Confessions of an ADD'er Part 1: Forgetful Jones

Author's Note: An "ADD'er" is a person with Attention Deficit Disorder. These essays are from my experiences as an adult with ADD.

Hello.

It's very nice to meet you. What was your name again? Please don't be offended; I'm terrible with names. You see, the moment that you tell me your name, I've got it. It's there, right in front of my brain. And in the next instant - the next microsecond of time - it's gone. Gone like it never existed. Gone like we never even met.

I've read that I should use memorization techniques like repeating your name back to you as I shake your hand. I do.  I'll even repeat your name to myself a few times in my head as we make polite conversation, but the polite conversation is sabotaging my efforts to remember your name. I'll say your name to myself as I'm walking away from you. But the instant my attention gets drawn to another person or thing, your name is as good as gone.

But sure, you say, lots of people have trouble memorizing names. You may even have trouble memorizing names yourself. And you'd be right. But we've now reached the spot where “normal” stops, because this isn't limited to just names. It also includes directions. How to get to the shopping mall? Easy. It's down this road to Front street, turn left, then go about a mile and a half and turn right on Elm. You can't miss it. Only I will miss it  because as you're telling me the directions, they are entering a bottomless pit of information. The moment you stop talking, it's as if you never even opened your mouth. Why I even bothered asking you in the first place is a mystery.

The problem also exists with instructions. My boss would tell me a list of things to do. Nothing extravagant; just three simple tasks. Thing one, thing two and thing three. By the time thing three leaves his mouth, thing one is already hopelessly lost and thing two is in the process of vanishing. I make a desperate mental effort to recover thing one and hang onto thing two, which means that I never even hear him say thing three. I walk out of his office, confident that I haven't a clue as to what he wanted me to do, and if I just started working for the company, I have no idea what his name is.

Ever have a moment where you get up  and go to another room to do something or get something and then forget what it was you were doing? Normal, right? Sure. Only to me it happens over 70% of the time, and I don't even have to leave the room for it to happen. I don't even have to get up. I'll know that I was going to do something, but the something has vanished. I'll open the pantry to get a teabag -- with my teacup in my hand -- and stand in front of the pantry like a complete idiot while I try to remember what it was I was doing. The phrase that most often leaves my mouth is, “Okay, what am I doing?” I utter that phrase nearly a dozen times a day.

"Honey-Do" lists? Gone. Very Important Things that I MUST do? A fuzzy haze. What happened yesterday, the day before or the week before? You're kidding, right? I almost never know what day of the week it is, and my perception of time either drags like watching the second hand tick by in school while waiting for dismissal, or zooms by so fast that I wonder why it's getting dark so early.

I'm not saying that I forget everything, because I don't. But unless it has a particularly strong meaning or fascination to me, or it was a particularly strong stimulus, it may as well never have happened. The memory is in there. I know it is because if I sit myself down and make myself think -- hard -- I can catch a glimpse of what it is I'm trying to remember. Not the entire memory; just little flashes that pop in and out of my head.

I can generally remember things I have to do while I'm doing them, but only while I'm concentrating on doing those things. Consequently, I HATE being disturbed or distracted from what I'm trying to accomplish because I know that once I stop working on a task to do something else, it's extremely hard to go back to my stopping point because I will have forgotten where I was.

Writing things down certainly helps, but unless I write down everything, including what it is I'm writing down, why its important and what I need to do with this tidbit of information, its almost useless to me. A phone number and a name is useless. I need a phone number, a name, who this person is, when and why I need to call them. Experts say that writing things down helps you remember them because it makes you think about it multiple times, which is great, but I tend to write things down so I won't have to rely on my memory. Once it's written down, it vanishes from my head.

I used to carry around a little notepad so I could jot stuff down as necessary. It worked out rather well, but I stopped using it because handwriting is such a chore. It's also dreadfully slow; especially when you add in the need to include context information. I would frequently forget the details of what I was writing down as I wrote it, simply because it was taking so long. Having a PDA helped out quite a bit, as it allowed me to quickly jot things down and organize the information. Sadly, PDAs have lost their fashion-trend status and are no longer manufactured. You either have to spend lots of money on a "smartphone," or get a cheap "digital organizer" with much less functionality. My current phone has note-taking capabilities, but it's limited to 140 characters per note - the size of a text message or Tweet. And I can't organize the information - which makes it useless. Very handy for grocery lists, though. . .

Forgetfulness is just the tip of the iceberg that is my daily ADD experience. There are many other challenges and frustrations that I and other ADD'ers deal with every single day.  I'll go into those experiences in future "Confessions of an ADD'er." Up next: The Attention Deficit part of ADD.

Your Computer Is Dead.

The computer that many of you are reading this post on is astounding in it's sheer power; able to do things undreamed of only 30 years ago. It can do hundreds of different things in the blink of an eye. It's a testament to all of the hard work done by thousands of engineers and programmers over decades of development.

It is also a piece of junk.

You may already be saying this about your old desktop or slow laptop, but that's not what I'm talking about. Modern computers are Jacks-of-All Trades; able to do hundreds of different things reasonably well. Most users, however, only use their computers for a handful of basic things: Web, email, photos, Facebook, music and general office duties. That means that the majority of the time, all of that horsepower and most of the programs on your computer go unused. (We're talking about the 80% of everyday computer users here; not gamers, programmers, tinkerers or other enthusiasts.)

Operating systems and programs have become bloated and unwieldy. A modern Windows or Macintosh computer needs a minimum of 2GB of RAM to run without bogging down and a minimum 4GB to really make things smooth. A default install of Windows 7 or Mac OS X takes up an astonishing 7GB of hard drive space.

With all of this power and bloat, we still do basically the same things we did with our computers 10 or even 15 years ago, and we don't do them any faster than we did back then.

Why? Because everything is too damn confusing.

It's not that the computer can't do it - its that after 30 years of innovation, the way we interact with our computers is still backwards; we train ourselves to think like the computer instead of the computer thinking like we do. The point-and-click interface introduced back in the 1980s is still the standard that we use today. There are too many menus and too many options. The filing systems for our data are too confusing to navigate without help.

Apple was one of the first companies to recognize this dilemma, and in 2007 they came up with a much simpler interface for use on the iPhone; a design philosophy that was quickly copied by others in the industry, the latest of which is Google's new Nexus One smartphone.

Microsoft also made an attempt to simplify things back in November of 2007 with their new Office suite. It featured a "ribbon" interface that did away with dozens of pull-down menu options. Although confusing at first, the new "ribbon" interface is actually easier and more intuitive.

The "smartphone" is leading the way in human interface design. Portability and ease-of-use are the new trends in computing, and on January 28, 2010, Apple introduced a device that will ultimately change everything.

That device, of course, is Apple's new iPad. At first glance it appears as nothing more than an oversized iPhone, and this is where everyone gets it wrong. You see, its not about the iPad at all; it's about the iPad's operating system and user interface.

Pull-down menus? Gone. Point-and-click mouse interface? Gone. A bewildering array of options and settings? Gone. File system with folders inside of folders inside of folders? Gone. Sluggish performance with a bloated OS and programs? Gone.

This device is going to re-define how we do our everyday computing tasks. Every function of this device can be achieved with the touch of your fingers. It is brilliant in its simplicity. People who have no idea how to operate their computers can pick up this device and figure it out in a matter of minutes. No instruction manual needed. Touch, swipe, squeeze, stretch, twist and tap - all things that we do with our fingers every single day.

If you haven't already seen it, watch the keynote presentation where the iPad is introduced. Watch the whole thing if you want, but I really want you to skip right to 57:50, where Phil Schiller demonstrates Apple's iWork office suite. This is where the true brilliance of the interface is revealed. Without a mouse or keyboard, Phil Schiller edits a document, a spreadsheet and a presentation. Touch, swipe, squeeze, stretch, twist and tap. That's it. No pull-down menus, no confusing options or settings, no key combinations to memorize. Everything happens instantly.

The iPad is not the end-all be-all device of the future. It is the beginning of what's coming: interfaces that are clean and simple, commands that are intuitive, controls that are effortless. Watch as both Windows and Mac OS are transformed in the coming years to this new paradigm. Sure, there will still be traditional desktops and laptops for people who really need them, but for everyone else, this is going to be the future.

I, for one, can't wait.

Fear Strikes Again

As the photo on the right clearly shows, the debate about healthcare reform has a long, long way to go.

What amazes me is that up until the moment photo was taken, nobody bothered to tell that poor chap that his sign makes absolutely no sense. Did anyone bother to read his sign, or did the rest of the protesters he was with actually think his sign made sense?

Serious intellectual debate over healthcare cannot take place when we have people like the man in the photo believing that "government" needs to get out of his Medicare. Without education, we cannot make informed decisions. This unfortunate man was probably told by his friends and neighbors that the "government" was going to mess up his Medicare, and instead of doing a little research, fell victim to fear mongering.

I see signs like this from people protesting all across the country - people who are afraid of what they don't understand. Instead of educating themselves, they lash out in anger. The talking heads on TV and radio are aware of this, and they do their best to stir up the pot by twisting the truth, spreading rumors and telling outright lies. We the people have been told what to think and how to feel by these morons, and we hang on their every word - unable or unwilling to question what comes out of their mouths.

Healthcare is a big deal. The healthcare bills moving through congress right now have the potential to affect every single American for the rest of their lives. Healthcare should be argued, discussed, lampooned, inspected, rewritten and amended. It is the responsibility of every American citizen to educate themselves - not from political talking heads, neighbors, pastors or friends, but from non-partisan independent sources. Think about who the winners and losers are in the current system, and how that will change under the proposed new one. See how other countries are running their health care systems and think about what would work here and what wouldn't - and why. And don't just think about yourself - think about how the current and proposed systems affect your friends, neighbors, co-workers, family and community.

Both Democrats and Republicans have told half-truths and made misleading statements in order to win your support. Dig through the fluff and rhetoric to get to the truth. There are many web sites that thoroughly fact-check statements made by politicians. There are also independent news organizations in print and online that will give you the facts without putting a political spin on the news.

Don't be that dude in the photo. Think.

Photo credit: reconstitution.us

Salon.com agrees with me: Your shampoo is dangerous

Salon's Bill Bunn explores the toxic stew of chemicals that we put on our hair and skin on a daily basis.

"When a man rinses his hair, all the ingredients wash down the drain, carrying the grease to boot. And as one man's shampoo travels down the pipe, it meets up with a woman's, and so on, and so on, and so on. At least 350 million gallons of shampoo and its unregulated ingredients flow down U.S. drains every year. And many of these chemicals flow straight into our freshwater systems."

Ties in rather nicely with my previous post about body washes.

Photo Credit: Salon.com

Made in China

When I was a kid, China was this far-away place that gave us things like Chinese food and firecrackers. If you dug a hole deep enough, so the cartoon went, you'd end up there. Little did I know that it was China who was digging the hole - a hole big enough to swallow the entire United States.

Have a look around your home; chances are very good that well over 70% of the household items you see are made in China. Your coffee maker, travel mug, microwave, blender, steak knives, panini sandwich press, toaster oven, kitchen table & chairs, television, TV stand, DVD player, stereo, bookcase, office desk & chair, computer, monitor, speakers, printer, wi-fi router, fax machine, portable heater, lamp, bedspread, sheets, pillows, soap dispenser, toothbrush, hair brush, broom, mop, vacuum cleaner, hand tools, power tools, light bulbs, outdoor playset, patio furniture, string trimmer and Christmas lights were probably all made in China. And that is just the tip of the iceberg.

I recently started work on a Murphy bed for the guest room in our home. I went to the local Home Depot and purchased some pricey cabinet-grade birch plywood to construct the bed. Stamped on each 4 x 8 sheet: "Made In China." Made in China. Can someone explain to me how it could possibly be cheaper to produce and ship plywood halfway around the world than to just make it here in the U.S.?

I was stunned. I took a short walk around the store and picked up random items off of the shelves. Sure enough - over 70% of the items I picked up were made in China. In Home Depot. The new toilet I just purchased? China. The new carpenter's square? China.

Understand that I have nothing against China or the Chinese people. I am glad that they are pulling themselves out of "third world" status and that fewer and fewer Chinese people live in abject poverty. They are becoming a global economic powerhouse - and that's good for them. But when I look around at the nearly 30,000,000 people out of work in the United States (myself included), I get a nagging feeling that something is very wrong here.

America imported nearly 338 billion dollars worth of goods in 2008. From China. How much did we export to China? Close to 70 billion. That's 268 billion American dollars flowing out of the country and into Chinese pockets.

But America has a service-sector economy you say. You're right. We have transitioned away from manufacturing to financial, electronic, medical and other services. And who honestly wants to work in a plant that manufactures soap dispensers? The pay would be well below minimum wage; well below what anyone could live on. But in our quest to get the most value for our dollar, we have driven American manufacturers out of business and put our fellow Americans out of work. When faced with a choice, we will usually go with the cheaper Chinese made product over a more expensive American made one. A lot of the time, the choice is made for us without our knowledge by corporate buyers who are driven to get the cheapest possible price.

We are perpetuating our own economic slump by buying cheap foreign goods. The estimated U.S. budget deficit for 2009 is 12 trillion dollars. That's $12,000,000,000,000. Who holds the majority of that debt? China.

This is not a problem that our government can fix. This is a problem that we created and that we need to solve.

So, I'm issuing a challenge to every single person in the country: next time you go to pick up that bookcase at Walmart or that set of steak knives from Target or that tape measure from Lowes, check the box to see where it came from before you purchase it. Where possible, spend the few extra dollars on the American made product. That goes for everything from toothpicks to automobiles. There are, of course, some things that America simply doesn't manufacture, and that's fine. But be conscious of your purchases. Put down that Chinese made cordless screwdriver and pick up the American made one. Will it cost more? Perhaps, but you're keeping American money in the pockets of Americans, who can then use it to invest in American industry, helping to pull us out of this recession.

When we support each other, everyone wins.


Photo Credit: Gary Tamin

Blog Action Day: Climate Change

Blog Action Day is an annual event that unites the world's bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day. This year's issue: Climate Change.

There has been a LOT of media attention on climate change recently. You've got the scientists and environmentalists shouting that it may already be too late to prevent ecological disasters, while climate change "deniers" are all saying it's a big hoax designed to scare people, raise taxes and put citizens out of work.

I tend to view the issue from a "human" point of view. We all live in a "closed" ecosystem. Everything that we put into the air, water or earth will eventually affect us in some fashion. It doesn't just "go away." The burning of fossil fuels for energy puts out tens of millions of tons of deadly poisons into our air, including.

• Sulphur Dioxide
• Nitrogen Dioxide
• Carbon Monoxide
• Ozone
• Benzene
• Lead
• Mercury
• Methane
• Benzoprene
• Sulfur Hexaflouride
• Particulate Matter

The above list is by no means complete. There are literally dozens of other deadly compounds released by the simple act of burning a fossil fuel.

Don't think for a second that these deadly compounds simply float away and magically disappear. On the contrary, they are floating around in your body right now. You inhale them with every breath and eat them with every bite of food. In trace amounts, to be sure, but they are there nonetheless.

Don't believe me? Look at the increasing rates of asthma, autism, bronchitis, COPD, allergies, heart disease, stroke and other ailments.

The following is from the American Heart Association's information on particulate matter - just one of the dozens of pollutants released:

"The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has declared that "tens of thousands of people die each year from breathing tiny particles in the environment." A recent report released by the nonprofit Health Effects Institute in Cambridge, Mass., agrees with the EPA assessment. . . This finding is similar to those of other studies throughout the world. . .The combined long-term effect of studies in several large cities predicts 60,000 deaths each year caused by particulate matter."

So even if you think that the whole global warming thing is bunk, there is no denying that what we are putting into our atmosphere is killing us all - and that's not just people. That includes every living thing on the planet that we depend on to keep us alive.

It's time to stop suckling the teat of fossil fuels - all of them. The oil and coal companies won't do it because they've invested billions in the current technology and there's still too much money to be made. It's up to every one of us to demand a change from "dirty" energy to clean renewable energy.

If global warming is real, then we'll have dodged a bullet. But even if it isn't real, we'll have saved our own lives.

PHOTO CREDIT: Hans Thoursie

Did Glenn Beck Rape and Murder a Woman in 1990?

Glenn Beck's lawyers are not laughing. Neither, I'm sure, is Glenn Beck. But tens of thousands of people are having a laugh at the rumor site, DidGlennBeckRapeAndMurderAYoungGirlIn1990.com.
The anonymous author of the site says that TV loudmouth Glenn Beck uses tactics like this to spread lies and misinformation. And what's good for the goose, as they say, is good for the gander. Other websites have picked up on the site's popularity, and the alleged "rumor" has spread like wildfire.

Glenn Beck is famous for his "Obama is a racist" remarks, and ran a successful smear campaign against the President's "green jobs" advisor, Van Jones by using unscientific cause-effect logic, as well as spouting frightening allegations of communism. He famously had a "nervous breakdown" on national television because he was "frightened" about where the country was headed.

As proof of the rape allegation, a number of websites have popped up with "evidence" of Glenn Beck's wrongdoing, one even hosting a police report and news clipping showing that, indeed in 1990, a person named Glenn Beck did, in fact, rape someone in Connecticut in 1990 where Glenn Beck happened to be working at the time.

Is the rumor true? Glenn Beck isn't talking, and the DidGlennBeckRapeAndMurderAYoungGirlIn1990.com website capitalizes on this by asking him to come forward and tell the truth about the rumors. Because as we all know, a lack of a denial can be just as good as an admission - at least it is to Glenn Beck.