This is an amazing story about a 9 year old who built an arcade out of cardboard boxes. Watch the video and see what happens to this young entrepreneur.

 This  is one of my favorite photos from the Hoodie Up  Days of support for Trayvon Martin.

It’s been a long day.  I’ve been productive and the goals that I set have been met.  It’s time to relax for a moment, sip on a fresh cup of Maxwell House and clear my head from the previous set of tasks.

Lightweight frustration tried to settle on my thoughts as I spent time uploading my resume and filled out applications.  I had to walk away from my laptop and just spend a few moment in prayer and meditation.  I’m out here now on the move and there is no allowances being made for stopping.  This is a keep it moving enterprise!

I have been working with  a timed system of production known as 60/60/30.  It is just my second day with the system and I got off track in my first sixty minutes of work.  The basic gist of 60/60/30 is to concentrate on one task for 50 minutes, take a ten minute break and then return and continue working for another 50 minutes and then it’s time for a 30 minute break.  I ended up working two hours straight through because the task required that I stick with it.  But I want to be able to divide my day up into components and accomplish a set of goals.  Working through two straight hours accomplished the task but I was a bit tweaky when it was completed.

I’m not trying to create balance with this method.  I am trying to become more efficient with my usage of time during the day.  When you are at home it is easy to let things float for periods of time or become distracted with some other task.  I have started going old school by writing up a list of things that I want to accomplish.  The list has no more than five items on it because job searching consumes up a major portion of the first few hours of the day.

I have a set number of applications that I am trying to complete and moving on.  I have not hit the mark yet but there has been an increase in my efforts.  I am hoping that by next week my stride will move me to reach that goal daily.

My desire is to keep things moving in a positive and productive manner.  I hope that as things move along the changes that I am moving through will develop a more natural feel.  I am trying to incorporate a different set of personal and professional practices that I feel will enhance my attitude and productivity.

I also find that good music helps to keep the atmosphere clear and breezy.  One of my current favorite songs is “Radio Song” by Esperanza Spalding.  I love her lyrical voice and the jazz riffs in the piece are really nice!

Well it’s time for me to get back on the grind.

The fall months of 2011 were the early stages of my change of career inklings.  I had been feeling the twinges of this need long before the whole syndrome just flashed through my sense of myself.

I was dismissed from a teaching position and I honestly felt relieved that my time out from that particular agency would be permanent. I felt that my mental poundage had been reduced by an undetermined amount of metric tons.

But I had not actually felt the full brunt of not wanting to return to a classroom until almost the end of December of 2011.  I would get up every morning and start a job search that would only result in leaving me feeling flushed with total frustration.  There were teaching positions available and I certainly have the qualifications to be considered a viable candidate for an employer.  But the reality of my attitude said very loud and clearly, “I don’t want to”.

At first I attributed my mental pout to feeling uncertain about how my dismissal would look to a potential employer.  I mean it is never a compliment when someone requests that you do not return to a job that they felt you were qualified to perform at the time of the final interview.

I found myself picking apart every posted ad for a teacher.  The site was too far away for a comfortable daily commute.  The hours were not comparable to my desired employment frame.  The annual salary was not sufficient enough to support me.  I didn’t want to go into a corporate setting.  There were no non-profit openings.  The list of blocks was long and hindering enough that I ended up spending the entire winter season at home.

Every time I would click off of a job search site my inner voice would state very calmly, “You need to change careers”.  I heard that statement but I opted to ignore it because of my self-factors which indicated to me that staying the course made far more sense than making a sudden U-Turn.

At 2:00 a.m. ET on August 25, the moon will be at apogee, the farthest it will get from Earth as the natural satellite travels in its egg-shaped orbit around our planet. At its closest, the moon is said to be at perigee.

Perigee and apogee each happen about once a month. But the moon wobbles as it orbits, which means its exact distance at those events varies over the year. The moon’s phase can also be different during each apogee and perigee.

The moon officially turns full at 1:05 p.m. ET today. The August full moon is sometimes called the sturgeon moon or the green corn moon, according to Native American tradition. (source)

So, the full moon is not full-at least not until later on tonight.  Who knew?  It has looked full to me since yesterday evening.  Not that it honestly matters.  I have viewed the full moon as an indication that a cycle of life has been completed. A practice that I can trace to the ways of my maternal grandmother.

One of my favorite moon sightings actually involves the crescent moon.  We were riding home one evening from dropping a friend off after choir rehearsal.  It was usually quiet that evening.  I happen to look up in the sky and what I saw took my breath away.  The moon was in a crescent shape.  At the bottom tip there was a thin straight line of  light. On the end of that thin line was Venus.  Hanging like it was a rare ruby.  We pulled over to the side of highway and got out to take a look.  It was spectacular!  There is a scientific term for this event. I am just too lazy to look it up tonight. 

That imagery is still crystal clear within my memories.  I have a newspaper clipping that someone sent to me with the picture of this particular moon.  We weren’t the only people who stopped to take a good look at the heavens that night.  I have not seen anything like it since then.  Perhaps I will have the opportunity during my lifetime to see it happen again.  

I have begun a new job.  I am pleased with the employer that selected me.  I am looking forward to having a good school year.  After spending months searching and working myself out of mourning over my dad, it feels good to be headed back into the workforce.

I am going to have to work on getting to bed at a decent hour. Fortunately my commute to work is short.  I can walk to my site in about a half an hour.  Actually I could be there sooner.  But when I walk to walk I’m not rushing to get there. I like to stroll in and get my head trip ready for the day.  I am going to have to be up by 6:30 to be out on time. I have allowed myself to be the true nocturnal individual that I am.  Which is not a bad thing when I can sleep in.  I am working on adjusting my go to bed time.  I figure that by the end of September I will be in bed by midnight.  Maybe.

I always have difficulties going to sleep during the nights of the full moon. I am about to go soak in the tub and wind myself down some more.  I plan to listen to an audio disk while I soak.  That always helps me to wind down.  I’m looking forward to pleasant dreams.