Weekend Wrap-up – September 12, 2015

Another week has passed and we're rapidly approaching the autumn season in the northern hemisphere. According to a weather forecaster I happened to catch the other day, we in the Mid-Atlantic region (I'm still in WV and not sure if that includes this area or not) will not likely see anymore temperatures in the 90 degree range. The Washington, DC area has already had at least 52 days of 90 degree days. That's 16 days more than the average and 28 days more than last year.

The Week That Was

I haven't done a lot of listening or watching news this past week, so I'm sure there was some, but it hasn't been earth shattering, I guess. The few things I've heard is that The Donald has picked on Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina and, of course, HRC. It guess maybe it's news that HRC, condescendingly, apologized for once again, making a bad choice over the email scandal. I've been trying to think of anything she has actually taken a leadership role and and not made a bad decision. I can't think of anything. Apparently, her party is having a similar dilemma. And, in some recent polls of her own voters, they all touted what a great leader she is, but also couldn't come up with any examples of that great quality.

I'm really tired of all this peacocking and prancing and posturing by all these candidates. I mean, if it really did actually matter who the electorate votes for, I guess this dog and pony show might have some value. I've said this before. There will probably be more than two billion (with a B) dollars spent on this campaigning process until the elections. The candidate who raises one billion dollars (or in The Donald's case, pledges a billion) in campaign funds and then spends 100 million and puts the other 900 million to work helping all the people and issues they keep proposing to help . . . will get my vote. And the 100 million should be spent telling the electorate precisely how they will help the people and the issues, not bashing the other candidates. And, yes, there should be specifics and time lines with specific, measurable benchmarks.

I don't expect to have “a horse in this race,” yet, again. But, who knows? One of these people could actually be serious and fool me.

Well, other than the “business as usual” murders, hacking, robberies and such, it doesn't seem like it was a very interesting news week. Or at least not that I've heard.

I hope your week has been a pleasant and productive one. If you decided to take me up on the 52 Weeks to a Simpler Life challenge, I hope you've been able to eliminate some “stuff” from your life. I've been going through my storage units and listing stuff on Ebay and Craig's List. A time consuming process, but necessary. I'm also sorting stuff that I can donate to some worthy person or charitable organization that will help someone else. And, of course, I'm also setting aside more stuff to donate to the landfill. If you're finding this first step in the 52 week process to be tough, maybe painful, I fully understand. I've been working through the process for about 8 years and hope to make this the last time I have to think about it.

Monday you'll receive the second tip of the 52 Weeks to a Simpler Life. It won't be as difficult as this first one, nor will it take a long time.

Weekend Reading

With that, here are some things for you to read over the rest of the weekend.

“The Art of Artlessness: On Living Simply and Naturally” a blog post by Leo Babauta on his Zen Habits blog. My friend, Richard Rosen reminded me of Leo's blog and insights and suggested this post.

“Sugar: The Silent Killer” by John Haines in his In Search of Simplicity blog from down under in New Zealand. According to John, New Zealand is number four in the world in Obesity Rankings. Would you care to venture a guess where the U.S. ranks? Short post, but drives home an important point.

“Everything You Own Is A Relationship You're In” by David Cain on his Raptitude blog. If you're struggling a bit with Tip #1 of the 52 Weeks to a Simpler Life challenge, David's article may be very beneficial. It is to me and I'm already a long way down this road. But, even if you're not accepting the challenge right now, I know this information will still be useful.

“Getting Rid of Clutter” by Paul Wilson from his blog . . . well, Paul Wilson, follows in the same line. Paul drops in a bit of subtle humor along the way. It's an enjoyable read with some thought provoking points.

“Lessons In Non-Conformity From Sesame Street” from Chris Guillebeau's The Art of Non-Conformity blog. Here's an interesting thought presented from some of the cast of Sesame Street. It's cute and on first thought, pretty simplistic. But, let it sink in for a few minutes and there's some serious wisdom in this little video clip. How often do we actually find ourselves in Stan's or Dan's shoes?

And to wrap up this week, here is a quote for you to ponder:

Genius is the ability to reduce the complicated to the simple. C.W. Ceram