Noteworthy entries.

Things I don’t have to think about…

From Whatever. "Today I don’t have to think about those who hear “terrorist” when I speak my faith. Today I don’t have to think about men who don’t believe no means no. Today I don’t have to think about how the world is made for people who move differently than I do. Today I don’t have to think about whether I’m married, depending on what state I’m in. Today I don’t have to think about how I’m going to hail a cab past midnight." "Today I don’t have to think about whether store security is tailing me. Today I don’t have to think about the look on the face of the person about to sit next to me on a plane. Today I don’t have to think about eyes going to my chest first. Today I don’t have to think about what people might think if they knew the medicines I took. Today I don’t have to think about getting kicked out of a mall when I kiss my beloved hello." "Today I don’t have to think about if it’s safe to hold my beloved’s hand. Today I don’t have to think about whether I’m being pulled over for anything other than speeding. Today I don’t have to think about being classified as one of “those people.” Today I don’t have to think about making less than someone else for the same job at the same place. Today I don’t have to think about the people who stare, or the people who pretend I don’t exist." [More . . . ]

Continue ReadingThings I don’t have to think about…

A Celebration of the Book

What follows is a public service announcement. I’m taking some time to put on my President’s hat and talk about our upcoming event. We’re a week away from the Celebration. October 23rd at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri. If you’ve been reading this blog any length of time, then you know about my involvement. For the last 8 1/2 years I’ve been working for it, trying to make it better, five of those years as president. We’ve done some pretty cool things in that time. The Missouri Center for the Book has, like most such organizations, been undergoing some ups and downs the last few years. We have been reorganizing in order to be a more vital part of the literary and reading community in Missouri. Among the things that we have done over the last few years is the establishment of the Poet Laureate office for the state. We are instrumental in running the program and selecting the candidates for the post every two years. The program has been very popular. We also continue to run the state Letters About Literature Awards for students. Every year we send representatives to the National Book Festival. And we put on our annual Celebration. [More . . . ]

Continue ReadingA Celebration of the Book

I hadn’t thought of this . . .

Life Hacks offers many ideas, some of them useful. Here's one I had not previously considered, but it only applies to those of you who are on the clock (it doesn't work for salaried folks). Don't poop at home. Wait until you are at work:

Get Paid to Poop. You'll be using less of your own time and more of your company's time. If you poop for an average of 10 min per day, your company will have paid you for more than 40 hours of pooping by the end of the year. That's half as long as most paid vacations.
Though I hadn't considered the the advantage of pooping at work prior to reading this, I had considered the aggregate cost of shaving before. Even if it only takes 3 minutes per day to shave, that amounts to 1,095 minutes = more than 18 hours per year. I will plainly admit that that is one of the reasons that I chose to be bearded. Or consider that you might want to aggressively label unwanted email as junk. What if you spend even 1 minute per day deleting unwanted emails? That's six hours per year deleting individual emails. One more example. What if you ride a bike to work each day instead of driving a car (this is easy to do if you live within 5 miles of your work place--I've done it every day this week). This means there is no need to work out after work, because I've already exercised by getting to and from work. Further, it only takes 10 minutes longer to ride a bike 5 miles in the city than to drive it (it takes about 22 minutes to ride and 12 minutes to drive). Assuming that you would have worked out about 45 minutes if you didn't commute by bike, you are saving at least 25 minutes per day exercising, which is 152 hours per year, which is the equivalent of more than 3 workweeks of vacation.

Continue ReadingI hadn’t thought of this . . .