Some Days You Sweat It.

I don't usually use this space to write personal missives.  I'm on Facebook for that.

But this past week was consumed with buying a car.  In 115 degree heat. 

I don't advise this. Especially if you are OCD.

After consulting friends and doing all the Internet research, I drove seven SUVs. I paid attention to TV ads.  I scoured parking lots for like vehicles. I weighed options, I crunched numbers.

Finally, I made a decision and began negotiating.

I wish I could say I enjoyed the experience, but honestly, I found it mostly tedious, often aggravating and once, infuriating.

Now that the process is in the rearview mirror, so to speak, I am taking my new Forester to The Grand Canyon.

I think the heat and the frustration will fade when Arizona's beauty unfolds in my windshield.

And all the sweat will have been worth it.

   

Are You Real?

Authenticity is an experience:  http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/joseph_pine_on_what_consumers_want.html 

Buy This Magazine.

Found this brillantly written quarterly from the editors of The Economist last month in the Frankfurt airport ...still reading it.

http://moreintelligentlife.com/

Four Words to Kick-Start Your Week.

Riposte
Snarl
Preen
Muster

Details are in the Dump Truck.

Economic, but colorful.

In the August issue of Men's Journal, Josh Eels delivers a spot-on physical description of musician Jamey Johnson:

"Johnson is the antithesis of a polished pop star.  He has a body like a dump truck and the facial hair of a Himalayan yak." 

Tell me you can't picture that. 

http://www.zinio.com/article/article.jsp?popularityExcerptId=791000

Get Your Mind Dirty.

Ever heard of childhood nature-deficit disorder?

Neither had I until I read Richard Louv's article in the May issue of Outside magazine.

Seems the more high-tech our lives become, the more nature we need.  Research shows that nature restores concentration, allows for clearer thought and boosts creativity. 

But as adults, too  many of us are separated from nature.

I believe this.

Having just moved from Atlanta to Arizona, I understand the restorative power of nature. 

On a daily basis, I am more connected to the physicality of place.  I admire rugged mountains while sipping tea on the patio, breathe in earth before a sand storm, celebrate a stray javelina or lizard.  I am riding my bike again.


http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/media/books/Get-Your-Mind-Dirty.html