Table for Five - Elizabeth

Along the trail of the 2000 Bloggers, I find Elizabeth writing at Table for Five.

She celebrated a birthday milestone and woke up feeling no different.

She made do for a whole weekend without cable TV or Internet access.

She wonders why she doesn't get invited to cocktail parties?

She writes frequently as a mommy blogger. Consider adding her site to your RSS Reader!

The Thinking Blog - ilker yoldas

Along the trail of the 2000 Bloggers, I find The Thinking Blog. Yes, you heard right. Thinking.

Sounds like this place is right up my alley!

How about sending an email to your future self? She writes:

I've seen this before, and maybe some of you have seen this as well, but I'm sure most people haven't. Even so, its time to bury your own personal time capsule! Ever wonder where will you be one year from today? Preserve your thoughts, resolutions, and memories on Future Me, then specify the date in the future when you want them emailed back to you.

Read her full posting here.

She also heard about First Life and writes:

Go Outside. Make some real life friends. Live your life. Second Life is a popular virtual world which recently crossed one million residents. To parody Second Life, Darren Barefoot created a one page satire site called Get a First Life which is a '3D analog world where server lag does not exist.'

So other than sending an email to yourself, or getting to live your first life, stop by and see what's up at The Thinking Blog.

Serenity Quest - Tisha Best

Along the trail of the 2000 bloggers, I stop and find that Liz Strauss just called Tisha an SOB.

No, that is not a bad thing. Tisha loves it!

Ha ha ha SOB stands for “Successful and Outstanding Bloggers” and Liz has got it in her head that I deserved the recognition.

Well my loyal readers I bequeath this honor to YOU! Yes to all of YOU, even the lurkers who come around to ogle my profile pic, I don’t even want to know what kinds of activities that has engendered, darts, mas…chuchum, and to all of you who comment sharing with me your thoughts, ideas, likes, dislikes, traumas, perversions, psychoses, YOU have become my friends [I am one sick little puppy to have friends like you] and YOU deserve the credit, THANK YOU!

Read her full posting here.

Jump on over to Tisha's place and check it out. You'll be glad you did.

Hitchhiker Guidelines

Troy Worman's first post here said:

The blogosphere is a giant time capsule that offers a panoramic view of our world. It is a collection of personal expressions that represent virtually every human perspective of our times. It is filled with millions of personal accounts, diaries, essays, stories and photos. It is filled with art. It is filled with emotion. It is filled with thought. It is our collective conscience. Better than any collection of books or articles, the blogosphere will capture the story of our existence.

My initial posting here said:

... consider this a trail head.

We are both hiking in the blogosphere.

We have our individual likes and dislikes, our passions
and a common desire to share the experience with fellow hikers.

As we find a blogger voice that sounds like something you might be interested in
we'll post it here.

So continuing the trail and hiking analogy, when you find a site you like and think others would be interested in, share it here.

We tend to focus on the less than A list blogs. Those already have a great level of readership and generally don't need any help. Occasionally, they may still get mentioned here just because.

How to share the site is open to your creativity. Good writing on most any blog will include links to the site, perhaps some specific postings, quote from the site...

You could follow the Blog Tipping guidelines

You could create a story like David has done, sample here.

One of Karen Shanley's recent entries can be found here.

Bottom line, the objective is to create something that will entice a reader to go there and explore that blog, and of course, come back here for more!

Inklings: On the Hunch that Science Rocks

The trail makes a pit stop at Inklings: On the Hunch that Science Rocks , a science magazine full of legitimate, though quirky, science articles.

The "About Us" page describes the magazine's mission as:

"dedicated to science as we see it. Founded in late 2006, we cover the science that pervades our life, makes us laugh, and helps us choose our breakfast foods."

Here are a few recent articles:

Pop Culture
For Those About to Hypothesize: We Salute You
A top-ten list to brighten the day of even the most oppressed Petri-dish slave.
by Kate Fink
24 January 2007

Health
Your Health This Week
Advice for a long life: swim safely, stay in prison, drink cranberry juice and keep a lid on your anger
by Anna Gosline
24 January 2007

Travel
Science Bloggers Avoid the Spinach Dip Brush-Off
A cocktail of lessons from last week's Science Blogging Conference
by Eva Amsen
24 January 2007

Health
Fighting Malaria with Mosquitoes
Malaria researchers learn to hijack mosquitoes' immune tricks for good
by Kurt Wong

I'd have to say I think they succeed at their mission. It's always funny and interesting.

Dipping into the archives

Looking back at who was found at this time last year is always interesting...

Tamarika is still writing here.

Christina is still writing here.

David is still writing here.


So if you don't find something current, don't hesitate to dip into the archives. They are full of goodness!

Kavit Haria

At this next stop along the trail we find Kavit writing:

Welcome to the official weblog of Kavit Haria. This is the single blog where Kavit combines all his work, writings, philanthrophy and his quest for lifelong fulfillment.

Kavit Haria is regarded as UK’s #1 Music Success Coach, a public speaker and coach who helps musicians have more successful careers and live more fulfilled lives.

As an established musician himself (multi-percussionist), he has played with many top name musicians in a wide variety of genres (fusion-style music) throughout his career.

Kavit writes:

Here’s another great music marketing strategy you may like to try out. Once your fans sign up to your mailing list at your website, offer them free audio samplers of your music. Then over a period of a few weeks, email them frequently and become their friend, not the sales person. Being the friend always is a good thing as they can see you taking an interest in them and what they are involved in.

Read the full posting here.

Kavit writes:

How clear and so useful for us today, no matter what religion it originates from. Start chunking down your bigger goals, ambitions and wants in life into smaller, simpler activities and just notice that you’ll get to the goal faster. Maybe you’re the kind of person that knows you’ve got to get something done, but you just don’t do it and sometimes you don’t even know why you don’t take action. Well most of the time, it’s the mind that’s afraid because it’s such a big task and if you don’t complete it, you put yourself down, lose focus and frustration. Well not any more. Follow the Tao’s passage above and break things into smaller and simpler tasks and then just take action.

Read the full posting here.

Consider adding this site to your RSS Reader of choice.

Live your bext life - Tim Draayer

The trail continues meandering today to eventually find Tim Draayer writing at Live Your Best Life.

A sample of Tim's recent postings reveal:

• Attitude of Gratitude
• Who are you working for?
• XELR8 Conference in Vegas and the Guru Complex
• Creativity Quote
• Are You a Motivation Junkie?
• Road Blocks, Time and YOU

Tim writes:

When I was younger I had little regard for my health and what I ate. My mom always told me 'You are what you eat'. I laughed at this but I think that the true saying is that 'We are what we think' because as the passage above states, our thoughts precede our ever action, create habits and then defines our character.

If you believe yourself to be successful, you are. If you think you have nothing to live for, you won't.

Read his full posting here.

Tim writes:

There is a lot of responsibility in making a New Years Resolution because you are placing a request upon yourself to make a change in your life. Changes are never something to take likely, especially if they will alter your life in big ways. For example, if you've chosen to loss some weight in the coming year. This means you will be fighting a battle of willpower but there is also allot of thought and planning that goes into it.

Read his full posting here.

Consider adding Tim's site to your RSS Reader of choice.

901am - David Krug, et al

The trail today turns to the z-list and one of the sites that has posted the collection of icons with links to each of the blogs.

901am is a website covering new media news. and blogging. My name is David Krug, I’m the founder. I have a lot of history in the blogosphere. Back in 1999 I started a publication called BloggerMag which was the first blogging news site in the industry. Over the years I’ve run blog networks including nanologs.com, and a Religious Blog Network. Over time I’ve changed about as fast as the blogosphere has changed. At times its hard to keep up with the two of us.

David is joined in this effort by Thord Hedengren and Muhammad Saleem

Recent postings include:

• How To Remove Blogger’s Block
• 2000 Bloggers, 2000 Faces
• 2008 Presidential Technology Race, Who’s Using What?
• The disgusting side of new media advertising

901am also provides podcasts and a newswire.

Plenty of good stuff here. Consider adding this site to your RSS Reader of choice.

Jessica Claire - Photo blog

The trail turns to take in a wonderful photography site where Jessica writes:

Welcome to my blog! Feel free to browse the entries for different shoots and events going on in my life. Please email me with any comments or questions, I'd love to know who is out there checking out my life!

The photos are wonderful. Jessica is an amazing artist!

Check out her blog.

Check out her FAQs for photographers.

Click through and check out her photo site.

Grasshopper New Media: Health

Yes, the trail has found another in the Grasshopper New Media sites, this one focusing on Health. This site should have some appeal to all of us, we should all be on the look out for good ideas and inspirations to maintain our health.

GNMHealth is a multi-media channel featuring blogs, podcasts and video, aiming to provide a full and rich content experience for people interested in getting healthy. Our goal is to inform, entertain and engage the community.

GNMHealth is managed by our Executive Producer, Kevin Kennedy-Spaien. He helps produce and promote all of the content, while adding new features and value to our audience.

A sample of two recent days postings reveals the following titles

• The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show, episodes 17 and 181.18
• A Better Day: New Cardio Exercises and Positive Thoughts (Episode 68)1.16
• Health Hacks Podcast #18: Let An Evil Robot Help You Keep Your Resolutions!1.16

So with written word and podcasts to choose from, you can obtain good health info in a manner fitting your convenience.

Grasshopper New Media: Parents

While the trail has turned down the wedding aisle, it is appropriate to turn next to a site for parents.

GNMParents is a multi-media channel featuring blogs, podcasts and video, aiming to provide a full and rich content experience for parents at all stages of parenthood. Our goal is to inform, entertain and engage the community.

GNMParents is managed by Megin Hatch. She helps produce and promote all of the content, while adding new features and value to our audience.

There are a bunch of contributors spread across the world from Scotland to the Pacific Northwest and multiple parts in between.

Two days worth of postings reveal diverse titles

• Bangor Maine Bans Smoking in Cars with Kids1.19
• We Interrupt This Program for a Little Friday Meme: My Life as a Movie1.19
• Ten Reasons I’m A Youth Coach (and reasons why I think you should be too!)1.19
• When a Parent Has a Chronic Condition1.18
• The Second Festival of Family Flair!1.18
• No More Excuses1.18

If you are a parent, or know of one looking for some advice, or even looking to share some of their parenting advice, this is one stop to investigate.

Electrolicious - Ariel

The trail turns down the wedding aisle today.

Hey there. I am Ariel Meadow Stallings (bio), a native Seattlite who's written my way up and down the Left Coast. Electrolicious.com is where I post daily randomata, but I also write for a living. My first book, Offbeat Bride, hits bookstores in February.

Such reads the quick bio blurb on the home page of Electrolicious, Ariel's blog.

Her book has its own website and it's own Flickr group.

Be sure to check out the photos from the wonderful day in 2004 when Ariel and Andreas got married.

If you know of someone getting married soon or thinking about getting married, this book and web site collection should be on the reading and preparation list.

Grammar Girl

Continuing in the trail along a path of improving one's knowledge, the basics of communication using the English language can pose challenges from time to time. How do you say this? How do you properly write that?

Grammar.

Sometimes the rules are clear. Sometimes, there are style guides and not rules to follow.

Let Grammar Girl help you.

Her podcast and regular publication of the text that accompanies the podcast provide quick and easily understandable insights into the English language we use and sometimes abuse without trying. The grammar that maybe you came to dread in school. But now, the times are different. You may be ready to approach grammar and use it to your advantage. It is a critical skill to know and use on the trail.

Subscribe to Grammar Girl's podcast.


Thanks to Bryan Person whose interview with Grammar Girl can be found here.

60 Second Science

The trail requires preparation. Sometimes you can get by with what you have already. Sometimes, you need to increase your knowledge to continue to make it along the way.

How can you continue to expand your knowledge of the world around you?

The trail turns to Scientific American which publishes a 60 second podcast.

You can afford a little time to do this. It's only 60 seconds.

Just enough time to get a nugget a day, or to enjoy several at a time. Recent podcasts covered:

• The biochemical cascade caused by the common cold virus ultimately produces a protein, called carabin, that stops the sniffles.
• The energy requirements of mammals combined with the energy costs of hunting prey mean that no carnivorous land mammal could ever be much bigger than the biggest polar bears.
• A new study finds that lost dogs are found more often than cats, probably because a much higher percentage of dogs than cats carries some form of identification.

Check out Scientific American for their 60 Second Science

You will be glad you did. You will be more prepared for the trail.

2000 Bloggers - Tino Buntic

Tino Buntic is worthy of getting clicked to along the trail today. He is putting together a site that will ultimately contain 2000 bloggers. That's a whole lot! The Hitchhiker Team has found more than 500 since it began the trail in March 2005.

There are dozens of social networks that bring the blogosphere together, with Technorati and MyBlogLog being two of the biggest. I wanted to bring a whole bunch of bloggers together on one page. 2000 bloggers to be exact! As I write this there are 300 bloggers on the page to start. If you want to be included in 2000 Bloggers, leave a comment here with a link to your blog and your name and I will add you. Two requirements, though: 1. You must have a photo of yourself somewhere on your blog, and 2. Your blog must have been created prior to January 1st of this year.

Tino also writes on his own blog:

Have you heard of Ziki? The first 10,000 people that sign up will get their names in a free sponsored listing on Google or Yahoo. Here's what I mean... Click on one of the following names to be taken to their respective search results:

1. Andrew Wee
2. Ben Bell
3. Nox Dineen

Read Tino's full posting on Ziki.

So two of Tino's links will get you many more links... how good is that!

Oh, and major thanks to Phil for the tip and link to Tino.

Driftwood Horses

The trail takes a turn to visit a place where weathered art melds with raw anatomy. The artist, Heather Jansch, fashions her magnificent life-size horses using driftwood pieces she collects from along the beaches in the beautiful Westcountry of England. Her creations are beautiful and eerie at the same time.

When asked where she got the idea to work with driftwood, she replies:

Entirely by chance and from seeking to find a unique form of creative expression that felt like my own. I was tired of following in other people's footsteps. I had been working with copper wire and the sculptures were like Da Vinci's line drawings but lacked the power I wanted. One day while I was out, my son couldn't find any kindling wood to light the wood-burner and had chopped up a piece of ivy that had grown round a fencing stake. He'd left behind a short section that I immediately saw as a horse's torso of the right size to fit straight into the coper wire piece I was working on. The next question was where could I find more or similar shapes, and the answer was of course driftwood.

Heather also works in bronze.

Two for one: Mother and Daughter

The trail turns and follows a few twists to end up finding Susie Writes and then her daughter writing at Sweet Tea on Avenue C.

Miss Parker's profile reveals:

I am a newly transplanted Southerner living in the East Village with my wonderful boyfriend, John. I work at the Humane Society of New York. I wish I knew how to play the drums. I think good manners are incredibly underrated; I long for the days when people addressed one another as "Mister" and "Miss." My talents are spread out among writing, knitting and photography; consequently I'm mediocre at all three. My real passion is history. If you need a quick historical fact, I'm you're girl. I love it when lists of things are alphabetized; I love making lists in general. [I'm a virgo, in case you haven't guessed that by now.] Oh, and did I mention I really really really miss sweet tea? No? Well, I do.

Miss Parker writes:

In six days I have to get on a plane. I haven't been on a plane since 2003 when I flew home from Ireland. [A terrible trip home, which I will one day have to recount for all you Voxies. I should have never left Ireland early.]

This shouldn't be a big deal anymore. I have traversed the Atlantic several times, and flown domestically all over the country. I've been flying since I was two. Nothing has ever happened. But it is a big deal. And, logically, I cannot explain why. It just is. And that should be enough.

I don't know where/when things went wrong. I wasn't afraid of flying as a child. And then suddenly I was, and I don't know how it happened. Maybe I just reached a certain age in my early teens and suddenly it clicked that being shot through the sky in a tube wasn't the best idea I'd ever heard of. The source of this fear is irrelevent. The fact is that it's there and it's unshakeable, and I have had a stomachache since my plane ticket home was purchased in November.

Read the full posting titled: All I Want for Christmas is to Not Die in a Fiery Plane Crash

Back to her mother, Susie Parker who recaps an eventful 2006 and says in part:

You know...point A leads to point B and if you make it to point B it will undoubtedly lead you to point C and, before you know it, you realize, a lot of it is rote and pointLESS.... At least, that's how it used to look from where I formerly sat. And then, well, I changed seats. I upgraded.

Read the full posting to find out about the upgrade.

Susie also writes:

The article came out and, I have to say with no small measure of relief, Ms. Amy Hotz got it right. She most certainly respected the guidelines I requested and, in the process, earned a huge measure of respect (and relief!) from me.

Read all about the article and what earned Ms Holtz Susie's respect.

Then consider adding both the Mother and Daughter blogs to your RSS Reader.

This Blog Sits at the Intersection of Anthropology and Economics - Grant McCracken

The trail takes a turn to stop at This Blog Sits at the Intersection of Anthropology and Economics.

An anthropologist who studies America is struck by the fact that there are some people in this culture who believe they know better than other people in this culture. It's not always a delusion and when indeed they do know better, we are well served. Smart, thoughtful people give us the benefit of their advice.

But too often the critics act as if they are they only ones who "get it," that without them the rest of us wander without light, unable to see what is wrong, unable to see that something is wrong, and certainly unable to put wrong things right.

Read Grant's full posting here.

Grant writes in his About page:

In the First World, culture is constantly formed and reformed by commerce.

Back to school for the anthropologist: in my case, to economics and complexity theory. I hold a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Chicago and I have taught at the Harvard Business School.

The places that culture and commerce, anthropology and economics meet most often: marketing in general, branding in particular, popular culture, Hollywood, advertising, television, magazines, and, increasingly, blogging.

Grant had lunch with Tom Guarriello (who had previously appeared here)

... innovation is the buzz term of the moment and that it is now a untrustworthy term, over used and under thought.

Tom G. and I fell to thinking, "What if he's right?" What if the problem is not innovation? I think Tom and I decided that the real problem is probably dynamism, specifically that the world has got more various, more changeable, more discontinuous, and therefore harder to stay in sync with. (Tom will forgive me, I hope, if I am misrepresenting him.)

In this view, innovation is a symptom of a larger problem. Innovation matters because dynamism is upon us and the corporation is in danger of falling out of sync.

Read the full posting to find out what else they discussed.

I watched heroic quantities of TV over the holidays. And I was struck by how much comedy now comes from characters who are self interested, self serving, self aggrandizing.

I'm thinking of Charlie Harper played by Charlie Sheen on Two and a Half Men, and Barney Stinson, played by Neil Patrick Harris on How I Met Your Mother. Both Charlie and Barney are in it for themselves. They have no empathy. They have no principles. They have no shame. They are serene in the knowledge that they are without moral reflex of any kind...and that that's ok. The rest of us a struggling to live a good life (more or less, give or take) and these guys just couldn't care less.

There are British origins to this character, let's call him the unapologetic male. John Cleese's character on Fawlty Towers, Martin Clunes' character on Men Behaving Badly, and Rickey Gervais' character on The Office all made a contribution. It is worth pointing out that these British tokens of the type were just as likely to make us cringe as make us laugh, whereas the American instance is appealing even when appalling.

Read the full posting on The Birth of the New American Male

Assuming these teasers have wet your appetite, add this site to your RSS Reader to read what else happens in the future at This Blog Sits at the Intersection of Anthropology and Economics

Dean Bruner's Blog

The trail takes a turn and re-appears at the Univ of Virginia, Darden School of Business, where Dean Robert Bruner blogs.

The distinction between puzzles and mysteries was drawn by Gregory Treverton, a national security expert. A puzzle has a “simple, factual answer” and is solved by getting more information. The location of Osama bin Laden is a puzzle. Finding the answer requires increasing the collection of intelligence. A mystery is different—it may have many contingencies and is solved by more analysis rather than more fact-gathering. What will happen to Iraq in 2007 is a mystery. Solving puzzles depends on what we are told; solving mysteries depends on what we hear, on listening well.

Gladwell argues that the financial community needs to make a transition from fact-gathering to true analysis. This is not a new plea. In my book on merger failures I wrote about the disastrous combination of the New York Central and Pennsylvania railroads in 1968 (the merged firm went bankrupt in 1970). The classic lament then was that the analysts could tell you how many miles of track lie between New York and Chicago, but not whether the firm would survive. Too many business and financial analysts dwell on fact-gathering and fact-recitation.

Read his full post on Malcolm Gladwell's New Yorker article on Enron.

This is the final act of a tragedy that began with the optimistic hiring of a Jack Welch lieutenant and soured with the revelation of Nardelli’s pay package and brusque style. The fact that Home Depot’s stock price fell was the last straw for Relational Investors and others who called for the Board of Directors to intervene. Nardelli’s exit package of $210 million will stoke outrage among investors—but that’s grist for another day’s posting.

Business schools have a great deal to say about one’s career progression and climb up to executive power. And they have a great deal to say about keeping one’s position. But business schools are relatively mute about leaving office, or one’s “greatness.”

Read Dean Bruner's assessment of the Roberth Nardelli exit at Home Depot.

The answer to this question is that “fun” is not why I took this job. The fact is that any job has its less appealing aspects—they call it “work” for a reason. But I took this job out of a sense of fulfillment and a sense of mission. It is absolutely fulfilling to help great people get on to accomplish great things. Darden attracts a very high caliber of student, faculty, and staff. To help facilitate their successes is thrilling. The whole community benefits from these wins, the celebration of which gives me deep satisfaction.

My satisfaction is also sustained by a sense of mission. At a very macro level, great business schools help to discover and disseminate best practices into the business profession—this helps to elevate growth and profitability in the private sector globally, thus creating more jobs, paying more taxes, and inventing better products and services. Our graduates serve business and communities in a variety of ways—their leadership has a visible impact in the world. Ultimately, business schools help to increase human welfare.

Read his full posting on "Are you having fun yet?"

And if these snippets were enough to indicate that adding Dean Bruner's blog to your RSS Reader might add some good reading and a sense of fun to your day, please go ahead and do so!

Deb-Tech by Deb Shinder

The trail takes us to the world of technology where Deb Shinder has been writing one of the better newsletters for some time and make a stop at Deb-Tech, one of her blogs.

This blog is a place for readers of my books, print and online articles and WXPnews newsletter to come for more tech-related info, and a place where I can expand on the ideas expressed in those other formats and answer questions posed by readers.

She does her personal blogging at Deep Space 10.


Her website provides a view into all the writing she does.

Who knew that she

is a former police officer/criminal justice instructor who now makes her living as a technical author, trainer and speaker. She has written or contributed to 26 books, published over 200 articles and has been living online, along with her husband Tom (whom she met via the Internet), since the mid-1990s.

Consider adding Deb-Tech to your RSS Reader and keep up with the happenings in the world of technology.

Daily PlanIt

The trail takes us along to the Daily PlanIt where the blogging is done anonymously but consistently and well.

You can read about the Discovery of the day with the most popular articles at the Harvard Business Review or the top 10 New Year's resolutions and how to achieve them.

You can read about important skills running projects

• Recognizing a project that is one of the 20% that require planning beyond the next action.
• Recognizing a task that is too vague, and knowing how to make it specific.
• Recognizing an incoming task, and knowing where to put it in your system.
• Deciding what tools to use to capture ideas and manage projects.

Read the full posting here.

Then consider adding this site to your RSS Reader to keep up with the Daily PlanIt.

The Deuce - Clint Dempsey

The trail takes into the soccer (football) world today. We have not ventured far on this trail before but were able to find that Clint Dempsey has a blog. Thanks to Carolyn for the lead.

Who is Clint? Who is Carolyn?

Well, Clint is only one of the more promising US Men's National Team players. He scored the one legitimate goal for the USA in the 2006 World Cup. We were fortunate to see him play frequently for the New England Revolution.


Oh, and Carolyn happens to be my daughter, shown here with her hero. The picture was taken in April, 2006 at a meet the players event for season ticket holders. Needless to say, Carolyn was very excited to accompany me.

Her smile has changed somewhat to a frown on hearing that Clint will be going to the Premier League for a now record MLS transfer fee.

Congratulations, Clint!

This picture is now increasing in value Carolyn!

Check out Clint's site for a picture of his fiance, for a video highlight reel of his goals scored, for audio clips of his singing/rapping, and for updates on what he is doing.

Sensei and Sensibility

The trail today takes us to NYC where an unidentified woman writes

At least four times in the course of the class, these flowers shifted and changed like pieces of glass falling into different patterns when the wheel of a kaleidoscope is turned. It is always fun, at the end of every class, to see the range of arrangements that students have created. We choose from the same materials, after all. This week, I saw a range and different possibilities within my own flowers and that was astounding.

I learned a lot in this lesson. For starters, “boring” is just a piece of information. I chose to see it, hear it and press on. I’m so glad I did! Once I weighed in with “boring,” the class—and the learning--really took off.

Read the full posting here and don't be bored!

Upon seeing some Christmas trees already being discarded on 12/26/06 she writes:

back to the trees . . . . I was saddened to see them on the street, abandoned, their glory done. If they are recycled, that would help. They would still be thrown away—by someone, but, with the changed form, the tree would still be useful.

Recycling doesn’t pain me in the way that planned obsolescence does. I don’t like throwing away something that is “still good.” I really don’t like to see others do it either. Maybe it’s the influence of the frugal Iowa upbringing—or knowing that resources are finite. In any case, there’s some Ben Franklin “waste not, want not” feeling here.

Read the full posting here.

With a gift for some neighborhood birds, she writes

I haven’t been to the neighborhood park in weeks, but now I have a purpose. I’ll hang the seedcake and see what birds are present. This little adventure is in the “simple pleasures” category and I’m looking forward to it!

Though there was no list of ingredients, black-oil sunflower seeds are prominently visible in the cake. These seeds, in most locations, are said to be the best all-around attractant to birds. They have a high meat-to-shell ratio; they are high in fat; and their small size and thin shell make it easy for small birds to handle and crack them.

Read her full posting here.

Consider adding this site to your RSS Reader. I will. Her about page has a wonderful picture but no information, name, likes, dislikes, etc. For someone with such sensibilities as have been written about (see above), there is now a desire to know more about this person.

Who is she?

Dipping into the past

A year ago this week, we highlighted Marianne Powers at Doing the right thing. She is still writing and doing the right thing one year later!

On the trail, we found Robert Brady writing at Pureland Mountain. Robert is still writing almost daily from Japan.

Also on the trail, we found Sherry Chandler down in Kentucky writing about poetry. She is still writing regularly.

A year ago today we found David Warlick writing at 2 Cents Worth. David has continued to write about using technology appropriately in the classroom environment.


Keep it up Marianne, Sherry, Robert, and David!

Happy New Year 2007