Posts in the “personal” category

“Developing the habit of mastering the multiple models which underlie reality is the best thing you can do.”

~ Charlie Munger

“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other thing.”

~ Abraham Lincoln (born in Hardin County, Kentucky)

Today’s word of the day is reticent. Per Google, it means, “Not revealing one’s thoughts or feelings readily. ‘She was extremely reticent about her personal affairs.’”

I keep running into Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs lately, so I thought I’d share that Wikipedia link, and this image, which was created wikimedia.org user FireflySixtySeven.

With the end of every year I like to take a little time to look back, and for the last few years I've been noting which songs I listened to most during the previous year. This is my list of the songs I played most during 2012.

The list is a little skewed, because in my world there's Guns 'n Roses, Godsmack, The Dixie Chicks, The Cranberries, and then everyone else. So, in the "Everyone Else" list, here are my most listened to songs of 2012. The Top 5 are shown at the bottom.

“In my whole life, I have known no wise people (over a broad subject matter area) who didn’t read all the time — none, zero. You’d be amazed at how much Warren reads — and at how much I read. My children laugh at me. They think I’m a book with a couple of legs sticking out.”

~ Charlie Munger, talking about Warren Buffett and himself

“Stay away from negative people. They have a problem for every solution.”

~ Albert Einstein

I was just talking to a woman I’ve known for a few years, and she said, “I didn’t know your last name was Alexander. I love that name.” I didn’t have the heart to tell her that my family got it from a government employee at Ellis Island.

I had trouble getting to sleep last night, so instead of counting sheep I decided to count how many times doctors have performed invasive procedures on me. I counted 22 invasive procedures, including six operations. I’ve also had at least four MRIs and nine CT scans. I was thinking of this because I have at least two more procedures coming up in the first quarter of 2018.

“You’re gonna catch a cold from the ice inside your soul.”

~ a great line from Jar Of Hearts
that reminds me of one of my relatives

“Those that invest the most are the last to surrender.”

~ said by many people, most recently Rich Gannon

Can ten minutes of mindfulness meditation make you more creative and feel less negative, restless, nervous, and irritated? The Harvard Business Review says yes it can.

I gave myself two gifts for Christmas: A set of new bathroom rugs, and a few guilt-free days to learn the LibGDX game framework so I can eventually rewrite my football game. (Usually I think, “You need to finish writing XYZ,” so “a few guilt-free days” means not having those thoughts, or having them but ignoring them.)

“Most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”

~ Steve Jobs

A well-said “Merry Christmas and Happy Monday” greeting by Neil deGrasse Tyson.

It’s going to be a white Christmas here in the Boulder/Broomfield, Colorado area, ho ho ho.

In today’s important news, there’s What happens when you put Coke in your gas tank; there’s a weird string in the center of our galaxy; scientists discover a new material that can’t be explained by classical physics; and of course, without telling anyone, Apple intentionally slows down iPhones with old batteries.

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in service to others.”

~ Mahatma Gandhi

“We are who we protect, I think. What we stand up for.”

~ The Da Vinci Code

“As a young teacher, I would sometimes complain about the kids. Then I awoke to the reality that I was the one who had to change, not them. It was only when I changed the way I viewed my students that the students themselves changed in front of me.”

from this tweet by Dan Evans