From “Technic Ally” in Toronto:

For the homeless similar results can be achieved with Kindles or iPads.

Shelves are no longer needed.

Watch out Ikea.

Interesting.  Doesn’t the fact that someone is homeless kind of assume one doesn’t have shelves to begin with?  And if someone is homeless would they have the money to not only purchase a Kindle or iPad let alone have money to purchase ebooks with them?

From “Hai” in New York City (excerpt):

My parents bought an Encyclopedia Americana when I was 10, and I spent many hours engrossed in it, reading at random. It was the beginning of a respect for the past and a grounding in Western civilization. Wikipedia might provide pretty much the same thing today.

As a kid we had a set of the World Book Encyclopedia and I also spent many hours engrossed in the pages of those volumes.  It probably is something that fostered my love of history.  I do have to disagree with Hai that Wikipedia might provide the same thing today because there simply isn’t the physical manifestation to Wikipedia that a book provides.  I can’t browse the shelves of Wikipedia nor can I run my fingers over the spines of all the books trying to find just the right one for that particular moment.    Electronic media won’t, and by definition, can’t, provide the same experience as a home library even if that electronic media holds the whole of the knowledge of the world.

And finally from “mf” in North Carolina:

Sorry, but I’m skeptical that Kindle or iPad would replace this. The browsing experience – particularly the textures, colors, shapes, sizes, and smells of a varied book collection – has a great appeal for the curious child. The arrangement and the juxtapositions lead to new discoveries. I don’t see this happening with a single Kindle, even though it could contain a library of exactly the same size and composition of titles. I daresay that as computers become even more commonplace, children will be even more fascinated by those physical artifacts because they are different, and because books themselves are part of the stories they encounter. And yes, if you had scrolls in your home library, kids would be interested in those too. I agree that intellectual curiosity is the key element here – not convenience, not economics, not currency of information, not novelty – all of which are strong selling points for the Kindle or iPad.

Simply dead on.  I miss the days of having the shelves full of old books to browse at my own leisure.   I love my iPad but it will never replace that experience.

The part that disturbed me most about this article however was the employee who had been using flex time options from her employer for three years. The article says about Jennifer Clarin:

But Clarin says she actually works harder at home. There’s no draining commute, and she makes sure she’s available for nights and weekends as a gesture of gratitude to her company, Boardroom Communications.

I completely reject the notion that because someone is using flex time options that they should make sure they’re available for nights and weekends…especially as a ‘gesture of gratitude’.   The fact is most people work harder and *more* hours if they work at home than in an office.  As noted for Clarin there is no commute time and someone working at home generally has fewer distractions, not more, than if they were working at the office.  If you’re working harder you shouldn’t then have to give up the rest of your life as a ‘gesture of gratitude’.

Both sides of the employment equation benefit from flex time options whether that means working from home, flexible hours, etc.   Scheduling things outside of work becomes easier for the employee and the employer gets better quality work.   I’m still trying to figure out why companies seem to be taking away these options these days instead of expanding them.

I celebrated Twelfth Night/Day this year even though I’m not a Christian.   I’ve been searching for ways to mark the various times of the year and while the religious observations don’t mean anything to me the fact that they’re linked with older, mostly pagan, traditions resonates deeply with me.  The older I become the more I’ve been seeking out ways to connect myself with older (or create new) traditions.   It gives us a great chance to reflect on not only our lives, but the lives of those that have come before us, throughout the year.   I’ve felt like my life has lost  meaning as I’ve gotten older and have become far too preoccupied with the minutiae of daily life and these things have helped center me and reconnect me to all that is around me.

This year, since it was really the first, I celebrated Twelfth Night by simply having some cake (a king cake) as well as some Glögg which had to fill in for the Wassail traditionally served on Twelfth Night.  I wanted something subdued and really just wanted to note the day with some traditional foods.

Today for Twelfth Day/Epiphany I had the same foods and went out for a walk.  The walk seemed an appropriate way to bring an end to the festivities of the Christmas season.  The air smelled wonderfully clean and at times scented with the smell of burning wood.  It put me in a thoughtful mood, which I think, was the point of marking the holiday.   It’s now time to put the old year behind me and start the new one with a fresh perspective.  I’ve made some major changes in my life to start the  year (new job) and will continue to make others throughout the year.

To any and all reading this I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and wish you peace and prosperity in the coming year!

Nature and all of it’s randomness is truly amazing. The infinite shapes of snowflakes. Infinite possibilities of sunsets. Infinite but ordered shapes of leaves. The list goes on and on and that boundless opportunity for discovery truly is a gift.

Happy Holidays!

I’m a very fortunate person and I try to count my blessings every day but I think it’s important to note them here on this Thanksgiving Day.  Thanks to people who find their way here and read the words I struggle to write.  I write this site for me but I hope you have found something worthwhile here as well.

Please take a bit of time and think of the things you have to be thankful for.  It’s such a small but important thing.

The good news is that I’ve been revising my view on how to get stuff done lately (not in the GTD sense…just in general). I’ve been undertaking projects at home a bit at a time. Get the kids in bed and work on something for 30 minutes to an hour. This way I’m moving things forward even if it isn’t at the breakneck pace I really want. Is this some huge revelation? For me it is. It is something that should be obvious, and maybe to others it has been, but for whatever reason it never has been for me.

Now I just need to apply this to projects like ‘basement renovation’