Mountain Nomad Chronicles

Ten Tips to Keep Your PC Spyware Free

Spyware is the bane of many a PC user.  Here's some tips to keep your PC spyware free.

Link: Top 10 Spyware Tips [via ZDNet]

Remembering My Heritage

While my folks were here for the holidays, my father mentioned that one of my cousins had a blog.  I read it this morning and let's say I had a cathartic experience.  I'm not feeling very articulate at the moment so I'll just link to those entries and let you take what they offer. 

Link: Christmas concerts...
Link: Grandma's House
Link: Well, we did it

Goal-setting Tips - Tis the Season

I love the blog Lifehacker and all its progressive living links.  Here's one that I thought was timely for folks like me that "think" about goal setting at this time of year.  I really don't like the religious framing on this list of goal-setting tips, but I like the tips none the less.

Link: The Ten Commandments of Goal Setting [via Lifehacker]

Does anyone celebrate the 12 Days of Christmas?

Every year I find that Christmas Day is over too soon.  There's all this emotional, spiritual and financial build-up and then its over and you wake up on Boxing Day feeling like you been sat on by Santa.  This year I suggested to my family that next year we try a more Hanukkah-style holiday that is drawn out over a week or so.  Heck, one of the most beloved holiday tunes is the "12 Days of Christmas" - I don't know anyone that spreads Christmas over 12 days, but what a fantastic idea.  Spread the gifts, events, food, etc over a week or so.  This idea stewed as I watched my children tear through gifts like assembly line workers.  If the gifts were opened one a day for a period of time, then they may spend more time using and appreciating each one before moving on to the next one.   I'm campaigning for this change next year for sure.  BTW, thanks to the slow Canada Post system for delaying the collection of cards and gifts that arrived today, that's the spirit.

Fleeting Relationships

When I was a freshman in high school ,  I was trying to deal with the recent suicide of my father and went on a bus trip to visit some friends.  Along the way, I sat beside a woman with whom I began a conversation.  We engaged in small talk for some time until I blurted out, "My father just committed suicide."  The older woman is silent for a moment and replied, "My father committed suicide too." (parapharsing)

Was it coincidence, fate, or just part of the magic of life? I heard this personal account from a caller responding to a call-in radio show discussion of "fleeting relationships".   There were many accounts, maybe not a dramatic as the one I just related, but no less magical or human.  It reminded me how important and impactful relationships, even short ones or especially short ones, can be on our lives.   

Strange is our situation here on earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to divine a purpose. From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: that man is here for the sake of other men - above all for those upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness depends. - Albert Einstein

Link: Fleeting Relationships [via KUOW's The Conversation]

Winterized…by Tannis

Having lived on the west coast for the majority of my life where winter weather means ‘more rain’ and summer means ‘less rain than usual’, I haven’t had the benefit of 20 and 30 below or the danger of frostbite. But, now, thanks to my 5 year old daughter I can say that our family has been truly initiated into the true Canadian winter experience.

On the last day of school before the holidays, I bundled up my kids and sent them out the school door (I am the principal) for the short walk home while I sat down to try to sort through the mountain of paper work that sits on my desk. All of a sudden, my son came running through the door. I knew right away that something was up because he hadn’t paused to take off his snow covered boots and had tracked snow all the way down the hall. Then he announced, “Kaceja’s tongue is bleeding!”  Sure enough, I could faintly hear her high pitched screams through the double thick doors. I raced outside to find my daughter with her tongue outstretched, blood dripping into the sugar-white snow around her.

After some hugs and tongue dabbing I managed to get the story out of her (with a little help from my son). It seems she managed to get her tongue stuck to the metal bicycle rack outside the school. She then proceeded to rip her tongue off, leaving a small piece of her tongue behind. At first she assured me that it was “just an accident” and that she had been talking near the fence when all of a sudden her tongue strangely became attached to the fence. Now, I know that she can talk your ears off like no other, but even the most experienced tongue wagger would have trouble with that story. After a little more coaxing she managed to say that another boy had announced that he had stuck his tongue to a pole without incident so she thought she would try too – and she had seen it on TV -and it looked funny. So there you have it. My daughter has joined the ‘Stuck Tongue Wall of Fame’ like so many others before her. Winterized with style!

 

School Savings with Open Source

Imagine the savings in a school district by using Linux and open source software...one school district in Montana did...to the tune of $338, 667 over ten years.

Link: Schools Save with Open Source  [via SpiderTools]

Snoglobe B-Sides

This is a post from before my blog died and was reborn.  My friend Shelece is another "instinctive" one, she sent me this link.  She should become a professional cool hunter.  These artists use snoglobes as a medium and that seemed seasonal to me.  It's a bit morbid according to some emails I previously received..so beware.  I think it's brillant.

Link: Walter Martin & Paloma Munoz via PPOW Gallery

Cool Calendars for 2006

I don't know about you, but I don't have a calendar for next year.  Here's a collection of possibilities.  My favorite is Yoshitomo Nara 2006 Wall Calendar, I think I'll get it. 

Link: Twelve Calendar Gifts for a Happy New Year via The Morning News

Mp3 of "It's A Wonderful Life"

        A 1947 Lux Radio Broadcast of It's a Wonderful Life with original cast (Jimmy Stewart et. al). MP3 Link, hour-long, 10meg file.