I was recently interviewed by Dixie Redfearn, a writer for The Union newspaper. (She said story should run this Saturday the 13th or Monday the 15th.) By the end of our hour and a half together, we were talking all over the map.

Contrary to our high tech and often toxic solutions to basic problems, I was delighted by this story she told me. Dixie had some American friends who lived in Italy for several years. The couple moved into a house in the country to find it overrun with mice. They called the landlord who promptly responded, “I’ll be right over.” He showed up with a young cat under each arm. Sweet! Within a couple of weeks, the mice were gone. The cats became a part of the family and were brought back to the states (to provide mouse abatement services, I’m sure).

Simple Living America (taken from site’s home page) “is a nonprofit membership organization for individuals, families and communities that fosters balance and fulfillment in a complex world. It achieves this through the Simple Living with Wanda Urbanska television series, airing on PBS stations around the country.” Members can host house parties, get the newsletter, post to the blog as well.

I’m a fairly dedicated non-TV watcher, nor does my TV get any channels so I haven’t seen Wanda’s series. I’d be interested to hear from those who have… anyone?

One of the activities the organization has been conducting is a survey of Simple Living. The definition of simple living they use is summed up as, “a self-endorsed pattern of activities, possessions and values that is substantially free of detractions from fulfillment and sufficiency, fostered by conducive social policies.”

I like this definition up until the last phrase, “fostered by conducive social policies.” While I feel that simple living should be fostered and endorsed by social policies, I’m not going to wait around for that to happen. And I’m certainly not going to give up my quest for simple living waiting for social policies to catch up. The day is done that we wait for the slow moving, behemouth institutions to take the reins in creating core change.

“We Are the Ones We’ve Been Waiting For”
—The Elders Oraibi Arizona Hopi Nation

Please read the full calling of this statement at the Spirit of Ma’at website. What a poetic and moving call to check in with ourselves and be our own leaders. This is where change happens. Inside ourselves and then with each other. Our every action and every relationship speaks loudly and clearly: have we taken on the responsibility to create the change we want to see, or not?

That said, I do appreciate the efforts of an organization, such as Simple Living America, making strides towards spreading simplicity. Takes all types and approaches to effect change in such core values of a materialistic society.

So I took the survey. Here are my results:

Why don’t you take the survey and report back your score in the comments section below?

I have a friend who complains a lot. Generally, he’s a good guy. He’s fun and creative, but the complaining has reached epic proportions in my ear.

In Toastmasters we use a clicker for gratuitous use of “um” “uh” “aaannnndddd” “so” etc. Often times the person speaking doesn’t realize how often they use one of these words as a space filler. Once they are aware, they make an effort to stop themselves before more slip out. It’s disconcerting when talking to “get clicked”, and very effective for cleaning up one’s speech. I know. After almost 2 years in Toasties, I have had my ample share of being clicked while speaking.

I’m thinking of using a similar technique with my friend. Since I don’t normally carry a clicker with me, I’m considering some of the following possibilities to alert him to his complaining ways:

1. (if on the phone) push a button on the keypad (that’d be like the clicker!)
2. (drop into simulated recorded voice) “I’m sorry, your annual allotment of complaints has been exceeded. Please try again later.”
3. put my fingers in my ears and repeat loudly, “I’m not listening. La La La La La.”
4. (I rarely wear a watch) Look at my wrist/watch and exclaim, “Look at the time! Gotta go!”
5. (another for the phone) complaint begins, hang up

Personally, I like #2 the best. Suggestions welcome: How to help a friend stop an ugly habit besides throwing him off a bridge?

The twenty-eighth issue of the Project Simplify newsletter The Simplifier is now archived on our newsletter archives page.

Here is a brief summary of the contents:

1. A Note From Shawn
(Every month is) Get Organized Month
2. Our Featured Quote
by Napoleon Hill
3. Article: Organization — The Mystical Destination (Not!)
by PS Head Simplifier Shawn Tuttle
4. This Week’s Simplification Tip
Pre-printed Labels
5. In the News
The Pleasure of the Present, Confessing to a Big ‘Ol Mess, January: Time to catch up
6. Featured at ProjectSimplify.com
The Best of December
7. Keep Smiling
FwdItOn.com - The Funny Email Repository

Read the full issue here.
Subscribe to The Simplifier here.

[posted by Lance]

Kathy Sierra, one of the “Head First” book series authors, wrote a post Give users a Hollywood ending. While the main focus is about what it takes to create a memorable blog/film/concert experience, the theory, “it’s all in the ending!” can apply all over the place: books, speeches, blog posts, articles, and so on.

As the audience of one of these media, we are likely to have a good story ruined by a bad ending, and a so-so story with a fantastic ending disproportionately elevated to grand heights.

I admit, this is a big challenge for me. All of my energy goes to the initial planning of a piece of work and by the time I get to the end, my brain is fried. Talking with a fellow Toastmaster on Tuesday, I learned that he first decides on the Ka-Pow ending, and then funnels the rest of the speech to that big boom. Think I’ll try that. Next blog post, that is :)

It seems kind of funny that one measly wire can bring down an entire car. Actually, I’m not sure who should get the credit for bringing my car to a dead halt, the wire or the rat. You decide.

Here’s my side of the story: yesterday I popped my temporary dog
in the back seat of the car. (the dog wasn’t temporary, my having her was temporary.) Meet Megan, the sweetest black & white dog you’ll ever meet. I’ve been dog-sitting for the last week and a half.)

Back the car up, go about half a block and notice the red check-engine-light-of-death is on. Funny, the accelerator isn’t doing what it’s supposed to either. There’s a slight hill to get up to the stoplight and my little hybrid is not going to make it. I back up into a convenient empty lot and turn the car off. I felt like such a wuss. “Duh, my car won’t go.”

It took for my friend John to show up and say, “pop the hood” for me to pop the hood. When he said that, images immediately flashed across my mind–four or five guys standing around the front of a car pulled over on the side of the road, gazing in the engine compartment, nodding to themselves, “yup” one might say.

My car is a hybrid, it’s technologically past auto shop and the home mechanic. What is he thinking we’re going to see?? I walk around to the join in the gazing fun.

Well, what I saw was what you see in the picture minus the Temporary Fix, i.e. speaker wire, patching together a chewed-through wire. (Compliments to the genius-master-mechanic-speaker-wire-genius, aka my dad.)

It would appear that the electrical wire casing and one wire were chewed through. No evidence of heat or melting, just plastic shavings.

Now, in a seemingly unrelated event on Friday, I arrived home to see a large billow of smoke issuing upwards from what appeared to be my backyard. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be five guys with chainsaws, rakes and loppers eradicating the blackberry vines that had overtaken the neighbors lower yard. These vines were going to make the upcoming work of redoing their sewer line rather uncomfortable. This is, more or less, what the yard used to look like:

The smoke came from the controlled burn (see the black spot in the upper right of the picture?) which is still smoldering today, four days after Friday.

What I’ve since learned from more experienced and long-time neighbors is that because a small creek runs along that lower yard, it is prime real estate for a healthy rat population. Their homes were majorly disturbed on Friday. One of them seems to have felt welcomed by my warm car on New Year’s Eve and began the arduous task of building a nest using my cars convenient and cheap building materials. Until I started the car on new year’s day, that is.

This is all conjecture of course. I haven’t actually met and interrogated the rat yet.

one rat + one wire = useless car

May the new year be full of joy, prosperity, and great health for you!

Floating on the tails of holiday cheer and sporting a new hat knit by my sister, I know we can do anything we put our minds to. Here’s to manifesting dreams in 2007!