Carl Setzer

Sandra Bacchi is a Pittsburgh based photographer and cinematographer. I discovered her current project, "Watermelons Are Not Strawberries" via Edge of Humanity Magazine . ‘Watermelons Are Not Strawberries’ is a work-in-progress, as I continually seek to better understand myself and increase my awareness of how I react to challenges related to my experiences as a mother. The photos reveal to me how uncertain and obscure my life became with motherhood. At the same time, there is an undeniable clarity in how my daughters lead the way for me to follow a brighter path as I journey through my everyday life. This is my favorite image from this collection. I adore how the girl's dress blends so well with the tree's summer-lit leaves. Also check out We Are All In This Together , another of her collections.

For most of my adult life, I've felt pulled to choose a specialty. And I've tried, dozens, maybe hundreds of times. As each time has resulted in failure, I realized, some time ago, that my varied and rich perspective is a valuable thing. Oddly, I never really considered my multi-faceted focus to be a good thing, just that good things had come from this. I admired the great work done by the specialists and really only saw myself supporting that work. Not that I had a creative and powerful perspective to add. However, after this TEDTalk, I see otherwise. Ms. Warnick talks of multipotentialites, people with a variety of interests and passions. These people work those into skills. Something richer than simply generalists supporting the more valuable specialists. People whose brains work like mine. And, most importantly (to me at least) that this is good. That we have a great deal to offer the world. Considering the multi-faceted issues that our world faces, we have a particularly...

I woke early, my brain rattling. My mind blaring away these negative scripts, negation of myself, my vision. All kinds of internal challenges to my dreams. Why am I so negative with myself, but positive with others? I notice this with others, too. This really puzzles me. I deeply value and encourage the talents of those around me. Why don't I do that to myself? Why do so many struggle with this? Then there are those who belittle everyone; the only way they can interact with others. I think these may have common roots. Perhaps it's easier to negate everything than to seek the positive within oneself. Which really is sad. Sadly funny how this miserable malaise takes hold. This drags us back, sucking so much potential out of life. Oh, these wretched internal scripts!

Sometimes inertia is massive. My resistance to motion, to change puzzles me. This illogical opposition towards bettering my circumstances annoys me. My frustration with myself, ironically, impedes my ability to resist resistance's drag. The more anger, the more stuckness. Moments like this drive home that we are not logic driven brings. Emotion's power: mammoth and dominant.

Holding yourself to a high standard and beating yourself mercilessly for not being perfect reflect two sides of a singularity. But they are not the same. One's the path towards self-destruction and one leads to a vibrant and vigorous life. Focus on self-care and maintaining realistic expectations, and the rest will naturally fall into place .

Real estate agents sometimes struggle with an over-inflated sense of self. More often, however, it's the opposite, that they don't see their own value-add. Well, outside of a real estate transaction. Perhaps that's why so many people lose contact with their agents, even though they're happy with the service. Realize there's plenty to add to those you love, to the community around you. It's hard to think of reasons to connect if you only think your value is the single transaction. Calling and talking are a chore, you're worried about bugging people. Deeply understanding your value-add really is critical.

Well, zombies have pushed themselves solidly into pop culture. Their heyday was really a year or two back, but they're still significant.Why? What is attractive about this mythological archetype?  I wonder about such things. They have immorality and near invincibility. Zombies are relentless and immune from most injury. In one way, they are perpetual motion machines. They don't need fuel to continue effort. The consuming drive is about converting all, not about gaining energy. Perhaps we feel something of kinship. The mindless exertion, so akin to much of our lives. Mundane, rote effort with its dehumanizing outcome; we're much like zombies. Free from thought, they simply react. They are free of pain. Yet, the most powerful element: they've escaped death. In one way, they've conquered our greatest fear. That, I believe, encompasses their attraction. And why, I expect, they'll be with us for some time to come.

Laying here listening to my wife's alarm go off, I'm struck by a significant societal shift which took place during my lifetime: the snooze bar.  I remember a world where these things didn't exist. That your alarm clock rang once a day. Heck, you needed to remember to arm the thing before you went to sleep. I suppose some folks rewound the clock and moved the alarm hand forward a few minutes. But most didn't. Ring, then up; no other methodology existed.  Now, we tend to gradually awaken. With smartphones and such, you can choose pleasant tones to gently rouse you from slumber. Speaking for myself, my alarm starts earlier, with a more gradual waking process.  I'm not sure what, if any, deeper effects have been brought about by this. Something to explore. It's hard to imagine that a significant shift in a culture's circadian rhythm won't have some larger impact.  

The Story Collider podcast has become a deeply integrated into my psyche, and my life. I stumbled  upon the series via Radiolab . On my commute today, I listened to Sara Peters and Peter Aguero's story about Sara's epilepsy.   This was very well done: by the end I felt connected to them. So, I highly recommend you spend a few minutes of your life watching the video below (the podcast was recorded at TedMed 2013 , so, thus, you get video). Your life will be the better for it. (It wouldn't be a bad idea to subscribe to Story Collider, too. Just sayin'.) 

A little tidbit to greet the 2nd 20% of your work week. It explains a great deal, if you think about it. Found this on Reddit

The obsessive pursuit of perfection can destroy effectiveness. How easy would it be, continuously review, rewrite, redo a project. Keep revolving within this loop until its perfect, or we die. I would expect that giving into this loop, perfection would only be achieved well after the project's usefulness was long past.  Now, we need to keep mind for quality. Try to make whatever we're creating as effective as possible. Yet, something is better than nothing.  Deliver the best you can. Fix, with diligence and haste any material mistakes, smile about the non-material. Be proud of your work, and the problems it solves. 

After several attempts to over-generalize my key-fobs functionality (front door >2x, mailbox, store-front, kitchen lights), I started wondering how awesome life would be with remote control of every major appliance. Kitchen lights reflecting on my computer screen? Click! Hands full and trying to get in the house? Click! Mailbox? Yep, Click! Oh, wouldn't life be so much easier? Well, no. Imagine the way such could be executed. Either multiple fobs for each action. I'm imagining an electronic age version of the jailers key ring. Or walking with a universal remote that's more like an iPad. Not very practical after all. Wait! How about an implant wired to your nervous system? We're not quite there yet, but we can see the proverbial light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel for this (though faintly). Imagine that world. Need the lights on? Just think it. Etc, etc, etc. But, besides the risk of infection, what other issues would this bring? First, the Revelation/bible based "mar...