Main

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Things I Love: Wii Fit (or Further Proof that I am a Nerd)

Monday morning I went out and bought a Nintendo Wii, for the express purpose of being able to play the game Wii Fit. Of course, Wii Fit wasn't available until today, but I made a special gas-is-at-3.89-a-gallon trip up the road apiece because the lady I spoke with at Fred Meyer (when I called to ask if I could reserve a Wii Fit if I gave her a credit card number over the phone) said they had only one Wii system left.

So I got the system, set it up, and then played a few games here and there on Monday evening in addition to poking around the shopping channel to see which old games they had. This morning, not knowing whether there was going to be a crowd, I got up early and got myself to Fred Meyer just before the doors opened at 7 a.m. in order to be sure to get my game. (After all, not getting a Wii Fit after buying the game console with the express purpose of using it with the Wii Fit would just be ridiculous.)

Continue reading "Things I Love: Wii Fit (or Further Proof that I am a Nerd)" »

Monday, April 07, 2008

Things I Love: Moleskine Notebooks

moleskinepocket.jpg A few months ago, I finally got fed up enough with my non-existent organizational system that I went hunting around for a new approach. I'd previously used an HP iPAQ Pocket PC - until it died a sudden and unexpected death - and then I was without a handheld device other than my cell phone, which had my contacts in it but that's about it. So after finding the Blackberry Pearl (which I used until recently when I dropped it one too many times) I was set on the calendar and contacts fronts because I sync these features with my work Exchange server. The task manager was more of a problem. I absolutely abhor Outlook's task manager, and despite several attempts to use it in various ways, I've given up in exasperation.

My biggest challenge, in my work and my life, has always been remembering everything I need to do. I recently learned about David Allen's Getting Things Done approach and after reading (most of) his book (err, oops?), doing some research and poking around online I decided to try using a pocket-sized, squared Moleskine notebook together with padded (i.e. sticky, like post-its) blank 3x5 cards and some repositionable index tabs. My system looks sort of like this one. (I can't find the page for the actual system I've been using, alas, but I'm cruising through the Getting Things Done pool on Flickr and am getting more ideas!)

Anyway, after using this system for just a little while, I fell in love with these notebooks. I absolutely adore them. They are the perfect size, lay flat when you open them, the paper is soft and silky but not super-thin, and they come in such a wide variety of sizes and styles everyone is sure to find at least one to tickle their fancy! I currently am using the pocket-sized squared notebook for my personal To-Dos, a larger, journal-sized squared notebook for all work-related items, and a third, lined journal-size notebook as my regular journal - it stays by my bed and gets written in when the topic of my journaling is not blog-appropriate. :)

I've found these notebooks at a variety of places: Amazon.com seems to have them for the cheapest price, but I've found them at bookstores like Powell's Books (for those of you within driving distance of Portland, OR), Borders and other book stores. I imagine art supply stores might also carry them.

(And for what it's worth: I've found the Getting Things Done approach to be really helpful, when I use it. And the point is, you have to use it. The challenge for me, with my work and life in general, is that tasks seem to generate themselves and while I should be furiously writing them down as they come to me, I usually don't even have a spare second to do so because of deadlines and etc. So I'm still tweaking the system to best work for me and am trying to get into the habit of getting out the notebook as ideas come to me.)

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

At risk of angering the gods of health and well-being...

...people, I'll be damned if I don't feel BETTER!

I mean, yeah, it's early (it's only been 4 days) but since beginning the Synthroid I feel like myself again!

Myself, as in the person who can clean the house and STILL have energy to go out later.
Myself, who can work a 9 hour day and still feel energetic and clear-headed enough to write a blog post.
Myself, who can go out for a walk and not have to take a nap afterwards just to make it through the rest of the day!

I'm not counting those proverbial chickens, mind you: as I said, I've only been on the stuff for 4 days, but if it continues to work the way it has these last few days (or, dare I hope, better!?) I'm going to be in much better shape than I have been in a long, long time.

Continue reading "At risk of angering the gods of health and well-being..." »

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Things I Love: Chanel Inimitable Multi-Dimensional Mascara

So I hope all is well in everyone's world... I am up early today for two reasons: a) I have a crazy day ahead (part of week 2 of a very busy 2-week schedule) and b) I have a dog who, this morning, decided I was to get up early and attend her every need. She wasn't sure what those needs were, but she'd be damned if she was going to have me sleeping while she figured it out.

Anyway...

On to today's "Thing"!

Continue reading "Things I Love: Chanel Inimitable Multi-Dimensional Mascara" »

Sunday, March 02, 2008

Things I Love: Giovanni 50/50 Shampoo & Conditioner

giovanni.jpg
Those who have met me in person know how ridiculously thick my hair is. My hair is so thick that if I don't go in regularly and have the stylist thin it out, it starts to totally overwhelm my head. Nonetheless, it is a problem I don't mind having (because the alternative? Not really interested...) and I love my hair, but it does make it awfully difficult sometimes to find a good hair stylist. It is also quite hard to find shampoo that doesn't leave it feeling like straw. For that reason, I have always followed my shampooing with a conditioner of some kind.

About a month ago I went with a friend and colleague to The DragonTree day spa here in Portland, and as we were leaving she pointed to the hair products on their shelves and raved about how wonderful they were. So I picked up a bottle of the shampoo (they were out of the conditioner that day) and decided to give it a whirl.

People, this stuff is just wonderful. I have never, ever washed my hair and then not followed it with conditioner, but after trying this shampoo and rinsing it, it almost felt like I didn't need a conditioner at that point! The product didn't lather as much as I'm used to, but it cleaned my hair and then washed out easily, leaving my hair silky and manageable. Still, old habits die hard, so I hopped online and ran a Google product search for the conditioner, and found a three-pack of the product at Amazon.com. The price being reasonable, I ordered a three-pack of each on the spot.

Not surprisingly, the conditioner is also wonderful. Largely because the shampoo works so well on its own, I don't have to use as much of the conditioner as I'm used to with other products. The scent is mild, and pleasant and my hair is more manageable than it's ever been. And to top all of that, these products are organic! Highly recommended. (The shampoo you can order here).

Giovanni does make a number of other products as well, and while I imagine they are just as lovely, I've only tried their body wash: it is not as fragrant as I'd like, but it works well and is extremely gentle. Still, for the price, I think I'll stick with Bath & Body Works' creamy body wash.

Saturday, March 01, 2008

New "Feature": Things I Love

As many of you have probably noticed my blogging frequency has gone from daily (a year or so ago) to weekly or, often, semi-monthly. When I started blogging, I had just moved to Boston and wanted to document my adventures in addition to staying in touch with my family and friends in Oregon. I wrote frequently - daily, and sometimes more than once a day - and enjoyed cruising around to many other blogs. When I moved back to Portland I no longer had that same mission, but I enjoyed blogging and so continued to write fairly frequently about getting my life "put back together" again. Once my MS reared its ugly head I started chronicling that misadventure as well.

Both my life and my MS have stabilized considerably over the last 18 months (The Good Doctor and his Hateful Shrew notwithstanding) and while that is a good thing, it means I've not had as many "what's happening with me" tales to regale you with. It's not that I'm not busy: I am; there are a lot of things I am doing. The problem, though, is that the busiest aspects of my life are work- and/or recovery-related and thus non-blog-worthy. I don't write about work on principle (see: Dooce.com); I don't write (extensively) about recovery simply because it is an area of my life that I want to keep private.

So I've been thinking lately about the direction in which I want to take this website and the topics I want to write about. Although I am interested in many things, this blog has always been a collection of personal stores about various aspects of my present and previous lives, and I do not want this piece to change. Further, in writing yesterday's post I realized how much I enjoy writing about the past and my childhood, and looking back it's become clear that my favorite posts are the ones where I'm telling pieces of my personal history. So I suspect I will continue to share those stories here.

The downside to those, however, is that they sometimes take a long time to write, edit, rewrite and then share. Sadly, I don't have time these days to really spend extensive amounts of time writing those types of posts unless I'm really feeling inspired. So the question I posed to myself was, "how do I continue blogging without having it be a blow-by-blow of my day-to-day existence (so. boring.) but that will allow me to post thoughts and observations, without spending ridiculous amounts of time every day?"

Continue reading "New "Feature": Things I Love" »


"I could have me a million more friends, and all I'd have to lose is my point of view."

~John Prine

July 2008

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30 31

Full Disclosure

I have not been paid to review anything highlighted in this "Things I Love" feature, nor do I wish to be paid to write about any "things" in the future. The purpose of this feature is to share with my readers those items or products I use and love on a regular basis.

Want to contribute to "Things I Love" as a guest columnist? Contact Zee here.

Archives



Categories



My Wish List

My Amazon.com Wish List
BlogHer Ad Network
More from BlogHer
Advertise here
BlogHer Privacy Policy


Subscribe!





Search

Creative Commons License
This weblog is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Powered by
Movable Type 3.2

Powered by FeedBurner