Media Semi-Fast

Lately I've realized that a lot of my conversation with others is focused on media, i.e., we spent lots of time discussing favorite movies, songs, bands, videos, and quoting lines from movies or funny YouTube videos back and forth. Now how useful is that knowledge and conversation? How edifying or important is it?

So I've decided to do a semi-fast on media for this week (and maybe longer, who knows). With God's help, I will consciously strive to keep my conversations free from references and reliance on media, and I will also strive to avoid viewing visual media, except news videos and movies that I watch while working out. (I will still be listening to music, but I will probably tone down the amount of time I spend doing that as well)

I ask those of you who converse with me to remind me if I slip up this week - and to those who would like to join me, I say the more the merrier! Who's with me? :-)

Day One

I slipped up several times in conversation - I think this is going to be the hardest part :-P I only watched one YouTube video though - and it was during social time with friends who wanted to see it so it wasn't too bad ;-)

Day Two

I did much better in conversations - almost no slipups! I did watch a couple of videos - but they were product reviews for gear I'm thinking about buying so I didn't count them ;-) I'm really having to concentrate on it though - it's amazing how much of my life revolves around media of some kind! :-P

Day Three

Continuous improvement - fewer references in conversation and NO online videos! :-) I still have to work at the conversation part though.

Day Four

Continuing to improve! I'm now getting to the point where I don't have to concentrate as much and I can enjoy my less media-centric conversations and activities :-)

~Mac

RitzBurgers!

I was having leftovers today and I found a hamburger in the fridge. Unfortunately, there were no buns or even bread to put the burger on, and in my opinion, leftover burgers definitely require condiments even more than new burgers. I was debating what to do when my eye fell on the box of Ritz crackers sitting on the table. After some quick thinking, I came up with:

:DRUMROLL:

THE RITZBURGER!

I just tore up the burger into smaller pieces, put a pickle slice (or a dab of relish) and ketchup on the bottom Ritz, put dijon mustard on the top Ritz, and slapped them on either side of the burger piece. They turned out great! :-)

~Mac

Deadlines

Deadlines are part of life. We all face them at some point - in school, in work, in life in general. While they can be stressful, sometimes the pressure is good.

I have been studying for the Human Resources Management DSST recently, and it has been very slow going. I finally just scheduled the test for next week. Now that I have a deadline it is amazing how much more motivated I am to study! :-) That's one way deadlines can actually help us - we can channel the pressure they create to improve our performance. They also help us to prioritize and better schedule our time.

How do you deal with and use deadlines?

~Mac