Favorite T-Shirt Goes to Another Life

What can you say about a T-Shirt that died?

It was a green T, cotton, blazoned with "Save St. Edward State Park", and gifted to me by a friend from Citizens for St Edward Park (C4SEP) at my high school reunion there. St Ed's was my high school, and now it's a park that inhabits one of the last chunks of forestland on the shores of Lake Washington.

steds

Keeping it as unspoiled as possible while open for public use is a continuing challenge since everyone wants a piece of it: a private college wants to expand deeper into it, people who play field sports want more fields, and the main building is pretty badly out-of-code - needing a lot of money to bring into compliance with today's safety codes, and there's just not money to do it. C4SEP is a classic local citizen action group, doing what it can to help the local community control its destiny.

I wore the shirt proudly, and with it referred several citizens to the Park that it advertized. I enjoyed the comfort of its thick cotton and the joy of the gift. BUT: all things come to an end. When not merely worn spots but actual holes started appearing in the shirt, I had to think of its next place in the cycle of existence.

Rather than just trash it, I converted it to useful rags. Old t-shirts make great rags for cleaning house or car, and you can always use more! Be sure to take advantage of the existing hems when you cut them up; you can leave the neckhole intact if you like to hang a rag on a doorknob. I suppose you could take the effort to hem the raggedy edges but I never bother; these are for cleaning, not for show.

I much prefer rags to paper towels or those expensive wipes presoaked in a cleaning chemical. I trust my rags and the simple chemicals I clean with; I'm not sure what's in the presoaked wipes nor the likelihood that their formulation may change on a whim; they can be no better at sanitizing than plain white vinegar, ammonia or alcohol. Also, I have a better use for the money I save! And when I'm done, my rags are ready for re-use with a quick soak in clean water and a hanging in the sun, instead of requiring a trip to the store.

I'm sure that's the way my C4SEP T-shirt would have wanted it!
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I got thinking about this when I read ReduceFootprint's latest Change the World Wednesday Challenge:

Okay ... ready for a new challenge? This week's challenge was suggested by our friend Ange of Signed by Ange. It's something that many people don't think twice about but ... it generates a lot of waste. Here it is:

This week, stop using throw away wipes and cloths (baby wipes, single use window cleaner sheets, duster sheets, etc.).


Or ...


If you never use these kinds of products, please write a post about what you use instead."

How about you? Can you take the challenge (even if it means saving a little money?)

Planted This Weekend

The Coral Bark Maple we'd been given in December went into the ground this weekend. It seemed much relieved; they say on the internet that it would be happy as a container plant but the tips of the shoots were turning black, and that can't be a good sign.

We put it in the southeast corner of the lot, where it'll get shade from the overgrown laurels part of the day, and will provide a colorful background for whateverelse we put in the backyard.

I also put into the ground some of the sunflower starts from a while back. They gotten lost in the move and surfaced in the process of planting the coralbark (...there was a lot of re-arranging and putting-away needed to clear out that corner.)

Another of the tomato starts went into a pot, giving us three now growing. Our plans to grow huge lots from seeds fell to the practicalities of moving, but we'll be better organized next year since we won't be moving!

Workstations vs. Playstation

The Problem
Working at home it's awefully tempting to be distracted by the wealth of little tasks that need to be done but don't directly affect the outcome of professional work. It's gotten worse since my work turned more to writing on the internet, dropping some physical work that at least got me away from internet distractions. It's just too easy to take a moment away from my professional work to do a small non-work task, and then another, and then another ... pretty soon it's late in the day and nothing has been done. It's not lazyness, it's just a response to small and real instant gratifications.

The Solution
I'm trying is to differentiate between a workstation (my main computer) and a playstation (my sickly little laptop.) I resolve not to physically do any non-work on the workstation. This may be an arbitrary rule but if I have to physically leave the workstation to goof off, I may goof off less.

Results
So far, it's worked. I put in a lot more solid work hours yesterday and today than in the three days before. Let's see if it keeps working!

21 Days Of No Complaining: WTF?

While stocking books at the Mercer Island Thrift Store, I stumbled across "A Complaint Free World: How to Stop Complaining and Start Enjoying the Life You Always Wanted" by Will Bowen, and was intrigued by the concept:

"Bowen is a minister with a very simple message: quit complaining. If you do, you'll be happier and healthier. Hence his Complaint-Free World challenge; the goal is to stop for 21 consecutive days. Why 21? That's how long it takes to break a habit, according to Bowen, who has appeared on Oprah and The Today Show discussing his challenge. And while there's no scientific proof his program works, he includes testimonials from people who've stopped their chronic carping and now lead more positive lives." (from its Amazon listing)

Now I like a good challenge, but this one seems crazier than most. Is it really possible to go three weeks without complaining? And would I be better off if I did?

Call me stupid, but I resolved then and there to try it.

I talked it over with my wife. "I really hate it when other people complain all the time. Some of our friends are pretty annoying that way."Then I slapped my forehead, "D'oh! I was just complaining."

"Tomorrow's Mother's Day," she said, "Why not start then? It's somehow appropriate."

This is true. My mother has never complained in my hearing; not once, in more than fifty years. I don't know how that can be, since she has plenty to complain about, but I believe it's a fact.

So for Mother's Day, I started. No complaints. It's not so easy; I'm not complaining, simply stating a fact. Lots of things are not easy and actually I'm boasting when I point out I'm doing something not easy, so in a way, I've got some benefit already: another boasting point. I'm doing something that's too hard for most people!

I hope there isn't a book that counsels against boasting. I'm not complaining, but I think it's better to work on one thing at a time.
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EDITTED: Learn more here: http://www.acomplaintfreeworld.org/

Shelflessness

Imagine there's no shelving

It's easy if you try

No hall of cartons

Stacked up to the sky...

When I moved into our house, I resolved not to bring allong the many shelving units on which I kept boxes and boxes of stuff. I knew that however rigorously I cleaned and discarded unused things, as long as there was empty shelf space, I would accumulate more.

And this time, since we're not moving again, the stuff would stay forever.

It's been hard. I couldn't just throw out the shelves, but luckily my father-in-law took most of them, and my sister-in-law took the "Waffle". She needed it to organize her room of Mariners stuff.

But it's been worth it! So far, I can report that although I have boxes of stuff stacked in the computer room, the stack shrinks by about one box a day. It has to: I don't have any shelves on which to put the stuff!

I am finding things I have not seen in years, and I am gradually getting to the pleasant ordered space I've long wanted, but not attained since the one-man cell at St. Edward's.

From the Book of Pots

A moment of spirituality and humor, courtesy of Fitzgerald's translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

"Listen again. One Evening at the Close
Of Ramazan, ere the better Moon arose,
In that old Potter's Shop I stood alone
With the clay Population round in Rows.

And, strange to tell, among that Earthen Lot
Some could articulate, while others not:
And suddenly one more impatient cried---
"Who *is* the Potter, pray, and who the Pot?"

Then said another---"Surely not in vain
"My Substance from the common Earth was ta'en,
"That He who subtly wrought me into Shape
"Should stamp me back to common Earth again."

Another said---"Why, ne'er a peevish Boy,
"Would break the Bowl from which he drank in Joy;
"Shall He that *made* the Vessel in pure Love
"And Fancy, in an after Rage destroy?"

None answer'd this; but after Silence spake
A Vessel of a more ungainly Make:
"They sneer at me for leaning all awry;
"What! did the Hand then of the Potter shake?"

Said one---"Folk of a surly Tapster tell
"And daub his Visage with the Smoke of Hell;
"They talk of some strict Testing of us---Pish!
"He's a Good Fellow, and 't will all be well."

Then said another with a long-drawn Sigh,
"My Clay with long oblivion is gone dry:
"But, fill me with the old familiar Juice,
"Methinks I might recover by-and-bye!"

You're read some of the more familiar verses from this poem, e.g.

"The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it."
...
Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring
Your Winter-garment of Repentance fling:
The Bird of Time has but a little way
To flutter---and the Bird is on the Wing.
...
"Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,
A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse---and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness---
And Wilderness is Paradise enow."

...and to those, I hope you enjoy adding the Book of Pots!

Avataring Sites

I needed to make some quick avatars for a presentation: a mom, dad, son and daughter.

A quick google gave me 12 Sites To Create Cartoon Characters of Yourself which was pretty useful, since it not only listed a dozen resources but gave me a quick idea of what each produced. I tried two:

Joystiq Mii

First I tried Joystiq Mii characters and in a short time made Wii-style avatars. I couldn't figure out how to save them but no worries: Windows 7's "Snipping" tool worked just fine. The results were quick and fun; not terribly detailed but o.k. if you want cartoony. I did run into a problem with gender and age differentiation; since there was only one body type I needed to use facial features. Putting eyelashes and long hair on the females, and a mustache on the daddy was an adequate tho not satisfying solution. In retrospect I might've used different lip styles too, since cartooning usually gives females fuller lips.

For age differentiation I tinkered with giving the children bigger eyes and smaller noses. Because you can move the features, growing or shrinking them, you can have a very large number of faces. I tried to give each child at least one feature directly from either parent. I would've liked more features, e.g. ears, body types, but for a quick cartoony avatar, I was happy.

http://www.joystiq.com/media/2006/10/mii.swf

Yahoo Avatars

I wanted a more realistics, "sexier" look, so next I when to

Yahoo Avatars. This definitely gave a more realistic (although still cartooned) look. One nice feature is that it saved your 10 favorite avatars; I still used the snip to save the avatar to my harddrive but it looked like I could keep up to 10 works-in-progress for tinkering. But a complication arose when I started playing with gender.

Gender differentiation was straightforward: you pick your gender and it gives you a female body type, and face/hair/clothing/accessory choices. However, switching gender was a problem: when you changed gender you lost all your favorites. It appears that yahoo's avatars are intended to be used for your login and not for other purposes. You might consider having a separate login for each gender (...or hey Yahoo! think about gender switching sometime!)

Age differentiation was also an issue. Yahoo avatars had a lot fewer face choices, since you can't move the features around as with the Wii above. To differentiate the dad from the son, I gave the former the face with a five-o-clock shadow, but I couldn't find something similar for facially differentiating mom and daughter. Instead, I had to do that with choice of costume, giving mom some definitely hotter outfits and the daughter garb that deemphasized body shape.

It would have been nice to be able to play with body proportions, for example giving the children relatively larger heads, as a way of suggesting age.

Others

Since I'd met my goal, I stopped checking out avatar-building sites (but I'd like to get back to Simpsonize Me!, South Park Studio, and the interesting-looking Meez). None of these utilities are perfect, but for the price, what-the-heck!

I-1068: Kitchen Table Reasons to Decriminalize Marijuana

I don't smoke, but jailing those who do is the stupidest policy I have ever heard of. That's why I not only support I-1068, Washington State's Marijuana Deciminalization Initiative, but am collecting signatures to put it on the ballot.

You should too.

The arguments are well-known and well-worn. You've probably sat at your kitchen table and gone over them with family and friends:

• Marijuana is less harmful than either tobacco or alcohol.
• If we want to jail somebody, let's put Big Tobacco's CEOs in jail for the hundreds of thousands they kill every year in the normal course of business.
• The only people who profit from criminalizing weed are the drug cartels who, like their rum-running predecessors during Alcohol Prohibition, are making a killing, both literally and figuratively.
• Weed makes some people stupid, but they were probably stupid to begin with; lots of other people it doesn't affect at all and there's a whole lotta people for whom it does as much good as my daily cuppa coffee.
• While we may salute the sincerity and sacrifice of the Drug Enforcement Community in being Crusaders Against Evil, we must never forget that smiting the harmless and the innocent in the name of the Law only promotes more evil. It's sad and tragic that when you remove one ton or a hundred tons of the stuff from circulation, all you are accomplishing is to jack up the price of the stuff that remains ... making it even more valuable to the criminals. Retired police chief Norm Stamper is right.

And so on and so on. At this point, I don't think anyone who can be pursuaded by rational argument can oppose I-1068 so it's time now for We The People to make the law as our State Constitution provides.

I have my copy of the petition on a clipboard on the kitchen table. Anyone who comes into the kitchen gets asked to sign. Signing doesn't mean you support the inititiave; it just means you want there to be a vote on it, which may win or lose. When I leave the house, the clipboard goes with me in case I meet someone (heck if the LaRouchies can besiege the Post Office, I guess I have the duty to provide a sane alternative. Maybe I'll ask them to sign!) As soon as I fill it up, or in any event by the end of the month, I'm sending it in, having done that "civic action" thing we all heard about in school. It turns out that collecting signatures is also a fun way to make a little conversation. People will tell you the darndest stories!

Why don't you try collecting signatures too? Learn more at http://sensiblewashington.org/

How To Compile Your List of How To's!

You probably have many postings of useful hints right on your blog. Think about it; after a couple of years of blogging, if you have written only one how-to a month, haven't you accumulated a lot of useful stuff? But it can be even more useful if you compile them into an easily accessible "How-To" list. 

Fortunately, this is easy to do: simply tag each post you want to put on your list with the tag "how to", and then post a link to your how-to list!

Here's mine: http://rewinn.blogspot.com/search/label/how%20to

If you're not sure how to generate the query, look at the bottom of one of your blog posts that you've put a tag on. When you click on the tag, you get a page of all your posts with that tag (... maybe multiple pages, but that doesn't matter.) Now go get the URL from the top of your browser, then copy and paste. You're done!

Different sites may call tags by different things; for example, in blogspot, they call tags "labels". It doesn't matter; the technique is the same whatever there terminology: you add a little metadata to the relevant posts, then link to a query for that metadata. Does that make more sense ;-)

I was inspired to post this by Inspiration Alley's invitation to a "Learn Your Lesson" Blog Party:

" You are invited to a blog party with a difference. Why yes, of course there will be tea and cake (what's a party without either of those after all?). There may even be lashings of ginger beer and perhaps something with a touch of sparkle too... Who knows what the party will bring?

One thing we do know however is that you'll be taking away quite a goodie bag. Yes my little chickadees every visitor, every player and every participant will be given some wonderful gifts - for this is a special sharing party. No posh frocks required, for you will be getting most messy, seriously sticky and terribly tangled. Just bring yourself and your gift... your lesson.... your tip.... your tutorial.....

We thought it would be terribly good fun to roll our sleeves up and learn something new. We'd love you all to share a lesson with us - perhaps you might have a photoshop trick you can explain? Maybe you know how to transfer images successfully? How do you glue paper without leaving bubbles? Do you have a receipe that no longer needs to remain a secret? Can you tell us how to make clay beads without cracks? To bleach a photograph or make something furry and felty? You may even just like to list your favourite tutorial sites. Anything goes, just bring your special gift to the party by way of a link to your own blog post and take away a goodie bag of lessons to try out for yourself.

All you need to do is pop along to our party room here at the Avenue on the weekend of May 1st & 2nd. Leave a comment with a link to your post and visit all our other party guests...."

OK, you gotta love their attitude, don't ya?

And thanks to my bloggy friend Reduce Footprints for telling me about this - she's hosting the party too!