“The Dog” Journal
Welcome to the Dog Journal, a blog where I periodically share my best finds for taming those puppies that gnaw at your planner.
Could be a quick time management tip, a smell-the-flowers moment, a comment overheard on the elevator. Whatever the inspiration, I hope you’ll blog right along with me by commenting and sharing your tips and stories for taming an overbooked life.
Feng Shui Party: More Stuff
What kind of woman goes to a Feng Shui party and comes home with more stuff than she started out with?
A woman like – sigh – moi.
The invitation encouraged us to bring a small something we loved and, in the spirit of clearing our clutter, bring a small something we were ready to donate. To my credit, I complied. I arrived with a keeper – a beloved shell doll made by my grandmother. Also, one discard to share – a perplexing glass figurine I’d picked up years before in Nova Scotia as a someday gift to someone.
The figurine was the perfect discard. Symbolizing a “lonely traveler,” it had never scored as a gift. What would it say to the recipient? “I think you are lonely”? At the party, though, it apparently spoke to someone because two minutes on the “share” table, and someone picked it up. So far, so good.
That, however, is when my clutter-clearing ended because right where it had been on the share table was now a Hummel figurine. “A Hummel!” I gasped, turning it over for verification. Of course, I had to have it for my collection. To that, I added a CD to create a website on my Mac, just in case it might work on my laptop, and a lovely card of a girl catching stars in a butterfly net, which said, “My work is deeply fulfilling.” That, too, I had to have because affirming is believing.
Half-time score: one discard, three acquisitions.
The evening was not over, however, until the raffle. And then, while clutter-clearing Feng Shui diehards turned down books about Feng Shui with “I‘d rather get mine at the library and not collect books,” I squealed in delight at winning Peter Walsh’s It’s All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living A Richer Life With Less Stuff.
Final score: One discard, four acquisitions.
I wonder if Peter would approve.
Coffee drive-thru steals a week?
This just in from the folks who sell organic coffee at my church:
People who buy coffee primarily at drive-thru windows on their way to work will spend as much as 45 hours a year waiting in line.
Their point, of course, was to buy the beans from them and brew your own.
Wherever you buy beans, though – Wow!! Forty-five hours is a big gulp of time, to say nothing of the money and fumes.
If taking your home-brewed coffee can save you as much as 45 hours a year, what are some other time-savers that can give you up to a whole week’s vacation???
Please, do tell.
Is GPS Off-Road Answer?
Hopping on and off the Beltway in DC last week, I thanked my lucky stars I’d ditched my old GPS (which was reliable only about dying every time I took it out on the freeway at night) and replaced it with one that not only stayed awake but announced the exits by name and number.
The new one was flawless. It told me when to zig and zag. It told me how long it would take to arrive and where to pick up Chinese.
I couldn’t help but imagine how organized I’d be if I had robotic direction in the rest of my life.
“Check your calendar.” “Take out the recycling.” “Pay your Discover Card bill.”
No more missed appointments. No more overflowing bins. No more late fees.
And especially, no more walking into a room and thinking, “Why am I in here?” GPS would remember. “You came for your phone,” it would say.
I could probably even program it to announce when I went a little off course. Detours to the refrigerator, for example. “Recalculating… recalculating… recalculating….”
Maybe not such a good idea after all.
Randi Acts of Kindness
Yesterday, it was standing room only at the Southwick-Good & Fortkamp Funeral Chapel in Clintonville. The lines queuing up outside for nearly an hour had snaked into every possible entrance. Many wore purple, signifying the deceased’s enthusiasm for her alma mater, Mount Union College. And nearly everyone took a moment to dab their eyes for a woman who they said at some time or place in their lives had made them feel welcome. She did that for me.
I first got to know Randi Hirschauer during a brief stint working at the Ohio Division of Securities. She was standing in the tiny employee kitchen, surrounded by dozens of suspicious containers she’d just pulled from the employee refrigerator. Like many offices, ours was less than vigilant about cleaning out the communal fridge. Until the foul aromas wafted up, the offending items simply got shoved to the back.
Randi was having none of it. She’d posted a sign with a date certain for disposal, and it was on the day following this date that I met her – fearlessly dumping the unsavory contents into a garbage bag. Like Tom Sawyer, she made it seem fun, and before I knew it, we were engaged in a lively collaboration that involved my wiping down the refrigerator shelves.
Yesterday, as family and friends rose, one by one, to salute her, one common theme emerged. This was a fun-loving woman who concerned herself with the comfort of others before herself and who reached out to make others feel welcome. Neighbors credited Randi with fostering the community on their street. I saw her do it at work. At a time when electronic communication seems to trump real human contact, we can learn a lot from her.
