With cyber attacks and stolen identities on the rise, your best line of defense is using strong passwords.  But if you’re like me, you forget your password as soon as you select it, and then you spend hours trying to remember it.  I used to keep my secret passwords in a Word document until I realized that anyone could find that on my computer by searching “password.”  UGH. So my IT guy recommended that I create unique passwords and store them in SafeInCloud, a secure password app.

Tips for Unique Passwords:

1. Use a different password for everything
2. Use long passwords: at least 8 characters – the longer the better!
3. Don’t use complete words
4. Use acronyms (abbreviation using initial letters of other words)
5. Replace certain letters with numbers or symbols
6. Don’t use your name, birthdates, pet’s or children’s names, company names

My IT guy once selected a password for our internet that seemed odd to me: 

Octopus+Lemon@de&Firecrackers

But he told me that it was good because it was really long, had upper and lower case letters, and numbers and symbols. So create unique passwords for every site, save them all in one place that is really secure, and don’t share passwords with anyone. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!

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I admire creative geniuses.

Back in the ‘70s, my very good friend Tim Niemier taught me how build a stereo cabinet.  It was a simple design – It held about 100 vinyl albums, my turn table, and receiver.  That was the first of over 100 furniture building projects that I constructed since then.

Just yesterday, I came across this photo of Tim’s first VW conversion.  I remember being so impressed that he added a whole camper to his little VW bug.  By adding little cabinets and clever and convenient doors and drawers, so began the beginning of Tim’s innovative designs.

He later designed the first sit-on-top kayak that became a best seller – the Ocean Kayak.

Why do people want to ban books?

In an era of instantaneous fact, images and videos, it seems odd that some people still ban books today.  A teen can flip on the TV and watch extreme violence and hear obscene profanity during prime time.  In a few keystrokes, they can watch porn and they can explore extreme points of view about any religion, the LGBTQ community, and people of color.  So why ban books that contain contents that are much more tame than you could find on the internet? Hmm.  Because it’s old school.

Time Magazine just published a comparison between 10 most banned books in 2001 and 2015. Many of these books were banned at times when religious groups were fueling propaganda with political fear-mongering in the news.  The main difference between the 2 time periods is that in 2001, books were banned because of sexual content, strong language, and drugs.  In 2015, the focus was more on sexual orientation (transgender, homosexuality) and religion (atheism, Islam).

One thing for sure: If you ban a book from the public, you’re going to increase interest in reading it.  Banning books is great for book sales. Here is the American Library Association’s list of most-challenged books of 2001 and 2015.

Most-challenged books of 2001:

1. Harry Potter, by J.K. Rowling
   Reasons: anti-family, occult/Satanism, religious viewpoint, violence
2. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
   Reasons: offensive language, racism, unsuited to age group, violence
3. The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
   Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, violence
4. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
   Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit
5. Summer of My German Soldier, by Bette Greene
   Reasons: offensive language, racism, sexually explicit
6. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
   Reasons: offensive language, unsuited to age group
7. Alice (series), by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
   Reasons: sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
8. Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous
   Reasons: drugs, offensive language, sexually explicit
9. Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers
   Reason: offensive language
10. Blood and Chocolate, by Annette Curtis Klause
    Reasons: sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

Most-challenged books of 2015:

1. Looking for Alaska, by John Green
   Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited for age group.
2. Fifty Shades of Grey, by E. L. James
   Reasons: Sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, and other (“poorly written,” “concerns that a group of teenagers will want to try it”).
3. I Am Jazz, by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings
   Reasons: Inaccurate, homosexuality, sex education, religious viewpoint, and unsuited for age group.
4. Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out, by Susan Kuklin
   Reasons: Anti-family, offensive language, homosexuality, sex education, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, unsuited for age group, and other (“wants to remove from collection to ward off complaints”).
5. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon
   Reasons: Offensive language, religious viewpoint, unsuited for age group, and other (“profanity and atheism”).
6. The Holy Bible
   Reasons: Religious viewpoint.
7. Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel
   Reasons: Violence and other (“graphic images”).
8. Habibi, by Craig Thompson
   Reasons: Nudity, sexually explicit, and unsuited for age group.
9. Nasreen’s Secret School: A True Story from Afghanistan, by Jeanette Winter
   Reasons: Religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group, and violence.
10. Two Boys Kissing, by David Levithan
    Reasons: Homosexuality and other (“condones public displays of affection”).

Read the Times Magazine story here.

Living in the Monterey Bay, just south of Silicon Valley and San Francisco, is arguably one of the best places to live on earth – as long as you don’t consider the ridiculous cost of housing.  I love having gorgeous views and being just minutes from the beaches and redwood forests.  But my husband Rob and I can afford to live in a huge house simply because we bought before the housing market skyrocketed.  For my kids today, it’s almost impossible to get into the housing market in our area.

Over the summer, I was surprised to hear that many young people couples are looking to buy homes with other couples.  By combining their cash, they can put down a nice sum for a deposit and their mortgages will be more reasonable to pay.  Many couples shared with me that buying a house with other couples would be less expensive than if each of them paid rent for studios or apartments in Silicon Valley or San Francisco.  If the Bay Area continues to be the Mecca that it has become, in a few years, these couples could sell their house and have enough capital to possibly buy their own homes.  Rob did that back in the 1970’s.  He bought a house with 2 other couples, and sold it a few years later.  Then, he and I bought a little house in Pleasure Point, and we kept upgrading until we bought the house we live in now in Santa Cruz County.

New millennial couples and even small families are finding that communal living creates a stable and supportive living environment.  By sharing cooking, cleaning, childcare, and eldercare, everyone benefits. It really does take a village to raise a child.  It can take off the strain of being the Jack of all Trades – something that families and couples today neither have the resources to support nor the expertise to handle on their own.  As our population continues to grow, this may be the wave of the future.

If you want to read more about communal living, read this article in The Atlantic, “The Hot New Millennial Housing Trend is a Repeat of the Middle Ages” 

What kind of people (or companies) prey on college students? Despicable people.

With student loans for college tuition as high as $250,000 for a bachelor’s degree, most students struggle with paying back their debt after college graduation.  So, many desperate students have become victims of scammers who promise to consolidate, reduce, or eliminate college debt.

What most people don’t know is that their loan service companies offer the same services to consolidate their loans and work with you to find a payment system that fits your budget, especially if you’re not working after graduation.  And your loan companies don’t charge a fee! The scammers use high-pressure sales techniques and charge $600 to $1,200 to guarantee results.  Then, the borrowers pay the scammers directly (bad idea!), and you guessed it, the scammers leave town with the money, leaving the borrower in even worse financial shape.

Be careful.  These scammers create websites that look like your loan company’s. They even use the Department of Education’s logos for endorsement.  Don’t be fooled! The federal government has programs that help you consolidate your debt, organize repayment plans, and even forgive loans depending on your situation.  It’s all based on your income and your career path.  If you aren’t working after graduation or you’re working in medicine, education, or other fields that need more people, you might be able to find loan forgiveness programs to reduce or eliminate your debt.

Contact certified student loan counselors at StudentLoanHelp.org or check out your options at http://www.consumerfinance.gov/paying-for-college/repay-student-debt/

Whether you’re preparing for a college admissions or job interview, your interviewer or the entire committee will judge you from your initial contact.  What does this mean? Your introductory cover letter that accompanies your CV or resume – YES, ALWAYS INCLUDE A WELL-WRITTEN COVER LETTER – can entice the readers and highlight your skills and accomplishments in ways that might be missed without one.  So don’t shoot quick texts or emails while setting up the interview.  Keep it professional with a positive spin. 

As I review hundreds of applications and resumes each year, I toss out applications that are sent without cover letters or letters that are incoherent.  If the applicant shows little regard for professionalism in applying for a job, it worries me to think how they will represent my programs in the future.  Likewise, when applicants show up wearing torn up jeans or revealing blouses, they start the interview with a mark against them.

But I find the most revealing information about the applicant as we chit chat BEFORE the interview.  Talking about the weather, the traffic, or the latest news gives me insight to their demeanor.  Is their glass half full or half empty?  I like to surround myself with Problem SOLVERS, not Negative Nancys! It’s easier to determine this during an informal conversation before the interview starts than when the interviewee is on their best behavior during the formal interview itself. 

My college-bound students even go so far as to clean their cars and actually practice getting in and out of their cars gracefully before their college interviews.  Yup!  As I coach them on winning over the interviewer, I tell my clients that their interview starts when they pull up to the interview parking location.  If they drive in late and panicked – possibly cutting off other drivers or parking in a handicapped space, the interviewer will probably take note of that.  The way they get out of their car and enter the building may also be viewed by the interviewer.  Applicants should take a deep breath, think of 3 positive things to say to break the ice and open their “pre-interview” conversation, and then open their car doors.  When the interviewer sees a happy face and a positive gait, it sets the stage for a good interview.

A Harvard Business School study just revealed that chatting before an interview offers rapport building that can help the applicant in the initial stages of the interview.  Check out the Harvard Business Review article here.  So whether you’re getting prepared to be interviewed or you’re setting up the structure for an interview, remember that your initial impressions will start way before the formal interview begins!

I find it disheartening to hear students tell me that they hate school or that their classes are boring.  It seems that education in America has moved away from teaching content with teachers who have a passion for the subjects that they teach.  When excellent teachers are forced to teach a prescribed volume of concepts from pre-approved textbooks within very specific parameters, these excellent teachers often become disenchanted as they go through the motions to deliver the material.  I’m talking about AP classes, again – sorry! 

When students have to memorize facts and master a certain writing style in order to receive high scores at the end of the school year, it kills curiosity and mastery.  Because of time constraints and required AP courses, students no longer learn how to write research papers.  ARGH! By writing comprehensive research papers, the students delve deep into a subject that they’re interested in and become utmost experts on the topics by the time they’re done crafting their many drafts.  They also learn how to decipher valuable references from unsubstantiated junk by reading volumes of reference books and articles. 

In this era where just about anything can be found instantaneously, it’s vital that students have the opportunity to actually delve deep into subjects.  It seems many young people get their news from Twitter and Facebook, which makes them the Jack of all Trades, Master of None.  So rather than focus on pre-set curriculum to pass pre-determined year-end exams, I’d like to see students given the opportunity to master skills and become experts in something.  I blogged about how top colleges have announced that they are looking for students who follow their passions and that they will no longer place value on taking 15 AP classes.

Let’s get our youth to do some introspection to find their unique gifts.  If we give them the time to explore and engage in interesting subject matter instead of brainwashing them with memorizing facts, we’ll see a new generation of students who will change the world.  

Birthdays are about being together. It’s not about parties or gifts – it’s getting off the treadmill and doing fun things that they normally don’t have time to do.  I turned 60 last weekend and planned a family getaway in Pismo.  After watching the girls plan Rob’s Surprise 60^th birthday party last year, I knew I had to come up with a plan before they started making plans for a similar-type celebration for me. Hint: I don’t like surprise parties! 

So we caravanned down to Pismo with good friends, and the girls and their friends met up with us.  We stayed in the same beautiful beach house that we’ve stayed in for 15 years.  After I cleaned the windows – okay, I’m a little eccentric – everyone appreciated being able to see the ocean and dunes. We played Super Deluxe Scrabble, a family tradition, and our newcomer friends needed PTS support and debriefing as they played with us.  Yes, Sam, Nicole, and I are a little competitive… 

We rode our ATVs all over the sand dunes on Saturday and Sunday.  The sand dunes in Pismo are right next to the ocean, which provided the perfect backdrop for our traditional group photos.  They made me the leader – not sure why because I have no idea where to go – and they tied a giant “happy birthday” balloon to my ATV pole flag.  Well, they were able to spot me from anywhere in the dunes! Sam got 5-6 feet of air and went over a 15-foot stretch!  Naturally, everyone just had to try to beat him.  Besides a few minor accidents, we all made it without any broken bones!

Next year, we want to rent an RV so we can play Scrabble on the way down and back again.  We’re all about making the experience fun.  We rented an RV about 10 years ago and camped on the beach.  I’d prefer playing games in the RV as we drive to Pismo and then stay in the beach house.  Just saying… 

I write a lot about privacy and online safety.  Today I’m letting Google do the talking, though.  They’ve released a great set of online safety video tips that are both helpful and easy to understand.  

“Easy to understand” is good because experts tend to use a lot of incomprehensible jargon and acronyms that make your eyes glaze over, and that’s never a good way to learn.

These videos are easy to watch, they’re under 2 minutes each, and they’re all aimed at young people.

Here are direct links to the videos:

Think Before You Share

Protect Your Stuff

Know & Use Your Settings

Avoid Scams

Be Positive

Is antibiotic resistance really going to be the next biggest health epidemic?  We’ve used antibiotics as the 20^th Century “cure-all” for everything from most human ailments to animal husbandry. Even when we were told that antibiotics didn’t cure the common cold, we still demanded them from our doctors. Did you know that animals raised for human consumption are routinely fed antibiotics?  So what’s the problem with using this miracle drug? Our bodies have become resistant to them so we need more powerful antibiotics to do the same job that the antibiotics of yesteryear could do. 

As we overused antibiotics for the past 50+ years, the “superbugs” (bacteria that are now resistant to multiple antibiotic strains) need bigger and better antibiotics to kill them — and we simply don’t have them.  Antibiotics are created from chemicals that exist in nature first, and then scientists try to replicate a synthetic version in the lab.  The easy antibiotics have already been discovered; but, new discoveries are few and far between.

The World Health Organization (WHO) just announced that gonorrhea, a sexually-transmitted disease, is becoming untreatable because of antibiotic resistance.  The United Nations General Assembly is organizing a landmark meeting to discuss antibiotic resistance because it is expected to cause 10 million deaths by 2050 – that’s up from 700,000 annually today. To give you a sense of how worried they are about antibiotic resistance, the United Nations General Assembly has met only 3 times in the past to discuss health crises: (1) in 2011 about HIV and AIDS; (2) in 2012 to discuss cancer and diabetes, and (3) in 2014 to discuss Ebola.  This is a big deal, and sadly, it’s something that we have created ourselves.

A world without antibiotics sends us back to medicine pre-1928 when Fleming discovered penicillin.  Transplant surgeries will become virtually impossible because organ recipients need to take immune-suppressing drugs for life to stop rejection of a new heart or kidney. Removing a burst appendix becomes dangerous without antibiotics to prevent the wound from becoming infected. Pneumonia may become a mass-killer of the elderly, and tuberculosis may become incurable. 

So, what can we do about antibiotic resistance?  First, we can stop overusing antibiotics for minor infections that will probably heal themselves.  In other words, don’t request antibiotics when your doctor thinks you don’t need them. We can also prevent infections by practicing good hand hygiene – yup! – wash your hands with good ol’ soap and water before touching your food, eyes, and mouth.  Don’t use antibacterial soaps because they actually promote antibiotic resistance.  Eat meat from animals that were raised without antibiotics.  And, get your vaccines so your body can ward off diseases without relying on antibiotics.

Today’s a good day to start using these practices to ward off antibiotic resistance. We really don’t want to live in a world without antibiotics – it’ll set us back 100 years!

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