Mindconnection eNL, 2010-05-09

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Either way tends not to end all that well.

Here's how to solve really tough problems.

If you're in the middle of a perplexing problem and can't make headway, stop. Then, decide on a time when you will return to it. I use my Outlook calendar for this rescheduling purpose. Use what works for you, but make a definite time. This time slot needs to be no longer than 30 minutes.

When the scheduled time arrives, don't immediately work at a solution. Instead, survey the problem. Try to get a feel for things:

• Review the facts as to why this is a problem.
• Restate the problem.
• List any contributing problems or issues.
• Quickly identify any resources you may use.
• Stop.
• Go do something else.

That's it. Now, you may be thinking you didn't get anywhere. But if you did the previous step correctly, you've just put your subconscious to work on the solution.

I use this technique all the time. Often, I go to bed with no solution and then awake with the solution simply given to me. Other times, the solution just pops into my mind during one of the quiet moments I set aside throughout the day (most days).

Occasionally, this technique doesn't produce fruit without further effort. So, I pick a time when I'm at or near my peak, shut out everything else (unplug the phone, for example), and start working on the problem. Only this time, it seems so much easier.

Yes, let's limit politicians to two terms: one in office, one in jail. This is the current policy for Illinois governors.

Think about the amount of crime that would be reduced if we just made politicians live under the same laws as we do. Federal spending would drop dramatically, without all those folks on the payrolls of Big Pharma and other special interests.

How can we make this happen? Your first step is to become informed. Your representatives in Washington have this information. Of course, I don't mean the folks who pretend to get elected. I mean folks who actually represent you instead of steal from you: the National Taxpayers Union, www.ntu.org.

Once you are a member of that rare class of citizen (informed), then you can just follow the money. Identify the high-spenders, and where there's the smoke of high spending you can bet there's the fire of rampant corruption. Pick a crook, and let others know how much stealing that person is engaged in (blogging is now very popular for this purpose).

You really can't get the crook indicted for anything. At the state level, that would be the AG who does that. At the federal level, getting someone to be arrested for criminal behavior seems to be almost impossible. Look at our Secretary of the Treasury and our Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, for example. But miracles do happen. Put the pressure on, and maybe some cleaning up will happen.

If the crook you pick misrepresents your state or CONgressional District, you might be able to influence that person to steal less in the future. Here's how:

1. Write a three-paragraph letter. The first paragraph identifies who you are (a constituent of that state or district, your name, physical address, etc.). The second paragraph identifies the bill you want voted down (be as specific as possible). The closing paragraph says why ("The nation's debt is unacceptably high, this bill serves no real purpose, and killing this bill helps us avoid spending money we can't afford to spend").
    
2. Review your letter to ensure it's short, factual, short, clear, short, and concise. Also, make sure it's short.
    
3. Send it via your misrepresentative's online submittal form. Do not send paper. Since the Anthrax crap of 2001, members of CONgress don't get paper letters for usually several months. And they really can't do anything with paper.

Yes, even members of CONgress occasionally defer to the wishes of the masses. They would defer more, if we could get that Illinois governor style of term limits made into Standard Operating Policy. If we don't speak up, that will never happen. So, speak up!

Usually, they are looking for a special diet or a special supplement. We do sell some great fatburners that help, but if you keep overloading on the calories they aren't going to make you slim.

While I normally do not have much good to say about special "diets," there is one that works remarkably well. I'm half German and half Italian, so this is a diet I know a lot about. It's called the Italian Pasta Diet.

Here's how it works:

1. You walka pasta da bakery.
2. You walka pasta da candy store.
3. You walka pasta da ice cream shop.
4.  You walka pasta da table and fridge.

You will lose fat!

As regular readers know, I was 48 years old in the picture (above, right), taken in December 2008. I don't diet down for summer. I don't have good genes for maintaining a lean body, either. I really have to be conscientious and disciplined about it. That doesn't mean I suffer, eat bland foods, or starve myself.

At www.supplecity.com, you'll find plenty of informative, authoritative articles on maintaining a lean, strong physique. It has nothing to do with long workouts or impossible to maintain diets. In fact:

• The best workouts are short and intense.
• A good diet contains far more flavors and satisfaction than the typical American diet.

Nor does it mean being hungry all the time (you are less hungry on six small meals a day than three large ones), being weak from hunger (on a proper dietary regimen, you will have much more energy than otherwise), or "giving up pleasures" (I have no idea where this concept comes from, unless a person considers being sick a "pleasure").

Similarly, it is impossible for members of CONgress to spend us into outrageous debt with their eyes open. Give them an eye opener. Write to them and let them know you expect them to say NO to new spending and shut down those Pentagon contracts that suck away $21 million an hour while only 5% of those contracts result in anything useful to the military.

Some years ago, I took a long car trip. One of my travel limitations is I need e-mail access and laptop power. On this particular trip, I wanted to leave my laptop on so I wouldn't have to wait for it to boot up during a stop.

A great solution was an inverter. I also used it to charge a couple of other items. I set the inverter on the back seat floor, and had 120V power during the whole trip. It was really nice.

Mindconnection sells three power levels of inverter: 150W, 325W, and 600W.

This eNL is supported by sales from www.mindconnection.com. Please shop there, as appropriate.