making another significant jump [in the amount of snowfall]," Manconi said.

Environment Canada is predicting a large snowstorm on Saturday afternoon or evening.

Even before that, there is a 40 per cent chance of flurries Thursday afternoon, and a 40 per cent chance of snow flurries Friday morning, and with a steady snowfall beginning that afternoon.

So far this winter, the city has spent $18.5 million on snow removal, which is about twice as much as it would normally spend during a winter.

Police said that, from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday, there were 41 accidents in town and 109 accidents on the highways around Ottawa. Most were minor, police said.

It was the fifth "snow day" this winter for schools in the region, meaning the schools were open, but the school buses were cancelled.

Technorati Tags: Environment, Photos

May you never video

2008-03-08T17:46:00.001-05:00

Let me know if you like it at all

John Martyn with Kathy Mattea - May You Never
or do you like this version better?

John Martyn - May You Never

Technorati Tags: Music, Video

Commercial Entertainment

2008-03-01T21:59:00.001-05:00

Some of the best short entertainment pieces are commercials like these two:
Let this guy contribute to the environment

Beer opening competition

Technorati Tags: Entertainment, humour, Video

Being a Good and Happy Person

2008-02-23T11:11:00.001-05:00

Over at the Life Learning today blog there is a post about how to teach children to be good and happy people.

The best way is to be a role model: "Practice what you preach".

Many of these objectives should be obvious but isn't it worthwhile to have the list to remind ourselves sometimes of the legacy we want to leave?

Technorati Tags: attitude, Habits

How to change the world: clean water

2008-02-10T15:28:00.001-05:00

Guy Kawasaki was one of the original Mac evangelists for Apple computer and now is a venture capitalist who plays hockey.

On his blog he has a video on a clever idea to use the energy from a children's play structure to provide clean water for a village.
The importance of clean water is explained in many dimensions including allowing young girls to attend school.

Playpumps international sounds like a good charity to support.

Technorati Tags: Environment

The ABCs of Remaining Cool in a Crazy World

2008-02-07T05:53:00.000-05:00

Stephen Covey in the 7 Habits of Highly Successful People writes about the gap between stimulus and response where we have free will to chose and take responsibility for our response. This is habit 1 Be Proactive. To quote from the 7 Habits wikipedia article:

1. Be Proactive. Here, Covey emphasizes the original sense of the term "reactive" as coined by Victor Frankl. You can either be proactive or reactive when it comes to how you respond to certain things. When you are reactive, you blame other people and circumstances for obstacles or problems. Being proactive means taking responsibility for everything in your life. Initiative and taking action will then follow. Covey also shows how man is different from other animals in that he has self-consciousness. He has the ability to detach himself and observe his own self; think about his thoughts. He goes on to say how this attribute enables him: It gives him the power not to be affected by his circumstances. Covey talks about stimulus and response. Between stimulus and response, we have the power of free will to choose our response.

Albert Foong (www.urbanmonk.net) in a guest post on zen habits describes this as the ABC's and D's of responding to the crazy world we live in.

Here is what he says about how to stay cool.

Technorati Tags: attitude, Habits

Global Warming Risk Management

2008-01-27T13:26:00.001-05:00

Check out this Youtube video on whether it is a good idea to do something about global warming.

Arnold Schwarzenegger also has an environmental message that managing the risk doesn't have to be all about sacrifice and not living an attractive lifestyle.

Technorati Tags: Environment

A Wii bit of fun

2008-01-13T07:30:00.000-05:00

Here is a wishlist of Wii interactive games from Brain academy, Dance Dance revolution, Guitar Hero, on up to Boogie.

Description Purchase Price
Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party Bundle (Nintendo Wii) Buy Online $79.99
Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree (Nintendo Wii) Buy Online $49.99
Cranium Kabooki (Nintendo Wii) Buy Online $39.99
Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party (Nintendo Wii) Buy Online $59.99
Guitar Hero III Bundle (Nintendo Wii) Buy Online $99.99
Boogie (Nintendo Wii) Buy Online $64.99

Nintendo Fit and more Nintendo Fit with the new step pad and the options it makes possible could be good whenever it becomes available.

Technorati Tags: Entertainment, Health

Todo List Mania

2008-01-10T21:29:00.001-05:00

This article from lifehacker provides an overview of why so many people are keen about using lists to achieve their goals and different ways it can be approached.
Breaking goals down into small tasks and focussing on the next action can be really effective in tracking progress (love those little checkmarks) and getting things done (GTD).

The best system in my opinion needs to strike a balance on planning and prioritizing goals before getting too efficient at clicking off the chain of tasks.

Technorati Tags: attitude, Goals, GTD

Goal Tracking with Joesgoals

2008-01-04T23:37:00.001-05:00

I am still using Googledocs for some of my goal tracking but I found joesgoals has a lot of the features I was looking for.
I particularly like the capability of tracking both things you want to reduce and things you want to increase.
Ben Franklin's virtues of tracking goals for not doing things can be balanced by other habits where you can get bonus points for doing good things.
Need to experience rate the scoring though, as not all the items tracked have the same importance. [Update: you can set different points for each item]
The reporting seems pretty good so far to summarize results since trends are more important than actual score. Its free and very easy to use so why not give it a try?

It has become conventional wisdom that resolutions are not worth making because they are broken so soon but I like to think that it is still worthwhile to strive for improvement.
My theory is that the error is not in setting goals for improvement but how and what goals are set.

Maybe the trick is to set specific incremental, measurable, and a limited number of goals at one time rather than too many dramatic quick fix large and vague goals. Break it down into a prioritized set of small items that allows us to move towards the bigger goals without getting discouraged. Try to avoid perfectionism and instead approach the process with a growth mindset. Hope should spring eternal with a willingness to make fresh starts rather than giving up entirely.

Stephen Covey uses the plane analogy in relating that through a journey a plane may never be on course but with course corrections can still arrive at its ultimate destination eventually. This is achieved by the flight plan and the instruments measuring deviances from the course. Its been said before that many things are managed rather than being conquered. There is no shame in not achieving all your goals completely as I think you are better off having tried than you would have been leading an aimless life.

There is something to be said for having the courage in calling your shots as in pool and having the satisfaction of achieving success or even just getting closer and doing better next time. It is better to try purposefully no matter what the outcome. That is why I like the quote by Theodore Roosevelt, the Man in the Arena.

Technorati Tags: attitude, Goals

Virtues of Benjamin Franklin

2008-01-03T23:09:00.001-05:00

Benjamin Franklin was a wise man as I have blogged about before.

Benjamin Franklin's autobiography is online and it provides a very instructive guide to his character development and experiences he had through his varied career.

At this time of new year resolutions, here is Ben's life long (20 years of age to 84) list in order of priority for a virtuous life:

These names of virtues, with their precepts, were

1. TEMPERANCE. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.

2. SILENCE. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.

3. ORDER. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.

4. RESOLUTION. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.

5. FRUGALITY. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.

6. INDUSTRY. Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.

7. SINCERITY. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.

8. JUSTICE. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.

9. MODERATION. Avoid extreams; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.

10. CLEANLINESS. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.

11. TRANQUILLITY. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.

12. CHASTITY. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dulness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.

13. HUMILITY. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

Ben advised not to try applying all of these at once but to start at the top and work down as they are mastered.

Apparently he had a good system for tracking his progress too.

Here are some templates in OpenOffice and PDF format to do some manual tracking.

I am working on a googledocs spreadsheet to track these types of habits and compare results each month.

Technorati Tags: attitude, Education

Winter Wonderland

2008-01-02T23:31:00.001-05:00

Ottawa Snow 4, originally uploaded by Gavin Sharp.

Photo taken by Gavin of the snow piling up outside our house.
It certainly was a white Christmas although not so much in Calgary.

Flickr

2008-01-02T23:26:00.001-05:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Good Books

2008-01-02T23:17:00.001-05:00

A couple of Ken Follett books set in the middle ages which I have particularly enjoyed:

Pillars of the Earth

I read this a few years ago and now it is an Oprah book club selection.

Wikipedia has an article about Pillars of the Earth but don't look at it before reading the book since it summarizes the plot.

World without End

His latest which I just recently read is equally as good.

Hornet Flight looks worth investigating for those with aeronautical history interests.

Technorati Tags: Books

14 Stress-Free Ways to Kick Weight Loss in the Butt | Zen Habits

2007-12-30T11:53:00.001-05:00

Some helpful suggestions from the zenhabits blog on how to achieve weight loss and stabilization.

14 Stress-Free Ways to Kick Weight Loss in the Butt | Zen Habits:
14 Stress-Free Ways to Kick Weight Loss in the Butt

Technorati Tags: Food, Health

Economics can be interesting and useful

2007-12-25T10:34:00.000-05:00

For a lot of people economics can be a dry and uninteresting subject but it can be fascinating and practical for building models that can make a difference in living a better life.

Lifehack.org has a reference to a series of articles on economics by Arnold Kling topics "Fifty Essential Topics in Economics" that could be considered a course in economic concepts.

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/fifty-essential-topics-on-economics.html

I particularly liked the article on calculations to determine if investing in a time share makes sense - not that I have ever been tempted to do so.

Freakonomics was a good book and the blog has a series of interesting articles too.

Technorati Tags: Economics

Brain Decluttering

2007-12-16T00:08:00.001-05:00

Zen habits blog regularly has articles on decluttering, GTD, and simplifying life.
The following article on Brain decluttering has some excellent points on how get into the flow by eliminating distractions.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/zenhabits/~3/200032932/

Technorati Tags: Organizing

Howtoons

2007-11-24T07:02:00.001-05:00

Cool web site that explains building projects using cartoons.
http://www.howtoons.com/blog/

Technorati Tags: Education

Healthy snack food

2007-11-22T06:12:00.001-05:00

Does anybody know if it tastes good too?
http://www.43folders.com/2007/11/21/food-thought
Here is another recipe with edame in it.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/230922
Photo of edamame beans

Technorati Tags: Health, Food

Left and Right Brain Thinking test

2007-11-09T20:06:00.000-05:00

Are you primarily a left brain or right brain thinker?

The left brain is associated with step by step logical thinking while the right brain traits are associated with overall impressions of images.

For more on this check out the wikipedia article on brain lateralness.

The following test purports to show your preferences or overall tendency for left or right brain thinking by which way you see the figure rotating.

If the figure appears to rotate clockwise you are showing right brain tendencies.

If the figure appears to rotate counterclockwise this shows left brain tendencies.

By looking at the figure differently (try blinking) can you see it rotating in the other direction?

http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,5687820,00.gif

Technorati Tags: Education

Reading Socially

2007-10-23T06:56:00.001-04:00

These reading social sites were recently mentioned on O'Reilly radar.

http://www.goodreads.com/
http://www.librarything.com/

Goodreads seems like a good place to try the concept and Librarything lets you start with 200 books before money is involved.
Goodreads asks for access to your addressbook on Googlemail for example. This is similar to Facebook which makes this request in order to find friends who are members.
You can decide if you trust them not to use your addressbook information to sell to spammers.
You can check out their privacy policy here.

A books social networking site could tie in well with the idea of a book exchange when visiting with people.
You can do some web research beforehand to see what books would be best to exchange.
Also could be a good excuse for a conversation ;)

I also highly recommend a free book cataloging program called Books to those of you who are fortunate enough to have a Mac.

I haven't tested import/export between Books and Goodreads yet but it looks like this can be done with tab delimited text.

For those with Windows or Ubuntu (Linux) here are some options for you.
(I haven't tested these)

Windows: Bookie
Ubuntu: Alexandria

Technorati Tags: Books, Entertainment

Geek TV

2007-10-23T06:11:00.000-04:00

I don't have time to watch these since I am debugging a Ruby script but maybe you will.

http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2007/10/geeks_on_tv_1.html
also the Wired article on same.

http://www.wired.com/entertainment/hollywood/news/2007/09/geektv_reviews

Technorati Tags: Entertainment, Video

Cook with your Mac

2007-09-22T15:03:00.001-04:00

Tidbits has a thorough review of Mac recipe programs and happened to choose as their top pick the one I have been evaluating MacGourmet.
http://db.tidbits.com/article/9198
Check it out if you want to organize your cooking information.

Healthy eating information that should be easy to apply

2007-08-26T21:26:00.000-04:00

There is lots of information on living healthy but the following article seems particularly practical to apply.

Healthy diet tips Highly recommend checking out this blog entry and printing it out.

Here are the topics but check out the web site because there is a lot of valuable information in the description:
1. Timing.

2. Portions.

3. Eat slowly.

4. Snacks.

5. Long Life Cocktail.
The recipe is 7 ounces water, 1 ounce pure cranberry juice, and 1 Tablespoon of ground flax seed. Have this once or twice a day for increasing your fiber, digestive regularity, and all the benefits which come from flax seeds.

6. Dairy and Wheat products.

7. Sugar.

8. Fiber.
Try to get 25-30 grams of fiber per day. Fiber fills you up. It blocks the absorption of sugar and fat helping with weight loss and weight management. Having enough fiber in your diet will keep constipation away and will help lower your chances of cancer, such as colon cancer.

9. “100% Whole Grains.”

10. Vegetables.
Learn to love them! Find a great book on how to cook vegetables that taste delicious. (Suggestion: “Vegetable Love” by Barbara Kafka) Have salad often. Be sure to measure out your salad dressing to keep from adding too many calories.

11. Chicken or Vegetable Broth and Soup.
Use a cup of soup or broth as a snack. Have a cup before meals to feel full. And you can use broth to sautee vegetables instead of oil.

12. Oil.

13. Cheese.

14. Hunger.

15. Eliminate Toxins.

16. Chewing Gum.
This could be a distraction between meals but it is the only tip I am not that keen about.

17. Calories.
This totally free diet website has everything you need to know about how many calories you should eat, metabolic calculators, diet calculators,weight loss guides and more!

18. Eating Out.

19. Cheats.

20. Read labels.

21. Green Tea.

22. Get Enough Sleep.

Life Advice - Go to the light

2007-08-23T00:55:00.000-04:00

Steve Jobs commencement speech.

How to find the job you can love.

3 exercises to find your ideal career

Its not all about finding your passion.
Its also about doing something useful to solve problems for people. Problems really are opportunities.

The questioning approach.

Destress and enjoy life; How to live a life of contentment

Make yourself indispensable

Living a life that matters

Making friends

Technorati Tags: attitude

Eeyore Don't be

2007-07-25T23:36:00.000-04:00

Its something Yoda could have said "Eeyore Don't Be"
There is the power of positive thinking and also the power of not thinking negatively.
The lifehack.org blog gives the low down on how to avoid the Eeyore syndrome.

Some other ideas to consider are:
- not to worry about potential problems unless you have some evidence that they have some probability of occurring
(emphasize moving towards the good life instead of becoming preoccupied with real or imagined fears)
- watch out for the language of negativity
- focus on the circle of influence rather than the circle of concern (as Covey would express it).
- live in the moment to enjoy your blessings
- Pay attention to the difference your decisions are making; measure results
- Experiment and learn new things
- Expect and look for the best in yourself and other people
- Deal with reality and recognize the need for frequent course corrections to manage issues

Technorati Tags: attitude

Start the day right by creating energy

2007-07-25T23:12:00.000-04:00

Pick the Brain has a simple recipe for starting the day right to gain energy for the whole day.

Technorati Tags: Health

The Simple Pleasures in Life

2007-07-24T22:26:00.000-04:00

Its been said that one of the secrets of happiness is appreciating the simple things in life and a way of doing that is to list your favorite things and people.
The zen habits blog has listed some simple pleasures to get the list started. Not a bad idea to include some every day especially the ones that don't have side effects.

Technorati Tags: attitude

Motivation

2007-07-22T13:29:00.000-04:00

Self motivation is valuable both at work and in your personal life.
It is not something that should be seen as a passive activity that just happens to you but as something you can work at to increase your chances of being inspired.
One way to do this is to analyse what you can do to emphasize and seek out what is motivational and avoid things that demotivate or distract you.
Pick the Brain has some good analysis on how to keep motivated.

Fundamental techniques are:
1. A belief that you can make a difference
2. Set an objective that you can be excited about
3. Break the objective into small activities which you can see the change you have made (manage your plan to create positive feedback to encourage further effort).
4. Pay attention to the feedback and try making changes if the results aren't moving you forward. Perhaps you need to set smaller objectives or try a different approach.

Technorati Tags: attitude

Unclutter to get organized

2007-07-16T20:57:00.000-04:00

43folders has declared war on clutter in four consecutive articles.

Heck the Unclutterer is a whole blog on the subject.

Interesting extreme case of hoarding by the Collyer brothers.

I also have bought the book Its all too much (Amazon.com site for reviews and comments). And here is the Canadian Amazon site for the book.

It is a common problem for stuff to take over until is not creating enjoyment but getting in the way mentally and physically.

Another interesting site is the Psychology of Clutter

The Zen habits blog also is featuring some points on simplifying life with a couple of book references.

Let's not wait for a flood or a move to start uncluttering and simplifying!

Technorati Tags: Organizing

Time Travel Movies

2007-07-16T19:23:00.000-04:00

On my flight from Calgary to Ottawa I watched 1.5 movies both involving time travel.

Meet the Robinsons was really enjoyable with a geeky inventor building confidence, eccentric characters, and themes that I like. "Keep moving forward".

Coincidentally I later started to watch the The Time Machine which is based on HG Wells book of that name.

I will have to rent the DVD as I didn't yet find out if travelling to the future helps the inventor save his fiance by learning if you can change the past. Keep moving forward?

I think I read the HG Wells book long long ago but I don't remember how it ends so I will have to resist looking it up and watch the movie.

Technorati Tags: Entertainment

Instantly Improve Your Life?

2007-07-16T18:48:00.000-04:00

Another article on attitude and how it can instantly improve our lives. Now who doesn't want to do that?
This is from the LifeHack blog which is one of my favorites for tips on how people can improve life.
10 virtually instant ways to improve your life

Many of our problems come from within our own minds. They aren’t caused by events, bad luck, or other people. We cause them through our own poor mental habits. Here are 10 habits you should set aside right away to free yourself from the many problems each one will be causing you.

Stop jumping to conclusions. There are two common ways this habit increases people’s difficulties. First, they assume that they know what is going to happen, so they stop paying attention and act on their assumption instead. Human beings are lousy fortune-tellers. Most of what they assume is wrong. That makes the action wrong too. The second aspect of this habit is playing the mind-reader and assuming you know why people do what they do or what they’re thinking. Wrong again, big time. More relationships are destroyed by this particular kind of stupidity than by any other.

Don’t dramatize. Lots of people inflate small setbacks into life-threatening catastrophes and react accordingly. This habit makes mountains out of molehills and gives people anxieties that either don’t exist or are so insignificant they aren’t worth worrying about anyway. Why do they do it? Who knows? Maybe to make themselves feel and seem more important. Whatever the reason, it’s silly as well as destructive.

Don’t invent rules. A huge proportion of those “oughts” and “shoulds” that you carry around are most likely needless. All that they do for you is make you feel nervous or guilty. What’s the point? When you use these imaginary rules on yourself, you clog your mind with petty restrictions and childish orders. And when you try to impose them on others, you make yourself into a bully, a boring nag, or a self-righteous bigot.

Avoid stereotyping or labeling people or situations. The words you use can trip you up. Negative and critical language produces the same flavor of thinking. Forcing things into pre-set categories hides their real meaning and limits your thinking to no purpose. See what’s there. Don’t label. You’ll be surprised at what you find.

Quit being a perfectionist. Life isn’t all or nothing, black or white. Many times, good enough means exactly what it says. Search for the perfect job and you’ll likely never find it. Meanwhile, all the others will look worse than they are. Try for the perfect relationship and you’ll probably spend your life alone. Perfectionism is a mental sickness that will destroy all your pleasure and send you in search of what can never be attained.

Don’t over-generalize. One or two setbacks are not a sign of permanent failure. The odd triumph doesn’t turn you into a genius. A single event—good or bad—or even two or three don’t always point to a lasting trend. Usually things are just what they are, nothing more.

Don’t take things so personally. Most people, even your friends and colleagues, aren’t talking about you, thinking about you, or concerned with you at all for 99% of the time. The majority of folk in your organization or neighborhood have probably never heard of you and don’t especially want to. The ups and downs of life, the warmth and coldness of others, aren’t personal at all. Pretending that they are will only make you more miserable than is needed.

Don’t assume your emotions are trustworthy. How you feel isn’t always a good indicator of how things are. Just because you feel it, that doesn’t make it true. Sometimes that emotion comes from nothing more profound than being tired, hungry, annoyed, or about to get a head-cold. The future won’t change because you feel bad—nor because you feel great. Feelings may be true, but they aren’t the truth.

Don’t let life get you down. Keep practicing being optimistic. If you expect bad things in your life and work, you’ll always find them. A negative mind-set is like looking at the world through distorting, grimy lenses. You spot every blemish and overlook or discount everything else. It’s amazing what isn’t there until you start to look for it. Of course, if you decide to look for signs of positive things, you’ll find those too.

Don’t hang on to the past. This is my most important suggestion of all: let go and move on. Most of the anger, frustration, misery, and despair in this world come from people clinging to past hurts and problems. The more you turn them over in your mind, the worse you’ll feel and the bigger they’ll look. Don’t try to fight misery. Let go and move on. Do that and you’ve removed just about all its power to hurt you.

Adrian Savage is a writer, an Englishman, and a retired business executive, in that order, who now lives in Tucson, Arizona. You can read his other articles at Slow Leadership, the site for everyone who wants to build a civilized place to work and bring back the taste, zest and satisfaction to leadership and life. Recent articles there on similar topics include How to save yourself from being hooked again and Why fear of failure is the most common blockage to success. Adrian’s latest book, Slow Leadership: Civilizing The Organization, is now available at all good bookstores.

Bookmark or Share this with a friend!

[lifehack.org]

Technorati Tags: attitude

Media examples of a fixed mindset

2007-06-24T13:00:00.000-04:00

Carol Dweck's book riffs on the importance of having a growth mindset and seeing challenges as opportunities for growth no matter what the outcome.

With the imminent launch of the Apple iPhone there are a plethora of articles in the media that exhibit the fixed mindset. It is dramatic to say Apple is betting the company on the iPhone but it is a bit preposterous to say the previous success of Apple's recent products is just setting themselves up for a fall since their newest product can't possibly meet expectations. This is a good problem to have.

Seth Godin writes that in his opinion Steve Jobs is misunderstood since he is a rifter (Rifting is the process of fixing problems, of leaping from one broken market to another - which is an example of a growth mindset) not someone who is concerned or motivated by his legacy which is a fixed mindset perspective that some media are ascribing to him. With Steve's Pixar-Disney connection it is interesting that the Walt Disney comparison is made. Walt Disney's story involves a lot of setbacks but to me represents the triumph of imagination and persistence to pursue a vision.

Other topics related to mindset and Apple include iWoz the other Steve's book about growing up preparing to be an engineer and the fake Steve Jobs blog

Technorati Tags: attitude

Solutions for 10 Thinking Sins

2007-06-09T15:24:00.000-04:00

The zen habits blog has some direct advice about how negative thinking can be caught and corrected before it causes negative results.
You could call it the power of positive thinking - and acting!

Technorati Tags: attitude

The Pale Blue Dot

2007-05-31T22:54:00.000-04:00

The Pale Blue Dot: The picture of Earth from 4 billion miles away. As told by Carl Sagan through some favorite films set to the music of Mogwai.
(If you don't already have the divx video plugin for you browser you can download it for free from www.divx.com)

Technorati Tags: Nature, Video

Quirks and Quarks Questions and Answers via MP3

2007-05-12T16:15:00.000-04:00

An example of the types of questions that are answered online from the Quirks and Quarks science show (also on radio) is this one about why electrical plugs are polarized.
Quirks_&_Quarks_electrical_plug_q&a

Technorati Tags: Education

Talking Turkey

2007-05-06T14:57:00.000-04:00

I was really surprised the other day when a wild turkey flew into our backyard briefly.
It looked similar to the one shown below

Apparently the eastern wild turkey can be found in the semi-wild Ottawa area.
Contrary to rumors they actually can fly over a fence or two.

Technorati Tags: Nature

How to save the world: become more resilient

2007-04-01T16:36:00.000-04:00

Dave Pollard, a fellow Canadian, writes on many topics about making the world a better place.
To move forward with ambitious plans it is important to anchor them to a healthy lifestyle that increases resiliency:
How to become more resilient

The important thing is to start and build a foundation.

Technorati Tags: Health

The growth mindset and effort effect

2007-03-16T19:15:00.000-04:00

Something to think about regarding the attitude or mindset associated with success.

How to avoid a potential misconception about talent and effort to achieve the effort effect.

I hope that this year's Ottawa Senators though less talented than last year have learned some of these lessons through the adversity they have faced.

Most eventual Stanley Cup winners had to learn some humility before winning and also got introduced to it the year after by being knocked off their pedestal.

Technorati Tags: attitude, Education

Top 5 Things to learn anywhere

2007-03-15T22:18:00.000-04:00

From Brian Kim's blog here is a top five list of what should be taught in school. If you believe in lifetime learning it is never too late and there is no reason to only learn these things in school:

Top 5 Things That Should Be Taught In Every School
I can’t speak for schools outside the United States, but for those readers who went to school in America, I think you’ll agree that the American education system is in sore need of an upgrade. The world is changing at such a rapid pace and it’s my strong opinion that there should be more classes dedicated to helping students prepare and cope with the real world once they graduate.

If you look at this generation of students, you’ll find that most are “shell shocked” once they graduate because they had little or no preparation for what was to come.

High school mostly teaches you to memorize information and to regurgitate it back to your teacher, only to completely erase the information from your mind the moment you walk out after taking the test.

When you go on to college, you do a bit of the same things, but you also learn to think analytically, critically, and to broaden your mind so to speak, but even people who graduate from college will learn lessons from the real world the hard way as well. The sad part is all of this could’ve been prevented with some proper education beforehand.

Below are five things that I firmly believe should be taught in every school in America so that students don’t get railroaded when they enter the real world. If you’re still in school and reading this, consider it your lucky day as mastering these five skills will give you a great head start and help separate you from the rest of the pack as well.

#1. Personal Finance

Every week or so, there always seems to be a new article in CNN, USA Today, or Yahoo about young adults struggling with debt, whether it be from credit cards or loans in general. High interest rates, hidden fees, not consolidating debt – these terms and concepts are mostly unknown to young adults and because of that ignorance, they tend to make big errors in judgment. A prime example is thinking that they just have to pay the minimum on their balance and not realizing that by doing so, they pay 2-3 times as much in the long run.

Alongside that, most young adults don’t have a clue on how to invest their money. They don’t know what a Roth IRA account is, or a 401k, or the magic of compound interest, the tax benefits associated with investing in these types of vehicles, etc. There’s a lot of specialized knowledge out there that young adults are not aware of on when it comes to how they can invest their money and as a result, they frivolously spend it away.

Credit score is another big thing. A lot of young adults don’t bother to check up on it to make sure there are no errors with it. Your credit score is your report card in the real world and it comes into play when you’re buying a car, renting your first apartment, and even when you’re getting a job (most employers are now checking credit scores to determine how responsible the candidate is). Protect that at all costs. Learn what drives your credit score down. Learn what drives your credit score up. Check up on it every now and then to ensure nothing is wrong with it.

Even something as basic as creating a simple budget is beyond the grasp of some young adults and it simply amazes me that a lot of people don’t do this and some don’t even know how (you’d be surprised). Figure out your income after taxes, pay yourself FIRST (this is a big one – most people pay the bills and frivolously spend the leftovers until next payday), see what you can cut out if things are tight, look to see where you can bring in more income if you need to do so, etc.

Another important subset regarding personal finance are those “intangible” things, such as learning to differentiate between need and want, delaying the gratification, and having an inner sense of value. These concepts can’t be taught in the classroom but only taught through oneself via self discipline.

We live in a materialistic society where unfortunately, many young people grow up with the “have” then “be” mentality.

If I have _______, then I’ll be ____________.

Blame it on the media, advertising, or the impressionable minds of young people, but you’ll frequently see that a lot of people get stuck in this mentality and as a result, needlessly pile themselves in a mountain of debt.

One thing that I want to point out to students is that you’ll find as you get older, that a lot of people “fake” success. Not all, but a pretty big chunk. The neighbor or co-worker you see with the fancy car and nice clothes are most likely knee deep in debt while you’ll find the people with the average car and clothes have little or no debt and a nice big cushion of savings to that as well.

And the ironic and sad part is that most people don’t really care about other people because they’re so busy with themselves, so all that effort to impress others is really all in vain. The inherent danger in trying to accumulate expensive things to feel good about yourself is that you’re telling yourself that you need something outside of yourself to validate you, when everything you need to validate yourself is already within you. Stop looking for anything outside of you because there will always be something new and better to purchase. It’s like a dog chasing its tail. You’ll never catch it. Learn to simplify your life and to be content and grateful for the things you have. Don’t get caught up in the materialistic chase because once you do, it’s hard to get out.

#2. Communicating Effectively

By this, I’m not necessarily talking about giving speeches and presentations, although that certainly falls in this category. I ‘m mainly talking about being able to clearly take what’s in your head and to put it into words so the other person clearly understands what you’re saying the first time.

I know that sounds simple, but I’m sure you’ve met people in the workplace who don’t take the time to prepare when they speak with you and as a result, waste your time talking in circles when all you want to say to them is: “Can you take some time to think through what you want to say and come back to me later with that?”

Communicating effectively is one of the most underrated, yet most powerful skills you can develop.

The biggest part in communicating effectively is preparing what you want to say beforehand. Keep it simple. What’s my point? Why? Prepare a good example.

Your best friend in communicating effectively are these two words: “For example”. Whenever you see a confused look on people’s faces, your best response is leading with those two words: For example. When you do that AND follow up with a relevant example, it allows the other person to “frame” what you’re talking about to get a better idea of what it is.

Communicating effectively is one of THE MOST underrated and MOST valuable skills a person can have. And let me tell you on a personal level, there’s nothing more refreshing than dealing with people who take the time to prepare what they have to say and back it up with clear examples. It’s a very rare skill nowadays.

#3. Social Skills

Closely related to communicating effectively are social skills in general. After you graduate, you’re not going to be dealing with your high school or frat buddies anymore.

You’ll be dealing with many people from different backgrounds, countries, and more importantly different age groups, so it would be wise to learn how to socialize outside your own group.

Cut the slang. Learn to respect customs from other countries. Learn how to listen – few people do. Learn when to speak and when NOT to (hint – you have two ears and one mouth. There’s a reason for that).

Build rapport. Learn the art of networking – that’s key. Networking is a big skill that’s not taught enough in schools. Learn to compliment. Mingle. Make small talk.

Learn to approach people – that’s another big skill. Most people don’t have the guts to take the first initiative and introduce themselves. Be the big man. Take the first step. Learn to make the other person feel good and important. Dale Carnegie is your best friend in this area (Google his name if you don’t know what I’m talking about)

#4. Sales

Obviously I’m not advocating people becoming a salesman after school, but learning the art of selling is what I’m advocating. If you think about it, we all sell everyday. We sell ideas to our boss. We sell to our friends when we pitch ideas on what to do this weekend. We sell ourselves in job interviews.

You could say that sales is a great combination of social skills and communicating effectively, but with some other components you should pick up that will be useful.

Listen. Really listen.
Actively listen.
Learn how to be convincing.
Be persuasive.
Think of objections and counter them ahead of time.
Stress benefits instead of features.
Listen to the other person. (yes I know it’s a repeat, but it’s for emphasis)
Develop empathy.
Think in terms of how you can help serve the other person.

Selling is one of the few skills that can be utilized in any job or career. It’s one of the most important cross marketable skills you will ever develop.

#5: Time Management

Speaking of other skills that can be utilized in any job and career is time management. The majority of students never really learn to value their time and mange it while in school. Procrastination is all too rampant (studying right before class, doing homework and essays the day it’s due, partying the night before the exam). This lack of time management often carries over into adulthood, which becomes a major liability.

Learn to make a to do list. Learn to prioritize. Learn to break things down into 30 minute blocks of time. Learn about actionable items. David Allen’s GTD system is your best friend here along with Dan Kennedy’s No B.S Time Management. Again if you’re unfamiliar with these people, Google is your best friend, but I’m sure the majority of readers will know what I’m talking about.

+1. Health

It’s not enough to make students run a mile and play sports. Education is needed now more than ever. Education on the dangers of consuming too much fast food. Education on what diets in high sugar and fat can do to the body. Education on proper nutrition. Education on the importance of exercising regularly as well.

I think if schools start teaching these kinds of things, we could nip so many problems in the bud because most teenagers will not research this material on their own. The few that do have a head start in life but if we can’t teach them, schools should at the very least raise some sort of awareness and have an introductory class that talks about them – Real World 101.

If you have any friends or family who are still in school, please forward them this article. Think of it as a cheat sheet for the real world. You’ll be doing them a great service and they will most definitely thank you after they graduate. I guarantee it.

Technorati Tags: Education