kinkish's blog

Tweets from Mars! Yes, there are Tweets/Twitter updates of the Mars Phoenix Lander via NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. If you want to follow their tweets (140-character updates), go to http://twitter.com/MarsPhoenix. I love how the profile says:
* Name: MarsPhoenix

* Location: Mars, Solar System

* Bio: I dig Mars!

Love it!

Hey, do you Tweet?

Here's a Directory of BC Farmer's Markets. If you're in the area, Granville Island has theirs on Thursdays.

A few minutes before I took this photo, a swarm of naked cyclists leisurely biked around Granville Island, to the shock of everyone.

The last one in the swarm of too much skin, was an old, old man.

Oh dear Vancouver. Haha.

But what can I say, you're #4 in the list of The 2008 World's Best Places to  Live.

FYI: FDA clears Florida and California tomatoes

Studies show that people who sleep between 6.5 hours and 7.5 hours a night, as they report, live the longest. And people who sleep 8 hours or more, or less than 6.5 hours, they don't live quite as long. There is just as much risk associated with sleeping too long as with sleeping too short. The big surprise is that long sleep seems to start at 8 hours. Sleeping 8.5 hours might really be a little worse than sleeping five.

[...] Oddly enough, a lot of the problem [of insomnia] is lying in bed awake worrying about it. There have been many controlled studies in the United States, Great Britain and other parts of Europe that show that an insomnia treatment that involves getting out of bed when you're not sleepy, and restricting your time in bed, actually helps people to sleep more. They get over their fear of the bed. They get over the worry, and they become confident that when they go to bed they will sleep. So spending less time in bed actually makes sleep better. It is in fact a more powerful and effective long-term treatment for insomnia than sleeping pills.

I sleep about 6 to 7 hours during the night and that is my optimal sleep time without me feeling sick to my stomach about the lack of sleep, and without sleeping too much that I can't function during the day. My sleep mantra is: Sleep if sleep calls you. I usually have books and magazines to read by the bed and I read a little before hitting the sack. Almost always I sleep like a babe until I wake up a minute or seconds ahead of my alarm.

What about you? How many hours do you sleep to function properly?

At least it feels like it is to me as I help out a few friends promote their businesses. How I ended up with almost all friends who run their own shows, I do not know. Birds of the same feather flock together? I guess.

Some years ago a fashion design friend of mine told me about a VistaPrint offering for free business cards. "Free" was something I was weary about on the Internet because it usually entails either spam or undelivered promises. Months after that, another friend of mine in the consulting business showed me the cards she ordered with a design she picked from VistaPrint and they weren't bad for free at all. In fact they were pretty decent!

After two endorsements from friends, I found myself ordering a set of premium business cards for myself when I began freelancing. I didn't really need it then but it was neat to have my own cards to pass around. I changed my mind and had new ones with a different design. Then I wanted more, including 2 sets of return address labels for me and my boyfriend. I love them! I'm almost out of address lables and I'll have to get more soon.

Last year I designed a new set of business cards with a calendar at the back. It sounds so very old school, but I swear a lot of people find it useful including myself. There were slight errors on the first set I got and it was quickly replaced with one phone call and it arrived with express 2-day shipping. Needless to say I was pretty impressed with their customer service. They've put up with me and my clients throughout the years.

I also had business magnets for a client printed through them. She wanted something different and memorable for her first trade show. She was so happy with how they turned out and how fast they were delivered. They were a hit with the event attendees! We were both very pleased.

Whenever someone asks me where they can get their promotional materials printed, VistaPrint is one of the places I usually recommend and most of them end up ordering there. At this day and age, it's good to have choices and get great value for your money.

At least it feels like it is to me as I help out a few friends promote their businesses. How I ended up with almost all friends who run their own shows, I do not know. Birds of the same feather flock together? I guess.

Some years ago a fashion design friend of mine told me about a VistaPrint offering for free business cards. "Free" was something I was weary about on the Internet because it usually entails either spam or undelivered promises. Months after that, another friend of mine in the consulting business showed me the cards she ordered with a design she picked from VistaPrint and they weren't bad for free at all. In fact they were pretty decent!

After two endorsements from friends, I found myself ordering a set of premium business cards for myself when I began freelancing. I didn't really need it then but it was neat to have my own cards to pass around. I changed my mind and had new ones with a different design. Then I wanted more, including 2 sets of return address labels for me and my boyfriend. I love them! I'm almost out of address lables and I'll have to get more soon.

Last year I designed a new set of business cards with a calendar at the back. It sounds so very old school, but I swear a lot of people find it useful including myself. There were slight errors on the first set I got and it was quickly replaced with one phone call and it arrived with express 2-day shipping. Needless to say I was pretty impressed with their customer service. They've put up with me and my clients throughout the years.

I also had business magnets for a client printed through them. She wanted something different and memorable for her first trade show. She was so happy with how they turned out and how fast they were delivered. They were a hit with the event attendees! We were both very pleased.

Whenever someone asks me where they can get their promotional materials printed, VistaPrint is one of the places I usually recommend and most of them end up ordering there. At this day and age, it's good to have choices and get great value for your money.

So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had already been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.

Watch or read the entire address
here
.

10 Investing Books Recommended by Warren Buffet

Taken at the Bellevue Botanical Garden:

I love patterns.