Vicki's Message to Her Grandkids

When writing for HealthCentral.com, Vicki wrote the following post as a letter to her grandchildren:

A Grandmother-With-MS’s Letter to her Grandchildren

“Treasure yourself,” was one message Vicki chose for our grandkids. To help them better understand, Vicki and I assembled a board on Pinterest with quotations supporting the idea of treasuring yourself.

“Treasure Yourself”

Vicki Bridges (Jan. 3, 1949 - Jan. 24, 2014) - RIP

A Favorite Saying by Lou Holtz

Mind Map for How to Take Effective Notes

Here is a mind map using XMind that gives instructions for taking notes - something good to know.

"Daily Motivation" is a feature in my sidebar on Garry's Blog. It has really good

Image by jesuscm via Flickr

sayings and this was the one for today:

Know what you want to do, hold the thought firmly, and do every day what should be done, and every sunset will see you that much nearer the goal.

Elbert Hubbard
(June 19, 1856 – May 7, 1915)
American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher.

Kids News

Kids News is a section on this blog in the sidebar to the right. It has regularly updated stuff for kids and things pertinent to parenting. Over 10 RSS feeds are reviewed to pick these best articles.

Spring is Here

I love the seasons, but I've become more aware since I hung the blue birdfeeder a couple of years ago. The pesky squirrel, the woodpecker, the doves, the rain - all, technically, data visualizations in a digital world telling a story.

Got a Question?

Here are four free Q&A sites:

Yahoo Answers
Largest Q&A site. Has point system and excellent features.

Live QnA
Microsoft's Q&A site.

Askville
Easy and friendly site. Uses a star rating system.

Answers.com
Has features for improving, discussing and watching specific questions

Others worth trying

Ask.com
Almost as large as Yahoo.Answers. Somewhat different from regular Q&A sites, but very powerful.

• AnswerBag
• Ask500People
• WikiAnswers
• Wondir
• Yedda

Disability from A to Z

Image via WikipediaBesides Vicki's blog, Down the MS Path, she is a regular poster on Disaboom.com. In one of her Disaboom posts, Vicki ran through the alphabet with words about disability but with a positive approach.

Read Disability from A to Z

I think we can all appreciate and understand better the strength obtained by maintaining a positive attitude.

How are you doing?

Image by amyliagrace via FlickrAre you taller than average? How's your weight compared to others your age?

Your Body Mass Index (BMI) will tell you if your weight is appropriate for your heigth.

Check your BMI at the BMI Counter, thanks to About.com on their Pediatrics page. It has a setting for Adults also.

Where kids get ideas for books to read for fun

Where do kids get ideas for books to read for fun?

Swivel has the answer in the form of a visualization. It shows that (1) mom does a great job and (2) grandparents can do more to further the cause of kids' bookreading.

Success and Discipline

Something in human nature causes us to start slacking off at our moment of greatest accomplishment. As you become successful, you will need a great deal of self-discipline not to lose your sense of balance, humility, and commitment.

Ross Perot (1930 - ), American businessman and philanthropist from Texas

technorati tags: ross perot, american, businessman, texas, grandkidsblog, grjenkin, success, discipline, kids

Your Identity is Showing

An IP (Internet Protocol) Address is a unique numerical address assigned to your computer and every other computer on the Internet. It's like your street address but for the World Wide Web.

You should know that your IP address is automatically shown to every website you visit, including this one. Even if you just view an image from a website, your IP is broadcast to that site. It shouldn't be a problem for you, but if it is, then you need inexpensive anonymous Internet browsing software.

Sign by Danasoft - Myspace Layouts and Signs

Tips For Life from the Dumb Little Man

A very valuable resource, the Dumb Little Man blog has a bagload of helpful hints for life.

Blog It, SuprGlue or RSS Feeds?

I'm testing this BLOG IT application on Facebook.

When I blog using BLOG IT, it automatically posts to six of my other blogs plus my Facebook minifeed and Twitter.

This is like a reversed SuprGlue, in which I post to any of six sites and they all show up on Garry's Blog via SuprGlue.

I think my RSS feeds might accomplish the same as either of the above, but I'm giving it a try.

technorati tags: blogit, suprglue, aggregate, rss, garrysblog, grjenkin, facebook

Typing is Important in This Computer Age

Speedtest on 10-fast-fingers.com is an online application that tests your typing speed. It uses the most-used english words so it's especially helpful (to english speakers). Take the Speedtest. As you can see, after a few tries I made it up to 60 wpm.

60 words

Music for Kids

The playlist, Baby Einstein - Playtime Music Box, by Greatest-Hits Albums is really cute.

Not just for babies, we hear the best of youngster's favorites.

Quintura for Kids

To the right are search results using a tag cloud by Quintura for Kids, an innovative search engine.

Rather than entering a number of search terms, Quintura uses a tag cloud to help you refine your search with related terms.

This is a test. I developed the search string being used. Sometimes I get great results, sometimes it's confusing. Let me hear what you think.

10 Ways to Control Your Cravings

Good News!

It’s not that hard to break a craving – 10 Ways makes it a piece of cake.

10 Ways to Control Your Cravings gives you tricks-of-the-trade by the experts, thanks to Paula Dranov's article in Readers Digest.

Rules of Life for Kids and Everyone

Using Yahoo Answers, I asked for a good Rule of Life, but maybe something different than the Golden Rule (Treat others as you want to be treated). I received many good ideas, and you can see my Question and Answers here.

A few of the best Rules of Life I collected -

• Respect yourself and others
• Don't lie, steal or cheat
• Don’t believe all you hear, don't spend all you have, don't sleep all you want
• Learn to say no to yourself
• Learn a deep breathing exercise
  
• Think of things you’re grateful for
• You're only as good as your word
• Winners never quit and quitters never win
  

On behalf of my grandkids, thanks to Yahoo Answers for contributing some important lessons of life.

What do you want to be? Top Jobs and Salaries

Hey, Kids. Do you know what career you want?

Here's a chart showing what different jobs paid in 2005. Click to Interact below.



And...to help plan your future, do a little research on the Bureau of Labor Statistics Web Site for Kids.

Instant Learning for Kids

These two posts give us Roice Krueger's 5 easy-to-learn steps to instant learning.

Instant Learning of Conceptual Knowledge - Steps 1 and 2
Instant Learning of Conceptual Knowledge - Steps 3 to 5

This article is very valuable. I wish I had known this in my youth.

Another Comic Generator

Breaking Grampa's Rules

Better yet, get funny by clicking on the image and trying out your own comic with Custom Sign Generator as well as many other amazing Image Generators.

Important Birthday Reminders

Best Parenting Blogs by Two Voting Systems

Best of Blogs

2006

• Winner: I Think This World is Perfect
• 1st Runner-up: Motherhood is Not For Wimps
• 2nd Runner-up: Mental Tesserae

Bloggers Choice Awards

2007

• 1st: Karencheng
• 2nd: Joeprah
• 3rd: Popular Baby Products
• 4th: Slouching Mom

What Do Kids See?

Vicki has a new blog called Vicki's MS Path. It concerns health and healthcare matters and especially multiple sclerosis and disabilities.

A recent post by Vicki called What Do Kids See? is about kids' reactions to those with disabilities.

The blog is accessed through Disaboom.com's, a healthcare and disability web site.

technorati tags: vickismspath, vicki, grjenkin, garrysblog, disaboom, health, healthcare, disabilities, multiplesclerosis, ms

Exploring Career Information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

For kids to plan their future, they should do a little research on the Bureau of Labor Statistics web site for kids.

Thinking about being a teacher? Check out the BLS's Back to School page.

technorati tags: labor, bls, kids, employment, occupation, garrysblog, grandkidsblog

A Favorite Quotation - Self-respect and Discipline

Self-respect is the root of discipline; the sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself.

Abraham J. Hesche

A Favorite Quotation - Science and Learning

The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not "Eureka!" but "That's funny..."

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992)

technorati tags: quote, quotation, saying, learning, science, asimove, garrysgrandkids

Age Accomplished Generator For Motivation

GenFun's Age Accomplished Generator is like an automated motivator.

Just type any age and see what others have accomplished at the same age. You can send in your own personal accomplishments also.

It's amazing what we can do despite our age or disability or situation. Examples...

• At age 11, Pilot Victoria Van Meter became the youngest girl ever to fly across the United States.
• Kathe Smith of south Georgia is raising her two-year-old grandson, taking care of house, yard, swimming pool, five dogs and three cats, walking two miles a day pushing said grandson in a stroller, and doing yoga with cats and grandson crawling all over her, despite having nerve damage on the left side of her body and being 'disabled' for twelve years.
• Three-time Olympic gold medal-winning runner Wilma Rudolph was unable to walk until she was eight.
  

Thanks to GenFun for such a helpful tool.

technorati tags: grjenkin, grandkidsblog, generator, age, accomplishments, grandkids

Internet Search Tools

The following four search engines are useful additions for anyone searching on the Internet.

Ujiko
Determine and save your personal preferences with Ujiko for intelligent searches. Helps to develop effective key words.

Kartoo
Mind mapped search engine including a 3rd dimension for relationships.

Quintura
A mind mapped search engine. Similar to Kartoo but different also. Like Ujiko, Quintura helps to develop effective key words.

TouchGraph
Search Google using this unique mind map search engine

technorati tags: garrysblog, grandkidsblog, ujiko, kartoo, quintura, toughgraph, searchengine, search, visual, visualization, mindmap