Names which might have been mine if I had played a Native American in Dances with Wolves

i am such a copycat
Originally uploaded by emdot.

• Burns the Coffee
• Speeds through Yellow Light
• Late for Work
• Swoons for Sharpies
• Always with the Puns Already
• Wastes Time with Flickr
• Sends DVDs Back Very Late to Netflix
• Drives the 101
• Doodles in Meetings
• Goes for Second Helping

It was a McSweeney's-filled lunch hour

the birds of paradise loved to get together in the morning to chit chat and catch up
Originally uploaded by emdot.

• McSweeneys: Band Names Rejected by the Smashing Pumpkins
• McSweeneys: Things That Get Way More Fun When You Add a "G" to Them
• McSweeney's: Alternate Titles for House of Flying Daggers
• McSweeney's: Things My Father Has Said to Me in Crowded Restaurants
• McSweeney's: Alternate Titles for O.J. Simpson's New Book

utata: front page -- yea!

utata: front page -- yea!
Originally uploaded by emdot.

So stoked! This photo of Stacey visiting our new apartment made the front page of Utata today. Make sure to check it out cuz Greg Fallis's writing hits it beyond home in this one.

Cowboy Boots Sutra!

» Utata.org
» Permalink

Giving Things Up

Happy Smudge Day!
Originally uploaded by LarimdaME.

In honor of today, I encourage you to check out and enjoy the Ash Wednesday tag on Flickr.

As the peeps (ha. my fingers just typed poops. sorry peeps.) who've read my bloggerel for a while know, I'm a sucker for lent and/or any short-time very focused giving up of things.

A couple of days ago my body said "no more alcohol!" and I decided that I needed to take a little break (I'd totally gotten into a very daily habit of a glass or two of wine; sometimes three. I'm all for wine, but probably not every damn day).

Just today, going through my Flickr contact photos I realized that it was the first day of lent. While my abstinence started a couple of days ago, I still marvel at how my psyche was naturally looking for something to give up temporarily. :)

Things I have temporarily and purposefully given up in the past:

• Eating cheese
• Drinking caffeine
• Eating wheat (very hard!)
• Adding salt
• Eating meat (that one lasted a long time)
• Saying "I'm sorry" (I say it way too much)
• Drinking soda
• Buying books (for two years)

I heart Jenna Fischer

Jenna Fischer (Pam from The Office) has a blog on TV Guide about how to make it as an actor. I saw a link to it from Kottke and the part he chose to quote kinda stopped me in my tracks:

"I have a great acting coach who says that success in Hollywood is based on one thing: opportunity meets readiness. You cannot always control the opportunities, but you can control the readiness. So study your craft, take it seriously. Do every play, every showcase, every short film, every student film you can get. Swallow your pride. Be willing to work for nothing in things you think are stupid. Make work for yourself. Make your own luck. Don't complain. Hopefully, the work will find you if you are ready."

This is how we should all approach everything.

» Of Office Emmy Cheers and Acting Careers

emdot GTD hacks

I've been working the Getting Things Done book since the beginning of the year. This book has literally changed my work life. I do take more time to organize things and sometimes that feels a little time-waste-y, but I've seen it pay off in time-savings even more so.

There are a few (or a lot?) of sites out there that discuss GTD and how people have morphed or embellished David Allen's suggestions to make the book work better for themselves and their unique situations.

Here are things that I have done that have really helped me.

David Allen recommends keeping all of your files sans hanging folders in a file cabinet. If you have to use hanging file folders, then make a strict rule that you only put a single folder in a single hanging file. Label your folder, not your hanging file.

So, I love me some hanging files. :)

Here're my hacks:

One folder per hanging file folder

Easy. Done. Awesome. No problem. I love this one.

Exceptions: 43 folders

Put current folders for the month in one hanging file folder

Put next month's folder and its "children" in the next hanging file

Put all of the other upcoming months in the next hanging file

I was trying to just stack/lean them like Allen recommends, but they kept leaning the wrong way and that was driving me batshit crazy. So, modification bliss.

Other tips:

Deep hanging files

Use "deep" hanging file folders for your 43 folders. This way your massive amounts of folders in one file will stay low and uniform with the rest of your files

Single colors can decrease clutter

Use hanging files that are all the same color and make sure it's a color that you love to look at

I can understand the preferring many different colors. Livens up the work place?

Paper clips for month organization

If you still use the "lean" technique, put a paper clip on next month's folder as well as the month after that.

That way it is easy to see where you need to put today's folder when it's time to file it.

Nostalgia: my highschool id card

Nostalgia: my highschool id card
Originally uploaded by emdot.

sigh.

this cracks me up. :)

Why San Francisco is more awesomer than your city

Originally uploaded by The Tables Have Turned..

Pillow fight club! Every Valentine's Day. I love this. :)

» Pillow fight slideshow from Flickr group

» Photos tagged with san francisco pillowfight

» Article in the Chronicle

archways and roadways

archways and roadways
Originally uploaded by emdot.

"To integrate meditation in action is the whole ground and point and purpose of meditation. The violence and stress and the challenges and distractions of this modern life make this integration urgently necessary.

"How do we achieve this integration, this permeation of everyday life with the calm humor and spacious detachment of meditation? There is no substitute for regular practice, for only through real practice will we begin to taste unbrokenly the calm of our nature of mind and so be able to sustain the experience of it in our everyday lives.

"If you really wish to achieve this, what you need to do is practice not just as occasional medicine or therapy but as if it were your daily sustenance or food."

— Sogyal Rinpoche

Give your cat a pat

Give your cat a pat, originally uploaded by notcatherinezeta.

Happy Valentine's Day people! This lovely photo is from the ever-neat, ever-creative, ever-fabulous Christine in Wales, aka NotCatherineZeta on Flickr.

If this doesn't warm your heart...

And from Brezny:

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): It's time to take down the "Under Construction" signs and clean up the messes from your works in progress. At least for now, your heart has lost its drive for further renovation and rehabilitation. Whether you think you're ready or not, then, it's time for a grand re-opening. I suggest you offer free toasters or other incentives to pull in new clients, as well as to coax disaffected old ones into returning. It may also help to put up an "Under New Management" sign.

A few links I have recently loved

blue hue., originally uploaded by emdot.

• Keri Smith: Unbranding
  What continues to inspire me are all of these crazy creative people online sharing what they think, make, do, create. Right up on the top of the list is Keri Smith. Her newest musings have to do with unbranding our lives. So she's created some templates you can print out to wrap up your cereal boxes, toothpaste tubes, and other whatnots around your house.


• Terry Gross interviews Mark Wahlberg
  This guy is way more interesting than I ever would have thought. Smart. Kinda humble. Maybe change that to honest/real. Very good interview.


• Terry Gross interviews Molly Ivins (archives)
  When people like Molly Ivins die is when I cross my fingers that reincarnation might be true. And if not reincarnation than I really really hope that it just means someone else talented, smart, witty, and ballsy quickly rises up to take her place.


• Story Corp: Alzheimers
  A Love that Burns Brightly. Story Corp can be a hit or a miss. But this one sinks right into the very marrow of growing older.


• Terry Gross interviews Colin Meloy of the Decemberists
  I love this band I love this band I love this band I love this band. And I really really love their newest album The Crane Wife. I love that CD I love that CD I love that CD.
  
  Basically the above paragraph is all the proof anyone would ever need to know I should never be a critic or reviewer.

Sheer Joy and Exuberance!

Sheer Joy and Exuberance!, originally uploaded by MontanaRaven.

Here's the photo I blogged about yesterday. Man I love this photo.

This is one of those photos that if you were to be very sad you could look at this and feel a little lighter in the shoulders and warmer in the heart.

There is no complaint choir in SLO Town and it makes me mad

My new favorite thing: the complaint choir. I saw the link today on Kottke and I gotta say — so so brilliant. Sing your woes, people! Sing your woes. And if you are interested in starting a Complaint Choir in San Luis Obispo, please contact me.

Ideas for lyrics:

It costs too much to buy a house
It costs too much to buy a house
It costs too much to buy a house
I'll be renting all my life

It costs too much to buy a house
Chainstores are taking up the downtown
It costs too much to buy a house
And the chainstores are taking up downtown

It costs too much to buy a house
All the food I like is fattening
It costs too much to buy a house
And the restaurants close too early

At night the raccoons taunt my cat
My neighbors don't take out the trash
It's not hard and it doesn't hurt
But I'm the one taking bins to the curb

It costs too much to buy a house
We pay extra tax on gas
I try not to drive my car too much
And I'm always taking out the trash

...

I could go on but 7s just called and I should be home by now! That can be the start of his complaint song. :)

Seriously. Watch the videos of the choirs. They made me very happy.

Need even more happiness (at this rate there will be no complaint choir)... check out this awesome sled dog photo from Montana Raven. I love love love love love this picture. :)