Leaves

I firmly believe that leaves belong on trees. When they end up on the lawn, that means 2 things. One is that winter isn’t far away. The other is that I have to do something with them. So, rather than gather them and toss them over the fence, this year we decided to clean them up.

Like any other kids, mine like to make a big leaf pile. Fortunately they are old enough rake and use the leaf blower, so that means less work for Dad. When they were done, I chopped them up with the mower and bagged them. I see lots of people bagging without chopping, and I guess that’s up to them, but it seems inefficient to me.

After chopping, which takes only a few minutes, they don’t blow around as much. Wind is the enemy. Also, they take less space and fewer bags!

In past years, I’ve spread the leaves around the garden and mulched in my roses for winter. I’ll probably do that with the next batch next weekend.

It’s hard to believe that that big pile fit into two bags! Granted, most were dry silver maple leaves. I don’t know that I would have had the same success with wet Norway maple or oak leaves.

More Ideas

None of these are original. All were received in an email and I thought they would make a nice addition to my Ideas post.

Avoid cutting yourself when slicing vegetables by getting someone-else to hold them while you chop.

Avoid arguments with the Mrs. about lifting the toilet seat by using the sink.

For high-blood-pressure sufferers, simply cut yourself and bleed for a few minutes, thus reducing the pressure in your veins. Remember to use a timer.

A mouse trap placed on top of your alarm clock will prevent you from rolling over and going back to sleep after you’ve hit the “Snooze” button.

If you have a bad cough, take a large dose of laxatives. Then you’ll be afraid to cough.

You need only two tools in life: WD-40, and duct tape. If it doesn’t move and should, use the WD-40. If it shouldn’t move and does, use the duct tape.

If you can’t fix it with a hammer, you’ve obviously got an electrical problem.

Ideas

My kids don’t like a lot of my ideas. Well, I can tell you I do get a lot of ideas. I can also tell you that not all of them are GOOD ideas. But, Linus Pauling said, “The best way to get a good idea is to get a lot of ideas.” That’s why brainstorming sessions are so effective.

So…here are some…ideas. You be the judge.

Since we turn off the lights when we leave a room, I figure why not turn off the TV during commercials?

Likewise, when at  a red light, why keep the engine running? Just shut it off and save some gas…and the planet, of course.

Reuse dental floss and coffee filters.

TV and water used to be free. Now we pay for cable and buy water in bottles. Last week a salesman came in to my business to sell me a new concept. He suggested I could save the hassle and cost of the jugs for the water cooler by using their new product that uses no bottles! They hook up a water line and fresh cool water comes out! No bottles! I told him I’ve already got one of those.

Okay, one more idea, but I will not accept credit, except for bringing it to your attention.

http://www.landscapeonline.com/research/article/7840

Office Space in Glenview

If you know anyone looking, we have some space available in our building on Waukegan Rd. in Glenview, IL.

Click here for listing.

Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’ into the future….

Just read a really great blog entry by college friend and fraternity brother Howard Getson. Take a look: Click here.

Just Thinking…

I was doing some thinking. Do you?

“I think therefore I am.” – René Descartes

“Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too.” – Voltaire

“Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one’s thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world.” – von Goethe

“A man who does not think for himself does not think at all.” – Oscar Wilde

“No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.” Voltaire

“The world we have created is a product of our thinking.” -Albert Einstein

“What luck for rulers, that men do not think.” Adolf Hitler

And one of my favorites: Thinking As A Hobby by William Golding. Download at MS Word here.

“Please consider your commitment to our environment before printing this email”

This tag line appears at the bottom of a lot of emails I get. Maybe you’ve noticed it too.

A few observations:

• There are many people who prefer to read printed words rather than those on a screen. Or they would rather sit in a comfortable chair to read, so they print many of their longer emails to read later. By the time the get to the tagline….too late! How about make it your first line?
• I thought that recycling saves the planet??? If I don’t print, I don’t have anything to recycle. Hmmmm…. a conundrum. Probably better to print, you know, just to be safe.
• Have you seen Google’s new service?

Speechless

I’m not quite sure what to say, other than “Wow!”

Teleseminar

On September 23 and 24, I participated in a teleseminar hosted by Chris Heiler of LandscapeLeadership.com. If you are interested in downloading the recordings, click here. It was an interesting experience and an opportunity to meet Jeffrey Scott. Our topic for the first night was “Understanding The Value of Design.” The second night was entitled “Surviving in a Struggling Economy.”

Over the course of the two nights we discussed a number of things. One that is a hot spot for many landscape designers is that of charging design fees. Can you charge them? How much? Do you rebate? All tough questions with no black and white answers.

For the majority of my professional life, I have charged a pretty healthy design fee, at least compared with other design/build companies. But it was never enough to fully cover the time spent. We never rebated. It’s a matter of principle. But it’s also more complicated than that. It will take several blog entries to cover.

As a small company, doing fairly complicated projects, we couldn’t whip out a decent design in an hour or two. When you have 30, 40, 50, 60 or more hours in a design, you can’t afford to give it away. But how much can you charge? That’s a tough one. If you are design/build, the goal is to build it. There is a pain threshold that cannot be ignored. If you do, sure, you may get your design fee, but you may alienate the client and lose the installation. At least that’s the way I view it.

It’s not a black and white issue, and there are some creative ways to go about putting a value on your time, getting a commitment from your client, and maintaining a professional image. More later.

More Tech Talk

I love my new iPhone. Mostly. I migrated from a Treo 650,  which is a pretty big change.  Sort of.  I’ve been using Palm OS PDAs for 10 years and been through at least 5 different devices. Since I made the commitment, the PDA and its desktop counterpart(s) have run my life, both personally and professionally. Suffice it to say there were a few adjustments when making the switch. 

Anyway, I’m really liking this thing. For the most part. Just this week I think I’ve solved two of my biggest complaints. First is that the iPhone lacks a To Do list. That’s an issue for me, as I use the  To Do List not only for tasks, but also as a place to organize thoughts. Because a task can be “undated,” I can, for example, jot down ideas for my next newsletter, or blog entry. Enter Toodledo. Huh? Check it out. It’s really cool. It does a ton more than task management too. 

At my day job, I keep track of my personal calendar, email, etc. through Google’s Gmail and Calendar. With the Treo, I kept my calendar in sync with Gcal, using a really neat service provided by Goosync. Goosync will allow pretty much any cell phone with a calendar to sync wirelessly with Google’s calendar and contacts. Goosync has promised iPhone support very soon, so when that’s up and running, I’m good to go.  Also, Toodledo interacts nicely with Gcal. Oh, and Jott will allow me to record on the iPhone with my voice, transcribe what I say to text, and automagically add it to Toodledo. VERY NICE for someone like me who gets a lot of ideas when driving. 

I’m excited to finally have this part of my life back in order. I’ve had the iPhone for a month or so and been looking for solutions. Some general comments about the phone: The built-in GPS has come in really handy. The 3G network is a bit spotty in areas where I drive, but when it’s available, it’s fast. Also, the phone seamlessly switches among the various wi-fi networks I use and the 3G service. The keyboard took some getting used to, but I’m liking it now. The 3rd party apps are pretty cool. The screen is really crisp and bright enough to see in bright sunlight. On the “needs improvement” side, it seems odd to me that there is no copy/paste function. The calendar is a bit linear for me and feels like a step backward from Palm. Bluetooth works only with headsets. And the battery life is a little suspect and inconsistent. However, considering this is only the 2nd generation of a product that is just over a year old, it will be exciting to see what it can do down the road.