07.31.08
Kindergarten Backpack
We will be school supply shopping tomorrow for our soon to be kindergartener and the biggest decision will be what kind of backpack design he can have. The school has no rules about clear or mesh bags. The only guidelines are large enough to carry small books and papers. We are also not restricted by characters, as we have been at daycare which didn’t allow superhero or other violent characters. This was always our crutch for not allowing him to have or wear certain things. Now it’s just on us to decide what’s appropriate and what’s not and to let him know that it’s because mommy and daddy don’t think this is appropriate and here’s why.
So we’ve researched a few backpack options that are characters he is into, but that his father and I also have deemed appropriate. The ultimate decider will probably be availability and then price.
07.29.08
Got it
I got my certificate for my retote in the mail this week and got my free retote yesterday. I posted just over the weekend how I was concerned that they would be out of them because I hadn’t seen them in a while. The Target I went to had 4 and they were in the grocery specials section (the section opposite the One Spot) with the other reusable grocery bags.
So for those of you still waiting on your certificates, it will come, and I am confident Target will still have retotes for you to get.
iPhone Puts Time in Perspective
Last week, while adding birthdays for next year to my 2008-2009 calendar I got to December 2009 and nearly had a panic attack. You see, I will turn 30 in December 2009 and just knowing that my 30th birthday is now in my calendar, in my purse ,at this exact moment just made it seem all too close.
But my recent iPhone purchase put this all in perspective for me this morning. See, it’s calendar goes on forever, so it seems, so having my 30th birthday written in my pocket calendar is no big deal considering every date for the rest of my life apparently is on my iPhone calendar. I looked ahead as far as May of 2012 and decided that was as far as I could handle. May of 2012, you see, is when my soon-to-be-kindergartner will graduate high school. Somehow that too being on a calendar in my purse makes it seem all too soon.
07.26.08
On What Authority?
Upon hearing the news today that Randy Pausch died, I remembered that I intended to write more here after I finished his book, The Last Lecture. (Original Post)
I finished the book more than a month ago but procrastinated writing about it. I’m sure in his book he probably said something about not procrastinating. Which leads to me what I wanted to share about his book. I read it mainly to read his story. As a writer and story teller, I like to know what happened to people and why it happened the way it did and how it affected them, etc. So I read the book looking for the details about his cancer, his life, his family, etc., that were not conveyed in the short last lecture I saw on Oprah. At first, the book delivered on that and I got all the details about his childhood, his career, his family and then his cancer. At some point, though, the book turned into a self-help book and resembled an advice column. Chapter names toward the end of the book signal this change, names like “Know Where You Are,” “Never Give Up” and “Be a Communitarian.”
At this point in the book I started asking myself: On what authority does this man tell me these things? Is it because he had a sabattical at Disney? Because he’s a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon? Is it because he’s had certain opportunities that taught him things about life? Or is it just because he’s dying?
I think the answer is all of the above. He tells in the book about some unique life experiences and what he learned from them. He used his classroom at Carnegie Mellon to relate some of these experiences and lessons. But cancer, that just this week took his life, broadened his audience more than I even know and perhaps taught someone something they needed.
In the end, the book didn’t really change me, but I’m glad that the $21.95 (less whatever discount it was on sale for) will at least support a worthy cause: three children who lost their dad.
07.25.08
Where’s My Retote?
It’s been two months since I sent my Target bags to be recycled and I’ve yet to receive my Target Retote coupon. (In case you missed it, here’s the original post.) While certainly impatient for the cool bag, I’m also concerned because I haven’t seen the retote in the Target store for a while now. Certainly they’ll restock once we all start receiving our vouchers for a free bag.
So I emailed Target today to see what’s up. I’ll post something here as soon as I hear back.
In the meantime, here’s an interesting article about Terracycle, the company that is turning Target shopping bags into Target tote bags. (Why is it that the most successful companies in America are started by college drop-outs?)
07.23.08
Tautology
A new word I learned this week that, as a writer, I may find useful.
pronunciation: \tȯ-ˈtä-lə-jē\
definition: needless repetition of an idea, statement, or word
I discovered the word in Saturday’s Writer’s Art column by James Kilpatrick. In concluding his column on redundancies he wrote, “Tautologous redundancies, needless to say, are the very worst kind.” And yes, per his usual style, he meant to be redundant when he said “tautologous redundancies.”
07.18.08
For the want of a nail …
My junior high and high school Bible teacher used to recite this rhyme to us.
For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.
The meaning behind it — that the littlest things can affect such bigger things — hits me all the time! I think in some ways it’s a blame game, a way to take the responsibility off of ourselves and blame it on something else, in this case a nail.
I was reminded of this poem once again when I read this passage from “Some Trust In Chariots,” a book I am reading about the space shuttle Challenger incident. It is written by Gene Thomas who was launch director at the time. To set the scene, in the book Thomas has just written about the two days before Challenger launched and how and why launches were scrubbed on those days.
“I realized that had these two fateful incidents never occurred, the entire Challenger catastrophe might also never have happened. That fateful January 28, 1986 may have been avoided had we not gotten an incorrect weather prediction on Sunday, January 26. Challenger may never have occurred had we not experienced the failure of a two-bit hatch tool on Monday, January 27. Had we been able to launch under the conditions of either of those scrubbed opportunities, Challenger’s crew may have been spared. Surely the ‘O’ rings would have sealed properly under warmer conditions and America would be relishing the lessons of a teacher in space rather than mourning seven dead heroes. What a major part every event in history seems to play. Each minute detail must be in place to lead to a significantly historic event.”
This idea of how seemingly small details can have such large impacts is a topic I’m working on for another blog post. But I couldn’t let the opportunity pass of sharing a real-life example of something that I think deserves a lot of thought. Stay tuned ….
