Teach Yourself, And Let Your Children Teach You

Are you really giving your child the benefit of the best education for the future they are facing? Do you realize that the best tools might already be in your own house?
 

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I LOVE This Office

Howard's Dream Office - such a source of inspiration...

Madoff Madness

Image by Runs With Scissors via Flickr

What can you say about Bernie Madoff? That he is: greedy, a sociopath, out-of-touch, brilliantly evil, mad? A study in the addiction of conspicuous consumption?

I think he’s the perfect symbol of a system/society/class  completely out of touch. Out of touch with the world around them – the real world, that is – and the lives of the people in it. Not only did he scam the greedy and selfish you could care less are suffering, he scammed the good, the helpful, the altruistic and kind. As though they were all characters in an entertaining novel or game. Was it ever just greed, or did it cross the line into sport? You know, like a tv drama that shows a rich man who suddenly has a thirst for hunting something more challenging – like a human.

I’ve never made up my mind about the death penalty. But I sure wish there was a way we could sentence certain people to scientific study. You know, like a lab rat.

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Is Your Glass Half Full, or Half Empty?

Lost Generation

Neighborly Watch

Image by • MAH7 via Flickr

It’s always disheartening to see problems like this, neighbors suing neighbors. You might not want to be the best of friends, and you certainly don’t need to be living next to someone who drives you nuts. But neighbors are kinda like family – you can’t pick ‘em, but you do need to deal with ‘em.

I know someone who had neighbors they didn’t get along with. It was years and years of not acknowledging the other’s presence, being the one house you didn’t visit on Halloween or Christmas, of putting the wrong mail back in the mailbox and hoping they did the same for you. You may not want someone living next door who is constantly stopping by, or asking a million questions about that car in your driveway the other day, or telling you how to raise your kids. But neighbors who can’t get along at all is another kind of hell.

Many years have passed and all the kids are grown and gone. Most of the other neighbors have moved, or died, and there are new people who don’t introduce themselves like people once did. Being the last of the old crowd, they are finally becoming friends because…well, if you drop dead in your backyard, who else is gonna see?

Something to think about.

Clowns

Image by Noël Zia Lee via Flickr

I have bird feeders right outside of my office window. More than just helping to nourish the local bird population, they provide hours of entertainment. My cats are rather entertained by them too.

Two of the feeders are squirrel-proof. It’s endlessly amusing to see how determined those furry-tailed rodents are to thwart that. They regularly tumble from the feeders into the holly bush underneath, yet determinedly leap out, scale the wall to the roof, and try again. I admire their persistence.

I think I like the squirrels as much as the birds. They don’t sing, and have no colorful plumage, but they are clever in their antics to get at the seed. They try just about anything to get what they want, from hanging upside down, or swinging wildly in the air, or leaping great distances as though determination alone will get them there. I sometimes break down and toss a handful or two of seed on the ground. Oh, alright, often. They’ve taken to sitting up and staring at me, their paws humbly clasped, their big eyes open in a silent “please?” Of course, I give in.

After all, they’ve put on quite a performance. Only fair to pay the price of admission.

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Love, For All