Appreciating "Enough"

I loved reading this today.

"It's very important to notice when there's enough. We often have a habit of scarcity, even in times of incredible abundance and wealth. We forget that there's often enough, more than enough, to meet our needs, and to be happy, and to find appreciation, and to give some away. May this be so for you today and every day."

When a Package of Still Warm Tortillas Is Plenty and Enough Weekend Meditation | The Kitchn

Recently read: "With trying, comes mistakes"

A couple highlighted passages on trying new things (and those who don't try), from a post I read over the weekend:

"They could join in, but then they might fail, and they wouldn’t be able to sit at home [and] bitch."

"...with trying, comes mistakes...but that’s the nature of trying new things, failing."

via Lefsetz Letter » Blog Archive » The Amanda Palmer Kerfuffle via Neil Gaiman - I Interned for Amanda Palmer

Kirk Douglas: We Are Spartacus [Recently Read]

Kirk Douglas: We Are Spartacus:

"After 95 years on this planet, I have come to the conclusion that the human spirit can never be crushed, no matter how cruel the oppressor or fanatic the belief. If we remember that simple truth--and act on it every day in small ways and sometimes in large movements--then freedom will ultimately win.

And then we are all Spartacus."

How to find your writing voice [Recently Read]

How to find your writing voice. | Jon Acuff's Blog:

"The only way to find your writing voice is to write. Fear will tell you that you must have your writing voice figured out before you write...Fear is a liar."

Announcing: Mary's Ramble Annex

I've been a bit frustrated lately. I've had this mental argument with myself going on for some time about what to do with links I want to share, but don't necessarily want to write an entire post about. I sometimes share those on Twitter, sometimes on Facebook, sometimes I just hit "Share" in Google Reader which puts them on a public page at my Google Profile, as well as posting them to Google Buzz (where I never seem to go anymore, sadly) and the list of those ends up on the "Recently Read" page here (which will probably go away soon). None of these options are very satisfying, though. I'm basically just handing the links off to someone else to handle. They are shared in someone else's format, difficult-to-impossible to edit, and difficult to find again later. 

I've often thought about just sharing the links on Mary's Ramble, but there are nights I want to share EVERYTHING I see, and I really don't want to fill up someone's RSS feed, Twitter stream, or Facebook wall with a ton of trivial stuff. That's not what I feel like people have signed up for when they follow this blog. I'd like to keep MR, as much as possible, for the times when I have something of my own to share.

I've often thought about starting a Tumblr blog (or something from a similar service), but every time I almost set one up, I decided it really wasn't what I wanted. 

At last, I decided to create Mary's Ramble Annex. That way, if you're not interested in the five things I read when I couldn't sleep last night, you don't have to be annoyed by it in the feed from the main blog. But if you are interested, you can click through once in awhile, or subscribe, or whatever, knowing that it's likely to be high-volume and low-commentary.

We'll see how it works, or if it works. 

Recently Read: Apple's Role in Japan during the Tohoku Earthquake

Kevin Rose posted a couple emails from a friend of his who works in an Apple store in Tokyo. Whatever else I may think of Apple, I think it's awesome that they stepped up in such a way for their customers and employees in such a hard time.

Kevin Rose - blogg - Apple's Role in Japan during the Tohoku Earthquake

The whole thing is a great read, but this part especially impressed me:

"You know how in disaster movies, people on the street gather around electronic shops that have TVs in the display windows so they can stay informed with what is going on? In this digital age, that's what the Tokyo Apple stores became. Staff brought out surge protectors and extension cords with 10s of iOS device adapters so people could charge their phones & pads and contact their loved ones. Even after we finally had to close 10pm, crowds of people huddled in front of our stores to use the wifi into the night, as it was still the only way to get access to the outside world...Even after we had to close, many of the staff stayed outside the store to fixing iphones and teaching people how to contact family or stay informed via wifi. "