Tom Squared

I saw this comic today by Debbie Ridpath Ohi . If you’re a writer, or just like books and reading, she is definitely one to follow, her comics are hilarious. This reminded me of a conversation I had with a friend yesterday. We were talking about the things that we’re good at. She mentioned that I’ve always been really good ad keeping people in mind, considering their feelings and needs, even if I don’t have much reason to. For me it simply boils down to loving people, even if I don’t like them very much, and doing whatever I can to help them to have the best life possible. I was also thinking about how my friend is incredibly good at pursuing excellence in whatever she does. She’s one of those people who, if they agree to do something, you know will be done better than you’d have ever done it yourself. You also know that once you give her the task you don’t need to look over her shoulder or check up on how it’s going. It’ll just get done, and she’ll even be pro-active and let y...

Erin and I had an odd conversation where we tried to track down exactly when she taught me that if you close your eye, and put eye drops in the corner, then open your eye, the drops don’t bother you. Good stuff to remember for both kids and adults, since I didn’t know until I was 26 or something. The final decision was that I learned this pearl of wisdom before watching The Scarlet Pimpernel at National (or Ford’s) Theater. If you ever get a chance, this is the musical to see, you’ll laugh your tukus off. Erin always rolls her eyes at this, but one of the best songs ever made is the Creation of Man. Here the Pimpernel describes how great it is to be a man, and how we should live up all the flourishes and dressing styles afforded to us men. Not just plumes in our hats, but “lights in our pants.” The suits they come out wearing are just so outrageous that I could only ever dream of being able to wear something like it to work. If only I’d thought of it for my wedding… This song is hil...

I’ve been listening to Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog soundtrack on the way in, and it’s just awesome. If you ever think that the jerk who beat you up in school doesn’t want to be loved, this will set you straight… and remind you the jerk is trying to destroy the world at the same time. Truly, it’s just hilarious, and I’m beginning to sing along to some of the songs. I haven’t had time to actually watch the Blog, which you can get on iTunes or Hulu , but the soundtrack is pretty darned good. So, if you’re feeling in the mood to relate to some bad guys, since they are people with feelings too, then check it out! This could all just be a humorous review of Dr. Horrible. Every time I listen to it though I end up thinking about those people I don’t like, or do some pretty idiotic (or hurtful) things. Remember the kid in 3rd grade who ran over and hit the girl… because he liked her? Oh, wait… that was me doing the hitting. Maybe it comes from working with kids so much, but I see s...

My friend Alex recently got me into the band Polyphonic Spree . If I’d have to call it anything it’s kind of a mix between the Beatles and symphonic rock (though I stole the symphonic rock part from Wikipedia). They have traits so similar to the Beatles that Pandora ends up suggesting a bunch of Beatles songs on the Polyphonic Spree station. Seeing as how I don’t like the Beatles, I thumbs down and skip those songs. I really got into them because Alex said they had some really upbeat music that just makes you happy. I’d definitely have to agree. I’ve loved driving down the road to Light & Day blaring at top notch. Truly, I’ve read the lyrics and still don’t really understand the song, but it talks about focusing on the day and reaching toward the sun. There are so many times that we look at the day wondering what can possibly befall us. We can just as easily think about the day and wonder what great thing we will make happen. So, how did you bring light to the world today? ...

Holy cow, I was going to write on leading people, management, or some other such unimportant thing. Thank goodness I checked my email first! My friend Cindy let me know about Tom’s Friend mugs which this group is giving away free (even S&H is free) as a promotion. So, if you’re my friend, acquaintance, or stumbling upon this blog from Google, you HAVE to get a mug that makes very clear that I’m your friend! If you’re across the pond and want to make clear who loves you most, let me know and I’ll try and get one for you. Request one now ! An overview of the whole thing is on the Tom’s Film site with a quick synopsis in Free Tom’s Friend Coffee Mug post . I’ll definitely be there to see the movie! I’ve ordered my own so that I can give it to my wife for her birthday. Thanks Cin! +Tom

Following right on my Inside Out post about spending a little time each morning in front of the mirror talking about how great a person you are, I heard the 60 Second Science podcast Affirmations Improve Minority Student Grades . This talks almost specifically about how simply talking ourselves up can improve our grades, the study looked like this Half of the students wrote about any neutral topic over the course of a year. The other half were asked to write about why they cherished certain values. The grades of African-American affirmation kids improved about a quarter of a point on a four-point scale, compared with the control group. And the lowest initial African-American performers upped their scores more than four-tenths of a point. Two years later, the scores continued to track higher among the group that practiced affirmations. Interestingly, for White students who took part they didn't see a difference, which could be attributed to ethnic minorities feeling ...

I was talking to a friend of mine the other day and made an incredibly arrogant comment (because you can do that with some close friends). I said that it looks like I have the perfect life, and everything is great, right? We agreed, I have a wonderful wife, two great kids, a gorgeous house, great job. I am living the American dream and I’ve just got it all together. My friend Melissa made a comment in a previous post about how she didn’t think my wife and I fought, and was glad to see we did, based on the blog post. Truthfully, in this case, Erin and I very rarely fight. I actually almost fought with anyone I dated. This is really simply because I like to talk a lot, and I want to make sure whoever I’m with is talking too. I talk about what I’m going to do before I do it, as do they, so we talk things out before they even could turn into a fight. I can’t recall a time that we’ve raised our voices to each-other, though we have had a few low grumbles of disagreements when it comes to...