A candle does not lose its
flame
by giving light to another candle.
- Author Unknown
email: thechautauqua@gmail.com
Wednesday, 7 August 2013
Monday, 5 August 2013
Tomorrow
Never put off till tomorrow
what you can do the day after tomorrow.
– Mark Twain
email: thechautauqua@gmail.com
Friday, 2 August 2013
August 2, 2013 Chautauqua
From the Editor's Computer
Usually when I get to the part of the paper
where it is time to magically pull an editorial out of thin air and write it, I
use a few different methods to generate my ideas.
Usually, what I write about comes from a
chance comment I heard, or a conversation I’ve had with someone. Or from a mishmash of conversations and
comments from any given week. However, I
haven’t been having too many conversations with people in the past few months,
and I am not out and about to overhear
many chance comments. I’m almost a
hermit, in fact. I’m completely out of
the loop right now.
Another option I use is to draw on something
I’ve read. Again, in the last few weeks
and months, I haven’t been reading much.
Partly because my brain has been too fuzzy to concentrate - which makes
remembering a challenge - and my eyes have been too blurry to see what I’m
supposed to be reading, and partly because I’ve been flipping through various
cookbooks trying to find unique recipes that use food ingredients I can
actually eat. I’ve discovered that for
the most part Vegan recipes don’t work for my situation, nor do Gluten-free
recipes, Dairy-free recipes, Allergy-free recipes, Primal/Paleo recipes or the
vast majority of Raw-food recipes.
Some times, I’ll write about what is going
on of late in my life. Well, of late in
my life there hasn’t been much going on as I usually feel too exhausted to do
anything! The diet changes are helping,
yet they don’t address the complete picture of my health situation. I did start going for acupuncture in Red Deer with Dr. Wu last month. Haven’t noticed any changes yet, despite
assurances that everything I’m experiencing is totally reversible.
On rare occasions, when the clock is
ticking very loudly in my ear and the paper deadline is looming closer and
closer, I will just start writing and see what comes out, and if it is
something I can use. Some times it is,
some times it isn’t. (Yes, that is the route I’m going with right now). And some times I manage to surprise myself,
when what ends up in the paper is not what I started to write about.
Beth
To contact The Chautauqua, email: thechautauqua@gmail.com.
Wednesday, 31 July 2013
Questions
I don’t have all the answers
because I don’t have all the questions.
– Laura Day
email: thechautauqua@gmail.com
Monday, 29 July 2013
Friday, 26 July 2013
Alive
When you arise in the morning
think of what a privilege it is
to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love.
–
Marcus Aurelius
email: thechautauqua@gmail.com
Wednesday, 24 July 2013
Difficult
In this age, which believes
that there is a short cut to everything,
the greatest lesson to be learned
is
that the most difficult way is,
in the long run, the easiest.
– Henry Miller
email: thechautauqua@gmail.com
Monday, 22 July 2013
Nothing
To do nothing at all
is the
most difficult thing
in the world,
the most difficult
and the most
intellectual.
– Oscar Wilde
email: thechautauqua@gmail.com
Friday, 19 July 2013
July 19, 2013 Chautauqua
From the Editor's Computer
I recently read that up to 50% of an
employee’s day is spent redoing tasks and projects. Did you get that? Up to 50% of the day is spent
redoing what was already done.
Now to clarify, that does not mean repeated,
routine tasks. For example, in the
library we are always checking in returned items - routine. However, if we set
them aside, and instead of putting them away, checked them all in again, that would
be redoing.
While it is not unusual for some new
information to pop up, or for a situation to dramatically change, after a task
or project has been started, it is quite rare.
Typically, the reason for employees to have
to redo completed work is generally because they were given inaccurate and/or
incomplete information to start with.
Withholding vital information from employees doing specific tasks ranks
right up near the top. Another reason,
is the person receiving the completed work totally changes their mind on a
whim. There are times employees will
have to redo someone else’s work due to the reasons listed above, or because
the employee purposely did the task incorrectly. Occasionally equipment failure will require
tasks or projects to be redone.
As well, there are instances when employees
are given a make-work project which then needs to be re-done to make more work
for them.
I don’t know about you, but I find that to
be very wasteful behaviour. Look how
productive people could be if they were given what they needed from the
beginning, and if their supervisors (or coworkers) didn’t pull juvenile power
games. It could even be possible to
completely eliminate overtime, as well as half the work day! How many people does it really take to do
particular tasks if the tasks are done correctly the first time?
This particular statistic was from the
business world, however it probably applies to all areas of our lives -
volunteer and personal. If you think you
don’t have time to do what needs done at work or home, look at how much time is
being spent redoing tasks and make changes.
Beth
To contact The Chautauqua, email: thechautauqua@gmail.com.
Wednesday, 17 July 2013
Solution
There is always an easy
solution
to every human problem –
neat, plausible and wrong.
– H.L. Mencken
email: thechautauqua@gmail.com
Monday, 15 July 2013
Friday, 12 July 2013
Planning
I get up every morning
determined to both change the world
and have one hell of a good time.
Sometimes this makes
planning my day a little
difficult.
– E.B. White
email: thechautauqua@gmail.com
Wednesday, 10 July 2013
Alone
A lot of the best thinking
happens
when people are left alone
with their thoughts.
– Peter Spencer
email: thechautauqua@gmail.com
Monday, 8 July 2013
Change
Most of the change that causes
stress
we end up forgetting in a short time…
our mind realizes the change
is
really not that important.
Why can’t we
figure this out
when the change occurs?
- Joel Zeff
email: thechautauqua@gmail.com
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