Quote of the Day - 12/30/2011

The barren soul seems like a kaleidoscope, changing its relations at each experience, whether of joy or sorrow. How beautiful is life, when we learn how much we can be to each other, and how varied may be the relations we bear to our friends. - Harriet A. Adams in Dawn (1868)

~~~~~

With all the new ways to communicate that have been developed since 1868, we still are challenged to learn how much we can be to each other. All those new forms - telephone, email, texting, video conferencing - have made is possible to have a larger circle of acquaintances but not necessarily enhanced the depth of relationships. It takes effort and the value we place on relationships may drive us toward the shallow type.

Networking is a hot topic relative to career development and it promotes the idea that a large number of professional acquaintances enhances the progress of your career…they help you/you help them. The relationship may be limited to career topics (i.e. one dimensional) but useful and valuable for what you want to accomplish in your life.

The inner circle of your relationships should be deeper. These are the relationships that last over the longer term. For me, the majority are family members and the relationships existed for my whole life (for those older than me) and for their whole life (for those younger than me). Sustaining the depth of these long term relationships is something important to me; I am willing to spend time - and utilize whatever communication mechanisms work - because I want all of these relationships to evolve into the future.

Establishing new and deep relationships are the hardest of all. The extreme effort required seems daunting. If your soul’s kaleidoscope is already beautiful, do you continue to pursue more deep relationships? For most of us - the answer may be ‘no.’

Gleanings for the Week Ending December 17, 2011

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles I read this past week:

Materials-coating advance could lead to eyeglasses that shed fingerprints – Hope this is something that gets to market quickly.

Water Wonders Every Child Should Know (Little Studies of dew, frost, snow, ice and rain)– A free e-book available from Google, published in 1907. Many black and white pictures of ice and snow crystals by Wilson A. Bentley.

Peppermint Biscotti - What a great way to us candy canes!

Feathers in fillable glass or acrylic ornaments - I bought some of these already made but may try to make some myself for hanging in windows.

Peppermint Crunch Bark - This is a recipe for a homemade version of a holiday favorite I previously purchased already made. I think I’ll make a batch before Christmas!

Chipmunks - These little animals can be such fun to watch! Over the years we’ve had a small population around our house and seen them frequently when we go camping.

Molecule of the Month - I look at this page produced by the Chemistry Department at the University of Bristol every year in December to read through a year of postings. In 2011 there were postings about Deet, Musk, Bleach, and Warfarin. I like the history of the discovery and uses for the molecules.

Waking Up in the Morning

If you were completely without external constraints on when you needed to wake up – what would your preferred awakening be like?

Most of us would respond that we prefer to just wake up on our own with a gradual transition from sleep to wakefulness…feeling rested and ready for the day ahead.

I sleep fairly easily and could probably achieve this as long as I

• Go to sleep about the same time every night and
• Get up when I first awaken in the morning rather than dozing.

Those are two pretty significant provisos and require discipline that sometime is not possible. The most likely nonconformities are – I stay up later if I am in the middle of something at bedtime and I sometimes decide to go back to sleep in the morning…sleeping longer and waking up with a headache if it goes on too long. If I am not at home, my sleep is different….not quite as sound because I am more wary or a bit uncomfortable; that doesn’t necessarily mean I need to sleep longer, it just may interfere with my biological clock that would normally wake me up.

So – almost everyone, including me, will try various other methods of waking up.

The loud, harsh alarm clock is dreaded but common. It does wake you up. The big negative is that it is jarring. Discipline is required to not hit the snooze button to recover from the shock. Whatever advantage finishing the sleep cycle might provide is completely gone too. It isn’t too bad if it is really just the backup plan and you are really already awake because it is your normal time to get up.

There are better sounding alarm clocks that play music or nature sounds. They too wake you up unless you are a very sound sleeper or the volume is turned too low. Again – they work best if you are really already awake and you avoid the snooze feature. Remember – the snooze feature will not allow you to get any quality sleep since it is too short; it’s only function is recovery from the shock of waking up which you want to avoid anyway by waking up at a consistent time each day.

Setting a timer – say 8 hours – from whenever you go to bed is another technique. I tend to be at my best with about 7.5 hours actually in bed. I’ve found that being in bed for over 8 hours actually makes me feel ill! My timer has a harsh beep so it has a lot of similarities to the alarm clock. I only use this option when I am traveling across time zones and know that my biological clock will be unreliable.

Of course – it helps to have the sun rising when you awaken. I’ve had an east facing window in my bedroom for the past 20 or so years and like the early light. It isn’t there in the winter time when I get up but it helps for a greater part of the year. I’ve considered what it would be like to gradually change my bedtime so that I would always get up at dawn. There is an app that would provide an alarm relative to sunrise….but I haven’t tried it yet.

There are also alarm clocks that start with light to wake you up…simulating a sunrise. Most of them have noise that eventually kicks in if the light does not do the trick. That would seem like the gentlest approach to waking up at a consistent time. Most of them are pretty expensive so a simple timer that turns on the lights in your bedroom may be something to try first!

While we are on the subject of waking up….think about what is driving the time and way you awaken. The determining factor has changed over time for me:

• 40 years ago – being at work or school by a particular time
• 20 years ago –picking my daughter up by a certain time in the afternoon required an early wake up time/start at work
• 10 years ago – leaving home early enough to avoid a lot of traffic for the morning commute to work
• Now – recognizing that I am a morning person

Kindle Fire – Week 3 Review

Three weeks ago, an early Christmas present from my husband arrived –  a Kindle Fire, Full Color 7" Multi-touch Display, Wi-Fi.  I’m documenting my journey getting comfortable with it over the first three weeks. The 1^st week review can be found here; the 2^nd here. The review items for week 3 included:

• The Kindle will allow me to be more ‘paperless’ when I travel since its screen is large enough that I can read my itinerary. I simply put things in the inbox of the email that I might need. As long as everything synced while the Kindle Fire could communicate with the wireless network, the email is there while I am on the road and not connected to anything.
• I have also used it for a recipe again. This time I set the timeout for 45 minutes so didn’t have to touch the display while I was cooking.
• I discovered that the Internet Archive has a lot of their texts available in Kindle format. I downloaded several to read while I waited for my car to be serviced. Since it is an OCR’d version and there are bad characters/words occasionally. I will probably use the ‘read online’ version when I know I am going to be connected while reading.

At the end of week 3, I’m still very pleased with my Kindle Fire and am making good use of its features every day. Is there still more to discover? Probably…but the steepest part of the learning curve is done.

Kindle Fire – Week 2 Review

Two weeks ago, an early Christmas present from my husband arrived –  a Kindle Fire, Full Color 7" Multi-touch Display, Wi-Fi .  I’m documenting my journey getting comfortable with it over the next few weeks. The 1^st week review can be found here. The delta for week 2 included:

• Using the Kindle to display a recipe (Cranberry Upside Down Cake) worked reasonable well. I put it on a pedestal book stand so it was out of danger of spills and easily visible. The only thing I would change next time would be to lengthen the display timeout from 5 minutes (I had forgotten all about this until it timed out!).

• The OurGroceries app worked well at the store. I particularly like the way the list marks off and moves those items to the bottom as you shop. It is much easier to see what you still need to buy than with a paper list. There was no problem with display timeout (I am not a browsing kind of grocery shopper). A case designed for the Kindle would be better than my improvised padded folder.
• And that brings me to the Kindle Fire MicroShell Folio Cover by Marware  we ordered when my husband saw it on sale – and it came already! It is very light weight but has a solid back that provides good protection for the Kindle. I like the elastic strap that keeps it closed and is also handy for your hand while reading.

At the end of week 2, I’m still very pleased with my Kindle Fire. I’ll continue my review for another week…after that I expect that I’ll be mostly through the experimentation and be simply enjoying my Kindle!

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 26, 2011

The items below were the cream of the articles I read this past week:

Wild Turkey Facts – did you know that sonic booms can cause domesticated turkey to have fatal heart attacks?

National Parks Conservation Association report on the Chesapeake Bay – the bay will never be as it was when John Smith arrived…but there are things that can and should be done to help the bay recover rather than declining further

Baltimore’s can-do approach to food deserts – it can be very difficult/expensive to find healthful food inner city neighborhoods. Baltimore is trying to improve that situation.

Whale Fossils in the Atacama Desert – there are a lot of them and the research is just beginning

Mars Sand Dunes in Motion – the red planet dunes are not as static as once thought

Paper gems (template included) – hum…maybe this is a use for odd bits of wrapping paper? I’ve already printed off the template to give it a try!

Changes In Ancient Humans’ Diet Made Wisdom Teeth Obsolete – I am a person who did have all 4 wisdom teeth removed before I was 20. It is interesting to have this explanation but it may not be the only reason wisdom teeth need to be extracted.

Know your Sharks Gallery – Fascinating creatures that are getting a lot of attention from National Geographic right now

Makeup tips for aging faces – Some of these tips I had derived on my own some now…and every little bit helps!

Kindle Fire - Week 1 Review

One week ago, an early Christmas present from my husband arrived – a Kindle Fire, Full Color 7" Multi-touch Display, Wi-Fi. PCs and Blackberries are old hat for me, but touch screens are new. I’m going to write blog items over the next few weeks about my journey to use it effectively. My successes so far:

• The first thing I did was put in the info to allow the Kindle into my home wireless network. It took less than a minute…and has worked flawlessly since.
• I successfully downloaded and read a Kindle book from my public library - Diane Mott Davidson’s Chopping Spree (Goldy Bear Culinary Mystery). For this kind of text, the narrower line length was preferable. I even found an old acrylic bookstand to use for the kindle so I could read while I was exercising. The highlighting feature will take some getting used to; getting my finger positioned to start the highlighting was the most challenging for me.
• My husband and I looked for a grocery list app and settled on OurGroceries. It wasn’t on the Amazon app store but my husband got the app on his Droid phone; then we used the PC and AndroXplorer to move it to the Kindle. It works fine. We can create a list that our PCs, his Droid phone, his iPad, and my Kindle can all share. We’ll see how my Kindle works when I shop for groceries this next weekend.
• Email worked almost immediately. The only challenging part was my finger putting in my email address and password the first time. It is already easier.
• Web browsing is easy enough if the links are not very closely spaced on the page. I have learned to enlarge the page before I attempt to follow a link.
• My blog looks great on the Kindle. It was one of the first sites I took a look at.
• One frustration so far is that the cases for the Kindle Fire are still pretty expensive and there is not much selection. I want something that will protect it while I am using it (like when I am grocery shopping) – not a bag or sleeve. Hopefully, more will come out soon.
• Finally, I took a look at a PDF file – Protecting our Chesapeake from the National Park Conservation Association. This file was easier to read with the long line length the 7 inches provides. I got lots of practice moving around in the document since it was formatted with double columns. The pictures displayed well.

All in all, I’ve been pleased with the Kindle Fire so far. I’ll continue the report on my journey next week!