We need to listen

Tomorrow, Tuesday, November 6, 2018, Americans will go to the polls for the midterm elections, elections that many believe are the most critical elections in recent history.

Tomorrow is a critical day for the country we know as the United State of America.

Between now and tomorrow, many minds will be made up for one candidate or another.

For those that are still undecided, and for any future elections, I encourage you to listen to those you agree with … and to those you may not agree with.

Elections are opportunities for all of us to learn about the issues that all of us have, and then use that knowledge to work together to find workable solutions. A workable solution is not a perfect solution. A workable solution is arrived at through compromise and negotiation, through seeking a win-win situation for all, by gaining agreement based on solid values and objectives.

A workable solution is not achieved through fear of any kind. A workable solution is not achieved through lies. A workable solution is not achieved by force.

During this election and during future elections, as was so eloquently stated by Dr. Steven Covey, "seek to understand, then to be understood." It starts by listening to the other side.

More importantly, it requires that we drop the "us versus them" mentality, it demands that we become "us" and that we resist the constant efforts of politicians to divide us, to demonize one group, to belittle another group. Unity makes a country great. Diversity makes a country great. Freedom for all makes a country great. Prosperity for all makes a country great. Respect for all makes a country great.

Anything that attempts to divide us is not in our best interest as a nation. Anything that negates the power of diversity is not in the best interest of our nation. Anything that attempts to deny our freedoms, to prevent people from voting, to mass incarcerate people to silence them, to make/keep people sick, that designs an economy that hurts the poor and middle class — anything that does such terrible things is not in the best interest of our country.

So, tomorrow, Tuesday, November 6, 2018, please vote. Vote for the candidate that will help solve problems that affect all, that will help bring people together, that will be truthful and honest. even when the truth is hard to take; pick candidates not just because of the party they are running under, but because they have a plan and they can address the issues without fear-mongering and lying; pick a candidate that you have researched and that you think is capable of representing the whole of the people and not just a few privileged. Vote with your mind and not your gut.

And when all is said and done, let's all set a goal to listen to all sides of an issue, to become better citizens, to be better human beings. It is not an easy path; it is the worthwhile path.

The Daily - Thursday, October 4, 2018 (AM)

HEALTH & FITNESS

Another "zero" day? Yikes! I just could not get out of bed this morning! My fault, of course, for staying up too late. And this highlights the fact that morning rituals demand healthy evening rituals. What are my evening rituals? I have none!

GOALS, DREAMS, HABITS, RITUALS

I have been diligent on keeping up with my morning rituals, and it has really paid off. Except when I have not, like during the last two mornings. Today I realized that my morning rituals depend on how early I go to bed, and that trigger (going to bed) is not regular for me. Most nights I go to bed around 9:30 PM, some nights around 10:30, and a few nights after 11:30. However, if I want to always get up at 4:30 AM to do my morning routine, and always get at least seven hours of sleep, then I need to be firmer with my bedtime schedule. That, of course, is easier said than done! So many things can affect our bedtime. However, we know that if something is important to us then we will find a way to get it done.

Here is a nice article on sleeping patterns and how they can be useful to us: Why a Regular Sleep Schedule Benefits Your Health

THE FACTS ON NAFTA/USMCA

A little fact-checking on the latest set of fake facts from the Fake-in-Chief concerning NAFTA and its replacement agreement: FactChecking Trump on Trade

EMAIL OOPS!

Have you ever hit the "Send" button on an email and then realized that, for example, you forgot to attach the document that the message referred to? Or, worse yet, you click "Send" before finishing the most important sentence of the email? Or, even worse yet, you have written something really, truly nasty that you never meant to send and accidentally send it to everyone on your mailing list?

Here is a nice article on avoiding the Email Oops that get many of us: Email Oops, and How to Avoid Them

The Daily - Monday, September 10, 2018

Writing Challenge - Day # 12

The European Union (EU) recently announced that they were working on discontinuing what in the USA is called Daylight Savings Time (DST). The EU citizens found that the time change was no longer applicable to a society that is not, for the most part, largely based on agriculture and farming. Europeans argue that if the aim of this time change is to maximize use of daily time, then the time change is highly ineffective at doing so. I completely concur. I firmly believe the disadvantages of DST significantly outweigh its benefits. It is time to ditch an obsolete construct and settle on Standard time. It is not as if every community in the USA follows it, anyway. I think it is time to let the time be the time and stop monkeying with the time, for time's sake! Time, after all, is just an illusion, a human construct designed to get more things done, often at the expense of actual living.

HURRICANE UPDATE

Hurricane Florence is heading our way, perhaps not as a direct hit to the SC coast, but close enough to cause havoc. Schools in our district have already been closed through next week. Our governor has issued mandatory evacuation orders for all coastal counties. Store shelves are just about empty, even this far inland.

HEALTH & FITNESS

I did a partial workout today. I simply ran out of time (and some motivation) to complete the whole thing. It is hard to get back on a workout routine once you have been off for a week or two. Tomorrow will be better.

PERSONAL GROWTH

I briefly looked online today on ways of making common, free cardboard boxes more usable for organizing efforts. Here is my suggestion: use an old pillow case to cover the box.

Shoe box with top cut off. Not pretty.

Shoe box with rolled cleaning rags. That would work.

Found an old pillow case. Slip box into pillow case.

 

Cover box with pillow case. Gently tuck material into box.

Same cleaning rags inside newly covered box. Much nicer. Easy project.

Nice covered box back in laundry room.

FINANCES

I recently mentioned the use of Mint for budgeting and expense management. Annielytics has an excellent blog post titled "8 Ways to Customize Mint to Make Budgeting Easier" that should be helpful to anyone considering or starting with Mint.

WARNING: You may owe taxes next April! Please read the article "Millions of taxpayers could wind up owing for 2018" and make adjustments to your withholding amounts as needed.

Get ready to feel the effect of #45's tariffs; please read "Why everything you buy at Walmart and Amazon is about to cost more".

POLITICS

What in the world is a mayor in Louisiana thinking? According to a news report, the mayor of Kenner City has banned the use of Nike products perhaps as a reaction to Nike's decision to use Colin Kaepernick as their spokesperson for the latest "Just Do It" campaign. I don't think the mayor of any city should interfere with free commerce and free enterprise based on their political viewpoint. Government business should be conducted without influence of personal opinions. This mayor has left their city open to a lawsuit, although I doubt Nike will do that. Nike's sales have gone through the roof as a result of their decision to hire Kaepernick. By the way, I admire Mt. Kaepernick for his valor and bravery and his firm convictions; in many ways, his courageous actions forced us to open our eyes to issues that had remained buried under the rug of ignorance for far too long. We may not have liked what he brought to light, and facing these issues has made us a better nation.

TIPS & TRICKS

An easier way to roll jeans:

TECHNOLOGY

Do you log out? It is not uncommon for computer users to allow connections to websites (such as banking sites) to expire before they logout. Often, users just close the window or tab without logging off. This is not a good practice as it potentially leaves the connection to the account vulnerable to hacking. The best thing we can do is to always log off from any resources we have connected to.