Lisa's Collection

Personalized Searching, Connected Accounts, and Other Internet Features I Don't Want With the start of the new year, I've decided to do some trimming out of some things as far as Internet activities go. It's not just related to what I write or where I write, but also some of the other activities (namely, feeling compelled to at least try to pretend to socialize on "social sites", for one thing). There are a lot of Internet trends that I don't think are all that great (or at least not great...

Coffee and Candor: January 25 - An Anniversary That I Need To Write A... : Because I've been aware that January 25 is approaching, I feel the need to at least acknowledge. It's an anniversary for me, and it's a twe...'' With increasing awareness that I'm thinking that becoming "an Internet recluse" might be a better and better idea (contrary to the the most popular idea that people should get themselves and their writing more and more "out there"), I started a new blog that has no purpose...

Before I discuss my views on allowances let me go bar my front door, pull my shades, and shut off all my lights. I need to hide from those who will want to tar and feather me. Ok - here goes:I don't believe in allowances, and I don't believe kids need allowances in order to learn the value of money or importance of managing it wisely. In fact, particularly today, I believe that too much money when kids aren't old enough (or willing) to work for it can create problems that would not otherwise...

My reading and writing life began long before anyone had ever imagined this thing we now know as, "The Internet". My entire first year in elementary school was spent waiting for the next piece of phonics, which would move me that much closer to being able to read whatever I wanted to read. Even without having gone through all the sounds, I was delighted to discover that learning to recognize even some consonants, vowels, and blends allowed me to sound out photo captions in the daily newspaper...

1. Whether it's a bottle of shampoo, a jar of peanut-butter, or a stick of deodorant - Never throw away anything that's just about gone before you have the new one in hand, and at home. Trust me, if you do throw an almost-empty container away, one day you'll regret that you did. If you make sure you don't, one day you'll be glad you didn't. 2. Make it a habit to know you have your keys in pocket ANY time you leave your house, even for the mail. Again, one day you'll be glad you did. If you...

The following piece was written as kind of joke, when several people on HubPages were joking about spun articles. Someone got the idea that it would funny if a bunch of people wrote their own Hub (article) about "adipose hankies". It was kind of a challenge. It was fun to see what I could come up with, and I ended up making my Hub partly joking/partly serious. In any case, I left it on my HubPages profile for a few months, but it's not really the kind of thing I want on there. So, I decided...

I think negative comments or raising problems one is having I don't even mind if someone (lots of people) have one, long-running, problem/issue and keep coming on and letting others know what's going on (or voice their own challenges with it). There's a point, though, where things can turn from being legitimate, honest, sharing of stuff that's going on (including challenges and problems) into being unproductive, useless, boring, and "life-sucking" to others (who may or may not already be...

Being A Left-Handed or Both-Handed Person in a Seemingly Right-Handed World Having seen a few too many online comments that really indicated ignorance about people (particularly children) who use their left hand to write, I thought I'd try to - if nothing else - kind of de-mystify left-handedness (for those people who, for some reason, sometimes see something mystical, or worse, in left-handedness.

Negative ("Bad") Behavior in Children - When Is It Ignoring It Better? When Is Ignoring It Not An Option? Someone online asked opinions about whether "bad" behavior in children should be ignored and recognized as "just part of a stage that will be outgrown" or whether children should be "punished" (not a word I'm a big fan of). The thing is, though, that the answer to that question isn't a simple one. This is a discussion about all the things I think people need to consider. And, the short...

Will America Face Another Civil War? An Opinion in Response to That Question

The Christmas Angel - A PoemAs the title suggests, this a poem about a Christmas, tree-top, angel-ornament. Written around Christmas time, 2001, the poem steps out of my usual writing voice and comes from imagination. Focusing on the "peace on Earth" message that are suspended from the angel's hands, the poem is pretty much simply a poem/prayer for peace, written by someone who is not a religious person but who isn't completely closed to the idea of spiritual possibilities either.

How Can We Deal With Regrets In A Way That Makes Them Less Painful?Needless to say, having regret(s) isn't easy to deal with. I recently ran into a question that asked for people's thoughts on how to keep regret from becoming to stressful/painful. This is a Hub I wrote in response to that question. It's not expert advice, and I don't even if know if my approach is a good one. It is, however, what's always helped me (at least some) to live with regrets I have.

Positive Thinking, Negative Thinking - A Personal Discussion About What Too Few People UnderstandPositive thinking can seem to be a fairly simple matter. Either we think and act with a positive attitude or we don't. Things aren't always that simple, however - especially when the person in question has had enough life experience to find that making his way to "positive" can take more skill and determination than it does in the life with far fewer negative experiences.

Hostile or Nasty Feedback In Online WritingOrdinarily, most of us have learned not to pay any attention to nasty remarks made on our writing or sent as a result of someone's reading it online. There's a difference, of course, between "nasty remarks" and "negative feedback" or "criticism". This Hub about "nasty remarks" is NOT about negative feedback and/or crticism, and it's not about people's offering opposing opinions or asking for clarification. It's about people choice to try to insult or otherwise verbally "attack" the writer, rather than the writing and/or the content.

To write words that must not be read, and must not see the light of day, and say the words that should be said, and words one plans to never say There's something to be said for that; but then again, there's something not to. Those words one really shouldn't say, and those one really ought to. The line and gap between these things a longing to a writer brings and words not spoken, whispered, written; left, instead, to silence and to hearts, and whisper when the writing starts or stops and...