I read this article today about people moving into micro sized houses in an effort to downsize their lives. It was an interesting article and I assumed mostly about saving money and living a simpler life.
Until I got to this passage.
He has purged junk and other items, donating most of it to the Salvation Army and to friends. “It does feel good,” he says. “I don’t miss the extra books, the extra clothes I never wore.” He’s married, but there’s not enough space for his spouse in his place.
It begs a lot of questions:
He’s an architect, it’s unlikely he “accidentally” made it too small to accommodate his wife.
Do you suppose at some point he asked her what was the minimum amount of space she would consider living in? If so, I’ll bet her answer was just slightly above the 100 sft he ended up building.
It clearly wasn’t a money saving project as his wife is still living in their full sized home.
Here is the story of Flat Stanley if you’re not familiar. Jackson’s school is doing a project where the parent is supposed to take Flat Stanley to work and take pictures of him to share with the class. I was going to prop him up against a Tequila bottle and the Help Wanted Ads but didn’t want to get a call from the Principal this early in his school career.
Here is Flat Stanley enjoying his day as a Management Consultant.
Flat Stanley getting in the car to go to work
Flat Stanley driving to work
Flat Stanley changing the radio station – he likes Hip Hop
Flat Stanley telling me to turn left at the next intersection
Flat Stanley arrives at the office
Flat Stanley enjoys his morning coffee
Flat Stanley taking a call from a Client
Flat Stanley arrives home after a hard day at work
Flat Stanley was interested in a full time job but the Boss said he was too one-dimensional.
It’s unlikely that Ohio State has a shot at the National Championship this year. Absent some kind of miraculous climb back up the polls by the Buckeyes I’ll be rooting for Penn State.
I was a fan of Penn State before they joined the Big Ten. I have a weakness for cranky old coaches and plain uniforms.
I find it mind boggling that Joe Paterno has been at Penn State for 58 years – 16 years as an Assistant Coach and 42 years as Head Coach. He is currently 82 years “old”.
People have been writing off Paterno for years and claiming that the game has passed him by. Despite the criticism his record over the last 3 and a half years is 35 wins and 9 losses. It would be one of the ultimate riding off into the sunset moments to see his team win the National Championship this year and have him retire. That thought makes this observation a little disturbing:
Yesterday, ABC sportscaster Brent Musburger popped by the Dan Patrick show to talk about all things college football and one of the topics that came up was the remarkable success of Penn State this season under 82-year-old head coach Joe Paterno.
But then the conversation turned a little grim.
Musburger admits to having a personal friendship with Paterno and says that through his candid conversations with JoePa, he knows exactly why he continues to Coach after all of these years.
“This is a tough one for me because I have to say up front that JoePa is a dear friend of mine…I’ll tell your listeners the truth as to why he still does it. He is fearful — and he looks back at Bear Bryant as the example — he is fearful that he would not be with us if he stepped away. He is a man that doesn’t fish, doesn’t play golf…he has no other interest other than his family and football. And he’s just afraid what would happen with the rest of his life if he walks away from it.”
Now, this is not Musburger speculating, but Paterno admitting he’s afraid he’ll keel over once he retires, which is just extremely sad. Remember,Bear Bryant died just 28 days after announcing his retirement from Alabama.
I had forgotten that Bear Bryant died right after retiring. When I looked it up to confirm the details this is what I found:
Bryant announced his retirement as head football coach at Alabama effective with the end of the 1982 season. His last game was a 21-15 victory in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee over the University of Illinois. When asked in a post-game interview what he intended to do while retired, Bryant sarcastically replied that he would “probably croak in a week.”
Bryant died on January 26, 1983 at age 69 after checking into Druid City Hospital in Tuscaloosa with chest pain. His death came 28 days after his last game as a coach. He is interred at Birmingham’s Elmwood Cemetery.
I’ll still be rooting for Penn State and hope he leaves as a Champion. Maybe Joe can take up blogging in his retirement.
Today is Blog Action Day. No idea what that means ? Neither did I till a few days ago. You can learn more here. The high level overview is:
Blog Action Day is an annual nonprofit event that aims to unite the world’s bloggers, podcasters and videocasters, to post about the same issue on the same day. Our aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion.
This years focus is on Poverty. According to The World Bank, estimated average per capita annual income for the world’s ~6 billion people is $7,880.
But, averages can be very deceiving. The World Bank figures for each country take Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and divide it evenly by population. For illustrative purposes it assumes each person gets an equal cut of that countries GDP. I don’t know Warren Buffett or Bill Gates well enough to ask for a peek at their W2 but I’m reasonably sure mine doesn’t look the same as theirs.
This graph is the estimate of worldwide income distribution. Most people live on the tail of the chart. Not convinced with fancy charts ? Go back the World Bank data and look at the % of people in each country who live on less than $1 or $2 per day. Mexico, just to pick one that has an average close to the $7,880 worldwide average has 26% of it’s population living on less than $2 per day.
Think that Venture Capitalism and Philanthropy is the domain of the super-rich ? Take a few minutes and check out Kiva. My current investment portfolio includes a Bolivian restaurant, some Indonesian cattle, a Mali dressmaking supplier and a few others.
Don’t think you can swing $25 ? Go here for a reality check.
Did you know they still ban books from school libraries ? According to the American Library Association (now there’s a really subversive organization if I’ve seen one – those librarians are real radicals) these are the most objected to books of 2007:
And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
Reasons: Anti-Ethnic, Sexism, Homosexuality, Anti-Family, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group
The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Violence
Olive’s Ocean, by Kevin Henkes
Reasons: Sexually Explicit and Offensive Language
The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman
Reasons: Religious Viewpoint
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
Reasons: Racism
The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language,
TTYL, by Lauren Myracle
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
Reasons: Sexually Explicit
It’s Perfectly Normal, by Robie Harris
Reasons: Sex Education, Sexually Explicit
The Perks of Being A Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group
Somebody needs to call Oprah right away, her friend (and U.S. Poet Laureate) Maya Angelou is on the list.
The top 100 has a good sprinkling of classics including Steinbeck (Of Mice and Men), Salinger (Catcher in the Rye), Walker (The Color Purple), Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird), Huxley (Brave New World) and Vonnegut (Slaughterhouse Five).
And don’t forget the alway dangerous Samuel Clemens (aka: Mark Twain).
The one that really scares me as a parent is Captain Underpants. I have no idea what it’s about but I will not have my children reading about un-mentionables.
Posted by strodeunplugged 
Posted by strodeunplugged 
Posted by strodeunplugged 
