Sketched this while thinking about how badly I (for my own sake, and, more importantly, my family’s sake) need to get there.
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Tags: creativity, vineyard
Nice to be sitting here now in the Vineyard house, where this song was one of the hits of the summer ’round these parts for the kids, and hearing this version in the winter.
I’d say it’s pretty darn good.
Tags: music, peter gabriel, Vampire Weekend, vineyard
Of all the laughter this summer, I gotta say the thing that amused me the
most was when Henry came up to me holding the little metal latch to my
liquor cabinet, and said, in basso profundo, “I Happen Took.”
It took me quite a while to finally figure out that he was informing me that
he was Captain Hook.
Well, he finally, got himself a hook, sword, and patch (the leotard is his
own addition), and now really is Happen Took!
Of the many things I look forward to when we return to the Vineyard for our summers, cooking is pretty near the top. Sad to say that i really don’t have time to do much cooking during the school year. I’m hoping this will change soon, but, for now, the only time I can really devote any significant time to cooking is during the summer months. Happily, this coincides with the wonderful bountiful period that begins to emerge here on MV around June. It begins with strawberries and peas, and culminates in corn and tomatoes just as we’re leaving.
In addition to the fruits and vegetables, there are wonderful selections of local eggs, cheeses, herbs, and meat (the latter making infrequent – but delightful – appearances in my 3-out-of-4-vegetarian home).
I’ve been enjoying the fantastic eggs from Morning Glory Farm. There’s a ton of misinformation about organic food out there (and, if you’re interested in the topic, check out Vineyarder, Michael Pollan’s book The Omnivore’s Dilemma on the topic), but if you just focus on eating food that is local and in season, life becomes much more simple (and efficient…see, this post isn’t as off-topic as it seems). Well, these eggs are as local as they come; pretty much in my back yard. They really show the difference between something is local and something mass produced. the eggs are smaller than your mass produced jumbo variety, but what they lack in size, they more than make up for in flavor. The yolks are orange-juice orange, and the whites very creamy.
My daughter, Annabelle, likes egg sandwiches, and I’ve been making sort of an abbreviated (and vegetarian) eggs Benedict for her. While I love me some hollandaise sauce, it’s sort of rough to make a cooking emulsion while a two and four-year-old scurry underfoot. Instead, I fry the eggs in some good (local) butter, and top with some pecorino cheese. Just before they’re cooked to a runny-yolk consistency, I popl them under the broiler with some English muffins in the pan. Out they come (with the yolks still a bit runny). I plop the eggs on the English muffins (after spreading a little mayo on the muffins), and then squeeze about a half a lemon into the residual butter/cheese dripping left in the pan. I let Annabelle whisk, and then pour on top of the eggs.
Today we got the in-season strawberries, and made a pie. Annabelle is a great help with measuring and rolling out the dough. She’s really quite a good cook: tastes as she goes, measures carefully, etc. Henry, really just wants to throw the ingredients. Can’t blame him.
For anyone intimidated by making a pie crust, check out this great recipe
Here are the troops at work:
and here’s the finished product:
Here’s to pie.
—A cone of silence no more: Annabelle and me on the Vineyard ferry.
Excellent post on using heuristics to improve your productivity over at Steve Pavlina . com.
A heuristic is a rule or approach for solving a problem. It’s from the same Greek word that gives us “Eureka,” and roughly translates to, “I found it.” Basically a heuristics approach involves setting a set of rules to enable you to solve complex problems. In so doing, you break down the problem into manageable steps.
More importantly, it allows you to start tackling an intimidating project that you would otherwise avoid. This process of starting often leads you to unexpected paths on your way to completion.
Mr. Pavlina makes the very astute connection between a heuristics-approach and the GTD system. So much of GTD involves breaking large projects down into contextualized pieces, and – of course – getting going on projects (the 2 minute rule, for example).
Mr Pavlina identifies 33 productivity heuristics that can greatly improve your productivity. Some of my favorites include:
Nuke it! The most efficient way to get through a task is to delete it. If it doesn’t need to be done, get it off your to do list.
Timeboxing. Give yourself a fixed time period, like 30 minutes, to make a dent in a task. Don’t worry about how far you get. Just put in the time. See Timeboxing for more. [I prefer 48 minutes, but the principle is correct.]
Pareto. The Pareto principle is the 80-20 rule, which states that 80% of the value of a task comes from 20% of the effort. Focus your energy on that critical 20%, and don’t overengineer the non-critical 80%.
Resonance. Visualize your goal as already accomplished. Put yourself into a state of actually being there. Make it real in your mind, and you’ll soon see it in your reality.
Cone of silence. Take a laptop with no network or WiFi access, and go to a place where you can work flat out without distractions, such as a library, park, coffee house, or your own backyard. Leave your comm gadgets behind.
Regarding Cone of Silence, I was, last night, talking to a friend about how I used to just get on the ferry and ride back and forth between Martha’s Vineyard and Wood’s Hole, because I was so productive out there on the high seas where there was no cell phone or internet access. Sadly, one can now remain online throughout the trip. I’m in search of a new cone of silence.
Tags: david allen, GTD, heuristics, Productivity, vineyard