2008 February « Just Another Writer

Do You Make Decisions Based on Emotion? February 28, 2008

Filed under: Life — Just another writer... @ 2:58 am

I’ve been told that making decisions is best done when one is in a rational state of mind. Strangely, I responded to this piece of advice with this thought–”Wow, that’s an interesting way to look at it!” Looking back, I realize that many of my decisions have been based on pure emotion. I use up my logic quota figuring out
which brand of milk will save me the most money, I suppose.

How do you know if you are making decisions based on reason or emotion? Well, try asking yourself these questions:

After seeing a house that reminds you of your old childhood home, do you decide it is “meant to be” and immediately make an offer? Without checking for termites?

Do you decide to date someone based on the fact that you both grew up in homes that were painted green? It is clearly meant to be!

Have you ever quit a job because your boss didn’t say hello to you one morning and you decided that she didn’t like you, and that you were probably going to get fired because of that, so you might as well beat her to the punch?

Have you ever bought a car because the color was cool, it was the last one like it on the lot and you were hoping the salesperson would ask you out?

These are extreme examples, but I can guarantee you that someone has made a decision in each of these scenarios. Probably even the mutual green houses one.

My most recent example of emotional decision making is making an offer on a house here in Nowhere, Texas. As some of you know, Nowhere, Texas is not my favorite location in the world. Still, I have a decent job, and some valid reasons for being here. At any rate, upon seeing the house, I immediately slipped into (a very emotional) fantasyland.

The Thought:

“After I get this house,” I’ll have parties and we can watch the fireworks from the porch.”

Reality Check:

The Thought: “This house has been redone by someone who is also from Austin. It is the only house like this in all of Nowhere, Texas. It is meant to be.”

Reality Check: I think the house looks cool because it looks like a house in Austin. I like Austin. Nowhere, Texas is NOT Austin.

The Thought: “Having a house here will help me integrate more fully into the community. I will have a greater investment in making contacts here.”

Reality Check: This will be true if I am willing to undergo a complete personality transplant. I will have to attend a Baptist church, wear designer clothes and behave hypocritically at least 90 percent of the time if I want to fit in. Alternatively, I could go to work at the chicken plant. The people who work there are pretty down to earth.

This is nothing new in my life. If I buy the house, I will look at it as an investment, much like I now view men–with detachment, which is not nearly as fun as emotionally immersing myself in relationships because someone has a sexy curl to their lip.

So…emotions are fun, but result in drama and bad choices. Logic is not fun, and results in boredom and good solid choices. Is there some sort of happy medium here?

Sorry for the rambling, but I think I have just done my therapy for the week. I don’t watch Oprah, so I have to figure these things out for myself.

Comments (9)

How to Make Teenagers Hate You February 25, 2008

Filed under: Life, Teaching — Just another writer... @ 11:08 pm

Photo by N!(K — loveforphotography –

My students have no problem telling me who they hate. These people are usually adults, often in a position of power. Why the animosity? Here’s what I’ve figured out, based on the commentary. If you would like to join the list, follow the steps listed below.

1. Tell them that they need to have a better attitude.

2. Emphasize that you understand them, because you were young once too. Be sure and tell them they’ll “get over it”, when they confide in your about a problem. Completely ignore that things were indeed different when you were in high school.

3. Tell them what to do. Don’t offer any choices. Even if you have to have the lawn mowed on Saturday, don’t let them decide if they’ll complete the job at 6 am or 9 am.

4. Tell them they’re too young to have a girlfriend or boyfriend. Alternatively, you could ask them how their “little” boyfriend is doing, or if they have one yet. Speculating on who would make a good girlfriend or boyfriend also is good.

5. Act like you know everything. Forget that teenagers do have some acquired knowledge, and that they, like other people, like to be acknowledged for their intelligence. For good measure, say, “At your age, I thought I knew everything too.”

6. Tell them, “You have to earn my respect”. This teaches this lesson that human beings, on the whole, are not worthy of respect unless they do something for you. Since respect is very important to teens, this will help you reach your goal immediately.

7. Make sure that they know they are untrustworthy. They’re teens, so they’re bound to screw up, right? Make sure they know this by not giving them any responsibility for anything that counts. Assume, out loud, that any time a crime happens in your town, it must have been “one of those crazy teens”.

There you go. If you want teenagers to run away screaming when they see you coming, you know what to do! If you are a teacher and are doing these things, this is my public plea to please quit.

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Get Up Out My Grill February 25, 2008

Filed under: Silly Stuff — Just another writer... @ 10:13 pm

Okay folks, this is the one and only time you will ever, ever hear me rapping about
Mexican chicken. I have a feeling this is a once in a lifetime thing, you know? My son was recruited, because he’s cool like that. Check out my video here and be sure to vote for it if you like it because $1500 would be a nice addition to my house project, right?

This was so fun to make, even if my camera skills aren’t all that great. I’m working on it.

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5 Ways to Stop Squandering Money February 24, 2008

Filed under: Life, Money — Just another writer... @ 3:21 am

Photo by Martin LaBar

I’m not sure if I’m the right person to be writing this article, really. The reason why is that last week, my son came home with a cabbage plant that he had grown in class. I set it on the counter and forgot about it until I heard a colleague waxing poetic about how he and his son planted their cabbage plant in their garden and what a blissful experience it was. I got jealous and headed for the store, where I purchased an expensive green planter (they were out of the cheap ones and I felt too lazy to go to another store) and some expensive dirt since the only dirt I really have in my apartment is on the dog, and she doesn’t want me messing with it. So at this point, it is the $25 cabbage plant.

Since I have these tendencies to sporadically waste money, I have some strategies in place to save in other, non-cabbage related areas. Here ya go:

1. Buy Horizon Organic Milk.

2. Do not buy a bunch of crap for your kids. Since my kid doesn’t watch TV, I am spared a lot of the begging and pleading for products that many parents have to suffer through. If he wants a junky toy, he has to pay for it out of his allowance. I try not to buy any toy that cannot be used over and over again, which means that he has a lot of Legos. Since there is not a whole ton of other junk, it makes cleaning his room a lot easier on him, too.

At this point, I have to share what I learned shortly after my older son was born. I had spent $35 on a pull-toy from Germany that had 35 layers of lacquer and was a work of art, in my opinion. A friend of mine who already had kids scoffed and told me that my kid would end up playing with the orange juice container. He was wrong. My kid preferred the paper towel roll.

3. Find a country vet, or at least a cool one. When my dog needs the inevitable steroid shot to stop her itching from the occasional flea bite, I stop at the vets, pick up the syringe and DIY. It costs me about seven bucks that way, as opposed to the whole office visit thing. DIY can be a good way to save money lots of times, unless you are male. Then you might pay $65 for a special screwdriver to fix the broken hinge on the cabinet or something like that.

4. Realize that TV destroys your brain. You can then cancel the cable (I know, you’ve heard this a million times–so why haven’t you done it yet?!?). Seriously, there was a study done that showed a correlation between autism and television viewing in preschoolers. I wrote this guy and thanked him. His study is right on the money. Saving brain cells will also save you about $80 a month.

5. Get rid of the gym membership and do real work. I hate the gym. The main reason I dislike it is because I feel like I am expending energy on nothing. It doesn’t feel right. On the other hand, I am more than happy to mow a lawn, move stuff, vacuum the house, etc. There are projects like Habitat for Humanity that will really burn some calories while teaching serious skillz and helping someone else with your energy. You should save about $40 a month.

These strategies enable me to live within my means and splurge on cabbage. What’s your financial goal?

Comments (13)

Cost Captain Means Low Cost Software February 24, 2008

Filed under: Money — Just another writer... @ 3:19 am

One thing that can be a real thorn in the side of freelancers is the cost of software that you have to have in order to stay current with your work. If everyone else you are working with has updated to Microsoft Office 2007, it pretty much means that you have to as well, especially if you are an editor.

One way that many people, including myself, can purchase software at a reasonable price is by buying it from a Microsoft Authorized Education Reseller like costcaptain. People who are students, homeschoolers, employees of schools, libraries and research labs qualifty for academic discounts. For example, at Cost Captain, you can purchase a Microsoft Vista upgrade for $89 and up.

Keep in mind that you’ll need to provide
Cost Captain academic eligibility before your product is shipped. All Microsoft products at www.costcaptain.com are authentic. Gift certificates are offered, which is something that I know from personal experience would make a homeschooling family’s day.

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Spring Break Is Almost Here February 22, 2008

Filed under: Teaching — Just another writer... @ 11:45 pm

As a teacher, I seriously count down the days to Spring Break. At this point, it’s only two weeks away! I’m not excited because I’m planning on going anywhere, however. At least nowhere close to where I’m at. During Spring Break, the Texas coast becomes ridiculous with hoards of college students, many wearing bikinis and freezing in the completely unpredictable weather. Prices skyrocket, and it’s just not a really good time to take your eight-year-old to the beach. The thing is, your eight-year-old wants to go to the beach. So the thing to do is to then check out
flights to South Africa. There are plenty of beaches in South Africa, right? And I’ll wager they’re better than any of the ones on the Texas coast, which feature brown water, rotting seaweed, and a plethora of tar that sticks to your feet. If we went to the beach in South Africa, we might even get to see zebras. Although I doubt they’re on the beach. It would be really cool if they were, though, right? It would be kinda like the movie Madagascar, and my kiddo would definitely enjoy that.

At any rate, we definitely need an alternative to the Spring Break status quo around these parts.

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Playing Blog Detective February 22, 2008

Filed under: Metablogging — Just another writer... @ 11:16 pm

There’s this cool widget that I want to use for something…I just haven’t decided what yet. What it does is provide a way for people to leave links to their content in a nice orderly list, like over at this site. I know I’m gaining geek points because I figured out if I looked at the source code, I could probably determine how they did it. So I did, and this is what I found:

Mr. Linky! You can register for free, and then grab the code for the type of blog that you have. I don’t know why I think this particular thing is the cat’s meow, but I do. So maybe I’ll have a link party over here someday soon so I can try it out.