Postcards from the Funny Farm

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I talked with my mom today on the phone and she had an amazing quote for me. Without sounding like a typical son, I have to tell you that I have one of the smartest moms on Earth.  She taught preschool for 20 years and holds a degree in history from Cal State Fullerton. There are other accolades, one of which includes raising a son who writes a blog from the funny farm (borderline accolade LOL) … anyway, read what I have to say about her quote won’t you?

As we chatted about certain woes people in our extended family like job lay-offs and divorces, (Thankfully not me! Our advice was for people not in the conversation, ever have that kind of phone convo?) Anyway, she offerred me some simple advice as I was trying to give some to her. We were talking about how important it is to be conscious only in the “now.” As Eckhart Tolle says: “The past is just a dream, the future never comes. All we have is now.”  She said this quote that I absolutely love:

Learn how to find peace between the things that happen.

Now, I don’t normally write about the phone conversations I have with mom. She’s a great lady and like I have said, she raised me! BUT this one was so great and helped me so much this morning (even when I didn’t even think I needed help!) I had to share it with my readers before I started teaching today. Remember it … we all ought to. To read more about Eckhart Tolle, read my latest article published at BlogCritics where I discuss Consciousness and the Current Recession in America. Have the best day of your life! (another lifelong quote of my Mom’s)

photo credit: funny hub

Shelly Tucker wrote another great post today about the quandary of a blogroll. I think this is such an important subject to discuss. She raises and makes some very good points. I thought I’d link back to her and continue my thoughts on the same subject here.

At the beginning here, (this is only my opinion) I must say I firmly believe that most blogrolls are unkempt and unattended junk-drawers of random blogs that hold mixed levels of meaning to the blog owner. This is also true for most Technorati rolls I run across. It has become sort of an obligatory thing for many people to add and be added to each other’s blogrolls. I encourage every blogger to use the potential of a blogroll by going down their list and developing a criteria for deletion/retention. Regular maintenance of your blogroll helps you, it increases the value of a link on your site thereby helping your blogrolled folks, and it keeps your integrity high as a host of links on your blog. Your criteria should be based on what helps YOU! That may sound selfish but let’s face it, there are a bazillion blogs out there and you can’t be all things to all people. You can however, be something very helpful for networking to some people that belong on your specific blogroll.

1. If the blog belongs to a friend of mine or if I read the blog regularly they make the blogroll.
2. After that, some standards must come into play … here are mine:
3. A certain rating standard (I won’t reveal mine but it’s an either/or thing based on several measures … must be the assessment teacher in me coming out).
4. Even if 3 is true, if they consistently don’t communicate at least once every 6 months or so in at least a comment or 2, I usually will drop them. My blogroll is a valued spot and if a blogger doesn’t care to touch base with me, there are others who do to fill the space.
5. I have some more, but you tell me? What are your criteria?

The most important point here is that you develop a criteria. You can bend and break the rules anytime you choose but by choosing to have a criteria and “pruning” your blogroll you help your blog and the whole blogosphere.

Would you be likely to prune your blogroll?

This is an amazing blog I discovered on a Dateline story. He focuses on the homeless culture in Los Angeles. This photo links to his story on foreclosures at Christmas. A thoughtful blog read.

-viewfromaloft: More from East L.A.