• Beer can cozies, put to the test! The main takeaway:

“Depending on their material, beer can cozies can be effective in keeping beer cool even in extremely hot weather. The two cozies that performed the best employed a layer of dense foam about half an inch thick, which prevents heat transferring into the cans and the beer by limiting convection and conduction. A cheap beer cozy can be just as effective as a more expensive cozy, provided you get the right type. On the other hand, an ineffective can cozy, while it may improve your grip on the can or keep your hand dry, will not do much to keep your beer cold.”

I am truly glad to have this knowledge!  My future beer-cozy buying is forever improved because of this.

I just found wrongcards: ecards that are wrong for every occasion and I really, really think that this particular one is sending me a very powerful message. I’m just not sure what it is…

Many of the cards here actually made me want to send ecards to some friends I have been thinking about lately, and so I’m also making a note to myself to go back and do this someday.

So much thought goes into how and the why, the half full or the half empty – that people completely lose interest in one key fact. That the glass isn’t only half full or half empty – the glass is there. Grab hold of it. Drink when you’re thirsty. Refill it when its gone. Smash it against the wall when you feel fucked up and shitty. Whether in pieces or overflowing – its there.

— Jim commenting on a post at IttyBiz.com: What Do I Do With My Life?

What an excellent concept, both in context and on its own! Wow!

We have jeans that we’re *this* close to replacing — but that wouldn’t be very green of us, now, would it? Nor economical! I can’t believe it took me this long to search for the way to mend jeans, but I’ve gone and done it now, and I found some amazing guides.

The first great find was from ehow.com, and it had some great tips including using a piece of cardboard or a magazine to separate layers of fabric and ensure you don’t stitch them together.

The second, from SewingWeb.com, had great photos outlining the whole process, which really made it look easy and accessible. It requires a sewing machine, which is no big deal for me because I have one, and also features pinking shears, which makes me giggle because I love excuses to use those. This link was my favourite, and thus featured as the link from the title of this post, because of the photos and also because of how great the patch-job looked at the end!

The third and final great link I found in my search (I usually stop once I find three great results!) was at Crafting a Green World. It was really written well, and it really made me all gung-ho about tapping into my “inner fashion designer”.

I’ll probably refer back to all three of these links when I finally sit down to a serious mending session. Here’s hoping I get around to that soon! I don’t want to think my jeans are on their last legs! (Hehe, :P I’m sorry!)

The spiritual task …[for] the deluded type [of person] is to transform spaciousness into a state of rooted equanimity. Deluded types need to learn how to reel in their minds. Practices useful for a deluded type include: noting (labeling); mindfulness of the hindrance of doubt; body awareness; somatic experiencing; qigong or yoga; precision; mindfulness of the earth element, and putting oneself in safe and pleasant surroundings to prevent dissociation.

I just did a test to find out which Buddhist Personality Type I am, and it turns out I have Deluded / Speculative tendencies. Interesting! and somehow unsurprising.

I am blogging this quote so I can be reminded what it is I need to do to overcome my natural deluded tendencies. One interesting thing is how many of these I’ve already realized to be immensely useful to me: noting/labelling, body awareness, yoga, and mindfulness. I’m now feeling very encouraged to continue pursuing these things! I’m also intrigued at the idea that I need to be more mindful of “the hindrance of doubt”. Wow!

More quotes this article had about the Deluded/Speculative type:

• characterized by doubt and equanimity
• on a dance floor, …would have two left feet
• good guests and traveling companions
• may doubt that this is the correct type

… [A]ll your […] “urgent priorities” are only urgent because you have left them to the last minute. And why have you left them to the last minute? – because you are prioritizing by urgency, that’s why!

So says Mark Forster, in trying to convince us that prioritizing by urgency is the wrong way to go about your tasks. When he puts it so succinctly, I can’t help but realize he’s right!

I always know I should be getting ahead in stuff, but there’s always urgent stuff to do… and when that’s the driving factor, there is stress and therefore procrastination (which reduces the stressed-out feeling, without tackling the cause of the feeling).

Anyways, I’ve been starting to use Mark’s new Autofocus system for task management, and it’s really interesting. It’s so simple, it should totally work! However, it does take some self-brainwashing, and I’m still at the stage where I’m struggling to remember to look at my list, so I can’t really report yet on how well it’s working for me. I surely will, though!

UPDATE: I never really did end up following through with this system for very long, even with the many intriguing modifications that became available after I posted about it.  I sort-of figured out a way to set up a system of handling this in Toodledo (just by sorting by modification date, and making a divider task that I would update when I needed to shift the divider) but it ended up feeling too fiddly.  I ended up just letting my instincts drive me forward, and… I’d say it works, but I still procrastinate madly on just about everything, and my to do lists still give me grief when I look at them, so maybe I’ll return to Autofocus someday, or find something else.

To breathe is the fundamental human need, primal and immediate. Not only is it a calming feeling, breathing is highly portable. I can bring this sense of peace with me wherever I grow, so long as I remember to be mindful.

David Seah – The Air Prayer Hack

I’ve been trying to remember to use breathing therapeutically, to help me calm my mind, be aware of my body (for good posture, or relaxation), and to help me fall asleep at night. Too often, my mind tends to wander when I try to focus on my breathing, and my body tenses up and I lay awake for hours.

This article got me thinking that maybe what I need to do is concentrate on how joyful it is to fulfil this basic bodily need. Put that way, breathing is right up there with eating food, drinking water, or having sex. Mmm, breathing…. oh yes!

This comic gives the definitive answer to the ever-present question, “Should I forward that email?”

Now please, forward this informative comic to everyone you know and get them to forward it to everyone they know, so we can stop the forwarding madness once and for all! (I mean, of course, don’t.)

According to the Halloween Candy Code, this symbol sketched in chalk at the bottom of a driveway advises fellow trick or treaters to “Be Scared Here for Extra Candy Portion”. What a brilliant idea! Credit for the idea, according to the above site, is this tweet from @cabel.

My Background

I learned a few chords on my dad’s acoustic guitar sometime in highschool, but I never persued it seriously.  When I went away to university, I must’ve missed having a guitar around, because it was pretty early into my second year that I decided I wanted to buy a guitar.

As a broke student, the pawn shop within walking distance was my only option. Armed with only some advice from my dad, I went in and found the guitar I’m still happy with, ten years later. Ten years!  Yes, as of October of 2008, it will be ten years that my guitar and I have been together!  Woohoo!

Anyways, the advice I can give about shopping for a guitar is partly due to my own shopping experience, partly due to my experience owning and maintaining my guitar, and partly due to watching and listening to others.  It is very rewarding to own an acoustic guitar, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested!

My Advice

Buying used is not only a good way to save money, but you also have a good chance of finding something truly fantastic, if you shop carefully. Some of my advice is more for used-guitar shopping, but some applies to new guitar shopping too. I know some people just don’t like the idea of buying used, but it’s how I got mine, so it’s all I have experience with.

There’s quite a bit you can tell by looking at a guitar. If it looks really worn and well-played, it’s probably been a well-loved guitar whose owner is upgrading. It has also had the chance to vibrate with the sound of music, and supposedly that makes it more apt to sound good.

That said, you also have to examine carefully for structural damage to the body or neck. Splits, cracks, or patched-up spots are bad news! Note, however, that the neck of a guitar is not meant to be straight, so you can’t eye it up like a pool cue.

And of course, there’s only so much you can tell just by looking. Even without much guitar experience, you can still trust your ears to help you come up with an opinion.

Pluck each string to make sure it doesn’t buzz. Pluck louder, and listen to how the notes resonate in the body. Try a few guitars, and listen for differences. You may not be able to pin down what you like more about one more than the other, but that’s not important. Just feel it out. :) Play it by ear, so they say. :)

Stick to individual notes unless you or someone you know can tune the guitar. Tuning it and strumming a few chords can be a good test too, because it is worthwhile to ensure the guitar can stay in tune.

Inquire about the store’s return policy, and be prepared to return it within that time if you find anything wrong.  Be sure to bring a used guitar into a guitar shop to get it checked out sometime within the return period. This is immensely worthwhile, firstly because they can advise you whether you should bring it back for a refund and run screaming away from it (this is most likely something they will do for free, in the hopes that you’ll come back in the future, but be wary if they try to push a new guitar on you), and secondly because they can tweak it to make it sounds its best (which should cost no more than about $40).

Lastly, just don’t rush into anything. If you find something you think you like, ask them to hold it for you for a day or two or more (or even a couple of hours, if that’s all they’ll do for you). If you can’t keep your mind off of it in that time, it’s probably The One! :P

Any Questions? Thoughts? Additional tips?

Please feel free to comment on anything I’ve said above, or ask more questions, or share your own tips.  I’d love to hear what you think!