What do you get for the person that has everything? What's an equally great gift for the person who has next to nothing? Easy. How about the gift of time? One Christmas, an acquaintance of ours gave her children a piece of paper emblazoned with the words, "The Gift of Time." Each kid got to pick an activity to do with just Mom and Dad. For example, one of the girls elected to go to a theatrical production of RENT. I guarantee those memories made will last longer than some gadget that could have been gifted instead, destined to be sold at a garage sale sometime down the line. Every …
Archives for November 2014
Saturday Morning Sprinkles: Art on Money Edition
• This guy turns U.S. Presidents into superheroes and villains. This is epic, filled with awesome and coated in amazing. • Love this article by Erin Boyle: Giving: Fewer Gifts, More Thought. Includes a few tips for ways to "focus on giving fewer gifts, more thoughtfully, minus the pressure of perfectionism." • Here are over 100 very "punny" Christmas gift ideas. Although if you give matches to your neighbors ("No one Matches you as neighbors! Merry Christmas!"), don't be surprised if your house gets burned down. • From the LA Times: Best obstacle at Tough Mudder test run is reaching …
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Does Your Workplace Have an Awesome Room?
There is an Awesome Room in the offices of the Corporate Training & Economic Development department at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College. It’s more of a cubicle than a room, but still. It was the first time I ever thought happy things about a cubicle. It was created as part of a renovation that took place last year. Dean Stewart, the dean of the department, wanted to get everyone involved in the process. And so the team was empowered to come up with names for some of the extra common areas and conference rooms around the office. And so Awesome Room was born. I spoke at a Business …
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Saturday Morning Sprinkles: Childhood is Universal Edition
• My friend Lizzy sent me a link to 30 magical photos of children playing around the world. I love it. It reminds me that childhood -- and the joy, passion, and curiosity that comes with it -- is truly a universal thing. • A co-worker asked a guy to watch her plant for four days while she was out. He gave the plant what I'm sure was the time of its life. • I am an Gen Xer. I learned recently that my generation is dwarfed in size by the Boomers who came before me and the Millenials who arrived after me. I am so happy that Kevin Bacon is willing to educate the young whippersnappers about …
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Escape Lab is Here!
Let me ask you a few questions... Would you like to make room for more fun, new memories, and deeper connections with the people closest to you, just by making a few simple adjustments to your everyday routine? Would it be helpful if you could develop strategies to quit the things you DON'T like doing to create more time for the things you DO? Do you have any interest in uncovering ways to slow down the speed of life in order to become more flexible, energized, and productive? Would you like to become just a little bit more brave, adventurous, and rebellious against Adultitis and …
Meet Blessing Curtis
I am not a natural born rule breaker
Remember senior pictures? After reading my post about princes dresses, a reader told me that her niece got some neat ones of her in her prom dress. In a lake. The settling sun glistened off the water as the skirt of her dress floated around her. The first thing I thought of was how cool that sounded. My next thought was about how I never would have had the courage to do something like that in high school. (Although once I got to college, I did go to one of Kim's high school dances dressed as The Crow, so that's something.) I suspect that many people would presume that the guy writing a …
Saturday Morning Sprinkles: Giant Birdsnest for Humans Edition
• Note to self: make sure your next house has a room for this giant birdsnest for humans. • Artist Austin Light did a series of drawings in which he removed one letter from the title of famous movies and illustrated the exults. I think my favorite is "Finding Emo." • These are definitely NOT ugly cookies. • Insanely useful: How to make paper airplanes that fly far. Finally, some posts from around here you may have missed: • Thou shalt not doodle on thy car • When toy companies have Adultitis …
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Thou Shalt Not Doodle on Thy Car
In his book The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch talks about our attachment to material things. He writes that if our wheelbarrow or trash can gets a big ding in it, we don't give it another thought, but a small scratch in our new car causes us to freak out. I was reminded of that passage when I saw a story about this dude who let his artist wife draw all over his sports car with a Sharpie. Even if the style is not your cup of tea, you gotta admit that the end result is pretty cool. Now, every once in a while you'll see someone who has blinged out their beater jalopy with streaks of paint …
Saturday Morning Sprinkles: Crazy Puppy Portraits Edition
• Portland-based pet and wildlife photographer Carli Davidson takes hi-speed photos of dogs caught in mid-shake. And they are awesome. • I definitely want to try this Ivory soap microwave experiment from Happy Hooligans. • I've never ridden in a hot air balloon before, but both Kim and I want to. Check out this neat time lapse video of the 2014 Albuquerque Hot Air Balloon Fiesta. • Touchable Memories turns photographs into 3D-printed objects for people without vision. So cool. Finally, some posts from around here you may have missed: • When Toy Companies Have Adultitis • …
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