• Target Settles Accessibility Lawsuit for $6 Million, by SitePoint
• Need to declutter your life? Reboot Your Workflow This Fall with tips from lifehacker.

Some links to add to your bookmarks:

• soundunwound, from the great people who brought us imdb, it’s the ultimate online database for music knowledge

Looks like Amazon has taken their wish list a step further and enabled the ability to add non-Amazon items. Smart. This makes their universal wish list the one place you can add every little thing your heart (or head) desires, making it more likely you’ll use it.

I do have an Amazon Wish List, but haven’t actively used it. This may entice me to give it a stronger presence in my little tech-lusting life. (Found via LifeClever.)

Links to help you network and find a job

• LifeHacker gives you “Rebuild Your Resume with Five Simple Fixes“
• Tips on improving your LinkedIn profile from Guy Kawasaki’s “LinkedIn Profile Extreme Makeover“
• I’m on LinkedIn Now What, a great blog
• The blog entry “LinkedIn Recommendation Examples” from the online business networking blog
• The blog entry “Better Boilerplates” from Linked Intelligence
• Guy Kawasaki’s blog entry “Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn“
• The Virtual Handshake blog
• “Getting Started Building Your LinkedIn Network” — a primer of LinkedIn Tips
• The blog entry “Top Ten LinkedIn Dos and Don’ts” at Linked Intelligence

Financial advice

• The ABC13.com consumer blog has some info on what you need to know when dealing with Old Debt.
• LifeHacker spotlights the Farhat family, who saved 24% when they cut up their credit cards. How? It induced less spending.

I lost a lot of weight. And I did it while continuing to eat out, without starving myself, and with very few slips.

I’ve stopped losing weight. I’m still overweight.

I know what the problem is. I’ve gotten relaxed, and I’ve stopped watching what I eat. I’m doing silly things like eating poppyseed dressing on my salad at home (200 calories per spoon, versus 35 for the light italian I normally use), drinking diet coke (with all that sodium), having cream with my four cups of tea a day, and cutting back on my water.

Calories add up. 150 here, 50 there, and before you know it, you’re gaining a pound a week.

My big fear is that I’ll let myself slide back into the size I used to be. I stopped losing weight about five months ago and have not gained it back. But it’s time to get back on track.

Every calorie counts. And this week I’m trying to get back into my good habits. That means reading labels, watching my sugar (fruit), and eliminating indulgences.

Wish me luck.

IF YOU GET UNWANTED TEXT ADS ON YOUR CELL PHONE TEXT THE WORD STOP TO THE NUMBER AND IT SHOULD END. IF THAT DOES NOT WORK, CALL YOUR WIRELESS PROVIDER AND ASK THEM TO STOP THIRD PARTY TEXTING ON YOUR DEVICE. IF THAT DOES NOT WORK CONTACT THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION.

http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/canspam.html

THIS LINK WILL HELP YOU FILE A COMPLAINT AND GET THE MESSAGES OFF YOUR MOBILE DEVICE.

I’d be interested in that answer as well. I don’t have a family business, but cannot imagine working with my siblings.

And an era ends…

Starbucks is running a sale, sort of
The Houston Chronicle reports that Starbucks will begin to offer customers a $2 iced coffee drink after 2 p.m., if they show their receipt from the cup of coffee that morning. They call is a response to consumers’ requests, I call it a sale to get customers back in in the afternoon.

No money? Visit your library!
It seems that I’ve seen a rush of stories about how great the library is, especially is you’re strapped for cash. The Houston Chronicle joins the ranks of library fans with a story from the Newhouse News Service which, basically, discusses libraries’ importance all the time, and especially when economic times are hard.

Old office buildings are going green
The bizjournal’s green channel reports that San Francisco is seeing a trend where old buildings are being brought up to LEED standards for “existing building.” This is a step to make the older buildings more competitive with new, sustainable buildings.

Gates to fund new “green” campus
Again, from the bizjournal’s green channel, a story about the Gates Foundation creating a new green campus for themselves. The 900,00 square foot project is expected to cost $500 million, be built to LEEDs gold standards and will be one of “the largest energy-efficient office complexes in the state of Washington.” Very cool.

In case you need some help finding great local blueberries, the Houstonist blog just posted a very complete listing of all the farmers markets in Houston. I’ve been to a few, but this gives me many more options. Since I started eating better, I’m always looking for good sources of fresh fruits and vegetables.

On a personal note, I think I need to sign up for Lifelock to do something to safeguard against identity theft. I’ve had some stuff happen lately that’s made me wary. A friend recommended it as something that’s worked well for her. Just something on my TO DO list.

Simply bring in your expired, unbroken CFL bulbs, and give them to the store associate behind the returns desk. The bulbs will be handled by an environmental management company that will coordinate CFL packaging, transportation and recycling to maximize safety and ensure environmental compliance.

• Set a budget.
• Grab a guidebook.
• Book a tour.
• Be adventurous.
• Chat it up. Talk with the actual tourists.
• Be unreachable.
• Swap houses.
• Think outside the box.

Cool clothes for big kids
BusinessWeek has an interesting article about retailers filling the need for plus-sized children’s clothes. I hadn’t considered the fact that the national trend for bigger kids would produce a related need in clothing. Nice to see that this is finally getting addressed, although slowly.

An MBA or an MFA, or whatever
In a very timely post (as I continue to wrestle with the idea of going to get my Master’s Degree) Penelope Trunk, Brazen Careerist, gives us Seven reasons why graduate school is outdated:

1. Graduate school is an extreme investment for a fluid workplace.
2. Graduate school is no longer a ticket to play.
3. Graduate school requires you to know what will make you happy before you try it.
4. Graduate degrees shut doors rather than open them.
5. If you don’t actually use your graduate degree, you look unemployable.
6. Graduate school is an extension of childhood.
7. Early adult life is best if you are lost.

Footnotes:
1 = Story found on the Houston Chronicle. Article may expire in a few weeks.

1. Make your home energy efficient.
2. Don’t buy gasoline with a debit card.
3. Don’t carry balances on gasoline credit cards.
4. Plan daily commuting.
5. Bring your personal life back in-house.
6. Step away from the cutting edge.

Unfortunately, it’s a luxury in the truest sense — something that’s often out of reach. Unattainable. And I do miss it.

Today I slept in until nearly noon.

And, since I am an adult who spends her time productively, I feel guilty. I should have done morning pages, gone through my email, or written a blog post. Instead I slept in.

{{sigh}}

Perhaps the days of sleeping in are behind me. Isn’t that a depressing thought?

Gonna stop typing, once of my friends is here.

********

It was a great day. Breakfast with friends from work. The Dragon Boat Races with friends from work and other friends. Lots of Vitamin D, a mellow mood, a nice breezy sunny day.

After the races we went to the Farmer’s Market in the Heights. It was this cure market with about 10 stalls that had a nice variety of foods and wares. Veggies, grass-fed beef, Indian sauces, and local honey were just a few things on sale. Very cute, but very limited.

I think that I need to try one of the bigger markets next. Or maybe I’ll try the one at Discovery Green. One of the commercials I saw for the new park had a farmer’s market listed as one of the activities they offer. It would be a good excuse to go to the park.

Anyway, had lunch with Mom, little sister and the kiddo. Had a leisurely day after that.

All in all, a very good day.

I don’t want to know.

I haven’t reached my financial goals, I know without even looking. I haven’t achieved my weight loss goals, I know without even looking. I haven’t reached my professional goals, I just know. I don’t need to see it on a sheet of paper to know that.

I worked really hard to make sure that the goals I set this year were realistic. And I’m still falling short.

What’s my problem? If I had a therapist, this is the part where I’d moan about my counter-productive attitudes, my self-destructive tendencies.

The good thing is that these tendencies never make it into my workplace. No matter how much my personal time is wrecked by my personal foibles, they don’t seep into my job. I get my work done, and done well, regardless of what I have to suffer through to make it happen.

A friend of mine convinced me to start the program through “An Artist’s Way at Work.” I’m finding that the daily pages are getting my creative juices flowing. The words that were stuck in my brain, in my throat, are getting out in the pages of my journal, and now in here.

Unfortunately, I’m being slow in actually posting the words, but I am writing them.

Just losing the weight I have lost required tremendous willpower, especially as the people around me were ever-so-subtly attempting to sabotage my commitment. I don’t know if they were aware that that’s what they were doing, but it is. And I survived it.

Thankfully, the sabotage attempts from family have stopped. They seem to understand that I am fully committed to seeing this through.

Diet be damned, at least for today.

This is my first diet cola in more than six months. It will be my first real bacon cheeseburger in just as long.

I won’t bother weighing myself tomorrow. I haven’t weighed myself in more than a week.

I know that I would lose more weight if I were faithful to the diet. The problem is that that’s not fun. My way, I deviate every once in a while and still lose a pound every week or so. As a plus, I’m not so bored with the diet that I quit altogether.

Today is stress-induced. I know that I haven’t been following my diet lately because of stress. My react badly to emotional factors. And there have been a lot of emotional factors lately.

I wish I were one of those people who get stronger with challenges. I always rise to the challenge, always meet my goal, always do the thing that needs to get done — but I sacrifice my personal well-being in the process. I over-eat, sleep less, keep weird hours, and start forgetting things like daily pages and meditation and yoga, and it all goes to hell in a hand basket.

Is work worth that?
What’s my choice?

I’m sitting in an empty restaurant, having “lunch” at 3 PM. I forgot to pack any snacks, protein bars or anything to tide me over. I haven’t been drinking my water, have had too much caffeine and am too stressed. Surely not conducive to a good emotional being.

Did I mention that my back hurts? Yes, one more thing to add to the list.

My friend says “find your bliss.” I’d love to follow that advice, but I don’t know what my bliss is.

Gonna stop typing now, gotta finish my lunch and go back to the office.

Got a text message alert from my bank that an account has insufficient funds. Insufficient funds? Not possible.

I logged into my account and checked against my spending list (that I keep on my PDA). It didn’t add up. Until I realized that I had logged an expense under the wrong account.

Very odd. I don’t do things like that. Is it a sign of other things?

1. How to control impulse spending.
2. You gotta stay active.
3. How to plan finances.
4. Junk food will come back to bite you in the butt.
5. Smoking is just dumb.
6. Fund your retirement, son. And don’t withdraw it.
7. All the stuff you’re doing that seems hard — it will be of use.
8. Don’t buy that used van without checking it out closely.
9. That guy you’re going to sell your car to? On a gentleman’s agreement? He’s not gonna pay you.
10. Make time to pursue your passion, no matter how busy you are.
11. All that stuff that’s stressing you out — it won’t matter in 5 years, let alone 15.
12.  The people you make friends with are so much more important than your job or the things you buy.
13. All that time you spend watching TV is a huge, huge waste of time.
14. Your kids are going to grow up way faster than you think. Don’t waste a minute.
15. Forget the drama. Focus on being happy.
16. Pay more attention to blogs when you first hear about them. They’re more than just journals.
17. Speaking of which, keep a journal. Seriously. Your memory is extremely faulty.
18. Tequila is seriously evil.
19. Yes, you can do a marathon. Don’t put this goal off — it’s extremely rewarding.
20. All these mistakes you’re going to make, despite this advice? They’re worth it.

More than 230,000 people cast ballots in Harris County during the last
11 days, capping an “unprecedented” early voting period for the
Republican and Democratic primaries.

[snip]

I’m hopeful that the turnout for the primaries is an indicator to the turnouts we can expect in the next few elections. Let’s hope that the national energy continues.

Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks.

1. Keep your skills up-to-date.
2. Take initiative.
3. Show only your good character traits (reliable, honest).
4. Make yourself visible to those above you in the corporate pecking order.
5. Find out what it takes to get ahead. Notice what others who are successful are doing.