Talking with the Pumpkins

Fall has arrived and with it, the pumpkin season. There are always plenty of pumpkins to carve up around Halloween time and a great way to make use of the seeds is to eat them, salted and toasted. The trick is to Boil the seeds in salted water first then roast them
1 Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2 In a small saucepan, add the seeds to water, about 2 cups of water to every half cup of seeds. Add a tablespoon of salt for every cup of water. Bring to a boil, let simmer for 10 minutes and remove from heat and drain.
3 Spread 1 teaspoon of olive oil over bottom of cookie sheet. Spread seeds over cookie sheet in one layer. Bake on top rack of oven for 20 minutes or until the seeds begin to brown. Remove from oven and let cool before eating
If you don't want to go to all that trouble just talk with the pumpkins, that's what I did.

You've Got Mail

Recently a friend said he was having trouble with his email and ask me to help him with his problem. Upon entering his computer room I saw papers and trash stacked all over the place, one could hardly walk through the room to get to the computer. Without even turning on the computer I knew what his problem was. INBOX PARALYSIS! He had several different email addresses at different portals. He had become so overwhelmed with all the addresses he had stopped checking them and only responded to a select few of them. He had emails dating back to 2001 in his inbox.
Tidiness of your inbox is a reflection of your habits, your mental health and yes even the way Mom and Dad raised you. This friend must have been raised by a pack of wolves because he had crap scattered all over his den. When you keep your inbox full rather than empty it means you keep your life cluttered in other ways. He was clinging to the past with lots of unfinished business. When I ask him why he was not checking his inbox a couple times a day he said it would zap too much of his energy he needed for other things. I was right, it was INBOX PARALYSIS. He is a procrastinator, he will deal with it tomorrow. The biggest characteristic of a procrastinator is disorder and his computer was the perfect definition of disorder. I'll be willing to bet, his check book and relationships are a mirror of his inbox. Even before I opened his inbox I felt guilty. My inbox is so straight and in order it even smells clean.
In his desperation to restore order he decided the best thing to do was delete everything. What about all the email he had not responded to, I ask? His response was to tell the senders that his ISP was bocking mail, it was out of his control. Now I was dealing with a procrastinator and a fibber! It's a good thing I am a laid back soul or I would have thrown up my hands at that point. I took a deep breath and started the task at hand. First I began deleting email older than six months. He began shouting NO NO! Great now I am dealing with a procastinator, fibber and a packrat, hope started to fade. Trying not to supper size his problem I suggested mail folders. He seemed to freeze almost like a deer caught in the headlights of a 18 wheeler. He was never going to use mail folders so I decided the simplest solution was the only one that would work. I forwarded all his email addresses to one inbox, at least he would see all his mail in one place. I then preceded to scold him. You must treat your inbox just like you treat your mail box at home. You don't leave your bills inside your mail box, you get them out everyday, write a check and send them off. You don't leave spam in your inbox, that's like leaving garbage in the kitchen.
There will never be a sure-all solution to every one's inbox management but if we are aware of our inbox behavior we will be better able to understand and find solutions for other areas of our lives.

Pass the cigars

The Republicans sex scandal is less about illness and more about the Republicans sickness for power. For a long time they have exploited gays and children to maintain dominance by any means necessary. The house that homophobia built for the Republicans is now crumbling like a house of cards. The issue that won them control of Congress will be the same issue that will bring them down this year, Gay Civil Rights! You will hear the Republicans pushing the line that Mark Foley's dirty e-mails were an isolated case and should not effect the Republican party. They will say the Democrats get away with things while the Republicans don't. The difference is that the Democrats don't write laws to make Americans live a more upright life.
Both the Republicans and Democrats have from time to time tried to present themselves as the party of moral probity, marital fidelity and pleated school uniforms. I don't think social conservatism as a national policy will ever work if so few can live up to it.
In a few years the Democrats will be back in power and who knows, maybe Hillary will be President. I wonder if she will ask Bill to instruct her in the 101 ways to use a cigar!