Producing New Cars
Saturday, March 13th, 2010Have you ever noticed that the big car companies release a new car every year, but, in fact, it is not a new car at all. They just use pretty much the same design that they always use. They might make some slight changes here and there but it is nothing that big. They even call it the same name. It will be called a 2009 Taurus, for example. I for one am not impressed with this total lack of real innovation.
Of course, eventually, the car companies will have to make serious changes to the designs of their cars. This usually happens when the number of sales from previous years has greatly dropped. They have to make a new look and design in order for the car to seem new and fresh. They do this in the hopes that people will continue to buy the new product.
In my opinion, you should never buy a brand new car any way. Cars drop in value like a rock. Within four years, a brand new car will be worth 60% of what it was purchased for. So it is a bad idea to buy a brand new car anyway. It is a better idea to just buy a used car with some years and miles on it. It may not feel as fresh but depending on the car, you might be driving close to the same thing as the brand new car on the lot.
Gardening With Your Kids
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010There is nothing like experiencing the outdoors with your kids and one of the best things you can do with children is garden. Most people make the mistake of getting the kids involved during planting but kids love to get dirty and there is nothing as dirty as turning up the soil. My boys had more fun in the soil prep then just about anything else except for when the plants start coming up. Of course, you need to be the type of parent who is okay with dirt getting between toes, in the ears and everything else in between.
Once you share this part with kids they are more apt to jump in for the other parts; planting, weeding and harvesting. Kids also love to experiment so try vertical gardening and gardening in raised beds. These are all ways to see what you can do and grow and they will love it too. Who knows, you might also get a small greenhouse and see if you can grow a few thing during the winter months? After all, it is about the fun and learning that is most important.
What Is Exploration?
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009According to Dictionary.com, the definition of exploration is;
- an act or instance of exploring or investigating; examination or
- the investigation of unknown regions
So if we take the first definition, an act or instance of exploring or investigating; examination, then we see that almost anything we do from trying something that we have never tried before to researching something we know little or nothing about is an act of exploration. It is something that we can and should do every day to broaden our horizons and grow as human beings.
In the second definition, the investigation of unknown regions, can be interpreted as seeking far and distant lands but the fact is, we can find all kinds of great things by exploring the world around us. That can be from traveling to places we have only dreamed to visiting the zoo with a child and seeing the experience through their eyes. Exploration can be a chore or a delight. How you look at it is really up to you.
Get Creative
Monday, July 6th, 2009One of the things that is lacking today are ways to be creative. Yes, I know you can sit for hours and play video games or listen to music and connect with friend on your computer and while some call that creative, it is not. Being creative is figuring out how to do something or make something with what you have available to you. It’s looking at a problem or situation and being able to see it from different angles or viewpoints in order to see how something could fit with another.
It can be putting two different thoughts together to create another thought or stream of thought. You can engage tools such as scissors, paste and glue or envision something grand within the corners of your mind. Creativity is when you take control and build, model, think, write, picture, draw, sew, play or a number of other forms it can take and just do it. You don’t look it up on the computer or watch a show about it; you get off the couch and do it. Be creative today and do something different than you did yesterday. You may be amazed at what you can accomplish and create!