Author: Paul

Sharing the shiny bits of life since I can remember. I run http://greenergrassmedia.com/.
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Travel to get perspective

London in the summer of 2011It has been a while since we left the state. We need to get away. It’s so important to remove ourselves from our normal lives to regain perspective. If we’re always down in the tunnel of work and daily routines, we forget what is really important.

If you can’t afford to travel away, just go to your next town. Take a day off and hang out at a restaurant or coffee shop you’ve never been to before. Try a new type of food. Visit a different aisle in the supermarket. Leave your computer at home. Don’t take your work with you. Turn off your mobile phone.

Aaaah.

(The photo is courtesy of my daughter Rachel.)

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Save the best parts

keys from a powerbookA friend recently gave me an Apple Powerbook to dispose of properly. When it was new in 2001, it was the very finest laptop money could buy. The starting price was $1,999. The case was made of titanium, a costly lightweight metal. (Today Apple uses cheaper aluminum.)

As I was about to take that broken beauty to Best Buy for free recycling, I opened it up one last time and thought of keeping the keys that meant something. I saved out B-E-N (one of my two sons’ names) and P-A-U-L. Sadly, I could not keep enough keys to make up my remaining family members’ names.

So before you throw that thing away, what small part can you save that will let you remember its beauty?

Related posts: Not going to buy it and Go digital.

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Ocean plastic

Japanese mouthwash on a beach in KenyaMethod came out with new soap that comes in a bottle made from ocean plastic. I’m sure you’ve heard of the Texas-sized swirl of plastic in the middle of the ocean. Method decided to make a difference and produce bottles made from ocean plastic.

Problem: Fast Company revealed that just 10% of each bottle is made from ocean plastic. I could not see that fact anywhere in the Method site.

In all fairness to Method, having 100% of the bottle made from ocean plastic would probably result in a bottle that cost $20.

If you really want to make a difference with your environmentalism, buy a large plastic pump bottle and repeatedly fill it with bulk dish soap from your local natural foods supermarket.

Photo: I took a picture of a Japanese mouthwash bottle that washed up on the beach in Kenya, Africa. Sometimes ocean plastic travels a long way.

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Love or hate

slightly imperfect stickerSome things people do drive us crazy. We have a choice on how to handle those things. We can allow them to make us hate the person, or we can let them be quirky little traits that cause that person to more loveable.

My wife and kids love me, in spite of how some things I do drive them crazy. And I love them, in spite of how some things they do drive me crazy. We’re not perfect, and we have a long way to go. And a few years ago, some of those things caused some rifts that had to be slowly and carefully repaired.

Of course some character traits push us too far and can be deal breakers. When the offending trait verges into the mental illness arena, sometimes it’s healthy to maintain a distance.

Today, I challenge you to turn around your thinking about that person’s character trait that drives you crazy. What have you got to lose?

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Get together

The weekend of October 5 and 6 was PodCamp Denver 3, a conference I led with the help of several very smart people.

It was a great time of sharing ideas and learning from each other. We broke into two groups and learned about thing ranging from the role of maps in mobile communication to the latest in search engine optimization techniques. Everything related to communicating ideas using the internet.

Even though everyone at PodCamp spends their work days on computers with virtual groups, we all see the value of meeting in real life. Sometimes, you can learn so much more in hours of face-to-face meetings than from days of virtual meetings.

The point of this post is not to talk about geeky things like what we discussed – but rather to say it’s very much worth your while to spend time with other professionals in your field. If you don’t know about where groups like that are, start by looking for them. If you can’t find any, start a group! If you live in a small town, travel to a bigger town and start a group there. Becky did.

Finally, get together with a group outside of your place of employment. You see those people enough. Even if you’re part of a huge corporation, you need the perspective of people from outside your company’s niche.

The photo was taken with an iPhone, using iOS6. The panorama feature is amazingly easy to use – if not perfect. If you click on the photo, you can see a larger version.

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Top Ten List of Shiny Bits of Life

Hey there! My name’s Johanna. I’m a fellow reader of SBOL. It’s Paul’s birthday today — be sure to wish him a happy birthday.

I missed mailing Paul a package of analog shiny bits of life, so I decided to go digital this year, highjacking his blog. Enjoy my curated list of the best of Shiny Bits of Life. Enjoy!

10. Really, really sweet
9. A little whine for you
8. Mom & me
7. Hidden beauty inside
6. My longest-owned thing
5. Space invaders
4. The ultimate photographic project
3. Happy halloween
2. Fun Friday picture
1. Closed captioning for music

What’s a favorite post of yours?

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Times goes fast

Autumn leaves in a green treeAutumn is nearly upon us. As I ride my bicycle to work, I’m reminded of the disappearance of summer. (It’s chilly!)

I love the fall. Cool crisp air, leaves changing color, the feeling of being warm under the blankets, and how hot drinks just taste better.

Three months is a very short time. What are you doing to celebrate this glorious season?

To my readers who are in the southern hemisphere or on the equator – I hope that you are enjoying your season as well.

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Protecting us from ourselves?

New York City recently banned super-size soft drinks at restaurants (LA Times story). There are two ways to think about the law…

1. It violates our right to do whatever we want.

2. It is a great way to save all of us lots of money by preventing obesity-related health problems.

What is your take? Here’s a little poll. I’ll tell you what I think on Friday, September 21st. And please share your thoughts in the comments (link above, next to the title). Enlighten me and other readers!

[polldaddy poll=6537118]

As promised, I’m sharing my take on this. I feel that it is a good thing when any of us is prevented from doing harmful things, with a few exceptions. I’m not a fan of big and expensive government, but I am a fan of prevention of cruelty to humans. Buying a 64-ounce soft drink at a restaurant for consumption by one person is just not a smart thing to do.

Update: “Researchers say they have the strongest evidence yet that sugary drinks play a leading role and that eliminating them would, more than any other single step, make a huge difference.” Source.

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Labels

My nephew's drawing of a person and a houseMy nephew is very creative. He views the world in a unique way. He’s super smart and has the ability to focus on many things other people miss.

I love this artwork he created. He enjoys drawing very small and detailed things. Someday he may be an inventor.

He was diagnosed with a very mild form of autism a few years ago. Autism is a complicated thing. Though some people see it as a handicap, I think that people with autism can function in ways other people can’t. Autism gives a person an interesting set of filters to view life that “normal” people don’t have. If you haven’t seen the movie Temple Grandin, I would highly recommend that you do. It was one of my favorite movies of the last five years.

Everyone has some level of “abnormalities” that are used to categorize individuals. We may not have enough to be put into a distinct personality disorder box, but we all function strongly in some areas and weakly in others.

We’re all weird. And I’m glad about that.

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A tip for your motoring pleasure

flat tireSo we had a flat. What made it fun was that our spare tire had no air pressure. The result was not as bad as it could have been, but an hour of our lives and our rescuer’s life could have been spent doing more fun things than recovering from that minor crisis.

Tip: check the air pressure in your spare tire every once in a while. I promise it will save you some hassle.

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