Useful Things – Page 22 – Jane's Lessons Learned

Back of the Bus

It’s not a political statement, but a practical consideration: I learned to AVOID the back of the bus on the Longwood Medical Area Shuttle.

We used to have cute little vans with cute little drivers, one of whom sold cute little jars of jam.

When we lost all cuteness, and a schedule that made sense, we got a variety of buses, including some huge honkin’ long ones.

I learned, the hard way, that sitting in the back can be downright painful. As in actually hurting.

First the driver missed the Beth Israel speed bump, completely. And by missed, I mean missed slowing down for it. He hit it full on. We went flying. Really. It hurt.

Then he managed to find other obstacles to hit, on roads that looked generally flat to me. It was a ride of rounds of “Ow!” and “Sorry!”

Go for the front.

Show Up when you Show Up

I learned that one advantage of the WebEx call-you-back feature is that your phone connection shows up by name combined with your WebEx connection, rather than as Dialin User1 or whatever it is.

If everyone did this, we would always know who is on the phone, who joins, who drops. It’s handy.

You never know until you try!

I learned, from Sally’s extremely cool new blog, that she she learned to not avoid exercise because of an injury she may no longer even have! The full story is here:

http://sallyandthecity.com/

Unwanted Catalogs Be Gone! (5 trees saved)

I learned that the Catalog Choice website has really improved since I last checked it out. This is a great way to reduce unwanted paper catalogs that arrive in the mail.

The user interface is much better and there is a global blocking feature for a $20 donation, one that should keep me from getting new catalogs. It says that I have saved 5 full-grown trees!

Check it out: http://www.catalogchoice.org

Flat and Uncarpeted

These are conditions upon which a bathroom scale will work, Sally learned and taught me. So if you WANT an accurate answer, seek such surfaces.

Clear Desk -> Clear Mind

I learned that having a completely clear desk makes it much easier for me to think and focus, and makes me want to sit down and work.

This is true even if the desk is clear only because I have methodically swept the contents of the desk surface into a big bag in advance of showing my office to a visitor.

Whatever.

Hold the Phone

I learned that I can save $25 a month, all winter, by suspending phone service in our Ocean House.

What took so long to figure this out?????

I learned, from Steve, who learned from Andy, that you should always keep a guitar humidifier on duty once you turn the heat on in your house. Otherwise, the bridge can dry out and warp and lead to serious guitar problems requiring expensive repairs and leaving you without something fun to play while it’s being fixed.

An Attitude of Gratitude

I learned this from Yoga Journal (BTW I love Yoga Journal):

“Cultivating gratitude is less an act of creating something that isn’t there and more of a practice of realizing what is. It’s about reminding yourself of the miracles embedded in every second of every day—from the largest blessings to the smallest moments. By practicing shifting your attention to what is real (and not clinging to an idea of what you think should happen), you become more appreciative of even the most mundane moments in life, and for the richness all around.”

Visio Prints using PowerPoint

Visio diagrams are just NEVER going to print right on my 1990’s ink jet printer. So after spending a long fruitless time trying to make that happen, I learned that I can just copy manageable chunks of the Visio to Powerpoint slides, and just print from there.

It worked like a charm!

	Designing Cources on Speak It into Existence
	Edward Pineda on More Than Just a Pretty Pictur…
	dotty seiter on Getting It Wrong, and Being…
	susanoliver on Speak It into Existence
	Dotty Seiter on Speak It into Existence

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Category: Useful Things