worth

I admire a man who is confident but I hold no respect for any man who thinks his worth exceeds others. We all rise each day and put one foot in front of the other. I have the greatest admiration for those who must struggle to do that, but rise each morning, get out of bed, and do it anyway.

why??

Why is it that when someone or something makes enough noise to wake you at the crack of dawn, there complete silence a half hour later, when you're already awake?

grrrrrrrr

My mother always taught me you shouldn't hate people, but you can hate things that people do. I've tried to adhere to that, but there are times when I just can't help myself.

So you know what I hate? Tech Support people who think they are SOOOOOOO much smarter and more knowledgeable than you that they DO NOT LISTEN! Yes, I KNOW that having only 22GB left on my hard drive is not ideal, and that I should probably wipe my drive and start over, but really, is that what's causing my browser to hang when I am trying to save a news article? We're talking 82K- that's comparable to one grain of sand on an entire beach! Grrrrrrrr… another hour of my life gone and all I have to show for it is heartburn. And the techie will go home and complain to her family about the impossible caller she had today. Sheesh!

old and cranky

I'd like to think of myself as not being old, yet, though I know I am on my way to that eventuality. I had to face up to this recently as I became aware that I was losing my tolerance for certain people and their actions. I've always thought of myself as not being a patient person, but being a tolerant person.

I remember distinctly becoming aware of the point that my mild-mannered, diplomatic father had become cranky and intolerant to the point of being almost down-right nasty at times. Anyone who knew him will find this impossible to believe, and it wasn't drastic or even dramatic, but it was a perceptible shift. At some point he grew sick and tired of giving everyone the benefit of the doubt and voiced his opinions and opposition quite vocally. I remember being shocked at first at this change in demeanor. It wasn't directed at me, or at members of our family, but mostly at figures in the news. Now I understand. After (too) many years on the planet, I, too, have become intolerant of the selfish and the stupid humans I encounter. If you were truly born without a brain, I will take that into consideration, but for all those who simply believe the rules are for other people and do not apply to them, or who simply don't care about inconveniencing others as long as they get their way, I no longer have any tolerance. I will probably get assaulted at some point calling someone out for being selfish and insensitive, but it will likely be because I stood up for someone else rather than for myself. I have an inner voice that says "I am so glad I am not a jerk like you," that I use to protect myself, but I'll stand up for others. I don't like people who take advantage at the expense of their fellow human travelers. I'm not advocating that if you find something on sale you shouldn't buy it in order to leave it for someone who gets there after you, but for heaven's sake can we try to comport ourselves with some consideration for others? The planet is kind of like a crowded elevator, where we should all be kind to our neighbors. Believe whatever you want, but don't push it on the rest of us. We'd like to live they way we want, too.

privacy

How many people who say they want “privacy” are really just trying to shield themselves from criticism? We keep thing private because we want to do and to think what we want without holding ourselves up to any standards- sometimes even our own. We dislike people who tell us the truth because it’s a reality we don’t wish to face; we are deliberately ignoring our own conscience and we resent any intrusion that forces us to examine and defend the prudence of our own actions.

generations

As a result of a conversation about kids going off to college, it occurred to me how parents always relate everything to their own experiences. But let’s face it, our children are going up in a world 20-30 years later than we did- it’s a very different place and a very different experience. We should not expect our children to have- or to want- the same experiences we did. Some things may transcend, but why are we insulted if our kids reject our notions? We did the same with our parents… We should hope they strive to keep pace with their world, and excel in this new place.

Success

Success requires a lot of hard work, more than a little inspiration and a boatload of confidence!

tattoos

Lots of people love tattoos, and I am a sometime fan. But it occurred to me today, if you get a tattoo so you have something different, but you have it forever, isn't the "different" now the same all the time?

staying positive in times of distress

Some turn to religion to stay positive in times of distress, but I find ‘1-10’ works well, too. One a scale of one to ten, ten being nuclear war or the planet blowing up, just how important is this? It's quite humbling to realize how insignificant most of what we stress about is. That’s not to say it isn’t important to us at that moment, but to keep in mind that in the grand scheme of things, or even over the span of our own lifetimes, most problems are mere minor annoyances.

"Ahoy! 'Tis time to talk pirate, me hearties"

Today is "Talk Like a Pirate Day, an observance that has been recognized on all seven continents and beyond." So head over to this article on CNN.com to read all about it, me hearties!!

just say "no"?

For a couple of days now I have been hearing about the new book "The Power of No" by Beth Wareham. The book’s premise is that you only have one life and you shouldn't waste even one second doing something you don't want to b/c you were too afraid to say "no." Saying no, she declares, reclaims your time, your power, and your respect for yourself by communicating "I don't have time for this nonsense. I am making a great life here."

If only it were that easy. There are likely many times when saying 'no' may do all those things, but many other times, we agree to do something out of love or resect for another person and we are rewarded for that in other ways. I have a friend who refuses to go to weddings anymore, and I can see her point. She doesn't like them (not being a big fan of marriage anyway) and no longer wishes to go to the time, trouble and expense to watch someone else celebrate. She hates dressing up and prefers to save the considerable money required to dress and attend these events. I get that; there have been times I wish I could politely decline an invitation without hurting someone's feelings, but most of the time I don't say no when I'd like to because I perceive that doing so would result in hurt feelings and damaged relationships, and I cherish the relationships enough to give my time to preserving them. Only a person who is comfortable with flying solo for life can afford to say no every time it crosses their mind. We often get more than we give when we agree.

I DO think we need to examine all the relationships in our lives and nurture only those that are truly worth the significant effort required. When we discover that one takes more than it gives back, we need to let it go without regret or fear, and the longevity of a relationship shouldn't determine its value. You can't be friends with everyone, nor do you need to be. If there aren't thousands of mourners at your funeral and a full page obituary, who cares? You'll never know ;-)

online guide to cell phone emissions

The Environmental Working Group has created an online guide to cell phone emissions, covering over 1,000 phones currently on the market. You can find the article here, and you can look up your cell phone's ratings here, though the site is rather busy right now.

sorting it out

It occurred to me this morning that the web serves as a sorter for people. Like a coin sorter at the bank, lots of different types go in, and then fall into little slots that determine what type of coin it is. Keeping track of web surfer's visits and favorite sites do the same thing- they categorize us into groups according to interests. We are essentially doing the marketer's job for them- all filing into neat little lines that tell advertiser's how likely we are to be interested in their product or service. This is good in one way, b/c it cuts down on advertising we are not interested in, but terrible in that it allows them to focus a full-court press on what we might be likely to buy. It is true- everything comes down the almighty dollar. (or pesos or euros or yen…)

funny tech posts

I don't know about you, but I am very entertained by funny tech postings. I understand that tech stuff can be very confusing when one is first using it, but seriously people, some of this stuff is just hysterical!


Here's one of my favotires from http://notalwaysright.com:

What Happens In Vegas…

TECH SUPPORT | SAN ANTONIO, TX, USA

(A customer calls in, unable to connect to wireless internet. I have her navigate to the connection screen.)

Me: “Okay, ma’am. Do you see the name of your wireless network in the list of available networks?”

Customer: “I don’t know which one is mine.”

(I proceed to authenticate the customer and provide the name of her network.)

Customer: “No, I don’t see that listed.”

Me: “It’s possible that your router glitched. I’m going to have you go ahead and power it down.”

Customer: “What’s that?”

Me: “It’s the main box that we install in your home when we set up service. It broadcasts the wireless signal. We’re going to reset it and see if your signal comes back.”

Customer: “I can’t do that?”

Me: “Is it out of reach?”

Customer: “No, I’m at a friend’s house.”

Me: “Ma’am, where are you located at right now?”

Customer: “Las Vegas.”

Me: And where is your router located?

Customer: “Fort Worth…”

self-importance

Why do people have such a need to feel important? I know everyone's life should matter, but really, you must be really insecure or have really low self-esteem to be manufacturing your own importance. People walk around chattering away on cell phones and twittering incessantly as if the world would stop turning if they didn't put forth their opinion. Must we validate our lives every second to matter? Everyone should be issued business cards at birth with their name and the title "Human Being." That should be all the validation we need.

Maybe we should all have blogs where we can post our opinions and let the best of them rise to the top. I bet we'd all be surprised how similarly we think…

are we what we eat?

I was listening this morning to another story about what we need to eat, what vitamins we need, etc. My father used to say “We’re all just a bunch of chemicals in a big bag,” and paying attention to our particular chemical make-up may be the most important thing we do. We all know that fresh fruits and veggies are good and refined sugar is bad. Why then, are there so many reports about what is good for us and what is harmful? Because we are all different. Fresh strawberries are wonderful- unless you are allergic to them. We must learn over our lifetimes what works for us, and all this health advise should be viewed as guidelines rather than rules. The concept of normal, too, is confusing.
It is normal that we are all different from one another- so different is normal.

today's analogy

Since the title of my blog is "analogies", I thought i'd better include some!

A good friend is like a security blanket for the psyche…

Miss Cellania

Congratulations to one of my favorite bloggers, Miss Cellania, on her 4 year "blogiversary." This blog is on my list of "Daily Sites" and if you haven't seen it yet, you should treat yourself to a visit. It's one of the wittiest sites for funny stories and links I have seen, and I am an avid Mental Flosser…

seeing shouldn't be believing

A couple of days ago, a friend sent me a link to this story in the New York Times:

Faked Photographs: Look, and Then Look Again

By BILL MARSH

The dubious arts of splicing, posing and wholesale erasing in the iconic photography of history. (Be sure to view the slideshow.)

Being a Photoshop user, I am quite accomplished at altering photos when the need arises- not for deception, but to customize/retouch clients' photos. I should not have been at all surprised to learn how long this has been taking place, but I was. It's amazing just how many things never occur to us until they come up in conversation, and it's unnerving to think how much of what we see with our own eyes can't be trusted!

early to rise?

I have never understood the obsession with rising early. It's a known fact that teens' body clocks are meant to start and end the day much later. Personally, my body responds to the sun- waking me earlier in the summer and later in the winter months. We are always fighting for the rights of everyone to follow their own path- equal rights for minorities, gays, the 'differently-abled', etc. I've been apologizing all my life for not waking up early; maybe I'll start a move for awareness of late risers… I never cared much for worms anyway.

50 Best Websites 2008 - TIME

I had forgotten how much I love TIME

50 Best Websites 2008 - TIME

Shared via AddThis

How to Manage Your Online Life When You're Dead

So I am not the only one ruminating on what happens to all our electronic "stuff" after we're gone! Read this article from TIME- great stuff in here!

How to Manage Your Online Life When You're Dead

the value of a good proofreader… take note, CNN

I feel strongly that websites and printed pieces should be proofread before they are published. VERY STRONGLY.

Today I came across this headline- on CNN's homepage- and almost choked. I doubt they were trying to tell us it was ok with them that the First Lady has legs. I know these posts are likely hurried, and certainly spellcheck wasn't going to pick this one up, but come on…CNN? Is there no one who speaks English as their first language anymore? I'm not being prejudiced; this is the English language version- or I thought it was. Doesn't anyone read what they write before they upload it?

Maybe it shouldn't bother me so much, but I feel like if we stop caring, the language as we know it will disappear and become an eclectic mix of all the other languages. Then some young anthropology students will start a crusade to preserve it and end up mining British nursing homes for the few remaining native speakers to revive it. Sheesh.

be observant

I've always felt you can learn a lot about a person by looking at their shoes…

brain dump?

Like many of you, I am seriously addicted to my computer. I began to ponder what would happen to all my words and pictures if something happens to me. Will my family take the time to do a forensic analysis of my hard drive and save all my musings and images? So much of what we think is important simply goes out of existence with us. I guess what I'm saying is that I should take the time to organize it for them, so it's all in one place and can be easily accessed and saved. I like to think it will be saved anyway. We all think so highly of ourselves that the idea that our observations mean little to others is upsetting. There must be some part of this feeling that's due to the self-preservation response- encoded in our very being. It takes extra effort to get along when we are all undeniably programmed to think we are the best and the brightest, eh?

the other reason…

… that I chose "analogies" is that "musings" and all the other synonyms I searched were already taken!

why I chose "analogies"…

It's always seemed logical to me to explain things by equating them with something else the listener already knows. I've probably done this my entire life and it works pretty well for me. People rarely experience the same thing in the same way. It never ceases to amaze me that two people of comparable intelligence can share a conversation or experience and come away with vastly different perceptions of it. Before being judgmental or argumentative, ask yourself this: "Is there anything - any fact or explanation- that you don't currently know, that might change the way I view this?" For instance, if someone is speaking too loudly, but you knew that person to be hard of hearing, would it be more tolerable? Is it possible that the person you deem to be wrong might know something about the situation that you are not aware of?

One of my oldest analogies for this is a story I call "the hill." Imagine there stands before you a tall hill, and on this hill you can see a tree- one tree. You are speaking to someone who is currently on another side of the same hill. You proclaim that there is only one tree on this hill, but your companion insists you are wrong; they insist there are two trees on the hill. You know you are right- you can see the one tree right in front of you with your own eyes! How can they be arguing this fact? But what they see on the other side of the hill is two trees, so of course they argue that they are correct- they can see the two trees right in front of them with their own eyes! Obviously, you are both mistaken; there are at least three trees on this hill, and only a complete 360° examination of the hill will reveal the total number of trees it holds. Remember that it's rare for any of us to have such a comprehensive understanding of anything.

So while we each evaluate the set of facts in front of us and make a determination, we must keep our minds open to the possibility that there may be other factors we are not currently aware of that would alter our perception.