5 ways to preserve my proverbial steam

I recently returned to work after a brief week-long hiatus.  On D-day eve (the D is for Dang-I-gotta-go-back-to-work?! of course), I sat in bed pondering ways to sustain my refreshed feelings and prevent the extreme burn out that precipitated the hiatus.

Here are the few things that sprang to mind.  They may prove helpful to you too:

1. Be hands on.  I know we’ve all heard the advice “get everything together the night before!”  I even scoffed at it with righteous indignation, “well duh!”  But I’m sure the lifestyle-guru-home Ec-ky-Martha-Stewart-disciple type didn’t have my version in mind when first she offered those words of wisdom.  In my version I virtually assemble the items–that is I know where they are (I think) and it’s just a matter of  getting them together in the morning.   5 year old’s socks: under living room couch (well one of em is),  my day planner: under newspapers on kitchen counter, 7 year old’s sweater:  in the dryer…    

2. Eat your oats and feel ’em too.  I typically don’t eat breakfast.  As previously disclosed, I barely do mornings and since breakfast is a trapping of that merciless, early ante-meridiem hour, I don’t do breakfast.  This must end.  I’ve gotta fuel up to start the day, even it its only toast and O.J.  **funky fresh rhyme alert on aisle 3**

Get it in!

3.  Leave the excuses and take the stairs.  My journey to work includes public transportation.  And the train station that I use daily to get to work boasts a 100 step escalator.  Most days I just ride but on the days when I tackle them I find myself oddly refreshed.  I’ve fueled up with breakfast so I guess it makes sense to rev the engine a little eh?

They loom before me every morning...

4.  Stop plowing thru like the end is in sight.  If the end is in sight that means R.I.P ville right? Not so good—unless you’re into that sort of thing.  Sometimes I get into this lather, rinse, repeat mode and forget to stop and smell the—well the laundry.  Speaking of laundry, this bit of advice kind of stems from a scene from that movie American History X.  You know the scene where the little, funny yet sagacious black guy scolds Edward Norton’s character for angrily plowing through their laundry duty.  He said something to the effect of  ‘The work doesn’t stop so quit doing it like you’re gonna get to the end of it. Chill!’  Chill indeed.

5. Come ready to work, ready to do the job you’re paid to do.  That way you’re not annoyed as annoyed when your boss interrupts your Facebooking or WordPressing.

image from jezebel.com

Salut ladies and gents!

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I owe like 13 books but I’m too ashamed of my slackerness to put up all those images.  Each picture would be an accusatory glare.  I’ll just give a list of titles and we’ll call it even.

Days/titles 90-102

1. Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro

2. Saturday – Ian McEwan

3. On Beauty – Zadie Smith (OMG! Love this book!)

4. Slow Man – J.M. Coetzee

5. Adjunct: An Undigest – Peter Manson

6. The Sea – John Banville

7. The Red Queen – Margaret Drabble

8. The Plot AgainstAmerica– Philip Roth

9. The Master – Colm Tóibín

10. Vanishing Point – David Markson

11. The Lambs ofLondon– Peter Ackroyd

12. Dining on Stones – Iain Sinclair

13. Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell

How you know you’re at WordPress sweet WordPress

I swear this environment is unlike any other interweb experience. I’m not even talking about the intimate setting of good quality nerds and their brain spawn.  There are other bells and whistles, nooks and crannies that let you know you’re home, where everybody knows your name (or at least everyone understands your quest to have—everyone know your name).

Here are a few things specific to the WordPress experience that I’m sure we have all come to love (or hate depending on the day).

1. The oops-wrong-password/username screen.  It shakes, rattles and rolls when you get either of those credentials wrong.  Its like “wake up you idiot!!!”
2. The ‘notification’ area.  I promise you won’t find that shade of orange anywhere else.  The glow is at once eery and awe-inspiring.  It can reduce grown men to tears with a single digit—0 or send his hopes soaring and restore his faith in humanity with any double-digit number.  I won’t even get into triple digits because they say ‘write what you know’. Yeah.
3. If I’ve learned anything from my late night choice, Mr. David Letterman, it’s that the last item in a list should be the zinger, the humdinger…and I got bupkis. But I do love it here and I’m so glad I found my way over from that other place.

And now, the book:

Title/Day 81