It’s very important for parents to teach their children about being organized. A good way to start doing that from an early age is to buy them storage containers for a number of their things, and making it their responsibility to maintain them. There are many types of kids’ organizers out there, everything from your average dresser to toy chests and closet shelving. If a parent buys a toy chest for a small child’s bedroom, for example, they could find ways to keep their children interested in cleaning up after themselves. Spend some time with the child decorating the toy chest; maybe use paint or markers to draw pictures on the chest. Or you could even paint the child’s name on it. You could also get a child interested in organizing their clothes by giving them some say in what kind of clothes you buy for them. That way the child feels more like it’s a game than a chore when it’s time for them to put their toys into the chest at the end of the day. There are many other ways to teach a child about organization, but the key is to make sure the child realizes how much more enjoyable it is for them when their things can be easily found in their room.

My friend Eric recently had Lasik in Denver done.  He is in a band out there called Kinetix, and he thought that it was about time he stopped taking the stage wearing his glasses.  In high school he used to wear contacts, but after having some eye problems, his eye doctor told him that he could no longer wear contacts.  Some of the time he will take the stage without his glasses on, but he really does need them to be able to see.  They are really an up and coming band, and I had been telling him for a while that they need an image overhaul before they can make it big.  He finally relented, and decided it was time to ditch the glasses look.  I have not seen him since he had the surgery, but he sounds really pleased with the results.  They are coming back out to the Midwest in a couple of weeks, and I am really excited to see him.  We grew up three houses apart from each other, and it stinks sometimes not being able to see him that often.  They usually base their Midwest tours out of Chicago, so there will be a few weeks that we get a chance to hang out.   

A woman that I work with suffers from a severe case of womens hair loss.  I know that she is very self-conscious about it, and I feel very badly for her.  People in the office always make jokes about it, and I think that they are just terrible.  She does her best to cover it up by wearing bandanas or headscarves, but everyone knows that she is just trying to hide her lack of hair.  It is too bad that everyone associates her with the fact that she suffers from hair loss, because she really is one of the nicest people I have ever met in my entire life.  Most of the people in our office only look out for themselves, and never really care to help someone if they are in need.  I could ask her to help me with anything and she is always willing to drop what she is doing and help me out with what I need to do.  I feel like her problem has also kept her from moving up within the company.  A lot of what we do includes face time with clients, and she is too nervous to be around people a lot of the time, so her work suffers.    

If you want to know the benefits of home security you should ask NBA stars Antoine Walker of the Minnesota Timber Wolves or Eddie Curry of the New York Knicks.  Both athletes were the victims of home invasion and burglary this past summer in Chicago.  Walker was held at gunpoint in his home while a vehicle, money and jewelry were taken.  Just weeks later Curry was also robbed.  Even worse, Curry while being held at gunpoint with his family and an employee, was restrained with duct tape.  The robbers stole jewelry and cash from Curry’s home.  These situations really sparked debates on celebrities, and the risks involved with being one.  Some players stated that they had considered hiring bodyguards, and many said that they had either purchased home security systems or at least started to use the ones that they already had regularly.  There is no need for a person to have to live their life in fear of being robbed at gunpoint, or even worse.  There is a problem when a player feels the need to have to have protection on their person at all times, often in the form of a firearm.  Especially when players often get in trouble for having guns.             

My girlfriend, Tina, volunteers for a program at the hospital called Loved Ones and Diabetes Treatment.  It is a program that was put together in order to teach the loved ones of people with diabetes about the treatment that their loved ones will go, or are going, through.  I really think it is a great kind of thing to be involved in, and I am very proud of her for volunteering.  She does so much charitable work like that.  Every weekend she goes to a soup kitchen and volunteers.  During the week she works as a caregiver for people with special needs.  She is always so giving.  She even manages to step it up a notch during holiday times, and becomes involved with all sorts of different holiday related charities.  Tina even manages to get me and all of our friends involved with her charities too.  I have really gotten to do some very rewarding things, and it is even better because I get to do them with her.  It is even more special to do important things like that when you are doing them with somebody that you care very much about.  Her charitable work is really the thing I admire most about her.            

It just so happened that we were in New York when it happened.  Tara was leaving this old building when she slipped on the newly polished floor and hurt her elbow.  At first she was going to let it go, but the next day her arm was swollen to about three times its size.  It was all black and blue too.  We called a personal injury attorney in New York, because they know the law of the state.  Tara was in bad shape, and we had to decide to take her to the emergency room or to let it go until we got home.  I asked her if she could fly, if she felt okay.  She said that she was getting sick to her stomach and that her arm throbbed.  We decided that flying home that night was impossible, so I called the airline.   I cancelled the flight and booked another couple of nights at the Plaza.  Because I had time to kill I took a walk, up and down 42nd Street.  I remember my first visit to New York.  It was in the early 1980's.  What a difference. Especially Times Square.  Although now I think the might have cleaned it all up too well.  It's almost too clean.  Not like a real city.

Gene Wilde once said “all art is useless.”  Think about it.  Those paintings you have hanging on your walls don’t actually do anything.  That little sculpture or vase sitting on your living room table serves no purpose.  All those novels you’ve read and have kept stacked neatly together on the shelves of your bookcase are just gathering dust.  They all do nothing.  They have no real use. 

            A hammer beats in a nail.  A screwdriver twists in a screw.  A computer processes information, saves information, allows communication, draws, and does dozens and dozens of other things.  A car drives and transports people to places.  All these things are utilitarian.  They were conceived and built to serve a particular purpose.  No one can say the same thing about art. 

            You can argue that it decorates a place, or in the case of novels, movies, and poetry, that it entertains, but those aren’t essential uses.  If you want decoration on your wall, you can just use different paint.  You can live without watching the latest movie at the theater or buying the newest bestselling mystery novel that’s just hit all the bookstores and newsstands.  You can’t use art to pay your rent or put food on your table.  And you can’t eat art either.  It won’t clean your bedroom, pay your bills, or wake you up in the morning. 

            But that’s not to say that art has no place in the world.  It’s not essential to anyone’s life, but it is needed.  How would you feel making the hour-long drive to work without being able to listen to the music on your car radio?  And doesn’t that brilliant painting a bright blue sky make you feel revived and fresh every morning?  Don’t tell me there’s any better way to call it a night than tucking yourself into bed and then reaching over to finish that book you’ve been plowing through all week long. 

            We need the arts to inspire, entertain, and, in some cases, educate us.  Without it, our lives would have no flavor.   We’d just wake up, ear, march off to work, come home, eat again, and sleep.  We would have nothing to look forward to and nothing to make us feel special. 

            And, regardless of what anyone else says, the arts are hard work.  Not just anyone can sit down and write ten pages of a story and have it all make sense and be riveting.  Not just anyone can splash paint against a canvas and have it end up a meaningful painting.  In fact, not just anyone can work with paint at all and use it to make a clear, recognizable picture. 

            And without having different tastes in music, art, movies, and more, we would have nothing else to define and separate us from everybody else.  We’d all dress the same, live in places that all look the same, and all dream the same dreams.  That’s why we need the arts in our lives, even if they have no essential, obvious use.  The arts just are and we love them for it.