A friend in a Master’s program recently took a pass/fail class designed to weed out weaker and mismatched students from the program. After spending less than 10 minutes in one-on-one communication, the professor deemed him to be ill suited for the program and its associated profession. He was summarily failed. Although discouraged, he repeated the […]
I learned something disconcerting about myself. Regular readers may recall my post about mourning three bird eggs that had been knocked to the ground when a severe storm destroyed their next. I had compassion for their death, but there was nothing I could do. When I was out moving sprinklers in my yard I was […]
Each week a free paper is delivered to our home. Each week I walk it from the paper-box to the trash can. When my dad was alive, he would recycle these papers, but with shorter hours at the recycling center and higher gas prices, I often wondered if his efforts were worth it. Now the […]
When you consider the homeless, what do you think they are like? (You do think of people who have no homes, right?) Here is a statistical profile of the homeless in my local area: The first four stats are surprising, not fitting most people’s stereotypical views of homeless demographics. The last two figures are also […]
One Friday we received some much-needed rain—1.8 inches in just a couple hours; it was a downpour. The following day, to my dismay, I noticed that Robin’s nest had been knocked out of my crabapple tree. I was saddened to see three unhatched eggs on the ground. They had been deserted; it was too late […]
I rarely think back to my time in high school, but recently I remembered a conversation I had with a classmate. Or at least I remember the end of our conversation. I don’t know what we were discussing or what I said, but my friend glared at me. “You forget. I’m not like you… I’m […]
Am I the only one scratching my head over carbon credits? The whole idea of having environmentally “good” activity negate environmentally “bad” activity seems strange. Why not just focus on reducing or stopping environmentally harmful action? What if there were “water credits?” If someone dumps 100 gallons of polluted water into a river, would it […]
It seems that most hotel rooms come with a “save water” card. They request that you conserve water (and avoid other environmentally unfriendly actions) by permitting them to skip changing the bed-sheets. Placing that card on the bed signifies your acceptance of their request. In similar manner, a notice in the bathroom suggests you indicate […]
There is a growing phenomenon of people who can’t seem to survive without their cell phones and/or Internet access. They have a compulsion to stay connected 24/7. When they go on vacation, they won’t leave without their technology. They actually develop anxiety when they’re electronically disconnected from the rest of the world. The thought of […]
Making Travel Connections You may recall that air travel is low on my “things-I-like-to-do” list. I view flying as something to be endured. As such, while my body is flying, my mind goes to my “happy place”—whatever that means. Therefore, I can miss opportunities around me. But sometimes I come out of my self-imposed cocoon […]