Thu, 27 Oct 2005

Back to anomie
I think I made a blog entry way back at the beginning of my blog about anomie. This is a concept that has always intrigued me. I remember my dad telling me about it when I was a kid and me being totally fascinated by it. I was doing some reading again about it today. Here’s a link to a page with some general discussion about it.

posted at: 12:15 | path: /living | link

Wed, 26 Oct 2005

McFengshui
Here’s another scathing article on what the authors refer to as Faux Feng Shui. Here’s my favourite quote from this article:

“How can plants “symbolize” life and growth when they *are* alive and *do* grow? In Five Element Theory the plant kingdom is represented by the Wood Phase/Element which symbolizes expanding energy (and isn’t necessarily represented by a plant in Feng Shui).”

posted at: 16:50 | path: /living | link

More on Feng Shui and Mirrors
I love this article’s somewhat exasperated tone when discussing feng shui and mirrors. Basically what it is saying is that people who try to use mirrors don’t actually understand the theory behind the whole thing. Here’s my favourite quote: “Let me first start out with saying that 168 Feng Shui Advisors recommends the use of mirrors as a bathroom tool to comb your hair by. Beyond that, mirrors only serve a visual or artistic effect… Have you ever tried to reflect heat with a mirror, or perhaps x-rays? Mirrors only reflect light, a narrow area of the energetic spectrum. Chi, defined as “life energy”, flows around and through each of us, is not diverted by a four inch, eight edged mirror.”

As in- hello! Duh! Get with the Chi program, people!

posted at: 16:39 | path: /living | link

Feng Shui and mirrors
I have a soft spot for Feng Shui. I was doing some surfing and happened across this article on Feng Shui and mirrors. I thought it was interesting that, according to this article, there is a classical version of Feng Shui that doesn’t use mirrors, except as a way to introduce metal into the environment. Here’s some more info on classic feng shui.

posted at: 16:30 | path: /living | link

Sun, 23 Oct 2005

Ward’s cheap solar power system
There you have it, folks!

posted at: 20:59 | path: /living | link

Thu, 20 Oct 2005

Infant Mental Health
I can’t say for sure, but I strongly suspect that as a child I was what is delicately and euphemistically described as a ‘Difficult Child’. That’s politically correct short hand for a child that drives people up the wall, in case you were wondering :). But, of course, difficult children are not evil or bad and they need all the things that all children need, even if it is a whole lot more challenging to actually give it to them. That’s why I was truly heartened to come across The Kansas Association for Infant Mental Health and take a look at all of the amazing slides they have. I think the information in these slides might well come in handy if I have children of my own, since I won’t be at all surprised if they’re a chip off the old block ;).

posted at: 15:52 | path: /living | link

Wed, 19 Oct 2005

Clutter-Clearing and Your Authentic Self
I’m looking for some added motivation to clean my office. Here’s a Feng Shui oriented article on why de-cluttering is good. I like this part:

“We slog through our days thinking “someday when I have the time I’ve got to clean this up.” … We’re approaching the clutter challenge backwards when we think this way. Regaining a sense of clarity and order is more easily achieved by putting our space in order than by trying to order and control our thoughts in a disorganized space…”

posted at: 17:25 | path: /living | link

ADD and relationships
I regularly check out an Adult ADHD message board and sometimes it has some really great articles. A few recently have been this article on why social skills can be an issue for people with ADD/ADHD and how experiences in grade school might contribute to this, this hilarious and inspiring bio of the creater of ‘Captain Underpants’ and this article on how ADD/ADHD affects relationships.

posted at: 15:00 | path: /living | link

Sun, 16 Oct 2005

Chez Jen Continues
It’s time for another Chez Jen, and the delicious food requests continue to roll in. This time we are going to enjoy a spinach dip appetizer, a quiche main course and for dessert- a coconut cream pie. Mmmmm….

posted at: 11:24 | path: /living | link

Fri, 14 Oct 2005

Growing Wild Blueberries
Sounds challenging.

posted at: 12:33 | path: /living | link

Fri, 07 Oct 2005

A tad anxious
Some might say that I’m a tad anxious on occasion. I don’t like to think that I’m anxious- I like to think that I am ‘forward looking’ and ‘prepared’. But- still, I must admit that some of my ‘forward looking’ scenarios may be a bit on the… extreme side. So the question I’m grappling with now is- how can I figure out what is far fetched and what isn’t? How can I modulate my initial reaction to a situation or to a possible situation so that it’s more in-sync with the actual situation? Here’s some food for thought.

posted at: 00:07 | path: /living | link

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