Hey Siri Comma, I have a problem Period.

by Lil Sister on Wednesday, April 20, 2016

PunctuationNope, I’m not talking about the kind of period that plagues women throughout what could arguably be called their best years. Although those are indeed sometimes a problem. No, I’m talking about the kind of period that should come silently at the end of a sentence.

The problem didn’t start when I began using Siri to get my iPhone to talk to me or do things for me. Nor did it start when I went a step further and began using the little microphone icon on my iPhone’s keyboard. I may not be the slowest smartphone typist, but I’m certainly not the fastest and I love being able to create a text message, an email, or a note quickly using the speech-to-text feature that is enabled when I tap that little icon.

It took me a little while to get used to verbalizing my punctuation, which is required in order to avoid very long run-on sentences, but now it’s like second-nature. THAT is where the problem began. You see on a couple of occasions lately, I’ve caught myself leaving VOICEmail messages complete with commas, periods, and even exclamation points… fully verbalized EXCLAMATION POINT!

So far, it’s only happened on calls to people who know me well enough to just laugh or roll their eyes Period. But what happens when I start verbalizing my punctuation at a cocktail party or during a meeting Question Mark? And what if someone in the meeting happens to be named Mark Question Mark? How will this end Question Mark? If no one can help me, not even Mark Comma, I may be forced to stop using that little microphone icon Period.

 

Vision Board Revisited

by Lee Brennan on Sunday, January 12, 2014

Let's Go 2014!Goals are hard for me to set. There are too many things I want to accomplish. I fear failure, I fear success. They are hard to define. I don’t know what I want. My list of excuses is endless. Periodically over my life I have managed to put pen to paper with a list of goals. Then I get busy and forget about it. Years go by and when I finally get around to pruning the self help book basket the lists are rediscovered. And to my joy and amazement, most of the goals have been achieved. The subconscious is a powerful thing!

Last year I did a post about my Vision Board. I made a private board on Pinterest to collect pictures of my goals and aspirations for the year. I then printed all the tiny photos, cut them out and pasted them to a vision board. It was one of those projects that was gorgeous in my imagination, but the finished product? Not so pretty. I tucked it in my to do folder and periodically when going through the folder would take a look and think that some day I would make it better.

After a while, I noticed something. Almost everything on the board had happened or was happening. Some of the goals evolved, some took a new direction, but in general, the vast majority were accomplished! Without any conscious planning on my part!

So instead of New Year’s Resolutions, I have decided to give the Vision Board another try for 2014. I used the little pictures again.  Its prettier than 2013, but still has a ways to go. I sprinkled in inspirational quotes, maybe too many, as it is a bit cluttered. Or maybe the space I alloted is too small. I put my pictures on an chalkboard wall cling with the intention of using colored chalk to separate areas of my life and make the actual goals more noticeable, but so far the chalk part is still just an intention. Which per my board is nothing without action!

Nonetheless, here it is in all its imperfection.

How do you set your course for the New Year? I’d love to hear.

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Meditation by Buddy

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