Get A Grip

So frustrating - I can grip a bar for chin-ups, or grip the handlebars of my bike for a wild and wooly rock strewn downhill with no problem (most of the time), but opening a jar of pickles or the cap on a new tube of mascara is next to impossible. . . The below strap wrench is a lifesaver for opening everything from the largest jar to the tiniest screw-on cap.   If you have arthritis in your hands (or even if you don't), you want one of these!

Get Your Google-Fu On

I've got several posts in draft, but until those are finished. . .

 

This week, a not uncommon scenario played out at work; one of the other programmers I work with was tasked with a request from our boss.  This task was something they had never done before, so the first thing they did was email myself and the other programmer in our group to find out if we already had a program they could use to do this. . . As it turns out, no, neither of us already had a program written to perform this task, and in fact neither of us had any experience with how to do it at all - BUT, when I ran a simple google search, pages of code snippets and support documents detailing how to code for this type of data appeared on my screen.  And it was really pretty simple; just a few lines of code and, bob's your uncle, all done.  Hmmm. 

 

This event got me thinking about the difference between being handed an answer and learning to find information on your own.  I learned to code in an environment where there was no one to give me code they had already written, or even anyone to tell where to find the information on how to begin - I spent a lot of time on the net searching and a lot of time writing and rewriting code until it worked.  JUST AS I DID, AND STILL DO with food, exercise, and their relationship with my autoimmune disease.  In my work life, this means that if I'm given a project that involves unfamiliar territory, and there is no one available to guide me, I'm not lost - I know where to go to find the lay of the land, and I know with a little work, I can build my own map.  In my search for better health, I can do the same.

 

Paleo has really exploded in the past several years - there is a LOT of information available; everything from MD's (here and here), to researchers (here and here), to fitness coaches (here and here and here (had to throw the last one in special for the ladies!)),  to former researchers turned fitness coaches (here) and many, many plain jane/joe bloggers (here, heh); they're all talking about using paleo concepts as a foundation for better health.

 

So get your google-fu on!  Learn to use and evaluate all the information available at your fingertips and take responsibility for finding answers that work for YOU, and then you'll never find yourself dependent on others finding the answers FOR you! 

 

Got the camera out a couple weekends ago to capture all the gorgeous fall color. . .

 

Loved the look of the leaves in the creek. 

 

What IS that?

Two shots of 'Put the camera down and hurry up already!'

 Parting shots.