writing alone, writing with others

it seems that some people write well on their own and others feel as if things work better when they write with collaborators.  i’ve always felt that my writing style was clear enough to work on my own.  the topics i choose to write about are narrowly focused, so it’s not as if there’s a lot of room to write in a tangent or get out of hand.  but then recently i’ve been working on a big chapter for a handbook that after a while just seemed unwieldy.  that is, until i asked a colleague to read it and respond.

she gave such fabulous responses that i made the changes she suggested and then asked another colleague to read it and suggest changes.  that worked out beautifully too, and i ended up with a chapter that was really my own, but with tweaks and improvements that made it so much clearer and better organized.  i’ve learned a great lesson with this process.  when i think about my next article i’m going to include others earlier on in the process, just to see how things go!

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banana peel, laying in wait

banana peel i’ve seen the cartoons of people slipping on banana peels left on the sidewalk, but i don’t think i’ve ever seen an actual banana peel on a sidewalk in real life before. either someone carelessly discarded his trash or he is hoping to get some laughs as an innocent walker goes by…

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sandwich packets

we recently visited with my dad, and noticed that after breakfast one day he took some ziploc bags out of the freezer and put them into the fridge to thaw. one of the bags contained 4 slices of bread, the others had an amount of deli meat and cheese appropriate for one sandwich each.  he said he got tired of throwing out unused portions of sandwich fixins and so started putting the ingredients into ziploc bags and freezing them.  then later, on the day he’ll be eating a sandwich for lunch, he takes what he needs out of the freezer and puts it into the fridge to thaw.  by lunch things have thawed well enough, and then he zaps the bread in the microwave for a fresh-bread experience.  what a cool idea!  no wasted bread, no lingering piece of ham or cheese in the fridge.

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Monkey day, Dec. 14


Monkey Day

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a gift idea for monkey enthusiasts in your life

Monkeyphonecall.com

* p.s. yes, i would be a willing (and eager!) recipient of a monkey phone call, if you’re wondering what to get for me this holiday season

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my organization fault

i hang the shirts in my closet in rainbow color. well, actually i hang all the white ones on the far left, then go with the reds through the purples, and then close with grays and black shirts on the right. i do the same with my sock drawer. my feeling is if there’s something to organize and make neat, i should organize it and make it neat. and yet, for some inexplicable reason i cannot put a music cd back into the case it came in. i’ll even put two in one case. this makes for road trip music surprises: i pack a cd box full of music i think i might like on a road trip but when i open the cd case i see that instead of u2 i have tom waits. this doesn’t bother me. it makes dave crazy. tee hee.

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