“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.
Passover: The Fifth Question
After years of celebrating Passover, I’ve got the Four Questions (and the answers) down pat. But the really tough question – the Fifth – is not so easy. When does Passover begin?
Seems it depends on which calendar you check. On one of mine, March 30 says “First Day of Passover.” On another, March 30 says “Passover.” On two others, March 29 says “Passover begins at sundown.” They’re all technically correct, but the person making the matzo balls needs to know soup’s on at sundown before the first “day” of Passover. This year, that would be Monday night.
Of course, first one must find the matzo – increasingly easy around Columbus, but not so much in other parts of the country. A friend’s sister, matzo-searching in Virginia, reports the clerk sent her straight to the dairy case. “Right over there,” he said. “Lotsa Mozzarella!”
Unplugged!
Real Simple Magazine just published the results of its first study on how readers use and save time.
Gotta admire the reader who, asked how to make time for what matters most, announced that her family goes “unplugged” one weekend a month. We’re not just talking about unplugging the TV. They also unplug the phones and the computer and turn down social engagements. For an entire weekend. They use the time to hang out with each other.
Would this be wonderful? Or something like the self-inflicted punishment that can come with grounding a teen-ager? Wondering how many families would be able to pull this off.
Using Non-Forever Stamps FOREVER!
I wish I could say I’d bought nothing but “Forever” stamps. Fofty-four cents now and enough postage to mail a letter forever.
Instead, I’m trying to use up all those 39-centers, 37-centers, 34-centers and 33-centers and all the one, two and three cent stamps that I bought to get them up to the next level. I’m scratching my head trying to figure out what the ones without a face value are actually worth.
I tried returning them to the post office, but the US Postal Service wasn’t buying. And so now, on top of everything else in my unbalanced life, are little envelopes of postage that must travel in armies to make the journey from my house to yours.
I suspect a nationwide search would find enough of these little fragments to pay off the national debt. Anyone know of a charity that takes them?
What’s Your Sound Byte?
Sidelined for awhile with foot surgery, I’ve taken in more than my usual share (close to zero) of live TV.
It was a surprise to discover that I was inspired! Not by the programs so much but a series of testimonials ads featuring the luminaries on MSNBC – Chris Matthews, Rachel Maddow and Andrea Mitchell
Like their politics or not, it’s hard not to be inspired by the fire with which they describe their passion for their work: the thrill of asking just the right question, the joy of digging for more, the thrill of detecting dissembling.
Journalism isn’t for everyone. Neither is politics. But passion can be. So I’m working on my own two-minute ad, just for me. Not done yet, but some likely components – the thrill of finding just the right word, the fun of making someone laugh…. You get the idea.
What’s YOUR sound byte?
