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9/11

September 11, 2011 11:05 AM | filed in:

I'm sure everyone remembers their personal circumstances surrounding September 11. I could tell you where I was, whom I was with, how it felt when what seemed like a fluke accident became a realization that we were under attack... but my story is the same as millions of others, and there's nothing singular about it. For a short time, we shared it all: shock, terror, confusion. There was subsequent grief and anger that eventually divided us into the overly vengeful and the overly government-dependent. How do you describe that day's sensation of feeling both brotherhood for and suspicion of those...

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In the Works...

June 5, 2011 9:56 PM | filed in:

I just finished a big project and am looking forward to a freer schedule to concentrate on my own projects. It's time to open up the ol' brainstorming notebooks and dust off the when-I-have-time to-do lists and make my own priorities. I am partially inspired by this article, which is a list of the top five deathbed regrets, as compiled by an end-of-life care nurse. Some of these things -- living by the expectations of others, for instance -- are not themes in my life, but working too much and letting the quality of my friendships fluctuate are. Believing in...

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Happy New Year

December 28, 2010 12:57 PM | filed in: ,

It is unlikely that I will update the site again within the next couple of days, so I take this opportunity to wish you a happy and prosperous future. To clients, thank you for your business, creative partnership, and support throughout the year. To friends, I say the same (plus "thanks for the cocktails"). Although a lot was accomplished in 2010, I prefer to look ahead and barge into 2011 with the excitement of knowing that the world has more available to us than we could ever experience. (Imagine what a dull existence it would be to have done and...

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The Good and the Bad of Moving

May 25, 2010 10:06 PM | filed in: ,

I moved on Saturday.The new place is great, although a little smaller, and the neighborhood is ideal for us, with tons of dog owners, close proximity to places we visit on a regular basis, and lots within walking distance. We found out around May 5 that we needed to move, since our landlords found some new tenants (we were doing a month-to-month arrangement until they found someone, which happened right away), so it was a whirlwind couple of weeks to research places, take tours, go through the application process, and get packed.I love some aspects of moving: It's the perfect...

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LA Traffic Makes Fools of All

April 27, 2010 10:29 PM | filed in: ,

I'm in Week Two of carpooling with my husband. We're from Chicago, where having a car is unnecessary and almost a luxury, since the CTA is thorough, reliable, far-reaching (and renting a garage space and paying for daily parking are expensive). LA, though, hasn't embraced public transportation, and since the metropolitan area is so gigantic, one car is a necessity. It's hard to believe that we might have to get a second car, but we'll soon have a dilemma: the 7-10 hours per week we each could save by not considering the other's commute versus the cost of a second...

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Stop to Smell (or Draw) the Roses...

February 28, 2010 10:51 AM | filed in: , ,

"Don't forget to stop and smell the roses." That's a tired old phrase, but I've been relying on it a lot lately. My adult life has been a pattern of making my way along the career path at too quick a pace, then suddenly needing rest because I've tired myself out. Logic tells me to wander a bit, slow down, stop at interesting points, and be engaged in the journey itself... but it's difficult to change what I think is an inherent need to always "do do do." This weekend, I went to a birthday party for a relative who...

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One Day at a Time...

January 11, 2010 2:27 PM | filed in: ,

A client of mine has written a couple of wonderful books on emotional eating and weight loss (Life is Hard, Food is Easy and 100 Days of Weight Loss by Linda Spangle). A perk of my work with her was getting copies of the books so I could learn about what she does. I also am on her email distribution list, and weekly emails expand on the thoughts her books establish by providing personal examples and exercises to keep on the straight-and-narrow of weight loss/maintenance.Most people (especially women) immediately understand what is meant by the phrase "emotional eating." At different...

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Time IS Relative...

December 13, 2009 12:55 PM | filed in: ,

Some periods of the year seem to drag so slowly... off the top of my head, I'd say January, February, April, and June are some of the slow (seeming) months. On the other hand, why do November and December fly by like they barely exist? I am always on a quest to make things (projects, for instance) finite, with clear beginnings and ends, but it never seems to work that way in real life. One thing that has a clear beginning and end, though, is the calendar year... and so I am very much a proponent of new year resolutions...

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Sometimes It's Best Just to Walk Away

October 20, 2009 9:11 PM | filed in: ,

This week, I had a regrettable experience with a short-term client. There was a disagreement about whether the work I performed merited getting paid. My ultimate response was to tell the client that while I thought their non-payment was incorrect, I wasn't going to pursue the matter. [I mean, have you ever been to small claims court? It's not very complicated, but it's kind of a waste of a day. You have to get dressed up to go to the courthouse, where you're felt up by security, then corralled in the most non-stimulating room known to man, then rustled into...

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Adjusting to Market Changes

October 20, 2009 3:19 PM | filed in: ,

We all know that change is the only constant. This law applies to our relationships, bodies, and business lives: Friendships (and loveships) wax and wane, our health fluctuates, and industries come and go. We can keep relationships happy by improving our communication skills and working to establish friendship "rules" and try to satisfy the needs of others. We can learn more about our physical selves to keep our bodies strong and vibrant, and in times of illness, outside influences (doctors, medicines) can help fix things. In the same way, we can evolve to survive tight financial markets, downsizing, and the extinction...

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Back to Business...

May 3, 2009 2:48 PM | filed in: ,

This week, I made a much-needed plunge back into society. After months of slipping stealthily into galleries during patron hours (the quiet time for serious buyers), we finally went to an opening specifically to reconnect with people we hadn't seen in a long time and to get back in the swing of being out. It helped that, earlier in the week, I had another social engagement out of the house and a small get-together with friends at my place. This weekend capped it off as we attended a family function and also got together with friends in San Diego for...

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Too much = not enough

March 15, 2009 5:21 PM | filed in: ,

There is some saying that runs along the lines of, "If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it." I have always pretty successfully managed a big workload comprised of many different projects, but I've found that I do have a threshold. At some point, the idea of so much on the to-do list actually hinders much progress on any of them. If I have any work weakness (beside being too intense sometimes), I'd say it's this. My productivity when I'm on task is stellar... but if I'm distracted by the thought of how much is looming...

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Cause of Death: Overused Brain

March 7, 2009 4:36 PM | filed in:

I'm a big fan of documentaries--I'd rather watch one than a "regular" movie, although there are admittedly lots of crappy ones--and probably watch a couple per week on average. Between my doc picks and Dan's Blu-Ray eye candy selections, we definitely milk our Netflix account.Last week, we watched Word Play, which is about The New York Times's legendary crossword puzzle; its editor, Will Shortz; and a few of the people who can't get enough of crosswords. What a collection of nerds. I like crosswords. I think it's fair to say I love them, and I do about ten of them...

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Settling In

November 23, 2008 10:35 PM | filed in: , ,

We finally moved from the treachery that is Daly Street Lofts/Telephone Company Lofts. In the four weeks that we've been moved, we have pretty much settled... except for a couple of boxes, we are unpacked and have everything in its place.We've used our fireplace, hung our draperies, framed photos, and set-up our guest room. We have an office for working, a room for working out, and a big living room where we can relax on our sofa, lie around, and relax. We have a 10-foot-long table on our covered patio and a garage to store things like cars, cleaning supplies...

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Countdown to Civilization?

August 21, 2008 10:31 PM | filed in: , ,

We're almost there. One of these days, soon--perhaps even within a week--, our home will have an active phone line (our impending "launch date" only required that I virtually threaten AT&T with cancellation and no future business if they didn't figure out the problem) and high-speed wireless Internet access (oh, that's a dandy, too). Then, sometime after that, we hope to have hot water. We have found that leaving the setting on cold actually results in warmer water than turning it to hot; Dan cleverly determined that the cold water pipes run along the roof, while the "hot" supply is...

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All You Need is Love...

February 9, 2008 9:35 PM | filed in: ,

Valentine's Day is coming. Are you ready? Did you buy flowers, jewelry, chocolate? If your answer is no, what kind of person are you?I really don't like the holiday, which each year becomes more of a "you'd better get this or you're not keeping up with everyone else" toward guys. I feel bad that they constantly are subjected to marketing that suggests they aren't good partners unless they buy their significant others something... and what once was an initiative to sell more cards has become a month-long tirade on how expensive jewelry is the true way to a woman's heart...

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New Year's Resolutions

January 2, 2008 8:39 PM | filed in: ,

For anyone who cares, here's what I'd like to do this year. (Well, these are the things for public consumption. I'm sure there are a few other things that I don't wish to share here.)Most people I asked said they don't bother with resolutions, but I've always found any kind of change -- moving, starting a new job, getting into or out of a relationship, a new year -- a good opportunity to renew goals.1. Work on more art-art (digital doesn't count).2. Regularly attend Cheri's yoga class for an extended period.3. Pay off the last little nagging bit of my...

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