I Do Love A Good Rhetorical Question!

Anyone who knows me well knows that I ask a lot of questions. Some are part of my job (as a coach, organizer, and trainer, people hire me to ask them all those really annoying questions they don't want to ask themselves!) But most are just random (and often rather surreal) observations about the world around me.

Teaching Kids The Difference Between "Want" and "Need"

How often do the words "I need" come out of your child's mouth? Listen to kids today and notice how prevalent this phrase is -- "I need a Coke" -- "I need a new Gameboy" -- "I need a bike" -- "I need a different pair of sneakers" -- "I need a snack." But do you ever take the time to educate your children about how many of those requests simply wants, and not actually needs?

Green RVing -- Electricity And Natural Gas

When you live in a 29-foot long home, you're guaranteed to use less electricity than in a 2,000+ square foot house. In the Airstream, our entire unit (including air conditioning or the heater) can run on a single 30-amp plug. How is that possible, you might ask? Our systems are all much smaller, more energy efficient, and subsequently use less power.

The A-To-Z Of Getting Organized: U Is For Unfinished

It's easy to feel out of control when you have unfinished to-do's hanging over your head. Mastering new tasks as they come in is one thing -- but you'll never be truly organized if your life is cluttered with a backlog of "incompletions." Even just one straggler is enough to ruin your peace of mind -- especially when it's a task you've been procrastinating on for weeks or months or years. I call this sort of organizational burden "The To-Do" (note the caps!)

The Conservative Right And Comprehensive Sex Ed

I just read the stupidest conjecture possible on the web -- the idea that sex education ENCOURAGES rape. What?? This brilliant article suggested that teen boys are being deliberately aroused by the discussion of reproduction, to the point that they then force themselves on any available female. What do these people think sex ed teachers are doing -- running an in-class orgy??

The Height Of Filial Ingratitude

Recently, a pair of 20-something "kids" tried suing their mother for bad parenting during their formative years because they claim they got stiffed on presents while growing up -- $500,000 for causing these two poor bastards emotional distress. The biggest complaint was that they were given birthday cards without cash or a check inside -- let you parents out there take this as an object lesson. That ungrateful little bologna loaf may grow up to sue you for not pampering him enough!

Green RVing -- Evironmental Consciousness On The Road

When we tell people that we are full-time RVers, someone in the crowd invariably says, "Gosh, don't you feel bad about using all that gasoline to drive around with the economy the way it is?" These kinds of comments irritate me beyond belief -- because it just goes to show that folks don't understand what full-timing is all about.

The A-To-Z Of Getting Organized: T Is For Time-Sensitivity

Some folks assume that all you need to manage your time better is a planner, a reminder system, and a set of rules about how to structure your day -- not so much! Applying someone else's time systems to your life without first customizing them to the way you function is like jamming a square peg into a round hole (frustrating, futile -- and even if you succeed, you still haven't accomplished anything useful!) But there is a better (and more personalized) way.

Overprotecting Our Kids Until They Break

I was out with a friend and her child a nearby playground last week. We had a very enjoyable time watched kids trying to kill themselves on the monkey bars -- except for the one mom who hovered over her grade-schooler, squawking like a distressed hen every time the kid made a move. I'm sure that she was just "protecting" him from this dangerous world -- but that poor child is going to grow up paranoid, hypochondriac, and afraid of his own shadow!