Lynda Sez

The irrepressible Hazel. Long may she reign. and skate. and boogie.

Our news is so full of the US inauguration festivities, bearing no small resemblance to a coronation, it would be easy to be cynical and disparaging. But I feel hopeful and uplifted. It made me think about all the Americans I know personally, and feel excited and optimistic for their lives and their [...]

This year’s theme will be Less and More, summarized as follows:

Dance more.
Write more.
Let go of more.
Regret less.
Risk more.
Eat less.
Sleep more.
Get outside more.
Procrastinate less.
Celebrate more.

The Mores win.

I finished enough of my office redecorating to hang a few pictures, including one by an acquaintance of mine from an editing job a few years ago. Hanging her lovely watercolour made me wonder what she was up to and, as she has a name that is a little out of the ordinary, I looked [...]

One of the blogs I follow offers this selection of videos as the most inspiring on YouTube. Note that the first features Randy Pausch, who died recently. I dare you to watch them all without getting out your hankie.

This TED Talk was a nice treat to bring my brain back to life after a demanding week-long session of teaching information architects in Saint John. And it takes less than five minutes to enjoy!

I’ve been meaning to make time (good grief, it only takes 20 minutes!) for this TED talk for a while, and finally did it today. This is Jill Bolte Taylor, a neuroanatomist who powerfully describes her experience and her discoveries from her own stroke.

The TED conferences are wildly expensive and not open to everybody, but their makers are generous about sharing presentations, as I’ve written about before. While I wait for the latest to be posted, I’ve been reading Mark Frauenfelder blogging from the conference last week. Here’s my favourite: training crows.

Let’s start the year off right, with inspiration from one of my favourite sources, TED Talks. The 2007 conference included this presentation by Chilean novelist Isabel Allende. Sitting alone in my office, I found myself clapping with the rest of the TED audience.
Resolutions? Well, of course, but I won’t tell you all of them. This [...]

It should be easy to keep focus on work when I’m here in Toronto, away from distractions of dogs, garden, and the nearly finished kitchen, but it’s not. I’m still a procrastinator at heart and it is undeniably a Friday afternoon before a long summer weekend. Here’s a thoroughly worthwhile diversion for the rest of [...]