Don't Vote for a $15 Wage - Earn It

I am always a little shocked and appalled when I watch politicians wave around some economic policy that sounds good on the surface as long as you don't consider the implications like it's the silver bullet that is going to fix a crisis that has actually been improved within a historical context.  So naturally, I had a gut check reaction when I heard that all three of the Democratic nominees were blindly supportive of this $15 minimum wage. 

Free market economists argue that the ideal minimum wage is $0, and that the market should be free to determine what the appropriate wage is based on supply and demand of labor.  Maybe that is extreme, assuming that some people would not fight hard enough for a wage they deserve, and that large employers may take advantage of desperate underprivileged populations.  But the opposite of no minimum wage has even more dire consequences.  Corrupt employers already pay below minimum wage under the table, so raising the minimum wage to impossibly high levels for unskilled workers would only

lead to more undocumented workers and a black market for labor.  In addition, automation of low-skilled jobs is only kept at bay by the cost, but again, increasing the minimum wage to a level that is no longer economical for companies would encourage non-corrupt companies to simply automate more of the work or remove the need for work whatsoever.  Fortune's article suggests one such solution: "Hotels may reduce their tendency to automatically clean the rooms of their guests, and may charge extra for doing so."  There are plenty of other sound, economically-based arguments again the $15 wage, here are a couple articles for reference.  

• Why a $15-an-Hour National Minimum Wage Won’t Happen Anytime Soon
• A $15-hour minimum wage could harm America’s poorest workers
• Why A $15 An Hour Minimum Wage Just Won't Work In The US
• Entrepreneurs Are Forgotten in the Minimum Wage Debate

All that being said, I want to address a very different aspect of this argument.  Imagine a world where you could make the same amount with an associates degree as if you didn't graduate high school at all.  How many young people are going to strive for a degree at all with that lack of incentive?  Then picture this: you go to the store the day after Thanksgiving for Black Friday shopping, and instead of your usual 1.5 hour wait, you are waiting 10 hours to buy that 50% off game system for your oldest son because every customer has to go through a slow, glitchy self-checkout and the store cannot afford seasonal help to assist customers.  Every police officer on duty is escorting customers out of these stores to ensure they are not shot or robbed of their hard-earned presents, meanwhile there are no officers available to attend to that car that slid off the road due to ice, or to check on the house that is being broken into by an armed robber.  What's worse, your teenage daughter has nothing to put on her resume because she was never able to work until she got her bachelor's degree, since stores and restaurants couldn't afford to higher high school or college kids. 

I believe that young people deserve the right to work for single digit wages.  They deserve the opportunity to get seasonal jobs for while school is out to earn some extra money for the holidays or to save up for a car.  They deserve to learn what it takes to earn money, and to learn the value of the dollar. 

Proponents of the $15 minimum wage are assuming that people making minimum wage are supporting whole families on that, and therefore they need more money to do so.  While the premise may have some truth to it, I think the $15 minimum wage is exactly the WRONG answer to this problem.  What we should be looking to do instead is to figure out why people are trying to support a family without having gotten any useful education or employable skills, how we can reverse this problem, and how we can prepare young people to earn more than minimum wage before they have a family.  For example, programmers make well above minimum wage, and there are literally dozens of free resources already available online that can help individuals learn how to program.  What's more, there is a shortage of programmers and they are only going to be in increasingly high demand as technology becomes more integrated into everything we have and do. 

In my estimation, it would be far less detrimental to the economy to provide an educational stimulus to allow minimum wage adults to take a paid sabbatical to study programming so that adults that truly need a higher wage to find better paying jobs.  Even this seems like an example of wasteful government spending, since these programs are already free and accessible by anyone with a computer connected to the Internet (which is available for free at the library, if nothing else).  But, this makes more sense to me than the idea of raising the minimum wage to unsustainable levels that will inevitably result in another recession. 

And certainly, programming isn't the only field that could benefit from such an

initiative.  I believe that everyone has potential to excel at something, so if people need more than $8 or $10 per hour, they should seek the kind of help and resources that will get them to the wage they need to support themselves and their families, in whatever field they are passionate about and/or will excel at.  If we start handing out $15 per hour paychecks (or any amount that ensures support for a full family) to people flipping burgers or bagging groceries, what incentives will they have to contribute their deeper, more profound gifts to society? 

Before I belabor my point too much, I will conclude that we should maintain service and labor jobs at wages that make sense for the kind of work being performed, and that we should make the abundant and accessible resources to improve one's financial situation more prevalent.  By doing so, we will lift up the nation and raise the entire productivity of the country, rather than dumbing down our society and pretending that we're spreading wealth to the poor while actually robbing our neediest of the opportunity to work at all. 

Any Prize That I Desire

I've mentioned on more than one occasion that I was never excited to by in my 30s.  I owe this partially to my high-flying goals of what I would be before 30, and partially to the fact that my 20s were really quite amazing.  In my 20s, I studied abroad in Japan, had a spring break trip to Cancun, graduated with an Industrial Engineering degree, bought a house, got a dog, studied Six Sigma in California with the CEO of my supplier, studied kung fu with the warrior monks at the Shaolin Temple in China, bought a first year Chevrolet Volt and paraded it around in electric car shows and parades, got an MBA which included a second stint in China, dated lots of men, studied glassblowing, auditioned for a reality TV show, partied in Las Vegas, started a brewery tour business, tackled and completed some very ambitious hikes, went on a cruise vacation of a lifetime with my family, and a hell of a lot more.  I started this blog in my 20s, after a rough breakup, intending it to be a comedic dating blog, only to be cut short by a really wonderful relationship that put an end to my comically tragic single life.  I am reminded of a passage in Evita; musicals, in my opinion, are so powerful because they have a way of speaking to all emotions and aspects of life, no matter where you are in your life or what kind of life you lead.  Here's what Eva sings:

The choice was mine and mine completely
I could have any prize that I desired
I could burn with the splendor of the brightest fire
Or else--or else I could choose time
Remember I was very young then
And a year was forever and a day
So what use could fifty, sixty, seventy be?
I saw the lights and I was on my way

And how I lived! How they shone!
But how soon the lights were gone!

I think this is why I dreaded turning 30, and why I am still not convinced that my 30s will be better than my 20s, as so many others ahead of me have tried to assure me from their experience.  I had a kick ass decade in my 20s, and I really struggle with how I can top it.  What's more, I'm somewhat paying for it now, by way of being overweight, having debt from my schooling, and being tied to a house that has until recently been under water.  In my 20s I consumed life, anything and everything it had to offer.  Fly to California to deliver a presentation?  Sure!  Join kenpo so that I could study martial arts in China?  Sounds good!  Go on a date with a little person and his buddy (at the same time)?  Good for a laugh!  Try my hand at interior decorating?  Let's do it! 

I feel like in my 30s, I should have a focus, and I struggle with what my focus should be, and so I tend not to dive into anything because I'm afraid it's not the right focus.  I feel the burden of responsibility and adulthood weighing on me, in combination with the reality that my life plan hasn't panned out completely - I was going to be rich and in management by now - and it has the effect of indecisive paralysis.  I am grateful for all the things I do have, even little things like the ability to dance and move and think - I learned not to take those things for granted from immobilizing back injuries and migraine headaches.  I am loopy right now from a migraine semi-smothered by drugs, so I hope you'll excuse my if I am a bit tangential.  I am not sure how my sentences will end as I start them, and by the time I finish them I can't remember how they started - that's what I call migraine brain.  I can't hold a full thought in my head, so it becomes something like streaming consciousness. 

I remember the worst migraine brain moment I ever had was when I was working at Honeywell - my head hurt so badly that I realized work was actually not possible because I couldn't think, and it was in the afternoon so I figured I had put in enough time.  I got halfway down the outdoor stairwell when I realized I didn't have my jacket with me.  So I turned around and walked back towards my desk.  But my jacket wasn't at my desk.  It was on a desk in a completely different row than mine where nobody was sitting.  I could not remember placing the jacket there, or even grabbing the jacket in the first place, or dropping it, or walking down that row.  It was as if my migraine caused a five-minute blackout in which I did something that made no sense at all.  I drove home that day, and vomited from the pain immediately after parking in my garage - I almost puked in my car!  After about an hour, I was able to hold down a piece of bread. 

Migraines are no fun, but I am not very eager to try any more serious medication because I saw such treatment destroy my sister's health.  She's better now, thankfully, but she has to avoid her "triggers" and has a cocktail of drugs she uses when a migraine hits.  I use meditation, heat, massage, aromatherapy, and if necessary, OTC drugs to deal with my migraines.  And usually something will work sufficiently for about a day, and the migraine will persist for three days so I have to keep at it until the thing finally leaves. 

But I digress...  my point that I think I was going for was that I haven't been very positive about my 30s because I'm weighed down and have nothing to lift me up.  That is to say that I have no real big aspirations that I'm super stoked for.  I've done so much that I just can't imagine topping it.  I've wanted to go

back to Japan for several years now, in fact, I started yearning to go back during that whole nuclear crisis following the tsunami, which seemed like a bad time to visit but seeing it on the news just stirred me up.  Yet, even as Jaiman and I plan a trip to Japan, I'm not super excited about it.  I want to be, but I'm not.  I love all trips with Jaiman, we have a lot of fun together, and really, I just like spending time with him.  He's a great travel partner, and puts up with my early rising, tackle the world, no rest for the weary attitude.  I think what pains me is the fact that I've wanted to go to Australia for, like, ever, and instead of doing Australia, we're going back to a place I've already been.  Now, granted, I spent my time in Hiroshima, and we're mostly staying in Tokyo, so there is a difference there.  But to most Americans, Japan is Japan is Japan, and Australia is completely different.  I suppose that if we knock out Japan, that Australia will naturally be the next big trip, if I don't ship off to Germany or somewhere in Europe first.  More and more I want to get moved to Europe, and I've been working diligently on my German, despite my dislike for the language and the difficulty I've had with it.  I don't particularly like most German foods or beer, and I hear the weather is pretty dreary there.  Still, it's an adventure of a lifetime to move to a foreign country temporarily, and to be able to take weekend trips to one of many nearby countries that I have yet to explore.  I think it will be great.  But where does Australia play in to all of this? 

I think I first planned Australia in 2009.  When that didn't happen, I was determine to ring in the new year of 2010 there with Rick.  Something fell through, I think it was too expensive, so it didn't happen.  So Christy and I were going to do it in 2011.  School and work got in the way, so it would be 2012, and so on.  Here I am not 7 years later and still haven't made it below the Equator.  Argentina and Brazil are also on the list.  So maybe I need to make my 30s about exploring other continents, like, all the other ones.  And, starting a new business.  And, making my day-to-day life a little better.  I mean really, I have proven to myself that I can accomplish a lot if I set my mind to it, so I just need to name the prize that I want in my 30s. 

It may start with people.  I have done a lot on my own in the last few years, and I spend a lot of time with Jaiman (usually just watching TV, though).  I think I've ostracized myself from my friends, and I think it's time to correct that.  I have found time and time again that sometimes just sharing with someone what is on my mind or what I am trying to achieve has spurred generous contributions to help me achieve my goals.  Even if I don't directly benefit from my friends in that way, having good conversations always energizes me, and I have been feeling a little lackluster lately.  So, I will improve my life by meeting with friends more, and by finding other ways to make my life easier. 

Your Home Screen Owns You

Several weeks ago, I did something seemingly very subtle, minuscule even, that changed my day-to-day life.  I gave it a 50/50 chance of having a big impact and having no discernible impact whatsoever.  I am happy to say that it was the former.  This small change has boosted my daily productivity, increased my motivation and decreased the feeling of being drained all the time.  It has also indirectly made me smarter, healthier and more creative.  

Have I sold you on this amazing transformation yet?  If you haven't guessed by the title of the blog, it has to do with that little device we interface with first thing in the morning, last night before we go to sleep and far too many times during the day.  Here's what I did: I removed facebook and email from my Home Screen on my phone.  I moved them to another page, so they are still rapidly available, but I have to consciously think about checking them.  It's a huge difference to not have the nagging icons greeting me every time I reach for my phone.  I don't need to check my email every time a company sends me an advertisement, and I don't need to check my facebook every time a friend "likes" a post of mine.  But I was finding all too often that I would grab my cell phone to look something up, or check on something, and get distracted by the number of alerts on the facebook or email icons, or both, and then forget what I was going to look up.  

In addition to removing these two icons, which was a game changer in and of itself, I also added icons in their places.  I added a link to my library account, where I could check on book/audiobook/DVD requests, and look up new things to request, etc.  And I brought a fitness tracker to the home screen.  This made searching and logging my food more efficient, and made me think more about books I wanted to read or listen to and less about what baby pictures have been posted. 

When we took our epic road trip last summer, I had debated going on a social media hiatus, but decided that it would be valuable to share where we were with our friends and family for safety and because sometimes friends think of local places to check out when they see where they are.  But the idea of disconnecting for a period of time still appeals to me some.  I'm not anti-social media, I just realize that too much of my life is consumed by it, and I struggle with finding the right balance.  

That being said, removing those two icons from my home screen has really proven to me the importance of putting on your home screen what is most important to you, and only that.  Now I am trying to think of ways of incorporating more of the "good stuff" on my home screen.  I want to tie it in with my goals of learning German, learning programming, developing my company, 3D printing, etc.  I've yet to come up with solutions for those, but I am still worlds ahead, in my opinion, having removed email and facebook from my home screen.   

You can put anything on your Home Screen - a To Do list app, an audiobook player, a flashcard app for what you're trying to learn, etc.  I still browse facebook and check my email, but I don't do it obsessively or let it distract me.  I am intentional about going into those apps now, and it has made all the difference in the world.  

Re-dream: 2016 Resolutions

I am listening to an audio book in which a fortune teller tells the main character, "When your dreams all come true, you must re-dream."  She went on to say that you can't live in the past or settle for being content.  You need something to work towards, a new dream of what your life can be.  I can't think of a more appropriate way for me to look forward to the new year and 4 - 5 year outlook than that. 

I sometimes have anxiety over setting goals and making resolutions, because I am so ambitious that I want to set lofty goals, and then I am hard on myself when I fail to achieve those goals in the given amount of time.  But coming out of 2015, I have a renewed energy, because perhaps for the first time in my life, I kept all of my New Year's Resolutions.  In 2014 I accomplished most of my resolutions, with the exception of leaving the country, and getting down to a size 10.  In 2013, my resolutions were pretty much just whack-a-doodle, and in 2012 I had far too many and clearly lost focus.  I set 8 resolutions in 2011 and accomplished none of them.  From this trend, I suppose one could deduce that I have either gotten better about keeping my resolutions, or setting better ones.  The weight goal is always tricky; its the most common resolution and perhaps the hardest one to keep.  Many of my resolutions are fairly finite: do this one thing and it's complete.  But getting down to a certain size or weight takes continued, renewed effort, and can be un-checked faster than it can be checked.  I didn't set one last year, and if I had, I most certainly would have failed it as I am about the same size and shape as I was a year ago.  So, I am very cautious to set such a goal, but part of me wants to.  Hey, if I was able to commit and accomplish the 8 goals I set in 2015, why not? 

Well, there's the catch.  I didn't do a great job of accomplishing all of my New Year's resolutions last year.  Some of them were barely checking the box.  Part of me wants to believe that if I set goals and resolutions that encourage me to be healthier, like working out every day or make good choices in food, that the weight loss will come.  Part of me thinks that I will get to a point where I've decided it can't be done, and will give up and feel defeated.  Part of me thinks that my other goals run contrary to weight loss - like learning programming. 

The truth is that, despite my success (or maybe just luck) in 2015, I am not really sure how to set goals that I will commit to and achieve.  Sure, we've all heard of the SMART goals, Specific, Measurable, Achievable, blah blah blah.  But I am not convinced those work.  Same with vision boards, where you are supposed to choose images that inspire you and hang them where you will see them every day.  I've had inspirational quotes around my house for years, and they've done nothing to stir my energy.  Accountability partners have failed me too.  And more importantly, I think we should be able to keep ourselves accountable.  We should be able to set out to achieve something, and then achieve it.  A year is a long time.  In fact, we have a little more time in 2016, with it being Leap Year.  I should be able to accomplish just about anything in a year.  But, losing weight won't happen on its own just by setting a goal or sitting down one night to knock it out.  I think to lose weight, you have to set smaller goals.  Eat a salad twice a week.  Work out four times per week.  Walk 10,000 steps a day.  Something that you can strive for in a much shorter term. 

My other problem is that I like variety.  I thrive on it.  Sometimes it bothers me that I lack focus; I don't have that one burning passion in my soul that I would quit my job for and work at day and night.  But I think I've just about decided that that's just me, and that's okay.  So, I'm not going to say that I'm going to write every day of 2016.  Hell, I didn't write at all yesterday, so that boat has already sunk anyways.  In September, I wrote a blog about "A Kinda Really Sorta Perfect Day," in which things didn't really go my way and I wasn't perfect, but I persevered and got things done.  Since then, I've been tinkering with the idea of what makes a "good" day or a "perfect" day.  What I've come up with in the last several weeks is a better formula for success for people like me.  Rather than a strict checklist of things to do every day or every week, I have developed a buffet of sorts.  Here's how it works: I've grouped activities into 6 areas of life.  Each area is something we can all probably improve on.  A good day is completing 3 of those activities, covering at least 2 of the areas.  A perfect day is completing 6 or more of those activities, with at least one in every area. 

Something for the mind:

• Practice a language
• Read / listen to an audiobook
• Take a lesson in programming
• Do coursework
• Take a quiet, hot bath; breathe and let your mind rest

Something for the body:

• Stretch
• Dance
• Go for a run / walk
• Hike
• Ab workout
• Lift weights
• Thighmaster
• Other form of exercise

Something for the soul:

• Write
• Cook a new or tricky dish
• Build a Lego model or Lego sculpture
• Design something
• Paint
• Craft
• Create something else

Something for the heart:

• Pay a colleague a sincere compliment
• Have a real conversation with someone
• Call a friend or family member on the phone
• Have lunch, dinner or drinks with someone
• Send a card or letter (via real snail mail)
• Volunteer or do charity work
• Help a stranger with something

Something for the wallet:

• Apply for a job
• Schedule / post on social media for business
• Eat in
• Create a graphic, blog or tool for business

Something practical:

• Empty dishwasher / load and start dishwasher
• Take trash out / take recycling out
• Do laundry
• Clean the bathroom / kitchen
• Get oil change / tire rotation
• Pull weeds
• Other chore

So now, I've made one of my resolutions to have 366 "good" days. In theory, this means that most days I will be doing something good for my body, and the days I'm not doing good for my body, I am doing good for my mind, heart and soul, which are ultimately good holistically anyways.  Also, I believe firmly in making good habits by doing something consistently for a number of days.  I've heard both 21 and 90 days, so I like how this graphic puts it: It takes 21 days to create a habit, it takes 90 days to create a lifestyle.  Imagine what would happen if you succeed in being "good" for 366 days! 

The first resolution I made was around learning programming.  I know a bit of HTML, and I regularly program in VB for work.  But I do not consider myself a good programmer, or really a programmer at all.  It's like how most people know how to write, but that doesn't make them writers; I know how to program, but I am not a programmer.  I have a lot of entrepreneurial ambition that is wasted week after week and month after month because my lack of programming skill prevents me from doing the things that require programming.  I dream of collaborating with a talented, brilliant programmer and partnering with him or her to create this massively successful company.  The problem with that dream is that most programmers are in so high demand they are not really willing to work with a business person like me on my idea, and if they were willing to work on such an idea, they would just as soon start their own company without said business person.  I preach that programming is such a powerful tool that I believe everyone should learn it to a degree, so I've had to swallow the pill that I, too, could use some work developing my skills.  

I have an idea for a better social media management tool that I've been toying

with, and of all my brilliant ideas, this is the one I'm most sold on at the moment.  Of course, a competitor could sweep in and build it before I even learn to program, but that's the risk I suppose I have to take.  And, learning programming will only help me with my next brilliant idea, if that happens.  So after a bit of research, I've settled on HTML, CSS and the Twitter API as my focus for this year, and I'm going to use Codecademy.  It shouldn't take a year to get pretty good at those things, especially because I already know some HTML and CSS, but I want to keep my scope small and get really good at them.  If I am successful, I can then start programming my dreams, and can learn new languages as needed in the coming years.

I won't go into detail now about my motivation for the rest of my resolutions.  I am excited, though, that if I am as successful in 2016 at checking off these boxes as I was in 2015, that great things will happen.  So, with that, here they are.

New Year's Resolutions for 2016

• Learn HTML & CSS & Twitter API
• Spend a Weekend Disconnected
• Design & 3D print something
• Make a video with Jaiman - performing music, dancing, audition for a reality show or something silly
• Improve my home in some way
• Learn Thriller choreography
• Have 366 "Good" Days

These aren't terribly ambitious for a 366-day year (except making a video with Jaiman, that will take some effort since he is SO camera shy).  They are vague enough that if something specific doesn't happen, I can still check off the boxes, but they are specific enough that I will know when I've accomplished them.  Maybe that is the trick to setting goals, being just specific enough. 

If I've inspired you to make your own New Year's Resolutions, please comment below and let me know!  Also, check out my post from last year, where I provide ideas for tangible, achievable resolutions ideas. 

Personalized Home Sweet Home Gift Hack

I wanted to share this great DIY craft that I made for my Mom this year.  Don't worry, we celebrated Christmas early, so she has already received her present, no surprises will be spoiled here.  The great thing about this gift is that it takes a little bit of work, but can be done in a pinch and requires very little creative ability. 

First, find a picture frame with a matte that you want to use.  Note the size of the picture that will fit inside this frame.  Most of the rest of the steps will be done with a computer. 

Then, we need a picture of the front of the house.  It would be preferable to have a high-quality picture from a decent camera taken when you are there.  In a pinch, however, you can use StreetView on Google Maps to get it.  There are many ways to do it, but I would recommend putting your browser into Full Screen view and using the Print Screen button on your keyboard to capture the image.  Capture more than you will need, because we'll crop the image later. 

Next, clean up the picture using PhotoShop or a similar program.  I removed the mailbox, the electric box and the shadow from the neighbor's house with PhotoShop Elements.  

Copy the cleaned-up picture into PowerPoint.  Right click on the image and choose Format Picture.  In the Picture Color section, adjust the Color Saturation and Color Tone as you see fit.  I ended up leaving the Color Tone alone but bumping up the Color Saturation to 240%.  Check out the difference!  

Under Artistic Effects (still in the Format Picture settings), select the Paint Brush setting, and adjust the Brush Size to your liking.  I used a Brush Size 6. 

Use the Insert function to create a rectangle on the same slide.  Right click on the rectangle and click Format Shape.  In the Size section, change the height and width to 8" and 10", respectively (or use the dimensions of the picture frame you got, if different).  Make the Line Color black or something else pretty visible, and change the Fill to No fill.  Use this frame to center the image to show the best parts of the house.  Once satisfied, you can crop the image to the same size as the rectangle, and then delete the rectangle. 

Zoom out in the slide view, and then grab the corner of the graphic to stretch it proportionately to a much larger size; this will improve the quality of the print later on. 

Because my family has moved quite a bit, I thought it would be fun to show the coordinates of all our recent homes.  I've changed them for this blog, but you get the idea.  If you don't want to show multiple coordinates, you can just show the current one.  What you probably need to know is how to get these coordinates.  I found this handy website that converts the address to latitude and longitude in decimals: http://www.latlong.net/convert-address-to-lat-long.html,  and then a tab on that same website converts those to degrees, minutes and seconds with directions: http://www.latlong.net/lat-long-dms.html.  

Note, sometimes it can be hard to remember all the old addresses.  In two cases in my experience, I couldn't remember the address but I remembered the street name and city, so I looked for it on Google Maps, and then used StreetView to go up and down the street until I found the house that looked like mine.  Google Maps will then give you the address of the house you are virtually looking at, and you can go from there. 

Create a text box centered over the image in your PowerPoint file, and put these coordinates in there.  Adjust the fonts to your liking, but I would recommend sticking to a simpler font for a bolder statement. 

You can use different tag lines for this gift.  If you had multiple coordinates, you can use the same tag line I did, "Wherever we live, it’s HOME SWEET HOME with you!"  Here are some other ideas for multiple coordinates:

Wherever you go, there you are!
Oh, the places we will go! 
Home is Where You Are

If you went with just one set of coordinates, consider one of these tag lines or similar:

Home Sweet Home
Home is Where the Heart Is

Make sure to center your text and adjust the spacing to fit in the image without blocking the main features of the house.  We're going for a big, bold effect, so make the font bigger than you think it should be, details will be lost in the overall picture. 

Once satisfied with the finished graphic, copy both the image and the text box(es) and paste them into Microsoft Paint, PhotoShop or similar.  Save the graphic as a jpg.  

Finally, use your favorite photo printing service, like SnapFish, or go to the Walgreens or Walmart websites or similar, and upload your picture for print.  Select the size print to fit in your frame, and have it printed.  I haven't used photo printing a lot, but I know Walgreens is usually pretty fast, so in a pinch, that's where I would look to print.  You can usually pick up your order in a few hours.  Once you have the print, just slide that puppy into the frame and put a bow on it or wrap it completely.  Bam! 



Want more great hacks and crafts? Check out my book on Amazon Kindle! 

Design Hacks for Disney Themed Rooms

Thankful for Perspective

I like to believe that there is no such thing as a bad day - that good and bad things happen every day, and that's just life, and deeming a day "good" or "bad" is all a matter of perspective and what you're focusing on.  It's easy to have a "good day" when things are all going well; you finish a project and get recognized for your hard work, then an old friend emails you saying they are coming into town and you arrange a meeting to catch up, you get a free meal at Chipotle on your way home, your favorite show is on, etc.  But when things get bumpy, when setback after setback and irritating things start creeping into your day, it can be hard not to think it's a "bad day".  As much as I want to deny their existence, I think bad days can happen.  But that doesn't mean you have to be angry or crabby or depressed, it just means you have to work a little harder to be grateful for the things that are going well and what you have in your life to be thankful for.  It may sound bleak, but the reality is that things could always be much worse.  Small things are nothing when big bad things happen. 

I once thought I was having a bad day because my manager was getting on my case about a report and I didn't feel like I had been given enough time to really work it.  It was frustrating, to be sure, because my manager should certainly know that I had had other priorities that demanded my attention, so I couldn't fathom why she was making a big deal about it.  Then my colleague got news that her father had suddenly passed away.  Those are two very different scenarios.  I instantly felt more guilty than I've ever felt, for whining about such a little ordeal.  I had lost my perspective. 

I think it's safe to say that most bad days are not that traumatic; that is, most bad days do not involve the sudden, unexpected death of a close loved one.  For those days, I really have no solution, because everybody deals with death differently and there is no amount of positive spin that can make it "a good day," in my opinion.  But on bad days that are not as tragic, which should be most bad days, at the very least, you can say, "I'm alive and well, my family is alive and well, my friends are alive and well, and we're working through this thing called life." 

In the summer before I started 8th grade, I made a promise to myself to never forget that I am loved.  I've kept that promise ever since.  It was a petty junior high romance gone bad at band camp that had developed into the bad day that led me to that moment, crying in the girl's bathroom at the band camp dance, when two girls whom I barely knew comforted me and made me feel better.  I think that was a legitimate turning point in my attitude towards life, and I will never forget that feeling of being cared about when I thought (dramatically, as junior highers do) that all was lost.  Looking back on it now, it was a silly situation to cry over, but that promise was more profound and mature than I realized then.  Since then, when I felt lonely, I reminded myself that my family loved me.  When my heart was broken, I surrounded myself with friends who cared.  I have never let myself think for a millisecond that I am not loved, because I know I am. 

In the last year or so, I can't even remember particularly when it was, I had somehow managed to injure myself so severely that I could barely walk, I couldn't bend at the waist at all, and all forms of movement caused searing pain.  It was horrible.  I remember thinking that this is only partially what it would feel like to be paralyzed.  I made light of it by telling people how I had to put my pants on lying in bed, throwing my pants up in the air until I could catch them on my feet, and then work them down my leg.  But it was just awful.  I sat on ice and heat whenever I could to heal, but everything hurt all the time and life was very difficult.  Getting into my car was the most excruciating thing I had to do each day.  It was only slightly easier for me to get into the passenger side of a car, so I made Jaiman drive me everywhere we went together during that time.  I ended up healing just fine, and since then, I have a new and profound appreciation for my fitness and my ability to move and dance freely.  I am not the most fit, to be sure, and not the best dancer, but I can usually move as needed and desired, and when I am sore it's because I've been moving, and I am grateful for that. 

I got an early start on the Thankful blog I was planning to do tomorrow, because today was one of those days that I needed it.  I had taken a vacation day, and as is all too often the case with me, my to do list outweighed both the time I had and the energy and motivation I had.  Still, I wanted to get things done.  I got up to 25,000 words on my nanowrimo novel, although today was the deadline to get to 50,000 words.  Ah well, 25,000 words is still an accomplishment, it's 25,000 more words than I would have written on my novel if I hadn't tried. 

I took a break from writing to check my work email, just to see if there were any catastrophes I could potentially resolve - this was around 1 pm.  The first thing that caught my eye was a MANDATORY meeting - yes in all caps - from my new VP, regarding the transition I've been stressed about the last couple weeks.  And it was at 10 am.  I looked for a reschedule notification, and there was none.  Didn't he see that I was on vacation?  I looked for a recap of what was said, and there was none.  I checked the attendance list, hoping to at least see my production steering counterpart on there, because I knew he was also on vacation, so at least I wouldn't have been the only one that missed the meeting.  But he was not on there.  I guess it's not a catastrophe, but not being in the room when my senior leaders are discussing my product line and my project just seems very bad. 

Throughout the day, my phone has been running terribly slow.  Tmobile had pushed a new update and it caused the whole system to run like garbage.  This may be the most frustrating thing at all, because there is literally nothing I can think to do except go to Tmobile and demand they fix it, which they won't.  I tried to send a message to my sister in response to a question she asked, and it took over an hour to send.  Then it took me another 15 minutes to type out an apology that my phone wasn't working and I couldn't communicate right now as a result.  It nearly crashed as I tried to end the message with a period, so I hit send really quickly before it crashed. 

I had asked Jaiman to see if he could get the plastic to feed into my new 3D printer, and he figured it out - the directions were wrong.  Leave it to a man to do the opposite of the incorrect directions and solve the problem.  I am grateful for that.  But then, after spending quite some time taping up the table of the printer, a belt snapped and my attempts at repairing it lead to complete disaster, cutting right through the nicely laid tape. 

So, I moved on to another project - putting up the Christmas tree.  This is one of those annual projects that I always kind of dread, but I'm glad when it's done because I so love Christmas and nothing is better this time of year than a lit up and decorated Christmas tree.  It's nice to have help fluffing the branches, but I knew Jaiman likes it even less than I do, so I went ahead and worked all three pieces while he was at work.  Feeling accomplished, a got the base set up and the bottom section in, and plugged that puppy in.  Of course, more than half the lights didn't light up.  I was prepared, though, with my handy little Christmas light repair tool I had bought a couple years ago.  It had solved my problems before, and it could surely save me this time.  But, I tried and tried and could not find the busted bulb.  I scooched around the tree several times, with no luck.  I gave myself until 5 pm, at which point I decided that I needed to go to It's Sugar to try to get the special Japanese Kit Kats I wanted to bring in to work for food day, get cash for my Gypsy Jitterbugs dues, and then head to practice.  So at 5, I called it quits, having had no success at all on the lighting, and now having three large sections of Christmas tree hogging the floor of my front room. 

As I was about to leave, I noticed that my debit card was not in my phone case.  The case had loosened up in recent weeks, so the cards were slipping out from time to time.  This set me on a mad hunt around my house to find my debit card.  Why did it have to be THAT card?  I could live without one of my credit cards, but it's hard to pay dues when I have no money and no means of getting it.  Finally, I found it and left, slightly later than I wanted to be leaving. 

There was a line 5 deep at the drive through ATM, so I drove around and parked.  Both walk-up ATMs had lines of two each, but I figured it would still go faster than waiting in the car.  I got in line, got my money and headed to the store.  I got the Kit Kats, but they were a little pricier than I expected.  Ah well, now is not the time to be cheap, right?  I got to dance practice right on time.  Dance went well, and I headed home. 

I should add that I had also seen the wreckage of a terrible accident on my way home - it appears a van had T-boned an ambulance, and both were smoking and severely damaged.  The van was on its side and just completely crushed.  Glass was everywhere.  People were on the side of the street, one was crying with her head in her hands.  It was really ugly.  I made it home safely, and for that, I am thankful.  I am so weary of the dangers of driving, that I should be thankful every time I get anywhere without crashing and especially without dying. 

But, I wasn't feeling very grateful.  I was feeling sorry for myself, now with a 3D printer I'm fed up with, a Christmas tree I'm fed up with, a phone that doesn't operate, laundry to do and an unknown situation to walk into at work tomorrow.  Not to mention that I had wanted to walk Carly, which I hadn't, and clean the kitchen, which was still a mess, and a few other things that deep down I probably knew wouldn't get done when I put them on my list to begin with. 

So, I needed some perspective.  My house is messy, but I have a house.  My 3D printer is not up and running yet, but I am an early adopter and this is to be expected, some day I'll chalk it up to experience and have great war stories to tell about the early days of 3D printing.  My work is frustrating and tense, but I have a great job, I like my colleagues and my managers.  I have a boyfriend who can help me troubleshoot things, a family that loves me, great friends who care, a cool car, some fantastic Christmas decorations, and I can dance.  These things are what matter.  I won't look back on today and think, "Stupid Christmas lights!"  I'll think back on today and remember the words I wrote, the efforts I made, the dance I did, and the people and things in my life that make it interesting.  These things are only difficult now because they are things that I have and care about. 

It's a little like how the people you care about most have the biggest capacity to hurt you or let you down.  My "bad day" wasn't really bad, if I didn't have a phone, a Christmas tree, a 3D printer, and a half-written novel, I'm not sure what I would have done with myself today.  I'd be bored, and certainly that would be worse than getting frustrated at these fun things.  And if I didn't have a job, I'd be in a lot worse situation.  So I am thankful for perspective. 

Advent Calendar for Writers

Did you ever do an Advent Calendar when you were little?  Every day you got a little morsel of chocolate.  Now that we're adults, we can eat chocolate whenever we want, so I don't see the appeal in the traditional Advent Calendar.  But, in the spirit of improving my writing, I thought I'd put together a fun December schedule of writing activities to put the Christmas spirit to work in my writing.  I am also working on brevity, so my word count may be a bit limiting intentionally.  I will be sharing my responses on this blog, and I encourage any writers out there to use this as they see fit, and share your responses as you wish. 

 

1 - Coming out of the Thanksgiving season, write a blog post about what you're thankful for.  If you've already done that, write a blog about what you're looking forward to (in the next week or in the coming month, keep it short-term).  Word count: 300 - 700.

 

2 - Write a Christmas letter (whether you send it or not is up to you) about what you've been up to this past year.  Word count: 350 - 650.

 

3 - Compose five tweets about your favorite parts of Christmas, with links to a graphic, video or song.  What gets you into the Christmas spirit?  What do you look forward to (eating/drinking/singing/watching/doing)?  Word count limited to 140 characters in each post.  

 

4 - Write a short essay on the best Christmas gift (1) you've received, (2) you've given, and (3) you'd like to give.  Word count: 450 - 1500.

 

5 - Write a short story about the holidays in some fictional world - on Mars, set in the future, or set in your favorite fictional world, etc.  Word count: 500 - 750.

 

6 - Write a parody to a beloved Christmas song or poem.  Word count: varies

 

7 - Write a blog post about what you're looking forward to in the following year.  Word count: 300 - 700.  

 

8 - Create a To Do list of the best Christmas traditions to partake in or to start.  Word count: 150 - 450.  

 

9 - Write a review of a product you've purchased or received in the last year that you absolutely love.  Who else would want one?  What makes it unique and life-changing?  Word count: 300 - 650.  

 

10 - Write a blog post about your favorite quote from a Christmas movie.  Include a clip if you can find one!  Word count: 300 - 700. 

 

11 - Write a short narrative about the worst (and/or most comical) Christmas disaster you've experienced or heard about.  Word count: 300 - 750.  

 

12 - Interview a friend, colleague or distant family member about their Christmas traditions and write a blog post about it.  Word count: 350 - 900.  

 

13 - Write an essay about the true meaning of Christmas.  Word count: 450 - 1500.  

 

14 - Use your stories from #5 or #11 to write a Seussical short rhyming story.  Word count: 75 - 400. 

 

15 - Write a short narrative about your favorite Christmas from your childhood.  What made it feel magical?  Did you believe?  Word count: 500 - 900.  

 

16 - Write a report to Santa that an Elf on the Shelf would write if he was watching you.  Have you been naughty or nice?  Word count: 300 - 650. 

 

17 - Write an essay describing what would be a perfect Christmas holiday for you.  Who would be there?  Where would you celebrate?  What would you do?  Word count: 450 - 1100.

 

18 - Write a blog about Christmas shopping, what you love, what you hate, what you might do differently next year.  Word count: 400 - 700. 

 

19 - Use your response in #15 to write a dystopian version of the story.  Word count: 500 - 1200. 

 

20 - Compose five tweets about the ironies of Christmas.  

                              - OR -  

      Write an essay about the logistics of Santa Claus, how the elves know what to make, how Santa delivers presents to all the kids in just one night, how Rudolph's nose shines bright enough to lead the way through fog without blinding Santa, etc.  

 

21 - Write an original poem about family, winter, holidays, traditions, love or peace.  Word count: varies.  

 

22 - Write a letter to someone who is no longer walking this Earth.  What would you want to tell him/her?  How would Christmas be different if he/she was still here?  Word count: varies. 

 

23 - Write a blog post about your favorite Christmas song or story, and the emotions it makes you feel.  Word count: 450 - 900. 

 

24 - Write a warm holiday greeting for social media, that rhymes to send to your friends and family.  Take a nice picture or choose one from earlier in the year to share with it.  Word count: 25 - 100.  

 

25 - Write a heart-felt thank you for all the memories you've made and gifts you've received. Word count: 35 - 75.  

                                                       - OR - 

      Write a short narrative about the fun you had celebrating Christmas this year, and what made it so special.  Word count: 400 - 750.