I am so lucky that Tom and I can work from home. It gives me a lot of extra time to figure out other things!
One of the “other things” I am working on is charting an education course for myself. This education will be free (or really cheap) and tailored to my own needs because I will be educating myself.
Some of the topics I want to study are politics, journalism, anthro/archaeo, film making and editing, and languages. This is why I need to do it myself. No University offers a degree in such a wide range of subject matter!
But first things first. I figured it would make sense to improve my memory so that I can retain everything better. That is why the very first book I am going to study is called Mega Memory by Kevin Trudeau.
The second subject I want to tackle, because it too will aid my studies, is speed reading. And not just speed reading, but speed reading with comprehension! For that I dug out a book I’ve had for years called Speed-Reading The Easy Way.
So, on top of Kirkpatrick family history posts, this blog will now be a record of my self-education journey. Follow along if you’re interested! :)
And don’t forget to keep an eye on my new blog about another very important facet of my life right now: Grandparents of Children With Autism. I thought I’d make that a blog of its own because it is so specialized and I have a ton of ideas for articles for it.
I haven’t really been paying attention to this whole body scanner thing. You know, the one that takes transparent, real-life looking images of your personal body parts, allegedly to spot any contraband you may be carrying. After all, I haven’t flown much lately.
But I just found this article and it has given me pause for thought. Stepchick has been stewing about her upcoming flight plans and worrying about just accepting the imaging or subjecting herself to a “groin grope and feeling up.” And maybe she has good reason to worry?
Read Stepchick’s article here. As she says, “For my friend with a colostomy bag. For my sister with a partial breast reconstruction. For the oh-so-many other women who have been raped or molested. There has to be a better way.”
I wrote this three years ago on an old blog. It still holds true for me today.
Before the word crone became a derogatory one, being a crone was actually an honor. The word comes from the same word as “crown” and the crone was afforded a certain amount of prestige and respect. She was looked up to as an advisor, a teacher, a matriarch.
Apparently, many cultures have a “crone” kind of position that is filled by the wisest, most experienced “mature” women:
When our elders step across the threshold of the Grandmother Lodge, leaving their bleeding behind them, they become the Keepers of the Law. No longer is their attention consumed with the creation and rearing of their own family… Thus their attention turns to the children of all Our Relations: not just their own children, or the children of their friends, their clan or tribe, but the children of all the hoops: the Two-Leggeds, the Four-Leggeds, the Wingeds, the Finned, the Green-Growing Ones, and all others. Our relationship with this great circle of Life rests ultimately in their hands. They must give away this responsibility by modeling, teaching, and sharing the living of this law — in everyday life — to men, women, children — that all might come into balance.
– Brooke Medicine Eagle, Women Of The 14th Moon
Anyhoo, I’m starting to feel like I’m heading toward crone-hood. It promises to be quite an interesting and fulfilling phase of my life.
I was riding home on the train today and I realized, “I’m a Nature Girl still.” You can take the girl out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the girl.
I noticed that my eyes still automatically drift to the clouds. The trees. The birds.
I’m sure a lot of folks didn’t even notice we were gone.
I had a few technical problems but I was able to restore most of the blog, except for the last post, which was kind of a silly little thing about bumper stickers. I don’t think I’ll bother reposting that one.
You’ll probably notice my post images are gone and the comments seem to be missing, too. I’ll see what I can do to restore those. Thanks for your patience!
Well, I did it. I joined the Facebook protesters who are leaving in droves, peeved at the blatant disregard FB has for our privacy and security. It actually feels pretty good to be free!
I agonized over it for awhile, don’t get me wrong. It was rather convenient to have all my friends and family in one place, after all. But Zuck’s adolescent antics had done their work. The bad taste that was left in my mouth by this whole affair made gorgonzola cheese taste like nectar of the gods. I had been soured on Facebook but good.
Day one was a little tough. There was a mild sense of withdrawal and thinking “what have I done?” But day two and three were already much better. Instead of stalking my friends, I have been spending time on my own things – some of my projects, volunteer work, and even (gasp) relaxing with Tom. It’s actually been quite nice.
And I can still contact any of my friends any time I want to – just by other means. Some of us are playing around with alternatives, to get a feel for what’s out there, but the bottom line is that we want to take control of information that’s available about us in cyberspace.
I may have to enlist a friend’s help in finding out what, if any, of my profile still remains. Facebook makes it tremendously difficult to delete your account and says it won’t happen for 14 days (I’m rolling my eyes here). Until that time, people can still tag me in photos and see my previous posts. You can just bet Facebook does that hoping I’ll change my mind.
It’s so interesting to analyze where my blog visitors are coming from and what they’re looking for. I recently had a look and here is how some people are finding my site:
Kirkpatrick family research (definitely the number one hit-maker!)
Google’s new Wave, coming soon, has had me intrigued from the first time I saw the video. I plan to be one of the first in line to try it out and just can’t wait for the day.
So I was gratified to read Dion Hinchcliffe’s article on his first experiences with Wave. Although Dion is looking at the product from a business perspective (as an enterprise solution) and I am looking at it from a social perspective (to replace Facebook), he has some valuable insights to share.
Have a read. Bottom line – I’m even more excited than I was before!
I bought myself a Roomba because, a) our vacuum got removed in the renos, b) I hate vacuuming, and c) I hate having a dirty floor and it doesn’t clean itself. Well, Seven is the next best thing.
I named her Seven after Star Trek’s 7 of 9 character because she has to dock to rest and replenish her energy levels. She buzzes around the house and I took some video footage with my other new toy – a little Flip video camera.
I’m really tickled with my first Youtube upload. It’s simple but it’s a start. Enjoy!
Tiny homes have long intrigued me ever since my best friend Wendy and I planned to buy a camper and make like gypsies. We were very young, with dreams of travelling adventures and far horizons. Even now I think about downsizing sometimes just for simplicity’s sake.
So, naturally, I was excited to stumble over all these little, wee houses. Apparently with the economic downturn they are becoming a bit of a rage. They are affordable, often portable, and very cost effective – though I wonder how they’d fare in a cold Canadian winter.
Anyway, thought I’d share some of these links. Enjoy!
IC Green (get it?) creates living space from shipping containers.
The Jetson Green blog features some posts on green prefab homes. Sustain.ca creates mini homes and travel trailers. Habode homes have a sleek style.
