Archive for August, 2006
I recently attended yet another time-management seminar (I have attended several). I am happy to say that I am already doing practically everything the advisor presented including: keeping my work area organized, use a planner to keep prioritized weekly and daily tasks, and surrounding myself with reminders of my priorities. I can definitely say that I lead a much more productive, and less stressful life because of it.
The best time management seminar that I have ever attended and fully bought into enough to implement in my life is the Steven Covey’s “7 Habit’s for Highly Effective People.” When I first heard this seminar I thought: what marketing genius! They are making money by selling common sense. Of course I knew it was important to prioritize and write things down, but I never did. One thing that caught my attention was that if I mark off an appointment or reminder in a planner, I don’t have to remember it. So each morning, I spend 10 minutes with my planner. I write down the things that I need to do that day and any for the future days that I can think of, and check off the things that I accomplished yesterday, fowarding any left over tasks to today or future days if today is too busy. Then I prioritize the list. I really do have it down to 10 minutes a day, 15 minutes on Mondays (for my weekly list) and 10 extra minutes on the 1st of every month when I write down all of my meetings.
As things come up, I add them to my planner on the appropriate days that I need to remember them then I promptly forget about it. No worries, when I need to think about it, it will be in my planner on the right day. I put everything in there. Shopping lists, phone calls, kids games, project due dates. When someone asks me if I can do something this weekend or next, I just open my planner and can actually give them an answer. Needless to say, every weekend is booked through October and by the time October gets here, I will be booked through the end of the year.
Out of the “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, the one that I have the hardest time with is “sharpening the saw.” “Sharpening the saw” means that I will take time to take care of myself so that I don’t end up burnt out. Unfortunately, if there are 300 things to do this week and I only have time for 250, the 50 things that get crossed off the list are always the ones that only benefit me (like exercise). I have taken the time to play volleyball every week and that has been great, it went in the planner so I don’t schedule anything else for that time slot. It is not enough though. An hour and a half a week is not enough time to sharpen a saw that is sawing 100-150 hours a week. It’s just not proportional.
After 4 years of college where I worked two jobs while taking 21 credit hours each semester and 12 credit hours in the summer, I though I would have plenty of time to relax and do everything I put off for 4 years. A year later, I find I don’t seem to have any more time than I did when I was in college. I have something going on every weekend. The oldest step-son is out on his own now, my step-daughter and the younger step-son are both off to college tomorrow. So I wonder if I will finally have some free time. By free time I mean the time and energy to do things that solely benefit me. I have found that when I do have some “free” time, I am too tired to go and do anything for myself.
Another great thing about having a planner: you can review it and see where you are spending all of your time. I think that the kids going off to college will free up at least 12 hours a week. No more taking kids to school, work, practice or friends houses. Hopefully the cat won’t mess up the house as much, and there will be a lot less laundry. I hope I can get into the habit of using those extra 12 hours to be my “free” time to “sharpen the saw.”
Despite my time-management skills, and the subsequent productive lifestyle, I always find myself wishing I had more time to… well to do more. There are so many things that I want to do, so many people I’d like to spend more time with, so may more books I’d like to read, more blogs I’d like to write, things I want to draw and paint. There are states and countries I’d like to see and oh so many mountains I want to ski.
So how about it… anyone else find their life is in hyperdrive despite the collected fascade they present to the world?
Technorati tags: Steven Covey, 7Habits of Highly Effective People, Time Management, Sharpen the Saw
August 26th, 2006
I took children’s literature as an elective in college because reading was a monumental part of my childhood. In fact, I had at one time aspired to write children’s books and wrote several storylines and a few chapters of it here and there so I thought it would be interesting to take a college level course on the subject. The course covered the basic elements that are shared across “classic” children’s literature. You know the ones that last through the ages to be passed on from generation to generation. Our midterm paper assignment was to select a popular children’s book and explain if we thought it deserved the title of “classic” or if it was just cleverly marketed to a generation that does not spend enough time reading to know the difference.
At that time, Harry Potter was all the rage. The fourth book of the series had just been released and you could not go anywhere without seeing the spectacled main character plastered all over the place, every kid in the nation had to have it. It was the epitome of a well developed marketing strategy. So I decided J.K. Rowling would be an easy target, and decided to blow him out of the water. In order to do it, I decided to read the books and get some ammo. I soon realized that J.K. Rowling was not a “him” at all and I was suddenly intrigued. Why did I assume the author was a guy? I guess I inherently knew that it is rare for an author to cross genders in the first person.
Now I have to confess that although I am a voracious reader, rarely putting a book down before it is finished, I find that I occasionally skip sentences, paragraphs, and depending on the book, several pages. Quite frankly, I get bored with tedious descriptions of generic things. J.R.R Tolkien’s chapters describing trees and forests would be an example of repetitive adjectives that I’d rather not be subjected to. I went to the library and checked out the first three Harry Potter books and borrowed the fourth book from my nephew. Three days later, skipping all classes and ramen noodles as my only form of nutrition, I emerged from my dorm, bleary eyed and utterly convinced to switch my thesis in favor of the idea that the Harry Potter Series is the epitome of “classic” children’s books that will endure beyond this generation.
I did not skip a word. Not one word. Although the books are highly descriptive, they captured my imagination in a way few books have. Unlike other plots with oddly named characters and intertwining relationships, I did not have to refer back to the first chapters to jog my memory of who was related to whom. The characters names cleverly reflect their personality and are introduced fully into the plot at the right time, in a non-rushed manner. Although I consider these books easy to read, they are in no way linear. The plot is complex and multi-dimensional, each book illuminating the interlinking pieces of the previous book and entwining details that will be revealed in future books. It is, in a word, genius. After only a few chapters, I stopped my judicial reading and became fully engrossed in a magical world, and to this day, I wish I had a wand to swish and flick away my troubles and handle anoying co-workers. Other authors have their work cut out for them to be able to compete in the Harry Potter arena.
So here I am, a former non-subscriber, transformed into the ultra-fanatical Harry Potter advocate. I have all of the books. I have hardcover, paperback, audio, digital, and the entire collection of DVD movies. So I am a Harry Potter junkie and I am ok with that. In fact, the only people that have ever given me any grief about it are the ones that have never read the books. Maybe if they read the books, they could give me more specific grief about my jumping on the Harry Potter bandwagon, since I am sure they will come along for the ride as well.
P.S. My favorite book is the third book and I cried straight through the last 3 chapters of “The Half Blood Prince.” Although I think Warner Brothers has done a wonderful job with the movies, there is so much more to the books they are a delightful read even if you know how each book ends because you’ve seen the movies. I highly recommend the audio books for long drives. You will be enchanted. Happy reading!
Technorati tags: Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling, Sourcerer’s Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix, children’s literature, censorship
August 14th, 2006
Note: This post is guest authored by: Trashing the Kool Aid.
The Olean Times Herald has demonstrated yet again that they are mere puppets controlled by the long strings of Karl Rove, the genius architect behind the republican marketing machine. A recent article in the Olean Times Herald, “Randy” Kuhl, our local representative in the House of Representatives, follows classic war time marketing strategy in discussing his recent trip to Iraq. Randy was quoted in the article as saying Iraq shouldn’t be an election issue proving that he is always one to do what he’s told. Randy is out spreading the latest republican marketing script. The Olean Times Herald of course makes this front-page news, more proof that this paper loves to amplify “quality” republican propaganda.
As much as we love to point fingers at “Randy” for following Karl Roves marketing plan, you really to question the motives of the Olean Times Herald staff when August 3, 2006 CNN’s major news stories is the Senate Armed Services Committee hearingSenate Armed Services Committee hearing. This hearing noted repeatedly on the how bad things are in Iraq, yet the next day the Olean Times Herald their front-page markets the exact opposite idea? The Olean Times Herald article quotes Randy as remarking on his conversations with the troops, the troops felt the American Public wasn’t getting the full story: there are good things happening in Iraq too. 6 months ago the republican latest war marketing tool tried to use this angle to gain support. Ironically, a couple of days later, a CBS reporter was seriously wounded in an attack while covering a “good news story.” Of course there’s the usual Republican photo op: Randy with a couple of soldiers - a classic war time marketing tactic. The Olean Times Herald is showing its bias by running this story on the front-page. This article read more like a political advertisement, not objective, non-biased news.
General John Abizaid testified at a recent Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, “I believe that the sectarian violence is probably as bad as I’ve seen it, in Baghdad in particular, and that if not stopped it is possible that Iraq could move toward civil war.” Of course Randy, who claims to have his finger on the pulse of the Iraq war, claims just the opposite. It makes you wonder whose pulse Randy’s taking, my money is on Karl Rove’s. Randy concludes that “We’ve seen a decline in violence against our troops while there has been an increase in sectarian violence between radical Sunni and Shiites factions.” General John Abizaid has concluded that more people are being killed in Iraq then ever, yet according to Randy, “things are improving.” He says the “U.S. is reallocating troops to Baghdad to help Iraqi security forces sweep the city and disarm the radical groups.” At the Senate Arms Committee hearing, Senator McCain says: “What I worry about is we’re playing a game of whack-a-mole,” which directly conflicts with Randy’s half truths.
You can be sure there are plenty of lobbyist tied to the American Military Complex that reward lap-dogs like Randy. The lap-dog’s do not worry about how many people get killed or the area’s economic or structural devastation, all they care about is spending our tax dollars on Military hardware. Wave the flag, get a couple of photo ops with the troops and it’s like hitting the media lottery. One has to marvel at the just how low the Republican propaganda machine will sink. Randy could care less that part of his job is upholding the Constitution, he acts like the checks and balances are messy things that are limiting the war profiteering he’s hoping to cash in on. That’s what makes Randy a true lap-dog of George Bush, aka “The Decider”: Randy will do or say whatever he’s told.
Randy’s other republican propaganda echoed in the article was that the war in Iraq shouldn’t be an election issue. Maybe he should look at what’s happening in Connecticut and ask Joe Lieberman about how the Iraq war is affecting political campaigns. The Iraq war could turn out to be the defining moment for the next generation of democrats. Simply stating that something is not an issue does not mean it does not exist. Just like it was during the Korean War and Vietnam, war defines politics. Randy is using the ingenious marketing strategy utilized for the last 6 years: make broad statements regardless of the facts keep repeating them until every one believes it.
Newspapers seem to be in a transition period, giving politicians free front-page advertising space instead of reporting factual news. If I had a subscription to the Olean Times Herald, I would cancel it. Why would anyone subscribe to Karl Roves personal toilet paper? It is the responsibility of the Olean Times Herald to verify statements and provide the facts even if they conflict with each other. Then the reader has a choice as to who they believe.
Normally I wouldn’t pay to much attention to what this joke of a newspaper writes. When two self-proclaimed authorities on the war conflict within days of each other it’s hard not to notice. The blogsphere is full of blogs that wonder how anyone that has failed as miserably as “The Decider” still has a pole rating of 30%. This is a classic example; local paper repeatedly enables Republican marketing of a Republican candidate. Hence people are spoon feed a steady stream of Republican marketing propaganda, The American Military Complex that Eisenhower warned us about gets another lap-dog. Democracy, and constituent viewpoints lose, the American Military Complex and Halliburton wins. Randy Kewl and the Olean Times Herald a true Republican dream team, for the American Military Complex and Karl Rove.
Technorati tags: Randy Kuhl, Kuhl, John R. Kuhl, Olean Times Herald, Senate Arms Committee , republican, Bush, democrat, the decider, lap-dog
August 10th, 2006
