Sunday, February 28, 2016

Saturday, February 27, 2016

Trumpocalypse

I bet there are 100 billionaires out there who are thinking they could have been the presumptive Republican nominee had they simply started spreading hateful vitriol 10 months ago...And a 1000 political pundits plotting how they can replicate Trump's success in the next election cycle. Who will come AFTER Trump?

Friday, February 26, 2016

The February 26 Mark

Personal goals for 2/26/16 - 3/4/16
1. Be more forgiving of yourself and others.
2. Say "Thank you" more and "I'm sorry" less.
3. Laugh more.

Previously:
1. Drink more water.
2. No caffeine and chocolate after 3 pm.
3. No screens after 10 pm.
4. Spend 30 minutes outside everyday.
5. Stop saying "good job" to my daughter. Use more specific praise instead.
6. Spend 30 minutes every day looking for a job.
7. Use smile.amazon.com when ordering off of Amazon.
8. Have a conversation with a friend or family member every week.
9. Read a book just for pleasure.

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Ten Tips for Raising a Happy Child

1. Express gratitude every day.
2. Spend one-on-one time with your child.
3. Create opportunities for your child to help other children.
4. Ask your children to come up with their own solutions to their problems.
5. Make sure your children know your love for them is not contingent on their performance or achievement.
6. Identify daily stress points.
7. Encourage competency. Let your child do whatever he is capable of doing for himself.
8. Self-confidence is a learned behavior. Teach your child to be aware of her inner voice and to identify thoughts that help or hinder self-esteem. Give her examples of reassuring thoughts she can use to replace critical ones.
9. Model perseverance.
10. Talk with your children about uncomfortable subjects. When you communicate your feelings about difficult subjects, you share your values.

Via kidsinthehouse.com

Things I've Enjoyed This Week


* Exploring ponds and trees with Jess and Adi at Tilden Regional Park
* Listening to the Sporkful podcast
* Nick Paumgarten's profile of Mr. Money Mustache in the New Yorker
* Annie Tan's thoughtful essay on the Peter Liang case.
* Saga by Brian K. Vaughan
* The picture book Marilyn's Monster by Michelle Knudsen

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

The Joy of Strength

Adapted from MMM:
Strength is at the root of most joy and weakness is at the root of most unhappiness in a person's life.

Here are a few of life’s most powerful sources of strength and weakness:

* Money is the most acknowledged source of strength in modern society, for it gives you the power to get other people to serve you, and to do so with a smile.

* An Abundance of Money is even more powerful.

* The Desire for Ever-Increasing Material Luxury is a serious weakness. You can never satisfy Luxury – there is always another level of fanciness to attain, and thus he can never have quite enough money.

* Giving is a form of strength. When you say, “I have more than I need, and thus my desire to take should fade away as my desire to help out grows”.

* Taking is therefore a form of weakness.

* Health is a form of strength.

* Physical Strength is the part of health that is mostly ignored in the United States, yet it is the most useful and efficient component.

* Skills are a form of strength. Each thing you learn to do improves your quality of life in astonishing ways, because it makes you stronger. If you are good at your job, you have the ability to earn lots of money. But if this is your only skill, you need to outsource your food preparation, transportation, relationships, entertainment, and the repair and maintenance of everything you own including your own body. If your money supply fails or your hired specialists don’t do their jobs perfectly, your life falters. By insourcing all the basics required for happiness, you build a self-reinforcing resilient mesh of power that makes you happier, wealthier, and more interesting as well.

* Voluntary Discomfort is the secret cornerstone of strength. We build our whole lives around increasing comfort and avoiding discomfort, and yet by doing so we are drinking a can of Weakness Tonic with every morning’s breakfast. Our entire culture teaches us to seek out all possible comforts, and to be unhappy when we don’t have them. And thus, it dooms us to a life of permanent involuntary discomfort, and therefore permanent weakness.

Lifestyle as Medicine

Dr. David Katz, the founding director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center, makes a compelling, evidence-based case that we should all be promoting six healthy habits:

1. Feet - Exercise regularly.
2. Forks - Eat well.
3. Fingers - Don't smoke.
4. Sleep - Get good sleep each night.
5. Stress - Reduce stress.
6. Love - Love and seek pleasure.

Dr. Katz cites this 2009 study in the Archives of Internal Medicine that finds (1) never smoking, (2) having a BMI < 30, (3) performing 3.5 hr/week of physical activity, and (4) adhering to healthy dietary principles (high intake of fruits, vegetables, and whole-grain breads and low meat consumption) results in a 78% lower risk of having a heart attack, stroke, diabetes, or cancer.

Read more here.

Friday, February 19, 2016

Things I've Enjoyed This Week


* Hiking with family and friends at Sunol Regional Wilderness and the Albany Bulb
* Making fun cardboard projects with Adi from The Cardboard Box Book by Danny, Jake, and Niall Walsh
* This series of tweets by Clay Shirky about how social media has made Trump and Sanders possible

The February 19 Mark

Personal goals for the week of 2/19/16 - 2/26/16:
1. Use smile.amazon.com when ordering off of Amazon.
2. Have a conversation with a friend or family member every week.
3. Read a book just for pleasure.

Previously:
1. Drink more water.
2. No caffeine and chocolate after 3 pm.
3. No screens after 10 pm.
4. Spend 30 minutes outside everyday.
5. Stop saying "good job" to my daughter. Use more specific praise instead.
6. Spend 30 minutes every day looking for a job.

Taxes Quotation

"Taxes are what we pay for civilized society." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Things I've Enjoyed This Week

* The Lunar New Year Celebration on Solano Ave; in particular, the performance "Journey to the West" by Ah-Lan dance.
* Slade House by David Mitchell. "Grief is an amputation, but hope is incurable hemophilia: you bleed and bleed and bleed."
* Listening to Bee Wilson on the 2/4/16 episode of Fresh Air. Quick takeaway: start feeding a baby pureed foods at 4-7 months during her flavor window.
* The Food Lab by J. Kenji-Lopez Alt. He has great explanations for everything. I've always liked roasted potatoes, but this recipe takes it to a whole new level..
* Is This a Phase? Child Development and Parent Strategies, Birth to 6 Years by Helen F. Neville. This is a quick and easy read with great tables and charts. I started and finished it during Adi's nap. I wish I read this book before Adi was two.
* Watching the Golden State Warriors. Has there been a team this good, ever?
* Ellyn Satter's division of responsibility in feeding.

The February 11 Mark

Personal goals for week of 2/11/16 - 2/18/16:

1. Spend 30 minutes outside everyday.
2. Stop saying "good job" to my daughter. Use more specific feedback and praise instead.
3. Spend 30 minutes every day looking for a job.

Previously:
1. Drink more water. ...check.
2. No caffeine and chocolate after 3 pm....Mostly check.
3. No screens after 10 pm. ...Hmm, maybe accomplished this half the time, but I love the results.

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Why is it so hard to lose weight?

If weight is simply a result of calories in minus calories out, why is it so difficult for so many people -- including me -- to lose weight? I think Michael Graziano makes a compelling case to view our obesity epidemic differently. Hunger, Graziano posits, is a mood that is difficult to control. Trying to lose weight by dieting is often counterproductive because it causes the hunger mood to rise. Instead, a person should focus on regulating his hunger mood.

As Bee Wilson states in her interview with Terry Gross on Fresh Air,
I think the biggest thing that I learned above and beyond changing my preferences so that I liked vegetables more and liked things like pastries somewhat less was hunger management. I think we don't talk enough about this as a skill because it is something that you can learn to get better at. I used to panic if I felt the mildest rumblings of hunger, whereas now, if I know I've got a good meal coming in a couple of hours, I think, oh, I'm hungry. That's good. I'm going to enjoy the next meal more - more pleasure.

Perhaps the take home message is to tinker with our psychology so that we feel like hunger is actually a good thing because it'll benefit us in both the short and long term.

Saturday, February 6, 2016

Things I've Enjoyed This Week

* "No Role Modelz" by J. Cole
* Isa Chandra Moskovitz's Best Pumpkin Muffins recipe
* Porco Rosso directed by Hiyao Miyazaki
* "There Was an Old Dragon Who Swallowed a Knight" by Penny Parker Klostermann
* The HBO miniseries "Olive Kitteridge"
* 30-Minute Tuscan White Bean Soup recipe on Serious Eats
* The Food Lab by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt

Technology Quotation

Technology is a great servant but a terrible master.

Thursday, February 4, 2016

How to Teach Your Child to Play Independently

1. Create secure play areas in your home.
2. Set a limited time every day for independent play. Increase the time incrementally.
3. Spend time with your child first – “fill her cup” – and help her get involved with an activity. If necessary, engage in parallel play at first, and graduate to doing work side-by-side.
4. Be okay with your child making a mess.
5. Once she is playing independently, don’t interrupt.
6. Rotate out toys, books, and supplies every month.

The February 4 Mark

Personal goals for the week of 2/4/16-2/11/16:

1. Drink plenty of water.
2. No caffeine and coffee after 3 pm.
3. No screens after 10 pm.

Previously:
N/A.