Saturday, November 12, 2005

Travel: Machu Picchu

Email: Avoidance or action [SD]

I think if [something is] our greatest problem, and that problem is quite obvious (once we admit it), then two things are true: We have been in denial about it, and we can solve the problem by paying attention and taking direct action about it. Avoidance is survival behavior that forms an addictive cycle of avoidance and crisis; it's emotionally driven but is resolved by deliberate choice and action.

Never belittle your accomplishments. Perseverance always yields results. Hallelujah!

Press: Oprah on weight

("Oprah: Tom Cruise's Couch Jumping Was Wilder Than It Seemed" - ABC News)

"Now I look at the weight and I understand that the weight is not about anything other than stress and disconnection and that at the time I was in such denial about it," Winfrey said. "It really was the degree to which I was engaged in the work and disconnected from the rest of my life. And that happens to me all the time. Now I understand it and can get my life back, can pull back to center and find some clarity and understand that when I start eating and repressing feelings that it's really because I'm out of control and everything else is out of control."

Friday, November 11, 2005

Musings: Yep, Squidward is a metrosexual

He's enjoying a floral fragrance, ordering a pedicure/manicure "Sunday special" and telling his chocolate to "take me away on a chocolate vacation...!"

Lists: Houston Freecycle

Houston Freecycle lets members (who must agree to mailing list policies) offer and receive surplus items for free.

Websites: The Alexander Technique

Alexander Technique Simplified: "Learning about kinesthetic proprioception and your own responses is valuable for many positive reasons. Alexander Technique is a practice for body/mind unity available for those at any fitness level."

Complete Guide to The Alexander Technique

The Performance School for Self Learners

References: Synaesthesia

Synaesthesia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Synaesthesia (also spelled synesthesia) [...] is the neurological mixing of the senses. A synaesthete may, for example, hear colors, see sounds, and taste tactile sensations."

Press: Televangelist Robertson warns town of God's wrath

(When a Christian "leader" makes three major comments in as many months that predict the death of his "enemies," you'd think even his followers would have the brains to perceive he's not only hate-filled but stone-cold nuts.)

Televangelist Robertson warns town of God's wrath - Yahoo! News: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Conservative Christian televangelist Pat Robertson told citizens of a Pennsylvania town that they had rejected God by voting their school board out of office for supporting 'intelligent design' and warned them on Thursday not to be surprised if disaster struck."

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Weblogs: Course recommendation [on The Iliad]

(Today I ran across a lengthy missive on Pauline Greek from Dr. Elizabeth Vandiver -- from pre-Texas days when I was on the MereLewis list -- and now who do I find blogged on Volokh?)

The Volokh Conspiracy - Course Recommendation: "A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about the movie Troy. At the time, I noted some of the discrepancies between the movie and the Iliad, and urged people to use the movie as an opportunity to go back to the poem. [...]

Elizabeth Vandiver's 12 lecture course on the Iliad is excellent. [... S]he is a great lecturer. She tells the story of the Iliad, but also addresses other fascinating questions such as whether Homer wrote the Iliad, the role of the gods in the poem, and, of course, the Iliad's view of the human condition."

Monday, November 07, 2005

Websites: abovetheinfluence.com

The public service commercials for this anti-drug educational website tell teens they can define themselves or let someone else do it, be "under the influence" or "above the influence." It's a mature lesson that everyone learns, the sooner the better.

Trivia: Fridge magnets

Sunday, November 06, 2005

Email: Home and school [AS]

Since everything has its tradeoffs, it's probably good that you have a safe and secure home rather than a large or luxurious one. And since kids and school are going to drive you crazy anyway (it's in the job description), I think getting addicted to the challenge of teaching is the best thing for you!

Websites: Netflix Friends list

If you are a member of Netflix and know me, let's join each other's Friends list. Just drop me a note and I'll invite you, then you can do the same for me. (We need to use the email address registered with Netflix, or use Invite A Friend while logged in.) Ciao, baby!

Books: Selling the Dream by Guy Kawasaki

"Evangelism is the process of convincing people to believe in your product or idea as much as you do..."

Trivia: I have right-/left-brain equilibrium

(Click the post title link to download the short Brain Works personality test, which determines whether you are right- or left-brained and have a visual or auditory learning style. It requires Windows. I took the test almost 4.5 years ago and came out an estimated 53/47 percent on the left/right brain scale and 57/43 percent on the visual/auditory learning scale. Thanks to CC for the mention; my results follow.)

Steve, you are somewhat left-hemisphere dominant and show a preference for visual learning, although not extreme in either characteristic. You probably tend to do things in moderation, but not always.

Your left-hemisphere dominance implies that your learning style is organized and sructured, detail oriented and logical. Your visual preference, though, has you seeking stimulation and multiple data. Such an outlook can overwhelm structure and logic and create an almost continuous state of uncertainty and agitation. You may well suffer a feeling of continually trying to "catch up" with yourself.

Your tendency to be organized and logical and attend to details is reasonably well-established which should afford you success regardless of your chosen field of endeavor. You can "size up" situations and take in information rapidly. However, you must then subject that data to being classified and organized which causes you to "lose touch" with the immediacy of the problem.

Your logical and methodical nature hamper you in this regard though in the long run it may work to your advantage since you "learn from experience" and can go through the process more rapidly on subsequent occasions.

You remain predominantly functional in your orientation and practical. Abstraction and theory are secondary to application. In keeping with this, you focus on details until they manifest themselves in a unique pattern and only then work with the "larger whole."

With regards to your career choices, you have a mentality that would be good as a scientist, coach, athlete, design consultant, or an engineering technician. You can "see where you want to go" and even be able to "tell yourself," but find that you are "fighting yourself" at the darndest times.