First things first

It’s simple . . . and surprisingly difficult . . . all at the same time.

Being: Mindful.

Remembering: Mister Rogers. Seriously, he was a truly awesome individual—definitely on my list of fantasy dinner-party guests. Lots of interesting stories about him (and a link to a great article-length profile of him), such as this one:

Once while rushing to a New York meeting, there were no cabs available, so Rogers and one of his colleagues hopped on the subway. Esquire reported that the car was filled with people, and they assumed they wouldn’t be noticed. But when the crowd spotted Rogers, they all simultaneously burst into song, chanting “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood.” The result made Rogers smile wide.

Chuckling: Over another way to remember Mister Rogers.

Wondering: Just how evil the Girl Scouts really are.

Contemplating: The paradox of satisfaction, and how it may be harder to be satisfied in a world that is producing an increasing amount of “good stuff.” The forecast is for a world in which we have access to all information but services (Amazon, Google, whoever) provide recommendations for us. What do you think?

Also contemplating: The Filter Bubble, in which Eli Pariser notes that the world we see is increasingly (and alarmingly) shaped by filters (again, Amazon, Google, whoever) that determine what we see (or don’t) based on assumptions and predictions (in turn based on Internet habits) about us. Want to pop your bubble? Here’s how to start.

Sherman Alexie’s recent take on Facebook.

Related to one of my posts from earlier this month:

If you’ve been in the Internet within the past couple of years and you like cats, there’s a good chance you’ve already seen this. If not, well, then let me introduce you to the fabulous Maru:

This is a long-overdue public thank-you to my friend Beth. Last January, someone posted to our local knitting group e-mail list a link to Morehouse Farms hedgehog mittens kit. I replied that I loved them but wasn’t planning to spend money on yarn anytime soon. Beth knows that my family loves hedgehogs—especially Sylvia, who has been hedgehog-crazy since she discovered Mrs. Tiggy-winkle when she was two. So Beth did something very sneaky: she bought a kit for me and had it sent to my house.

I cast on right away and got to the thumb gusset of the first mitten before I got distracted by other projects. This pattern is fun to knit—albeit a bit slow going (knitting bobbles for the quills takes time!)—and I’m hoping to get a set of these done for myself by next fall . . . and maybe a pair for Sylvia, too!

Here’s what a hula hoop session looks like . . . from the hula hoop’s point of view.

[Via BoingBoing.]

When I was in college and grad school, I rode my bike all over campus. It was fairly easy to do so in those places: there were some bike lanes, there wasn’t a lot of car traffic on campus, and there wasn’t much anti-bicyclist sentiment.

When I lived in Eugene, Oregon, I rode my bike all over town. It was supremely easy to do there. Eugene is criss-crossed with bike lanes, which bicyclists, drivers, and pedestrians respect. Eugene is also home to the Center for Appropriate Transport, an awesome organization that promotes human-powered transportation. I bought my human-powered bicycle lights (which I love) there.

Since I moved to the bike-unfriendly Mid-Atlantic, I haven’t done much riding. I’ve enjoyed taking Sylvia to school via bike, but that ride doesn’t involve navigating any busy roads. The thought of riding on local highways without bike lanes and with drivers who are at best ignorant about bicycling and at worst hostile to it is one that fills me with dread.

When we were in the Netherlands in April, I saw people riding bikes all over the place. We borrowed bikes from relatives a few times and did some riding ourselves (with Sylvia riding like all Dutch passengers do: sitting on the luggage rack in back and holding on to the biker—and with no one wearing helmets). I loved it. Only the realization that I’d never be able to use them stopped me from buying some cool grocery-sized saddles bags for my bike. (I did, however, get a new bell for my bike. Sylvia got one for hers, too. She was very adamant that we get matching bells.)

Our Dutch relatives were surprised to learn how difficult safe bicycling can be in most U.S. cities. Perhaps I should send them this video. Then they’d understand.

Heh.