Last year we invested heavily to conserve energy at home and on the road. We bought a Prius and replaced an aging furnace with a hybrid energy system (heat pump plus high-efficiency gas furnace). Today we got a report card from Puget Sound Energy, our utility company: “we’re doing great” based on a 12-month analysis [...]
Tags: C7 New Energy Partnership·conservation·residential energy savings
Lately I find myself engaged in conversations about people’s desire for a more balanced, nourishing, or purposeful life. With friends, family or even professional colleagues, certain topics keep cropping up: exercise and wellness, yoga (or my friends’ passion for Nia), life/work balance, relationships that nourish, meaningful work. On the flip side: frustrations with dispiriting, soul-sucking [...]
In my home we joke about the “digital hearth” — the warm surface above the amplifier and set-top box, a favorite place for cats to nap. Over the years we’ve learned that our cats are always the first to detect which electronics throw off the most waste heat. They’ve learned to discern the differences between [...]
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If you like diversity during your day, operating a small business out of your home can have its charms. Today has been one of those days that mixes business and pleasure in delightful ways. While awaiting replies to outstanding client proposals, I’ve been able to juggle a variety of tasks: Birds, bread making, Bootcamp and [...]
Tags: work-life balance
We’re in the midst of refinancing our home, to take advantage of the current attractive rates. It’s been an eye-opening experience to see how the process has evolved since we last refinanced 5-8 years ago. The lenders’ reliance upon web-based data collection services has certainly eased our burden, Print PDF
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Every now and then you come across a gem to share broadly with others: What Matters Now, a compilation of great ideas by brilliant thinkers and change agents. Agent provocateur Seth Godin has produced this compilation and offers it as a free downloadable ebook from his blog. He encourages like-minded folk who are sick and [...]
Reflecting back on 2009 and looking ahead to 2010, I came across a great quote that got me thinking: You are the same today as you are going to be five years from now, except for two things: the people with whom you associate and the books you read. — Source: Charles Jones, cited in [...]
It’s that time of year again, time to review what worked (and what didn’t) in 2009, imagine new possibilities, dream, and set intentions for the coming year. I’ve been enjoying the process of setting some actionable goals for 2010, while identifying some larger aspirations that I’d like to translate into action. To prepare my plan [...]
This year a significant proportion of the greeting cards we’ve received have been assembled from digital content created by our family members and friends. Most of these cards feature family photos and/or snapshots of peak moments throughout the year; a few are totally handmade, artsy, often collages with no digital elements. Personalized cards, user-generated content [...]
Tags: personalized content·UCG
As I write my Christmas and New Year cards, I’ve been thinking about the pros and cons of traditional cards versus Twitter for holiday greetings. Forgive the wry humor… Twitter Pros No paper cuts No yucky aftertaste from sealing envelopes No last-minute dash to the Post Office to buy more stamps Print PDF
Tags: Twitter humor
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