Gray Wolf Productions

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TV Ads, Stress, And Anxiety

I was recently working on a course [and now doing an ebook] about stress – and so I was very tuned into my own levels of stress and anxiety.

I was trying to figure out something about how to catch the start of that stress while it is motivating and before it goes over to being the “bad” level of stress.

I’ve always known that I have an antenna for stress and anxiety and I tend to pick those from other people – which was good [in a way] when I was a therapist but I had to watch that it did not raise mine which was a hard task sometimes.

Anyway, while working on this course, when I took a break I tended to watch television.

I don’t watch television that much but my neighbors gifted me with a little flat screen TV – so I bought an antenna and again can watch some non-cable stuff.

First thing I realized was why I hate TV.

I really do hate the medical ads.

I’ve written about them before in the context of we have a pill for everything because no matter what’s “wrong” with you there’s a pill – and of course we at big pharma tell you what’s “wrong” even if it’s a normal human behavior like peeing.

ARGH!!!!!

But I digress -which is easy when big pharma is on my mind.

Anyway – while listening to [and not actually viewing] the ads, I realized that the tone of speech, the music, and the way the whole ad unfolds, actually raises one’s anxiety level and increases one’s stress!

I guess it was designed that way by the admen to send you screaming to your physician saying

I want that pill!

Whatever it is!

I want it!!

SIGH – so miss the days of TV when pills were not allowed to be advertised.

Now they are and they have created a whole slew of problems.

More about those at another time.

Thoughts? Comments?

Thank you!

02/23/2014
My 2nd Udemy Course Is The 1st One Done

Over a year ago, I started to put together an online class about Nutrition.

I told Udemy it could be ready in 6 weeks. I was a seasoned college professor and thought I could quickly put together the syllabus and start filling in the “lecture” content and do the videos. HA!

My first setback was when I discovered that my old Sony camcorder was not “good enough” anymore as it didn’t do HD recording.

So I had to figure how else was I going to do the video since the courses have to be video. I tried different things and kind of just gave up for a while because nothing was working.

Then I got a new [and much needed] computer with a good camera and microphone. But first I had to learn the new operating system as I went from a very old Mac to the newest one.

After fiddling with lights, etc. my decision was to do an “easy” PowerPoint presentation with voice over. Alas, it turns out there’s a glitch in the newest version of PowerPoint for Mac so that when you record a voice over on PowerPoint it won’t save the narration.

Having already bought Keynote – I decided – “okay I guess it’s time to learn Keynote” [but I didn’t really want to do that.] Luckily, someone teaching on Udemy did a course on Keynote and I learned how to use it and started back to work on the Nutrition course.

In the middle of all of this – and teaching an online course for a local college – I finally found the Lab puppy I had been looking for. Which, if you have ever done puppy things, meant house training, taking care of, and all those other puppy events.

[I look back now and wonder how did I ever manage to do the puppy stuff again. It had been many years since I had a puppy as the last dog I had was adopted when he was three.]

Working away at the course and other life stuff, my hard drive crashed. Yes it was a relatively new computer, only a few months old, and all was under warranty. It is a laptop – but getting it fixed meant having to keep going back to the Apple Store because there were constant glitches that prevented my being able to get online. And I really needed to be online because I had to download my storage from the cloud backup.

Finally, the entire operating system had to be re-downloaded and re-installed.

And in the midst of all of this, it turns out I had a puppy who did not like being left home alone – so each time I had to run down to the Apple Store I had to get a puppy sitter. Luckily my neighbors could keep her a few times, and a good friend of mine was in town visiting her son and she had the time to come over and puppy sit. I am so thankful for good friends…

During this time, the course on Nutrition kept growing because I realized I had more to say than I originally planned. And honestly, by then I got sick of the whole process because that course reminded me of the problems with the puppy and the computer.

And, because it was again nearing that time of year, I had to get ready to teach my other online class for the local college. I decided instead to do a very short Udemy course on stress. [Gee – I wonder where that topic came from.]

Even though it was to be a short course and it basically is, I do not have a linear brain and it’s very hard for me to follow a template or a pattern so formatting the course sections took longer then it would for most others.

And middle of all of this, I upgraded to the Mavericks operating system. And that meant there were updates to most everything on my computer including Keynote. ARGHHHHHHHHH

I’m not even getting into weather related issues, my ability to procrastinate, or the death of a friend….

To make this rather long story much shorter, I basically decided I was just going to finish this thing, publish it, and see what happens!

I was literally getting sick and tired of working with Keynote, fiddling with having to make things kind of similar from lecture to lecture, and all of that – so I recorded stopped fiddling, recorded the slides with voiceover, exported into QuickTime, uploaded the files to Udemy, finished all the other little thingies like descriptions and all that and hit publish – basically without really reviewing the whole thing because I was that sick of it.

But it’s done…and I feel a sense of relief….

I had taken my own advice to Stop Stressing About Stress

And maybe, just maybe, I can get back to the 1^st course, the one on Nutrition…..

12/31/2013
6 Down; 6 To Go

It is the 1st day of the last 6 months of the year.

What have you gotten done?

What will you do with the next 6 months?

In North America we are into summer and for many of us it is stifling hot….

But don’t let the weather determine your goals – summer is a good time to keep working on whatever you were working on…refine it, add to it, finish it. Sell it! Make money for your business!!

If, like me, you are a daylight person, the added hours of sunshine mean added hours to get things done….

Stay cool! Stay focused!

Are you more [or less] productive in the summer?

Comments?

07/01/2013
In Honor of Labor Day

On Facebook this morning – I posted:

Seems I posted this last year [according to FB] but it's worth a repeat!

This is Labor Day weekend – take some time to think about what the Labor movement brought to all workers! Quaint ideas like living wages, overtime and 40 hour work weeks.

After reading and responding to some of the comments, I had this thought:

What if this coming Labor Day were to be our last one ever?

It’s not hard to imagine this scenario with all the newly-minted Republican governors trying to eliminate labor benefits – and with many R’s trying to eliminate unions in general.

Caveat: I have mixed feelings about Unions myself. I’ve never belonged to one but my father was a strong union person and I was the Staff Attorney for a major union in Washington, D.C. Working inside is like the adage about watching sausage being made. It left me with more negatives than positives.

But – I have many many friends who are strong labor organizers, members and/or advocates of all things that I also advocate for and so I stand by unions.

Yet we have now come to a time where too many are not only demonizing unions, they are calling for the turning back of all that unions and the labor movement have accomplished over time.

So let’s do the imagining of this as the last Labor Day in the USA.

Minimum wages? Gone! You get paid what your boss or business owner feels like paying you. Don’t like it? Go find another job!

40-hour workweek with time and a half for over time? HA! You work as long as your boss wants you to at your now-less-than-minimum-wages. For all the hours you work.

Vacation time or sick leave? Nope! Get sick? Don’t get paid. Vacation? You lazy bum – you are fired!

Safe conditions at work? You wuss. You’ll do as we say – and stop asking for safety materials or safe conditions. Man up or be fired!

Got hurt at work? Sorry but you just lost your job since you had to take time off.

Insurance? Another wussy idea! Don’t get sick or hurt and you will be fine. Family has medical issues? Work more hours or send your kids out to get a job. We’ve eliminated all child labor laws and changed the laws regarding schooling too. They can go to work for as many hours as they can – at a lower wage than you make.

Pensions? Retirement funds? We aren’t gift horses. Our shareholders need that money more than you do. Save up for your own retirement or better yet – work until you die!

Social Security? We’re working on eliminating that as well. Can’t have all you workers draining our finances because you aren’t capable of saving on your salary. Find a way to cut your own expenses or get 2nd and 3rd jobs! Stop being so lazy!

Unimaginable? Not really.
Stoppable? Only if we elect to office those who are progressive and people-oriented.

The choices are ours – you get what you vote for!

Comments? Thank you!

Have a great Labor Day Weekend

PS – I'd normally put this on my political blog but postings there won't save 🙂

09/02/2011
Are You a Non-linear in a Linear World?

Do you, like this child, march to your own drum?

Are you often seen as a square peg in a round hole?

Are you thinking of yourself as ADD or ADHD?

STOP! Think again!

It may just be that you have a non-linear mind!!

If you find yourself asking asking ”What is a non-linear mind?” – you are probably in that super majority of people who have a linear mind.

And if you are linear – you may not really understand what it is like to not be one of the linear minded people.

But – that small percent of us who are non-linear minded do “get it.”

We non-linears even understand that you “do not get it.”

What is a non-linear mind? It’s a mind that is constantly in motion – scanning, thinking, creating, jumping from point <a> to point <h> without seeming to pass through points b to g.

[We non-linear people could, at some later time, fill you in on the b through g parts – we just don’t see a need to include it in the conversation.]

Conversations between two or more non-linear minded people may sound bizarre to the linear minded. The talking may seem confused, disconnected and on several topics at the same time and many or all may be speaking simultaneously. Yet the non-linear people having the conversation understand each other very well.

Why are some of us non-linear? It’s probably genetic but, like most development, it can be influenced by one’s environment. Because we live in a linear society we are more often exposed to that type of thought. And in our culture – we also have a notion that children who display the above listed non-linear qualities are ADD/ADHD.

And so our parents and teachers behave toward us in ways they think are best and try to get us to act like “everyone else” and to not be so “unfocused.” Or if you are a non-linear child, you may just get medicated.

Other aspects of being non-linear are that we can get lost in books and the Internet as it is ALL so interesting. We may not finish all our projects because something more interesting comes along and we may not follow a secure career path or have a major interest in retirement funds and pensions.

Some, usually the linear-minded, see the above as negative aspects of non-linearity. But the world is changing and is beginning to function in a more non-linear fashion. We are beginning to recognize major brain/thought differences and we are no longer so quick to label one type of thinking as “good” and another as “not-so-good.”

We each encompass linear and non-linear aspects – and the non-linear creativity and entrepreneurship in all of us should be encouraged! Especially in children!

Let your non-linear mind be free!
Go – be creative – the world is waiting for YOUR non-linearity!

Thoughts? Comments? Thank you.

07/19/2011
Rocking the dock!

My friend and neighbor threw a 60th birthday bash for her hubby and the neighborhood was invited – plus many of their friends and family.

Karaoke From Hell played for 6 [or more hours] while we sang, danced, drank, ate and had fun – way late into the evening…

And in case you are wondering: No – we never fall in the river – though we would have gone swimming if the water were not so cold.

The band set up on one deck and the food, liquids, chairs and tables were set up across what we call our lagoon or backyard and our partying started even before band had set up!!.

[The moorage was very strangely quiet on Sunday.]

We have frequent potlucks and parties in the neighborhood but this bash outdid all of those and will go down in the annals of Bridgeton.

Enjoy the movie: see my neighbors, friends and moorage and rock to the music!

PS – my house is seen at about 1:14

Comments? Thank you.

07/18/2011