Month: November 2007

Weekend Plans?

I’m doing a presentation at the Indianapolis Marion County Public Library* IUPUI University Library Auditorium (755 W. Michigan Street) on Sunday! I’ve never been to Indianapolis, so I have a good buzz of curious anticipation going.

If you live anywhere near there, please come. There’s a reception afterward where I’ll be signing books, and drinking tea, and possibly feeling slightly bewildered (the way these things can sometimes make you feel). At that time, it would be so lovely for you to say, “Hi Maggie, I’m [your name here].” And then I’ll say, “Nice to meet you!” And then we can make faces at the baby.

See you there!

*Oops! The library is co-sponsoring the event, the university is hosting.

Resolving Conflict Quickly

I just wrote a post on 43Folders about The Four Agreements. If you’re not familiar with 43Folders, it’s my friend Merlin’s productivity blog, and it’s pretty darn useful. Anyway, post excerpt:

I dread conflict. In fact, when I know a confrontation is imminent, it’s all I can think about. I mull it over when I could be labeling file folders, I ponder it while my inbox burgeons, while my 3×5 cards gather dust. Conflict is my productivity disaster.
Fortunately, The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz gave me a few significant tools for moving past conflict in any arena…

Read the rest.

Steal This Idea: Customized Goal Charts

I want customized goal charts that someone else designs and prints for me.

I want to go to a site where I fill in the title for my chart, then choose a chart template:

-Zen
-Bright
-Dots

Choose how I want to measure my progress:

-bar chart
-pie chart
-check boxes

Choose from a selection of letter-press like images as decoration, and then choose the format I want:

-Email me a PDF so I can print it
-Print this and mail it to me so I can hang it on the wall
-Make this an interactive web page I can use to chart my progress

I would choose to have them printed about the size of a collectible rock-show poster, and then I’d hang them on the wall behind my desk. You could fill in the charts with a pen, or use pretty stickers to check off your boxes. In my dream, the design would look something like the posters from Lizard Press or Really Good Things, Etc.

How about it, programmers/designers? If you can just get it to the point where you can email me the PDF, I’d pay about $20 a PDF and take it to a print shop myself.

Now, in the meantime, you Etsy letterpress folks or those with sik screening capacity should consider making up a set of small posters that allow people to write in their very important goal lists. Offer about ten variations that all look good together, so you could hang a grouping of goals and it wouldn’t look dumb.

Do this! Do this, my friends! It is a good idea.

G Diapers

So I ordered this sample pack of hippie diapers a million years ago, and then left it in our trunk. Having recently re-located it, I decided to try them out.

Early on we tried cloth diapers and found them to be ass. For us. I realize that they work for you, and that is because you are awesome. You can handle the cloth diapers, and you are a super-goodie. However, we hated them and had to stop using them. (I do not need tips! No tips, please, you helpful parent, you.) Sooo…

So we’ve been using crazy-evil disposables that take three million years to decompose, and I have the guilt. G Diapers are flushable diapers that seem easy to use. I started using them yesterday, and I kind of love them so far. Of course, I don’t flush the liners, just throw them away. But still, they biodegrade a zillion times faster than disposables, and they use less stuff you throw away overall, so I’m feeling angelic. Also, the covers are soft, so Hank doesn’t try to claw them off.

So, here begins my great green experiment. I’ll tell you if they begin to suck, but so far they do not suck! And we are virtuous, earth-loving people who are busy looking for trees to hug right this minute.