Category Archives: Articles

I Don’t Get Much Sleep

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So I think I’m writing this at an appropriate time, by that I mean when I should be sleeping. I don’t sleep well, I don’t know why that is, but I don’t. My sleep schedule is better since I stopped drinking soft drinks, but it’s still pretty bad. I often find myself up in the midnight hours, working furiously to finish my work for the night. Though much of my work gets interrupted by my need for organization, last minute small projects, and the general distractions of the internet that we all experience.

It isn’t as if I wake up late. I wake up at eight every morning, sometimes as late as nine or nine thirty. At that moment I don’t really have to ‘go’ to work, but then I start working. I work, take walks, and do things on the internet the rest of the day. And then I still have to sit up to one in the morning finishing everything. I don’t know why, I don’t think I’ve ever thought I had the reason pinned down.

And I love sleep, I wish I could sleep forever, but I guess I wish I would get more done more. It just seems strange to me how I wake up tired and go to bed wide awake. Do other people feel this way? I mean I think most of the people I know go to bed sleepy and then wake up sleepy. Some people don’t even seem to wake up ever. I don’t drink caffeine (very often) and the sugar content of what I drink is, I believe, very low.

I know a lot of people are sleep deprived nowadays. But do they stay up late every night and get up early every day? (I should mention that I work every day of the week and only sleep in once a week on Saturday or Sunday) It doesn’t seem right, and though it does affect my work some it really doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, except to my mind which keeps telling me to get to sleep earlier.

It’s just strange.

Games that Teach – Tetris and Addiction Management

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Tetris is an addiction. Of this there is no doubt in my mind. You just have to keep playing. It drives you to keep playing it. You can’t quit Tetris. But you must. Eventually everyone stops playing Tetris, even the best. Eventually you have to put the controller down. It’s when to put the controller down that Tetris helps with.

Some people don’t know when to stop. And Tetris is a way you can learn when to stop without any major consequences. I mean, you could end up playing Tetris all the time and doing nothing else, but that’s the case with almost any video game.

He saw the colors and was never heard from again.

He saw the colors and was never heard from again.

The real reason Tetris is so good is two reasons, really. First it has nothing that could be considered objectionable. It’s just organizing falling blocks. The second is that the game ends every ten minutes or so. Even if you’re super good, a game of more than 20 minutes is insane. The point is that the game ends, which gives you time to decide whether or not to continue.

Learning to quit earlier and earlier will teach you how to moderate and break your habit (and if you don’t, at least you get wicked awesome at Tetris). I know that’s not the most descriptive advise, but it is true. At least it works for some people. Even if you don’t quit, getting addicted to Tetris is one of the best addictions you can have, it won’t hurt your body directly and can probably improve your brain strength in some areas. And if you have friends they can always drink a beer and watch you play Tetris as your social activities.

Specificity is Always Good

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I’d like to be specific here: specificity is always good. And one should practice being as specific as possible. Whether it’s just a board game, or your job, or some dangerous work that you have to do, you want people to understand what your intentions are and how your going to go about them.

Let’s face it, none of us are evil masterminds or spies who would benefit from our intentions not being known. And we can still keep some things secret, but in everyday life, making your intentions known is helpful to others, and then they can be helpful to you. No one wants to bump into you, or to get in your way at the copier, or to turn your computer off for that update right as you were in the middle of that big project. This loses both of you time, you even more because of the time you spend yelling at them. It’s great when people know what you’re doing and can avoid getting in your way.

Okay, that’s not specificity, that’s openness. But the two usually go together, and you should never be nonspecific with a plan you are being open about. With that copier example, you want to tell someone that you’ll need “X” copies and then tell them which copier you’re going to get it from. You also don’t want someone chopping their arm off while doing work for you because you didn’t tell them what could go wrong or something like that.

Being specific is probably best if you’re working with someone, which you should be. In a cooperative board game it is one of the things that can save the game. If you’re working in an office it is best to tell every exactly what you are doing and what they should be doing so they can see how it all comes together.

To be concise, specificity is always good. Conciseness is always good too.

“You think they bought it?”

 

Games That Teach – Pandemic and Articulation

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Some games (even more recently) are cooperative and force players to work together against the game. It’s fairly obvious why this would be helpful. It teaches teamwork and cohesion and all that boring stuff they hammer into your brain at school. But what I want to talk about is how cooperative games, especially Pandemic, affect the way we talk.

pandemic cover

So in Pandemic you and your buddies are a team of researchers, scientists, doctors, and other people out to save the world from various diseases. You have to work together with your various skills to complete your task and ultimately save the world. It’s all a very noble game and is great to play with anyone as no one will object to the theme (I can just imagine someone who doesn’t want to save the world from disease screaming at you about something like a crazy person in a cop show).

To get all of this done requires a lot of communication. Now, I’m sure you have communicated with people before, possibly on a daily basis, but you never realize how vaguely you speak until you have a goal to accomplish with other people. I have made a conscious effort to make my speech more concise since I was at a job parking cars and had no idea what to do because of poor instruction. I would only realize several years later how well cooperative board games help with this.

First you have to make a plan.  This involves critical thinking skills which this game also helps build. Then you have to figure out everyone’s role in the plan and if they could be doing anything more productive. Then you have to communicate this plan to the other players. The plan must be well dictated so as to not confuse the the players and to allow them to also think about what would be the best thing to do. Since all of the moves in the game are fairly similar you have to be clear about which moves to make when. And since you can’t show the other players your hand of cards you must make sure they know exactly how many cards you have of what type. You don’t want to make a mistake and end up with a plan that is unelectable because of some miscommunication.

The skill to speak clearly and be understood is a great one to have. It is not necessarily a skill with any applied purpose but it is just useful. Like being able to walk doesn’t qualify you for a lot of positions, but it helps. Pandemic and other cooperative games will help you improve your coordination, leadership, critical thinking, and articulation skills. On top of all that, it’s fun. After playing several games I definitely feel like I can more clearly explain my plan to someone else or give orders in a workplace. To speak clearly and articulate concisely is a very useful skill and if you want to learn while having fun, there is almost no better way than with Pandemic.

How To: Button a Shirt and Eat a Bagel Simultaneously

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So, you’re a busy guy, kinda like me (kinda, depends on the day). You get up early in the morning and you still don’t have time for breakfast, or you just don’t feel like eating. Still you put your pants on and a t-shirt. You go out into the kitchen and fix a bagel with cream cheese (high class, I know). Then you realize that you gotta get a button shirt for what ever you’re gonna do today (busy guy remember). But you don’t have time to eat a bagel and put your shirt on, you gotta do both at the same time. Well I’ve been in this scenario and am here to talk you through it.

First, select a shirt.  The bagel shouldn’t affect this, just be careful to not get crumbs in your closet. Then remove the shirt from the rack and stick your non-dominant arm (the one not holding the bagel) through the correct sleeve (make sure it is the correct sleeve). Swap your bagel to the other hand and do the same with the other sleeve. Now button your cuffs by ‘breaking’ your wrist down and then buttoning with your index finger and thumb (this is one of the trickier parts). Make sure your bagel is in your non-dominant hand before buttoning each of the shirt buttons after lining them up at the bottom (or not if you don’t mind crooked shirts). Button by using your index finger to grab the button and your thumb to guide it. You should have finished your bagel by now and so you can button the top button and put on a tie or whatever now. I just put a note book and a pen in my pocket and I’m good to go.

It’s that simple! I know some of you really need this guide. I know it would have helped me in this situation, although looking things up on the internet while eating a bagel is a completely different guide. I hope it helps some of you out there.