< previous message | next message >
|
Note: This is an archived message from our old discussion software. Join the current discussion here.
Good anaolgies. It is amazing what we all waste or
foul up in our personal lives that could be fixed with
a little self-awareness. The only thing worse is going
to the other extreme, that is being too detail
oriented. Actually there is one thing worse and that
is being too detail oriented about the insignificant
stuff in our lives. Years ago, the people who lived
in my current house and their next-door neighbor got
into a diagreement about the placement of the
neighbor's roses. One thing led to another and it
turned into a court case. The net result was both
sides wasted hundreds of dollars and some rare a
beautiful roses were transplanted to God knows where,
just to say "I told you so."
I think there has to be balance in life - sort of the
old Greek ideal of moderation in all things. Eating if
fine,but it should have some reasonable limits like
the nos ones. Maybe it is part of modern culture ,but
we are often all guilty of over doing things.
Television is okay once or twice a week, but every
night for hours on end like the average American is
too much. Kids get video games and play them every
spare moment. Low fat goes to no fat, low carb to no
no carb OR we failed and we eat like pigs. There's
just too much of the all or nothing thing going on
within most of us. Well, I lost my train of thoughts
on this rant, but I do think I may be onto something.
Ray
What does this have to do
> with
> everyday systems? Just this: imagine all the
> metaphorical five cent screws in the personal, daily
> habits of billions of people. And I don't think we'd
> have to look as deeply as the five cent screw level,
> we'd find unnecessary and misplaced beams and
> support
> structures. This disparity of attention is
> astonishing
> to me. Does a factory product really deserve that
> much
> more attention than a human being, than all human
> beings? I'm not knocking Dell, I'm knocking us.
> Think
> of the potential. "Everyday systems" is a pathetic
> little start in that direction, at least.
>
> Now that I'm on my monthly resolution kick, I should
> have at least one new system or potential system a
> month to report on.
>
> January's resolution is of a personal, somewhat
> embarrassing nature (don't worry, nothing
> Seinfeldian), so I'm going to refrain from reporting
> anything on it beyond "so far, so good. I think this
> monthly resolution thing has potential."
>
> February's (which I've already gotten started on
> because I started January's in December, didn't
> realize that I was going to make this 1/month at the
> time) is proving tougher, but I'm still optimistic.
>
> Problem: married people often let their guard down a
> little too much and act in silly, undignified ways
> which are not worth the little, tainted amusement
> they
> provide. Little by very little, you erode mutual
> respect. I think this is especially problematic
> nowadays when we are all encouraged to act like
> overgrown children well into middle age (and
> beyond?).
> We're permadolescents (a very desirable marketing
> demographic, by coincidence, I'm sure).
>
> Example: making "beep-beep-beep" backing up truck
> noises while opening the front door for my wife.
> Funny? Not really. A big problem in itself? No, but
> times a few thousand similar incidents, yes,
> potentially. Note: the "beep-beep-beep" was a one
> time
> thing, most of these are. But they have a common,
> lousy, instantly recognizable core.
>
> Solution: I'm not sure this is a solution, it's more
> of an experiment in perception and self control. I'm
> going to see how many days I can go without such an
> undignified display (UDD). No UDD means I mark a
> "good" green day on my calendar, one or more means
> red
> for failure. UDD sounds sort of WMDish, to give it
> an
> exaggerated, appropriately inappropriate seriousness
> and urgency. How do I determined whether a UDD has
> occurred? You'd think it would be very fuzzy and
> subjective, but I'm astonished at how obvious it's
> been, now that I've been paying a little attention
> (I'm also astonished at how hard it's been). Just to
> be sure, before giving myself a green for the day,
> I'll double check with my wife, but since my
> resolution I haven't had her catch anything I
> didn't.
>
> Is this a "serious" enough problem to warrant such
> attention? Ridiculous and small doesn't mean it
> can't
> be serious, in the long run. Isn't there something
> nice about being silly and young at heart? Sure
> there
> is, to an extent, but that extent is way
> overemphasized these days. I'm not planning on going
> from goofball to dour puritan, just maybe childish
> silly to childlike playful. And hey, if I'm wrong,
> it's just a month. Another pro of monthly vs.
> yearly
> resolutions: you can afford to be wrong. And the
> realization that it isn't a problem worth solving is
> worth something in itself, it won't continue to nag
> at
> me, as it has been.
>
> Reinhard
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
________________________________________________________________________
>
________________________________________________________________________
>
>
>
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
>
>
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
The all-new My Yahoo! - Get yours free!
http://my.yahoo.com
|
© 2002-2005 Reinhard Engels, All Rights Reserved.